The Innovation Curve and the Hype Cycle

Here is a modern-day take on the classic fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare." An R&D company challenged an early-stage company to a race: who could get acquired for more than a billion dollars first? The R&D company went through a long, iterative process. Minimum-viable products were created, tested with users, and then sent back for revision. Meanwhile, the early-stage company decided they could circumvent the entire development cycle. Instead of building a product, they built an idea and used social media to create hype around it. Whether the product existed or not, they could show a large number of people wanted it.

So, who wins this race?

Harbor sat down with Matthew Smith, CEO and founder of Fathym, a micro frontends platform for delivering future-proof web projects and applications, to talk about the lessons large companies can learn from startups on innovation, how to avoid overly hyped meme technologies, and the technology trends he’s most excited about.

Download the transcript here.