Launching breakthrough innovations in the market requires taking the long view and accepting that most disruptive technologies take time to permeate and change consumer behavior, even more so in the sustainability space, where purchase behavior continues to lag stated consumer values of protecting the environment—often dubbed the “value action gap.” Because what people say and do are two different things (especially in sustainability and food), it’s easy for companies to fall into the trap of launching innovations based on consumer sentiment, without considering the time-tested reality of the S curve of innovation.

Innovations typically require substantial behavioral change, a tough sell for most humans—often needing significant time and education investments. Consider solar panels or electric vehicles (EVs), or even the ubiquitous iPhone. None of these gained broad acceptance overnight and only took off once they hit the point of inflection on the S curve, allowing them to scale, reduce costs, and deliver features needed for more broadscale adoption.

It often takes government incentives to build new technology infrastructure or a cultural shift to push innovations to these inflection points. Once they do, change can be remarkably rapid, as we’re now starting to see in the sustainability space. Take solar energy, whose share of global electricity production moved from 0.15% in 2010 to 4.5% in 2022, surpassing even the most optimistic estimates.

If you’re working in innovation, you’re likely familiar with the S curve of adoption, first developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962 as the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. The basic theory is that innovation adoption is nonlinear and follows an S shape. It starts slow, then grows exponentially before flattening out at market saturation. The S curve has been repeatedly proven across many disruptive technologies.

DESIGN TO DELIGHT YOUR CONSUMER AT EVERY STAGE

Mastering the S curve of innovation begins with consumers. You really need that early adopter support. And that requires a deep understanding of who they are, designing to delight them. Airbnb founder Brian Chesky used design thinking to determine how to delight his early customers, famously asking them what would it take for them rate their experience an 11 out of 10 stars. While there is no magic formula, creating an experience for early adopters that they can’t help but share is one way to bridge to the next group.

When innovations fail to leap to broader segments, likely there’s a miss in product consumer segment fit. Attempting to win early adopters with products that appeal to the middle or latter part of the curve or vice versa simply doesn’t work. Chasing the majority of consumers with early adopter products is almost always a recipe for failure. The majority isn’t necessarily open to trying new innovations or willing to pay a premium. This is particularly true in food, so strongly tied to our cultural and emotional connections.

As the CEO of a fungi-based food tech startup launching retail products, I can tell you that asking people to eat differently and choose our fungi-based foods because it’s better for the environment or their health is no small feat. While 65% of consumers claim to be willing to pay for more sustainable products, it’s challenging to prove that in the marketplace largely because of the value gap and the S curve.

Innovations can be a hard sell even with an obvious benefit; getting people to try it means overcoming deep-seated resistance to novelty and change—especially with food. That’s why we started by identifying our early adopters, a small group we’ve named Optimistic Advocates, who feel empowered to change how they eat because they understand the connection between food and climate change. Typically early adopters represent a small percentage of the population, but finding them through research, and building your product and marketing strategy around them, is critical to early sales.

START SCALING AT THE RIGHT TIME

Early adopters typically see the reward of trying new products, relying on their own assessments, not others’. Majority groups further down the curve are more risk averse and delay purchase, waiting for social proof from early adopters. So getting more of these early adopters to try the product is key. Because tasting is believing, we’ve focused almost exclusively on sampling our fungi-based foods, delivering almost a million samples last year across digital channels, retail demos, and community events.

Our Optimistic Advocates are key to fueling initial sales, and they can share their experiences to convince more consumers to try our products. We need to get that next group of early majority consumers to shift their mindset from “why” to “why not.” For us, it’s been most effective to share positive taste experiences and testimonials via micro influencers, world-renowned innovative chefs, and sustainably minded, curious consumers.

Even our launch retail strategy is hyper-focused on the natural channel with retailers like Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market because we know that’s where we can most efficiently find our early adopters—similar to designers being the early adopters of Apple products, which eventually inspired the rest of us to awaken the “designer” inside us.

REFINE YOUR PRODUCTS

While creating products that delight your early adopters is key, to move further on the S curve you may need to identify the right subgroup within the early majority, those the rest of the early majority will look to (think baristas for Oatly’s nondairy milks). You may also need to refine your product to appeal to the early majority and eventually to the late majority and laggards. This might require adjusting product features, pricing, packaging, or even a multipronged strategy with a portfolio of products.

Tesla started with the Tesla Roadster to appeal to high-end customers willing to pay a premium, then invested in a sporty family car, followed by a more affordable Tesla Model 3 family car with broader appeal. The lesson is that consumer segmentation and product innovation must continue in parallel as you travel the S curve to ensure product market fit for your later adopters. Trying to get to the majority before you’re ready will limit your success.

In our case, we continue iterating our meatless breakfast patties (version 97?) as we get early adopter feedback and improve the patties for broader appeal—delivering better taste/juicier texture, a cleaner label, working towards greener packaging, and reducing ingredient costs. Lastly, evolve your marketing, messaging, and communication—even your brand is important—because your early adopters’ motivations are likely different than your early and late majority consumers.

Eventually, you’ll need to scale your innovation to meet the majority consumers’ needs. This requires patience as it’s difficult to create economies of scale before reaching a consumer tipping point—driven by a superior product, more accessible pricing, or a cultural shift—or a combination. Managing our supply while slowly building demand is a daily challenge for us as we expand our product more broadly and work to create that tipping point on the S curve. If wind, solar panels, and EVs have gotten there in the past decade, we’re optimistic that the consumer tipping point for a more efficient, gentler way to feed the planet can’t be too far off.

In the meantime, fungi-based foods, anyone?