Vertical Progress
Vertical Progress represents innovation that go from 0 to 1. Vertical progress happens by creating something entirely new.
!Vertical-Horizontial Progress.png
This contrasts with Horizontal Progress, which is about replication - going from 1 to n by copying and scaling what already exists.
Key Characteristics of Vertical Progress:
- Creates new technology or capabilities (like inventing the word processor from scratch)
- Harder to imagine because it involves doing something entirely unprecedented
- Drives true transformation rather than incremental improvement
- Requires breakthrough thinking that challenges existing assumptions
In Disruption Theory, where vertical progress often manifests as:
- Disruptive innovations that create new markets
- Technologies that transform entire industries
- **Solutions that start simple but open new possibilities
The excavator industry example shows how vertical progress (steam → gasoline engines) requires "changing the way you think altogether" rather than incremental improvements.