What the Palletrone Can Teach Us About "Adjacent Innovation"

We were promised flying cars.

Instead, we got a hovering shopping cart!

Meet the Palletrone—an anti-gravity cart that glides effortlessly through warehouses and retail stores. It might look like a novelty, but it’s a perfect case study in adjacent innovation.

Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, it applies existing drone and hover technology to solve a very real problem: making it easier to move inventory and heavy items in cramped spaces.

This is how the best innovation happens—not through radical moonshots, but by repurposing what already works in new, unexpected contexts. And it’s not just limited to logistics.

Some of the biggest success stories in business—like Amazon’s expansion from books to everything, and GM’s foray into financial services—follow the same pattern.

What is Adjacent Innovation?

Adjacent innovation is about leveraging what you’re already good at and taking it into new, closely related markets. It’s not a leap into the unknown—it’s an incremental, calculated move that extends your capabilities without starting from scratch.

For example, Amazon didn’t disrupt retail by launching a thousand product lines all at once. They mastered e-commerce with books, then used the same logistics and fulfillment strengths to branch into music, electronics, and eventually Alexa. Each move was small but logical, layering capabilities without overextending themselves.

Similarly, General Motors didn’t decide to become a tech company or pivot to software. Instead, they extended their expertise in cars into the closely related field of automotive financing. By acquiring AmeriCredit in 2010, they created GM Financial—a service that added value for existing customers while opening up a lucrative new revenue stream. Again, a small step, but one that made perfect sense within their existing business model.

Why Moonshots Often Fail

The companies that struggle are the ones that ignore these adjacent moves and swing for the fences. They chase “disruption” without a strategy to connect the new idea back to their core strengths. Google Glass is a perfect example. When Google launched Glass, they tried to invent a new market for wearable tech. The technology was advanced, but the market wasn’t ready, and Google had no foothold in wearables. As a result, it flopped.

Contrast that with Apple’s iPhone strategy. The iPhone wasn’t a moonshot; it was the logical extension of years of experience with portable devices and digital media management. From the iPod to iTunes, each step built on the last, culminating in a product that revolutionized the market because it was anchored in Apple’s core competencies.

Why the Palletrone Is More Than Just a Floating Gimmick

The Palletrone doesn’t represent a huge leap in technology. Anti-gravity and drone stabilization have been around for years. But it takes this tech and applies it to a new context—solving a problem that, until now, has been handled by outdated, manual methods. Forklifts and standard carts are clunky, labor-intensive, and can’t navigate stairs or tight spaces. The Palletrone can glide over these obstacles, carrying heavy loads with less risk of injury and more precision.

By taking a small, adjacent step—using proven tech to solve a familiar problem—the Palletrone creates new possibilities for efficiency in logistics and retail. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s transformative in how it rethinks the use of a common tool.

So You Want to Innovate: Where Do You Start?

If you want to leverage adjacent innovation, start by looking at what you’re already good at. Ask yourself:

1. What strengths does my business have that I can apply elsewhere?
2. What markets or industries are closely related to what I already do?
3. What incremental moves can I make without straying too far from my core?

Amazon mastered logistics with books, so it made sense to expand into other product categories. GM knew cars, so extending into financing was a logical next step. The Palletrone’s creators understood drone tech, so they applied it to inventory management.

The biggest innovations usually aren’t about inventing something brand new. They’re about seeing what’s right in front of you and finding a new way to use it. That’s the real lesson of the Palletrone.

Practical Takeaways for Leaders

1. Audit your core strengths: What are you really good at? What do customers already trust you to deliver?
2. Explore adjacent spaces: Look for new applications of your strengths in related industries.
3. Start small: Pilot new ideas in controlled environments before scaling up.
4. Iterate and refine: Each move should build on the previous one, creating a continuous chain of innovation that compounds over time.

Because sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs come not from leaping into the unknown, but from taking one small step next door.