Back again to talk about “getting to the edge” in the form of a series of posts that are rapidly turning into nothing more than a three-part analysis of a ten-year-old essay…
If you recall, in the first post in this series, we are looking to go from zero to one. This means we have to, more or less, get to the edge of human knowledge or science in a domain and then use that knowledge to develop a solution to a problem (Not coincidentally, this also the definition of new technology) you have noticed.
I keep citing Paul Graham, whom I am just going to refer to as PG from now on. PG makes an interesting distinction in how one gets to the edge, either a) through technical expertise in a domain or b) becoming an expert user in a field. Intuitively, the latter seems like a faster path than the former. E.g. maybe, we might not be a technical expert that can bang out prototype code for a new Blockchain platform. But, perhaps we recently did a bunch of research on diamonds and see how beneficial trust in authenticity can be.
As Dan Sullivan said, it’s the who not how. You have knowledge of a field as a result of being a user. Now hire or partner with somebody to develop a solution for a problem you have noticed in that field. Of course, it might be faster if you were a technical expert and could develop a prototype. But not necessarily less risky. Time is your most precious resource and the only thing we should be truly fearful of wasting.
Think about a field or domain we are interested in and for which we can get to the edge. It makes logical sense that some fields may be riper for noticing ideas than others, specifically those that are rapidly changing due to technology and innovation or subject changing law and regulation or popular opinion.
Jeff Bezos did this when he thought up what was to become Amazon.com on a cross-country flight. Jeff saw the internet was rapidly changing commerce. He strategically thought up a plan to capitalize on it. Notably, after he found what was changing (i.e. how consumers purchased goods), he spent every subsequent day focusing on what wouldn’t change. Jeff didn’t chase fads, he identified a true problem; people didn’t always want to go to the store, selections were limited, and traditional mail-order was slow. People want more options, faster. That is something that will never change and here is a technology that can solve that problem.
Spend some time reviewing the Gartner Hype Cycle. Although historically, its predicted timelines and technologies have been inaccurate, it can be a good Cliff’s Notes version of what is happening.
Think about those technologies in terms of Peter Diamandis Six D’s of Exponential Change for insight as to what is coming in the next phase of a technology’s lifecycle.
Come up with a theme of what you generally think is interesting, whether it is blockchain, artificial intelligence, genetics, etc. Take some courses online either through Coursera.com, edx.com, or any of the many other online learning platforms on those topics.
Make sure to talk to people in the domain. Don’t isolate yourself. Become an early adopter in the field and pay attention to what chafes you. E.g. if you think augmented reality is cool buy a pair of goggles and test them out. Take note of what you didn’t expect. Once you find something that holds your interest, i.e. after a few weeks research doesn’t feel like work you may have a domain and an idea of where the edge might be.
PG – Live in the future and build what seems interesting