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A lesson from the Founder of what3words: How naivety fuels innovation

Chris Sheldrick and William Hill
Will, Founder of The School of Innovation (Left) with Chris, Founder of what3words (Right).

Recently, Chris Sheldrick, the visionary founder and CEO of what3words, shared his inspiring journey. His pioneering mapping system, which divides the world into 3x3-metre squares, has attracted over £100 million in funding. It has solved the global problem of inadequate addressing systems, and has even saved lives by enabling emergency services to locate people in remote areas across the UK and the world.


What makes Chris's story remarkable is not just his success but how he achieved it. When he began what3words, he had no background in maps—just experience running a small business. Yet, he outpaced giants like Google, succeeding not in spite of his inexperience, but because of it.


According to Chris, naivety was his secret weapon. He wasn’t bound by industry norms or weighed down by "how things are done." Instead, he saw the problem through fresh eyes. Sometimes, it’s that lack of conventional thinking that leads to the most radical solutions.

This phenomenon isn't unique to Chris. Apple, Virgin, eBay, and Spotify were all founded by individuals in their twenties who were considered naive by industry veterans. Yet, it was precisely this "naivety" that allowed them to challenge and redefine their fields.


The key insight? Being an expert isn’t a prerequisite for innovation. In fact, it can be a hindrance.


This idea lies at the heart of The School of Innovation, where students will pursue project-based degrees aimed at tackling some of humanity’s most pressing challenges—poverty, climate change, and inequality—by approaching these problems with bold, unconventional thinking.


TSOI believes that by supporting the next generation of “unlikely” innovators, society can make great strides toward a better global community. And with people like Chris Sheldrick as role models, mentors, and lecturers, the future of innovation looks bright.


what3words
https://what3words.com/about


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