Page 123 - Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking

102 ◾ Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking

else is immaterial. So spend as much up-front time to uncover those insights
as possible. Throughout your iterative prototyping, your goal is to validate
that the targets you are helping the customer to hit through your experience
vision and solution approach are the ones the customer truly wants to hit.

Understanding the user’s problem should be considered the founda-
tion of your business model on which the value proposition of your solu-
tion is built. Understanding the value that a user sees in your solution
approach is extremely important. Whether your solution will help the user
hit the target in a better way, a cheaper way, a faster way or an easier way
will dictate your competitive advantage and thereby your core compe-
tency. As you go through this stage, you’ll realize the type of advantage
your approach has over existing ways of hitting the target, be it qual-
ity, cost, efficiency, experience or a combination of two or more of these
advantages.

With a clear understanding of the value proposition comes the crucial
stage of crafting the business model, where all aspects of the value chain –
creation, delivery, partnering, capture and funding come into play. Most
often, it is neither the problem space that helps you build a sustainable
business, nor is it the solution quality, it comes down to a business model.
A business model, which is validated by the customers, proven through
their wallets, will determine whether your idea can be transformed into a
sustainable business or not.

Finally, your business model is not operating in a vacuum. It is heavily
and continuously being impacted by the business context you are operat-
ing in. Current and future trends – industry, technology, competitive, busi-
ness model, macroeconomic and others – will shape your business model.
Consider these aspects as you build your venture.

One more word of advice before you head to the final stage. As you iter-
ate through all of the steps in this book, your understanding of all the key
stages would improve – understanding the problem, devising a solution and
crafting a business. If you approach the space with an open mind, you’ll
see that your idea has transformed into a business which is likely to be
drastically different than what was originally conceived. This is very normal
and actually a sign that you are finding your way through the entrepreneur-
ial jungle. You’ll be doing many pivots before finding the right direction for
your business. Be open, fail often and fail early. This framework will help
you do just that.