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As an enthusiastic early-stage investor in new business ideas, I have always been surprised that some founders who appeared to have a great idea and were doing everything right still failed, while others with “far out” ideas and tactics managed to succeed. I’ve become convinced that the difference is in the insights and quality of the founder, rather than the quality of the idea.
To see if professional investors agree, I was interested to review the new book, “Pattern Breakers,” by a couple of the most successful early-stage investors in Silicon Valley, Mike Maples Jr. and Peter Ziebelman. They provide many real-life case studies from their own experience that show how non-conventional thinking and insights tip the scales in favor of breakthrough ideas.
I outline here their five key recommendations for you as a business founder to find and assess your insights in pursuing breakthrough ideas for your next business. I expect you will find, as I did, that many of the recommendations are counter-intuitive, and would not normally be seen as “best practices:”
1. Seek non-consensus fundamental insights. The path to real success in a new business Is to be both non-consensus and right about an opportunity to change how customers will think, feel, and act in the future. It’s not enough to build a better mousetrap because lots of other incumbents are likely working on that and competing already.
2. Leverage the power of emerging global inflections. Your insight needs to be based on early significant changes happening to the world at large, whether technological, societal, or political, rather than on a clever tagline. A pattern-breaking idea needs to have substance and the momentum to create or accelerate radical change.
3. Great ideas contradict conventional wisdom. Don’t expect everyone to agree with you, and don’t be too concerned about initial reactions from peers, friends, and family. Significant debate and controversy will help your case to be recognized as a new platform. Challenging the norm motivates everyone to push to new boundaries.
4. Think and act differently for a breakthrough. Do not set your sights on conventional or incremental success. Decide you want something you have never had before, and step outside of your comfort zone to get it. Don’t let limiting beliefs block you from being successful. Choose to see the good and focus your thoughts toward what you want.
5. Look for ideas that no one else is pursuing. Use your courage to get started on ideas that spark your creativity before anyone else has explored it and before any prototype has proved a level of acceptance by key constituents. The most exciting products are created by people with tons of conviction for something that strikes most others as odd.
6. Stress-test your insights in your own mind. Rather than just proposing something to be contrarian, ask yourself the hard questions. These include what is going to be different in a non-obvious way, what does the consensus think, why is the imminent future the right time for my insight to hold true, and why hasn’t it happened already.
In my opinion and that of the authors, discovering compelling insights is where the true artistry of breakthrough founders lies. It takes creativity as well as insight to understand the implications of new technologies and see novel ways of connecting them to bring about radical change.
It’s easy to look back and see examples of these insights and creativity in founders like Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk. What is not so easy is for you or me to look into the future and find or become one of these, and capitalize on the opportunities already coming around the corner. My challenge to you is to pick up the gauntlet and get your name on the short list.
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