Page 20 - Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking

Preface

We are living in fascinating times, when the power of technology is not
just reshaping but is transforming the globe in unprecedented ways. These
include the ability to connect with anyone across the globe in an instant
using a tiny device in the palm of our hands to the availability of self-
learning systems to take over not only the most mundane of tasks but also
the most sophisticated tasks previously thought to be performable only by
superior human faculties.

Regardless of whether you consider this progress to be beneficial to soci-
ety or harmful, these technological advancements are here to stay and will
disrupt society in the future. I tend to look at these advancements from the
lens of an optimist. I see these advancements as a vehicle that can unleash
human potential. It has been far too long since most of us forgot our entre-
preneurial roots – we traded them for a stable flow of income in the form
of a paycheck at regular intervals of time. These current transformational
technological advancements, on the one hand, threaten this stability, and
on the other hand present an opportunity for all of us to awaken our inner
entrepreneurs.

This book is an endeavor to make the transition from an employee to an
entrepreneur smooth for the masses. I have not yet met a person who didn’ t
have ideas to improve this world in some way. In fact, most of us have
numerous ideas in our heads at any given moment of time and feel strongly
about some of those ideas at a deeper level. However, we find ourselves
perplexed on two levels:

1. Where to start to build an idea into a business?
2. What are the various dimensions and activities needed to launch an

idea into a business?

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