Why “Great Ideas” Die the Moment They Hit the Market

In this episode of Breakthrough Innovation, we sit down with Paul Schmidt, VP of AI & Innovation at SmartBug Media, to break down why so many innovation efforts fail — even when the ideas are solid.Paul brings an operator’s lens to innovation, services, and AI adoption, focusing not on hype, but on what actually sells, scales, and sticks.💥 The #1 reason new services fail: no distribution, no buyers🧩 Why innovation must include sales, marketing, service, and customers from day one📉 How overly bespoke solutions quietly kill scalability🎯 Why your biggest growth lever is probably existing customers, not new logos🤖 How to adopt AI by solving small, painful problems instead of boiling the oceanIf you care about turning innovation into revenue — not theater — this episode delivers a clear, grounded playbook.Thanks for tuning in to Breakthrough Innovation! Want to subscribe to the podcast? Have feedback to share? Connect with us on Spotify or iTunes and leave us a review—we’d love to hear from you!