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The Challenge of Sustaining Disruptive Innovation When You Meet Success
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What is Sharethrough?
What is Sharethrough?
What is Sharethrough?
Innovate or die
*disruptive innovations not sustaining innovations
It’s easier to innovate in a successful startup
It’s easier to innovate in a successful startupFALSE!
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Support Existing Success Disruptive Innovations
Product & Engineering Resource Allocation
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Support Existing Success Disruptive Innovations
Balancing success and disruptive innovation is especially hard for a startup
Here’s what we did
Identify the right resources based on their ability to aid your learning (vs scale)
Step 1:Create the Right Environment
Isolate and clear the schedule of your resources
Step 1:Create the Right Environment
Don’t promise to (immediately) revolutionize the business
Step 1:Create the Right Environment
Use internal customer development to develop initial hypotheses
Step 2:Set Goals and Boundaries
Aim to build an MVP that solves a simple business problem
Step 2:Set Goals and Boundaries
Build a usable product not just a hack - don’t skimp on design
Step 2:Set Goals and Boundaries
Keep the progress updates separate from the existing product workflow
Step 3:Milestones & Progress Checks
Use regular (weekly) customer meetings as release markers
Step 3:Milestones & Progress Checks
Re-assess high-level assumptions and hypotheses every 3 months
Step 3:Milestones & Progress Checks
My Learnings
Innovation is Hard
Re-do your customer developmentDon’t fall into old habits!
Don’t fall into old habits!Iterate differently
When you “finish”, have a transition plan in place
Be ready for disappointment and some pivoting
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