All I need is the killer application to change the world!

I was giving a webinar on disruptive innovation with Rich Duncombe of HP. He was making the point that while innovative technologies really do change the world (we couldn’t have done a webinar a few years ago!), pitching them is tricky. Before the technology can be proven out as a business opportunity, it needs to find a killer application.

But how does an executive respond to the pitch “I’ve got this great technology that can change the world! All I need to do is find the killer application”? Probably not well. What the executive hears is “RISK!” Then he or she generally moves on to a safer investment opportunity.

During the webinar, Rich blurted out “Let’s ask the audience if they have actually used this pitch!” And so we did. Our poll showed that among a group of about 50 innovators, 45% have actually used the “All I need to do is find a killer application” pitch.

Have you? I’ve set up a google survey, which you can take here: