Into (00:00):

Welcome to the Taylor Ten. A fast-paced, 10 minute deep dive into the minds of those shaking up the marketing world, bringing you the sharpest insights, boldest ideas, and breakthrough trends driving the industry forward. So tune in, get inspired, and stay ahead.

‍

Carly (00:17):

I'm Carly Wilkins and welcome to the Taylor 10. I'm here with Jose Perez, a leader in professional innovation for the print on demand, professional photography and fine art industry to learn as much as I can about product innovation in only 10 minutes. Jose, how are you doing today?

‍

Jose (00:31):

Doing great. Thank you for having me.

‍

Carly (00:33):

It's great to be here talking with you about innovation and industry disruption, and I'd really love to know more about what really led you on this professional path focused on product innovation in particular.

‍

Jose (00:43):

Well, it's kind of a happy accident. I didn't go to school for any of this. I didn't go to engineering school or anything. I went to political history, political science and history, and then ended up in this industry. I mean, I moved on to Colorado right after college, and I found a $15 an hour job for an r and d technician, and I just jumped in. I was very, very lucky with how I got started.

‍

Carly (01:06):

Talk to me a bit about the transition from an r and d technician to being an innovation leader. How were you able to make that jump?

‍

Jose (01:13):

I was kind of lucky when I started. I started a company that was moving from billboards to canvas reps, and I came in and I was working with a founder. He kind of was like a mentor because he had already spent a lot of time. He disrupted the billboard industry and I cannot help him with the canvas. And again, in those days, the 2000 tens back then, Steve Jobs was really the most influential in this kind of thing. So all of those things were happening at the same time, and it just, I mean, went from technician to eventually manager, director, vice president, executive vice president. It just kept going. I don't know. I don't know. I just blinked once and then after 10 years I was just moving forward.

‍

Carly (02:01):

You've had the opportunity to touch the product in so many different stages and so many different levels. How does the knowledge that you have of that product affect some of the work that you put in from an innovation standpoint because you do know it so well from start to finish?

‍

Jose (02:16):

It's an interesting thing because sometimes when you know the product too much, you cannot lose that edge because you have to sometimes understand the product and see it from different angles. You can't innovate in a bubble. You have to, or a silo. You have to really understand how the product is used on a day-to-day basis, and then what is important to your clients or the final user. You have to always bring that in to really make a good product.

‍

Carly (02:44):

When it comes to designing and developing new products, how do you balance your creativity and excitement for anything being possible with feasibility of actually being able to produce it, especially in mass,

‍

Jose (02:57):

You don't balance it. I think one drives each other because the limitations actually create the opportunity. So you have to look at the limitations, how to turn that into an asset versus a liability. The limitations actually help a lot on what you're doing, right? So yeah, definitely mean hanging hardware for the canvas. I mean, sometimes the limitation is like, well, maybe we have to go to 3D printing and maybe we have to go to China to get it mass produced. But the limitations are actually part of the process and actually are great.

‍

Carly (03:30):

How do you manage risk? When you're introducing something new to the market?

‍

Jose (03:34):

The risk thing is to play it safe, right? And that's what disruption comes in. Disruption comes in with everybody's playing it safe. There is a lot of risk in it, but at some point when you're working on something and you realize, we can sell this for a thorough price as everybody else, and it looks and feels better than everybody else, you kind of know that it's probably going to work out.

‍

Carly (04:01):

Can you talk a little bit about falling into the trap of innovation for innovation's sake? So knowing that, yes, and we could endlessly innovate and iterate and try to think of ways to make products better, but balancing that with actually a consumer need or a human need for the product to be better. How do you make sure you're not going too far into innovation for innovation's sake?

‍

Jose (04:24):

It's not being into the business of product or not being into the business of technology. It's being into the business of enriching lives, especially your customer's lives. I think by starting there, you can really get innovative, but innovation for innovation stakes can be a real problem in companies,

‍

Carly (04:45):

Especially startups that definitely want to come in and disrupt industries. Well, what piece of advice would you give to maybe an entrepreneur or a startup that is looking to come in and kind of turn an industry on its head and be the new kid on the block and make sure that they're bringing the next best solution, particularly when they're just starting to explore product market fit? Any advice that you would give them?

‍

Jose (05:07):

First, you have to really understand what the industry is all about, regardless of what the industry is. You have to really understand the industry. You have to go to the events. You have to really understand your competitors and really understand your customers. That's obviously, customers are number one, but I'll give you an example. I remember where I heard this, but at one point, somebody wanted to make the best restaurant in the world, and what they did is they went to the best restaurants in the world to I Michelin store restaurants, and they've experienced it. Now, some people will say, well, all you have to do is just copy what the best restaurant in the world is doing, right? But it's actually not that way. When these people went to some of these restaurants, when they're getting their food, they also bring out the wine menu, right?

‍

(05:55):

The wine menu. And on the wine menu, you have wines that match what you're eating, et cetera. You bring somebody an expert, but if you were a beer drinker, you like to drink beer, you cannot get put to the side. Nobody really cares about you. So what they did is they found that thing, they doubled down on what that restaurant was missing. And now you go to that restaurant, if you're a beer drinker, they also have an expert in beers, and they match the beers to all the dishes. And suddenly you go from being used to going to restaurants and drinking beer and can be put to the side because you're not drinking wine. Now you get a completely different experience, and that has been a great differentiator for them. So look what the best are doing, find what they're not doing and double down in it.

‍

Carly (06:49):

What's one product you wish you had invented?

‍

Jose (06:51):

What I would like to do or somebody to do, because the technology is there now. We have AI, we have phones, all kinds of things that can make it work actually change the way of the professional photography industry so that you're not having your photos taken. Instead, you go to a photo studio and somebody does a scan of your face, and then with robotics and with AI, create a marble sculpture of you for your wedding, that kind of thing. Or you bring your cat and create a marble statue using robotics and using AI technology to create the file. I think that could really work

‍

Carly (07:27):

In a world that is constantly changing and being affected by ai and particularly what's happening in creative industries. Could you talk a little bit about not just product development, but where you see the artistic industry in a fine art industry going with AI's involvement?

‍

Jose (07:41):

When AI appeared on the scene, primarily Mid Journey D, all those ones, a couple of years ago, a lot of people within the wall decor industry who established wall decor industry companies that have libraries of 10,000, 20,000 pieces of art, they were kind of excited because all of a sudden you can create more art for that, right? But what has happened instead is that those big companies that have a differentiator and an advantage by having these large libraries of abstract art or floral art or those kinds of things are no longer, they no longer have that advantage because now what you're seeing is a lot of little companies popping up because they can create their own decor art pretty quickly and efficiently. So they kind of lost that edge. And some of the things that I'm working on right now that I've been thinking about is how exactly did you get away with that?

‍

(08:40):

And that really right now is property art. We're talking about Harry Potter, Badman. Disney is being able to have that content is now the thing that's going to really set you apart. And it's not just the brands. It can the artists himself or herself or themselves. So that's really how I see the industry is not those whole companies, legacy companies that have big libraries, that's going away because anybody can come in and create their own art. So if you want to stay afloat, you have to really work on you as an artist, as a personality, as an artist, or work on art that you are officially licensing from big properties like Star Wars, marble Disney, Warner Brothers, dc. I'm working with all those companies today, and I feel like that's going to be really the future for companies who want to differentiate themselves into the world, the core industry.

‍

Carly (09:37):

That's really exciting. So watch this space, right? We'll see what's happening next in your world with a licensed intellectual property. I love it. Well, thank you again, Jose. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today on the Taylor 10 and speaking about the art of disruption, particularly in the fine art industry.

‍

Jose (09:53):

Thank you so much, Carly. Thank you for having me. 

‍