A lesson from my favorite TV movie

Duel, Steven Spielberg first film, had an estimated budget of $450K. For comparison, the opening scene in Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan had a budget of $12 million. However, I’m just as happy watching Duel. It’s the only television movie I’m proud to talk about in public.

Spielberg on his early work[1]:

I could never go back and make those early films as well as I made them, when I was of the appropriate age and naivety to be working on subjects like that. But also, l couldn’t have made Schindler’s List or Private Ryan. It’s a fair trade-off.

There’s a lot to learn from Spielberg. Instead of trying to imitate the engineering feats of giants like Google, Apple, and Facebook, smaller companies like us are better off looking for inspiration in things that do a lot with a little.

We can deliver as good of an experience as the blockbuster apps – but it’s going to be in a different way.

[1] – From an interview on the Duel (Collector’s Edition) DVD