{"id":16713,"date":"2019-09-24T18:52:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T16:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=16713"},"modified":"2019-09-25T00:01:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T22:01:51","slug":"failed-innovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/","title":{"rendered":"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three examples of how failed innovations can be surprisingly valuable<\/h3>\n

No, it\u2019s not just because you learn from what went wrong. Innovations that miss the mark can sometimes become a huge success exactly because<\/em> of how they turned out different. Failed innovations can be blessings in disguise.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of a long and hard innovation process, you obviously hope to end up with a brilliant new product or service. Something exciting that will shake up your market. Unfortunately, few are lucky enough to deliver something groundbreaking as the iPhone, Airbnb or Google. These types of inventions are few and far between. Remarkable innovations like these are usually preceded by loads and loads of \u2018failures\u2019.<\/p>\n

Failures are necessary<\/h3>\n

These failures are a necessary evil if it\u2019s brilliant discoveries you\u2019re after. Quantity eventually leads to quality<\/span><\/a>. The more you try, the bigger your chances of finding something truly unique. And you simply won’t try many different things if you’re afraid to fail.<\/p>\n

In other words; as an innovator, you should be willing to fail<\/a><\/span>. By accepting you won\u2019t always hit the mark, you set yourself up for innovation success.<\/p>\n

Obviously, you can limit the damage by testing your assumptions as quickly as possible. Make prototypes<\/span><\/a> and check if your idea works in practice. This way, you prevent wasting time and money on an idea that is doomed from the start. If necessary, you\u2019ll have time to refine or ditch your flawed idea.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how you go about it, not every innovation will be a success. Things will go wrong and sometimes results will be downright disappointing.<\/p>\n

When these inevitable failures occur, you\u2019re probably quite upset. Understandable, but not always necessary. While setbacks like these seem terribly annoying, there often is a silver lining. Sometimes the lining even turns out to be pure gold…<\/p>\n

How failed innovations can be valuable<\/h3>\n

Clearly any failure teaches you valuable lessons. You\u2019ve learned what doesn\u2019t work. When he worked on a suitable fitting for the light bulb, Thomas Edison failed many times. About these failed experiments, he allegedly said: \u201cI have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.\u201d<\/h3>\n

– Thomas Edison<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Learning from what doesn\u2019t work clearly is valuable. In the next innovation project, you won\u2019t make the same mistakes again. But there is also another reason to study your failures closely: your \u2018failed\u2019 innovation attempts can unexpectedly prove to be very useful after all.<\/p>\n

When something is wildly different from what you expected, it usually doesn\u2019t fit your initial need. It won\u2019t help you reach your original objective, but it might be useful in unexpected ways. The fact that the outcome is unforeseen means that it is likely to be unusual. A new situation has presented itself and experienced innovators will take advantage of this.<\/p>\n

Take the \u2018failed\u2019 experiments below, for instance:<\/p>\n

Weak glue proved powerful after all<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 1969, chemist Spencer Silver attempted to create a super-strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. Instead, his invention turned out to be a very weak<\/em> glue instead. It was only capable of temporarily sticking things together. It seemed worthless, and it took years until a colleague of Silver saw the impermanent glue’s potential. Silver’s colleague Art Fry sang in a choir and used pieces of paper to mark the pages in his hymnbook. Often the bookmarks would fall out. When Fry learned about Silver’s invention, he started using it to stick his bookmarks to the pages of his book. It took a few more years, but eventually, Fry\u2019s vision led to the post-it notes<\/a><\/span> that to this day dominate offices around the world.<\/p>\n

Failed wallpaper still protects your deliveries<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 1957, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes<\/span><\/a> tried to create a textured wallpaper by putting two pieces of plastic shower curtain through a heat-sealing machine. The result initially disappointed them: a sheet with air bubbles trapped inside. While Fielding and Chavannes recognised that the bubbly material wouldn’t be very successful as wallpaper, they weren’t willing to give up on it either. In 1960, the duo founded the company Sealed Air Corporation<\/em>\u00a0to continue developing their unusual invention. In 1961, they started using their material as packaging material. As luck would have it, IBM had just introduced their new 1401<\/em> computer and needed a way of protecting the vulnerable device during transport. The \u2018failed\u2019 wallpaper was just what they needed. The bubble wrap turned out to be a far better way to protect goods during shipping than what was usually used at that time: old newspapers. Started as a failed attempt at creating a new type of wallpaper, Sealed Air went on to become a multi-billion-dollar company.<\/p>\n

Dried up dough for breakfast<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many people start their day with a bowl of cornflakes. But few people know that the crunchy treat started as a mistake. In 1894, brothers John and Will Kellogg tried to make dough from boiled wheat. By mistake, they left the batch to dry for too long. As a result, when they tried to roll it out, the dough splintered into dozens of individual flakes. Out of curiosity, the brothers decided to bake them anyway. A new type of cereal was born. Later, the wheat was replaced by corn. In 2018 Kellogg\u2019s<\/em> had a whopping revenue of 13,5 billion dollars. Not bad for a dried-up batch.<\/p>\n

Embrace failed innovations<\/h3>\n

The main takeaway from all these unlikely success stories, it\u2019s that innovators should embrace failure. To innovate successfully, you have to accept that not everything will go as planned. Innovation is all about experimentation and learning from your \u2018mistakes\u2019. But equally important is watching out for unexpected results<\/strong>. Failed innovations that initially seem worthless might be far more valuable than whatever you were aiming for!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ready for the next step in your innovation process?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Contact us<\/span><\/a> and let’s discuss how we can help you to take your innovation process to the next level!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[1485,1483,523,1481,1480,107,302,551,196,1484,1482],"class_list":["post-16713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation","tag-bubble-wrap","tag-cornflakes","tag-edison","tag-failed-experiments","tag-failed-innovations","tag-failure","tag-failures","tag-innovating","tag-innovation","tag-kelloggs","tag-post-it"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HatRabbits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-24T16:52:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-24T22:01:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"787\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"444\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/\",\"name\":\"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-24T16:52:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-24T22:01:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\"},\"description\":\"Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg\",\"width\":787,\"height\":444,\"caption\":\"How failed innovations can be impressively valuable - use problem to your advantage\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"HatRabbits\",\"description\":\"The magic of getting ideas\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\",\"name\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\"},\"description\":\"Ren\u00e9 is one of the founders of HatRabbits. His background in both law and photography enables him to shift smoothly between very different worlds and might explain his fascination with unusual combinations.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/author\/rene\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones","description":"Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones","og_description":"Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable.","og_url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/","og_site_name":"HatRabbits","article_published_time":"2019-09-24T16:52:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-24T22:01:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":787,"height":444,"url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/","name":"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-24T16:52:15+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-24T22:01:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e"},"description":"Innovators should embrace failure and keep an eye out for unexpected results. Failed innovations can be incredibly valuable.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/failed-innovations.jpg","width":787,"height":444,"caption":"How failed innovations can be impressively valuable - use problem to your advantage"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/failed-innovations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How failed innovations can be more valuable than successful ones"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/","name":"HatRabbits","description":"The magic of getting ideas","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e","name":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter"},"description":"Ren\u00e9 is one of the founders of HatRabbits. His background in both law and photography enables him to shift smoothly between very different worlds and might explain his fascination with unusual combinations.","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/author\/rene\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}