Innovation Funnel
Many teammates in your startup might come up with different ideas to tackle the current problems that the startup can work on. How do you assess the viability and practicality of those before working on them? We use the Innovation Funnel.
IF is a mechanism that enables a constant stream of ideas which can be screened for viability. As a tool, it helps individuals and companies to innovate successfully.
Especially in early-stage startups where ideas are abundant, and IF helps structure the chaos of innovative ideas, carefully select the ones which display viability and effectiveness and then launch them on a mass scale.
It is a funnel-shaped process where you start from many ideas and move to a few ideas. The first step is to gather as many ideas as possible, and the second is to screen these ideas and match them with the organisation's goals to check whether they add value. A large portion of ideas can be converted into concrete development plans, so you want as many to emerge. Each idea should be carefully and constantly screened and compared to established rules, criteria, or filters. For instance, to what extent does the idea meet customer demands or to what extent is the idea risky.
The Innovation Funnel Management Process will visually look like a funnel with the most ideas at one end and top priority selected ideas at the other. The major components of the template are the “idea generation,” “idea development,” “concept development”, and the “launch” phases of the funnel process. Ideas generated at the beginning of the process are often evaluated with the least quantitative criteria since many ideas will exist. A rough “swag” is often enough to determine which ideas should be developed further. Ideas are then placed in the “idea development” phase. Ideas that pass the criteria within this step move to the “concept development” phase. Those ideas selected to be formally developed are then moved into the “launch” section of the template.
Managing the development funnel involves three very different tasks or challenges. The first is to widen the mouth of the funnel - the organisation must expand its knowledge base and access to information to increase the number of new products and new process ideas. The second challenge is to narrow the funnel neck - ideas generated must be screened and resources focused on the most attractive opportunities.
The goal is not just to apply limited resources to selected projects with the highest expected payoff but to create a portfolio of projects that will meet the firm's business objectives while enhancing the firm's strategic ability to carry out future projects. The third challenge is to ensure that the selected projects deliver on the objectives anticipated when the project was approved.
WEEKLY ROUNDUP:
🦄 Open Financial Technologies: Kerala-based startup is India’s 100th unicorn: Kerala got its first unicorn startup after fintech firm Open Financial Technologies, supported by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), raised $50 mn from Mumbai-based IIFL Finance in a Series D funding round recently. A neo-banking platform for SMEs, the Kerala-based startup is India’s 100th unicorn, entering the elite club with a valuation of $1 billion.
🏠 Actis acquires real estate platform Rx Propellant
Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, has acquired Rx Propellant, a platform focused on providing real estate solutions (R&D labs and associated facilities) to tenants in the life sciences and related sectors in India.
🤖 Deeptech startup SatSure acquires Philadelphia-based Geospatial services company
Bengaluru-based deep tech startup SatSure has acquired Philadelphia-based firm, Old City Innovations (formerly Geospoc LLC, USA), in a cash and stock deal, marking its entry into the US market.
Funding Galore:
💰 The third week of May saw a slight uptick in funding after witnessing a major dip in funding in the second week. Between May 16 to 21, the Indian startups managed to raise $419 Mn across 26 deals. This is a 5.8% rise from $396 Mn, which the ecosystem managed to raise last week across 33 deals.
🎧 Aman Gupta-led profitable D2C earphone and electronic wearable manufacturers boAt has received approval from market regulator SEBI for its INR 2,000 Cr IPO. According to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) of boAt, the startup is going to raise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 900 Cr, and an offer-for-sale of up to INR 1,100 Cr.
References:
https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/innovation-funnel/
Great read!!