business ideas or business opportunities

What is creativity?

Creativity: Sternberg and Lumbart (1995)

To be creative

Environment

Intelligence

KnowledgeThinking

Style

Personality

Motivation

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

Thinking styles

• Whole brain thinking?

Our Brains work in two ways

– Convergent Thinking (left

brain)

• Logical

• Analytical

• Solution reducing

– Divergent Thinking (right

brain)

• Creative

• Artistic

• Solution generating

Developing a Business Idea

Dr Andrew Hirst Room 9339 6

Where do ideas come from?

7

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!

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

Some example techniques that

can help us?

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

Market research / business

development techniques

Developing Personas examples

• Create your ideal customer• Age

• Occupation

• Level of expertise

• Net usage

• Environment

• Triggers

• Ultimate Goals

• Day in the life

• Examples

“A persona is a fictional

character that communicates

the primary characteristics of

a group of users, identified

and selected as a key target

through use of segmentation

data, across the company in

a usable and effective

manner.

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.

Mapping the Customer Journey

• Stages of purchase

– Awareness of need

– Distribution

– Selection

– Purchasing

– Payments

– After sales

– Repair

– Disposal

Customer Journey

for Websites

Awareness

Understand

Join in

engage

advocate

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

Other techniques

• 5 Whys +1 How

– Drill Down Process

• Other ideas

– Cube Crawling (3D)

• Market,

• Technology/Materials,

• Processes

– Market Mapping

– Attribute analysis

– Mind GYM

One simple question

What problem am I trying to fix?

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

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

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

Ultimately, ideas are irrelevant

if they stay as an idea!

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

Dr Andrew Hirst Room 9339 24

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"

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

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

Need an effective way to

decide

Screening ideas for

opportunity fitA Science or an Art? ....trying to get it

right

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

Creating Evaluation Criteria

• Depends on scale and ambition of the idea

• Personal decision

• Balance the idea with practical concerns

• It is an iterative process

Example Fine screen:

Weighted Scoring GridCriteria 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

home1 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

previous job4 3 12 2 8 5 _

Avoid head on

competition2 3 6 2 4 2 _

Total - 35 30 _

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

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

Your Business will be...

The right fit

Team

Idea

Resources