Whurley - Innovation is Risk

Please welcome Toronto Worley. Hello. How are you guys doing this morning? My name is Worley. I'm one of the co-founders of Chaotic Moon and we do a bunch of crazy stuff. Do you guys like crazy? Not that much. Really? Seriously, do you guys like crazy stuff? There's five types of risk I want to talk about today. These are the types of risks that I always get told about when I have people tell me this is why we can't innovate at our company. This is why we can't do things. The first one is financial risk. Financial risk usually has to do with if we do something, it could either risk the existing part of the business or cannibalize it, or it could risk something with a customer relationship or so on and so forth. The next type of risk is compliance. Now compliance means what? Lawyers, right? So they're risky in general, but compliance risk is not just about falling out of compliance with existing laws and regulations. It's more falling out of interesting situations. For example, in user license agreements or contracts that you have with certain companies or other providers. The third type is strategic risk. So this doesn't look like something we should do with our business. So if we do this and it's successful, it will detract from the core way we make our money. The fourth type of risk is reputation. That's when all of these other excuses are exhausted. Reputation is the next to last excuse. And it's well, this might not really be good for our brand or for our executives or for us as people in general. The last type of risk is physical risk, which is at this point if you're getting this as an excuse in your company, you should call me and come work for me. So basically out of those risks, I want to run through each of them and give you some examples of things we've done over the years, and most of it actually in the last year or so, that have tested each one of these and kind of walk you through a story of why it's okay to take risk. We live in the greatest time ever to be alive. You can build anything. You can 3D print it. You can get access to schematics that years ago were basically unknown to most of the planet. You don't have to spend six years learning neuroscience. You can go and download all the stuff and order stuff on Amazon and hack something together. And it's a really great time. And so, everybody should be innovating. We should be at the height of innovation across the world. And we're not. And it's because of these five things. So, the first one I'm going to talk about is financial risk. Good news, it's better odds in Vegas. Usually financial risk as I said comes down to a point where you have a situation that you have an existing customer. In this case for us it was Whole Foods and they said well that's really risky and we don't want to do it because it could disrupt the Whole Foods business and if it disrupts the Whole Foods business, that could be bad. We could lose them as a reference account. We could have any one of a number of issues. And so the story I'll tell you about that is about the smarter card. So this was a really interesting time because at this point we were really looking to push risk over the top. And so we had this idea that we should build an autonomous shopping cart and in the shopping cart we should put all these cool features. And what we ended up doing was we ended up stealing a shopping cart from our customer's parking lot. And we had two sets of interns go out and one intern tried to ask for one and then tried to take it and then got caught and the other two guys had a truck and they drove up and yanked the shopping cart and then they took off. And so we built it in secret and then we went to Whole Foods and we told them about it. And basically I'll show you a little preview about what it does.

So, what was the reward of that risk? Because that's what we're talking about is not just the risk, but what the rewards are. So, that was on hundreds of TV stations everywhere. It was one of the things that got us more press than anything except for one project in our history. And it also got something more important. It got hundreds and hundreds of customers, potential customers that we didn't know about before to email and call and talk to us because people are out there looking for risk. And if they're afraid to take it inside of their company, they're looking for the people who can do it outside of their company and then they can bring it in and take credit for it. And so we made a lot of money doing that, making other people heroes. So, compliance risk, right? Lawyers suck. Are there any lawyers in the audience? Maybe this one guy in the front. I call them the Innovation Prevention League. And so a good story about compliance risk is the skateboard. So, you'll notice on the front of that skateboard at the very tip there's a Microsoft Connect. And so, if you read the end user license agreement for the Connect, it says don't use it in a lot of ambient light. Don't use it outside. Don't use it for things that are dangerous. So basically we were looking for something to do as a little bit of a PR stunt and a really cool tech demo. And what we decided to do was we decided to pull in user license agreements and read them and then do everything with the product that they said not to do. And so the Connect was something we were playing with and it said don't use it outside. And we were like we should mount it on a skateboard. It's like don't be dangerous with it. We're like it goes 35 miles an hour. We just listed off all of those things and we made that our development philosophy for the project and so this was a huge success. It's probably still one of the most popular things we've done and it demonstrates a lot of stuff. It demonstrates great software right because we made it work in all that ambient light. The reason it doesn't work is it has infrared and the infrared broadcast up to you and when it broadcasts up to you then you end up in a situation where there's a lot of light the signal can't reach you and it doesn't become a skeleton and it can't work. So this is all motion control. I'll show you a quick video about that one too.

So, what's the reward on that one? Well, you saw Toyota had to have one. And yes, we actually did build and sell those to Toyota. But more importantly, this entered us into a whole new market that we would have never been in. So with this demonstration, every automotive manufacturer literally on the planet who was looking at gesture controlling cars and everything else said, 'Hey, they figured out the sunlight problem, right? Because a lot of sunlight comes in your windshield. That's a problem with a lot of the gesture interfaces in your automobile.' And we got huge contracts for that. And so that one actually proved out to be a really tremendous reward. Now, let's talk about strategic risk. It's only your future. You can rebuild it every day. It's not a big deal. And your company should have the same attitude. What's made us so successful is that we always push the limits. We're never as good as what we previously did. And we really don't care what the future brings because we have no crystal ball. So, we're just going to do what is really great in the day and in the moment. And a great example of that one is Shark Punch. So, I'll show you this video in just a moment. But how many of you are familiar with the Oculus Rift, right? It's got really popular. Everybody's going crazy about it. So, we thought, well, we needed to do something that was good. Now, we own a company called Team Chaos that makes mobile games, and that's not what Chaotic Moon does. And often the two are confused. And so strategic risk in this was, you know, if we do a game demo for South by Southwest, people are going to think that now we're just doing Oculus games, right? Because that tends to happen when we do one of these videos for about 2 or 3 months, all we everybody only talks about that video. And we do lots of other mobile products and we're relaunching, you know, major satellite networks. We do a lot of other stuff. So, the marketing guys get worried when we do this, but we do this game and this little video together. And like ones of other people on the planet Earth, she knows the pain of having lost her doctor and part-time surfer boyfriend to a tragic shark attack. In the past, a loss like Campbell could only be treated with alcohol and time. But here at Chaotic Moon's super specific game therapy division, there's new hope. At CMSS GTD, we employ the world's most advanced technologies to treat victims of senseless tragedies like this. In Campbell's case, we decided to employ Dr. Whirly Vanl's grief confrontational theory which seeks to transform the patient from a helpless victim into a state of renewed empowerment by turning the tables on the perpetrator and literally beating the out of them. It's often extremely difficult at first. But eventually, with a little encouragement and a lot of training, they will be beating the living crap. One shark punched. Every shark they see punched. Oh, three sharks punched. Four sharks punched. And they all go on. One of our guys built that two days for South by Southwest. And everybody was like, 'Oh, it's offensive. What if somebody had been in such a tragedy? What if this, what if that?' All these reasons. And we did this for South by Southwest. And even though the thing that I'm going to show you is the last slide, which was amazing, this got more attention. And George Takei, you know him, Sulu from Star Trek. And people kept coming by the office and they kept playing the game. And what created a media frenzy was they would come by with their film crew and then other film crews who didn't have somebody famous would be all around their employees with their cameras. And hang on, we're going to switch mics. Thank you. My pleasure. They'd be all around the employees desk hiding with their cameras. So like if you go to CNN and you Google shark punch or George Takei explodes a shark with his fist, that's CNN's trolling of this event. So it did huge for press, but more importantly, it got us a lot of attention for Oculus development. And now we have, you know, 8, 10, 12 projects. Again, this was a risk. It doesn't seem like a big strategic risk, but it's a big strategic risk to take your brand and do something that makes everybody think it does something different. And that's part of the issue we've always had since we started the company. People look at our brand and they don't really understand what we do. And what we really do is we make a lot of money doing really cool technology. And we don't really care where the technology is, as long as it's innovative. So, next to last, reputation risk. So, the fact is they're probably all talking about you behind your back anyway. And that's just the truth. So we had an idea. The skateboard was really successful and we thought, you know what, we should amp it up because once you do a project that's really good, everybody wants you to do something that's just like that project but better. And this is how companies get away from innovation, they get stuck in a rut. They're like, 'We built an awesome microphone and like microphone version 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0' and we thought, you know what, we'll play along. We had a lot of media that was calling us about the skateboard and they wanted the skateboard, but since it had been literally on tens of thousands of news sites around the world, they wanted the skateboard, but version 2.0 that was different that they could be the first person to talk about. And so, we had this idea. We said, 'Well, maybe we should make it mind controlled.' And everybody thought we were nuts. And so, we ordered an Emotiv headset off of Amazon. And you're going to see the guy in the video talk about how it was made exclusively and specifically for my head. That's not true. That's just TV drama. And we decided to take a big risk. And this was a big risk for a number of reasons. One, the skateboard goes around 35 mph. It's the same prototype. We just reused it and changed the interface. But two, if it had a software error, then it throws you off of it at 35 mph. And, controlling it while you're thinking about it, you can get easily distracted. So, there was a bunch of legal things that came into play. And more importantly, there was just a bunch of like the first time we were going to try it outside of the lab one time was on the Gadget Show in the UK. And I'll show you that video now.

Polly and Cliff have been blown away by Metropolis 2. But back at Venice Beach, I was about to try the most exciting bit of technology of our world tour so far. A mind-controlled skateboard. Worley, how you doing, man? Doing great. How are you doing? I'm very excited about that. Was that a little thing with the? That was a little thing. That's a secret mind control handshake. So, you ready to try this? Are you kidding me? A mind control skateboard. Yeah, I am. That's right. So, let me tell you a little bit about it. This board has an 800 W motor. It's got three motorcycle batteries in it. Basically generating 36 volts. It's got a Samsung tablet here and this Emotiv headset. We're going to put this on your head and we're going to try to train your brain and the board to connect. Once we do that, hopefully when you think, kind of imagine where you want to go, the board is going to take you off in that direction. Okay. So, when I'm imagining where I want to go, what's happening? We're picking up the electrical patterns and basically the neurons are firing in there and converting that into commands for the board. So, you want to do a little training? Yeah. Let's do it. Let me get this on you. Okay. Thanks, man. So, I'm getting a great signal. Okay. You're getting a good signal from your head. Actually, maybe a little too much signal for me. You have too much brain power for the board to handle. It might not be enough. I love this. I love this. There was one real world problem though. The headset had been designed specifically and exclusively for Worley's brain. Before we start, I think it's only fair to tell you the chances of you getting this word to go anywhere are astronomical. And as I began, Worley's doubts seem to be confirmed. No, nothing. Try again. Ready? Go. You've got nothing. If you get distracted, if you look at a pretty girl, if you start thinking, 'Oh, this is too fast.' If you think, 'Oh my god, a dog.' The golden retrievers are notorious for distracting mind control skateboards. It happens all the time. But then something happened. There you go. You've almost got it. That's it. You were doing it. Don't get brilliant. But that was nothing compared to what I did next. That's amazing. You think forward about lodging yourself forward and if you get it right, it starts to move. It's incredible. It's like something out of a science fiction movie. It's comic book craziness. Wow. The top speed of this is about 32 mph. Man up. Let's put it on high. What do you like? 30 mph on a brain controlled skateboard. That's a speed limit where I live. That's in fact I'll get a ticket. Come on then. Let's do it. Switch it up, baby. Let's do it. You ready? Switch it up. Initially, my nerves about the impending speed were so fired up. I just couldn't concentrate my mind. Confidence. You got this. But then that's it. That's it. Come on. Come on. Keep going. Hold that thought. Don't look at me. Hold that thought. Hold that thought. Now you can stop. I'm so focused now. Stop. You are the first person, my friend, outside of me on planet Earth to ride a mind control skateboard. Number one. Oh man, that makes me feel really good. Next step, hoverboard. Yeah, you need to do that. I'm living in the future. I've arrived. I've been waiting for this since the 80s. And with that, I thought my way off into the sunset. A beautiful end to the third day of our Californian road trip.

So, it also stops for the record. So he was the first person to ride it. He was never the first person to stop it. That was the next person that rode it. He was like, 'So, wait, then I think stop and it stops too, right?' And we're like, 'Exactly.' And you won't hit Alexis, which is what he did. That's why the video stops as you see him barreling towards that Lexus. But that was a huge reputation risk because the Gadget Show is very popular globally but especially in England and we didn't know if it would work or not. And when I saw him and he was bald I was like thank you. I was like the odds have just been thrown in my favor. But then he couldn't really focus. So the fear center of his brain was telling him not to do it. But we got one take at that. We got like all that was in 20 or 30 minutes and that was it. And if it hadn't worked, we'd have missed the opportunity and they probably would never call us back. So, let's talk about the last one. We have about a minute 30 seconds and run through this physical risk. How many of you ever have put yourself in harm's way for your job? Are you police officers or something? I got to get to the airport. But isn't that why we invented interns in the first place? I mean, seriously. So, we did a project a couple months ago that had a really good purpose and our heart was in the right place, but it got really misconstrued, as in now we have every military-industrial complex member on the planet calling us. But what we decided to do was we decided that we wanted to show how fast innovation was happening. So in your worlds, I don't know what it's like, but in our world, it's literally happening so fast that we can have an idea and build it in two or three days, and by the time we built it, there's already something we thought of that's better and newer and faster. And that pace is getting ever faster. So if you're not doing that every month or every quarter at your company, then things are going to dramatically change for you in the next two years, and it's not going to be pretty. And so what we did was we wanted to demonstrate, you know, you ever seen these video games where they have the drones and the drones can like follow people and film them and all this? We thought it'd be great to put a taser on a drone. I don't know why. Maybe we had margaritas. I don't know. It's just what I was thinking. And so, this is my best shot out of the video because, that's our VP of engineering who gets all excited right as it takes off. And that's our reporter from CNN who went from that look to more and more concerned. And then that's one of our engineers who just wants to make sure it works so he doesn't get fired. But let me go ahead and show you that.

That hurt. Even watching it again, it hurts. So, I'll close with this. So physical risk, if you look at those orders of risk and you think about financial and compliance and strategic and reputation, which that also risks, that was great because it risked all of them. Like financially, we could have been sued and compliance-wise, that's definitely not legal. And it just goes on. Strategic wise, maybe we don't have a company in the future. And reputation wise, it's like now we have people who apply for the intern program and put on their resumes and their forms, they make a nice little note, not willing to volunteer for anything dangerous. And we go, well, somebody's not getting a job here. But seriously, there's a lot of physical risk in that. We took all the precautions in that. But that's an example of really stepping outside and really risking everything. And for the record, we didn't just pick an intern. If you notice in most of the videos, it's me or one of my lab members. We do all the work ourselves. We won't ask anybody to do anything we won't do ourselves. But if you also look at me and then you look at Jackson, clearly one of us is physically more superior to detaze. So, you know, he won. But you have to start thinking about risk. You have to start thinking not about innovation. Everybody wants to sell you a book on innovation. They want to preach to you about it. They want to do consulting. They want these cute little exercises that teach your company how to be innovative. That's never going to work. Innovation is risk. It's only about risk. It's about knowing how to mitigate that risk. And it's about stepping out and taking that risk. If you're unwilling to do that, you're never going to innovate at anything. Thank you very much.