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Every technology company on the planet is trying to develop the great disruptive technology that will revolutionize their industry. Maybe your company believes that you’ve already discovered or developed it. But particularly in international markets, how do you balance the confidence in your innovative product with enough modesty to keep from alienating potential customers?
Believe in Your Product, But Don’t Let it Blind You
Maybe your product is the latest and greatest in your field. You are confident that it will solve its intended problem better than any other product on the market. Unless your company is the equivalent of Apple in your industry, are customers beating down your door? Countries working to stay globally innovative in technology industries include the U.S. and Israel. Culturally, both Americans and Israelis need to be mindful of the amount of confidence we show. We can be perceived as arrogant and interested in technology for technology sake. The best way to compensate and be successful is to focus on serving the customer. What needs does the customer have? What would make it easier for them to adopt the new technology? Focusing on customer needs and talking with customers both during the product development cycle and the marketing/sales process is crucial to balancing confidence with modesty.
Think You Don’t Have Competition? Think Again
“My product is so disruptive that I have no competition”… I have actually heard this claim made – more than once. First, you ALWAYS have competition. It just might not be from a competing company with a product that looks and behaves just like yours. To find your competition, start with the problem that your product solves. Then ask “what do customers do now to solve this problem?” If they don’t solve the problem, then do they even feel that it’s enough of an issue to even address? Your competition may be to “Do Nothing”. This is one of the most challenging competitors around. Your competition may be a low tech stop-gap measure. This may seem easy to beat, but getting people to change patterns no matter how much more efficient is challenging. Just ask the developers of the Electronic Medical Record in the healthcare IT industry.
Leave Technology Arrogance at the Doorstep
Last June I was attending a global conference on international entrepreneurship. One session in particular stood out, but for all the wrong reasons. The sponsoring organization had flown in high-flying speaker who had helped co-found a social-media management software company in Silicon Valley, California. (Normally Silicon Valley refers to the area around San Jose, but I thought I’d clarify since there are now so many spin off clusters using Silicon in their branding.) The speaker came in with the usual swagger of a successful technology entrepreneur from that region. He proceeded to give us the most elementary lesson on what social media and what it could be used for. But mostly he talked about himself and the company he had founded. The questions at the end of his talk made it clear that everyone in the room had been using social media for various uses. In a presentation, you are selling your ideas. The conference attendees that day weren’t buying.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| NU306 NACHI | 30 | 72 | 19 |
| NU2206 NACHI | 30 | 62 | 20 |