Mining ideas... from everyday life
Tatyana Tsukanova, PhD
Bridging academia and business l Driving impact, fostering connections
Welcome to my LinkedIn Newsletter to get your dose of entrepreneurial inspiration! I will share some intriguing facts, captivating stories, research insights, and ideas on entrepreneurship that I personally find fascinating and inspiring. Who knows, it may also spark your curiosity!
Path to infinite
Have you ever caught yourself thinking, "I want to start a business, but I don't have any ideas"? This is a traditional dilemma (=excuse) for many people. However, in fact, the real obstacle may not be a lack of ideas, but an inner critic who doubts the "quality" of our ideas.
A routine check of Google News over the past week reveals hundreds of business ideas already. Here are some illustrative examples:
The number of ideas is infinite. It's incredible how abundant the world is with opportunities, you just have to start looking! More often than not, it's not a lack of ideas that keeps us from moving forward to realize our dreams.? It's similar to why we carry over the same unfulfilled items from last year's New Year's Resolution into the New Year. It's all about our inaction.
However, the secret to a successful business lies in the process of generating and testing many business ideas, most of which will fail and one will succeed. While there are occasional exceptions, this approach remains the most proven method.
You can't run out of ideas – look around!
Ideas are everywhere, and they are free. According to research, ideas come from three primary sources: they address an existing need, fill a gap, and/or respond to a trend. Take the story of Canva , for instance.
Canva's CEO Melanie Perkins realized a pressing problem. She couldn't understand why great design required complex software such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Adobe dominated the creative software market, and Melanie decided to democratize high-quality design by making it accessible to a wider audience.
As the world moved more and more to the Internet, the demand for simple online tools to create digital content and visual effects increased. While Adobe maintained its status as a leader in professional design software, Canva strategically positioned itself as a solution for everyone else. Notably, it took Adobe, a multi-billion dollar giant with over four decades of experience, quite some time to respond to Canva's disruptive presence. The company didn't launch Adobe Express until late 2021, when Canva was on the verge of reaching $1 billion in revenue in 2022 .
Indeed, the idea of Canva seems to have emerged from the synergy of all three sources of ideas: a combination of a market need (there was increasing demand for design tools), a gap (there was no simple and affordable solution), and a trend (the world was moving online).
Long live leisure time!
Starting a new company is undoubtedly challenging, but can inspiration and ideas come from our spare time? The latest issue of the Journal Business Venturing for September presents a study that sheds light on the often underestimated impact of leisure time on opportunity recognition and venture performance. I think we all tend to overlook the importance of well-planned leisure time from time to time….
At the center of this study is the concept of “leisure crafting”: the proactive approach to free time focused on goal setting, networking, and personal growth. In fact, many business ideas were born during off-hours when the would-be successful entrepreneurs spent their leisure time, exemplified by well-known industry players such as Quicken and Starbucks.
As mentioned, this study reveals the complex dynamics of “leisure crafting” and its profound impact on opportunity recognition and venture performance. But how exactly does this mechanism work? Planning leisure activities allows entrepreneurs to enhance their knowledge, skills, and sense of energy, which then spills over and enhances their sense of thriving at work, which in turn enhances their ability to recognize opportunities and ultimately improve business performance.
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Simply put, this study emphasizes the paramount importance of the strategic use of leisure time in enhancing entrepreneurial success. It essentially forces us to consider how we can (pro)actively plan our "free hours" to bring something meaningful into this world.
No need to bring a tornado
The idea of disruption is often seen as the surest path to innovation and growth. However, it has been challenged by the authors of the longtime classic “Blue Ocean Strategy ” in their new book, “Beyond Disruption”.
Once upon a time, ocean liners ruled the seas. They thrived until commercial airplanes came along, but their arrival did not cause the liners to become extinct but gave rise to the modern cruise industry and luxury vacations at sea.? Today, this industry generates $30 billion a year in revenue and has created over a million jobs, all without disrupting existing markets.
Non-disruptive creation offers a path to growth that doesn't come at the expense of others. Unlike disruptive innovation, it doesn't impose painful adaptation costs on society or trigger a backlash from those who lose out. It is a positive-sum approach from which everyone benefits.
To harness the power of non-disruptive creativity, organizations need to identify unexplored or emerging challenges and opportunities and find innovative solutions that transcend industry boundaries. It is about shifting from a scarcity-based mindset to an abundance-based mindset, from fear to hope.
Learn more about this idea in this HBR article : Kim W. C., Mauborgne R. (2023).?Innovation Doesn’t Have to Be Disruptive: Create New Markets for Growth Without Destroying Existing Companies or Jobs.?Harvard Business Review,?101(3),?72-81.
Reawakening creativity
You may have heard that creativity tends to decline with age. I believe that's not true. Well, let's say that "it depends". One reason for this may be that as people gain knowledge and experience, they may become more entrenched in their habitual patterns of thinking, making it harder to find new ideas and out-of-the-box solutions. But the good news is that you can reignite your creative spark with a few simple techniques. Here are two simple strategies to help you unleash your creativity:
Introduce randomness into your thought process when you're stuck with a problem. Try the “random article” feature on Wikipedia or any other random source of information. You can also use a “random word generator ”. Challenge yourself to connect the unexpected information you receive to your problem. The links might seem odd at first, but sometimes, the most unconventional connections lead to creative breakthroughs!
SCAMPER is a creative toolkit that works wonders. It is an acronym that stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse. Use these prompts to approach the problem from different angles. Replace elements, combine ideas, adjust or change concepts, find a new use, eliminate the unnecessary, or rearrange your thinking. SCAMPER can help you find new perspectives and innovative solutions.
Creativity is all about breaking patterns and seeing things differently. It's a good idea to try something new today. Do not wait until the New Year.
Until next time!