Two Things To Keep In Mind For Co-Innovation To Succeed

My colleague Terence Chesire shared some interesting insight about co-innovation with me.

• When you are co-innovating with customers, make sure that there are at least a few customers with whom you are co-innovating. If you work with just one customer, that is not co-innovation. That is a custom development project. Co-innovating with about 5 customers worked best for us.
• Make sure that the project is already sanctioned and signed off internally for development. Do not co-innovate with customers before the project is approved for development, in the hope that you can build a business case. You will disappoint customers, make a fool of yourself, and spoil you reputation  in the industry. 

Do not co-innovate because an executive wanted to appease a customer. That is not co-innovation. That is free consulting.