Like a growing number of people, I’ve spent a good chunk of the past few years living in the thought bubble, and real-world, of innovation. Everyone’s out to discover the next unicorn. To be ‘the one’ who came up with the brilliant idea that revolutionized *insert industry here*. ‘That’s great. Viva the revolution I say. It’s what I also spend some (too much) of my time doing, and even more time working with other people to help them uncover that spark of genius that we we’ve all come to believe lay within.
There is an “however” coming though... However, why are the standards so high? Whatever happened to the $100M business? It seems that unless we come across a potential unicorn, a completely radical idea which is the seed for exponential growth and the ensuring billion-dollar windfall, ideas are dismissed.
I see three main problems in having an unrelenting focus on exponential growth discoveries.
Firstly, they’re rare. They’re called unicorns for a reason. Since when should taking over the world be the measure of success? Innovation isn’t just about the wholesale reimagining of value creation or new bright, shiny things. It’s also about process improvement, new insights, quicker product development cycles, reducing time to market. It’s about introducing new thinking. If our eye is so firmly focused on what might be our own unicorn, we’re likely to miss the stuff that can drive real change and value creation from what we have today. Those 10% improvements that drop straight to the bottom line and sure up business finances can be at least mildly transformative. Two or three of those can be massively transformative – so please, let’s not forget to give attention to those ideas.
Secondly, they’re risky. Not many people have the courage of Elon Musk to put all their fortune on the line. Often when new ideas do start to grow, human nature kicks in and we think about how to preserve the cash cow. That high growth strategy which puts everything on the line is the domain of a very unusual psyche, and almost impossible in organisations with a board and shareholders to answer to. There are good reasons why the two golden children of disruptive innovation, Uber and Airbnb are private companies you know. They aren’t beholden to short-term profit motivations, and they don’t need to disclose their plans and movements publicly. If they were public, they’d have already failed.
Finally, sound business principles still apply. Building a sustainable competitive advantage requires ownership of something, such as intellectual property or other assets, that can’t really be replicated. Even great ideas have a high chance of falling down at some point without this built-in protection. If someone else can copy it somewhere down the line, you’re building on a shaky foundation.
So what is it that I think is missing? It’s a good dose of reality.
We’re putting a lot of faith in these unicorns. Too much. Price to earnings ratios are through the roof and I’m betting there’ll be a long line of disappointed investors down the track. Yes, we have Uber, but we still have taxis, and other ride sharing services have come along. We have Airbnb but we still have hotels, so the competition is far from dead there too. Changed forever, but not dead.
Now don't get me wrong - I looove a moonshot and have a pretty high risk appetite myself, but maybe, just maybe, you might be forgetting that there are milestones to reach along the way and your off ramp is a little shy of 9 figures. You gotta walk before you know if you'll eb=ven be able to run, and all too often I come across Founders who think that because the idea is theirs, they'll be the one to see it all the way through. But please, think about the near future and the very achievable. Foster it across all levels and create an environment where thinking different is encouraged and rewarded. Most of all have fun with the challenge and process, and be kind to yourself for not being Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Ma. That’s far too much pressure, and you won’t be any happier.