Startups Introduction, Meaning, Features, Types, Ideation

The term startup refers to a company in the first stages of operations. Startups are founded by one or more entrepreneurs who want to develop a product or service for which they believe there is demand. These companies generally start with high costs and limited revenue, which is why they look for capital from a variety of sources such as venture capitalists.

Startup is a name which can be given to a form of business whether Partnership, LLP or a private company which is started by some young people having unique ideas and intending to convert such ideas in developing any unique product or service for society.

Features

• Products or services to be provided have distinctive qualities and features.
• Doesn’t have a well-developed business model.
• Entrepreneurs intending to start it have a lack of funds.

Types:

Small business startups. These businesses are created by regular people and are self-funded. They grow at their own pace and usually have a good site but don’t have an app. Grocery stores, hairdressers, bakers, and travel agents are the perfect examples.

Scalable startups. Companies in a tech niche often belong to this group. Since technology companies often have great potential, they can easily access the global market. Tech businesses can receive financial support from investors and grow into international companies. Examples of such startups include Google, Uber, Facebook, and Twitter. These startups hire the best workers and search for investors to boost the development of their ideas and scale.

Lifestyle startups. People who have hobbies and are eager to work on their passion can create a lifestyle startup. They can make a living by doing what they love. We can see a lot of examples of lifestyle startups. Let’s take dancers, for instance. They actively open online dance schools to teach children and adults to dance and earn money this way.

Big business startups. Large companies have a finite lifespan since customers’ preferences, technologies, and competitors change over time. That’s why businesses should be ready to adapt to new conditions. As a result, they design innovative products that can satisfy the needs of modern customers.

Buyable startups. In the technology and software industry, some people design a startup from scratch to sell it to a bigger company later. Giants like Amazon and Uber buy small startups to develop them over time and receive benefits.

Social startups. These startups exist despite the general belief that the main aim of all startups is to earn money. There are still companies designed to do good for other people, and they are called social startups. Examples include charities and non-profit organizations that exist thanks to donations. For instance, Code.org, a non-profit organization, encourages school students in the US to learn computer science.

Ideation

Idea generation implies the methods used for coming up with thoughts that can use an identified opportunity. There are various methods that can be used for coming up with ideas.

1. Focus Groups:

A focus group is a way of interviewing a group of people on a specific topic to gain farther insights about the topic. It is usually moderated by the interviewer or the researcher who would like to get this information. The group composition is relatively homogeneous. This technique is broadly used by companies to get ideas on packaging, new features, benefit analysis of a product or feature and also improvement initiatives.

2. Brainstorming:

Brainstorming techniques are used to generate as many ideas as possible on a certain topic. The greater the number of ideas better is the result. Typically, people who come into a brainstorming session tend to be a very heterogeneous mix, of about eight to fourteen people. As the intention is to generate as many ideas as possible, the heterogeneity encourages differing perspectives and outlook.

3. Creative Writing:

This technique is typically used when lot of literary strength is available about writing around that topic. Various people are brought in or encouraged to write about a topic from their perspective; around the objective that is stated or a problem or a challenge that is posed. Creative writing is free flow in nature. It is left to the person trying to jot down the ideas that come to his or her mind during the process that is most important.

4. Wish Lists:

Wish lists method is generally used to collect ideas especially from a potential customer environment. People could be asked at random to name what they would like to see as a product or a feature that could address a particular problem. Wish lists are very useful in product development scenarios where absolutely unheard of or new ideas about situations or products can be gathered.

5. Ideal Scenario:

Ideal Scenario technique requires the participants to imagine a future situation or solution which in their definition will be an ideal solution to the problem or challenge at hand. They may be asked to imagine and describe it in words. At times to increase the creativity quotient, people may also be asked to create visuals either as a collage or a painting that would describe the future looking scenario of what will be the ideal solution.

6. Campaigns:

Campaigns are used to initiate idea generation around a problem or a challenge. They could use various forums or events to collect ideas and reward some of the best ideas that they get, and thereby gaining access to many ideas. One can make use of campaigns routinely in aspects of harnessing creative ideas around tag line creation, logo creation where the challenge is open to many people.

7. Introspection:

This is yet another idea generation technique, wherein one takes time off from general activities to just thinking about the topic at hand. This is done in solitude without any external influence or interaction. Whatever ideas come to the mind are jotted down.

8. TRIZ:

TRIZ is acronym of Russian phrase ‘Teorija Rezbenija Izobretatelskib Zadach’ and literally means ‘Theory of inventive problem solving’. This method was identified by a Russian engineer in the navy who went about reverse engineering old discoveries and inventions. As per this method there are various combinations or principles that can be used to arrive at a solution for a problem. TRIZ is used widely to arrive at product innovation.

9. Time Machine:

The time machine is another interesting approach. In this approach people are asked to travel a few years forward from now to imagine the situation that they could be in with respect to the challenge under consideration. The imagined scenario can be then worked upon to lead to some current ideas.

10. Catch-Ball:

Catch-ball technique has its origin from Japan. Catch-ball is a method of throwing an idea to individuals or a group. They then add something to that idea and pass it over to the next individual or group. In this way the idea evolves or improves. In this method over a period of such passes the idea is expected to take a particular shape.

11. Scientific Method:

The other common method is the scientific method of researching to come up with newer ideas. It is a very evolutionary method, wherein a particular idea is taken and subjected to experimentation to seek its evolution to the next level. This is typically done in R&D centres wherein starting with the raw ingredients an attempt is made to evolve the final composition by trial and error method.

An entrepreneur could find this to be quite an expensive proposition. However, there are industries like pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, biotechnology, etc., where this is the only available option to come across solutions to existing or identified challenges.

Ideation Catalysts and Inhibitors:

There are factors that enable and inhibit ideation.

Catalysts:

• Being resourceful
• Being knowledgeable
• Fresh thinking or child like ability to think without barriers
• Open mindedness to happenings in the ecosystem
• Tolerance for error
• Acceptance of failure
• Increase in the variety of people and experience
• Belief in oneself

Inhibitors:

• Belief that creativity or ideation cannot be learnt
• Fear of failure
• Pressure to align and think in a programmed fashion
• Greater importance for reputation