10 Innovate

Formative question: what does “innovation” mean to you?

At the heart of the entrepreneurial spirit is innovation, or the ability to connect the intrinsic value in some idea with market segments that can benefit from that value.  Though innovation starts with an idea, it—like many other concepts in business—more generally refers to an ongoing process of ideation, planning, implementation, and evaluation.  Good businesses operate around a strong business model, successful ventures attract support using a codified, thoughtful business plan, and entrepreneurial artists position themselves in the industry with a strong artist’s mission statement.  But: businesses thrive when they continue to search for new ways to benefit potential consumers through the process of innovation.

An entrepreneurial venture starts with an idea—and, many failed ventures started with great ideas.  Successful innovators, however, treat the process of ideation as more than just thinking about new products or services: a business cannot ultimately be successful unless its products or services are able to connect with market segments that find value in those products or services.

The ongoing innovation process, then, should continue to evaluate both the strengths of the idea itself and the needs of the market.  Innovative, entrepreneurial thinking is often encouraged in successful management pedagogy even within larger corporate structures, both in the context of reevaluating the strategic goals on a broad scale and as part of research and development of new products.