Innovation is the key to successful entrepreneurship. Innovation doesn’t always mean creating something new: innovators often take existing products and make them better. Innovation is what will make a startup unique in the highly competitive world that we live in. Strong brands, customer networks and outstanding products are all built by innovation. Innovation can come from taking an idea or concept and improving it or making it different than what already exists on the market – this is how entrepreneurs create value for their customers.
Innovation can also be as simple as simplifying a process, which makes everything more user-friendly for people who want to buy your product or use your service . Innovation is what will make a startup competitive.
What Are The Types Of Innovation In Entrepreneurship?
There are four basic types of innovation within entrepreneurship, and they are based off of:
- Products/Services/Technology/Processes (for simplicity we will call them products throughout)
- Markets,
With either being new or existing.
Incremental Innovation
Let us start with something we are all more familiar with, innovation within an existing market of an existing product.
Incremental innovation is a process of making small changes to existing products or services with the goal of improving their value and usefulness. It can be seen in many companies by adding new features, such as additional colors for an item that already exists; removing obsolete parts from production lines (value through simplification); even minor updates like changing fonts on menus.
Disruptive Innovation
The second form we will look at details the innovation for an existing market, but a new product or service.
Disruptive innovation, also known as stealth innovation, can be the death of established companies. This process is done by applying new technology to a company’s current market and once complete with newer iterations that surpasses old tech; it will disrupt all existing competitors in its field. Stealthy since this newest tech often has lower quality than other options on the market but still manages to compete due to decreased pricing or more features offered for less price point-wise. The risk here is that if an older competitor does not react quickly enough they may lose out financially after being disrupted from their own game plan which was meant for stability before disruption occurred.
Market disruption is a common phenomenon, but it’s not always the first mover that ends up achieving this feat. Market disruptions are very common in today’s world of fast-paced technological change; however, you’ll find often that while remaining vigilant for potential disruptors like Uber and Airbnb to come knocking on your door (or window), they’re more likely coming from someplace else entirely.
Architectural Innovation
Architectural innovation is the utilization of existing products in a new market space to increase customer base and revenue. This type of innovation carries low risk, as it relies on tried-and-true methods that have been successful elsewhere. The downside to this strategy, however, can be great variance between what has worked before and how well those strategies will work now; tweaking may be necessary for success within new markets
Radical Innovation
Radical innovation is what we think of mostly when considering innovation. It gives birth to new industries, sometimes swallowing existing ones, and involves creating revolutionary technology which revolutionizes our world as we know it, such as the airplane. This involved understanding the concepts of a new market, i.e. air travel, and a new product, i.e. an airplane.
The Innovative Entrepreneur
As we’ve seen, there are many different ways for companies to innovate. The four types mentioned here – Incremental, Disruptive, Architectural and Radical – can help you understand the scope of innovation that is possible in your line of work. And while these may be some of the most common methods used by entrepreneurs today, they are not the only ones. It all depends on what type suits your company best and how it will leverage those innovations into success. For more information about entrepreneurship or any other aspect of business development, visit [website