The Three-Box Solution

2

Create the Future

Box 3 ideas for the nonlinear future are built from wisps of insight known as weak signals. In the case of the Keurig brewing system, the relevant insight was the rancid aroma of truly terrible office coffee, at a time when coffee was in the midst of an extraordinary renaissance.

John Sylvan, along with his former Colby College roommate Peter Dragone, conceived the idea for the Keurig coffee-brewing technology after Sylvan was inspired by a eureka moment. In the mid-1980s, before Starbucks had become a coast-to-coast sensation, Sylvan was working at a Boston-area high-tech company where his entry-level status required that he manage the office’s coffee needs. He recognized a fundamental problem: the world of gourmet coffee ...