A few days ago the Mobile World Congress ended in Barcelona. Like every year, a number of innovations have been presented, including wearable devices, connected cars, fast networks, smart software, etc.
This year I had the opportunity to attend a number of presentations by young entrepreneurs with some excellent ideas, new start-ups that have been funded to create the next new "habit" for us. The first thing I realized this year, is that there is a thin line between being an innovative person - being the thinker - and being somebody that can offer support (financial or other) to thinkers. Unfortunately I now belong more to the other side, the non-thinker side.
Although this fact made me very sad during a very festive season, I realized that this is not my fault. As a person ages, the experience is killing innovation, and this is what is happening to me. I should not complain; I had my share of opportunities to develop the next big thing. Instead I developed a number of small and medium thingies that support me and my family during these days. The second thing I realized this year is that I didn't manage to develop the next big thing, because I was answering the wrong questions. Closely to this, the third thing I realized is that I was surrounded by negative thinkers, and this was restraining me.
Having said all these things, here are my two cents of knowledge for all you thinkers, hoping that will help you develop the next big thing in the mobility environment:
1. Your idea must solve a problem: This is a simple as it sounds!
2. Your idea must have all the necessary ingredients to become a habit: How often do you tweet, like on Facebook, search on Google post your blogs? You get the meaning of what a habit is!
3. Your idea should be used more than once: If you think that the next big thing will solve the problem once (e.g. which car to buy), then you are on the wrong track. Think and make something that can be used every day.
4. Your idea must address the masses: Ideas that address niche markets such as the developer community or a specific line of business can be successful, but not what we are looking for. The more age-span your idea addresses, the more successful it will be. Can you think something useful that can be used by a 13 year old as well as a 73 year old?
5. You should consider how your idea will get to a critical mass: If you have solved the previous point, then by answering this question will bring you closer to funding. Can it be communicated as a viral? Even better!
6. Your idea must be easily deployable to all mobile devices, now and in the future. Think how your idea will be installed in your users' mobile devices. Spend a lot of time in solving this problem.
One question is not in the list above, but is the single most usual question you will get from the people you decide to talk about your idea. And this question is "Howdo you monetize this?" Let me tell you some things about this question:
* This question is the single most important killer of innovation in the mobility area and equals experience. It automatically puts some barriers around your creative thinking process, because it places you on a mind-frame that your idea should make money.
* This question is made by people that are negative thinkers. When designing your next big thing, you need to be surrounded by people that help you overcome the obstacles, not by people that are simply pinpointing them. Every time I had a good idea with a potential of becoming great, I had people around me pinpointing the problems and barriers or hardening my way to success based on their experience. You do not need this kind of people around you. Kindly avoid them. Be surrounded by people that will solely think about how to help you make your idea a habit, how to get the critical mass, how to deploy to all devices. People that can help you answer these questions, not ones that pose them and act as evangelists.
In simple words, do not answer this question as part of your process of creating the next big thing. Address the six issues as I posed earlier instead.
Hoping that your idea will be great, at some point you may need funding. If by then, the monetization question has not been self-answered, work closely with your venture capitalist or your funding house to answer it. Funding is not exams, funding is working together to make things happen, to create win-win situations. When you get to this stage, monetization is not a question any more. It is a statement: "OK, let's make money out of it now!"
It took 20 years for me to realize all the above. The least I can do is to provide you with some guidance into not making my mistakes. I promise I will never ask this question again when, people that obviously respect me, share their dream with me. I am sorry if I did this in the past.
George