TITLE:
Generate business ideas (product/service) for entrepreneurial opportunities through
brainstorming.
APPARATUS:
Computer system with Microsoft MS Word
THEORY:
Trying to find a great business idea? Successful entrepreneurs use their imagination every
day to make new decisions that improve the world. But how do they do it? The secret is,
there’s no secret! However, here are seven ways to keep your mind fresh and open so you can
generate an idea for your own business.
1. Meet new people.
Seriously. Go out and meet new people to get out of your idea rut. Talking to new people
who not only don’t think like you but who don’t know how you think can help freshen up
your brainstorming process. Go to networking and learning events, talk to people outside
your industry, and/or strike up a conversation with your existing customers.
2. Keep a “pain point” journal.
Successful companies all have one thing in common: they solve a problem. Companies like
Google, Netflix, and Uber solved specific pain points in their marketplace and went on to
achieve great things.
• I wish I could find information on a specific topic from various sources quickly.
• I wish I could rent movies and television shows directly from my television at a low cost.
• I wish there was a cheaper way to get a ride.
Ask yourself: What bugs me? Keep a journal where you write down your everyday
frustrations. Review the journal regularly and run it by others to see if it’s a pain point for
them. What product or service could you create that would solve that problem?
3. Tap into your interests.
The famous restaurant and travel guide Zagat is an often-cited example of finding a business
in something you love. The founders of Zagat, Tim and Nina Zagat, were lawyers who loved
to eat out at restaurants. In 1979, they started a newsletter asking their friends to rate
restaurants. As the newsletter grew, they began charging money for their work. In 2011, the
company was bought by Google. Not bad for a newsletter.
Take an inventory of your hobbies and interests. What business opportunities could you
create from something you love to do anyway? Searching for a new business idea? Try
tapping into your interests to see how to make a business out of something you love.
4. Explore new ways of thinking.
New methodologies and ways of thinking are constantly evolving, and some industries are
better at embracing them than others. Take design thinking, for example. Design thinking is a
mindset and methodology used to better understand problems and implement creative
solutions, articulated first by David Kelley, co-founder of the design firm IDEO. The
company has designed products for iconic brands such as Apple, Steelcase, and Oral-B.
Read up on alternative methodologies and learning methods and apply them to your pain
points journal. Or, apply to an alternative learning program such as Studio [Y] if you’re at an
inflection point and need a reboot, or explore entrepreneurial thinking resources for a new
learning style.
5. Travel.
There’s a whole big world out there with great ideas that haven’t yet reached your market. If
you see an idea you love while traveling, you can bring it back home and give it a new spin
that specifically addresses the needs of your market or community. Even if you don’t find
inspiration, traveling will help take you out of your surroundings and refresh your system.
There are places around the world that have ideas waiting to be commercialized, such as
universities with technology transfer offices. Take an existing idea and launch it to market.
6. Go online.
Don’t waste your time looking at cat videos online. Well, don’t waste *all* of your time
looking at cat videos. Look up entrepreneurship and industry-related communities. Go on
Twitter and search relevant hashtags to see what people are talking about. For example, if
you’re interested in social finance and social innovation, consider hashtags such as #impinv
(impact investing), #socfin (social finance), #socinn (social innovation), #susty
(sustainability), #socent (social entrepreneur or social enterprise), and #csr (corporate social
responsibility).
You might learn about new niche fields, networking opportunities, or other topics that might
spark something. Become a student of your industry and entrepreneurship.
So, you have a potential inkling of an idea but aren’t sure if it really has any potential?
Research the market to see what’s out there and where your idea could fit in. Besides your
standard online search and library stop, there’s tons of resources to help you along. For
example, MaRS Market Intelligence provides Ontario entrepreneurs with access to current,
relevant, and timely information about industries, competitors, markets, potential investors,
partners, intellectual property, and best business practices at no cost.
Some business ideas are as follows:
1. Badges, cloth, reordered and metals
2. Bags of all types (e.g., leather, cotton, canvas, jute) including kit bags, mail bags, sleeping
bags, and waterproof bags
3. Basket cane (procurement can also be made from State Forest Corporation and State
Handicrafts Corporation)
4. Bath tubs (plastic)
5. Battery chargers
6. Leather belts and straps
7. Bolts and nuts
8. Boot polish
9. Brooms
10. Domestic brushes of different types
11. Buckets (plastic)
12. Buttons (all types)
13. Sandals and chappals
14. Cleaning powder
15. Cloth covers for domestic use
16. Cloth sponges
17. Coir mattresses, cushions, and matting
18. Cotton pouches
19. Curtains (mosquito netting)
20. Domestic electric appliances (BIS specifications): Toasters, irons, hot plates, mixers,
grinders, room heaters, convectors, and ovens
21. Dust bins (plastic)
22. Cotton dusters (all types, except for khaki items)
23. Electronic doorbells
24. Emergency lights (rechargeable type)
25. Hand-drawn carts (all types)
26. Hand gloves (all types)
27. Hand numbering machines
28. Hand pumps
29. Hand tools (all types)
30. Havre sacks
31. Honey
32. Invalid wheeled chairs
33. Irons (dhobi)
34. Lamp holders
35. Letterboxes
36. Nail cutters
37. Oil stoves (wick stoves only)
38. Paper conversion products: paper bags, envelopes, ice-cream cups, paper cups, saucers,
and paper plates
39. Pickles, chutney, and pappadums
40. Pouches for various purposes
41. Safe meat and milk
42. Safety matches
43. Signboards (painted)
44. Liquid soap
45. Spectacle frames
46. Steel chairs
47. Umbrellas
48. Utensils (all types)
CONCLUSION:
In this experiment, we generated several business ideas (products/services) for
entrepreneurial opportunities through brainstorming.
