Tag: innovators

How to Generate Product IDEAS

by jcafesin, posted in Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Small Business Marketing, startup, startups

Need an IDEA [that will likely SELL] to Startup?

Many want to be entrepreneurs, but most people lack product ideas, or can’t think of a service (or app) that isn’t already available.

For over a decade, I taught entrepreneurship at Stanford and Cal Berkeley/Haas. I designed a course to teach the process of turning an IDEA (or product in development) into an offering that SELLS, and building sustainable startups.

Below is the 1st CHALLENGE in the course. It is designed to teach the PROCESS of PROVING an IDEA will sell BEFORE (taking the time and investing the money) developing it.

CHALLENGE #1: Generating PRODUCT Ideas

If you already have an idea (or product in development), skip this CHALLENGE. Focus your learning through the process of validating your existing IDEA.

It is highly recommended that you have an idea to actualize, in order to realize the full potential of this course. The idea is less important than working the process, so don’t dwell on creating a brilliant offering, or even one that you will produce right now (if ever). Learn by engaging in the process, and you’ll be able to actualize most any idea you have now, or any that may come, by simply following the steps of the RAF Method, in order (kind of like working a math equation ;-).

Imagine creating something that solves a recurring problem. Now, come up with a basic (even vague) idea of a fix for your recurring issue…

1. THINK of at least five (5) PROBLEMS you frequently encounter, and create a document titled: “MY FREQUENT PROBLEMS.” Number each problem as shown (though your LIST does NOT need to be by priority).

Examples:

  1. Trash bags that don’t fit or stay fixed to the rim of the can.
  2. Spending an hour or more online looking for a movie you’ll actually like (since Netflix’s rec engine, as with all streaming services, only recommend the content they have).
  3. Xfinity’s internet access that keeps crashing while you’re watching the movie it just took you an hour to find.
  4. Your kids are not doing well in school.
  5. You have no one with whom to share how you really feel, and you can’t afford therapy.
  6. You get tired by 3:00p.m. and want a wake-you-up, but slow burning energy snack.
  7. You can’t get a good job without work experience. And you can’t get work experience without a job.
  8. You know it’s unhealthy for your dog to be locked inside all day, but there’s no way to let him run and play during your workday.

2. LIST [at least] five (5) SOLUTIONS to your list of problems.

Examples:

  • 1a: Trash bags made to fit a variety of can sizes, with a 3” wide rubber-band around the top.
  • 2a: An app that figures out individual preferences for movies and recommends platforms with your desired content.
  • 3a: Some issues we can’t do anything about. If Xfinity is your only internet provider (as is ours), you’re screwed.
  • 4a: Software that recognizes bottlenecks in learning, and dynamically provides content geared to what student likes or will engage with.
  • 5a: Chatbot specifically designed to engage in therapy, available when you need to talk 24/7.
  • 6a: My organic, low-fat, gluten-free, great-tasting cupcakes and scones.
  • 7a: A platform, both online and live meetups, that matches students or recent grads with corporate internships.
  • 8a: A P2P service of local, professional pet care advocates, from doggie daycare to personal pet assistants.

3. Pick ONE (1) of your SOLUTIONS. Use the solution you’ve discovered in this challenge as the IDEA you’ll validate and market for profit throughout the LSM workshops. Walking the RAF method, even with an IDEA that you’ll never actualize, teaches you the PROCESS of taking any IDEA, and PROVING it will sell BEFORE developing it.

CHALLENGE #2: Generating STARTUP Ideas

Unlike finding solutions to problems, as in CHALLENGE #1, in this exercise you will begin with what you enjoy doing. While I’d like a trash bag that stays on the can, I wouldn’t find much joy in developing this particular product, as I have no interest in plastics, rubber bands, or trash.

To endure the missteps and do-overs required in launching any business takes real tenacity, that will be challenged again and again with each disappointment. You’ll want to give up, but don’t quit! You’ll learn to iterate (or pivot as they say in the Valley).

It’s important to build your business around something you enjoy doing, a task you [generally] like to perform (whether you’re being paid or not). A job that engages, excites, will help you weather the onslaught of hardships, as you’ll be iterating on what you already enjoy doing.

1. LIST three (3) of your top interests. Be as specific as possible!

What do you love to do (or even like to do)? Are you a gamer? An athlete? Like to bake? Shop? Read? Enjoy traveling? Gardening? Crazy in-love with your dog, or cat, or parrot?

2. LIST [at least] five (5) things you like to do — activities you enjoy engaging in. Don’t worry about how profitable they may be. Just list what you enjoy doing. Note, you won’t always enjoy even tasks you generally like.* I’m a writer, and often find the writing process frustrating, but overall I love to write.

3. Come up with ONE (1) IDEA for a product or service that’s in-line with one [or more] of your interests and/or pleasures.

Examples:

  • You’re a gamer and have an IDEA for an MMOG that’s better than World of Warfare.
  • You bake the best scones on Earth, and you want the world to taste ‘em.
  • You’re a science fiction fan, and want to share your thoughts on movies, shows and other finds on an All Things SciFi podcast.
  • You’re an avid reader and want to share your thoughts on a literature review blog.
  • You love real estate and want an app that gives all the information about a property instead of the current platforms like Redfin hiding critical data.
  • You love your mom, and she need someone to take her to her doctor’s appts, shopping…etc. — Uber meets vetted and qualified (medical, financial…etc. pros) on-call personal assistant.

Use ONE (1) IDEA to actualize through the RAF Method, and create offerings of value, for profit, with a job you’ll love to do, daily.

*You won’t always get to do things you like when validating and actualizing IDEAS into products for profit. You’ll have to take on job functions you hate, but are necessary to launch and grow any business. I love to write, but I hate marketing my work!

How to Raise a Genius

by jcafesin, posted in Uncategorized

Went to the Jelly Belly Factory on a field trip with my daughter’s 2nd grade class. The young man assigned to escort us on the tour misquoted a brilliant saying by one of my favorite icons.

The guide delivered his canned speech, spoke of how long and complex the process to make even one single jelly bean, but that nothing great ever came easily, “as the inventor, Thomas Edison said: ‘Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.’”

But that is NOT what Tom said. He said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

So what is my issue with the mere 9% our tour guide misquoted?

Mr. Thomas Alva Edison was trying to tell us that to get good (‘genius’) at ANYTHING takes HARD WORK (‘perspiration’), and a lot of it. He should know. It took him, and an educated team of men many years and over 5,000 exploded glass bulbs to invent the light bulb.

Still, you say, it’s only 9%. The 8 year old’s the tour guide was talking to didn’t even know what “percent” meant. And while this may be true, there were 15 adults with the pack of 40 kids the guide was leading. And the parents understood. Most had probably never heard the quote before. It is somewhat obscure, which is a shame because it is an astounding insight. What the tour guide misquoted did not communicate the gravity of Mr. Edison’s meaning.

In the beginning of the 4th grade our son failed several math tests in a row, and upon inquire we found he didn’t understand the material. When asked why he hadn’t asked for help from either his teacher or us, he confessed he felt afraid he’d look dumb. Having always done fairly well in math, when he got lost, he felt too stupid to ask for help. He was supposed to be smart, but maybe he wasn’t, he cried, clearly shamed.

I hugged him, held him, and reminded him of old Tom’s saying for the hundredth time. Then my husband and I got to work, played tag team, alternating afternoons, evenings and weekends to teach our son what he needed to know. Within three months of daily math lessons he not only grasped the material presented but excelled to the top of Math Swap in his grade level and remained there through elementary school.

Our son now loves math. It’s his favorite subject. He works hard at it and that hard work just placed him in the most advanced math class at his new middle-school. Failing those math tests in the 4th grade turned into a great education for all of us. We got to see directly how hard work pays off. And though our son may not always tow the line of excellence, he now knows that ‘smart’ is not given, but earned.

The New York Times Magazine had an article a while back on ‘genius.’ It sited Anders Ericsson’s research on The Making of an Expert, which concluded ‘genius’ wasn’t born, as previously thought, but made.

“Outstanding performance is the product of years of deliberate practice, not any innate talent or skill,” according to K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, and Edward T. Cokely.

Most everyone starts out with the 1% inspiration. It comes with being human, and our ability to think abstractly.

Few of us have the tenacity, or the determination to endure failure after failure and continue through that last 5-10% it takes to achieve excellence. Most of us settle on gawking at greatness instead of pursuing it.

So, the question is not, ‘What is genius,’ or even excellence, but what motivates persistence?

Achieving good grades, or becoming a killer guitar player, or great at soccer, or even parenting, takes “deliberate practice.” We need to impart Tom’s wisdom to our children, teach them by example, with unwavering diligence, that reaching their potential can not be achieved blowing most of the day binge watching Netflix, or YouTube, or gaming. To actualize ‘greatness’ means devoting the 99% perspiration— the time, energy and effort necessary to create anything of lasting value. Whether it be a school report, a science project or a math test, genius is not only doable for most every child, but for all of us with hard work and persistence.