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The most lucrative ideas are found, not created.
Finding your next big thing is a lot more like “Finding Waldo” than you think. The ideas are out there waiting to be discovered – for those who are looking. This becomes especially true when you are in a world and marketplace that is changing as fast as it is today.
How to track down your next big idea? Here are 10 useful questions you can ask yourself to find the hidden clues to your next breakthrough:
1. This product should already exist (but it doesn’t). Is there something that you feel should exist in your marketplace?
2. There is a needlessly complicated and frustrating customer service. Can you remove friction from the customer service in a new and novel way (think Netflix)?
3. A resource or asset is priced too low. Are there arbitrage opportunities to acquire assets that will be worth more in the near future?
4. This is a good discovery, we’re just not sure for what, yet. Is there a technology or discovery that you see a killer use for, but nobody else does yet?
5. This should be everywhere, but it isn’t. Have you discovered a product/service or business model that should have a large market adoption, but doesn’t?
6. People have started using products/services in new ways, but don’t have the necessary support. Are people using products/services in ways that are not intended by the producer?
7. People shouldn’t want this product/service, but they do. Is there a product/service in your portfolio that seems to perform well, even though you didn’t predict it would?
8. People are using products/services that you aren’t offering or recommending. Are people using things even though you think they shouldn’t?
9. The product/service is selling well elsewhere, but not here. Is there a product or service in another part of the world that hasn’t reached your market yet?
10. The product/service shouldn’t be making so much money. Is there a product or service where the margins are much higher than you expected them to be?
How to apply it to your business
Make a habit (once a week) to ask yourself these questions. Better still; ask your entire team to answer them as well. It is the constant application of the model that will help you find your next breakthrough idea.
DEEPER DIVE: READ the Whole STORY: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/11304?gko=ce28d
