The phonograph, electric light, power system and sound film can be called Edison's four great inventions, so he is called a famous genius in the history of human science and technology. In fact, Edison is more like a shrewd entrepreneur and businessman than an inventor. 1890, he founded Edison General Electric Company, which is now the famous GE General Electric Company.
Speaking of Tesla, many people's first reaction is Tesla cars. But what we are talking about today is not Tesla, but nikola tesla. He is one of the greatest physicists in American history. He discovered and invented a series of new technologies such as alternating current, radio, radio, radar and fax machine.
Elon musk named his electric car company Tesla just to pay tribute to him. However, it is such a great inventor who is known as "creating the twentieth century", but he is poor and on the verge of bankruptcy all his life, in sharp contrast with Edison.
Why is Tesla, who is also a scientist, poor all his life, while Edison is rich in the world?
At the time of Tesla's greatest fame, all the elites in new york wanted to make friends with him. At that time, many famous families and female stars showed their affection for Tesla. Tesla is not only an inventor, but also an international master who knows eight languages. His charm is boundless. But he is still more interested in his own experiments and inventions. For the sake of science, he even sleeps only two hours a day. This is an inventor who is destined to devote his life to all mankind.
1893, in the long-term contest with Edison, Tesla finally became the winner of the "current war", so the mainstream of our current power supply is alternating current, and alternating current has become the standard of major power grid companies. But for various reasons, Tesla finally decided to give up the patent right of alternating current, so alternating current became a free invention. Tesla's life began at this moment, and he almost died.
Tesla didn't turn the most important invention into wealth. In the days to come, he devoted all his income to new scientific research. 1943 65438+1On October 7th, Tesla, who had never been married, died of heart failure in new york Hotel at the age of 86.
Edison's rise came from selling the patent right of his printing press. 1870, Edison sold the patent right to a company on Wall Street. Originally Edison thought he could only sell a few thousand dollars, but the manager gave Edison 40 thousand dollars. Let Edison truly appreciate the value of invention for the first time. He set up his own factory with the investment of $40,000 he earned, specializing in manufacturing all kinds of motors. Many people say that what you have to do after you have money is not to work, but to learn to integrate resources.
Edison's light bulb business showed his unique business thinking of integrating resources from the beginning. Edison was not the only one who invented the electric light. Edison was only 3 years old when the British physicist Swan developed the vacuum carbon filament incandescent bulb in 1850.
Technically, the swan's light bulb is better, so Edison bought the swan's patent and applied it to his own light bulb production line. Edison not only considered the technical requirements, but also considered the supporting devices such as glass cover, vacuum tube and luminous fiber. Therefore, Edison was actually a marketing expert. He knew: "People don't buy light bulbs, but the light they emit."
"Systematic problem solving" is a basic characteristic of entrepreneurs. Soon, Edison raised funds, obtained the right to wire the light bulb users, and established a special power distribution system. This is also the embryonic form of Edison General Electric Company's profit model, and Edison's incandescent lamp quickly gained an overwhelming advantage in the world. It can be said that the scientist Swan just invented a product, while Edison created an industry.
Edison, 22, once said, "I don't want to invent something that can't be sold." Its sales volume is the proof of its practicality, and its practicality can be successful. "Obviously, Edison just wanted to invent something that has universal needs and can provide services for people.
Compared with the inventor Tesla, Edison's genius lies in his emphasis on the practice and application of inventions, his efforts to gather all kinds of production factors together, his conception of marketing strategies for product promotion, and his ultimate wealth return, which is the essential difference between inventors and innovators. Tesla only pays attention to technology, while Edison pays more attention to the market.
Real innovation
Looking around the world, we are entering an era in which innovation is king, and a large number of scientific and technological innovation enterprises are favored by a large amount of capital. However, our research shows that most start-ups that are changing the world do not only rely on technological innovation, but also pay more attention to business model innovation and design innovation, and how to combine these innovations with existing technologies.
During the period when VR, AR and MR were popular, many domestic enterprises flocked. However, after buying these technologies, they found that they didn't know where the users were. I don't even know what users need. "Create a demand and then find a customer", which is contrary to the logic of innovation. The essence of innovation should be to be close to users, explore the market, meet the needs of consumers and solve the pain points of the market, instead of looking for customers everywhere with needs.
See through the essence of innovation, how can we succeed?
Tesla was down and out all his life, because he was just a technical inventor, because he didn't connect with the market. In order to survive and develop in real life, we must explore new business opportunities as innovators.
1. Find out the real problem
Never develop technology or make products for customers who don't exist.
2. Insight into the market
Find out the pain points and just needs of consumers, then adjust the existing technology, determine the demand through continuous market testing, and finally gain a foothold in the market. Real innovators need to distinguish between real needs and false needs of customers.
On the journey of innovation, many excellent companies often adopt cross-border integration, or humbly accept external suggestions to upgrade, and sometimes even adopt imitation. Voltaire once said that "originality is only wise imitation". As long as we solve a real problem for users, users can't live without you.
In the eyes of innovators, technological inventions are only "unlocking tools", and customer needs are "treasure boxes". As peter drucker, a management guru, said, the only goal of an enterprise is to "create customers".
If you want to go further on the entrepreneurial road in the second half of the Internet, don't fall into the technical trap, and you must explore the real needs of the market and customers! When you do all this, you will be the richest Edison in the world, not the poor Tesla!
The writer of this article is Li Guangdou: China No.1 brand, brand consultant of CCTV, famous brand strategy expert, founder of brand competitiveness school, chief consultant of Internet Finance Committee of China Electronic Commerce Association, and founder of brand marketing agency of Huasheng Ye Zhi Li Guangdou.