Developing New Business Ideas: A Step-by-step Guide to Creating New Business Ideas Worth Backing ("Financial Times" Series) (Financial Times Series)

"...the vast numbers of books devoted to the subject...have done little to improve the situation...Andrew and Mary Bragg's Developing New Business Ideas might just be the book to change much of this...If this book can help investors and would-be entrepreneurs in this area it will do not just them, but also the economy as a whole a great service." Roger Trapp, Independent on Sunday "Developing New Business Ideasis a truly original book, with a fabulous blend of lessons and inspiring real business stories. Most importantly, it demonstrates in a practical and easy to understand manner how to put creativity and innovation into action." - Lord Bilimoria CBE DL, founder and Chief Executive, Cobra Beer At some time in their life, almost everyone in business has an idea for a new enterprise. The idea might be sparked by dissatisfaction with an existing product, experiencing something new while traveling or simply finding that nobody in the market is serving your particular need. The idea could be for a new venture for your business to launch, or for new business of your own. But most ideas remain just that: ideas.We struggle to develop them, wondering if they will work, why nobody has already thought of them and how we could ever turn them into a profitable reality. How do you take a promising thought and develop it into an enterprise worth backing? That is the question that this book sets out to answer. In Developing New Business Ideas, Andrew and Mary Bragg provide a practical guide to creating, shaping, evaluating, refining and implementing new business ideas. The book demonstrates that it is within absolutely everybody's power to take the first germ of a business idea and to systematically creatively challenge and commercially develop that idea into a viable business opportunity. Using a practical four-step creative process, Developing New Business Ideas offers a wide-range of hands-on, how-to-actually-do-it techniques to help you add value and viability to your original idea. It will also introduce you to the experiences of a range of today's successful entrepreneurs, enabling you to learn from the creative lessons that they learned as they built their businesses.Supported by its own set of online tools, Developing New Business Ideas is an imaginative and interactive companion to converting creativity into successful enterprise. "Having had your bright, fresh, original idea, the really hard part is turning it into successful reality. By detailing four structured steps to developing saleable products or services from that first idea, this excellent and imaginative guide significantly simplifies that task. Essential reading for all would-be entrepreneurs". Trevor Baylis OBE, the inventor of the clockwork radio." Cover......Page 1 Developing new business ideas......Page 2 contents......Page 10 Publisher’s acknowledgements......Page 13 Authors’ acknowledgements......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 The importance of developing strong ideas......Page 24 James Dyson – using the idea development process to clean up2......Page 25 demystifying the idea development process......Page 28 slaying the myth that entrepreneurs are born, not made......Page 32 the four steps in the idea development process......Page 35 and another thing: benefits of the idea development process......Page 41 call in the cavalry or do it yourself?......Page 48 Sir Clive Sinclair and the C5 – the perils of a flawed process of idea development23......Page 49 Applying creativity to the idea development process......Page 52 Phil Knight and NIKE – combining logic and intuition into record-breaking success24......Page 53 why is creativity a must?......Page 56 reconnect with your creativity......Page 60 creativity and the idea development process......Page 64 mastering whole-brain thinking......Page 66 Ingvar Kamprad – using logic and intuition to break the mould with IKEA39......Page 75 Step one – seeking and shaping opportunities......Page 80 Amazon.com – shaping the internet opportunity40......Page 81 don’t rush to headlong action......Page 84 give yourself time to develop alternatives......Page 85 treat your first business idea as purely tentative......Page 89 total immersion in the market......Page 91 fact-finding......Page 93 tools for seeking and shaping opportunities......Page 95 moving to step two – acknowledging Catch-22......Page 120 Iridium – the imperfect solution to an opportunity which never existed?......Page 122 Step two– generating new ideas......Page 126 Howard Head – an analogical approach to business success80......Page 127 Eureka?......Page 130 the mind gym: six mental workouts and their related routines......Page 133 ground rules for productive mental workouts......Page 134 mental workout one – checklists......Page 137 mental workout two – stimulus materials......Page 142 mental workout three – combinations......Page 145 mental workout four – free association......Page 154 mental workout five – analogical thinking......Page 159 mental workout six – upside-down thinking......Page 170 moving to step three......Page 174 Thomas Alva Edison – idea generator......Page 175 Step three– evaluating and selecting ideas......Page 182 Karan Bilimoria – brewing the criteria to achieve the ‘big one’......Page 183 evaluation allows development, not just selection......Page 185 two-phase screening process......Page 187 evaluation frameworks for screening ideas......Page 189 criteria to use within the frameworks......Page 199 business-focused criteria......Page 200 person-focused criteria......Page 208 prototyping......Page 216 Gary Mueller and Internet Securities, Inc. – selecting a venture to suit his needs151......Page 221 Planning for implementation......Page 226 Frederick Smith – overcoming the obstacles to Fedex153......Page 227 the importance of planning for implementation......Page 232 increasing the likelihood of successful implementation......Page 233 the blocks to implementation......Page 234 techniques to identify blocks to implementation......Page 243 guiding principles for overcoming blocks to implementation......Page 250 practical examples of overcoming blocks to implementation......Page 258 milestone planning......Page 262 Jollibee Foods Corporation – planning to beat a giant182......Page 266 Appendix 1: possible solutions to ambiguous picture......Page 272 Appendix 2: References......Page 273 Index......Page 281 I Believe This Book Can Contribute A Lot Of Value To Those Wishing To Bridge The Gap Between Creative Inventor And Commercial Entrepreneur. It Cites Numerous Case Studies That Do Exemplify Many Points, Although To Be Fair It Does Seem To Be Quite Repetitive And High-level In Places.despite This, The Subject Can Be Difficult To Address And The Authors Have Done A Good Job Of It. In The Most Part, It Is Easy To Consume, Perhaps A Little Simplistic For My Own Selfish Needs.regardless Of Points Of View, The Onus Is Clearly On The Reader To Interpret And Action This Recollection And Guidance In An Effective Manner. Particularly Effective For Helping Individuals That Are Unsure What To Do Next With Their Ideas. "The book demonstrates that it is within absolutely everybody's power to take the first germ of a business idea and to systematically creatively challenge and commercially develop that idea into a viable business opportunity. Using a practical four-step creative process, Developing New Business Ideas offers a wide-range of hands-on, how-to-actually-do-it techniques to help you add value and viability to your original idea. It will also introduce you to the experiences of a range of today's successful entrepreneurs, enabling you to learn from the creative lessons that they learned as they built their businesses."--Jacket