Pretotyping Explained: Why Google, Tech Innovators Set Out to Fail Fast

February 28, 2016 by Denise Johnson

Pretotyping is the key to market innovation, according to a technology entrepreneur who once held the title of innovation agitator at Google.Executive SummaryIn remarks that came before Google pulled out of the online auto insurance business, Alberto Savoia, a former Google executive, explains how Google and other technology innovators use “pretotyping” to test ideas before investing time and money in more formal prototypes.

Executive Summary

In remarks that came before Google pulled out of the online auto insurance business, Alberto Savoia, a former Google executive, explains how Google and other technology innovators use "pretotyping" to test ideas before investing time and money in more formal prototypes.

Alberto Savoia, the founder of Pretotype Labs and former Googler, delivered the message last month at Safelite’s annual customer experience conference in Chandler, Ariz. The focus of this year’s conference, according to Ohio-based Safelite Solutions, was the Future of Auto Claims.

Innovation is no longer disruptive, Savoia said. It’s devastating. In large companies, innovation is usually minuscule and mostly done in what businesses consider their core competencies, he noted. But other companies aggressively innovate, he said, giving the example of Google’s entrance into the autonomous vehicle market.