Seven Lessons for Business Innovators

Q: I have an idea for a new product but am not sure
whether it will fly or not. What makes for a good, new
product?

by Steve Strauss

A: How do you create a breakthough product? Here are
the seven lessons for business innovators:

1. Think of things that never were and ask, "Why not?":
Bobby Kennedy’s famous motto is an apt description of
the first ingredient necessary to create a great new
product. Terrific products come from inspired ideas.
When George de Mestral took an annoying burr from his
sock and placed it underneath his microscope, creating
a breakthrough product like Velcro was the last thing
on his mind.

2. The power of one. The second lesson in innovation is
that one person can make a difference. Whatever product
you look at, you will invariably find there was some
man or woman behind it who was steadfastly committed to
its success. Ed Lowe was nothing but a young, ambitious
veteran with tons of unsold clay when he decided that
he had a better cat litter. Crisscrossing the country
in his old car, bartering his way into cat shows and
changing cat boxes one at a time is what it took for
him to make Kitty Litter a success.

3. Keep it simple, stupid. The rule – keep it simple,
stupid – and its acronym KISS is a great way to
remember the third lesson of product innovation. If you
are going to offer something new and improved, make
sure that it is simple and does one or two things very
well.

4. First is best. Getting your product to market first
can often mean the difference between having a winner
and being a loser. Post-its were first. Tupperware was
first. Pampers were first. Barbie was first.

5. Try, try again. The path of the innovator may not
follow a straight line. Getting a product right often
takes trial and error, followed by a few mistakes, a
couple of bonehead moves and only then, maybe, a
homerun. When Dr. Percy Spencer noticed that the
chocolate bar in his pocket melted after standing near
a magnetron tube, he realized that something unique had
occurred. Yet it would take almost 20 years of trial
and error before Raytheon was able to create a
microwave oven that could be used by the public.

6. Risky business. Creating an innovative product and
getting it out there often takes everything an
entrepreneur has to offer. The financial risks
involved, not to mention the emotional toll, are
considerable indeed. When two auto designers in
California created a secret budget and dared their
German superiors to take a risk on a car their bosses
associated with Hitler, they were risking their
careers. And when VW agreed to produce the New Beetle,
it risked being perceived as a backward-looking
company. Innovation requires risk, it is as simple as
that.

7. Synergy is necessary. Synergy is a concept generally
thought to be that the whole is greater than the sum of
its parts. For a product to succeed wildly, synergy is
usually necessary. Take the Palm Pilot, for instance.
Although Jeff Hawkins is a brilliant engineer, he
needed someone who could steer his genius towards
business success. That person was Donna Dubinsky.
Together, these two made a formidable team. The Palm
Pilot, a result of their synergistic efforts, came
about because what they could do together was so much
more than what they could do alone. Dubinsky needed
Hawkins’ mind, and Hawkins needed Dubinsky’s business
acumen. It was their yin and yang, forming a better
whole, which allowed them to make the Palm Pilot what
it is.

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