This 2nd period was about recognizing opportunities. We are all exposed, on a daily base, to a never ending flow of ideas, suggestions, and opportunities. So it’s not so much about pure creativity or vision, than putting oneself into the right state of mind, and looking at the right direction…
It is all about challenging assumptions, established consensus, which means it is not an easy journey. And the entrepreneur and innovator is confronted to a number of innovation/entrepreneurship hurdles that are difficult to overcome.
About the state of mind, there are 5 basic routines that shape the innovator way of capturing ideas:
Observation, it is about watching the world around us as a source of inspiration. Remember that 93% of the businesses created worldwide are replications of existing businesses.
Association: relating facts, observations together to infer a perception of a potential, a new way to resolve a problem…
Questioning refers to the ability to challenge the status quo, always ask yourself, other “why are things the way they are ?”
Networking suggests that one of the main talent of entrepreneurs and innovators is the ability to connect with people, outside your circle of expertise, who will expose yourself with new ideas, new perspective.. Leading to watching the world differently
Experimenting is the last of the 5 routines of entrepreneurs. Testing, building prototypes, taking product into pieces represent a core way to learn and expand your spectrum of thinking.
And about looking at the right direction, we developed the 5 sources of ideas:
Identifyingtrends, technology, market, socio-économic, demographic, represent a very productive starting point for the entrepreneurial thinking
Recognizing industry changes, in the organization, technology mutation or deregulation, is also a very rich source of startup opportunities
Spotting technologies out of the lab is one of the most promising source of opportunities; however the way to turn a lab result into a successful venture is a long and chaotic process, where persistence and serendipity play a key role. Persistence because it’s a long process, and serendipity because history suggests that the real application of a technology is in the majority of the case very far from the initial scope that motivated the research work.
Uncovering untapped market segment is of course a natural source for entrepreneurial opportunities. It is about finding, in a given industry, segments that are considered as attractive by existing players, or that haven’t be spotted by existing players .
Business Model innovation is the last generic source of ideas for the entrepreneur. It’s a very interesting direction to look at, as it is about outsmarting existing players in an established market. It can take 3 forms:
Innovation in the value you are delivering to your customers
Innovation in the organization that you put in place to build the product, deliver the value
Innovation in the economics, that is in finding new ways to get customers to pay, to overcome some adoption hurdles..
We hope you now understand that looking for idea is a process and a state of mind that you can all put in place efficiently and fruitfully, and that you can all find, game changing high impact ideas, as long as you start believing in it, and putting enough energy in the exercise.
Remember that there are additional resources listed on the website. They are as important as the lecture to strengthen the learnings and enhance your understanding of the topic…
