TechCrunch just published an interview Mike Arrington did with Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, and one quote there caught my eye:
We don't want to work on problems that only affect a small number of people.
Ahh, that seals it, Google is the new Microsoft. See, when I worked at Microsoft I heard this kind of horsepucky all the time too. The executives there would only really get behind things that looked like they were billion dollar businesses and let me know it early and often. I remember talking with Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, about this too. He wanted HP and Atari to market his newfangled personal computer. They told him to pound sand, which is a good thing because otherwise we wouldn't have Apple today.
The thing is, innovations usually come about when it doesn't seem like anyone is interested. Let's go back to 2006 when Twitter was first released. I remember showing it to other people. They thought it was the lamest thing they'd ever seen. See, no one was sitting around and saying "I have a problem, I need a way to blog but I want to be limited to only 140 characters."
Another way to look at this? Henry Ford's quote:
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said 'a faster horse.'"
See, things like Twitter are like avalanches. Big companies love to create an avalanche. After all, that's how you get on the front page of Wall Street Journal and find new ways to grow, etc.
The thing is to create an avalanche you've gotta make it snow one snowflake at a time. Big companies don't get that part of the equation. Why? Creating snowflakes is SMALL and isn't interesting to multi-billion-dollar companies.
It's why I travel the world. I'm looking for who is making snowflakes. I'll leave the avalanche business for the big boys.
Got a snowflake? Let me know.
Oh, and Eric, have fun looking for the big problems. I bet that some kid in a garage in Israel or Colorado will get there first.
