How do you appraise whether an early stage idea for a new product, proposition or business model is good? This deck is the left brain framework that right brain creatives need to develop and test their ideas.

1. After Eureka!
7 questions to test if it’s
really a good business
idea.
simon kirby | opine consulting | www.opineconsulting.com | © Opine Consulting Limited, 2010

2. 01
02
03
04
05
06
07
Market attractiveness?
Customer needs?
Proposition?
Competitor lock-out?
Profitability?
Feasibility?
Strategic fit?

3. 01
“I have
determined
that there is
no market
for talking
pictures.”
Thomas
Edison
Market attractivenes
1. What’s the size and
value of the market?
2. How much of it is
realistically available?
3. Is the market changing,
growing, shrinking or
consolidating?
4. Are there any changes or
discontinuities that could
transform the market in
your favour?

4. 02
“If I had
asked
people
what they
wanted,
they would
have said
faster
horses.”
Henry Ford
•
Customer needs?
1. Are my customer needs
clearly defined, strong
and unmet?
2. Are there unvoiced
customer needs?
3. What’s it worth to the
customer to meet those
needs?

5. 03
“One
thousand
songs in
your
pocket.”
Apple (the
first iPod)
Proposition?
1. Is the proposition clearly
defined?
2. Does it meet strong
customer needs?
3. Is it different?
4. Is it interesting?

6. 04
“One
thousand
songs in
your
pocket.”
Apple (the
first iPod)
Competitor lock-out?
1. Is it patentable?
2. Can I use or build a
powerful brand?
3. Are there any scale
economies and can I get
big quickly enough to
benefit from them?
4. Do I bring a distinctive
capability to the
innovation?
5. Can I build exclusive
partnerships?

7. 05
“Growth is
the
scoreboard
, not the
game.”
Gary
Hamel
•
Profitability?
1. What businesses are
comparable? How much
do they make and what
are they worth?
2. How risky are the cost
and revenue streams?
3. How many revenue
streams does the
innovation generate?
[the more, the better.]

8. 06
”one must
look at
things from
the
simplest,
most
practical
point of
view. ”
Fyodor
Dostoevsky
Feasibility?
1. Who needs to be asked
what to understand if it
can be done?
2. Are there precedents that
suggest it’s feasible?
3. Can I do it at reasonable
cost and risk?

9. 07
Strategic fit?
1. What core competency
would the venture
deploy?
2. How does it fit or
leverage brand or
distribution strengths?
3. Does it use proprietary
processes, skills and
know-how?

10. ~
“Irrational
passion is
the key
change
agent of
our
economy."
Seth Godin
Passion …

11. ~
“Innovation
is not the
product of
logical
thought,
although
the result is
tied to
logical
structure.”
Albert
Einstein
Story…