Nontrivial tricks for finding business ideas
Treasure hunters, in fact, and reformers in dreams, businessmen do not like to calculate "fish spots" by analyzing boring statistics. They prefer ready-made recipes and short cuts. But during the time of scientific and technological revolutions it was not fashionable to go to fortune-tellers. Therefore, in their place adapted techniques for managing creativity.
Constructing ideas as an innovative magic crystal
Technological progress requires the continuous production of new solutions. Professional inventors have developed many methods for constructing ideas, and entrepreneurs have adopted them.
Brainstorming (a conference of ideas) is based on group infection. Driven by an experienced facilitator, participants fly beyond the inertia of thinking. And they begin to drive the blizzard to generate free associations. Then the skeptics put on their headphones and scooped out a couple of pearls from the records of the bird market. Or do not rake out how lucky. The method is random.
In synectics and method of focal objectsthe rules are tougher. Synectics directs the group to use analogies. Direct from adjacent areas, empathic according to Stanislavsky (I am a site, brew me). And symbolic (semantic) based on games with language constructs. The focal object method crosses the subject of research with anything horrible. As a matrix of Lebedev studio ideas.
The matrix of Lebedev's ideas. 10 years unchanged
Unlike brainstorming and its derivatives, morphological analysis is individual. For him, he does not need helpers, meeting rooms, voice recorders. Even a computer is not needed. We draw a tablet by hand. In the row we write parameter A, in the column parameter B, the combinations at the intersections are “bridegroom”. Morphological analysis is so obvious that it was first discovered in the XII century, and since then it has been rediscovered every year. So, in February 2017, Eric Stromberg, the former owner of the Oyster book service, described it on a Medium blog as a method of finding ideas for startups.
Eric placed 39 types of activity in the leftmost column (they are also varieties of demand). Shopping, games, fashion, sports, real estate, work and career, transport. And the top line was filled with 30 tools of information technology and marketing. For example, “create a virtual reality application”, “create a widget”, “find the cheapest rental”, “focus on the market segment”.
1170 startup options almost small
Most of the cells remained empty. It is understood that a novice startup will dig his own pot of gold in them. And to illustrate the method, Eric filled some cells with well-known examples:
Young Russian neocapitalism is afraid of knowledge as a nerd infection. That is why business consultants ( TRIZ-Chance ) practice our morphological analysis , and their smaller brothers are copywriters.
Since 2016, Madcats editors have been using morphological analysis to compile content plans, crop matrices, and publication schedules. The topics of publications arise at the intersection of the properties and methods of using the product, the stages of the sales funnel, and the characteristics of target segments. Crazy seals are not limited to simply crossing parameters; they control creative searches using heuristics.
Linguistics, heuristics or just common sense?
They also build N - dimensional matrices for combining many parameters. Against the background of a mess reigning in copywriting, such a scientific approach looks very cool.
Safely banned by the world behind the scenes, the algorithm for solving inventive tasks of Heinrich Altshuller (ARIZ) as early as 1973 classified the intellectual methods of creating new ideas. Of the 39 described techniques, 29 were purely engineering, suitable only for solving design problems. But the remaining 10 principles of Altshuller are universal and applicable to any field of creativity. Here they are:
ARIZ is not a sect, but a means of discipline of the mind.
Obviously, according to Stromberg, morphological analysis is based on the “Combine” technique (along with the principle of universality). And Madcats adds to them the “Go to a supersystem or subsystem” technique. In other words, to rise higher in the system hierarchy: from landscape design to landscape, from landscape to ecosystem and the general development plan. And go down below: from landscape design to its elements: lawns, trees, paths. And from them even lower, to branches, flowers, tiles.
The use of the tenth technique of Heinrich Altshuller “Do the opposite” (ANTI) to search for business ideas will be discussed in the second part of the article .
“Matrix with ideas for startups”
“Typical techniques for resolving contradictions”
“Modern techniques of creativity / creativity”
Constructing ideas as an innovative magic crystal
Famous Creativity Management Techniques
Technological progress requires the continuous production of new solutions. Professional inventors have developed many methods for constructing ideas, and entrepreneurs have adopted them.
Brainstorming (a conference of ideas) is based on group infection. Driven by an experienced facilitator, participants fly beyond the inertia of thinking. And they begin to drive the blizzard to generate free associations. Then the skeptics put on their headphones and scooped out a couple of pearls from the records of the bird market. Or do not rake out how lucky. The method is random.
In synectics and method of focal objectsthe rules are tougher. Synectics directs the group to use analogies. Direct from adjacent areas, empathic according to Stanislavsky (I am a site, brew me). And symbolic (semantic) based on games with language constructs. The focal object method crosses the subject of research with anything horrible. As a matrix of Lebedev studio ideas.
The matrix of Lebedev's ideas. 10 years unchanged
Unlike brainstorming and its derivatives, morphological analysis is individual. For him, he does not need helpers, meeting rooms, voice recorders. Even a computer is not needed. We draw a tablet by hand. In the row we write parameter A, in the column parameter B, the combinations at the intersections are “bridegroom”. Morphological analysis is so obvious that it was first discovered in the XII century, and since then it has been rediscovered every year. So, in February 2017, Eric Stromberg, the former owner of the Oyster book service, described it on a Medium blog as a method of finding ideas for startups.
Eric Stromberg matrix
Eric placed 39 types of activity in the leftmost column (they are also varieties of demand). Shopping, games, fashion, sports, real estate, work and career, transport. And the top line was filled with 30 tools of information technology and marketing. For example, “create a virtual reality application”, “create a widget”, “find the cheapest rental”, “focus on the market segment”.
1170 startup options almost small
Most of the cells remained empty. It is understood that a novice startup will dig his own pot of gold in them. And to illustrate the method, Eric filled some cells with well-known examples:
Example 1:
| CREATE A NEW EXPERIENCE BASED ON INDEPENDENT DISCOVERIES | |
|---|---|
| SHOPPING |
Example 2:
| CREATE A WEB 2.0 COMMUNITY. | |
|---|---|
| TRAVELS | Tripadvisor |
Example 3:
| APPLY THE “REQUIRED ECONOMY” | |
|---|---|
| TRANSPORT | Uber |
Matrices Madcats
Young Russian neocapitalism is afraid of knowledge as a nerd infection. That is why business consultants ( TRIZ-Chance ) practice our morphological analysis , and their smaller brothers are copywriters.
Since 2016, Madcats editors have been using morphological analysis to compile content plans, crop matrices, and publication schedules. The topics of publications arise at the intersection of the properties and methods of using the product, the stages of the sales funnel, and the characteristics of target segments. Crazy seals are not limited to simply crossing parameters; they control creative searches using heuristics.
Linguistics, heuristics or just common sense?
They also build N - dimensional matrices for combining many parameters. Against the background of a mess reigning in copywriting, such a scientific approach looks very cool.
Methods for resolving contradictions
Safely banned by the world behind the scenes, the algorithm for solving inventive tasks of Heinrich Altshuller (ARIZ) as early as 1973 classified the intellectual methods of creating new ideas. Of the 39 described techniques, 29 were purely engineering, suitable only for solving design problems. But the remaining 10 principles of Altshuller are universal and applicable to any field of creativity. Here they are:
- "Combine";
- "Increase decrease";
- "Go to another dimension";
- "Go to a supersystem or subsystem";
- "Add periodic action";
- "Add feedback";
- "Add self-service";
- “Turn harm in favor”;
- “Increase the intensity of processes”;
- "Do the opposite."
ARIZ is not a sect, but a means of discipline of the mind.
Obviously, according to Stromberg, morphological analysis is based on the “Combine” technique (along with the principle of universality). And Madcats adds to them the “Go to a supersystem or subsystem” technique. In other words, to rise higher in the system hierarchy: from landscape design to landscape, from landscape to ecosystem and the general development plan. And go down below: from landscape design to its elements: lawns, trees, paths. And from them even lower, to branches, flowers, tiles.
The use of the tenth technique of Heinrich Altshuller “Do the opposite” (ANTI) to search for business ideas will be discussed in the second part of the article .
Sources:
“Matrix with ideas for startups”
“Typical techniques for resolving contradictions”
“Modern techniques of creativity / creativity”