Creating Seamless ideas A key part of understanding what makes a great market opportunity is knowing about who the competition are and what do they do well. Competition is nothing to be scared of if you deal with it in the right way – actually you should be more worried if there is no competition!
Come on, let’s get started.
Business is changing the world
Everything we’ve learned so far is important because…
Apple has more cash than the us
government In 2011, one report put Apple’s cash
reserves at $76.4bn. More than any other company has ever had! What will it
do with the money? What could it do with the money?
From the big
Meet the cronut
This is the ‘Cronut’, a Croissant-Donut hybrid created by the Dominique Ansel
bakery in downtown Soho, New York. This company continues to redefine
what it means to be a bakery, with every new product.
To The Small
And this is the queue
Sustainable building designs for downtown Calcutta
These are new sustainable building designs proposed to Architecture Week, for
downtown Calcutta, India. New building works have to be cost effective,
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From the urban
This drone delivers medication
Andreas Raptopoulos, CEO of Matternet, builds a drone capable of delivering
medicine to remote, inaccessible areas of Africa. An eight-propeller drone can
carry 2kg and travel 10km in good weather.
To The remote
Meet Stompy
This is Stompy: Designed in America, Stompy is an open-source, 18ft wide,
4,000 pound, 6-legged hydraulic robot that you can ride around town.
From The Weird
A window
of whiskey This is ‘The Porthole’ created by product-
design company ‘Crucial Detail’ and is the most elegant cocktail mixer on
the market.
To the wonderful
You could take any idea you’ve had so far and make it work.
Keep learning and make something happen
Your idea will adapt every time you speak to someone Ideas need to change and adapt in order to become relevant to the real world. One of the worst things you can do is
be closed down to any suggestions or ideas from other people.
This is a good thing.
You wouldn’t be talking to them if you didn’t think they could offer you a good opinion or support.
you talk to trustworthy people 1
Ideas come from your own knowledge, skills and experience and wouldn’t be suited to anyone else.
Ideas are personal 2
You need to seek feedback and adapt your idea based on the responses people give you.
Feedback is critical 3
Should I be worried about someone stealing My idea? It’s a common question and we would say no. Obviously it is a consideration and a risk, but it’s a risk worth taking. These are the reasons why:
Without talking about it and adapting your idea, it will simply never become an idea that’s ready to launch.
There is no such thing as a perfect idea 4
Let’s look at the Corkscrew SEAMLESS canvas
But will it work?
THE SEAMLESS CANVASIS YOUR IDEA S.E.A.M.L.E.S.S.?
WWW.CORK-SCREW.ORG11-15 DIX’S FIELD,
EXETER, DEVON, UK
IS IT AN INTERESTING, SHAREABLE IDEA?
WHICH LEGAL, ENVIRONMENTAL OR SOCIAL ISSUES COULD YOU BE AFFECTED BY?
WHY IS IT ACHIEVEABLE?
HOW DO YOU KNOW THERE’S A MARKET OPPORTUNITY?
WHAT MAKES IT SCALABLE?
IS IT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE?
Can you explain your idea in ten words?
Do you have any good visuals?
Who is your focused target audience?
Can you start it & test it cheaply?
Do you know your prices - are they competitive?
Do you know your fixed & variable costs?
You have the skills to do it
You have some connections that can help you along the way
The technology or hardware you’ll need is in common use
You have a fact or two which can explain how big the market is
you have a clear unique selling point & competitive advantage
Which legal issues could you be affected by?
Which environmental policies will you use and why?
Are there any ethical or moral concerns?
How will you protect yourself against the worst case scenario?
What happens when your workload triples?
What’s your plan for expansion?
SEAMLESS CANVAS Time to practice - we’re going to give you a number of businesses with a
copy of the SEAMLESS Canvas. Your job is to work out how hard they would be to set up based on the SEAMLESS model shown above.
Use the Seamless canvas to find reasons why you would or wouldn’t set each company up
2
Find as many relevant considerations as possible
3
Picture yourself starting each of these businesses 1
Things to takeaway
Seek regular feedback – you don’t have to take it on board, but try to understand why they said what they did.
Keep seeking feedback on your idea 1 Be open to changes and be flexible. The reality is the idea
will keep changing even as you start and run the business.
Be flexible - allow your idea to adapt 2
Check early and cover yourself against the negatives. Setting aside the time now will save you an awful lot of problems later on.
Use the seamless canvas to check if your idea is going to work 3
www.cork-screw.org
SEAMLESS Ideas Done!
