Insights on how to filter and evaluate business concepts with your innovation team.

1. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

2. In this slide deck:
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

3. OK, you had another
wonderful brainstorm!
But now what?

4. First of all, make
sure everything
is covered with
post-it notes. OK?

5. First of all, make
sure everything
is covered with
post-it notes. OK?
Time to filter ideas!

6. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
1.
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

7. image urbanrealms.com
Just innovate like a Demolition
Before you started, you knew where to land, right?

8. image urbanrealms.com
Just innovate like a Demolition
Before you started, you knew where to land, right?
You should define a landing zone upfront!

9. image urbanrealms.com
Just innovate like a Demolition
Always set your innovation criteria before your brainstorm,
before you even start your innovation project!
• E.g. Target new markets
• +15% growth in revenue by year 4
• No B2C - we will not pass by our retail partners
• ...
Invest a reasonable amount of time to define this list!
Here
for sure
Maybe
here
Not
here!!!

10. ex
Day 1 in your innovation project: sit together with your
er
cis
e
management team and draw this grid on a flip-chart.

11. ex
er
cis
Have a quick post-it session to verify if everyone shares the
e
same ambition and if your innovation criteria are reasonable
*Whatever* Zone
Ideas that are too basic,
only incremental.
iPads for our
Sales People

12. ex
er
cis
Have a quick post-it session to verify if everyone shares the
e
same ambition and if your innovation criteria are reasonable
Comfort zone
Perfect fit with criteria
everybody happy
Launch Product
X to market Y
with partner Z
Note:
Most of the times your criteria
will be too strict resulting in
no ideas at all or only a few
vague concepts. Don’t worry ;)

13. ex
er
cis
Have a quick post-it session to verify if everyone shares the
e
same ambition and if your innovation criteria are reasonable
Innovation zone
Some will get nervous
about these ideas.
Stop Business
Unit X & replace
with digital service
Note:
“HQ wont allow this?!”
“It will cannibalize our market!”
Perfect Questions!

14. ex
er
cis
Have a quick post-it session to verify if everyone shares the
e
same ambition and if your innovation criteria are reasonable
Out of scope
Too complex, not
allowed,...
We should start
our own
airline business!
Note:
Keep these ideas for inspiration
later on. At this point, you just
want to align the criteria with
your Mgmt.

15. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
2.
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

16. Innovation is like Cooking
50% = Guidelines
50% = Gut feeling
flickr cc reid-be

17. Innovation is like Cooking
50% = Guidelines
50% = Gut feeling
Don’t hope to find
an exact formula.
If (A)x > B = C^2
flickr cc reid-be

18. You can just follow your heart
to cluster related topics.

19. You can just follow your heart Note: Do some dirty filtering
based on your criteria. At this
to cluster related topics. stage, that’s good enough.

20. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
3.
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

21. Make a basic template to elaborate
on each interesting concept
E.g. Describe customer
experience
E.g. Rate 2 criteria (L,M,H)
Add more info if needed
E.g.: Short description

22. Note:
These templates* can be Just make sure all ideas are captured with
the same level of detail when you want to
made digitally as well. evaluate. You can’t compare a 1 word
Post-it with a Pytchographic like this.
*Format depends on the project & scope.

23. When voting, some people tend to
Beware for the love the ideas of the boss more.
I TheBoss Trap Anonymous voting helps!

24. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
4.
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

25. Prepare concept cards for your top 10 ideas
It’s an excellent tool to guide discussions
with your core innovation team.

26. Describe the (neg.) consequences Summary, why will
of this concept for the company. Biggest obstacles this idea Win or Fail?
(e.g. Fire x amount of people)
Give it a ‘sexy’ name
not CT_04_v1
Add visuals
Check with
criteria & fit
Competitors or with scope.
related concepts
What is this
concept?
Exact format will differ
Benchmark between Add emotions in your conclusion.
depending on the project. your concepts Why do we need to
That’s up to you! (e.g. Innovation level) love this idea?

27. Use ball park
figures to build up
a first business
case
Depending on the phase within your innovation project you
will need more info in order to evaluate & filter.
Do Your Home Work!

28. Focus discussions on Note: Humans need reference
points. Base your decisions on
2 concepts at the same time. relative comparisons.
flickr cc billzimmerman

29. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
4.
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

30. Innovate like American Idol?
Just keep this in mind:
Attracting lots of votes
=
future commercial
success?

31. Innovate like American Idol?
Keep an eye on ‘cute faces’,
Just keep this in mind: drivers with a disproportional impact.
Attracting lots of votes
=
future commercial
success?
Hell no!
Votes are only indicative.
Use more tools & insights
to base your filtering on!

32. ex
er
cis
Due to internal politics you might be asked for a rational
e
voting approach. Be very careful about this!
Idea A Idea B Idea C Idea D
criteria A
criteria B
criteria C
criteria D

33. ex
er
cis
Due to internal politics you might be asked for a rational
e
voting approach. Be very careful about this!
Idea A Idea B Idea C Idea D
Brand Awareness 4 7 9 2
Revenue potential 3 3 3 6
Market fit 9 8 3 2
Tech feasibility 2 4 7 7
Don’t you think that
Market Fit should be a 7?

34. ex
er
cis
Due to internal politics you might be asked for a rational
e
voting approach. Be very careful about this!
Idea A Idea B Idea C Idea D
Brand Awareness 4 7 9 2
Revenue potential 3 3 3 6
Market fit 9 87 3 2
Tech feasibility 2 4 7 7
Don’t you think that
Market Fit should be a 7?
Hmm, I don’t know...
what about
.... a 7.5?

35. ex
er
cis
Due to internal politics you might be asked for a rational
e
voting approach. Be very careful about this!
Idea A Idea B Idea C Idea D
Brand Awareness 3 4 7 9 2
Revenue potential 1 3 3 3 6
Market fit 3 9 7.58 7 3 2
Tech feasibility 2 2 4 7 7
Don’t you think that
Market Fit should be a 7?
Hmm, I don’t know...
what about
.... a 7.5?
OK.... hmm
But what if we add Weights
to each criterium?
Yeah, Awesome
So sophisticated!

36. ex
er
cis
Due to internal politics you might be asked for a rational
e
voting approach. Be very careful about this!
Idea A Idea B Idea C Idea D
Brand Awareness 3 4 7 9 2
Revenue potential 1 3 3 3 6
Market fit 3 9 7.58 7 3 2
Tech feasibility 2 2 4 7 7
Warning:
Don’t get lost in this type of discussions.

37. ex
er
cis
Due to internal politics you might be asked for a rational
e
voting approach. Be very careful about this!
Idea A Idea B Idea C Idea D
Brand Awareness L H H L
Revenue potential * L L L M
Market fit H H L L
Tech feasibility L M H H
Warning:
Don’t get lost in this type of discussions.
Score Cards are just a guide, nothing
more. Keep it plain and simple:
Low, Medium & High are just fine!

38. - practical tips for your innovation team -
The secrets to
Select & Evaluate
Innovative business ideas
5.
by boardofinnovation.com
flickr cc bjacques
innovation consulting office

39. Innovate with The Joker
Remember,
You, the innovation manager,
can always pull the Joker Card

40. Innovate with The Joker
Remember,
You, the innovation manager,
can always pull the Joker Card
You’re the Innovation Expert
It’s your job to protect precious, fragile ideas!
Save them from corporate conservatism, ignorance, biasses,...

41. Backup needed?
Our structured innovation process
might help you out.
Based on a Hollywood theme to inspire!
More info in the slide deck below:

42. Download as PDF > Pay With A Tweet
Innovation Training & Courses Our innovation consulting
• Business Model Innovation • Next gen business models
• Methodology, innovation tools • Better revenue streams
• Creativity techniques • Disruptive & inspiring trends
Order Training Hire us
coffee@boardofinnovation.com @nickdemey @philderidder