What if every “overnight success” you’ve ever admired was actually decades in the making?
We’ve all experienced that moment—scrolling through our phones, using Instagram or ordering groceries through Instacart, thinking “Why didn’t I think of that?” The innovation seems so obvious and simple that we convince ourselves we could have been the one to crack the code.
But here’s what we’re missing: Innovation isn’t about inventing something from nothing—it’s about seeing the same Lego pieces everyone else has and building something entirely different.
Consider this: In 1996, a company called Webvan promised to revolutionize the grocery shopping experience. Customers could order online and have groceries delivered to their door.
Sound familiar? They raised $400 million from VCs and even went public. With the money, they built massive warehouses and seemed unstoppable. Five years later, they were gone.
Louis Borders, Webvan’s founder, would later watch from the sidelines as Instacart launched in 2012 with the exact same concept—and succeeded wildly. The difference wasn’t the idea. It was the timing of the Lego pieces.
By 2012, the iPhone had trained millions to shop with their thumbs. GPS made delivery tracking seamless. Amazon had normalized online purchasing. Machine learning could optimize delivery routes. The same innovation that failed in 2001 thrived in 2012, not because someone was smarter, but because the building blocks had finally aligned.
This pattern repeats everywhere. Apple didn’t invent the mobile phone, touchscreen technology, or app stores—they existed for years. Steve Jobs saw how these existing pieces could fit together in a way no one had imagined. Like a master chef who doesn’t grow the tomatoes or herbs, but combines familiar ingredients into a dish that changes everything.
The most profound innovations hide in plain sight. They’re not born from basement laboratories or lightning-bolt moments in the shower. They emerge when someone notices that the world has quietly shifted, creating new possibilities from old pieces.
So what does this mean for the work we are all doing right now? Start by looking backward. What ideas in our industry were “ahead of their time” five or ten years ago? The technology, regulations, or market conditions that once hindered them might now be exactly what makes them viable. Then look sideways. Our clients may spend 20 hours a year with us, but they spend 6,000+ hours experiencing everything else—they’re ordering food on apps, watching streaming television, and have become comfortable using rideshare services. What are they learning to expect from those experiences that we could bring to ours?
The next breakthrough isn’t waiting to be invented. It’s waiting to be assembled from pieces that already exist. The question isn’t whether you’re creative enough to build something new—it’s whether you’re observant enough to see the combinations everyone else is missing.