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Innovationat the
“Accidental Business”
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Who is Jake Nickell?
25 year old zany punk brat
College dropout
Nouveau riche
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“coolest dude on earth”
Google it.
Jake comes up 1st
…and second
…and third.
Why? What did he do?
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Just ask Eric von Hippel, MIT
“…a perfect example of a new way of thinking and
innovation.”
“Most product innovations do not come from corporate
R & D labs, but from the users themselves.”
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Or ask…
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A small first step,a revolutionary idea.
Jake, 20 yrs old, day job at CompUSA
Design was his hobby,dreamless.org his community
Enters a shirt design contest,and wins!
He wins no $, no shirt,just satisfaction
An hour later, Threadless was born.
The Gaming RevolutionSean Mort
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The concept.
Designers submit their original work.
Designs are rated for 7 days by members.
Threadless prints the most popular designs.
Users buy the designs.
The winning designer gets some $.
U.S.S. Awesome - Joshua Kemble
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The pitch:
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By the Numbers
200210K members
$100K revenue
2006 700K members
$18MM revenue
2009 1 million members
$30MM revenue
1.5M Twitter followers
100K Facebook Fans
50 employeesThe Gaming RevolutionSean Mort
I got $5 on itTim Shumate
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Rock and Roll
Funkalicious Christopher Golebiowski
No advertisements
No sales force
No design staff
No modeling agency or fashion photographers.
30% profit margin
1000 new designs per week
42,000 citizen designers
Every product sells out. Never a flop.
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Product Expansion
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More Product Expansion…
w/ Blik
w/ DELL
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Brick & Mortar
Only 20 Designs Sold
No shirt sells more than 2 weeks
2nd floor is exclusively art, not product
An event venue, community hangout
Art exhibits, Photoshop workshops
Physical manifestation of culture
Turned down Urban Outfitters & Target
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Community Interaction
“Almost no one was simply consuming. They were all (95%) participating.” – MIT study
370 Threadless Meetup groups worldwide
Street Team tools and perks system
Flip cameras to top designers
A blog for every member
Threadspotting – movies, tv, music videos, etc
Employees as models
“Awesome Time” for employees
U.S.S. Awesome - Joshua Kemble
Birds Of A FeatherRoss Zietz
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Concepts at Work
Crowdsourcing
User-driven innovation
Rapid prototyping (i.e. Airbike)
e-Tribalized Marketing
The Customer as…DesignerQuality ControlTesterRecruiterSales forceBrand AmbassadorMarketing staff Childhood Garden
Rachel Caldwell
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Other Examples…
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In the Founder’s Words
Why wouldn’t you want to make the products that people want you to make?
Our skill is to never stop thinking like users
No marketing efforts have been as effective as a really engaged community
We constantly ask, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if ___________?”
U.S.S. Awesome - Joshua Kemble
Cookie Loves MilkJess Fink
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@donrua Linkedin.com/in/donrua +DonRua1
Don RuaDigital Strategist
