Dave’s Thoughts: Introducing Revolutionary Approaches to Legacy Markets
Sounds Great Right? It’s Not Easy
The promise seems obvious: you’ve come up with a completely new way of doing something-and it’s so much better than the current way. Your “sliced bread” idea is a sure winner. You use the latest in AI to make the perfect slice of bread. Your approach is faster, cheaper, easier. Selling whole loaves? So last year. Everyone will love it! You are going to be rich, famous, the next ChatGPT.
So off you go. You launch your company. You pitch investors, or if you’re inside a company, your GM. And you run into your first hint of troubled waters ahead. The powers that be, the ones with the money don’t seem as excited as you are. Hmmm, they say. I’ve never heard of pre-sliced bread before. Maybe there’s a reason no one’s done it until now. But you persevere. You scrape together some seed money.
Off you go and you build your widget. It does everything you promised and more. Best sliced bread ever made. You go to market and hear…crickets. Each introduction and presentation you make goes well. Lots of head nodding and after multiple meetings and hours of discussion they get it. They tell you it’s a winner. Months go by, sales lag. Opportunities just don’t seem to be converted into sales. You ask, “Why Mr. Partner? Why Mr. Customer? Why aren’t you buying my sliced bread by the zillions?”
And you are told –“It seems like a great idea but I’ve been doing whole loaf bread forever.” You hear:
- People are used to whole loaves.
- Never seen this sliced stuff, what is it again?
- Why do I care? Again?
- All my customers are used to whole loaves.
- My entire ecosystem bakes, sells, packages, ships and supports whole loaves. They are not ready or knowledgeable or even care about pre-sliced bread.
- If I sell sliced bread, my entire slicing machine business dies. I will only sell a few slicers to you as opposed to one to every home and restaurant in the land.
The inertia you face is massive; you pull your hair out. You think, “I know this will make the world a better place but people just don’t seem smart enough to see it.” Despair sets in.
But you keep plugging, you keep scheduling meeting after meeting by the dozens, hundreds. You get some trials out in the field. Testimonials from happy customers are off the charts. You promote, you market, you share these real-world stories.
And maybe if you are lucky enough, stubborn enough, focused enough you turn that market around to see your vision realized and you make it.
But let me tell you, despite the accolades, no one will remember the effort it took. No one will recall the days before sliced bread. No one will remember how hard you and your team worked. It will just be accepted as the new normal – whole loaf bread? Why would anyone want that? But you know, your team knows – it wasn’t easy.