Sticky Ideas

I recently finished reading the New York Times Bestseller "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" by Chip and Dan Heath.


While not an "Entrepreneurship" book per-say, Made to Stick is about coming up with ideas that will "stick" with people. Managers, politicians, marketers, educators - seemingly anyone - can benefit from reading this. Entrepreneurs especially should read this when trying to generate new business ideas.

Each chapter focuses on one thing that an idea should be:

- Simple
- Unexpected
- Concrete
- Credible
- Emotional
- Story (link the idea to a story)

This got me to thinking about what a good business idea should be...

- Simple: You should be able to explain a business idea to a 5 year old and have them understand it. Be able to sum up the product/service in one sentence.

- Unexpected: More than just being new, the idea should cause customers to say "Oh! Cool!"

- Concrete: An online dating website is abstract. An online dating website that matches couples based on X, Y, Z traits is more concrete.

- Credible: Will this product/service do what you say it will? Why should someone believe you?

- Emotional: Create something that causes people to feel good. By meeting any need you're making someone feel good. The stronger the emotional bond to the product/service or brand, the better.

- Story: When pitching a product, either to investors or consumers, link it to a story. "I created this safety product after I myself was involved in an accident.."

For more about storytelling: Squirrel, Inc. and The Springboard are two great books by Stephen Denning about using storytelling to get an idea across.