What Does Innovation Look Like?

Millions of people have billions of great ideas every day. Ideas are easy. Or at least seem easy. How do you know if your idea is innovative? Entrepreneurs fall in love with their ideas only to find out that they don’t resonate.

Have you lived this scenario? I have. You have a great idea, put gigawatts of energy into it, spend hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars on it, go live and… nobody cares. It’s a crushing and depressing experience. After all, this is something you’ve put your life, blood, sweat and tears into, right? Your spouse has asked for over a year when you’re coming home again, your children have forgotten what you look like and you quit a cushy job to pursue your dream.

As an entrepreneur, the hardest thing for you to do is remove yourself from the equation. Your idea is like one of your children, it’s very difficult not to be biased. So what do you do? How do you understand if you’re actually solving a customer problem in a truly innovative way?

Did you catch that? A problem that’s solved in a truly innovative way. If you’re not being innovative you’re not going anywhere. So what does innovation look like?

What Does Innovation Look Like

Let’s take Apple as an example. What’s innovative about their iPhone, iPad and Laptop? This is actually an extremely important question. After all, pads, cell phones and laptops weren’t new when Apple came out with their version of those products. Was the innovation the technology and functionality Apple brought to those products? Well, not so much. They’re really gimmicks that temporarily grab the attention of the market. All that great technology has been duplicated, but they still command a large share of the market. So, why?

When Apple came out with their first smartphone what did they do? Up until that point mobile phone manufacturers designed phones for the telecom carriers like Verizon, ATT and T-Mobile; Not the consumer. Apple said forget that. They sent a message to all the mobile carriers that shocked the market. Apple said that none of the carriers would have any say in the design of their phone. No changes. It was a take it or leave it deal. Only ATT agreed. Sprint, T-Mobile and all the others were out.

At the time the market thought they were crazy and doomed to failure. The carriers all wanted to design cell phones to their specs. They wanted to improve their brand. What was the result? Apple’s smartphone has developed a strong consumer brand that dominates the market. It may be the only cell phone with a brand. Apple’s innovation isn’t their tech. It’s how they engage with their customers, the market and create strong brands.

So, what is innovation? It’s taking existing technology and products and applying a new way of market engagement that other companies will find difficult to duplicate. It’s worth repeating: it’s not the bells and whistles. It’s the consumer engagement that must be innovative.