Startup Studio: Creating Innovative Ideas - Problem - Solution Fit
The entrepreneurial journey includes searching for a problem-solution fit. Searching begins with curiosity and observation, an awareness and understanding of our environment and the broader world around us.
Creation Realities, Now Legendary Lore
Zipcar: Car-sharing company launched in 2000, IPO in 2011, and acquired by Avis in 2013 for $500 million. In 1999, the founder returns from a trip to Europe where car-sharing concept is popular and co-founders based business on existing German and Swiss companies. Launched concept in Boston and across the US.
Rent the Runway: Founder observing younger sister, Becky showing off $1,600 dress she had just purchased for a wedding and noticing the “kazilion” other dresses in Becky’s closet and how the sister couldn’t stand to repeat an outfit. A closetful of dresses, but nothing to wear. Rent the Runway now offers over 50,000 dresses and 10,000 accessories from over 200 designers. Company has raised $160 million in venture funding and has more than five million users.
Dropbox: Drew Houston. Graduated MIT in January 2006. Summer 2006, while waiting for a bus from Boston to NYC, realized that he had forgotten his USB drive back at his apartment. Frustrated and on the four-hour bus ride, he began writing the first lines of code that would later become Dropbox.
Identifying Venture Opportunities – Where to start looking for an idea?
- Dominant source of venture ideas is prior employment – work experience
- For younger entrepreneurs, your college experience. From dorm room to campus
- Travel and personal hobbies
- Experiences, particularly frustrating ones
- Observation of customer needs, complaints, and unfulfilled wishes
What are the key skills that innovative entrepreneurs use to identify ideas for a new venture?
5 Discovery Skills:
- Associating: connecting unrelated questions, problems or ideas.
- Questioning: asking questions that challenge conventional wisdom and the status quo
- Observing: Scrutinizing common phenomena, particularly the behavior of customers
- Networking: Cultivating a network with diverse perspectives, expertise, and experiences
- Experimenting: Reducing uncertainty by testing assumptions and learn by doing
The Innovator’s DNA by Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen, December 2009, Harvard Business Review
Now, get out there and start innovating!
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Written by Grant Son
Grant Son grew a startup venture into a top 10 sports website; acquired by ESPN. Current CEO of Greater Good Ventures, providing venture services to early stage ventures, large corporations and Ivy League Universities, including Cornell University. Currently teaching Sports Marketing at Columbia Business School and teaching Entrepreneurship at Columbia University.
Grant is a proven innovator and champion in both large corporations and entrepreneurial environments. Professional experience includes serving as CEO of two digital ventures – SchoolSports (top-10 sports website acquired by ESPN) and Greater Good Ventures – as well as senior roles with iconic brands such as CBS, the NFL, and Sports Illustrated. MBA in finance from Columbia and BA from the University of Pennsylvania. Thirty years of experience, including 20 years in digital media. Board member and advisor to established companies and more than 20 start-up ventures.
Currently or recently served as mentor and Entrepreneur in Residence for the Wharton School, Wharton Social Impact Initiative, Columbia Business School’s entrepreneurship program, Cornell University and the University of Southern California.
Columbia Business School, Adjunct Professor, Sports Marketing: Spring 2016 Columbia University, Lecturer for Entrepreneurship: Summer 2016
Startup Studio: curriculum + practicum + shared experiences
