Intro
People put out too many words about innovation. (Ahem, me, for example.) AI adds to the flood.
Some is crap of course. But other writing just aims at certain audiences ... who might not be you or me. For example, there is lots of good "general" startup advice. (E.g., Ben Horowitz's blog.) But that's not really the focus here. It's surprisingly tricky to find those who help the world (and me) do more Credible innovation work.
So, here are people I find worth following specifically for topics related to credible innovation, loosely grouped by theme.
This is not just a collection of "famous people." If you're eagle-eyed, you may even note a glaring (intentional) absence or two. The folks listed here are, IMHO, actually worth reading – independent of their fame.
It should go without saying, but it's worth saying: Obviously, I get no incentives from any of them for listing them. These are my actual opinions.
May you enjoy them too!
(Content sorted alphabetically.)
Must-knows
LEANSTACK and LEANFOUNDRY
Author: Ash Maurya
Background: Entrepreneur, turned blogger/ writer. Author of tools like the Lean Canvas and, more recently/ a bit less famously, the Customer Factory Blueprint.
Topic(s): "Continuous Innovation," turning the Lean Startup, Design Thinking, Business Model Design, Jobs-to-be-done, Systems Thinking, Behavior Design, and more into a continuous process from startup inception through scale, and recently including meta-tools for coaching this.
Format(s): Blog and multiple newsletters newsletter, for founders and coaches.
More: Many things. Books Running Lean and Scaling Lean, plus a full training and certification portfolio.
Why read them for credible innovation: 1) The multi-part discussion of the sequence in which to complete/ de-risk the Lean Canvas. (2) The customer factory blueprint (with related tools) is a thoughtful step-by-step process that focuses narrowly-enough not to be overwhelming and complete enough to guide your ventures from inception to unicorn status, with a meaningful treatment of qualitative and quantitative metrics.
What Steffen would comment: Incidentally, I don’t love his latest newsletter structure as much. I get what he’s doing. For my understanding, it’s just a bit too over-structured, getting in the way of the points. But the content is still good.
robermartin.medium.com
Author: Roger Martin
Background: Longtime consultant. Dean of the Rotman School of Business. His most famous book among innovators, "Playing to Win," introduced the strategy cascade tool. His earlier work, e.g., in the book "The Design of Business," laid important groundwork for integrating Viability topics into innovation work and introduced the underrated Knowledge Funnel framework. His book "Creating Great Choices" is an ultra-practical toolkit on making good choices.
Topics: Creating and making good (strategic) choices, integrating strategy and design thinking, integrating qualitative and quantitative thinking, CEO-level strategy, strategy for startups
Format(s): Blog and newsletter
More: Bunches of books, notably, The Design of Business, Playing to Win, and Creating Great Choices
Why read them for credible innovation: Martin is an expert who actually pushes his own thinking further. For example, his newsletter pushes much further from where he started in his book "Playing to Win."
What Steffen would comment: I tend to be a cynic about the writing of really famous people. They just have a strong interest in preserving their existing brand instead of trying new things. And they may have little time for writing. But Martin’s stuff is really thoughtful. Caveat: Occasionally, he indulges in obscure fencing matches about various schools of strategy theory that even I barely know. But those are mercifully short and kinda entertaining.
steveblank.com
Author: Steve Blank
Background: First an entrepreneur, then the OG of the lean startup movement. Taught Eric Ries, who actually coined the term "Lean Startup."
Topic(s): These days mostly writes about innovation in government.But also talks about avoiding innovation theater, which, after all, is the point of doing credible innovation work and about other related topics.
Format(s): Blog and newsletter
More: Startup tools and books The Four Steps to Epiphany, The Startup Owners Manual, and The Founders Workbook.
Why read them for credible innovation: His warnings about and analysis of the siren song of "Innovation Theater," first mentioned in 2015 and (I believe) a term that he invented, kicked off the entire search for doing more credible innovation work. Also interesting: His Secret History of Silicon Valley.
What Steffen would comment: (1) Some of his more recent stuff is less applicable beyond government teams, or, conversely, one of the few spots properly meaningfully innovation in government. 😄 (2) Unfortunately, Blank's website hasn't been updated in a long time. I've especially had trouble with the subscription feature. Good thing the content is good.
Specific topics
Of course, every innovation team is unique. And so, the topics that matter to them differ too. I could have an endless variety here.
To avoid listing every writer and sub-sub-method out there, I am sticking quite narrowly to the ones to whom I actually pay attention. Subjective? Yes. Still useful? Hopefully. After all, you already know whom you follow. Maybe here, the people whom I follow offer something new. 😄
Casey Accidental
Author: Casey Winters
Background: Product and Marketing in big and growing Tech
Topic(s): Scaling and growing tech, creating marketplaces
Format(s): Newsletter, Quora Q&A
More: Consulting, speaking, further reading resources
Why to read them for credible innovation: Scaling well. Really good rules of thumb and simple, practical frameworks/ decision guides to answer tricky questions, e.g., on what to give away vs. monetize.
What Steffen would comment: I haven't quite figured out the central argument or organizing principle of topics. They appear a bit one-off. But they are good as long as you go in with curiosity and openness about what to expect this time.
GTM Strategist
Author: Maja Voje
Background: Growth and marketing in corporations, tech, and startups
Topic(s): Go-to-market work
Format(s): Newsletter, eBooks
More: Free and paid tools, training
Why read them for credible innovation: Very practical go-to market tools, milestones, and how-to guides to help you in various Lean Startup and scaled launch approaches
What Steffen would comment: Her site feels very "marketing-y." But she's a marketer, who's marketing stuff for marketing. So that's actually appropriate. Take a minute to let the visual and verbal noise fall away and focus on the content, and (I hope) you'll find it's good.
Lean Scaleup
Author: Frank Mattes
Background: Consulting, startups, corporations. Author of books NOW and NEW and Lean Scaleup
Topic(s): Out-of-the-box innovation, making innovation scaleable (not just the scaling part of the work
Format(s): Blog
More: Books, roundtable discussions, toolbox as SaaS application
Why read them for credible innovation: The framework, underlying tools, and case studies are among the most complete and rigorous for corporate innovation writ-large, and vastly so for post-launch work.
What Steffen would comment: Mattes just published his book NOW and NEW recently. So his writing effort has understandably gone into that, webinars, community, etc. rather than the blog. But I wouldn't be surprised if he picks up the blog again soon. Meanwhile, everything that's already there is already worth reading.
Startup topics that matter for innovation in existing orgs too
How to Grow (aka The Path to Product-Market Fit)
Author: Rob Snyder
Background: Consultant, serial founder, fellow at Harvard Innovation Labs
Topic(s): Demystifying product-market fit, especially for B2B startups but relevant much more widely. Building companies with soul.
Format(s): Newsletter
More: Slide decks, trainings.
Why to read them for credible innovation: He has done a lot himself and also resisted the temptation to boil down his success to some silver bullet. In addition to his newsletter, also note his training slides from Harvard for early startups.
What Steffen would comment: Snyder's work has been a delight to discover. He doesn't mince words about his perspective. But it so happens that he has a point. So when he critiques stuff that's popular but comes with issues, it's (especially) worth paying attention. Cuts nicely through the buzzword bingo.
Mostly Metrics
Author: CJ Gustafson
Background: SaaS CFO
Topic(s:): Utter nerdery about metrics and financials related to startup success
Format(s): Newsletter, podcast, online repository of benchmarks and more
More: Consulting
Why to read them for credible innovation: I dive in an out, depending on need. But when I want to understand benchmarks for what's actually good, even among startups, if I want nerdy concepts explained in a human way (e.g., how to build a long-range plan for new ventures), this is a great resource.
What Steffen would comment: Super-nerdy. But important. A lot of innovators on the front end of innovation have very low literacy about these topics that track and foreshadow the success or failure of new ventures. It's especially if this is not your world that it's worth your while to pay attention, to grow your credibility into new topics that matter.
Popular writers who are helpful despite their popularity
Lenny's Newsletter
Author: Lenny Rachitsky
Background: Startup Product leader. Now thought leader, investor, and Product-related recruiter
Topic(s): Product and growth, mainly in Tech
Format(s): Newsletter, podcast
Why read them for credible innovation: From a purely corporate innovation standpoint, topics can be a bit hit or miss if you are not in Product in Tech. But when it's helpful, it's really helpful, e.g., how-to guides on metrics that matter and Lean Analytics.
What Steffen would comment: A bunch of content is behind a paywall. But even the free content is quite useful. IMHO, Lenny keeps a generous balance of free to paid content.
AI-related innovation
Sigh, I'd love to avoid this. So much of the conversation around AI is hype-based right now ... not credible at all.
But it does matter. And there are some good resources. So here are a few. (This list could have been much longer and keeps changing as everyone jumps onto the AI bandwagon. Consider them selected highlights, aka "selec" as some friends like to say.)
[To come]
Innovation-adjacent topics
Irrational Change
Authors: Nick and Edwina Pike (Pike Squared Consulting), plus friends
Background: Experts in strategy execution and organizational behavior and transformation, in a range of applications from startups, to corporations, non-profits, and the military.
Topic(s): Leading change and organizational transformation, including M&A integration
Format(s): LinkedIn, Instagram, and newsletter
More: Training, merchandise
Why read them for credible innovation: Incredibly practical content for dealing with the human struggles related to innovation, especially Acceptability. Along the way, their non-BS writing style is quite refreshing in a space that too often oozes fake positivity and fuzziness (IMHO). Finally, their free content on their theory, tools, and tactics, incl. for working with human issues related to Agile are instantly usable.
What Steffen would comment: Definitely note their LinkedIn content too. Their feisty style is a fun break from overly-precious LI "inspiration." And it's good too.
People who champion the idea of "credibility" into other contexts
Ok, these aren't a must-read from an innovation perspective. But I appreciate anyone who champions the same spirit as I have found to matter for our world.
Consider them too:
- Indispensable Consulting by Richard Millington on consulting and other approaches related to the idea of being "indispensable" (one of the key points of credible innovation too, most notably via the "must-do" purpose)
Others worth reading
Again, in alphabetical(ish) order:
- The Augmented Advantage by Thomas Zwingmann on business- and operations-related AI topics (e.g., AI capability mapping, AI opportunities in business) – Credibility connection: Non-BS AI talk.
- The Beautiful Mess (aka Cutlefish) by John Cutler and Tom Kerwin, on all kinds of matters related to modern leadership, e.g., Product leadership and systems thinking. Also a podcast. – Credibility connection: Calls out innovation theater in all its forms
- Creator Science by Jay Clouse, on social media marketing and content monetization (important for some lean startup and growth hacking work) – Credibility connection: Behind the more sales-y front is really solid business design advice
- Dorie Clark on becoming a recognized expert at your topic of focus – Credibility connection: How to think of credibility for your own self