Innovation and Its Genesis
This article goes over innovation- how it happens and some examples of how innovation can lead to massive paradigm shifts.
§1: Sick
Harvard Business Review interviewed Jerry Seinfeld in early 2017, to talk about his most recent series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. And yes, it is just what it sounds like. You can watch it on Netflix or YouTube.
This interview has several gems, such as the following back-and-forth:
Interviewer: Could McKinsey or someone have helped you find a better model [of writing Seinfeld to avoid burnout]?
Seinfeld: Who’s McKinsey?
I: It’s a consulting firm.
S: Are they funny?
I: No.
S: Then I don’t need them
But my favorite line comes from the beginning of the interview:
A big part of innovation is saying, “You know what I’m really sick of?”
As I have gone deeper into the world of startups, "web3”, and more- I have found that many successful creators have had the same sentiment.
You know what I am sick of? How difficult it is to accept payments online1.
Boom. Stripe. $700B+ in payments and $94B in market value created in 12 years.
You know what I am sick of? Centralized and non-programmable services2.
Boom. Ethereum. 3000 apps and $450B+ in market value created in 6 years.
You know what I am sick of? Boring talk shows3.
Boom. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. 11 seasons and 100M views in 9 years.
§Full Interview
§2: больной
Tinkoff, Russia’s leading digital bank, celebrated their 15-year anniversary by releasing a documentary about the company and its founder, Oleg. They are a 100% digital bank with nearly 20M users and a leading mobile app. They basically created digital banking in Russia- which grew the category and even helped their largest competitor Sberbank!
The story is fascinating- from learning how to reach 100% of Russian citizens by foot to realizing your vendors suck and building everything for yourself(you know what sucks? Our vendors).
This company has constantly innovated and created fantastic products for their customers. A lot of their innovation and iteration on their products is from direct customer feedback- either to Oleg himself or any of the business unit’s heads. They constantly learn what their customers need by asking “what sucks” and then improving on it!
I wrote this post because during the documentary, Oleg says (translated):
We made people realize that it wasn’t bloody worth it to go to branches and stand in line. The ability to take your phone, bam, open it and solve everything right there- that’s cool (1:37:30)
If you are looking for innovation- ask what you are sick of! Or hoard cash and stop innovating.