Summary of key issues relating to the development of business ideas and deciding on

1. What is creativity?

2. Creativity: Sternberg and Lumbart (1995)
To be
creative
Intelligence
Environment
Knowledge
Thinking
Style
Personality
Motivation

3. Creativity
• Creative professions
– e.g. artists, actors or mad genius etc.
• Creative People in "uncreative professions"
– e.g. police trying to solve crimes
• We are all creative
– Novel associations
– cognitive process
– We can use techniques to help us

4. Thinking styles
• Whole brain thinking?

5. Our Brains work in two ways
– Convergent Thinking (left
brain)
• Logical
• Analytical
• Solution reducing
– Divergent Thinking (right
brain)
• Creative
• Artistic
• Solution generating

6. Developing a Business Idea
Dr Andrew Hirst Room 9339 6

7. Where do ideas come from?
7

8. Where do ideas come from?
• Copying existing ideas
• Solving problems
• Developing a hobby
• Finding gaps
• Improving existing ideas
• Listening to others who say
things like ‘If only…’
• Combining ideas
• Poor alternatives
• Building on skills
• Utilising existing resources
• New ways of doing things
• Opportunity seeking
• Thinking about what things do
rather than what they are
Ideas come from anywhere!

9. Where do innovative ideas
come from?
• Technology - e.g. Moore's Law
– micro chip performance doubles roughly every year
• Market - e.g. Deregulation, globalisation, the
internet
• Societal - e.g. Lifestyles, ecology
• Brontosaurus factor e.g. IBM, Ford and GM
• Irrational exuberance (asset bubbles) e.g.
changing asset values

10. Some example techniques that
can help us?

11. Brainstorming
– Best for/with:
• - Small groups of up to 5
• - A wide range of abilities
• - Generating lots of different ideas
• - Risk free exercise
• - Initial team building
• - Short time periods
– Poor for:
– - Ideas evaluation
– - Poorly defined topics or problems
– - Use over long periods
– - Generating quality ideas
– - Learning specific facts

12. Market research / business
development techniques

13. Developing Personas examples
• Create your ideal customer
• Age
• Occupation
• Level of expertise
“A persona is a fictional
• Net usage
character that communicates
the primary characteristics of
• Environment
a group of users, identified
• Triggers
and selected as a key target
• Ultimate Goals
through use of segmentation
data, across the company in
• Day in the life
a usable and effective
• Examples
manner.

14. Create your ideal customer
• Age
• Occupation
• Level of expertise
• Net usage
• Environment
• Triggers
• Ultimate Goals
• Day in the life
• Examples
– Persona 1 – George: George is a 45 year old violin teacher who has used the Internet for
less than a year. He accesses the Internet from home over a broadband connection. He has
never purchased online before, preferring to place orders by phone.
– Persona 2 – Georgina: Georgina is a 29 year old ad exec who has been using the Internet
for 5 years and uses her Macbook, iPad or Android phone to access the web – whatever is to
hand.

15. Mapping the Customer Journey
• Stages of purchase
– Awareness of need
– Distribution
– Selection
– Purchasing
– Payments
– After sales
– Repair
– Disposal

16. Customer Journey
for Websites
Awareness
Understand
Join in
engage
advocate

17. Scamper - e.g. Mars Bar
S ubstitute
C ombine
A dapt
M agnify
P ut to other use
E liminate
R earrange
Breakfast Bar not Bowl
Mcflurry Mars
Battered Mars Bar
King Size
Celebrations Mars
Artificial ingredients
Mini Mars bags

18. Other techniques
• 5 Whys +1 How
– Drill Down Process
• Other ideas
– Cube Crawling (3D)
• Market,
• Technology/Materials,
• Processes
– Market Mapping
– Attribute analysis
– Mind GYM

19. One simple question
What problem am I trying to fix?

20. The reality of generating
business ideas
• Idea development process is continuous
Mullins and Komisar (2009)
• Analogs (similar ideas)
• Antilogs (opposing ideas)
• Leaps of faith
• i.e. Incremental development vs radical
innovation

21. Some interesting business
analogues to copy
• Gillett razor - low initial investment to tie in customers
• e.g. world of warcraft
• Ebay - cash positive business, by acting as
intermediary
• e.g. Betfair
• Playstation - provide open system for developers
• e.g. Andriod
• Nintendo - controlled system
• e.g.Apple
• Innocent Drinks

22. Summary - creating business
ideas
• Ideas come from many sources
• We can use techniques to help generate ideas
• Often ideas come from what we see and hear in
our daily lives
• Identifying the problem to be solved is an
important stage in the idea development process

23. Ultimately, ideas are irrelevant
if they stay as an idea!

24. Persistence
"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan
'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the
human race."
Calvin Coolidge
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25. Ideas into Opportunities
"An opportunity has the qualities of being attractive
durable and timely and is anchored in a product
or service, which creates or adds value for its
buyer or end user"

26. We often get it wrong
• 1977 - Ken Olsen Digital Equipment Corporation
– "There is no reason for any individual to have a
computer in their home"
• 1980 Sir Clive Sinclar launches the ZX80 (the first home PC)
• 1901 - Wilbur Wright (Wright Brothers)
– "Man will not fly for 50 years"
– 1903 Wright Brothers makes first flight

27. We often get it wrong
• Thomas Eddison (1910)
– "The Nickel-Iron Battery will put the Gasoline buggy
out of existence in no time"
• Einstein (1932)
– "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear
energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the
atom would have to be shattered at will"
– 1944 America use the Hydrogen bomb
• “There is a world market for about five
computers.” Thomas J Watson, IBM

28. Need an effective way to
decide
Screening ideas for
opportunity fit
A Science or an Art? ....trying to get it
right

29. Basic Criteria
• Business focused
– Market opportunity
• Size, growth, competition and barriers to entry
– Practical/Economic feasibility
• Cash flow, ROI Margins, time to breakeven
– Management team
• Credibility and experience
– Product/ service
• Technology, Timing and Strategic Advantage
– Personal
• Type and scale of ambition, Fit with idea, attitude to risk

30. Creating Evaluation Criteria
• Depends on scale and ambition of the idea
• Personal decision
• Balance the idea with practical concerns
• It is an iterative process

31. Example Fine screen:
Weighted Scoring Grid
Criteria Weighting
(1-5)
Idea 1
(Score 1-5)
Idea 2
(Score 1-5)
Idea 3
(Score 1-5)
Raw
score
Weighted
score
Raw
score
Weighted
score
Raw
score
Weighted
score
Ability to work from
home
1 1 1 1 1 3 3
Low level of risk 2 4 8 2 4 5 _
High Financial return 3 2 6 3 9 1 _
Low start up investment 2 1 2 2 4 4 _
Leverage contracts from
4 3 12 2 8 5 _
previous job
Avoid head on
competition
2 3 6 2 4 2 _
Total - 35 30 _

32. Try this in VM
• 2x2 matrix
1. Idea attractiveness vs compatibility with personal
circumstances
2. Benefit to future career vs time to complete
3. Easy to do vs fun to do
No point
doing
Yeah, lets
do it!
Oh no..
Boring
A great
challenge
Easy
Fun

33. Summary
• A business opportunity is more than an idea
• It’s a personal decision
• An opportunity arrives when the idea, resources
and the teams motivation and skills merge
• Develop a set of criteria that helps you
• Remember that nothing is perfect and you need
to take risks and make a decision!
• Knowledge is power - so do your research

34. Your Business will be...
Resources
Team
Idea
The right fit