2020-03-01_Fast_Company

Seoul’s Olympic Stadium

was packed during pop

band BTS’s three sold-

out shows last October,

but some fans bypassed

long merch lines by pre-

ordering items via the

e-commerce app Weply,

which offers exclusive

band-related products.

Others checked wait

times for food kiosks

and posted messages to

BTS members through

the social networking

app Weverse. These

services weren’t built by

tech startups, but by

a subsidiary of Big Hit

Entertainment, the

Seoul-based music

management and pro-

duction company that

represents BTS and

other artists. Launched

last June, the apps are

part of Big Hit’s plan to

build a “one-stop service

within the music indus-

try,” says co-CEO Lenzo

Yoon, akin to the trans-

actional “super apps”

popular in parts of Asia.

Weply now boasts 1.8

million users from 200

countries; Weverse has

1.4 million daily users.

FOR MOBILIZING

(AND MONETIZING)

MUSIC FANS

04

After estimating it

would deliver at least

360,000 vehicles

last year, Tesla deliv-

ered 367,500. That’s

double the number

of cars it sold in the

previous two years

combined. And with

that, a company

built on a battery-

powered wing and

a billionaire’s prayer

finally became a

mass-market auto-

maker. Tesla has

shown a knack for

marketing since its

early days (having an

attention-magnet

founder doesn’t hurt),

but operational exe-

cution has been a

weakness. Until now.

Not only did Tesla

ship a company-

Microsoft’s messaging platform, known as Teams, became the top workplace

messaging app in 2019—beating out competitor Slack—when it crossed more

than 13 million daily users in July. By January, it surpassed 20 million, with 91

of the U.S.’s 100 largest companies using it. The increasingly flexible software

seamlessly integrates chat, calls, file sharing, video meetings, and third-party apps to allow

employees to engage in a nonlinear workflow. “People are asking for a way to have a critical

mass of capabilities together,” says Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft

365, the company’s cloud-based productivity suite. Teams facilitates document editing

within the app, for example, rather than requiring people to toggle between multiple tools

or windows. (Plus, you can do this while hosting a conference call—and sending Beyoncé

GIFs to your coworker.) Microsoft is also targeting employees traditionally ignored by pro-

ductivity suites—first-line responders such as doctors, customer service employees, and

maintenance crews—with new features like mobile punch clocks and schedule-managing

software. For example, Ikea is putting 70,000 employees on Teams.

record number of

vehicles in the fourth

quarter of 2019 (more

than half of electric

cars sold in the U.S.

during that period),

but it also turned a

profit. Last year, Tesla

opened a new fac-

tory in China and

began delivering

cars to the world’s

largest EV market.

All this while continu-

ing to indulge CEO

Elon Musk’s ability

to create moments

both captivating

(the debut of the

Cybertruck) and

cringeworthy (his

dance onstage at

the China launch).

Your move, Big Auto.

02

FOR COALESCING

TEAMS

FOR EARNING THE

POLE POSITION IN THE

U.S. EV SALES RACE

MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES 2020

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42 FASTCOMPANY.COM ILLUSTRATION BY BRATISLAV MILENKOVIC