This article is intended to be funny as I find humour in my circumstances. I tend to refrain from sharing ideas before they are fully composed, but there are some things that may have value to other people before they are entirely understandable. Do the glasses belong inside the case?
The idea of outside-the-box thinking is so favorable in peoples minds, so encouraged and admired. At times I wonder whether people know what this label does to the people who are labeled with it. And often times people who claim to think outside the box are just thinking inside another box thats a little outside the common box. And if you think any other way they shoot it down because your not inside their outside-the-box-box.
Since I started the company I’m founding earlier this year, the most common request from people as I explain what we are doing is to be more specific. This posses a puzzling challenge becuase I have seen in a few cases that the specifics I share are used to further existing conclusions that they have. These existing conclusions can form an uphill battle for me in conveying our value. It is an understandable situation that the quest for knowledge includes the placement of that knowledge in an existing view of the world. Sensability is like air that is needed to survive. When it’s not available, it’s common to grab onto anything that already makes sense.
It feels like we are sitting on rocket fuel and people keep getting excited about putting it in their cars. I hesitantly share the reality that putting the jet fuel in a car is probably not a good idea while anyone is in the car.
There is a growing trend in the tech industry lately to be very focused on destinations instead of composition. It seams like we’ve all forgotten that computers are tools for sorting out the problems in front of us using the creative observation we have within ourselves. Implying that it’s up to the companies who make the products to tell us where to go with them.
For a lot of shows on Netflix someone has used a program like Adobe AfterEffects or Maya to make their own interpretation of the world into a meaningful expression. This is interesting becuase for everyone who is familiar with Netflix as a brand the brand awareness of the creative programs used to make the content is much smaller.
At the company I’m founding, we are making a data visualization program for business professionals to bring their own understanding into a computer and make meaning from it. This is a somewhat niche audience but has fantastic unit economics and we know it can really help the companies who use it.
The question I keep getting is what market this belongs in. I try really hard to share that it’s challenging to pin that down without sounding like I’m somehow resistant to doing the research. Does a construction tools company research what kind of buildings are being built before they make a good hammer? or an automobile equipment company research what kind cars are popular before they make a voltage meter?
I know we will get our products to the world and have the gratitifying feeling of people making sense of their business in an empowering way using them. There are certain challenges we face at the moment and I guess we are still not meeting the demand of how to get our meaning across.
If any of this is exciting or relatable please get in touch with us. We are always open to hear about what people find inspiring.