A product needs to be sufficiently innovative to distinguish itself from the pack, but not so forward thinking as to alienate the user.
Interpretation
Products should be innovative enough to stand out, yet accessible enough not to alienate users.
This quote by Reid Hoffman emphasizes the delicate balance that product developers must maintain between innovation and usability. While it is crucial for a product to offer unique features that set it apart from competitors, there is a fine line where excessive innovation can deter users who may find the advancements too complex or unfamiliar. Thus, the quote underscores the importance of aligning innovation with user needs to ensure successful adoption.
In practice
In a presentation on product strategy, one might quote this to highlight the importance of user-centered design.
Leaders, whether in the public or the private sphere, must understand the responsibilities that come with their role. They are the most visible standard-bearers of their organizations. Holding them accountable to this responsibility protects the promise of our organizations and our communities.
The same instincts that make us good students can make us lousy entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneurial journey starts with jumping off a cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down.
Any effort to make the death penalty speedier and less costly - more 'efficient' - will inevitably make it less just.
I've long believed that if you're not embarrassed by your first product release, you've released too late.
Good ideas need good strategy to realize their potential.
I had two passions growing up - one was music, one was technology. I tried to play in a band for a while, but I was never talented enough to make it. And I started companies. One day came along and I decided to combine the two - and there was Spotify.
Technology is a tool, and it's a platform. Nobody gets arrested for being a blogger; people get arrested for dissent. Nobody gets arrested for putting information about themselves online; they get arrested for being an activist. I'm a strong believer in the fact that you should not blame the tools; you should blame the circumstances.
People who say they don't see the acceleration of innovation is a wilful blindness. We are innovation at a wonderful speed for the basic things we think everyone should get.
It pleases me no end to have had some small impact on people's lives because these phones do make people's lives better. They promote productivity, they make people more comfortable, they make them feel safe and all of those things.
The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.
Television was the most revolutionary event of the century. Its importance was in a class with the discovery of gunpowder and the invention of the printing press, which changed the human condition for centuries afterward.
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