Surfing the Unseen Waves: Challenging the Expert Consensus in AgTech Innovation
Innovation capital should be used to identify where waves are gathering that no one else can see yet and to build the team that can ride them...
Agriculture is full of experts…
These are the people who Henry Ford called “so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done…”
They are the individuals who can tell you precisely how and why your new idea will fail…
They always know the pitfalls, fully aware of the limitations set before your new innovation.
They give good advice…
“That has never worked in the past.”
“There’s no market for what you’re making.”
“You can’t raise money for that.”
And they are frequently wrong.
The reality is that expert consensus does not dictate whether or not you are right. You are right when you're first-principles thinking is right.
Creating and discovering innovation is a lot like surfing. You are right when you identify a valid wave that is gathering that others can’t or won’t see.
Too often, startup capital (funding and talent) in agtech has been used to run after 20-foot waves that have already crested. Everyone is chasing that wave and the likelihood of anyone catching it from behind is slim to none.
If the World Agri-Tech crowd can’t say amen, they ought to say ouch.
But innovation capital should be used to identify where waves are gathering that no one else can see yet and to build the team that can ride them.
Billion-dollar waves are forming all around us in agriculture today; the problem is that we’re all focused on watching other people surf instead of looking at the horizon.
It’s time to find your wave and surf it.
Make something different. Make people care. Make fans, not followers.