Innovator's Dilemma - by Neil on April 23, 2008 5:55 PM
Lots of startups are built around well-established concepts. I recently thought it must be nice, in a way, to have your startup so easily describable. One sentence or less to give a pretty basic idea of what you're doing. Something along the lines of "Update your friends and the world via text message with what you're doing at that moment." Or "Upload MP3s, create a virtual mixtape." "Watch free internet video channels." There's always more to it than that, but at least they're able to concisely shed a decent amount of light on what's happening with their .com.
I've had a lot of trouble summing up Jabbik in such a short space when talking about it with people who aren't familiar with us. Of course we have a succinct elevator pitch that fills in the basics of Jabbik, but I'm usually not happy with leaving it at that. Maybe it's because I care so much about the idea that I want to do it justice with a full explanation. But it's also possible that it's just that the idea of what we want to do is so new that it requires a detailed explanation in order to be understood. The underlying concepts and technology here are nothing new, but we're using them in such a way that we think people will be blown away with the results.
Consider the following quote:
Charles Babbage, in 1864, was having trouble conveying his idea for a difference engine. Though I don't think my frustration is quite so arrogant as Charles' (expecting the idea of a programmable device to be understood by the government is hard enough today, let alone in the 1800s), it's still something I can relate to. I doubt I'm alone.
When we launch, and our site's uses are straightforward, and our UI is at least striving for elegance, the struggle will be over. So I've concluded the best way to avoid struggling with coming up with the perfect elevator pitch is to pretty much just ignore the problem. When we launch, it'll be irrelevant anyway. Youtube is just Youtube, and Google is just Google. Jabbik will just be Jabbik.
Comments (2)/Permalink
I've had a lot of trouble summing up Jabbik in such a short space when talking about it with people who aren't familiar with us. Of course we have a succinct elevator pitch that fills in the basics of Jabbik, but I'm usually not happy with leaving it at that. Maybe it's because I care so much about the idea that I want to do it justice with a full explanation. But it's also possible that it's just that the idea of what we want to do is so new that it requires a detailed explanation in order to be understood. The underlying concepts and technology here are nothing new, but we're using them in such a way that we think people will be blown away with the results.
Consider the following quote:
"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
Charles Babbage, in 1864, was having trouble conveying his idea for a difference engine. Though I don't think my frustration is quite so arrogant as Charles' (expecting the idea of a programmable device to be understood by the government is hard enough today, let alone in the 1800s), it's still something I can relate to. I doubt I'm alone.
When we launch, and our site's uses are straightforward, and our UI is at least striving for elegance, the struggle will be over. So I've concluded the best way to avoid struggling with coming up with the perfect elevator pitch is to pretty much just ignore the problem. When we launch, it'll be irrelevant anyway. Youtube is just Youtube, and Google is just Google. Jabbik will just be Jabbik.
Comments (2)/Permalink
2 Comments
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I suggest that you pay very close attention to the short descriptions (or description of benefits) that your early users offer to get others to give it a try. They are more important than your initial "elevator pitch."
Hey Sean,
We'll definitely make it clear to our users how our site can help them when we launch, and make it easy for them to explain it to their friends. At this point, I'm more focused on how to make it clear to investors, prospective team members, etc.
Thanks for reading!