Happy New Year!

Such a special, precious, and meaning-infused day. Hope yours kicked off in a positive way!

Thomas Edison filed his first-ever patent on January 1, 1869.

156 years ago today.

He was just 22 years old, armed with an idea for an electronic vote recorder that would change how legislators tallied their votes.

It bombed spectacularly. Nobody wanted it.

But that New Year’s Day filing sparked something bigger. Edison learned a major lesson about solving problems people actually need solved, and went on to patent 1,092 more inventions for a total of 2,332 patents including international filings.

There’s something special about how innovators view January.

While others make simple resolutions, product makers see world-changing possibilities.

Fresh, important problems to solve.

New ways to delight customers.

Opportunities still wrapped in their holiday packaging.

In I Need That, I talk about the intersection of goals and beliefs — the sweet spot where consumer aspirations meet product innovation.

January amplifies both. People are more than ready for change. They’re actively seeking ways to make it happen in their own lives.

The mighty status quo is potentially at its most vulnerable.

For product makers, this creates a unique energy. Beyond planning another business quarter, we’re imagining what could be.

Every problem is an opportunity. Every complaint is market research. Every frustrated customer is waiting for someone to build a better solution.

Action for you: What problem are you uniquely positioned to solve in 2025? Do more than your goals: map out the needs you could meet in ways no one else has thought of yet.

Laurier

P.S. Congress eventually adopted a similar system to Edison’s electronic vote recorder, about a hundred years after that inaugural patent. Sometimes you’re not wrong, just early.