Stop trying to innovate. Instead, become indispensable.

"Innovation" is such an exciting concept, it's a shame the mainstream conversation about it has gotten so boring. My Twitter feed is an endless scroll of promises about the next-best, game-changing technology that's going to be "über of" whatever industry. The buzzwords alone are enough to make my eyes glaze over, which is a shame because the startups and founders emerging today, no longer beholden to the Silicon Valley zip code, have fresh approaches to solving the world's pressing problems. So with the global proliferation of thought-provoking solutions in fields like artificial intelligence, blockchain, sustainability, and diversity, how do we overcome innovation fatigue and remember why we love startups and their technology in the first place? Here's my take: innovation is only as exciting as its application.