Elon Musk and Steve Jobs on the value of market research for creating disruptive tech products

Elon Musk is, and Steve Jobs was, a disruptor; they’re two of the most innovative and revolutionary tech leaders of our time. Neither places/placed much value on market research when it comes to creating disruptive tech products.

Luc Olinga for TheStreet:

They are considered two of the greatest tech innovators of recent years.

One co-founded Apple and made it a household name. The iPhone is, for its users, consumers and even for Apple’s competitors, the benchmark for smartphones.

The other co-founded Tesla and managed to make the electric-vehicle manufacturer a household name. When consumers talk about electric vehicles, it is rare not to hear the name Tesla.

They agree that when you are a disruptor — whether you are attacking a new or existing market — the key quality is instinct and good judgment, not market research.

It all started with a thread on Twitter.

A Tesla fan posted an interview with Jobs, in which the Apple executive was asked about the role market researchers have played for him.

“Steve Jobs on market research,” the Twitter user wrote on Feb. 14, posting a short video interview with Jobs.

Steve Jobs on market research pic.twitter.com/0dLynkuABt

— Whole Mars Catalog (Supervised) (@WholeMarsBlog) February 14, 2023

“No market research could have led to the development of the Macintosh or the personal computer in the first place,” Jobs said.

“So there are these sort of nonincremental jumps that need to take place where it’s very difficult for market research to really contribute much in the early phases of the thinking about how to, you know, what those should be.”

Musk seems to share this opinion. He is of the opinion that instinct is what matters.

“There’s no substitute for good judgment,” the billionaire said.

There’s no substitute for good judgment

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2023

MacDailyNews Take: Like Steve Jobs, as we wrote last October, “Elon Musk is a doer.”

The doers are the major thinkers. The people that really create the things that change this industry are both the thinker and doer in one person. – Steve Jobs

Regarding market research, Steve Jobs said it best:

Some people say give the customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, “If I’d ask customers what they wanted, they would’ve told me a faster horse.” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.

See also: How Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are alike – February 11, 2023

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