Jumpstart Your Ideation Process with Creativity Triggers

Generating business model ideas

Before investing in a new product or service, management typically wants to know if the platform concept can make money. To ensure that it can, you must support the concept at this stage of the idea generation process by a basic business model.

The basic business model is only focused on product cost and revenue generation opportunities that relate directly to the product and on the contributors to the cost of production.

The basic-business-model creativity triggers will help innovation teams create an inventive cost and revenue equation. To achieve optimal results:

1. Identify the biggest contributors to variable cost and use the variable-cost-reduction triggers to devise ways of reducing those costs. 
2. Use the revenue generation triggers to devise ways of increasing revenue. 
3. Use the fixed-cost reduction triggers to minimize fixed costs associated with production. 

Creativity triggers for reducing variable costs

• Pass an expense up to suppliers
• Turn a waste into a revenue
• Outsource efficiently executed non-core activities

Creativity triggers for revenue generation

• Accept a non-cash form of payment
• Add a product-related revenue source (e.g. offer optional features)
• Collect revenue at a different point in time or a different frequency

Creativity triggers for reducing fixed costs

• Use other people’s money to pay for capital investments
• Pass a fixed cost on to the community (e.g. regulatory fees, taxes)
• Make a fixed cost variable

Brainstorming product and service features

If senior managers conclude that a concept can make money, they will deem it worthy of pursuit and release it to the next stage. At this juncture, you can identify the product features that should be included on the platform.

At this stage of the ideation process, you need to generate ideas at the feature level. 

A feature is defined here as something tangible or intangible that performs a function that allows customers to better satisfy a desired outcome. A feature is integrated into a value delivery platform and may take many forms, such as: 

• A piece of information
• An action
• A component, material, or part of a physical object

When generating feature ideas, focus on one underserved outcome at a time.

Creativity triggers for product features:

• Combine multiple features into a single feature
• Combine existing features so they perform a critical function
• Use the feedback from one function to assist in performing another function