Tuesday, April 30, 2013

How to get right under the lightning

Where do ideas come from? the WSJ asked on Apr 29, 2013.

David Cohen, TechsStars: Ideas tend to come when you are hard at work on something else. For instance, he said, I wanted info on music and could not find what I wanted, so I created earFeeder--it checks your computer for music and then sends info on those bands.

Vivek Wadhwa, Singularity University: Coming up with ideas is not necessarily a young person's game. The typical entrepreneur is a middle-aged professional who knows the market and starts a company with his or her own savings.

Angela Benton, NewME Accelerator: Look outside your industry to see how others are attacking problems. Be present in your life. Do things you are invested in.

Samer Kurdi, Entrepreneur's Organization. The key is not the idea but the entrepreneur's willingness to try and keep trying.

Ben Baldwin, ClearFit: Let your subconscious do the work. Smell the flowers and let your mind pop out a solution.

Brian Spaly, Trunk Club: Be sure you can fail fast and cheaply and move on if need be.

Victor W. Hwang, T2 Venture Capital: Listen to weird stuff, watch obscure documentaries, walk in weird places, talk to weird people.

What isn't such a good idea: Reading a market forecast from a big-name consulting firm and creating a product for that need. This from Guy Kawasaki, Apple.