ABSTRACT
The way that we currently think about innovation, using the innovation funnel as a frame of reference, is designed to re-draw the finish line immediately after the initial testing and validation of a new idea or invention. This is why innovation is often perceived to be successful; initial trial data may be positive and there may be a verification of need or desire in the market. But those positive indications, while necessary and encouraging, are not proof of concept. No money has been made. The resulting product or service has not yet been sold to customers. It has yet to deliver value in the market.
Even if the innovation team recognises that some type of market success is required, their ability is invention. Just because they can invent it doesn’t mean they can magically become great salespeople or masterful entrepreneurs and get that invention to market. And frankly, even if they could they would almost certainly fail to appreciate the gaps that exist between the different customer types described by Geoffrey Moore – specifically the gap between the enthusiastic innovators and early adopters and the chasm between the early majority and late majority. As mentioned in Chapter 1, it is only when a new idea or invention has been sold into this latter ‘mainstream’ market that it can be considered a success. In most sectors, there are simply not enough innovators and early adopters to warrant the claim that what has been invented has bridged the commercialisation chasm and become a genuine innovation.
