The First Mile
A Launch Manual for Getting Great Ideas into the Market
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- $36.99
Publisher Description
You have a great idea, now what?
That first mile—where an innovation moves from an idea on paper to the market—is often plagued by failure. In fact, less than one percent of ideas launched by big companies end up having real impact. The ideas aren’t the problem. It’s the process.
The First Mile focuses on the critical moment when an innovator moves from planning to reality. It is a perilous place where hidden traps snare entrepreneurs and roadblocks slow innovators inside large companies.
In this practical and enlightening manual, strategic adviser Scott Anthony equips innovators with new tools, questions, and examples to speed through this crucial early stage of innovation. You’ll learn:
• How to evaluate your idea’s strengths and weaknesses using the “DEFT” process—Document, Evaluate, Focus, and Test
• Fourteen recipes from an “experiment cookbook” to gain confidence in your idea or business
• Why “spinouts,” “wrong turns,” and other challenges commonly trip up innovation—and the practical strategies you can use to avoid them
• Why innovators need to seek chaos in an age of constant change—and other essential leadership skills
Drawing on his decade of experience as an innovation adviser and investor, Anthony describes hard-won lessons from disruptive start-ups and global giants alike. The First Mile will give you the knowledge and confidence to travel this perilous—but ultimately promising—terrain.
The first mile can be a scary place, but you don’t have to traverse it alone. This book can help.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Anthony (The Innovator's Guide to Growth) examines entrepreneurs' strategies for launching innovations and offers a step-by-step plan to overcome common challenges. Proposing to apply the scientific method to the management of strategic uncertainty, Anthony cites examples from the food and sports worlds where such an approach has been successful. He introduces the "First Mile Toolkit," which offers a four-part process called "DEFT": document your idea, evaluate it, focus on critical uncertainties, and test. DEFT is designed to help identify weak points, differentiate between fact and assumption, and determine effective experimentation. The second half of the book analyzes the four most common obstacles, experimentation systems, and leadership skills for capably navigating uncertainty. Fresh examples including companies such as AsiaCom and DiGiorno help balance out Anthony's steady plugs for Innosight, the consulting firm where he is managing partner. Anthony skillfully leads readers through his process, though the book makes for challenging reading. However, the author ends each chapter with a distillation of key messages and provides a First Mile Readiness Checklist that readers will value.
