Page 70 - The Business Idea Factory: A World-Class System for Creating Successful Business Ideas

Why you need raw materials

When I was 15, my family moved and during my last year before college I went to a high school
which was not only closer to my house, but also significantly stronger in math.

I approached my new math teacher, Alexander, and said, “Alexander, I want to achieve the maximum
I can in competitive math and I am willing to work as hard as possible this year. I know that you
prepared several international level math Olympiad winners. Please suggest what I can work on at
home in addition to regular classes.”

He said, “You see, Andrii, to win a math Olympiad, relying only on agility of the brain isn’t enough.
You should also rely on your competitive math experience.

“I will give you books with collections of problems from past national and international math
competitions. Think about each problem yourself for some time, and then read the solution in the
back of the book. After a while, you will notice patterns and memorize various approaches for
tackling problems. The more solutions of others you read, the more approaches for solving
problems are in your arsenal and the more likely you are to solve a math problem.

“Once you face a problem in a math competition, you will have many different approaches in your
arsenal to begin solving it and coupled with agility of the brain you will become a very strong
contestant who can win.”

A new idea is a modification or combination of old ones. Old ideas are a raw material for creative
thinking. The more ideas of other people you know, the more connections your brain will be able to
make and the more likely you are to create an interesting and valuable business idea.