2.6.3. Generating business ideas

communication needs10 can help you map the needs of your persona, and it is an interesting tool to use to get at your clients level and better understand them. For example, sometimes we assume that our clients might need a new luxury product, let’s say a watch. But is it really a new watch that they need or rather they’re trying to fulfil a different need such as belonging, being seen or appreciated? Here is where naming the needs come into play and how this activity can re-frame a lot of your assumptions. When you have your research ready, it's time to connect the dots! Check if you have enough information. If not, identify what questions still need to be answered and target people who might provide you with the missing information.

Finally, take a step back, it’s important to look at the board from a distance to see what disturbing or surprising questions appear. Name the main challenges that have arisen using the ‘How Might We…’ question format. Formulating the challenges as a question allows you to keep them open and intriguing. The opportunity that is hidden in the question also invites us into ideation later on. At this stage you might have that “designer-goosebumps” feeling. A sense that you’ve discovered something you were not aware of before, something you can keep working further on. Actually, you found gold!

2.6.3. Generating business ideas One way to generate ideas is to organise a co-creation session. Invite people who best represent the profile of your personas. Make them acquainted with the challenge and make sure that you welcome all the ideas, also those that seem impossible for you (at the moment). Part of ideation is to build on the ideas of others so the pieces that might seem not relevant at the beginning, can serve you later on.

Another way to find new ideas is cross-industrial research. Check out how other industries meet similar needs of their clients: car producers (automotive industry), hospitals (health sector), schools (education), designers and producers of sport clothes, etc. For example: ‘How would IKEA solve the problem of your potential customer?’ ‘What can we learn from their business model?’ ‘Are their insights applicable to our problem?’ This is likely how the concept of self-service machines like “ATMs” for fresh bread was invented by bakeries in France.

Business Ideas: Case from Art square Lab

During our work with One-Stop-Shop for House of Entrepreneurship we asked ourselves

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