Empathy in Innovation

About a third of startups die for one simple reason: they build something nobody actually wants. In this episode, we’ll drop into real moments—kids brushing their teeth, travelers booking a spare room—to explore how empathy quietly rewires the way innovation begins.

So how do you actually *do* this in the messy, rushed reality of work? Most teams rush straight to brainstorming features, like tourists snapping photos from a bus window—collecting surface impressions instead of stepping into the streets. The shift we’re exploring today is quieter: slowing down enough to notice what people *actually* do, not just what they say in surveys or brainstorms.

That’s where tiny, specific clues live: the way someone hesitates before tapping a button, the workaround they’ve invented with sticky notes, the offhand comment that contradicts the official process. These small “frictions” are often where the real opportunity hides.