IdeaSpark! — The Craft of Great Business Ideas

Start-Up! is weekly column on entrepreneurship, start-ups, technology and innovation, powered by the Adams Hub for Innovation.

Pet Rocks, 1-800-Flowers, Facebook--we’ve all heard of a widely successful company with a product or service that is so simple, we think, “I could have come up with that.” But could you? The answer is “yes.” There is no magical, proven standard or formula for coming up with the next great idea for a business. When it comes to innovative ideas, the “ah-ha” moment can best be realized by utilizing a few simple, but very powerful and effective techniques to help you come up with the next big thing…

First of all, the best ideas are those that stem from your life; be it work, hobbies, or general everyday experiences. If the idea directly impacts your life, you will be able to better determine if it is a truly great idea. Great ideas are also simple to explain. If you can’t explain your idea to a stranger in a minute or two and have them understand it, it is likely not a great idea.

There are millions of ideas, and you can be guaranteed that most ideas are not new ideas, especially given our global economy. Someone in Nevada, New York, London, Singapore, or anywhere else in the world has probably thought of your idea. What makes it lightning in a bottle is if you execute on your idea. To this point, studies show that 99 percent of ideas never come to fruition and that even 50 percent of Silicon Valley tech start-ups end up changing their original business idea after they launch. The lesson is that a good idea today is better than a great idea tomorrow, because that great idea may never come. You may have a better opportunity by simply taking your good idea, enhancing it further and evolving it into a great idea.

1. Passion
Step one, start with something you are passionate about. As they say, “find something you love to do, and you will never work a day in your life.” Think about areas of your life that you love or think about all the time. This is your expertise. Typically, the best start-ups come from entrepreneurs with an industry expertise that come up with a better idea for a solution to a problem common in their industry. Another reason to focus on your passions is that if you don’t love the idea and believe in what you are creating – you will likely give up at some point, as being an entrepreneur takes an incredible amount of effort. I will start with a personal example; I absolutely love the outdoors and hike all throughout our lovely Sierras, so I will focus on this passion.

2. Problems
Step two, think of problems, issues, or improvements you would like to see regarding your passion(s). Coming up with problems is easy, and ideally you can think of many problems and issues with things you are passionate about. Your idea must solve a problem or it is not a great idea. Every successful product, service or company solves a problem (or multiple problems) for its customers. Again, my example is that on those 10-12 mile hikes I love to take; I always run out of water in my backpack waterpack and cannot get water from a stream or lake because of concerns of giardia and other contaminants in the water.

3. Solutions
Step three, brainstorm solutions to your problem(s). The more ideas, far-fetched or conservative, the better, as each idea leads to the next idea. Brainstorming is fun, and if you write your brainstorming out, just visualizing it can help you think of other ideas. Just remember, your 100th or 1,000th idea may be the great one. And don’t be shy getting ideas for solutions from others. Ask your friends, family, colleagues…the more brains the better! So the great idea I came up with for my problem was a water filtration system that is integrated into the waterpack, enabling a hiker to simply dip their waterpack bladder into a stream and instantly drink filtered water out of the hose valve.

4. Opportunity
Market research is the next step in determining if you have a “lightning in a bottle” idea. If the market segment or industry that your idea would compete in is not very large or growing rapidly, move on to another idea. The time, energy, and finances to take an idea to the business stage is typically not worth it if the market is (1) not large ($1 billion+) or (2) small, but with explosive growth (such as the drone market).

5. Validation
Step 5, tell potential customers about your idea, and ask them what they think about it — and most importantly, would they pay for it! Don’t just ask your friends and family; ask those that will not worry about your feelings, and ask those that are in your target market (people who potentially would be customers of your product). The best information you could get is for everyone to tell you they would never buy it, so you can move on to another, better idea. You need to be open to negative feedback to get a true sense of your idea’s potential. Don’t be like the entrepreneur on the TV show Shark Tank that made 10,000 units of his idea only to find out no one wants it!
Anyone can come up with an idea. In fact, a wise entrepreneur once said, “ideas are like buses, there’s another one coming every couple minutes.”

Coming up with a great idea is tough, but great execution is 10 times more important than the idea itself and 100 times harder to pull off. I never executed on my great idea, and now stores are stocked with multiple adaptations of this filter from entrepreneurs that did! Try out these techniques for your IdeaSpark!, and let us know if you come up with lightning in a bottle.

Rob Griffin is the Executive Director of the Adams Hub for innovation, the region’s first tech business start-up incubator and seed fund. To learn more, visit http://www.AdamsHub.com or email Rob@AdamsHub.com.