Ideation and ConceptCreation

Lachlan Blackhall

Where do ideas come from?

• Vitally important to understand where ideas and concepts come from.

• Entrepreneurs translate ideas into companies.

• Ideas and concepts are important but the hard work to bring them to fruition is what really matters.

Ideation

• Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas.

• We will review some methods of ideation and then look to brainstorming ideas that we can work on over the next few days.

Ideation

• Problem – Solution• Evolutionary Idea• Symbiotic Idea• Serendipitous Discovery• Targeted Innovation

Evolutionary Idea

• Evolutionary ideas derive from somewhere else, taking something that already exists and improving on it.

• Improving other ideas is where most entrepreneurs start out.

• Google is a great example of this.

Symbiotic Ideas

• A symbiotic method of idea creation is when multiple ideas are combined, using different elements of each to make a whole.

• Having a multidisciplinary background helps with these type of ideas.

• Smartphones are a perfect example of this type of idea.

Serendipitous Discoveries

• Serendipitous solutions are ideas which have been coincidentally developed without the intention of the inventor.

• Entrepreneurs should be aware of the possibility for serendipitous discovery.

• The discovery of penicillin is a classic example of a serendipitous discovery.

Targeted Innovation• Creating a targeted innovation

deals with a direct path of discovery.

• Often accompanied by intensive research in order to have a distinct and almost expected resolution.

• Many mathematical algorithms used in industry arose this way.

Problem - Solution• This is the most simple method of

progress, where someone has found a problem and as a result, solves it.

• Solving a problem for someone is the most basic form of generating value.

• Finding a problem – solution pair is the best starting point for entrepreneurs.

Ideation as an Entrepreneur

• Where do entrepreneurs get their ideas from?– Life– Other people (i.e. customers)– Research– Experience