Presentation about innovation and lessons learned. Ten years anniversary of the Dept of Applied IT, IT univ of Gotneburg.

1. A
few
lessons
learned
Oct
27,
2011
at
the
Department
of
Applied
Informa;on
Technology
at
Chalmers
University
of
Technology
and
University
of
Gothenburg
Fredrik
Ljungberg

2. 1.

3. What
do
Paul,
Börje
and
Rohit
have
in
common?

4. Paul
Ahlstrom
Successful
investor
”If
you
have
an
idea,
don’t
build
anything!”

5. Börje
Langefors
Pioneer
and
first
IT
professor
”Data
is
not
informa;on”

6. Rohit
Sharma
Serial
entrepreneur

7. Paul,
Börje
and
Rohit
know…
…there
will
be
failure

8. What
they
know
• Paul
knows
his
porUolio
companies
will
release
products
people
don’t
want
• Börje
knows
his
students++
will
develop
systems
people
don’t
want
• Rohit
knows
his
start
ups
will
launch
solu;ons
people
won’t
like

9. Why?
• Technology
issues?
• No!
• But
because
we…
don’t
understand
user
needs
properly

10. It
happens
as
we
speak
• Developing
systems
with
no
knowledge
about
the
domain
• Wri;ng
business
plans
for
new
products

11. Understanding
user
needs
is
key
• Compe99ve
companies
much
needed
• Compe;;ve
companies
rely
on
innova9on
• Innova;on
relies
on
understanding
needs
• Innova;on
has
to
happen
faster
and
faster
• Compete
in
a
global
market

12. Scary
today

13. Scary
in
the
future?

14. User
needs
• It’s
about
figuring
out
what
people
don’t
know
they
want
• People
don’t
know
what
they
want
• People
will
say
your
baby
is
ugly
• Needs
evolve
• What
to
do?
– Look
for
pain!
– “Get
the
hell
out
of
the
building”

15. Vision
Henry
Ford:
“If
I
had
asked
people
what
they
wanted,
they
would
have
said
faster
horses.”

16. There’s
only
one
way
to
do
it
Steve
Blank:
“Get
the
hell
out
of
the
office!”
à
Go
out,
be
open
minded
and
learn
quickly!

17. #1:
Conclusion
• Understanding
user
needs
has
been,
is
and
will
be
crucial

18. 2.

19. Randy
Komisar
(Kleiner
Perkins)
”Nobody
walks
in
here
with
a
new
idea.
I’ve
seen
all
ideas
10
9mes.”
“For
every
decent
idea
there
are
30-­‐40
guys
working
on
it.”

20. The
manager
“The
last
20%
of
a
project
will
take
80%
of
the
9me…
at
least”
Surveys
• +
75%
of
all
projects
miss
deadlines
• +50%
exceed
budget
• Most
start
ups
fail
(loads
of
sta;s;cs)

21. Randy
and
the
manager
know
Execu9on
is
key
The
idea
is
1%,
execu;on
is
99%

22. Execu;on
• Management
• Sales
and
customer
rela;ons
• Develop
technology
• Hard
work,
long
hours

23. User
needs
+
execu;on

24. #2:
Conclusion
• Execu9on—to
get
things
done
—has
been,
is
and
will
be
crucial

25. ?

26. It
is
possible

27. It
is
possible
+
=
True

28. 3.

30. Close
to
bankruptcy
in
1997

33. Steve
and
Steve
started
a
company

34. And
so
did
we!
People
with
no
understanding
of
user
needs
but
some/weak
knowledge
about
execu9on

35. But
a
crazy
financial
market
(which
we
knew
and
could
offer
what
they
wanted)
Worked
hard
and,
eventually,
we
learned
No
contact
No
customers
with
users
and
few
references
Professional
Too
early
Internal
R&D
services
Customers
50%
50%
Quite
poor
execu9on
Produktbolag
Produktbolag
Spinn
off

36. CeBIT
2000

37. Agreement,
awards
and
the
best
product
but
way
too
early
and
wrong
loca;on

38. 2000-­‐2001
-­‐50
000
employees
+

39. • Sell
the
product
business
(no
funding
available
anyway)
• Buy
out
investors
• Be
good
at
something
Volvo
needs
• Niche
• Work,
work,
work

41. Some
lessons
learned
• If
we
had
considered
user
needs
carefully
and
had
the
ability
to
kill
our
babies,
the
product
business
would
have
been
sold
earlier
• Lack
of
execu9on
abili;es
compensated
with
hard
work
and
ambi;on
• Mix
of
competencies
was
crucial
• Focus
on
results
and
margin
created
a
common
goal
and
mindset
• Learn
how
the
customer
thinks
and
their
major
pains
• Work
harder
than
compe;tors
pays
off
• Always
deliver
and
communicate
to
build
confidence

42. Concluding
remarks:
Sugges;ons
to
students
• (User
needs
and
execu;on)
• Try
to
be
good
at
something
• Trying
hard
will
pay
off
• First
employer
is
key
• Use
technology
• Learn
how
to
program

43. Thank
you!
fredrik.ljungberg@apprecia.se
+46
(0)733
311
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