I Invented A Flying Coffee-Maker. Now What?

I’m all hooked up and ready to go on Google Wave. I downloaded Sidewiki. I saw the iPhone spot and downloaded Bump. It’s ego-boosting to be out on the edge with all of my new toys that my clients and colleagues are just starting to hear about and hopefully hearing from me.

And if I want to get even closer to the edge, I’m going to start investing heavy amounts of time and energy to developing my own idea. Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could use my webcam to not only display my unshaven face in real-time but also some crazy 3d animation on top of it? Cool, no doubt.

I like cool. I’d say the majority of us do. But what now?

I don’t have to tell you this, but more than ever, we have the ability to reach the masses with our messages, stories and our ideas. We have a brand new sandbox and close to an even playing field with the Apples and Googles to innovate and change the world (see crowdsourcing, app stores, social media). More of us than ever are dedicating our lives to inventing and building a flying coffee maker. And more of us than ever are finding ourselves pridefully approaching the edge by purchasing our flying coffee makers and showing them off to our friends. There are thousands, probably millions, of flying coffee makers already on the market and probably millions more to come.

Remember how much you used to make fun of the useless products in the AirMall magazine? They were intriguing and oftentimes left you amazed that we (humans) even had that capability now…but your rational brain quickly turned on and recognized the lack of benefit. Ever wonder what happened to Sharper Image? They briefly sustained their brand on the “ooooh”s and “ahhhh”s but weren’t selling anything. How many times did you swing in the store as you were strolling through the mall just to try out the new massage chair and then walk right out?

The new sandbox is starting to get crowded, and the reality is, we’re right in the middle of an AirMall magazine or Sharper Image store in the mall without even realizing it. The curve is going to start trending downward once we realize that Sidewiki and Wave are never going to catch on. They’re cool. They’re not useful. I’m no prophet, but my gut tells me AR falls squarely into this same category.

Here’s the application:
Many of us have been spending far too much time trying to develop the next big thing and not nearly enough time optimizing the useful tools we already have. Now, I don’t want true innovators to go anywhere. Keep doing what you’re doing. But some of us are pioneers and some of us are settlers. We need both. Right now, far too many settlers think they’re pioneers. If you’re a settler, that’s a GOOD thing. Leave the flying coffee maker in your brain. Pick up the useful tools that the great innovators/pioneers of our generation and previous generations have developed and figure out how to best optimize them to tell your brand’s or your client’s story.

It’s quite possible, and I would even say probable, that the great innovation that changed the world was e-mail – or an automatic coffee-maker. Save this post if I’m wrong, but I think Google Wave is just an attempt to make it fly.