From Maker to Mogul: The Future of the Maker Movement in Business. My talk at the Hardware Innovation Workshop at PARC on May 15, 2012

1. From Maker to Mogul:
The Future of the Maker Movement in Business
Tim O’Reilly
May 15, 2012
Hardware Innovation Workshop

2. We started out as a computer book publisher

6. What We Really Do At O'Reilly
 Find interesting technologies and people
innovating from the edge
 Amplify their effectiveness by spreading the
information needed for others to follow them.
 Our goal: “Changing the world by spreading the
knowledge of innovators.”

7. O’Reilly Radar Methodology
 We “watch the alpha geeks” and think about the
futures they are already living in
 We then look for trend data that tells us that a
particular future is becoming mainstream
 We do our best to think about possible
consequences

8. O’Reilly Radar Methodology
 We “watch the alpha geeks” and think about the
futures they are already living in
 We then look for trend data that tells us that a
particular future is becoming mainstream
 We do our best to think about possible
consequences

9. O’Reilly Media Hardware books circa 2004

12. Great things begin with smart people having fun...
but they don’t end there

13. Innovation as a four-cylinder engine
Image source: http://www.musicombustion.com/engineering.html

14. 1. Have fun: How cool would it be to FLY?!!??

15. Have fun! OMG, I could have my own computer!

16. 2. Think big: “A PC on every desk and in every home.”

17. Think big: “Access to all the world’s information”

18. 3. Figure out how to actually build a business

19. 4. The power of platforms: Create value for others

20. 4. The power of platforms: Create value for others
4

21. http://www.google.com/economicimpact/

24. Create more value than you capture

25. The Firing Order of the Innovation Engine
 First cylinder: Have fun!
 Second cylinder: “Hey, we can change the world!”
 Third cylinder: Build products, business models,
companies, and entire industries
 Fourth cylinder: Maintain your ecosystem: Create
more value than you capture

26. So where are people having fun today?

31. Jeff Han, NYU, Perceptive Pixel, at ETech, March 2006

32. iPhone: June 2007

38. 2005: Seven Miles in Seven Hours

39. 2011: Hundreds of thousands of miles in ordinary traffic

42. Simple stress monitor becomes much more

47. “It’s easier to invent the future
than it is to predict it.”
- Alan Kay

48. For More Information
 Twitter: @timoreilly, @oreillymedia, @make
 Blog: http://radar.oreilly.com
 My personal archive: http://tim.oreilly.com
 Maker Movement: http://makezine.com