STOP TALKING AND START LISTENING – 3 OBSERVATIONS Over recent years I must have spoken to a hundred or more start-ups promoting ideas they thought were innovative and potentially disruptive. While many of the concepts presented were innovative few were potentially disruptive (on the basis that disruption is by definition – -innovations the make a […]

STOP TALKING AND START LISTENING – 3 OBSERVATIONS Over recent years I must have spoken to a hundred or more start-ups promoting ideas they thought were innovative and potentially disruptive. While many of the concepts presented were innovative few were potentially disruptive (on the basis that disruption is by definition – -innovations the make a product more accessible to a broader market), and even fewer were in my view of any merit at all. One of my favourite innovators was James Dyson who, seeing the range of difficulties associated with vacuum cleaning developed technology that eliminated those problems. Another great innovator was of course Steve Jobs who – identifying the problems associated with the pirating of music developed I-Tunes, and noting the problems associated with small keys on a mobile phone, launched the touch pad. In all of these cases, the innovation started with the identification of a problem and…