Redefining Flight: The JSX Impact on Today’s Aviation Business

Welcome to the 15th edition of Airplane Mode, the weekly business of aviation newsletter. This edition marks a significant step forward as we dive deeper into principled thinking and strategy, leadership insights, and self-mastery. As part of our commitment to enriching our content, we are introducing exclusive interviews with aviation leaders and adding video/audio features to suit our on-the-go readers - as soon as we are confident we have a quality product to bring to you.

Your input is vital in shaping our journey. Feel free to send your thoughts on what aviation or business principles topics matter most to you. Contact us at the email below with the subject "AM Insight". We aim to influence and transform the industry, embracing our role as the underdogs with a shared vision and purpose of integrity and excellence.

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JSX - Heavyweight Champions

Navigating Market-Fit: JSX's Blueprint for Aligning with Consumer Needs

Steve Jobs said “Do one thing well.” This pearl of wisdom is particularly relevant in the context of JSX, a company that has successfully found its niche by adapting to consumer needs with precision. They are the epitome of product-market-fit. They don’t know how to do anything else, I’m convinced. They don’t need someone like Gary Vaynerchuk to wave his hands in the air and say “hey, look over here, write us a check while we baffle you with….”

I rather like Gary V, a brilliant marketer don’t get me wrong, however you don’t need to over do it on the marketing when you have a tremendous product. JSX’s product sells itself. It’s invigorating to see in today’s day and age. The simplicity of the whole setup further points to Alex Wilcox’s genius.

Allow me to humbly roadmap what they’ve done and why it works - to the best of my ability - for your benefit..

Market Pulse: Understanding Consumer Needs

JSX's success is based on their deep understanding of the market. Instead of trying to change what customers want, they recognized that modern travelers highly value their time. By directly addressing the problems with traditional air travel, JSX has found a winning strategy. This is the stuff giants have been built on for centuries, millennia rather. If JSX is not stomped out, regulated out, or otherwise extinguished by some form of danger that still exists around them - they are going to change aviation for the next fifty years. Why? They already convinced the market that they have a superior product.

Crafting Solutions: Meeting Consumer Desires

JSX made changes to their service based on these insights. They understood that crowded terminals and delayed flights were a problem, so they came up with a solution. They offered a semi-private flying experience that was both exclusive and affordable.

The Psychological Match: Aligning with Human Behavior

The strategy isn’t strictly about logistics, but also understanding how air travelers think and behave. JSX's services aim to meet their need for efficiency, comfort, value, which are important to air travelers. Not to mention the exclusivity aspect.

A Model for Adaptability

JSX's journey isn’t just about aviation; it’s a case study for all to take note on how you bring a product to a market that hasn’t seen innovation in quite some time and then the follow-through to be successful long-term.

Conclusion: The Art of Market Adaptability

JSX exemplifies a core business principle: product-market-fit. Success is about fitting your product to the market, not vice-versa. It's about adaptability and responding to change. It’s about seeing an opportunity, even if it doesn’t fit the standard mold, and going for it. The JSX story is about innovation, breaking into a market via niche, and then delivering an excellent product with excellent service.

This is universal. This is the stuff that teaches us how to birth a business in any market. Given the times, it’s fair to mention that some heavy hitters say the best time to launch a business may be during a recession:

• Less Competition

• Access to Good Laid-Off Talent

• Lower Costs

• Opportunity to Disrupt

• Successful Competition Lazy

• Startups Inherently Frugal - Provides Advantage

Resources:

In that light, I am including some of the resources that have provided value to many business founders and owners over the years. The below list will help get you started or keep you going. My Dad (brilliant guy) always tells me that “knowledge is power” and he’s absolutely right - but I know what he really means to say “the application of knowledge is power”.

You can learn all day, but you have to get out there and jump in!

Books:

• "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

• "Good to Great" by Jim Collins

• "Competing Against Time" by George Stalk Jr. and Thomas M. Hout (Tim Cook of Apple - Recommended)

• "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton M. Christensen

• "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Online Courses:

• Coursera's "Entrepreneurship Specialization"

• Yale University Intro to Negotiation (Well worth it & FREE)

• Udemy's "Business Strategy"

• Many, many, more. Start searching or shoot me an email.

Websites and Online Resources:

• Harvard Business Review (HBR) - They put out one particular article series called “Management Tip of the Week” - usually very good.

• The Economist's Business Section

• Aviation International News (AINonline)

• MGMT Playbook by Dave Kline

Business Podcasts:

• "How I Built This" with Guy Raz

• “My First Million” with Sam Parr

• “Valuetainment” with Patrick Bet-David

• “The Aerospace Executive Podcast” with Craig Picken

• “Jet Blast” with Andy Nixon, Lee Brewster and Nathan Winkle

• “Acquired” with Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

• “Acquisitions Anonymous”

• "Masters of Scale" with Reid Hoffman

Consultancy and Mentorship:

• SCORE - This organization has introduced me to people I could have never otherwise been connected with. High level people join SCORE and offer their time at no cost to you. Has been worth my time.

• Local business incubators and accelerators

Technology Tools:

• Notion- Notion is a productivity app that integrates notetaking, knowledge and data management, and project and task management. Try it free. I use it to track multiple businesses, multiple departments, and it has changed the way I am able to keep up.

• 

• HubSpot - CRM and Sales/Marketing Tools for Email & Website, Etc.

The Way of The Master

Patrick Bet-David delivers mastery. What are your next 15 moves? The grandmaster can see the landscape, can know what their opponent is going to do before they do it. The video below is one for the history books… It’s from 2019 and people in 3019 can glean from it. Timeless wisdom.

George Mack - Full Attack

Ace Update

Ace has been known to disappear from time to time, sometimes days and even weeks on end. He always has a great explanation on why he had to leave, and so quickly too. We don’t ask him questions, we know he’s a patriotic good boy..

We hope to see Ace by next week!

Thank you for reading Airplane Mode! Please leave a comment, like this post, and subscribe - only if it brought you value. We’re writing for you. Feel free to send a direct message to LinkedIn, Twitter, or email me directly.

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