Policy-makers, corporates, entrepreneurs and investors are all struggling with how to turn technology and innovation into money and jobs. The complexity of building innovative technology-enabled businesses is not always understood.

 

Investment in early stage development, converting ideas into concepts and prototypes, generally works well. Growth funding for proven products and services with sustainable business models is also easier to get than some think. The real gap is in turning proven concepts into proven products and services with a sustainable business model, which we refer to as Chasm II - this is where the real challenge lies.

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Entrepreneurs and small & medium size companies need to prepare more effectively to improve the likelihood of crossing Chasm II successfully.

RiffStream# is a process aimed at supporting this. It is based on a simple musical analogy: Chords (ideas, concepts, technologies, and market needs) can be combined into Riffs, where Chords are integrated into a Product or Service which meets an existing or new market need. The dialogues around this subject, particularly with investors and larger corporates, are similar to early Auditions where players can experiment, interact and improvise.

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Continuing the musical analogy, RiffStream# is an open process which stops short of the final musical composition and performance: the actual crossing of Chasm II usually involves commercially sensitive information and protection of valuable intellectual property. The basic idea is that the preparatory work in RiffStream# accelerates and increases the likelihood of crossing Chasm II.