Idea Generation Proccess (Photo credit: nedrichards)
This is part two of Nikos Acuña’s guest blog post. The previous three steps outlined in yesterday’s post were:
1. Assemble a List of Companies that Inspire You
2. Write Up a Brand Vision
3. Step Away From it All
Millennials can leverage their skills while learning how to build something meaningful by continuing the process:
4. Launch
After a stimulating diversion through incubation, the serial entrepreneur has stoked her creative bonfire and combined the best ideas to create new visions. Now she uses this energy and gets back to work. At this juncture the problem is well defined. Ideation has already taken you in many possible directions. You will start to see the instinctual path. You’ve also explored all available resources—financial, human, and technological. You may have already achieved results or created previous prototypes that have failed quickly to get to the next breakthrough. Get it into the hands of early beta testers. Use your friends, your family, or your parents. Get your product in the hands of your ideal customers. A ripe market is waiting for you to conquer it with your innovation. Getting feedback for your ideas is the key at this stage.
5. Combine and Refine the Platform You’ve Created
Once you’ve launched your initial prototype and garnered detailed feedback from your beta-testers, it’s time to get back to work. Now is a good time to start pruning bad ideas and implementing optimal ones. If you aren’t sure if an idea is good or bad, put it on the back burner. Ideas on the back burner can be revisited later or used for reference to measure against other new ideas. You can always recycle and cultivate an idea later—as long as you are meticulous about organizing your ideas to deliver the desired results.
Magic happens when you start to integrate the various ideas into something new that specifically addresses the problem you’ve set out to solve. After letting acquired knowledge simmer and launching like madmen, experienced entrepreneurs begin to combine and refine their ideas. Serial producers cultivate them by writing an outline with detailed bullets for each good idea—taking it to the next level while tossing what’s not working. The critical factor here is that you need to have a strong understanding of what success looks like. This usually comes in some form of customer satisfaction. Then go back to redefining the challenge. Ask more questions and explore how your quality ideas directly affect resolving the challenges you or your customers wish to overcome. Diversification is the key to ideation.
6. Wash, Rinse, Repeat
Do it all over again, but this time, mix up the order in which you execute the process. After going through the entire process once in sequence, it’s recommended to mix steps. Varying the process often amplifies creative output. Allowing ideas to lead the way, letting them flow into new designs, is the nature of how the creative instinct works. Having an awareness of this process ignites your productivity, your passion, and focuses your vision into a mission that will define your career path.
Nikos Acuña has 15 years of experience in media, advertising and marketing. He specializes in building brands by architecting ideas through design thinking and strategic communications. He has worked on both the media and agency sides of the business across multiple verticals, traditional and new media channels and digital interactive technology platforms.
He is currently the SVP of operations and marketing at digitaladtech, a digital platform innovation company that connects brands and media companies with audiences in meaningful ways. He is also the Creative Director of Nioverse—a creativity, innovation, and design company.
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