All hail the weirdos, the geeks, the misfits and the hackers...you're probably doing today, what most of us will be doing tomorrow.
So as Innovators, why don't we listen to you more? Why do we dismiss you as too niche, and eliminate you from our thinking? Is it because you don't represent a sufficient size of prize?
Well smart innovators in large-scale mass market organisations don't fall into that trap. They listen, they watch, they observe and they learn from you. They take inspiration from you.
But they don't try to appeal to you. They don't see you as their source of volume. And not just because you're most likely onto the next thing.
But because they have recognised the difference between sources of inspiration (you, at the edges) and sources of the volume and, typically, on-going value (the mainstream market, in the middle).
I'm a big believer in Co-Creation. But I never recommend working with existing brand users when in the exploratory Diverge phase. They come later (and anyway, that "data" - insight if you're lucky - most likely already exists). I always recommend starting with some folks at the edges and then applying just enough of what they're up to in order to raise the interest of those in the middle, at the Converge stage. Because those guys in the middle are actually the one's that will - or might - change their behaviour, buy your thing instead of the thing they are currently programmed to buy and, you know, make your innovation a success.