6 Steps to turn ideas into realities

“Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.” Thomas Edison

Eureka! I haven’t heard someone say that in a long time but I know for a fact, whenever a reasonable idea enters my mind eureka is being echoed through my entire subconscious. Its that spark of hope that you may just have stumbled upon the next big thing. Without the spark we usually run out of gas, like when we reach a critical point whilst developing an idea. The steps which follow have provided me with the hope and inspiration to carry on when things get tough. I hope that they will do the same for you.

1. Passion, Passion, Passion!: If you don’t have this before venturing into the unknown then I would advise on staying put for a while. The journey you are embarking on is a long and difficult one, but highly rewarding. Having the motivation to get up after you fall countless times is essential. In my experience that only comes with this absolute burning passion to succeed, to prove the naysayers wrong, to prove to yourself that you have what it takes to win and most importantly a passion for life. As cliched as that last sentence may sound please make sure you have this quality in you before taking your idea any further. To read more please click here.

2. Find the people who care about your idea: Ask yourself the question “Would anyone care about what we are wanting to do?”. From experience this initial market research for your idea is the key , the reality check for the space you are wanting to venture in. A simple test would be to google your idea. You will be amazed as to how many people may be building or have built complete businesses around your concept. This will provide you with key information on how to move forward and in what way you could fulfill this need in the market place with your concept. To read more please click here.

3. The ABC of business begins with an N: The N represents the customer and/or market need. After your preliminary research, you will now reach a critical stage in which you will have to put down a lot of your ideas and research in writing. The NABC approach provides a framework for doing that in an extremely effective manner. It has become my default evaluation model. Once we identify the need we can move on to A where we talk about how we will approach the market. After which we reach B where we will document all the benefits vs costs for our idea. Lastly C will involve listing down competition and evaluating how best to add greater value as compared to our competitors. You will now have your value proposition. To read more please click here.

4. Focus…have you got it?: This is where a lot of first-timers stumble. For you to be successful you have to pinpoint the one area that you will commit to do better in than anyone else. Say for example at InnovoGS we operate in the human resources industry where services provided can be as diverse as doing simple data entry for payroll processing to restructuring the entire organization structure through consulting. We focus in the recruitment department and use psychometric tests to help organizations make more informed staffing and developmental decisions. We have focused solely on building our competencies in this one aspect for the last 15 months. Once we reach a certain level of competency in this department we have plans to move laterally to outsourcing functions related to recruitment. For us to offer virtually every human resource related consultancy service would dilute our initial focus and we would not have made the progress we have. Making sure you stay focused in the early stages of your venture is essential. To read more please click here.

5. Innovation Champions: Every venture needs at least one individual who has this awesome passion for the idea. He/she is the sort of person who infuses everyone with a contagious sense of euphoria and enthusiasm when they speak about their venture. They help team mates through the bad times and are having the most fun at the celebration party when they win their first contract. An idea without this champion would be lost and fall off the wayside when things become tough. If you are serious about the idea you are working on make sure there is at least one champion. To read more please click here.

6. Venture Alignment: In two words this is basically aligning your “core values” with your venture. When there is a disconnect between what you truly believe in and what you are actually doing there can’t be any sustainable long term success. You need to make sure you partner with people who share your core values, get idea champions to make sure everyone is on the same page and to continuously keep checking your value systems. From a long run perspective this is what it is all about. The best of ideas have amazing short term success but if there are vital building blocks missing from the foundation the structure isn’t going to last. To read more please click here.

I cant believe 3 weeks have already gone by. I want to thank all my loyal readers for yet another fantastic week. Thank you for all your emails and comments. I am accepting topics which you would like covered in the next following weeks for the blog. Please leave a comment on this blog and I will get back to you on whether I will be writing on the topic and by when. Best of luck!

Venture Alignment

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” Brian Tracy

Look at some of the most successful companies in the world, such as Toyota where they aim to produce the highest quality automobile at the lowest possible cost using standardized production facilities or Microsoft which aims to enable people and corporations reach their potential through technology. When you have such a clear vision of where you are going, how you are going and most importantly why you are going, it all starts to make sense. The storming phase is when you are diving deep into your idea and creating a NABC for it, you have to keep your core values in constant alignment with your venture. A disconnect at this stage is often overlooked due to the fact that we want to ensure that our business is a success,  incorporating strategies that fall in grey areas where it is difficult to tell black from white is not  a winning strategy.

A good example is when you promote yourself incorrectly to get attention. Say your organization has core values of reliability, integrity and respect. If you go out and publish an advertisement for your service with words such as “guaranteed success”, “100% reliability” or any other claim which you cannot backup with reliable and valid evidence you are starting off on the wrong foot.  Using  such strategies may yield amazing short term results, however if they go against your core values, success will be short lived.

When discipline is selected as a core value make sure everyone in the organization or team are ambassadors for that particular trait. They have to believe and practice them first before they are able to go and preach them to others. These habits end up making all the difference between success and failure. You have to ensure that core values are aligned when forming your idea.

For the companies which I work with, I strive to ensure that we follow continuous value creation for our customers. This has enabled us to keep our focus on the most important aspect of the business while keeping our values in check as well. A culture of continuous development and innovation is a key for a company’s success in the long run. Without this you will most likely enjoy some short term success and be left in the dust in the future. Making sure we have set these cultures, practices and core values from the very beginning of a project is critical.

If you are the idea champion for your current project make sure your venture is aligned with your core values. Find out what other people on your team are thinking and whether you are all on the same page. Get all of this out in the open at the start. You are responsible for the change that you want to see in the world. Taking 100% responsibility for your life and projects that you are working on is the first stepping stone for making the impossible…possible.

Innovation Champions

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ”Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” Muhammad Ali

This week we have talked about some pretty serious matters. I feel I have not really done justice to the idea conceptualizing exercise. As you can tell from prior posts, it is a complicated and difficult process. From the outside, the entrepreneurial world looks like a boat load of fun and to tell you the truth sometimes it isn’t all that it is hyped up to be. In the end it all depends on how badly you want to succeed and why? Having what it takes to be a champion for your idea is what it is all about. If you have ever been part of a project, group or business venture where everyone in the group didn’t want to change the world in one way or the other then you weren’t surrounded by champions. From my own experience, when I float an idea and truly become passionate about it…..there is no stopping me. Innovation champions are those individuals who spread their concept and idea to the rest of the world with such passion and enthusiasm that it becomes contagious.

For every idea to succeed I feel there has to be one or more idea champions. They are the individuals who hold their ground when things get shaky, are there for team members who may be losing hope and are committed to the project a 110%. Champions surround themselves with similar partners. Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak and Bill Hewlett had Dave Packard to name some very famous ones. So this leads us back to the post where I talked about how critical it is to partner correctly. The process of just throwing a bunch of people together and wishing for the best isn’t a very effective strategy. There needs to be a disciplined process, put into place by the team champion to ensure that everyone works effectively. This is something which I have recently started to do myself and it has got some great results. Make sure that when you get together with your team there is a purpose. Document it and reach some clear action steps and results when concluded.

To sum it all up, innovation champions are not out there only to make money. That is not the primary motivator for them to come to work everyday. They come because they believe in what they are doing, they believe it has the capability to bring about change for the better. Passion and enthusiasm is their driving force. Successful startups have a bigger vision as to where they see themselves. They are not afraid to fail, at the same time, they never give up. They relentlessly pursue their goals and objectives through successful partnerships and constant feedback. So if you are thinking about taking an idea from concept to realization make sure you have what it takes. If you think you do, and believe me everyone does, make a decision to become a champion today!

It’s all about FOCUS

“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.” Anthony Robbins

I have got many questions regarding stage 2 of the idea developmental process. I understand that it is a difficult stage and requires a lot of time and commitment. However without developing your NABC proposition there is no moving forward. Essentially when you have your NABC in place you can start moving forward at an extremely accelerated pace. The next couple of days I will provide you with some complimentary things to help you during this idea generation phase which is crucial. Today’s topic is going to talk all about FOCUS. This is one word which I feel hasn’t got the type of attention it needs. Essentially without it you could have a brilliant NABC, team and company and you will still find yourselves lost in a maze. I have had countless ventures where we essentially lost focus of the need we were fulfilling or the benefits we wanted to create and it had a disastrous result on the business.

Focus in my opinion is what differentiates the winners from the losers. If you look at prime examples in the world today such as Google (focused solely on its search engine to organize the data on the internet), Amazon (focused on the online shopping experience), Dell (focused on supply chain management to minimize costs), Apple (focused on creating revolutionary new designs and concepts). These are just some of the examples of companies who have identified the need they wanted to cater to and then developed their approach with a fanatical sort of focus. This has led to products and services which go far beyond just catering to the basic needs of the customer or market.

In my experience this focus is not visibly apparent in the beginning. You have to work very diligently with your approach while keeping in mind the benefits you are providing in comparison to your competitors. Once you have figured out an approach which satisfies these requirements then you can move on to making optimizations to the process. Regardless, you will have to make a commitment to yourself and your business that you will provide it with everything you have to offer. Juggling too many things at once is a confirmed recipe for disaster. So next time you are in a team;

1. Identify firstly what is it that you are good at.

2. Next identify the ways you can use those skills to benefit the business.

3. Laser like focus is required with the rest of the team on fine tuning your product or service.

Dividing your focus among multiple divergent businesses is a tough proposition. It may seem very attractive at first but without the necessary experience it is a losing proposition (even with experience you still won’t get the same results). So choose your projects wisely, preferably those which magnify your strengths. It is very easy to lose focus along the way and very difficult to keep it going during the tough times. Keep plugging away and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

 

Are you different?

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Warren Buffet

Coming to stage 2 you have identified and quantified  customer and market need. Now is when things begin to get interesting. For any new venture to succeed it requires a value proposition. Without it you will find yourself lost. This has happened to me in the past and it still does sometimes. The typical situation is you identify and quantify a need,  then you assemble a team as fast as possible and execute the plan based solely on gut feelings. Further down the line, if you have not constructed a valid value proposition, you and your partners  have to restructure the business to make it work. So the key is “create greater customer value in comparison to the value being created by your competitors” and document it extensively before starting the venture.

Being able to quantify this value and bring it from being an abstract thought in your head to reality is not the easiest of things to do. I list down the following four factors when breaking an idea down.

Need: “What is the important customer and market Need?

Approach: “What is your unique Approach for addressing this need?”

Benefits: “What are the specific Benefits per cost that result from this approach?”

Competition: “How are these benefits per cost superior to the Competition?”

I realize that initially creating a value proposition based on these four factors is difficult. Sometimes you can’t identify a direct competitor, calculating benefit vs cost gets complicated or a host of other issues. The important aspect is that you have to start thinking about these factors and over the passage of time you will incorporate many permutations to come up with a winning value proposition. To go about this effectively here are a couple of helpful tips:

1. Talk with your prospective customers and clients about your new concept and get feedback. Remember your customers are out there in the real world and not your office. Get out there and get to know them a lot better.

2. If possible create a prototype for your service which will help your target audience to visualize what it is that you are selling or providing. Also let your customers take it for a spin and see how they interact with it.

3. Do a thorough competitor analysis to document what are the alternatives out there. This will also help you to understand where it is, that you have to create value for your target customer.

4. Study the market or the industry that you are wanting to operate in. Deep market knowledge and understanding the dynamics between the players, government and competitors is critical. There are a lot of great market research reports on the web. Get as much information as you can to make an educated decision on the future growth and scalability prospects for your business.

Your first draft for the value proposition will be far from perfect. However, remember that the journey to success is usually not a straight line. IDEO a leading design firm states, “Fail often to succeed early.” I think that should be the motto for all entrepreneurs. I have started businesses which were headed in one direction when we started and are operating in a completely different space now. The most important things needed to help make this journey worthwhile is a great team, get your NABC proposition pat down, be passionate and proactive and then……enjoy the ride!

p.s Stage 2 requires a lot of time and dedication to so make sure you do this step properly. Don’t be in a rush now because it will cost you dearly in the future.

Does anyone care?

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. “
Mahatma Gandhi

You think you have got it. That one idea which is going to create a whole new space in the market or cater to an unmet one. Careful now, this is the first step in the process. Passion, enthusiasm and belief in your idea are prerequisites to move forward. The next step is when you take your idea a revolutionary concept of renting books. This idea stemmed from a need to continuously refer a lot of books as I am a research scientist. Due to the unavailability of enough libraries in the city I live in, I am forced to buy a lot of books. Thats when the Eureka point takes place, when I wonder if it is possible to setup a business model where we can essentially rent books for stipulated periods of time.

This may seem like an idea with potential at first. However, the most value it has right now is because it addresses a current need of my own. So now is the time that to do a lot of research into the particular segment that we are talking about.

I would first talk about the idea with just about anyone who would want to listen. I would structure surveys, if resources are available focus groups can be conducted and research into buying patterns of customers currently buying a lot of books, a few books , or no books. If at this stage I get a positive response I would then focus my research efforts on the current suppliers of the product. I would begin the process by identification of libraries in my city or region. Would be looking to see numbers on, how many members does the library have, how many books are borrowed each year, what were the popular subjects, what is the process of borrowing, are there any cost involved, how many books are never returned?

Once we are done with this segment , then begin the explore the book stores. How many of those are there in the city, what is the average size of the bookstore, what sort of varieties do they hold, how many books were sold in the past year, what were the popular subjects, what are the average margins on book sales, how do they promote new books. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope I have got the point across that current industry numbers and facts are important to gauge just how big your market is currently and what sort of percentage we will be looking at to achieve our end.

We should then have a rough idea of what the figures currently look like, whether there is an upward trend in the market for book sales or a decline. Whether the idea can feasibly be implemented on a national scale if the correct resources are available. This would be the number crunching aspect of the entire exercise, which is when simple feasibility studies are conducted and we get a good gauge on the major questions that we want to be asking at this stage:

1. Is there an important customer and market need?

2. Do we have a unique and feasible approach on fulfilling that need?

We are now at the stage where if we are happy with our initial feedback and response about the idea we can begin on developing it further. Only move to stage 2 once you have clearly identified a substantial need in the market. I have come across countless individuals who when I ask this question, “Would anyone really care if they use or don’t use your product?”. Usually its silence or they reiterate their products list of features again. Don’t make that mistake make sure your idea is backed with a customer and market need which has the inherent capability of making a difference and scaling to a global platform.

 

Eureka!

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” George Bernard Shaw

A lot of people usually ask the question “How did you ever think of this concept?” or sometimes you are the one wondering “I wonder what the guys who created YOUtube were thinking about?”. These are very good questions to be asking, in fact if you are  part of a group of people asking questions like this you are already well ahead of most of the population. The reason being, that you are beginning to question the world around you. I feel this was a major breakthrough for me, when I started questioning things and not just accepting them for what they were.

All ideas usually address a certain customer need or add value to a certain process to make it better. This is how I remember starting up my first business in university. I had a friend who was part of the student union and talking about a tender which he needed to get quotes for. It was for the basic printing of name cards. My partner and I decided that if we could get the basic machinery necessary we could provide a much greater value added service. This led to the launch of our first design and print company. In the years to come we helped them with a range of projects and being physically on campus we started to get orders from a lot of other student-based organizations. If you have identified a customer which has a current need you can fill and add extra value to it, you are well on your way to developing something which has great potential.

Open your eyes to the world around and be on the constant look out as to where there is a need and value can be created. Once you have got a vague idea that is the part which separates the doers from the talkers. This week I am going to take your through my thought process of how you can take a simple concept and rigorously test it to see if it can be made into reality. The process which I use is a mix of experience and lots of helpful tips I have got from books such as Innovation - Curtis Carlson, Purpose - Nikos Mourkagiannis and Execution - Bossidy Charan and Burk.

However the most important part of the process is the one discussed in this post. Identification of the idea and a deep commitment with enthusiasm about it is a defining part of this process. Without it I feel the spark is not there, so if you have come up with an idea then you should seek to discuss with as many people as possible. Talking with individuals with experience in that industry gets you insight which is priceless. Enthusiasm, passion & a constant interaction with others about this idea is vital to its success.If you are asked to join a team and be part of developing a concept then do as much research into the idea as possible. Think about different angles and permutations that it could work in. You have to be excited enough and  get your blood flowing, then  get your team together and………………now you are ready!