Based on 4 years of research with over 400 companies - there are companies that succeed and companies that fail. The biggest difference between winners and losers is smart winners make good, even mediocre, ideas great over time. This lecture introduces the ABCs of Innovation A = Alignment B = Build ideas C = Communicate and Check S = Learning Systems And explains why a systematic application of these stages of development can help you build ideas faster while reducing the risks of failure.

1. Cycles
The simplest, proven way
to build your business.
Welcome !
Class will start at 9:00 CET ; 12:30 IST
You can download the slides for today :
http://tiny.cc/remoteintro
Say hello in the chat… Write a word for today
“Mine is “ Grateful

2. Cycles
The simplest, proven way
to build your business.
Course Introduction

3. Building a
business is
hard work…
In this class, a new, simplified way to
increase Speed
while reducing Risks
And how to do it better remotely

4. Welcome
1. Please put your video on
(if connection issues turn
off)
2. Please ask questions using
chat … or raise hand

5. Course Objectives
To give you the skills you
need to work effectively on
remote innovation projects.
We want to make you a “sprinter”
that could add value to the
thousands of innovation sprints
being run around the world.
We also hope to change the way you think about
building and growing ideas. In the program you will
find what separates winners from losers over the
long-term is the ability to GROW ideas step by step.

6. A simple learning process
Learn Apply
(and learn more)
Deliver
1 per day

7. Learning
by Doing
I will not give you the answers
But if you look (and do the readings)
you will find many
Tools that might help
Most importantly, you’ll learn from
each other

8. There is also learning yourself
Course Readings / Videos
1,8 GB
• Articles
• Chapters
• Video
Download Link
http://tiny.cc/RemoteReadings
The Same for each Day
About 1 hour required reading s

9. 5 Days means we are going to
need to move faster

11. A chef … not just someone that
can follow a recipe
Chef’s know what to do
when things go wrong

12. 2 Big Challenges
How to keep the speed up
A daily process to follow
Key roles: Facilitator, Note Taker, Decision Maker
You’re going to need to give up perfection
And a belief in democracy
What before how
How to do things remotely
Tools: Slack / Gotomeeting / Mural
Agreement on a daily process
Working apart together
What before how
Your work after this class will be
 Decide on roles and agree DAILY decision makers
 Understand the “what of your project better
 Agree Routines/timings for your group

13. Bryan
Cassady
Helping companies bring bigger ideas to market
faster, while reducing risks
3 Beliefs
Anyone can innovate
Bad systems will beat good people over time
Good systems can make average people great

14. Bryan
Cassady

15. What I see…
(at companies
of all sizes)
1. An incredible focus on the positive
2. A continual search for silver bullets
3. Scared to ask for help
4. If they ask, too much done internally
5. What they want to do lacks clarity /
focus
6. Lack of systems / Lack of urgency
7. Avoid tough decisions and stay in a
business too long
Deluded
Lacking Systems
Scared of Negative
Alone
Unclear
Not Making Decisions

16. Good versus great
Entrepreneurs
If you have real product market fit and momentum
you can (but probably won’t) succeed without
systems and processes.
The reality is most successful companies have hit the wall many
times and pivoted their way to success. Processes / systems
increase your odds of getting the pivots right and on time

17. A test… Who are these
companies today?
Personal podcasting
and sharing audio
content

19. You need to
adapt and change
But this takes
time and focus People are working
2,5 hours per day
And monkey brain rules

20. The rise of Sprints
Many companies are coming to understand the power
of deep work, time blocking. A popular solution is
short, 4-5-day design sprints using global talent.
Sprints are a great way to get ideas started or moving
forward faster. They work because they offer an easy
process to follow that is focused and time-boxed

21. SPRINTZ ARE THE NEXT STEP
Short sprints can achieve a great deal quickly but they do not always deliver the long‐term
results you need. Using the design sprint method as a foundation, we have built something
even better; SprintZ
Our program offers everything you will find in a traditional sprint, but we also provide a
trained team selected from a global talent pool, a process, tools and a training program.
Our pilot programs have been successful in education, product development, non‐profit and
the creation of new start‐ups. We are helping managers and companies do more and learn
more than they ever thought possible by working 10‐15 hours per week for five weeks.

22. Sprints are
Accelerated Lean

23. How many of
my clients
interpret this:
Build, measure, learn
Build, measure, learn
Build, measure, learn
Pivot to a Miracle.
I believe miracles seldom
happen, ideas are built over
time “Step by Step”.
Lean Start Up

24. What an amazing idea !!

25. The Real Story :
Build, Measure, Learn and improve
1988
Started as an ice sculpture event
1989
A central unit was created called ARTic Hall. (60 M2)A
specialist survival group of the Swedish Armed Forces
spent the night . They decided to put in a bar
1990
French Artist Jannot Derid
No rooms in town, so they stayed
91‐93
ARTic Hall expanded to 250 M2. Rented for Corporate get‐aways
Artists come and go and start making rooms
1993
Still losing money, needing corporate support
Absolut Vodka got interested in corporate get-aways
“Cold, but cool”
“Someone might pay for this”
“Love the rooms”
“We’ve got an ICE Hotel”

26. The Reality…
Based on 4 years of
research with over
400 companies
There are companies that succeed
and companies that fail. The biggest
difference between winners and
losers is smart winners make good,
even mediocre, ideas great over time.
Quality
Of Ideas
Time
Start
Learning
Cycles
No
Changes
Bad
Cycles
Smart
Winners
Lucky
Winners
Losers
Losers

27. Systems …
Every system is perfectly designed
to get the results it gets.
W. Edwards Deming

28. A simple idea…
Many forms
Design Thinking
Lean Start-up
Scrum
The Demming Cycle

29. Everything is PDSA
PLAN
PLAN
PLAN
STUDY
STUDY
STUDY
ACT
ACT
DO
DO
DO
ACT

30. The Common Feature
Cycles of learning
The
challenge is
how to make
it simpler.

31. My Goal
A simpler, easier to remember
formula with clear instructions
“how to”.

32. Bad artists do it on their own
Good artists copy
Great artists steal

33. My New Book
A joint project with accelerators / Experts around the world
The ABCs of Innovation
B = Build
A = Alignment
S = Systems
How to build organizational
alignment
How to build better ideas quicker
C = Communicate / Check
How to clearly communicate and check
your ideas
How to set up the right systems to
lead and get better over time

34. The ABC’s of Innovation
Align = Plan
Build = Do
Commun/check = Study
Systematically
Improve = Act

35. HOW CYCLES CONTRIBUTES TO
THE STATE OF THE ART
C Y C L E S
Alignment (what to build)
Build
Communicate & Check
Systematically Improve
CYCLES OF LEARNING
L E A N S TA R T- U P

Build
Measure
Learn
VALIDATED LEARNING
S T R A T E G Y Z E
R

Design
Test
Execute
VALIDATED BUSINESS
MODELS
A new bit on alignment.
It is important to know what to build or design. And how to instructions for B, C and S

36. SNARC
Case study

37. SNARC
A Semantic Social
News Aggregator
SNARC, When you want to know more,
SNARC helps discovering content by
highlighting what is meaningful in a quick,
smart and personalized manner.
SNARC finds relevant content by learning
from the content, the social web and you!
3 people with PHDs in Semantic Search /
2 start up experts and 500K to build
their business

38. SNARC
Reinventing content discovery

39. http://tiny.cc/snarc

40. An “Oh so typical”
scale-up
We build something great,
profits will follow.
80% product development
10% getting new users
5% finding a business model
5% other
________________________
100%
 We are best in class
 We have 15,000 downloads this
week
 Our server response time is
down to .8 seconds
 We were listed in TechCrunch
last week
 Success is on the way

41. 2 types of
entrepreneurs
Risk takers
(they like the
macho bit)
Risk reducers
(they like getting
house odds)

42. A risk reducing entrepreneur will
build a strategy that increases
odds of success from
10%
to 20%
to 50%

43. How… by asking
again and again
“If this business fails, why would it fail ?”
“If this business fails, why would it fail ?”
“If this business fails, why would it fail ?”
Then finding answers

44. 80% product development
10% getting new users
5% finding a business model
5% other
We build something great,
profits will follow.
How will be make a
business
5% product development
10% getting new users
80% finding a business model
5% other
Working in your
business
Working on your
business
100% 100%

45. Break 5 Minutes
Think: how forward ?

46. Alignment

48. Stop saying
everything is
fine!
It is time to stand naked in front of
your team and partners and tell
them the truth…
“I need your help to
solve the following
issues”

49. Best practices
Ambitions +
Skill + What
People will pay
you for
Objectives
Challenges
/ Barriers
A TRUE NORTH
you can share
1
2
3
4

50. 5 Whys
We need ideas for things we can sell

51. Personally, I find
nothing sadder than a
CEO with a big team
working alone on all
the big problems…

52. TRUE N.O.R.T.H = A way to ask for help..
TRUE Truly Simple Let's get paid
N
Narrative.
Why it is
important
(the story)
If we can't find a way to get people to pay for our service,
we have no business regardless of how great our
technology is, how many people download our product or
how useful it is.
O Objective 3 ideas to make money that we can test
R
Restrictions:
We are not
interested in
A fee for use of the plug-in
People will not pay
T
Tactical
Constraints:
We have around 250 K to grow the business, so the
solutions need to be low cost. AND we need to work with
partners
H
Here is the
place to start
Look at areas where the of Information value is high and
searching takes time (eg Job applicants, News stories, etc°
Make it a story
Be honest
Be specific
Ask for help

53. Building Ideas

54. Facts to Practice
7 Steps
Familiarize
yourself with
the objectives
and challenge
Challenge
the problem
definition
Effectuation
Stimulus
Mining
Individual
brain writing
Group Work Re‐work
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7

55. MU =
S
F
D
Meaningfully
Unique Ideas!
Leverage
Diversity
Drive out Fear
=
Explore Stimulus

56. Best practices
Define your
needs to build
direction and
remove fear
(already done)
Make sure you
have a diverse
team(Probably
OK)
Get stimulus
(Stimulus
mining)
Mix and
match
(Association)

57. Value of Stimulus
Stimulus Feeds The
Brain
Stimulus
Available
# of practical
ideas invented
Low Stimulus
Medium Stimulus
High Stimulus
22
38
47
Source: Jump Start your Business Brain

58. Traditional Model
Individual Brainstorming
Source: Jump Start your Business Brain
Draining
Before After
Suck Method
Uses your brain like a library

59. Stimulus sets off a CHAIN Reaction!!!

60. Stimulus sets off a CHAIN
Reaction!!!
Stimuli
Brain Operating
System
Stimuli
Stimuli
Stimuli Idea #1
Idea #1
Idea #1
Idea #1
Source: Jump Start your Business Brain

61. At their most
basic, IDEAS
are feats of
association and
constraints

62. You can use tools and
systems to force new
associations
(there are hundreds of
tools)

63. 666: Forced
Associations
 8 Min: Random
combinations (look for
ideas)
 2 Min: Pick top ideas and
write them up..
The simplest way to write
up ideas
 Headline
 Problem
 Promise
 Proof
 Payoff

64. 1/ 1 / 1
Apple = design and simplicity
Students love music
Substitute instead of showing the
internet, show things to buy
A fancy music mix trial list anytime
someone visits a music site with an
option to buy on Itunes

66. Let’s look for ideas.

67. Communicate
& Check

68. Chances are …
your ideas are not as good
as you think …

69. Clarify
Get real
feedback
Identify
Death
Threats
Make real
decisions

70. Quick Test …
What is it ?

71. “Confusion is not a good
strategy for success.”

72. Make it simple
1 2 3 4 5
My company:
( company
name )
Is developing
( a defined
offering )
To help ( a
target
audience )
( solve a
problem )
( with secret
sauce )

73. Clarity

74. Payoff
Dramatic difference
how is their life
different and better
Proof
Reason why should
they believe you and
dramatic difference
A fancy music mix trial
list anytime someone
visits a music site with
an option to buy on
Itunes

75. Mom Test + standard questions
Clarity
Unique
Meaningful
Why would it
Fail ?
2 Golden
rules
If Clarity < 7
 Write it again
If [(Meaningful * .6 )
+ (Unique * .4 )] < 6
 You probably got a loser

77. How to make brilliant ideas
Talk with
Friends
Really Ugly
Meetup
Event
Still Ugly
Speak at
Conference
Less Ugly
Investor
Presentation
Good Enough

78. Systems

79. The most important thing
in this class

80. The most important thing
in this class

81. 4 Characteristics of effective
system thinking
3
1
2
4
A holistic view (The whole is often the same as the parts)
Thinking in loops (What causes what)
Focused on the big business drivers
Sequential not parallel problem solving

82. An example of world class …
A new business / business model in 12 weeks
Objectives
A weekly learning cycle every week for 10 weeks
Process
A 2 day management meeting to agree «what and why»
Plus basic training: How to build ideas/ the importance of systems
Alignment
Every Monday… what are we going to do this week
Alignment
Every Friday… a brain‐storming session (with new external people)
Real‐time research
Build ideas
External experts to validate/ give feedback on all ideas
Communicate/Check
Identify death threats/ work on death threats
Kill all weak ideas where death threats not resolved in 2 weeks
Every Day A 10 minute standing meeting
Systems
2 weeks
10 weeks

83. Summary of the ABCs
Be Clear, be honest,
be open, be candid,
be inspirational
Alignment
Build Ideas
Get people involved
(diversity) , get
stimulus
Communicate
& Check
Clarify the idea, so
anyone can understand
Then test the ideas
Systems
Build learning cycles
and get going (FAST !)
Repeat and repeat to remove risks / build your ideas

84. Benefits of the ABCs method
An incredible focus on the positive Embrace negatives to grow
A continual search for silver bullets
Scared to ask for help
If they ask, too much done internally
What they want to do lacks clarity / focus
Lack of systems / Lack of urgency
Avoid tough decisions..
Step by step
Open, Learning
Involved, Inter-connected
An evolving focus
Speed
Killing puppies

85. The reality is the
ABCs is just a an
easy way to
remember a
process …
The choice of a
process/system
is less important
than having a
process that:
Increases Speed
Removes risk

86. More about this course …

87. Targets / Certification
Targets
 Ready to work on a company Sprint
 A certificate
 A personal recommendation
Certification
 Group work OK
 A simple multiple choice test
 A reflection document
No one will pass without a successful
group work

88. Groups

89. Mentor Meetings

90. Work Now in Groups
Before Mentor Talks
1. Personal Introductions
2. Review the True North
3. Decide on key roles
4. Any questions on the program
Later today
1. List and vote on key challenges
2. Map success – add to challenges
3. Update TRUE NORTH + sprint
targets
You will need to talk to people Wednesday and Thursday
Now is the time to arrange meetings

91. WORK IN GROUPS

92. Introductions

93. Review TRUE NORTH
1. Read in detail / add comments
2. Gather questions (vote on 3 to cover in
your talk. 30 minutes = time limit)

94. Role Discussion

95. Deliverables
1. Who will facilitate, take notes,
lead days 1,2,3,4 and 5
2. Update TRUE NORTH
3. Up to 3 targets for the Sprint
Up to 3 “Sprint Questions” for the Sprint
Target 1
Target 2
Target 3

96. A tool to make remote
collaboration easier…

97. A shared whiteboard
How it works
Why it works
Let’s Try it now

98. Be back at 14:00 CET