Guy Kawasaki shares 10 tips on innovation – Network World
The former Apple software evangelist is managing director at venture capital firm Garage Technology Ventures and has written several books including, The Art of the Start and How to Drive Your Competition Crazy. Kawasaki this week turned up at CA World 2007 in Las Vegas to deliver a keynote address on the art of innovation.
“Don’t get me wrong; I have made many mistakes in my career,” Kawasaki told attendees. But when considering company pitches from start-ups, Kawasaki says he refers to his list of 10 criteria for innovation, some of which can be put to use when selecting vendors and technologies.
1. Motivated to do good
Kawasaki said an innovative technology, product or company is motivated by “the desire to make meaning.” He explained that innovation is about wanting to create something that could change the world in a positive way. Simply put, innovation is not about wanting to make money. “If the goal is only to make money, then you will not succeed,” he said. “Innovation is about perpetuating good and eliminating bad and making meaning with your product.”
2. Choosing a mantra
Any innovative company needs a mantra, he said, which should be limited to a few words describing the goal of the company and not represent a 60-word mission statement. For instance, Kawasaki pointed to Nike’s mantra — “authentic athletic performance” — as a great example of a mantra that every employee in the company can easily refer to and understand as the company’s goal. Other good examples included FedEx’s “peace of mind” and eBay’s “democratize commerce,” Kawasaki said.
3. Jump the curve
Any innovation will not be an improvement to an existing technology, at least not unless it “jumps the curve.” By jumping the curve, Kawasaki said that companies plan to do 10 times better than in the past and not plan to improve products by 10%. One example he cited involved people who made money cutting and delivering ice in the 1800s. The jumped curve would be ice-making factories and the next level would be individual ice factories or refrigerators in consumer homes. While the method of delivering ice evolved by jumping curves, he said, the people cutting ice didn’t ultimately become refrigerator manufacturers. “Most companies do not jump the curve; they stay on the same curve and seek incremental improvements,” Kawasaki said. “There is a fear among companies in jumping the curve, but true innovation is about doing things 10 times better.”
4. Learn DICEE
DICEE broken down means depth, intelligence, complete, elegant and emotive. This acronym represents the five elements Kawasaki identifies in innovative products, technologies and companies. Depth means that an innovative product provides multiple functions. For instance, Kawasaki pointed to the Reef Fanning sandal, which both protects the feet but also includes a bit of metal to open beers on the sole. Next, innovation requires intelligence. Third, an innovative approach is complete in its source code, physical form factor, digital download and more. Next up is elegant. Kawasaki said an innovative product will also be elegant in that it is clear how to use it and easy to start enjoying its features, such as Apple’s iPod. And last, innovative technologies and products are emotive — meaning they make customers feel something. “Think of Harley Davidson, people either love it or hate it, there isn’t a lot of indifference to their product,” he said.
5. It’s OK not to be perfect
Kawasaki said while many believe in perfection, the road to innovative is paved with “crappiness.”
“Looking back at the first Mac we shipped, this product was crappy. It costs $2,500 with 128KB of RAM and 400KB floppy drive,” he said. “But if we didn’t put it out we would not have jumped the curve from MS-DOS to Macintosh.”
One differentiator between poor products and innovation is that after the first release, innovators must realize their revolutionary product will require upgrades and much more work. “But if you wait for the perfect world when everything is debugged, then innovation will pass you by,” he said.
6. Polarize people
Kawasaki said worrying about everyone will ruin innovation as well. It’s OK if not all consumers are interested in your product, he said. Trying to serve too many people will make innovators “masters of mediocrity,” he said.
Kawasaki pointed to Toyota’s Scion as an example of a polarizing product. Perhaps a 22-year-old surfer would find this vehicle ideal, but a 52-year old parent to four would not. “You have to pick your customers and you cannot be afraid of pissing some people off,” he said. “Pick a customer and do what you can to make them happy.”
For instance, TiVo is a big hit among consumers, but advertisers might not like the skip ahead feature the digital recording system provides television viewers, he explained.
7. Take the money
Companies often will worry when customers they did not target take a liking to their product. Kawasaki recommends first “take the money” and second to find out why these unexpected consumers want your product.
“If you are lucky enough to experience this phenomenon, take the money,” he said. Also don’t bother asking customers why they are not buying your product, because more often than not that will result in an endless loop of product upgrades that don’t lure the customer into buying the product anyway. “It can be a futile process,” he said.
8. Churn product
Despite the practical approach of testing products before shipping, Kawasaki recommends getting the product out the door sooner rather than later and evolving the product as much as possible in every release.
“Version 1.0 of every innovative product needs to continue to be revolutionized,” he said. ‘The status quo will try to drive you down and tell you to maintain the status quo, to just do it cheaper, faster and better. But you have to churn the product to make it better.”
9. Niche thyself
For this criteria, Kawasaki looks to companies that have the ability to deliver a unique product or service to the customers and can to provide value to the customer. One example of a great idea that didn’t pan out was the online pet food business. Such endeavors promised to deliver pet food to customers at a lower price and eliminate their need to go to the store. But the heft of dog food, for instance, was not considered initially with this idea, which made it possible for business owners to not see that the cost of shipping such heavy cargo would eliminate any savings and potentially add costs for pet owners.
“There were 16 ways to spend more for dog food online than simply going to the pet food store,” he said.
An example of a unique service that provides great value to customers is Fandango.com, Kawasaki said. The online movie ticketing company lets customers know they have a seat at the movie before they load kids into mini-vans and eliminates the wait in line at the theater, he explained.
10. Follow the 10/20/30 rule
This is simple math, Kawasaki said. Whether considering a technology buy or talking to a vendor, one way to weed out the non-innovators is to follow this rule. Tell those pitching you that they have an optimal of 10 slides for their pitch, 20 minutes to present those slides and they must use 30 point font to deliver their message on the slides.
“An innovator will require no more slides or time to deliver their message and the font size will prevent them from reading their slides to you,” he said. “Follow this rule in order to prevent the ringing in your ears from listening to too many pitches.”
