This time a heavily musically influenced post… (“Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” – Ella Fitzgerald)
Have you “ever fallen in love” (The Fine Young Cannibals – The Raw and The Cooked)? I bet you have, and probably many times. There is a phase at the beginning of a love affair where the two parties have that head over heels feeling, butterflies in the stomach – this is called limerence. This state is linked to the “Weird Science” (Oingo Boingo) of changes in our body chemistry that gives us a propensity for bonding with our new partner.
Before you think I’ve gone all “Radio Ga-Ga” (Queen) , what has this got to do with entrepreneurship? Well, have you had that phase when you’ve come up with an idea and you think it is better than anything out there, it is going to take on the world and win, no chance of failure – the sure thing? Yup, all good ideas start this way but so do a whole pile of stinkers. In their excellent book for budding entrepreneurs, “The Beermat Entrepreneur” the authors Mike Southon and Chris West talk about the creative idea generation phase of sitting around, possibly getting slightly drunk and brainstorming crazy ideas. Sometimes a bit of wine, beer or exuberant ambiance is helpful in removing the inhibitions to allow the juices of new ideas flow freely. I know it helps me as I have a tendency to shoot down ideas early.
If you’ve ever done some ‘formal’ brainstorming (for more details check out Arthur Kaptein’s book – “Ultimate Brainstorming: A Toolbox for Brainstormers and Facilitators”), there is a rule that during the “storming” phase (when you come up with the new options) no one is allowed to shoot down an idea – just write it down. The critique comes later. Let the passion flow into the post-it notes or onto the random ideas notebook. Then “Sleep on It” (Chaka Khan).
In the cold light of day (or in the “norming” phase) you will kick into touch all the nuts ideas that really are bonkers – you can put it down to being inebriated on the “Red Red Wine” (UB40) or the atmosphere. The remaining ideas may have some legs and stand up to initial scrutiny. They warrant a bit more research. You’ll probably find that you reject 50-75% of those and be left with a couple of nuggets, possibly leading to “Fields of Gold” (Sting) that are really worth digging down into and perhaps even taking to MVP phase (as covered in one of my favourite reads on the topic – “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries).
The take away, fall in love, a lot – your next successful idea depends on it!
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