Richard Wray, The Guardian’s Communication Editor just asked me what advice I would give to a start up company determined on innovation, for a piece he is writing.   This is what I said:

“Advice when starting an innovative company: work out what the points of industry and consumer resistance to your proposed innovation will be (i.e. vested interests, legacy technology or organisational structures, consumer behaviour etc). Assume they will be uncompromisingly disinterested or actively opposed to change.  Work out a SPECIFIC and TESTED plan as to how you will overcome that opposition. Put as much time into that as you do into the innovation itself.

In our case, where we were brining new deal structures, development and new digital production processes and digital marketing strategies to bear to the exceedingly conservative British Film Industry – working out who we needed to persuade, and putting as much effort into consulting and persuading BEFORE they became road-blocks in our path, stood us in good stead.

For example: we have now on two occasions, before the launch of the company (which makes low budget films and asks talent to work for a fraction of their ‘usual’ wages in exchange for share of upside), and again this year when launching a new scheme, met with every significant talent agent in town BEFORE the launch, to explain to them what we were about to do and why, and gave them the time to voice objections and suggest tweaks that we could take into account.

It’s the old adage: a leader is only as good as his followers. Don’t assume that if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. Assume they’ll be loath to throw out the billions of old mouse-traps they already have and are perfectly used to.”

Thoughts?

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