Not long ago I saw Steen Strand, Cofounder, COO and VP Design of ICON at a design conference talking about the new ICON aircraft. He was talking about the design criteria of creating an amphibious aircraft that looked "badass."
And while the plane was cool, I noticed that he was selling a radical new design that is paradigm shifting. And he wasn't selling like a badass, or like a pioneering innovator.
Not once in his well-practiced speech, which he has probably delivered to a gazillion venture capital investors did he say, "Radically new concept," "Breakthrough," "Like nothing else," or "Something never done before." Although those terms certainly apply to a new concept in a relatively new category. You see, in 2004, the US Federal Aviation Administration created a completely new category for aircraft: the Light Sport Aircraft category to make flying more accessible to more people (they also created a new class of pilot in the process).
At this point, there are a number of LSAs on the market, ranging from $50,000 kits to $150,000 complete planes that (to our untrained eyes) look like everything from hang-gliders-with-lawn-mower-engines to small versions of traditional small propeller-powered 2-seater airplanes. Companies in the market range from traditional companies like Cessna to upstart start-ups.
Strand's ICON A5 is at the higher end of the price point, and doesn't look like a traditional aircraft, or other LSAs. The propellor is behind the cockpit, it's amphibious (use landing gear or take off from your nearest lake), the wings fold, it's car-trailerable, and the cockpit wouldn't look out of place in a Porsche. But again, he doesn't talk about a non-traditional aircraft, since that's the sort of thing that triggers your primitive (gator) brain to say, "RUN AWAY! DANGER! RUN! YOU'LL CRASH! YOU'LL DIE!"
Instead, in his presentation (and on the company website) he refers to it as a "consumer-focused sport aircraft [that] can do for recreational flying what personal watercraft did for boating." In his presentation, he spent a good amount of time talking about the traditional boating market, and the big expansion of the market with the introduction of personal watercraft (also known as a Jet Ski or Sea-Doo), which became popular in the late 70's and 80's. He made the connection between traditional large boats and traditional aircraft and linked the disruption and sales growth caused by the Jet Ski to the potential of the A5. He also pointed to the "consumer-focused" distinctions of his aircraft as a way to make recreational flying more appealing and more accessible, all while emphasizing safety.
Now, we're not trying to sell aircraft or watercraft (although we accept donations of either). Rather it's an instructive a way to think about selling ideas. As much as we in the innovation business are always looking for disruptive innovations, organizations are not looking for disruption. Disruption is antithetical to the concept of "organization;" it messes things up and creates confusion, complexity, more work and requires resource-investment. And venture capitalists usually don't want to put money on something that's radically different. If it's so new that they can't understand it, they're not going to show you the money.
So show them the analogy. Look for a way to make the concept more accessible. Find ways to position the concept in ways that people don't see it as disruptive. In Andy Hargadon's excellent book, "How Breakthroughs Happen," he points out that what is regarded as a breakthrough in one category usually is an adaptation of concepts from other industries. That may not be sexy to innovation types, but I bet the bean-counters will sleep better knowing that the foundations of your concept have been proven elsewhere.
So how can you talk about your big ideas in ways that make them seem safe and more likely to succeed?
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