“The Googles, Amazons, Apples, Netflixes, and Capital Ones … don’t insist on performing lots of interesting experiments because they’re rich; they’re rich because they insist on performing lots of interesting experiments.”
Mary Meeker’s annual report on internet trends shows how the market for smartphone operating systems has been completely transformed in eight years. This holds some important innovation lessons.
When we try something completely new, people often want to see proof that it will work. Of course, there is no proof if the idea is genuinely new. Instead of proof, we have to rely on weak signals. Successful innovators find these and amplify them.
Change is one constant in business. The evolution of operating system market share demonstrates some important lessons for innovating in a constantly shifting environment.
If someone tells you that they don’t have any competitors, that is a major danger sign. That’s what the startup I worked for thought, and it’s part of why we blew up. You always have some type of competition.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could do customer service like Zappos? Or design like Apple? Or innovation like 3M? Who wouldn’t want to be like those firms? Well, it’s not so simple. Barry Dalton wrote an excellent post called You Can’t Be Zappos (and why would you want to be?) addressing exactly this issue. […]
