Vertical progression could be seen as creating something completely new. Creating a new product or service is not trivial but could be very lucrative if you could create demand for it.
It is opposed by innovating horizontally.
Some vertical progressions
- Generative AI’s
- Smartphones
- The internet
Reference
Thiel, Peter, and Blake Masters. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. Virgin Books, 2014.
Highlights or timestamps
The invention of the smartphone was the result of vertical progress: we went from a world without smartphones to a world with smartphones. Distributing them to new markets in developing countries, on the other hand, was horizontal progress – companies simply expanded on what was already there.
— ^93108a from Zero to One