I think the most dangerous word in innovation is “interesting.” Not impossible. Not expensive. Not even risky. Interesting. Over the years, I’ve sat through hundreds of startup pitches, innovation workshops, and enterprise meetings. The projects that worry me most aren’t the ones people dislike. At least when people dislike something, you know where you stand. The dangerous ones are the projects everyone finds “interesting.” Everyone nods. Everyone smiles. Someone says, “This is really interesting.” Another person says, “We should explore this further.” And then absolutely nothing happens. I’ve started to realise that innovation isn’t really about generating interest. It’s about creating urgency. The best founders I’ve met don’t just make people curious. They make people feel that doing nothing is more painful than doing something. That’s a very different skill. Maybe that’s why so many pilots never become production. Maybe that’s why so many meetings end with, “Let’s keep in touch.” Founders know exactly what that means 😭 The older I get, the more I think that “interesting” is often just a polite way of saying “not important enough yet.”