Why Multiple Layers Of Innovation Is Crucial For Success – Forbes
Arie Brish writes and speaks about the practical challenges and pitfalls in commercializing innovation. .
getty
The founder of Square, Jim McKelvey, tried to analyze, after the fact, why other companies, especially Amazon, had a hard time duplicating the idea in order to compete with Square, despite their attempts to do so. McKelvey’s conclusion was that the secret of Square’s success was the fact that it had multiple layers of innovations, which he calls the “Innovation Stack.” In other words, it had multiple barriers to entry.
This concept is well-known in the military world. Consider the Maginot Line, for example, France’s defense against the Germans during World War I. The Maginot Line was, at its broadest, more than 16 miles wide and included several defensive layers, such as observation points upfront along the German border as well as anti-tank, mortar and machine gun positions farther behind. There were no intelligence satellites at the time and very limited aircraft patrols. Areal intelligence came from a chain of 78 hilltop decks that enabled observers to direct firepower as needed based on the situation on the ground. Multiple infantry bunkers linked together underground, so troops could move around quickly based on where enemy attacks came from. The system was also linked together by a telephone and wireless communications network, according to Military History Now.
Likewise, sliced bread is often cited as one of the world’s landmark inventions, along with the wheel and the lightbulb. The original inventor of sliced bread was Otto F. Rohwedder. After the invention of the slicing machine itself, however, Rohwedder realized that the exposure of the slices to air caused them to stale very quickly, much faster than unsliced bread, because of numerous exposed surfaces. The real innovations for sliced bread were all the additional steps required to keep the slices together and the fast-wrapping process. The overall process of sliced bread had numerous patents for a bread-slicing machine, a bread-slicer wire, a bread rack, bread staples and bread handling.
The light bulb, one of the other oft-cited symbols of innovation, was first demonstrated by Sir Humphry Davy from England over seventy years before Thomas Edison’s invention. Here again, the first invention is only the initial step towards commercialization. Making it a business success is a whole another challenge. Thomas Edison and his team made Davy’s invention a commercial success. The light bulb itself, the infrastructure to make it happen, the manufacturing process and the supporting components and patents. The optimal material for the filament, the gas in the bulb, the shape and thickness of the glass, the interface between the bulb and the socket for easy replacement, the light switch, the chandelier and the infrastructure to deliver electricity to the buildings, all had to come together to make it happen.
How To Add Layers To Innovation
Having a good idea is obviously the first step to any innovation success. The devil, however, is in the details. Once you start implementing that good idea, many obstacles pop up along the way. The solutions to overcome these obstacles also create opportunities to add additional layers of barriers to entry, making life more difficult for competition to come after you.
Keep in mind that often the ingredients to success are not just in technology. Other important elements come into play, such as relationships with customers, relationships with channels, relationships with supply chain, access to capital and implementation logistics.
The invention of the wheel is the final classic metaphor for truly great innovation. Even that simple invention was originally used for pottery making, not transportation. The first use of wheels for transportation was facilitated by the invention of the axle. Once again, even in this simple case, several layers of innovations were required to make the wheel useful for transportation.
One of the business units I ran in the past, for example, had products combining three types of memory technologies and analog circuitry on the same piece of semiconductor silicon. None of our competitors were able to integrate all these diverse technologies on a single chip. Furthermore, as an additional layer of protection, we signed up a value-add service agreement with our channels, licensing to them the programming tools for all these memory technologies. These additional barriers to entry made our solution unique.
The moral of all these lessons learned is, when planning for your “secret sauce,” always remember to have a mix of ingredients in the recipe to create multiple lines of defense. As it often happens, the source of an invention is one original “spark.”
Once you start the actual development of the new product, it is pretty common to run into the need for additional supporting innovations. Don’t stop here. Continue the development. Once you are done and have a proven prototype, go back and reverse-engineer your own creation. You will often find that you accumulated several other innovations along the way. Make sure to patent those as well to create multiple barriers of entry—building your own technological version of the Maginot Line.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
The post Why Multiple Layers Of Innovation Is Crucial For Success – Forbes appeared first on WiredFocus.