The accidental innovations of the “Will it Blend” guy

March 25, 2011 By

Will it Blend? Me with Tom Dickson

You might have seen the “Will it Blend?” series of videos with BlendTec CEO, Tom Dickson.

I’ve been watching those for years and so, when my friend Jesse Stay said we could go see him when I visited Salt Lake City this week, I said “awesome.”

I had no idea how funny he’d be in real life. I also had no idea he is an engineer who designed a lot of the things that go into the blender.

But even more, I love hearing how he came up with many of the innovations that go into making a great blender. Mostly they are accidental. Just like the video show was an accident.

What kind of accidents? The winglets on the blade were designed because the blade didn’t fit. When he tried to get rid of the winglets the blender didn’t work as well. So he put them back.

Or, how about the patented “wild side” which makes the blender work better? Well, turns out he just needed room for his hand.

Happy accidents. Are you innovating by looking for happy accidents?

This is a long (about half an hour) video, but one of my favorite CEO interviews. Thanks Jesse for bringing me to Blendtec. By the way, I bought a blender and it just arrived. Anyone up for a margarita party?

Oh, and sorry for messing up the editing. It repeats at minute 34. Yikes, will try to fix that.

Filed Under: Web
  • Anonymous

    great video ..nice to hear the passion in his voice

  • http://dhrac.net dhrac

    awesome guy!

    but robert, for the record: germans innovate and don´t copy. just check who invented the automobile and the bicycle ;)

  • http://robertscobleizer.com Scobleizer

    They innovate in mechanics and cars, but in software Germans definitely copy a LOT.

  • http://dhrac.net dhrac

    True. But you discussed mechanics with Tom and not software, right?

  • http://robertscobleizer.com Scobleizer

    I always talk about software. I said “in my industry” right before that.

  • Anonymous

    Great interview! I think the video repeats at 33:50.

  • Anonymous

    Definitely one of your best CEO interview, Tom is definitely passionate about his blenders. Quick iteration is not just for software, it works on hardware too.

  • http://dhrac.net dhrac

    ah, okay. maybe i lost that between all the laughs. :)

  • Eber

    you’re coming to SLC?

  • http://robertscobleizer.com Scobleizer

    I was in SLC earlier in the week, but am already gone, sorry.

  • http://robertscobleizer.com Scobleizer

    It does, I’ll fix that tonight.

  • http://twitter.com/Blendtec Blendtec

    Thanks for coming to see us, Robert! It was fun meeting you & showing you around. Glad you enjoyed the interview, too. Tom really is passionate about his work.

  • http://staynalive.com Jesse Stay

    It was my pleasure Robert, and thank you for spending time hanging out on Tuesday. I had a lot of fun!

  • http://thehungryhive.com Bryson White

    Great interview! Thank you for posting this. Nice to hear the whole story behind not only the Will it Blend videos, but Blendtec in general.

  • http://webhostingreview.info/ Web Hosting Review

    One of the best interviews in recent times!!..

  • http://www.advancedwebads.com/sc/164 Randy Addison

    This guy is the Harbinger of Device Destruciton! LOL I really like this guy. Yeah, I agree with the person speaking in the background of the video, we cannot recognize you without your safety glasses!

  • http://www.asianefficiency.com/ AE Thanh

    It’s always great to see the passion behind other entrepreneurs. I remember seeing his iPhone blend and declaring the guy nuts (this was when the first iphone just came out). A few days later, I thought he was a genius.

  • http://twitter.com/inchiriere_auto Gabriel F.

    Great interview!
    Tom is definitely passionate about his blender.

  • http://DCincome.com/blog Matthew Loop

    Love Tom… He’s such an innovator and the marketing totally gets your attention. Very unique and they deserve the success!