how to generate and evaluate ideas for a new venture
- generate – start with your means
- bird in hand - going with what you already have rather than chasing what you don’t
mean- based approach
means = idea generation
- who am i
- what do i know
- who do i know
who am i?
Traits you possess, values, skills/ capabilities, interests
what do i know?
Education, experience (jobs/ projects) → professional competencies and expertise
who do i?
Social networks → can help you generate ideas
ideation
evaluating ideas
- A valuable idea is a solution to a problem
- Problem solution fit
- Need to be solving a problem
- Not only about uniqueness – but also has to be desired by consumers
deign thinking
Understanding from a human perspective
Empathize with potential customers – deep level of understanding
desirabilty
start
- If it is not a solution for customers then it is not worth it
feasabilty
is it possible
viability
- Can you profit off it – is it financially feasible/ possible
- Are the customers going to desire the product enough to spend
- Can you incur a loss → financial performance, cannot be operating at a loss for a long period of time
integrative approach
all functional areas need to align to come up with a valuable idea
evaluate the ideas
- customers currently trying to solve this problem
- migraine headache problem
- high effort
- high impact
- are customers unsatisfied with the current solution
- is the solution something that relives pain and creates solutions
- is the industry easy to enter
- how do i evaluate my ideas
are customers currently trying to solve this problem
If there is no solution is it really worth pursuing?, do people really care enough to actively solve it
Want a migraine headache problem – bothering customer base enough to purchase something from competitors/ their own hacks to try and avoid it. If they are not doing anything about it then it is most likely not a big problem (5-minute rule)
migrane headache problem
- evaluate the current situation
- A good indication if they are spending a lot of time and effort to try and come up with a good solution
high effort
- tweak the idea to have a higher imapct on consumer
- people putting a lot of effort into finding a solution
- Ex- masks and glasses – higher impact than fogging goggles
- Something that changes a small annoyance in life or a big one
- Scuba diving vs pillow – the pillow is more important
high impact
- want high impact
- What is the market size, how many people have this problem
- Focus on a market that is growing in size – do not want to look at a shrinking market
- Rare diseases pharmaceuticals do not want to spend all that money to only affect a niche group of people
are customers unsatisfied with the current solution
- Pain point – does it still exist
- Is it relieved from the existing solutions/ competitors that still exist
- Is the marginal difference between 97% - 100% enough for them to switch
is the solution something that relives the pain and creates solutions
- Has to be something that the customer actually values
- Needs to be different and add value, not just being different to be different
- Have to be able to understand the customers and what they are trying to get done, their pain points and their outcomes
is the industry easy to enter
Can I reach the customer
can I overcome barriers to entry
can I protect my solution from competitors
how do i evaluate my ideas
- What current trends that have some interest to me and I have some knowledge in – can yield opportunities for this solution
- Desirable and viable ideas are forward-looking and innovative – be where the puck is going not where it is now
- Where current trends are heading – current tech to make products more innovative – sustainability and machine learning
