This is the introduction to my course at EDHEC. If you'd like to know more about the full course, please contact me by email. bryan@bryancassady.com

1. Cycles
The simplest, proven way to
build your business.
EDHEC Course Introduction
www.tiny.cc/ABCS1/

2. Building a business is
hard work…
In this class, a new,
simplified way to
increase Speed
while reducing Risks

3. Bryan Cassady
• 11 Start-ups in 6 countries (8 winners, 1 loser, 2
unknown)
• Professor: KU Leuven , Solvay
Lecturer : Chicago, Berkeley, INSEAD, LSE
• Director Founder Institute/ The European
Innovation academy
• 4 years of research with over 400 companies on
the drivers of Innovation success
• New Book Cycles – 24 co-authors around the
ABCs of Innovation
3 Beliefs
1. Anyone can innovate
2. Bad systems will beat good people over
time
3. Good systems can make average people
great
Helping companies bring bigger ideas
to market faster, while reducing risks

4. • Master in econometrics and tax
• 30 years of professional experience in sales &
marketing and finance
• SME family business, B2C, B2B
• Retail, healthcare/software, chemicals
3 Beliefs
1. Innovation is not about big ideas (only). It is
about solving problems and creating value
out of the solutions.
2. From Thinking to Doing to Being
3. WE-nnovate instead of I-nnovate
Orchestrating the partnership between
entrepreneurs and finance professionals
allowing successful innovation
Dominique Baekelandt

5. Why together …
1. Share working methods
2. A new course Innovation for CFOs
3. How to build Innovation Habits ?

6. What I see…
(at companies of all sizes)
1. An incredible focus on the positive
2. A continual search for silver bullets
3. Scared to ask for help
4. If they ask, too much done internally
5. What they want to do lacks clarity /
focus
6. Lack of systems / Lack of urgency
7. Avoid tough decisions and stay in a
business too long
Deluded
Scared of Negative
Alone
Unclear
Lacking Systems
Not Making
Decisions

7. Good versus great Entrepreneurs
If you have real product market fit and momentum you can (but
probably won’t) succeed without systems and processes.
The reality is most successful companies have hit the wall many
times and pivoted their way to success. Processes / systems
increase your odds of getting the pivots right and on time

8. A test… Who are these companies today?
Personal
podcasting and
sharing audio
content

10. How do you think they used
Lean Start-up Techniques ?
15

11. Lean start up overview
• Scientific method (hypothesis driven= if, then , falsifiable)
• Remove waste in the start-up process (lean)
• Validated learning to reduce risks
• Accelerate in batches
• Build measure learn and famous pivots

12. Lean Start Up
How many of my clients
interpret this:
Build, measure, learn
Build, measure, learn
Build, measure, learn
Pivot to a Miracle.
I believe miracles seldom
happen, ideas are built over
time “Step by Step”.

13. What an amazing idea !!

14. The Real Story :
Build, Measure, Learn and improve
25
“Cold, but cool”
“Someone might
pay for this”
“Love the rooms”
“We’ve got an ICE Hotel”
1988 Started as an ice sculpture event
1989 A central unit was created called ARTic Hall. (60 M2)
A specialist survival group of the
Swedish Armed Forces spent the night
They decided to put in a bar
1990 French Artist Jannot Derid
No rooms in town, so they stayed
91-93 ARTic Hall expanded to 250 M2
Rented for Corporate get-aways
Artists come and go and start making rooms
1993 Still losing money, needing corporate support
Absolut Vodka got interested
in corporate get-aways

15. Based on 4 years of research with over
400 companies
There are companies that succeed and
companies that fail. The biggest
difference between winners and losers is
smart winners make good, even
mediocre, ideas great over time.
The Reality… Quality
Of Ideas
Time
Start
Learning
Cycles
No
Changes
Bad
Cycles
Smart
Winners
Lucky
Winners
Losers
Losers

16. Cycles: The ABC’s Of Growth.
Cycle 1
Cycle 2
Cycle 3
Cycle 4
Cycle 5
Align/Ask
Build
Communicate
Check
Systematically
Improve
Idea
Quality
Time

17. The Mental state you need as you go.
• Humility... know you will get it wrong
• Vulnerability to ask for help/ to say you
don’t know
• Get lots of feedback
• Learn and move on
• Don’t lose hope (but don’t be stupid)

18. Systems …
Every system is perfectly
designed to get the results it
gets.
W. Edwards Deming
30

19. A simple idea…
Many forms
The Demming Cycle
• Lean Start-up
• Design Thinking
• Scrum

20. Design Thinking
UNDERSTAND EXPLORE MATERIALIZE
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test Implement

21. Scrum DevelopTest
Accept
Plan
DefineReview
Backlog
Sprint Increment

22. The challenge is how to make it
simpler.
The Common Feature
Cycles of learning

23. A simpler, easier to remember formula
with clear instructions “how to”.
My Goal

24. Bad artists do it on their own
Good artists copy
Great artists steal

25. My New Book
A joint project with accelerators / Experts
around the world
The
ABCs of Innovation
A = Alignment
How to build organizational alignment
B = Build
How to build better ideas quicker
C = Communicate / Check
How to clearly communicate and check
your ideas
S = Systems
How to set up the right systems to lead
and get better over time

26. HOW CYCLES CONTRIBUTES TO
THE STATE OF THE ART
A new bit on
alignment.
It is important to
know what to
build or design.
And how to
instructions for
B, C and S
C Y C L E S
Alignment (what to build)
Build
Communciate & Check
Systematically Improve
CYCLES OF LEARNING
L E A N S T A R T - U P

Build
Measure
Learn
VALIDATED LEARNING
S T R A T E G Y Z E R

Design
Test
Execute
VALIDATED BUSINESS MODELS


27. SNARC
Case study
40

28. SNARC
A Semantic Social News Aggregator
SNARC, When you want to know more SNARC helps
discovering content by highlighting what is meaningful in a
quick, smart and personalized manner.
SNARC finds relevant content by learning from the content, the
social web and you!
3 people with PHDs in Semantic Search / 2 start up experts
and 500K to build their business

31. We are best in class
We have 15,000 downloads this week
Our server response time is down to .8
seconds
We were listed in TechCrunch last week
Success is on the way
An “Oh so
typical” scale-up
We build something great,
profits will follow.
80% product development
10% getting new users
5% finding a business model
5% other
________________________
100%

32. 2 types of entrepreneurs
1. Risk takers (they like the macho bit)
2. Risk reducers (they like getting house odds)
• A risk reducing entrepreneur will build a strategy that increases
odds of success from
• 10%
• to 20%
• to 50%

33. How… by asking again and again
“If this business fails, why would it fail ?”
“If this business fails, why would it fail ?”
“If this business fails, why would it fail ?”
Then finding answers

34. Working in your business Working on your business
We build something great,
profits will follow.
80% product development
10% getting new users
5% finding a business model
5% other
________________________
100%
How will be make a business.
5% product development
10% getting new users
80% finding a business model
5% other
________________________
100%

35. SNARCAlignment

36. Stop saying everything is fine!
It is time to stand naked in front of your
team and partners and tell them the
truth…
“I need your help to solve the following
issues..”

37. 5 Whys
Why is no one paying for our service ?
We never asked anyone to pay
Why have we never asked anyone ?
We haven’t found a pain someone is willing to pay to resolve
Why no pain to resolve ?
We haven’t focused on a specific segment yet
Why no segment yet
We have spent too much time at our desk
Why too much time at our desk
We are scared to meet clients because we don’t have ideas to sell
We need ideas for
things we can sell

38. Personally, I find nothing sadder
than a CEO with a big team working
alone on all the big problems…

39. TRUE
Truly
Simple
Let's get paid
N
Narrative.
Why it is
important
(the story)
If we can't find a way to get people to pay for our
service, we have no business regardless of how
great our technology is, how many people
download our product or how useful it is.
O Objective 3 ideas to make money that we can test
R
Restrictions
: We are not
interested in
A fee for use of the plug-in
People will not pay
T
Tactical
Constraints:
We have around 250 K to grow the business, so
the solutions need to be low cost. AND we need
to work with partners
H
Here is the
place to
start
Look at areas where the of Information value is
high and searching takes time (eg Job applicants,
News stories, etc°
Make it a story
Be honest
Be specific
Ask for help
TRUE N.O.R.T.H = A way to ask for help..

40. Building Ideas

41. Meaningfully
Unique Ideas!
Leverage
Diversity
Drive out Fear
=
Explore Stimulus
MU =
S
F
D

42. 1. Define your needs to build direction and remove fear (already done)
2. Make sure you have a diverse team (Probably OK)
------------------------------------------------------------
3. Get stimulus (Stimulus mining)
4. Mix and match (Association)
Best practices

43. Stimulus Available # of practical ideas invented
Low Stimulus
Medium Stimulus
High Stimulus
22
38
47
Value of Stimulus
Stimulus Feeds The Brain
Source: Jump Start your Business Brain

44. Traditional Model
Individual Brainstorming
Draining
Before After
Suck Method
Uses your brain like
a librarySource: Jump Start your Business Brain

45. Idea #1
Brain
Operating
System
Idea #2
Idea #3
Idea #4
Stimuli
Stimuli
Stimuli
Stimuli
Stimulus sets off a CHAIN Reaction!!!
Source: Jump Start your Business Brain

46. At their most basic,
IDEAS
are feats of association and
constraints
Source: Jump Start your Business Brain

47. You can use tools and systems
to force new associations
(there are hundreds of tools)

48. 666: Forced
Associations
• 8 Min: Random
combinations (look for
ideas)
• 2 Min: Pick top ideas and
write them up..
The simplest way to
write up ideas
• Headline
• Problem
• Promise
• Proof
• Payoff

50. Let’s look for ideas.

51. 1/ 1 / 1
Apple = design and simplicity
Students love music
Substitute instead of showing the
internet, show things to buy
A fancy music mix trial list anytime
someone visits a music site with an
option to buy on Itunes
Problem: Music choice
Promise: Easy Choice
Proof: All the knowledge of
Itunes
Payoff: Sales of music
SNARC Bryan
Domi
1 sep 19

52. Payoff
Dramatic difference
how is their life
different and better
Proof
Reason why should
they believe you and
dramatic difference
Idea Format

53. Let’s look for ideas.
65

54. Communicate
Check

55. Chances are …
your ideas are not as
good as you think …

56. Choose 1, Check your ideas with other groups
Clarity
Meaningful
Unique
2 Golden rules
If Clarity < 7
 Write it again
If [(Meaningful * .6 )
+ (Unique * .4 )] < 6
 You probably got a loser
One Suggestion
80

57. Why ?
Wonderful

58. How to make brilliant ideas
Talk with
Friends
Really Ugly
Meetup
Event
Still Ugly
Speak at
Conference
Less Ugly
Investor
Presentation
Good Enough

59. Re-Work
Target
1 Brilliant
Idea
Group assignment
Before the next
class

60. Systems

61. 4 Characteristics of effective system
thinking
1. A holistic view (The whole is often the same as the parts)
2. Thinking in loops (What causes what)
3. Focused on the big business drivers
4. Sequential not parallel problem solving

62. How systems thinking helps
What did you learn ?
What should you do next
A hypothesis for a next learning loop
Would you update the True North after this round of ideas
(probably)

63. An example of world class …
Objectives
Process
Alignment
A new business / business model in 12 weeks
A weekly learning cycle every week for 10 weeks
A 2 day management meeting to agree «what and why»
Plus basic training: How to build ideas/ the importance of systems
2 weeks
10 weeks
Alignment Every Monday… what are we going to do this week
Build ideas Every Friday… a brain-storming session (with new external people)
Communicate
Check
Real-time research
External experts to validate/ give feedback on all ideas
Systems Identify death threats/ work on death threats
Kill all weak ideas where death threats not resolved in 2 weeks
Every Day A 10 minute standing meeting

64. Summary of the ABCs

65. Benefits of the ABCs method

66. The reality is the ABCs is just a an easy
way to remember a process …
The choice of a process/system is less
important than having a process that:
Increases Speed
Removes risk

67. About this course …
90

68. Course Overview
Learning objectives
• To understand the core of
Lean Start-up - Validated
Learning as a way to reduce
risk
• How to use a method – The
ABCs to increase speed
• Experience using some tools
• An in-depth understanding of
Sprints
How
• As much as possible, a learn
as you go course
• Weekly individual and group
assignments
• A group presentation each
week
• A final exam with questions
known up-front

69. Exam and Grading
Exam Questions
• What is your new updated definition of Innovation. Did it
change ? Why, why not?
• Assuming you want to, how would you make effective
innovation a personal habit ?
• 3 Ways to improve this class
• As a group, document the stages of 1 CYCLE for a product
/ idea one of your group members is working on,
mandatory elements
True North
Spark Deck
Idea in 4P format, feedback, system view
New True North
(showing you learned something in the cycle)
Grading
• 25% class participation and your weekly
journal
• 50% your work in groups (Note ! A group
grade corrected for your contribution)
• 1 Class presentation
• 6 assignments
• 25% your final exam

70. A 5-minute
Course Journal
Required
(for each class)
Not very useful Very useful

71. Date What Group Readings Individual assignment (via google Assignment in groups
10/10/2019 Introduction Lean Start up summary or HBRarticle Your name
Your personal definition of Innovation
What would like to get out of this class
Something Innovative to remember you
Your first hypotheses
Learn a bit about Sprints
14/10/2019 Alignment Group 1 CYCLES Introduction (DRAFT)
Summary: Competing against luck
Article: St. Gallens, business model innovation
Optional: Outcome Driven Innovation
1 page personal notes Alignment Canvas
Plus 2-3 TRUE NORTH
Cards
A few ideas
21/10/2019 Build Group 2 Problem Definition: Chapter (Draft)
Create Chapter (Driving Eureka)
Article Making the Difference
Video lesson + PDF Making spark decks
1 page personal notes Spark Deck (what did we
miss)
1 good idea
22/10/2019 Communicate / Check Group 3 Summary: Jump start your business brain
Video : Pretotyping
Article: What is killing Innovation
Article: Cognitive Dissonance
1 page personal notes test your ideas
31/10/2019 Systems (And Culture) Group 4 An introduction to systems thinking
Summary : Simplifying Innovation
Video Russel Ackoff ORLearning Article
1 page personal notes A systems view
Plus your case
presentation
06/11/2019 Course Summary
Making Innovation an
organizational habit
Your Case presentations
Group 5 and
All groups
Summary : Atomic habits
Summary: The Power of habits
Article : Innovation as a habit (A very rough Draft)
Summary : The knowing, doing gap
Videos (there are 2): BJ FOGG
1 page personal notes Prepare final paper