idea generation pipelines

Ever since the Lean Startup became a reality, people like Eric Ries have widely built upon the belief that ideas are overrated.

According to this belief, success is not about having ideas in the entrepreneurial world.

That is, instead, about having a framework that makes you understand what ideas make the most sense in the marketplace, what ideas to prioritize, and how to execute them.

This might be true for successful entrepreneurs, who have mastered a set of habits that enable them to be able to generate a decent number of ideas in the first place.

What about those people who have trouble generating ideas?

For that matter, I've put together a framework that you can use to put yourself in the creativity zone, which will enable you to have so many ideas that the only problem left will be how to validate those ideas and how to build a viable business model.

In the coming days, I'll show you how to use ChatGPT to generate business ideas in the most effective way possible.

Why can anyone be creative

The common belief is that you are either born creative or you will never be.

However, this belief has long been contradicted by recent neuroscience discoveries, especially tied to the plastic structure of our brains.

Michael Merzenich, the author of Soft-Wired, explains:

Whatever the circumstances of a child’s early life, and whatever the history and current state of that child, every human has the built-in power to improve, to change for the better, to significantly restore, and often to recover. Tomorrow, that person you see in the mirror can be a stronger, more capable, livelier, more powerfully centered, and still-growing person.

This is not rhetoric but the fruit of a scientific inquiry that, over the last decades, has shown how our brain is elastic and plastic.

This, in practice, means that with the proper habits in place, you can tweak your brain to work in your favor.

And in particular, you can enhance your creative flow. Thus, having a continuous flow of ideas that you can test in the real world to build viable business models.

Getting into the Flow process

Have you ever experienced a feeling of oneness with the activity you were performing?

In short, you got to the point of mastering a task, like playing the piano, writing, or running, that at a certain stage, you felt a feeling of "flow."

According to psychologist Michael Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow, that feeling, which he calls "flow," is a sort of balance between boredom and anxiety, where both are at a level that becomes a flow state of mind.

Therefore, when you're challenged in, for instance, playing the piano, you will feel a minimum level of stress; at the same time, though, that stress will be coupled with a level of skills that are aligned with the fact that you do improve, you'll also be able to play piano better than before.

That motivation to improve will move you toward this state of flow, which, according to Michael Csikszentmihalyi, is at the core of improving at anything you do.

And you can leverage this concept to enter into the creativity zone.

Creativity can be manufactured

Michael Csikszentmihalyi also authored a book called Creativity, which is a window into how to understand the creative process and therefore enhance your own creativity, to have a continuous flow of ideas that you can experiment back into your business.

More precisely, Csikszentmihalyi divides the domains that can help you tap into the creativity flow.

Acquisition of creativity and interest

He breaks it down further by looking at three essential habits to master:

Curiosity and interest

In business, we like to do things with an objective. However, often, creativity is about enjoying and paying attention to things for their own sake.

Thus, strengthening your curiosity and interest can be done by focusing our attention on new things or things that surround us, trying to look at them from several perspectives and with a fresh and new eye.

This process can be further enhanced if a journal is kept, which is an excellent way to record this process and learn about your internal state of mind and how to express it.

Another meaningful way is to go for things that spark your interest beyond the domain of business, which can sharpen your creative flow, which in turn might be applied back to the business world when you expect the least.

Cultivating flow

The state of flow is fundamental to getting into the creative process and coming up with ideas that might impact your life and business.

This state of flow implies focused attention on things around you.

That also means trying to control as much as possible the environment around you.

Habits of strength

Try to control your schedule in a way that you find the rhythms that work out best for you.

For instance, if your creative flow is at its height at night, take a bit of time to put down your ideas, which you might want to experiment with throughout the week or month.

Also, enable yourself to have some time to relax your mind and reflect without distraction.

As many entrepreneurs like to be always busy, they hardly find some time to reflect.

However, relaxation and reflection, free from any activity, can be an incredible enhancer of productivity.

Just doing something differently from how it is usually done, and breaking the usual schedule, can also help boost the creative flow and work as an idea-generation strategy.

Another important strategy is to make sure your office or daily environment is organized in a way that can help the creative process.

In the long run, you want to maximize the things you like and gradually eliminate the things you don't like.

I know it might sound trivial or unfeasible for some. But remember, we're talking about the long run.

If you live a frustrating life, there will probably be no space left for creativity, as invasive, distracting, and negative thoughts will take control over you.

Thus, create leverage from time to time to organize your life so that you usually like what you do.

This will, in turn, enhance your energies, thus making your creative flow to the point in which ideas will come naturally, and the only thing left is to validate them!

Mastering your internal traits

Mastering your internal habits is about initially purposely manipulating (channeling) your attention to focus on things differently.

To develop a new perspective, to look at things from different angles. Over time, this exercise, which might be extremely hard in the short term, will become automatic.

This also implies challenging yourself to develop positive traits you didn't think you could.

One suggestion from Csikszentmihalyi is to shift from openness to closure, thus moving from being open and receptive but also hard-driving and focused.

Apply your creative energy

According to Csikszentmihalyi, applying your creative energy can be reduced back to three key domains:

Problem finding

Which is about how to find new ways to look at things around you. By learning how to express yourself, learn how to evaluate several viewpoints, and consider several solutions to each problem. Learn how to implement those solutions to specific problems.

Divergent thinking

Divergent thinking is about learning how to come up with a great number of responses to problems. This implies producing as many ideas as possible without focusing on whether those ideas are good for now.

Try to have diverse ideas and look at things from two opposite sides. In short, if you're arguing, try looking at the other side to understand that position.

Thus, divergent thinking is about putting the necessary energy outside the routine thinking process.

Other thinking models are lateral thinking and second-order effects thinking.

Choosing a special domain

Many creative people might be tempted to focus on too many domains.

However, as you progress, you might want to pick a primary domain, which will improve your creative flow as you become good at it.

This, in turn, will also expand the capability to see things differently.

Funneling ideas

Now that you set yourself to have as many ideas as possible (it might take a while to get into the creative flow) it is time to funnel those ideas into a working business model.

To funnel those ideas, you might follow three simple suggestions:

Don't be scared to throw 99% of your ideas

As you go from jotting down your ideas to thinking about executing them. You'll figure that most of them are not viable in the first place.

You won't even need to spend money or time to understand that; it will be almost automatic.

It's weird how our brain, when an idea first strikes, makes us feel like it's the most ingenious one.

Yet, at further reflection, just a few hours later, when we sit down and think about executing, it becomes worthless right away.

Are you passionate about it? Or are you willing to put together a team that might be passionate about it?

I know that some of you might think that business is not about passion but about opportunity. This is true only in part.

Businesses that start from scratch before they take off (except on very rare occasions) take time to build.

Thus, you might want to remove from the table those ideas you're not passionate about.

Alternatively, you might want to keep those ideas if you are passionate about the project and about the prospect of putting together a team that might be passionate about it.

It will be extremely important to pass through the first phase before the flywheel is ready to gain traction and momentum.

Idea validation: Is there a market demand?

At the stage in which you're left with those ideas that still seem good you sit down and think about executing them. It is time to understand whether the market might want them.

For that sake, a framework like pretotyping, or the leaner canvas might come in handy!

Those are swift frameworks to validate your ideas before wasting time and resources trying to build something none will want.

A market doesn't mean an industry. Also, a niche market, where a thousand people can benefit and are willing, has the potential to become a six-figure business in no time.​

Recap: In This Issue!

• Creativity Can Be Developed: Contrary to the belief that people are either born creative or not, recent neuroscience discoveries suggest that our brains are plastic and can be trained to enhance creativity. This means that with the right habits, you can stimulate your brain to generate a continuous flow of ideas.

• Getting into the Flow Process: The state of "flow" is a balance between boredom and anxiety, where you're challenged but have the skills to meet the challenge. This state can be leveraged to enhance creativity.

• Habits for Creativity: Cultivating curiosity and interest, achieving a state of flow, and developing habits of strength (like controlling your schedule and environment) can enhance creativity.

• Mastering Internal Traits: Manipulating your attention to focus on things differently and developing new perspectives can enhance creativity. This involves challenging yourself to develop positive traits you didn't think you could.

• Applying Creative Energy: This involves problem finding (looking at things in new ways), divergent thinking (coming up with a large number of responses to problems), and choosing a special domain (focusing on a primary area of interest).

• Funneling Ideas: Once you have a lot of ideas, you need to funnel them into a viable business model. This involves being willing to discard most of your ideas, focusing on ideas you're passionate about, and validating whether there's market demand for your ideas.

• Idea Validation: Use frameworks like pretotyping or the leaner canvas to quickly validate your ideas before investing significant time and resources. Even a niche market with a thousand interested people can potentially become a six-figure business.

Ciao!

With ♥️ Gennaro, FourWeekMBA

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