Few new products or services are based on completely new ideas. Many are a variation of something that already exists and the more products and services that are invented, the harder it is to find something someone hasn’t done in one shape or another before. And that’s fine.
Last week I read the article ‘Addictive UX: Why Pinterest Is So Dang Amazing’ and the first section illustrate this perfectly – that you don’t have to come up with a completely original idea.
When you think about it the article is right, Pinterest is a pretty lame idea. It’s been done before. Why would you invest in it? But, it’s not been done like that before and that is the point. As the article mentions the concept behind Pinterest, to bookmark with images, is nearly identical to the other bookmarking sites out there, but it differs in the detail of the idea and in its execution.
Something we’re discussing a lot right now is “Is it original enough?”. We research and compare our ideas to what already exist, but the more we talk about them the more I believe in our ideas because they haven’t been done like that before. As my old colleague Elizabeth wrote, to start something new it doesn’t have to be completely different (Day 012 | Worth remembering). It just needs to done really well.
In the annals of innovation, new ideas are only part of the equation. The execution is just as important.
– Walter Isaacson
Tomorrow – Day 032 | First month mark
