[Applause]
for the past two summers I interned at
an investment firm based in Silicon
Valley and during my time there I
realized that everyone around me was
obsessed with newness I however wasn’t
so convinced I spent the better part of
each eight-hour workday doing market
research on every potential investment
one such company was a startup that
streamlined the invoicing process an
allowed freelancers to access and
organize pay on an online platform now
as someone who struggles with even just
operating my Mac this idea sounded super
cool to me innovative even but research
soon made me realize just how crowded
the market already was one competitor
called itself a cashflow optimization
tool while another can’t claim to be a
free advanced online payment platform
whatever the title within half an hour I
had already compiled a list of twenty
main competitors and I’m sure there
would have been many more if I just kept
going after a certain point I couldn’t
tell any of them apart and all of these
startups were founded just in the space
of the past four years and so throughout
the entire research process two things
repeatedly surprised me the most
first the sheer number of competitors no
matter how niche the market was I mean
who knew there were so many companies
that made self rotating beds and second
the frequent lack of distinction the
entrepreneurs that I was interacting
with were all extremely bright creative
and passion people yet many of their
ideas while claiming to be innovative
and the next big thing didn’t have much
value beyond what was already out there
the thing is today to be the next Elon
Musk or Steve Jobs is a widely shared
dream and I’ll admit I indulge in it too
after all hunting for the next unicorn
has become incredibly sexy but often
what people are bringing to the table
just isn’t that unique and besides if
you
horns are by definition rarer than how
can everyone hope to create and find the
next one today innovation seems to be
defined as that shiny new thing that
everyone wants to reach for but it needs
to be more than that instead of praising
the idea of innovation and change in and
of itself we should be looking at
successful startups that are both truly
disruptive and generating true positive
impact one such example is a company
that is working in underserved
communities to revolutionize the sphere
of child education in the home its goal
is to minimize the education gap that
occurs before many children even enter
kindergarten and its novelty lies in its
simplicity through partnering with
telecom companies parents who sign up
for the service receive step-by-step
instructions for a 15 minute activity
each day intended to boost their child’s
creative learning and emotional
capabilities and this partnership makes
it such a game-changer because it’s
addressing the fact that in many parts
of the world especially developing
countries cell phones are commonplace
but access to quality information and
education remains a rarity and so it’s
filling a void by addressing the major
pain points that parents in these
communities often face inconvenience
lack of time and feeling overwhelmed and
their ability to accurately address and
solve these issues is what makes them a
true innovator and so from these
examples we see that there are both
examples of superficial innovation and
genuine worthwhile innovation the
question is how can we as a community as
a generation move and progress towards
having more of the latter ultimately
there needs to be a criterion for
innovation to bounce a few thoughts the
proposed innovation should never have a
motivation behind it that is purely a
pursuit of novelty the net impact should
obviously be positive the proposed
positive impact should be long-term and
it shouldn’t be outweighed by signal
an opportunity cost for example if we’re
proposing an innovative policy change
then it shouldn’t come with the drawback
of significant lash back or potential
lack of progress in other areas more
than an amalgamation of important
factors however perhaps we can start to
combine social impact with innovation
not only does this introduce a new angle
it also allows us to create inherent
positive impact if an app is created
that streamlines the invoicing process
why not use it to increase access to
banking and underserved communities if
we have models out there why don’t more
startups use them so that every dollar
earned has a direct correlation to
positive impact made if innovation is
about cultivating and creating the best
ideas of tomorrow why have we made
entrepreneurship such a cutthroat space
where less than 0.1 percent of startups
even survive instead of having 10
geniuses and 10 rooms making 10 versions
of the next big thing shouldn’t we have
them collaborating and working together
so that we can all benefit from the best
product possible in the same way the TED
slogan is ideas worth spreading we as a
generation should consider innovation
worth pursuing for us to have a slogan
and a mission statement there’s the
implication that we as a generation
should be moving towards some kind of
progressive future and so we should but
if we’re implementing change just for
the sake of implementing change then
we’ve lost sight of the ultimate goal
improvement and advancement as opposed
to innovation in and of itself let’s
stay away from the trap of innovation
fetish and let’s keep in mind that it’s
not just about changing the world but
about changing it for the better
thank you [Applause]