1. Ind. 2.04 - Generate venture/product ideas to contribute to ongoing business success.
SMALL BUSINESS

2. Why learn about techniques for idea generation?
Someone somewhere at sometime came up with the idea for every item that you see around
So that you can invent the next great product!!
Product ideas come from different places
Existing products made better
Brand new products

3. DISCUSSION What is a product you wish you had invented?
In what situation do think it was invented?

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Make an educated guess as to what the word “IDEATION” means…………

5. Ideation… The process of generating and developing new ideas
One of the primary purposes in business is to generate ideas for new goods and services

6. Businesses need product ideas because…
Markets change constantly
They need to stay ahead of the competition
Product life cycles are becoming shorter

7. Where do business look for inspiration for need products?
Trends – the general direction in which people or events are moving (i.e. fashion, TV, music, etc.)
By studying trends, business get a sense of what customers need
Examples: What is needed in the health and fitness trend? In the increasing number of “Baby Boomers”?

8. Where do business look for inspiration for need products? (cont.)
Customers
Observe and notice when problems exist of people seem to have an unfulfilled need
Talk with them – i.e. surveys, focus groups, satisfaction cards, one-on-one conversations
Talk to the people who deal with the customers – i.e. salespeople

9. Where do business look for inspiration for need products? (cont.)
Existing Products
Find the limitations and make them better
Look to develop complimentary products (they “go with” another product)
Look to develop substitute products (takes the place of another product)
i.e. Blu-Ray to replace DVD and digital books to replace paperback books

10. Methods of creative thinking used to generate new product ideas
Lateral thinking methods – involve approaching an issue from new illogical directions and using illogical methods to develop new ideas
Programmed thinking methods – Organized, logical, and analytical thinking techniques

11. Lateral Thinking Method - Brainstorming
Primary goals is to identify as many ideas as possible
Relay– teams responding to teammates ideas in a certain order
Round Robin – no teams, participants respond in order
Brain drawing – members add to drawings to try to develop a product
Free Association – state the first thing that comes to mind
Forced Questioning – used to answer a specific question

12. Lateral Thinking Method - Brainstorming
Primary goals is to identify as many ideas as possible
Synectics – making connections through forced relations (two items that seem unrelated to find new practical combinations). More time consuming than brainstorming but it good when other creative methods have failed
Forced Analogies – using metaphors and similes to create connections where none exist (i.e. waiting on the bus on a cold day, think of other times you wait, like a doctors office to help you come up with a solution

13. Lateral Thinking Method - Brainstorming
Primary goals is to identify as many ideas as possible
Starbursting
Draw a 6 pointed star and write the product opportunity in the middle
Write the following words at the tip of the star – who, what, why, when, where, and how?
Answer each question based on the recognized product opportunity

14. Lateral Thinking Method - Brainstorming
Primary goals is to identify as many ideas as possible
Mind Mapping
In the center of the paper write the main problem, which the market opportunity that you identified
From the starting point, draw a line to other words and phrases that are related to the main idea
From each of these words, draw other lines that relate to the particular word and so on
This helps to expand thinking and get lots of different ideas down on paper

15. Programmed Thinking Techniques
Attribute listing – List the products characteristics that make it unique from other goods then find ways to improve those attributes
Morphological Analysis – List a products characteristics then combine some or all of those to create a new product

16. Making it pay!
New product ideas are essential for long term business success
No two business use the exact same method to develop products!