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Innovation the Easy Way: Stealing Great Ideas

Innovation the Easy Way: Stealing Great Ideas. Steve Kirsch Chairman Infoseek. A confession. I am a thief. I steal ideas I steal property I steal money. Prediction. 1 year from now, many of you will: pay me to use your ideas let me use your computers for free.

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Innovation the Easy Way: Stealing Great Ideas

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  1. Innovation the Easy Way: Stealing Great Ideas Steve Kirsch Chairman Infoseek

  2. A confession

  3. I am a thief • I steal ideas • I steal property • I steal money

  4. Prediction 1 year from now, many of you will: • pay me to use your ideas • let me use your computers for free

  5. If you must leave early... • Please send all your ideas, spare cash, excess equipment, etc. to: Steve Kirsch Infoseek 1399 Moffett Park Dr Sunnyvale, CA 94089

  6. Agenda • Why steal? • How to steal • What to steal • What we should have stolen • When not to steal • What you can steal from us • Stealing on a global scale …and…if you get caught...

  7. Agenda How to get out of jail FREE!

  8. Why Steal?

  9. How most companies innovate • Put a team on it • Look at what others have done • Come up with new ideas, experiment

  10. The smart way to innovate • Why take the risk? • Why not adapt proven techniques?

  11. How to steal

  12. The most powerful idea stealing technique • Question • How does Cisco compensate its employees? • How does Microsoft compensate its employees? • Answer Ask2 employees

  13. Other popular stealing techniques “How do you know things?” Witchcraft CIA Psychic Powers Ouiji Board Magic 8 ball Space Aliens

  14. Three ways to steal • Passive stealing • Provide a customer feedback mechanism • Active stealing • Research… who does (or must be doing) this the best? • Get a contact within the company • Opportunistic stealing • Magazine articles (Inc, Fortune, etc) • Seminars (like this one!)

  15. Stealing ideas from customers • Make customer feedback EASY! • Easiest way: add a “Feedback” link • Hard part is asking the right questions • Collaboration may bring innovative solutions • BUT beware… Always better to observe than to ask!

  16. Ideas we’ve stolen

  17. The power of stealing • Stolen from PSS (They probably stole it too) “We haven’t come up with any good ideas ourselves. All our good ideas we’ve stolen from others.”

  18. How to quintuple revenues • At Stanford U., can you sell $50 worth of lemonade in 20 minutes? • This innovative technique was stolen from the winning team of the Stanford Entrepreneur Car Rally • Applies to web sites

  19. Corporate values • Great companies had them • Got their values from the PR dept • STARTED with the best: Cisco, Peoplesoft, Southwest Airlines, … • …and REFINED

  20. Single, simple goal • Stolen from PSS • Focuses your thinking • Stretch goal • Put on everything… • Presentations • Memos • Signs around the company

  21. Power of a single goal • Food challenge: $5K • 100M page views

  22. Compensation based on customer satisfaction • Stolen from Cisco • Over half of cash bonus is based on customer satisfaction

  23. Product development process • Stolen from HP product manager • Write the datasheet and create the screens before writing the MRD

  24. Getting customer names • Stolen from Quarterdeck, others • Works on Web site • E-mail required for download • In 15 days from installation, we e-mail reminder

  25. Free access to corp info • Stolen from PSS, with help from Apollo • It forces you to be consistent and fair • People love it

  26. Recuiting the best • Stolen from Microsoft, Cisco • Nice articles in Fortune about Cisco’s and Microsoft’s recruiting practices

  27. Banner ad idea • Stolen from Netscape • We even copied the size!

  28. Searching the Web • Stolen from Lycos

  29. Product ideas • Steal from our competitors • Yahoo: directory layout • Excite: channels • AltaVista: portions of our query syntax

  30. Action-biased suggestion box • Stolen from US Forest Service • Old way • Fill out 4 page form • 60 ideas/yr • New way • Send e-mail or tell supervisor • If no response in 2 weeks, and not illegal, do it • 6,000 ideas/yr

  31. Ideas we should have stolen

  32. Yahoo! • Their approach: manual directory • Our approach: automated directory • What consumers liked • You are in deep doo-doo Now what?

  33. Steal an idea from someone else to change the game!

  34. When not to steal

  35. When stealing doesn’t work • The imperfect copy • Yahoo • Conditions have changed • The Internet • Different industry

  36. The imperfect copy • Theory: “We’ll apply technology to do it better and faster and with lower costs this way” • Reality: • Be VERY careful about “improving” a stolen idea • You may need to vigorously defend this, in the face of overwhelming support against you

  37. Changed conditions • ISP “free trial” model didn’t work on the Internet • Internet shopping experience is completely unique • do not expect the same value propositions to apply

  38. Changed conditions • Pacific Bell stole their awards program from Frequent Flyer of airlines • Recently discontinued

  39. Ideas you may want to steal from us

  40. Python • We used Python for Ultraseek Server • Python is similar to Perl • Python is to Java what Java is to C++ • fast development • easy to learn language • easy to read • object oriented • portable • easy to debug

  41. The homing beacon • A simple addition to Internet software • Sends message back after installation as to how many documents are indexed • Allows our sales people to prioritize leads

  42. Direct Feedback • E-mail from feedback page goes right to the doc person that created the page • See software.infoseek.com

  43. Comments visibility • Extract typical comments from your incoming e-mail and forward to upper management

  44. Periodically pretend you are the customer • Submit feedback and see how long it takes to get a reply • Try the download link… does it download and install correctly?

  45. There are 18 or so categories of information that I’d love to see about any product See software.infoseek.com for a list Customer sites Live demo Screen shots Feature list Specs System requirements FAQ Product documentation Press reviews Competitive comparison Product information on your website

  46. The Art of the Steal (Apologies to Donald Trump)

  47. Stealing saves money! • Today • OUR computers index YOUR data • Tomorrow • YOUR computers index YOUR data (running OUR software) Ours Yours

  48. Global theft benefits • User results are more complete and up to date • We leverage: • OPM • OPC

  49. Summary If done properly, stealing is • safer • easier • faster than innovating from scratch

  50. Stealing this presentation • Goto Infoseek • Type: “Steve Kirsch” • Go to the top hit (my home page)

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