Breaking Digital Gridlock, + Website

CHAPTER 2Tech Evolution versus Tech Revolution

Before we begin the technology section of this book, I feel it is necessary to define the types of technology. In my career, I have found that tech always seems to come in two flavors, evolution or revolution.

Evolution is gradual change; it's something that takes time. In technology, it usually means that someone has taken an idea and adapted it to work better, or taken an idea and figured out how to scale it. Revolution occurs when technology fundamentally changes the way an industry does business. Revolutionary technologies are typically new, or present drastically new ways of doing business.

Successful technology platforms really revolve around two things, utility and scale. Utility is key because it is the reason the users come to the system. Scale is important because it implies to the users that the system works (otherwise, why would so many people use it?). Scale also means funding, and funding means that the platform will continually improve.

Let's talk about evolutionary technology.

Evolutionary Technology

I think one of the most successful evolutionary companies in the world is Apple. Now, many people think of Apple as the disruptor, the great revolutionary company, but if you think about it, mobile phones had been around for a long time when Apple came out with the iPhone. Apple evolved it. Nextel, Blackberry, and different kinds of phones were out there for a long time. They even had email—that's what initially made ...