4 Cycles Remote Innovation - Communicate & Check

Cycles
The simplest, proven way
to build your business.
Communicate/Check

Meeting request
A new contact via a linkedin invite
Hi Elise, I see you are interested in TRIZ
and Innovation. Would you be willing to do
an expert interview for a student project
on: The use of TRIZ to classify academic
articles to make it easier to find articles
that really spark new ideas. If yes, sign up:
http://tiny.cc/trizexpert
Someone you know
Hello Floor,
I would like to ask for your help. Would you be willing to participation in an
expert interview on 'how to train managers to manage remote innovation
teams’?
The context
------------------
The future is going to be more and more remote. More managers will need to
have the ability to manage remote innovation teams. But how do you train
people to manage these teams? Innovation is not something you learn from a
book, but from doing. We are now in the 3rd week of an innovation sprint
designing a new type of learn by doing training program. We have identified
a way to train managers while they manage a remote innovation team
working on some of their hardest innovation challenges. Our current
thinking is a 5-week program with teams of students certified in remote
innovation management.
Could you help?
---------------------
We still have a lot of questions about how to do this best and would like to
ask if you are willing to participate in an expert interview. In exchange for
your time, you will be able to learn about advances in remote working and
leading innovation teams.
Could you please fix a time that works for you using this link?
http://tiny.cc/remote-expert-k
Kind regards,
Bryan

An easy process
1. Identify people that could provide useful information
2. Send a link with a request to talk. To make things easy, include a link
so they can schedule a time directly
3. Run the meetings using an interview guide
Sample: http://tiny.cc/interviewguide
4. If meetings cannot be set send a google form. Here is a template that
can be adapted
• The concept
• Meaningful
Unique
A question on price
• Why would it fail
Google form: http://tiny.cc/form-template

We are going to help you a bit…
Speed meetings with other
mentors later today
Link TBC on slack

Schedule
Communicate/ Check
Morning work
Make a decision on your solutions
How Dot voting on your ideas from yesterday
Vote on parts of the 6 on a final
Mentor Sessions – Ask questions + break time
Afternoon work
1. Storyboarding (together)
2. Split into 2 groups
Group 1 risk analysis
Group 2 customer interview- why would this fail
3. A list of death threats to work on (together )
Final Deliverable
Death Threats + possible resolution

My Personal Views
If you have done the alignment and build step right you should already be
on the right path
Good alignment = about doing the right things (JTBD / BMI) and
purpose
Good build = asking the right questions, then building ideas worth
testing
Now you need to make sure
1. Do people understand what you’re offering
2. If they do, do they want it
3. And will they pay for it

Clarity Want it Will Pay Kill or continue
 Big Ideas
 Paper typing
 Story typing
 Prototyping
 Ask
 Test
 Look for
negatives
 Pricing
 Thoughtland
actionland
 Back of the
envelope
 Shoot puppies
 Stop riding
dead horses

Products fail most often for
2 reasons
They are not offering a benefit anyone wants
Worse yet, are those offering the right benefit
but people don’t understand

Why is clarity critically
important
 If you can’t explain something clearly, you don’t understand
what you’re selling
 If people can’t understand, they can’t give you feedback
 And it you happened to have things right
 You might get the wrong feedback and change a winner
 You won’t be able to sell your winner

Tappers received a list of twenty-five well-
known songs, such as “We will rock you”
and “The Star Spangled Banner” and”
Freres Jacques”
Each tapper was asked to pick a song and
tap out the rhythm to a listener (by
knocking on a table). The listener’s job was
to guess the song, based on the rhythm
being tapped. (By the way, this experiment
is fun to try at home if there’s a good
“listener” candidate nearby.)
Tappers Prediction 50%
Listener Results 2,5%
We are less clear
than we think

How to make
ideas clear …
One of the best business books
you’ll ever read
Doug Hall is a Fact Based Guru

Overt Benefit
What’s in it for
the customer?
And is the benefit
overtly clear
Real Reason to
Believe Why should
the customer believe
you will deliver on the
promise made above?
Dramatic
Difference How
revolutionary and
new‐to‐the‐world is
your benefit/reason to
believe.
The Core of Clarity …

Work in groups
15 min.
www.tiny.cc/claritytesting/

Clarity of communication Test
www.tiny.cc/claritycomm/

Redout Rust Stopper
Stops Rust Each Time
You Flush Redout

Grandma Fricker’s
Organic Meals for Kids
Kid's Meals Made From
Organic Ingredients

StainSane An Instant
Stain and Spot Remover
that Won’t Harm You or
Your Fabrics

StepSafe Ice and Snow
Remover
Melts Ice and Snow on
Walkways in Super-Low
Temperatures

Jack Snack’s Milwaukee
Beach Snack Mix
A Tropical Party From
Milwaukee?

Microwave Sentry
Monitors Your
Microwave to Insure
Your Family’s Safety

Opti-roma
An Air Freshener That
Lets You Choose From
Three Fragrances

HearthGlow
A Quick-Lighting
Fireplace Log of All-
Natural Peat

Ventin’ Scents
Turns Your Room
Vents Into an Air
Freshening System

Round 1
Over Benefit
What’s in it for the customer?
The concept of focusing on benefits instead of
features has long been known to be critical to
success.
The new news is how overt you need to be in
today’s cluttered market place.
In order for customers to “get it” today, you must
be direct.

Each Time You Flush” provides no doubt or mystery about what is “in it
for me,” the customer, when I purchase Redout. StainSane offers the next
strongest Overt Benefit, followed by Grandma Fricker’s Organic Meals for
Kids. Grandma Fricker’s promises “the advantages of organic foods,” but it
never defines what those advantages are. It is left to the customers to
draw their own conclusions of why organic is important. In the busy
marketplace, this “extra work” results in less sales.
Round 1
Score 3 points if you named Redout Rust Stopper as #1
Score 1 point if you named Grandma Frickers as #3

A fun sideline
(confirmation bias)

Got it ???
Now try listening for
“It is fun to smoke marijuana”

Round 2
Reason Why
To convert the excitement generated by
Overt Benefit into sales, customers
require that you provide persuasive
credibility that you will do as you
promise.

Of the round two concepts, Microwave Sentry offers a clear
description of how it works, as well as a scientific pedigree explaining
the technology. StepSafe at least offers a special formula; however, it
and Jack Snack’s are both significantly less credible.
Round 2
Score 3 points if you named Microwave Sentry as #1
Score 1 point if you named Jack Snack’s as #3

A great example
of reason why…
 “Buy our XYZ bed and you will get your best
night’s sleep ever.”
Yawn. Boring.
 “If your mattress is ten years old, it weighs
twice its original weight due to the dust
mites that accumulate over the years.”

Round 3
Dramatic Difference
Sales and profits explode when an Overt Benefit
and Real Reason to Believe pair is offered with a
Dramatic Difference.
Without uniqueness, you have a commodity that
sells for commodity-like profit margins.
The new news is that for the uniqueness to be
effective, it must be dramatic -ten times bigger
than you think it needs to be—and the drama
must be focused directly on the Overt Benefit and
Real Reason to Believe.

In round three, Ventin’ Scents is the winner as it offers the greatest
Dramatic Difference of the three. The benefit it offers cannot easily be
achieved in any other manner. Opti-roma and HearthGlow offer
decreasing levels of uniqueness. HearthGlow provides many features;
however, the end benefit of it versus competing logs is insignificant.
Round 3
Score 3 points if you named Ventin’ Scents as #1
Score 1 point if you named HearthGlow as #3

Overt Benefit
What’s in it for
the customer?
And is the benefit
overtly clear
Real Reason to
Believe Why should
the customer believe
you will deliver on the
promise made above?
Dramatic
Difference How
revolutionary and
new‐to‐the‐world is
your benefit/reason to
believe.
What makes an idea clear ?

Payoff
Dramatic difference
how is their life
different and better
Proof
Reason why should
they believe you and
dramatic difference
OVERT BENEFIT
REASON WHY
DRAMATIC
DIFFERENCE

Putting the idea
in practice
_____________________ (business name) is the first
to offer _________________ (Overt Benefit) that’s
because of _____________________ (Real Reason to
Believe)
or
What makes ______________________ (business
name) dramatically different is that it’s the
only company to offer ______________________
(Dramatic Difference)
 My company: ( company name )
 Is developing ( a defined
offering/project )
 To help ( a target audience )
 ( solve a problem )
 with (unique benefit or RTB
/secret sauce)

Even Shorter is better
Product The starting idea As a JTBD The essence
Listerine An antiseptic also
used to treat
dandruff and as an
aftershave
Halitosis and how to
avoid it become a
social anxiety
Kills germs that
cause bad breath
Snickers A “real food” candy
bar. With nuts and
good ingredients.
The right energy
when you don’t have
time to eat
Snickers satisfies
Instagram App which allows
users to check-in
and share plans and
photographs with
friends.
Share photographs
and short messages.
Photo sharing

Paper is just the first step …

If it is important…
you can (and should ) go further !
Big Idea Paper type Story Type Pretotype Pretotype
Thought Land Action Land

Story typing
The human mind is essentially a high-
powered story machine.
According to research, a message
delivered in the form of a story is twenty-
two times more memorable than a simple
fact.
AND we relate to stories
Context - Where did it all begin? What is your
background?
Example: In a social experiment called the Significant
Objects Project a number of people bought two hundred
random objects in thrift shops and garage sales for a total
of 129 USD.
Action - What can you/or want to do? What is the
problem?
Example: Each object was sold on EBay with the addition
of a fictional piece of writing relating to the object. This
wasn’t an attempt to fool buyers; the stories clearly
weren’t true.
Result – What Happened
Example: The random objects sold on EBay for a total of
over 8,000 USD confirming the persuasive power of
narrative.

The biggest challenge with
rationale research
People don’t think what they feel,
they don’t say what they think,
and they don’t do what they say.
(David Ogilvy)

Preto typing
 Validating market interest and actual use of
a potential innovation
 by simulating the core experience
 with the minimum investment of time and
resources
Fake it, before you make it
Read This book !

You’ll also see Preto typing
in action
Wal hub

But it is more than faking it.
It is about testing something
XYZ Hypothesis: What you get when
you apply “say it with numbers” to the
Market Engagement Hypothesis.
xyz hypothesis: A small, specific, easily
and quickly testable hypothesis that is
derived from, and consistent with, a
broader xyz Hypothesis
The basic form for the XYZ Hypothesis is:
“At least X% of Y will Z,” where X%
represents a percentage of your target
market, Y, and Z represents how that
percentage of the market will engage with
your new product idea.
Example ‐ the XYZ Hypothesis for Second-Day
Sushi:
“At least 20% of packaged-sushi eaters will try
Second-Day Sushi if it’s half the price of
regular packaged sushi.”
The process of going from a broad xyz
Hypothesis to one or more xyz hypotheses
is called hypo zooming.
Example ‐ a possible xyz hypothesis for Second‐
Day Sushi is:
“At least 20% of students buying packaged sushi
at Coupa Café today at lunch will choose
Second‐Day Sushi if it’s half the price of regular
packaged sushi.”

How to pretotype ?
Xyz to mimic XYZ

You gotta put in the effort
to simplify !
Complexity
Time / Effort
Your message
Your Target

Overnight ? Send via Fedex
Safety important? Buy a Volvo
Think Different? Buy Apple
When you get it right…
you’ll get back to a big
idea…

You need insights
not confirmation
to drive your business forward
I'll believe it when I see it
vs.
I'll see it when I believe it -
research

The 5 keys to good research
Understand
your biases
Think about
questions you
need answered,
before looking
for answers
Define
success
before you
start
Stay focused
on the big
picture
Actively
search for
negatives

#1 Understand your biases
Desire bias: SUGGING
Selling under the guise
of market research
Cognitive bias: We see
what we believe is true
Confirmation bias (people will find
the information that supports their
opinion (and ignore information
that denies it), selective memory à
knowing this impacts how questions
are worded. Positively or negatively..
What are you looking for? Prove
yourself wrong or right?

An example: global warming
Clearly there is evidence of global warming ?!
Hot summers
Warm winters
Evidence of global
warming
Cold summers
Cold winters
Evidence of global
warming

#2 Identify the questions,
before looking for answers
 Richard Thaler (Nobel Laureate).. let me ask the questions and I can lead you
to any conclusion
 Just like in alignment
 Doing wrong things righter makes things wronger
 Positive answers to the wrong questions are a sure recipe for overconfidence
Note:
It will always be hard to know what you don’t know… but you gotta try
The right questions will be hypothesis based and reflect your learning objectives

#3 Define success before
you start
 Invest some time in market math what is reasonable/ what is
needed
 Define metrics
 Commit to the metrics
 Keep it simple.. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
(Leonardo da Vinci)

# 4 Stay focused on the
big picture
Do they want it ?
Have they demonstrated, they want it

#5 Actively search for
negatives
(and really listen)

Advice from the Mom
test
Talk about their life
instead of your idea
Ask about specifics in the past
instead of generics or opinions
about the future
Talk less and
listen more
1
2 3

Target Deliverables
A quick honest
assessment – do you
have something ?
A list of key
death threats

Why WTP is important
Quite simply,
no margin
=
no mission
WTP is the
real end goal

Tools you should
know about
 Van Westendorp pricing models
(where expensive, where cheap to
identify a range of prices)
 Fermi Estimations / Chain calculations
 WTP modeling
 Lifetime value calculations

VAN WESTENDORP pricing
analysis: how to gauge the
‘perceived’ value ask the
customer !
4 questions
1. At what price would you say the product is
INEXPENSIVE (a bargain)
EXPENSIVE but worth considering?
TOO EXPENSIVE to consider?
TOO CHEAP to be of value?
RANGE of
acceptable
pricing
OPTIMAL price point is at the crossing
of TOO EXPENSIVE and TOO CHEAP

Lifetime value
Cost of client acquisition
+ Purchase #1 profits
+ Lifetime profits
---------------------
Profit per customer * market size = Profit potential
Present this with reasonable proof
you can deliver (or will be able to deliver soon)

If you want to be taken
seriously never do
top‐down financials

Top down versus bottom up
Top down
If every child in China sent me 1€
Bottom up
I got one child to send me 1€ and this is
how much it costs

The most expensive mistake (by far) is #3
The biggest 3 mistakes of
Entrepreneurs
Investing in the
wrong business
People don’t buy your
product or service because
they don’t understand why
they should…
Staying too long in the wrong
business.. (after you should
know it is time to change…)

“Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you're on a dead
horse, the best strategy is to dismount.
Of course, there are other strategies. You can change riders.
You can get a committee to study the dead horse. You can
benchmark how other companies ride dead horses. You can
declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse. You can harness
several dead horses together. But after you've tried all these
things, you're still going to have to dismount.”

 Talk to 20 people (that are not
your friends)
 If no one hates the idea, be
scared
 Ask people “if this fails” why
would it fail (you’ll get a lot more
information than asking what
they think of the idea !)
 Keep it simple …
Evidence people want it
Evidence people will pay
Evidence they will pay enough

My strongest advice
If you want to be a successful
entrepreneur learn to kill your own ideas

Top 20% performers kill 9 times more projects before
detailed design starts (HBR 2017)
“They eliminate the walking dead to save the living “

It is easy to kill bad ideas,
great companies kill good ideas (early)
Jack Welch

Read this
book someday
It is short and well worth your time

Support Materials
 4P / testing book chapters
Google sheet http://tiny.cc/Communicate-4Pschart
+ Attached slides
 Storyboarding – Attached slides
 Interview Guide - http://tiny.cc/interviewguide

Process: Communicate / Check
Research
Buyers/Users
Interviews
Testing via forms
Evidence of Innovation ?
If no, consider shooting your puppy
Risk assessment

OR http://tiny.cc/Communicate-4Pschart

A quick and easy interview
Interview Guide -http://tiny.cc/interviewguide
1. The Story behind the project
2. The “job” we would like to help people solve
3. Our first concepts
4. Willingness to pay or Value capture

Testing via a quick survey
The concept
Meaningful
Unique
A question on price
Why would it fail
google form template
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1z6E1t64kzT
_IPCJ9_XbZy500oE6sR2cuwc65Eyy272o/edit

Simple Storyboarding
How user finds
out about
new thing
How user finds
out about
new thing
How user
confirms they
will use the
new thing
How user
confirms they
will use the
new thing
A realistic entry
point 1. Write 2 end points
2. Fill in the middle
3. Biggest Risk
4. Drivers of big risks
Ideal ending
(to test if users would
actually do this)

Risk Driver #1
Risk Driver #2
Risk Driver #3
Risk Driver #4
Etc…
Solution #1
Solution #2
Solution #3
Risk Driver #1
Risk Driver #2
Risk Driver #3
Risk Driver #4
Etc…
Key Death Threats
Eliminate risks
where a viable
solution found

Recommendation: Split your group
Research
Buyers/Users
Interviews
Testing via forms
Key Death Threats
Key Changes
Continue or Re-do
Evidence of Innovation ?
• If no, consider shooting your puppy
Risk assessment

4 Cycles Remote Innovation - Communicate & Check

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