Tony Ulwick

Outcome-Driven Innovation®

A breakthrough innovation process.
Applied jobs-to-be-done theory.
The ultimate upgrade in innovation.

Download our ODI white paper
What Customers Want
Buy the book

Say goodbye to an old way of thinking

And hello to an innovation process that works

Cobbling together a hodgepodge of hit-or-miss innovation practices doesn’t work. That’s why we spent the last 22 years creating Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI), our award-winning strategy and innovation process that transforms jobs-to-be-done theory into practice. Looking through the jobs-to-be-done lens, we’ve reinvented the way customers, markets and needs are defined, the way markets are segmented and sized, and the way ideas are constructed, tested and sold.
While the average innovation success rate is 17 percent, products launched using our jobs-to-be-done methodology have an unprecedented 86 percent success rate. This is no accident. ODI is an innovation process designed from the ground up to mitigate the risks of failure. Using ODI we have created hundreds of winning products for the world’s leading companies. Discover a new language of innovation, a new innovation process (described below), and experience the ultimate upgrade in innovation management.
who is your customer

Customers

Accelerate revenue growth

By defining customers differently

People buy products and services to get a “job” done. This insight is at the core of the jobs-to-be-done innovation theory. Customers are loyal to the job (e.g., listening to music), not the product (e.g., LPs, CDs, the iPod). Using Outcome-Driven Innovation, we launch breakthrough products and ventures by helping customers get their jobs done better. We start by getting to know the true customer: the job executor. Learn More

customer needs

Needs

Know all the customers’ needs

By defining needs in a way customers can articulate

We discovered that customers use between 50 and 150 metrics, called outcomes, to judge how successfully they are able to execute the job-to-be-done. These outcomes are the customers’ needs. They are the power behind our Outcome-Driven Innovation process. Capturing them all is not easy. But with 20 years’ experience, we get customers to articulate all their needs. Customer insight like this changes everything. Learn More

market opportunity

Opportunities

Discover hidden growth opportunities

By understanding where customers need help most

Market opportunities exist because customers struggle to execute the job-to-be-done. Over two decades, we have developed and refined our proprietary techniques for determining where customers struggle most and by how much. Using our Outcome-Driven Innovation process, we accurately determine if a market is under- or overserved, and discover precisely which unmet needs hold the key to growth. Learn More

market segmentation

Segmentation

Discover true segments of opportunity

By segmenting the market around customer needs

Traditional market segmentation doesn’t work because customer differences can’t be explained by convenient classifications. Customer segments exist because people have different unmet needs, and they struggle differently when executing the job-to-be-done. Using Outcome-Driven Innovation, we discover underserved customer segments and paths to growth that traditional methods would never reveal. Learn More

size the market

Sizing

Invest only in high-growth markets

With sizing methods that show the way

How big is the iPod market? Trick question. There is no iPod market. Customers don’t want iPods. They want to listen to music. That is the job-to-be-done. Sizing a market from a product perspective doesn’t work because products come and go. But the job doesn’t. Using ODI, we quantify what customers will pay to get the job done better, enabling us to size The Securable Market™ and find growth markets others would miss. Learn More

competitive analysis

Competition

Beat the most fearsome competitors

By focusing on needs, not products

Comparing one product to another doesn’t help growth. That is why we assess a product’s ability to help customers execute the job-to-be-done. We don’t chase the competition; we stay one step ahead by helping customers get the job done better. Using our Outcome-Driven Innovation process, we quantify exactly where existing products fall short. By attacking their weaknesses, we leapfrog the competition. Learn More

innovation strategy

Strategy

Always make the winning move

With customer insight others don’t have

Is it best to improve an existing product or launch a new one? The customers hold the answer. Using Outcome-Driven Innovation, we determine if an existing product can be improved to address all the customers’ unmet needs or if a new product is needed to help customers execute the job-to-be-done better. Knowing when it is time to disrupt an existing product puts us in a position to make the winning move. Learn More

pricing strategy

Pricing

Price the product right

Knowing it will get the job done better

Asking customers how much they would pay for a product is the wrong approach to pricing. Customers aren’t paying for a product; they are paying to execute the job-to-be-done. This is why we use our patented Outcome-Driven Innovation process to calculate price based on the customer’s willingness to pay to get a job done better. Using ODI, we create premium-priced products that win profit share. Learn More

ideation

Ideation

Now you can have a big idea

Because success comes from knowing, not guessing

Ideation shouldn’t be about lots of ideas. Instead, the goal should be to construct the single, best solution to get your customers’ job done better. Using our Outcome-Driven Innovation process, we help you know what customer, job-to-be-done, segment, needs, and price to target. With this insight, we help you construct breakthrough ideas for new and existing products. So stop brainstorming. Use ODI, and have a big idea. Learn More

concept testing

Testing

A concept test we are certain to pass

Because our concepts are what customers want

So how do we know an idea is big? By confirming that it helps customers execute the job-to-be-done better. Using Outcome-Driven Innovation, we make the perfect assessment because ODI uses the same metrics customers use to assess value: their desired outcomes. We validate that our new product ideas get the job done significantly better. This ensures the product’s success and the company’s growth. Learn More

product positioning

Positioning

Connect perfectly with customers

By appealing to their emotional needs

Value is created when a product helps customers execute the job-to-be-done better. And value is communicated by explaining to customers how a product does this and by tying that message to the customer’s emotional needs. Using Outcome-Driven Innovation, we discover the correlation between the customers’ functional and emotional needs, so we can create messages that hit home and touch the heart. Learn More

Innovation Process