The 1/2" Pipe Problem

Years ago, I worked for a photographer who was starting a film processing arm of his business. He just landed a big catalog photo-shoot contract and sold the large-format film processing along with the photography. He bought an enormous processing machine and hired me to run it. During the final plumbing installation, we were boasting to our client just how fancy the machine was. My boss told him it could process over 100 gallons of hot water a minute.

That’s when we heard the voice of the plumber from under the machine comment, ‘No it won’t’. Startled, my boss argued that this processor had a special pump that could handle that load. Still from out of our site, the plumber responded, ‘I don’t care what kind of pump you have. You've got half-inch pipe coming from the street. If you want to pump 100 gallons a minute, you need one-inch pipe!’

It’s been over 40 years since that plumber reminded me that my business does not exist in a vacuum. We were able to fix the problem quickly, although there was a sizable amount of local bureaucracy we had to overcome. I’ve seen others not so lucky.

Creating the perfect product, whether it may be software, a device, a service, or even (as we have recently seen) a vaccine, only has a shot at success when you can get it into the hands of your customers. Talk to everyone in your organization and as many potential users as you can. Create checklists. Market internally and externally and make sure you have a solid sales strategy and the people to carry it out.

When you look at the big picture, you'll uncover the 1/2 pipe problem before someone else points it out to you.

I have to believe that for every 1/2” pipe problem, there is a 1” pipe solution.