A brief introduction here to the potential sources of business ideas for a startup and some approaches to creative thinking.

1. Generating
Business Ideas

2. An equation
Good idea
+
Entrepreneur
=
Business potential

3. What makes a good idea?
Good business ideas…
• Solve a problem
• Offer a better, cheaper
way
• Simple & practicable
• Can be delivered quickly
• Have a clear focus Cobra – the
“less gassy“
• Anticipate trends & exploit beer
growing markets

4. Example - Glasses Direct
Entrepreneur: James Murray-Wells
Felt ripped-off by prices charged by
high street opticians
Researched supply-chain
Simplified customer purchase &
lowered price
Focused on glasses
Focused on e-commerce

5. Two More Examples
King of Shaves
Entrepreneur: Will King
Will had sensitive skin & was fed up with razor burn during
wet shaving
Girlfriend suggested using oil on skin during shaving – a
new product was born!
Green Thumb
Entrepreneur: Stephen Waring
Meet someone at a wedding in the US who ran a lawn
treatment service
Stephen was first into the market with the same idea in
the UK – launched as a franchise

6. Good ideas need customers
There is no point creating a product
or service unless someone wants to
buy it!
Gap in the Market in the
Market Gap?
…but is there a

7. Popular sources of business ideas
• Business experience
– Good way of getting insights into
what works + more realistic business
plan
– Less need for market research
• Personal experience
– Day-to-day activities, interests &
hobbies
– Bad experiences or frustrations
• Observations
– Watching closely what happens to
customers (including in other
markets)
– Look for poor customer service

8. Remember that
• There are very few original
business ideas. Well-worn
ideas work too, with a fresh
approach
• Good ideas rarely come in a
flash - they take time to
develop
• The idea doesn’t have to be
yours – you can copy
someone else so long as it is
legal
• Good ideas rarely come from
committees!

9. Creative thinking for business ideas
• Blue skies thinking
• Lateral thinking
• De Bonos Six Hats

10. Blue Skies Thinking
• Kind of brainstorming
• No limits in what is suggested and no
preconceptions about what the answer
might be
• Encourages contributors to throw in as many
ideas as possible
• Only when the flow of ideas has stopped is
commercial potential considered

11. Lateral Thinking
• About reasoning that is not immediately
obvious
• Ideas that may not be obtainable by
using only traditional step-by-step logic
• Sometimes called “thinking outside the
box”
• Tries to come up with new and
unexpected ideas

12. De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
Neutrality Considering purely what information is available, what are the facts?
Quantitative data on a market (e.g. sales) would be considered with this
(white Hat)
hat on
Feeling Instinctive gut reaction or statements of emotional feeling (but not any
justification). Many entrepreneurs rely on their instinctive or gut feel with
(red hat)
their business idea
Negative judgement Logic applied to identifying flaws or barriers, seeking mismatch. The black
(black hat) hat encourages the entrepreneur to think about the things that might go
wrong with an idea
Positive Judgement Logic applied to identifying benefits. This is the opposite of the black hat
(yellow hat) – what are all the positives or upsides from the idea. What is the best
that might happen?
Creative thinking Statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought
(green hat) goes. This is the hat which encourages lateral thinking.
Process control (Blue Thinking about thinking. The blue hat encourages the entrepreneur to
hat) consider and evaluate the ideas coming from the other five hats!

13. Follow tutor2u on Twitter
tutor2u tutor2u_econ

14. Become a fan of tutor2u on
Facebook!
tutor2u on Facebook

15. Keep up-to-date with business
stories, resources, quizzes and
worksheets for your business
course. Click the logo!