Laughing at Disruption
“Being laughed at is the currency of innovation” Tendayi Viki
When I shared a truly disruptive idea with a wine industry friend several months ago, this experienced industry executive told me, “That will never work.” The idea involved reusing wine bottles. Not recycling wine bottles, but reusing them, like we use to do with milk.
Ironically, I was reading a book by a Netflix co-founder, Marc Randolph, with the ironic title, That Will Never Work.
From an Amazon book description:
Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard was of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. Indeed, these were the widely accepted land laws in 1997, when Marc Randolph had an idea. It was a simple thought-leveraging the internet to rent movies-and was just one of many more and far worse proposals, like personalized baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning.
But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair-with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO-founded a company. Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix’s triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty-first century’s most disruptive start-up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his mother on being an early investor to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when Netflix brass pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph’s transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts and determination can change the world even with the idea that many thinks will never work.
However, what emerges isn’t just the inside story of one of the world’s most iconic companies. It is full of counter-intuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose; it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success?
From idea generation to team building to know when it’s time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.
16 Wildly, Laughable, Disruptive Ideas That Will Never Work
Somewhere in the last two decades, someone suggested one of these laughable ideas, and someone else said, “That will never work.”
- Get into a stranger’s car to take you somewhere. (Uber)
- Rent a room from someone you never met in a city you have never visited. (Airbnb)
- Have someone you don’t know deliver food from a restaurant to your front step. (Door Dash)
- Rent someone else’s fancy dress. (Rent the Runway)
- Get a bank account from a company that is 100% online. (Chime)
- Rent someone’s car while you are on vacation. (Turo)
- Try eyeglasses on at home. (Warby Parker)
- Get clothes picked out for you to try on at home based on your profile. (Stitch Fix)
- Buy unused clothes from a person’s closet – that you don’t know. (Poshmark)
- Rent tools instead of buying them. (Hilti)
- Share personal health and patient information in a social network. (Patients Like Me)
- Get your children’s car seats cleaned and sanitized at home. (Bucklebath)
- Deliver my pet food to my front door. (Chewy)
- Find people willing to buy big purchases with you like boats, lawnmowers, camping equipment, or fancy kitchen appliances. (Divvy)
- Print photo books each month of your children or grandchildren from your phone. (Chatbooks)
- Get therapy via text. (Talkspace)
What Are You Laughing At?
So, next time someone comes to you with an idiotic, absurd, and plain old stupid idea, what will your reaction be?
Or perhaps you have a ridiculously disruptive and crazy idea you will share with family, friends, colleagues, and investors. What reaction are you hoping to elicit?
If they laugh and tell you that will never happen, maybe that’s a good sign.
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
