How to Innovate Successfully

Scenario: "Dude, we need to build a rockin' beta-ready product first. Then, we'll test it. Yay!" The problem with waiting until your product reaches that beta stage? Your financial risks increase exponentially in: <ul> <li> Resources.</li> <li> Time.</li> <li> Morale.</li> <li> Lost opportunities.</li> <li> Cash, cash, cash.</li> </ul> Now, let's say you build your beta-ready product 9 months later. <h3>What if the market reacts negatively to that product?</h3> <ol> <li> The pessimistic side would tell you to give up.</li> <li> The optimistic side would tell you: "Wait, that just means we have to refine the product to their needs more!"</li> </ol> You're choosing the right path with that last answer. But when you do, it hits you: "We wasted 9 months in lost resources, time, morale, lost opportunities, and cash -- when we could've received the same frickin' feedback 8 months earlier!" Instead, do this: <ol> <li>Build something quickly that's test-ready.</li> <li>Then start testing the sucka.</li> <li>Measure the results: Are they promising? <ul> <li>If not, dump it -- you just saved lots of resources for better innovations.</li> <li>If results however looking promising, juice up more investments into it.</li> </ul> </li> </ol> Do that in a continuous cycle, and you'll build one ridiculously awesome innovation machine. <h2>Why Spending Loads of Time on Something Sucks</h2> You're no fortune teller. No one is. <ul> <li>Yet, you hear stories of Timmy Toothie on the other side of the town locked in his basement conceptualizing the next world-changing innovation that will make him billions.</li> <li>You hear a similar story happening with Susie Saddy in Tulsa.</li> </ul> In fact, a close acquaintance just told you (1) he has the perfect idea, but (2) he can't tell you, and (3) he's so self-assured with his looming success that he's acting all self-pretentious on yo ass wondering why the !@#$ you don't have a spiffy idea of your own. They're all trying to predict the future. In other words, they're speculating what will happen. They're using a snapshot in time to predict a frickin' moving world months/years/yadda later. If the most experienced Silicon Valley venture capitalists still get it wrong, what makes them think they're ridicuslously better at predicting the future? <ul> <li>Segway -- heralded by Innovation Machine Man Steve Jobs as one of the greatest ever inventions, and the best VCs -- took a nosedive when it hit the market.</li> </ul> Predicting the future seems plausible; but, it's frickin' impossible. But, if you still think you can: trash whatever idea you have; those multi-billion dollar Wall Street firms want your brain. They'll give you trillions. The better way to innovating: <h2>Build Just Enough for Testing</h2> Only the real-world market decides if your product's successful. So: <ol> <li> Get your idea into your customers' hands as quickly -- with as few resources -- as humanly possible.</li> <li> See how much you could sell.</li> <li> Measure the results, then proceed accordingly.</li> </ol> That way, you: <ol> <li> Minimize risks.</li> <li> Maximize chances of success.</li> </ol> Religiously follow that cycle over the long-term, and you'll boost your success rate like a mofo. <h2>You'll Lose Money. No Big Deal.</h2> Think about it this way: If you played a coin-flip game where: <ul> <li>You'd get $100 for every time the coin lands on head.</li> <li>You'd lose $90 for every time the coin lands on tails.</li> </ul> You'd play that game with anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Sure, you'll lose from time-to-time. $90 here, $90 there. But the more you play it, the more the odds will favor you -- and the more money you'll eventually make. Your winnings will more than make up for your losses. As in Poker, you don't worry about the individual results; instead, you focus on making consistently good decisions over time that will pull you ahead in the long-run. <h3>Think of innovating the same way.</h3> Conservatively, think: <ul> <li>1 product will succeed for every 10 products you do.</li> <li>That 1 product will more than make up for the failures.</li> </ul> The more times you go through that cycle (e.g. 20 products will produce 2 successes, etc., etc.), the more you'll pull ahead -- and, the more ridiculously rich your company will be. You could: <ul> <li>(1) take years draining resources to go through 1 cycle, or:</li> <li>(2) take a few months conserving resources to go through it 10 times.</li> </ul> The faster you do it, the sexier off you'll be. <h2>Go through it like a juiced-up ostrich on 'roids: <ol> <li> Build test product quickly.</li> <li> Test how much you can sell.</li> <li> If results look promising, invest more. (If not, dump it.)</li> <li> Restart at #1.</li> </ol> Win.</h2> 2007-05-23T16:14:58+10:00 true 547 how-to-innovate-successfully

2009-11-07T15:45:46+10:00