Crowdsourcing


Daily Crowdsource Written by Solomon Nabatiyan.

Written by Solomon Nabatiyan.

debt, broke, frustrated

What to do to When Your Brilliant Idea Gets the Silent Treatment

The art and science of creating technology is very different from the art of marketing. Though one may think that great technology markets and "sells itself", the truth is quite contrary. There are numerous examples in past and recent history where the best or even greatest invention never made it anywhere because the forces bringing it to market were weak or insufficient.

Take the example of Nikola Tesla, a prolific, brilliant 19th century inventor with nearly 300 patents to his name.

Among many other famous inventions, we came up with a way to transmit electricity using alternating current across long distances with minimal loss. His rival was Thomas Edison who had come up with a much less practical method of electrical transmission via direct current.

For a while, Edison was on the lead by carrying out a campaign to discourage the use of alternating current, including publicly electrocuting and killing animals, primarily stray cats and dogs, but also unwanted cattle and horses. He even paid Harold Brown to build the first electric chair for the state of New York to promote the idea that alternating current was deadly, dangerous and unwanted compared to his technology.

The lesson learned here is that without proper marketing and effective promotional techniques (although Edison’s were arguably quite unscrupulous), it is not easy to present your technology to the market and have it take root and dominate.

The set of skills required to push your technology to the market is totally different. Thankfully, we have the Internet and the World Wide Web at our disposal making matters easier, simpler, more efficient and targeted. Today it is much easier to take your technology to the market with the help of the Internet and the capability it offers to help raise awareness, build brand recognition and allow people to freely and fairly evaluate the merits of competing technologies and chose winners that best serve people’s needs.

© professionalnobodies 2012