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.