WORKING PAPER

Speeding Growth: 8 Drivers of Fast Product Adoption

By Stephen Wunker

Designing products that fit within existing behaviors while outperforming alternatives on what matters most.

Lowering barriers to entry by reducing dependencies, switching costs, and perceived risks of failure.

Accelerating learning cycles through quick trials, visible wins, and simple pathways to adoption.

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Summary

Speeding Growth: 8 Drivers of Fast Product Adoption unpacks why some innovations scale rapidly while others stall. Drawing from real-world examples—from electric vehicles to Drybar and Atari—it identifies eight core factors that shape adoption speed, from minimizing dependency and risk to amplifying customer motivation and ease of use. The paper distills decades of innovation experience into a practical lens for designing offerings that gain traction fast—helping innovators align infrastructure, decision-making, and value propositions to move from launch to mass acceptance.

WORKING PAPER

Why Speeding Growth Matters: The Case for Understanding Product Adoption

The pace of innovation is accelerating, but adoption still lags. This section explores why understanding the drivers of product adoption is essential for sustainable growth. Even breakthrough ideas can stall without the right market conditions. From the 4,500 years it took plumbing to spread to the six years before the iPhone boom, adoption speed determines impact. The working paper introduces eight practical drivers that any business can influence to help innovations reach customers faster.

The goal is not luck or virality, but deliberate, strategic acceleration.

To help companies move from launch to lift-off, the paper outlines key lessons that set fast adopters apart:
Adoption success depends on alignment across infrastructure, risk, and behavior change.
Strategic design, not chance, determines whether innovations take off or stall.
The eight drivers of adoption create a roadmap for speeding growth.
Understanding these dynamics helps firms reduce friction and amplify uptake.
Companies can learn to engineer momentum, not wait for it.

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

Play to Your Advantages: Align Need and Performance

Lower Your Risk: Make Adoption Feel Safe and Simple

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

The first driver of fast product adoption is independence. Relying on external infrastructure, partners, or decision bottlenecks slows everything down. The paper contrasts slow-moving innovations like fuel cell vehicles—trapped by high infrastructure costs and few refueling stations—with rapid successes like hybrid cars, which used existing networks. By designing products and strategies that minimize dependencies, firms can reach customers faster and scale sustainably. Simplifying the ecosystem clears the path for adoption.

The examples in this section reveal how removing external friction helps innovations move faster:

Avoid physical dependencies: Leverage existing infrastructure whenever possible.
Reduce business dependencies: Limit reliance on new supply chains or external partners.
Streamline decision-making: Fewer decision-makers mean faster consensus and execution.
Simplify coordination: Complex collaborations create drag; autonomous action accelerates growth.
Design for agility: Build solutions that work independently within current ecosystems.

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

Play to Your Advantages: Align Need and Performance

Lower Your Risk: Make Adoption Feel Safe and Simple

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

The examples in this section reveal how removing external friction helps innovations move faster:

Avoid physical dependencies: Leverage existing infrastructure whenever possible.
Reduce business dependencies: Limit reliance on new supply chains or external partners.
Streamline decision-making: Fewer decision-makers mean faster consensus and execution.
Simplify coordination: Complex collaborations create drag; autonomous action accelerates growth.
Design for agility: Build solutions that work independently within current ecosystems.

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

Play to Your Advantages: Align Need and Performance

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

The examples in this section reveal how removing external friction helps innovations move faster:

Avoid physical dependencies: Leverage existing infrastructure whenever possible.
Reduce business dependencies: Limit reliance on new supply chains or external partners.
Streamline decision-making: Fewer decision-makers mean faster consensus and execution.
Simplify coordination: Complex collaborations create drag; autonomous action accelerates growth.
Design for agility: Build solutions that work independently within current ecosystems.

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

Play to Your Advantages: Align Need and Performance

Lower Your Risk: Make Adoption Feel Safe and Simple

Avoid Dependencies: Build for Speed, Not Reliance

The examples in this section reveal how removing external friction helps innovations move faster:

Avoid physical dependencies: Leverage existing infrastructure whenever possible.
Reduce business dependencies: Limit reliance on new supply chains or external partners.
Streamline decision-making: Fewer decision-makers mean faster consensus and execution.
Simplify coordination: Complex collaborations create drag; autonomous action accelerates growth.
Design for agility: Build solutions that work independently within current ecosystems.

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About The Authors

Steve Wunker

FOUNDER & GLOBAL LEADER IN JOBS TO BE DONE

Steve pioneered JTBD alongside Clayton Christensen and has led innovation work worldwide. He authored Jobs to Be Done: A Roadmap for Customer-Centered Innovation and four other books, and his thinking appears regularly in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and The Financial Times.

WORKING PAPER

Speeding Growth: 8 Drivers of Fast Product Adoption

By Stephen Wunker

Designing products that fit within existing behaviors while outperforming alternatives on what matters most.

Lowering barriers to entry by reducing dependencies, switching costs, and perceived risks of failure.

Accelerating learning cycles through quick trials, visible wins, and simple pathways to adoption.

Download File