What makes a successful innovation?

We all dream of the killer app. I mean, the device that will shepherd in a new paradigm. Something that will be as revolutionary as the iPhone. Deep down, we all hope for someone to reveal a breakthrough that will make all our hard work pay off and bring about a new future.

This is only natural. We’re all human, after all. I dream about it all the time. I dream of a day when someone, or some entity, will introduce a game-changing device. A phone embedded in our bodies so we can communicate seamlessly without having to use a physical device. An age of the humanoid.

But the truth is, we’re more likely to be disappointed than not. Innovation doesn’t happen overnight. It happens incrementally. Human beings didn’t just wake up one day and decide to invent electricity. It took years of experimentation with heat, materials, and chemical compounds.

If you think about it, it makes total sense. You can’t achieve anything without putting in the work. And I’m not just talking about hard work. I’m talking about time too. Waiting for a miracle is just wishful thinking. (Like wanting to get something for nothing)

Take the smartphone, for example. It wasn’t an overnight success. Phones, touchscreens, and MP3 players (yes, a thousand songs in one pocket like the great words of Steve Jobs)  had all been around for decades before the smartphone came along. But it was the iPhone that brought them all together in a single device that everyone wanted.

That’s the power of synthesis. It’s what takes a technology from being a niche product (that is cool to make but has forgettable or horrid product market fit) to a mass-market phenomenon. And it’s something that we need to be more mindful of.

So how do we synthesize technology correctly? How do we find the best product-market fit?

The answer is in ‘CONSISTENCY’. We need to be willing to tweak and tinker with our products until they’re truly user-friendly and provide real value. We need to stop focusing on numbers and figures and start thinking about the customer experience.

I’ve been in countless meetings with customers, executives, users, consultants, and startup founders. And they all say the same thing: in hindsight they want products for the betterment of our lives. But the reality is, most of the time, we’re too focused on the numbers to actually deliver on that promise.

Customer is paramount! Putting the customer first generally worked well for all businesses. I mean look at Amazon.com for example. This company and its founder (the Great Jeff Bezos) obsesses over its customers. Its more than okay to say that its been working out well for those guys at Amazon. So yes, we need to change our mindset!

It starts with the customer and ends with the customer. It’s about their journey, not ours.

-Chong