

Breakthroughs Don't Pay - jawgardner
http://innovatorinside.com/2011/10/19/breakthroughs-dont-...

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wisty
Oh, but Harry Potter _was_ a breakthrough. It's a little of Roald Dahl's
magical realism, a little boarding-school fiction, and a dash of Agatha
Christie. I can't think of any other writer who tried to write a magical
whodunnit for teens. OK, most of the parts are derivative. But so's a lot of
Roald Dahl's stuff.

According to wikipedia, he was influenced by Rudyard Kipling, William
Makepeace Thackeray, Frederick Marryat and Charles Dickens; and the Norwegian
fairy tales his mother (Sophia) told him.

A genuine breakthrough is a small part. It can be a nice "secret sauce", and
in some cases it can give you a competitive advantage. But a real hit needs
lots of parts, and lots of work, not just a single breakthrough.

~~~
jawgardner
The point is, I think, the one you're making. If you think a breakthrough is
going to make you rich, think again. Every product of the last decade that got
people rich had very little that was genuinely new in it... so I think we
agree.

