The origin

Why innovation is more about method than magic

A milkshake, a mayonnaise sandwich, and a mathematical formula. That's how I came to understand how the world's best companies innovate.

It all started with Clayton Christensen. When his team investigated why McDonald's milkshake sales weren't growing, they discovered something unexpected: almost all were sold in the morning, to people driving to work alone. They weren't buying a milkshake to enjoy a treat — they were hiring it to make the commute less boring and avoid arriving hungry at a morning meeting. The question shifted from "how do we make it tastier?" to "what job is the customer trying to get done?".

Bob Moesta, Christensen's closest collaborator, puts it another way: nobody hires a mayonnaise sandwich because they want a sandwich. They hire it because they need something to eat that won't stain their suit while they drive. The product is just the means. The job is what matters.

But understanding the job wasn't enough — I needed to be able to measure it. That's where Tony Ulwick came in with Outcome-Driven Innovation: a way to quantify which outcomes matter most to customers and which are least satisfied. Innovation turned into a repeatable process, not a leap of faith.

Harvard Business School

Clayton Christensen

Formulated JTBD theory: customers don't buy products, they "hire" them to make progress. The unit of analysis is the job, not the demographic segment.

Re-Wired Group

Bob Moesta

Developed the Switch Interview and demand-side sales: we study what the customer "fires" before hiring something new. The moment of switch reveals everything.

Strategyn

Tony Ulwick

Created Outcome-Driven Innovation: the way to measure and prioritise jobs with data. He turned innovation into a repeatable process, not an act of faith.

"Innovation is not a creative process that depends on genius or luck. It is a process that can be systematised, measured, and repeated with consistency."

Tony Ulwick — Outcome-Driven Innovation

Applied by founders and companies like

Basecamp · Intercom · Intuit · LinkedIn · Salesforce
The methodology

JTBD and ODI: the innovation engine

Jobs To Be Done gives us the customer's "why". Outcome-Driven Innovation tells us "what to improve first". Together they form the most rigorous system for purposeful innovation.

1

Discover the job

I uncover the functional, emotional and social progress the customer wants to achieve when they "hire" your product or service.

2

Map the outcomes

I identify all the results customers use to measure success at each phase of the job, structured with Ulwick's framework.

3

Prioritize with ODI

I calculate opportunity scores and locate outcomes with high importance and low satisfaction — that's where the real innovation is.

See the full method
3×
more innovation success likelihood with ODI vs. traditional methods
ODI Formula
Importance + max(I − S, 0)
Jobs identified
Functional · Emotional · Social
Track record

My companies

Companies founded, led or backed by Toni Guitart Ventura.

2007 – 2022

DMS

IT consulting and innovation firm. Founded and led for over 20 years, focused on digital transformation for mid-size and large enterprises.

IT Consulting Digital transformation
Acquired by Soctic · 2022
2013 – 2020

Billage

All-in-one B2B SaaS for SME management: invoicing, CRM and project management. One of the first all-in-one platforms in the Spanish market.

SaaS B2B ERP/CRM SMEs
Acquired by Oakley Capital · 2020
2022 – present

Plain

B2B SaaS for AI-powered shift scheduling for HR teams. Eliminates Excel from schedule management and gives time back to managers in hospitals, hotels, manufacturing and retail.

SaaS B2B AI Co-founder Active investment
Co-founder & investor · since 2022
Newsletter
50+
chapters published

Toni Guitart's innovation newsletter

Each chapter explores a concept from JTBD, ODI, latent demand or startup strategy with real examples and rigorous analysis. No fluff, just substance. Published on LinkedIn.

See the newsletter
Founder

Toni Guitart Ventura

Head of Product Strategy at Cegid and serial entrepreneur with over two decades founding and scaling technology companies. Through Venturae, he invests and helps others navigate the complexity of innovation with solid methodologies.

A follower of Clayton Christensen, Anthony Ulwick and Bob Moesta's ideas, Toni has spent years applying JTBD and ODI in real projects and sharing his learnings in a newsletter with thousands of readers.

Connect with Toni
TG

Toni Guitart Ventura

Founder · Venturae

Innovation consultant specialising in JTBD and ODI. B2B SaaS investor. Author of the innovation newsletter on LinkedIn.

2×
exits as founder
50+
articles published
20+
years in innovation

Ready to innovate with purpose?

Whether you want to apply JTBD and ODI in your company, or explore investment opportunities, let's talk.