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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS10

within the economy overall. They also matter because almost
everybody, at one stage in their life, wants to develop their own idea –
set up their own business, launch a cherished project within an
organisation or put skills acquired at work to the social good.

You are probably no different.

everybody has got a business idea In fact, you probably

already have an idea of the product or service which you could provide
to satisfy an apparent market opportunity or need. Like Anita Roddick
seeking good-quality toiletries in packs much smaller than those
conventionally offered by high-street retailers, you might have looked
for some service or product in your private life and been surprised
when you could not find it; you might have seen an advertisement in
the paper promoting a particular skill which you consider you possess;
you might have heard customers grumbling about an existing product
or an existing supplier; like James Dyson, you might have been
dissatisfied with the performance of an everyday product or service; or,
like the founders of Crate and Barrel and of Coffee Republic, you might
have come across a type of successful company on your holiday abroad
which you had never seen at home.

You might have looked at numerous business start-up books which lead
with the declaration: ‘Now that you have your business idea, here’s how
to put it into practice.’

But as we outlined above, the premature rush to put the idea into
practice carries risks of commission – getting things wrong – as well as
risks of omission – overlooking ideas which could be even better.

So how do you break the impasse of having an idea, being aware of the
dangers of rushing to implementation, while perhaps thinking that
start-ups are just for the born entrepreneur?

capitalising on intuition We firmly believe that whatever the

reasons for the skills of developing viable business ideas being so
undervalued and misunderstood, almost everybody can develop the
appropriate analytical and intuitive skills.

This book explains how everybody has an innate intuitive side which
can be developed, nurtured and used at every step of the process to
complement the brain’s more logical and analytical skills. Polaroid