Sometimes it takes cold hard cash to gain a competitive advantage and that’s it. History tells us that this can be a useful strategy for a long-term peaceful rule. The Varangian Guard where a group of mostly Vikings that sold their services to the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. The fierce warriors were not selected to be the guard of Basil II due to their to the death oaths because Byzantine citizens were often easily corrupted. To become a member of The Varangian Guard there was a brutally violent test and often potential members had to pay money. The group was so loved by the Byzantine people and Emperors though that they were often showered in riches making the initiation worth it. This groups of mercenary fighters and guards helped maintain peace in the Byzantine Empire putting down rebellions, performing police duties, sniffing out treason, executing conspirators, and played decisive roles in warfare. When a Byzantine emperor died they granted the Varangian Guard the right to run to the palace and take as much gold and gems as they could carry, this right encouraged other Norsemen, Dutchmen, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans to come to Byzantine and join the Guard. The group is believed to have been founded in 874 BCE and is thought to have lasted as long as 1400 BCE, a 526 year tradition of protecting Emperors and an Empire that ended just before the Byzantine Empire fell.

The Lobbyist Maneuver is pretty simple – Buy absolutely any assets, websites, exclusive rights, hardware, patents, copyrights, domains, apps, software code, real estate, influencers, etc… that would potentially help your competitor even if you don’t necessarily need it at the moment or even for any foreseeable future.

Let’s take the mid-late 1990’s for example. If you had thought when internet domains became a thing that people would care about which domain they used to find information on let’s say marketing services and you were starting or owned a marketing agency, using the Lobbyist Maneuver you would purchase every single domain possible even just to block them out. For example if you only worked with dentists in 1993 to build websites in your city and you wanted to squelch competition you would buy very variation of that city as a domain for example “city + dentist”, “dentist + city”, “city + dentists”, “dentists + city”, “city + state-abbreviation + dentist”, “dentist + city + state-abbreviation”, “city + + state-abbreviation + dentists”, “dentists + city + state-abbreviation”, etc…

In the early 2000’s if someone started a Shoutcast radio station on this same topic you would buy it. In the late 2000’s if someone started a video hosting site or an app on the topic you’d buy that, and in our current age if someone started a popular social media channel on that topic you’d buy that too.

Google is a very good example of how successful this strategy can be. If you ever look at a history of acquisitions by Google you’ll see a disturbing trend, Google really hasn’t built anything successful on their own since 1998 nearly everything they build internally fails and their big successes including Google Maps, YouTube, and Android are all purchased (there are some noteable exceptions to this such as Google AdWords(2000) and Gmail(2004)).

Pros vs. Cons
Pros: When done effectively The Lobbyist Maneuver blocks competitors from getting any advantage or traction in a market.

Cons: This strategy is very costly and there’s a chance that the assets you buy, the talent you pick up, etc… are not useful to you or the competition and you’ve just wasted money. There’s also the chance that savvy competitors will notice this trend and drive prices in auction style or that savvy business people will take notice and build assets just to sell to you at a high price.