Job to be done: Connections for technology entrepreneurs

To paraphrase prevailing wisdom...with few exceptions, every job users need to do has a social, a utilitarian, and an emotional dimension. When technology entrepreneurs understand these motivations, emerging technological innovations focus on the nuances of a job; then, users can recognize their connection to the innovation. The key to commercial success, therefore, is a focus on the job, per se, not the technology: the job must be the fundamental unit of analysis that leads to ideas, goods, and services that users will hire. For example, why exactly do users hire hybrid transportation? They have five, distinct motivations: to maximize the economics of mobility; to show off; to gain investiture among pioneers; to salve egos about helping to slow global warming; and merely to understand the subtleties of this emerging technology. What are the motivations for other emerging technologies such as induced pluripotent stem cells, nano-gels, computing clouds, artificial photosynthesis, and PEM fuel cells? And what are the implications for defining target markets for emerging technological innovations? Appreciating a motivational framework helps technology entrepreneurs answer these questions and cements the connections between their innovation and prospective users.