How to Kill a Unicorn
How the World's Hottest Innovation Factory Builds Bold Ideas That Make It to Market
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A unique behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking methodology that today's most in-demand innovation factory uses to create some of the boldest products and successfully bring them to market.
Today, innovation is seen by business leaders and the media alike as the key to growth, a burning issue in every company, from startups to the Fortune 500. And in that space, Fahrenheit 212 is viewed as a high-performance innovation SWAT team, able to solve the most complex, mission-critical challenges. Under Mark Payne, the firm's president and head of Idea Development, Fahrenheit 212, since its inception a decade ago, has worked with such giants of industry as Coca-Cola, Samsung, Hershey's, Campbell's Soup, LG, Starbucks, Mattel, Office Depot, Citibank, P&G, American Express, Nutrisystem, GE, and Goldman Sachs, to name but a few. It has been praised as a hotspot for innovation in publications like Fortune, Esquire, Businessweek, and FastCompany.
What Drives Fahrenheit 212's success is its unique methodology, combining what it calls Magic--the creative side of innovation--with Money, the business side. They explore every potential idea with the end goal in mind--bringing an innovative product to market in a way that will transform a company's business and growth. In How to Kill a Unicorn, Mark Payne pulls back the curtain on how the company is able to bring more innovative products and ideas successfully to market than any other firm and offers blow by blow inside accounts of how they grapple with and solved their biggest challenges.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As cofounder and president of Farenheit 212, an innovation consultancy, Payne has his finger on the pulse of creative problem solving, but his first book is marred by heavy-handed self-promotion. While his company's philosophy, team structure, and model for developing high-impact innovative solutions (centered on the concept of "Money & Magic") is captivating, and its purported success impressive, the intense focus on his own company results in a self-congratulatory marketing piece rather than innovation guide. Statements such as "the concept of Money & Magic blending commercial and creative capabilities to solve for the needs of the business and the consumer felt like a very obvious answer as it came into view" detract from informative stories about innovation from those not clients, such as Progressive's online price comparison tool and the development of the famous Eames chair. Even when describing challenging assignments, such as consulting gigs for the pet food company Nature's Variety or distillery Tuthilltown Spirits, Payne's emphasis on Farenheit 212's process dominates the narrative and undermines what could have been an opportunity to draw readers into the creative world of innovation.
