How to Come up With Ideas that Actually Work

We’ve all seen it happen countless times. A startup launches with sleek branding and strong venture funding, only to fizzle out in six months. A global corporation spends millions developing a new product that grows dusty on shelves, or worse, becomes an instant meme for all the wrong reasons. Even the smartest teams fall into the trap of thinking a "cool" idea is automatically a good idea.

But the truth is: ideas don’t win because they’re clever. They win because they solve a real problem for customers better than anything else available.

I’ve helped large and small companies develop new products and services across industries based on this innovation principle. If you’re trying to create something new for customers, whether it's your next product, service, or business model, here are five best practices to guide your process to help your creativity lead to real-world business success:

1. Don’t ideate; problem solve.
Innovation requires creative thinking, but if brainstorming isn’t tied to solving a real customer pain point, it’s just noise. Conduct research with consumers or customers to learn what’s broken, frustrating, or inefficient in their world, and then get to work fixing it.

2. Drive value before profits.
I’ve seen so many good ideas get killed too early in the process because they "won’t make enough margin." But some of the largest successes start with ideas that don’t immediately focus on profits. If you can create something so valuable that people need to buy it, then you can look at ways to optimize your costs to drive profitability.

3. Brainstorm inclusively.
The best ideas come from varied perspectives, so bring in people with different backgrounds, roles, and lived experiences into idea generation sessions. Diversity across race, gender, age, and functional expertise (e.g., marketing, sales, R&D, finance) expands the creative field and leads to smarter, more relevant ideas.

4. Be positive, then harsh.
In early stages, give every idea room to breathe; encourage boldness, weirdness, and stretch thinking. Even if something seems ludicrous, say it! You never know what might trigger someone else to think of a game changing idea. Once you’ve filled the wall with sticky notes, then it’s time to be ruthlessly critical about what survives.

5. Build, borrow, and bargain.
Innovation does not equal invention. In fact, many successful innovators borrow offerings, features, or business models and simply apply them in a new market or context. Look outside your industry and see what’s out there that you can apply in new ways, make more affordable for customers, or totally disrupt the status quo.

Innovation doesn’t have to start from scratch, but it does have to start with people. Solve real problems, invite diverse voices, and test boldly. The ideas that find success in the market aren’t just interesting or exciting, they’re impossible to ignore.

Freezing Is Not a Strategy

How to Lead Through Uncertainty

If you’re feeling unsure about what’s coming next, you’re not alone.

The early months of the new Trump administration have brought a wave of unpredictability. The stock market is shaky, trade wars are looming, and companies are still facing backlash for supporting DEI programs. No matter where you stand politically, one thing is clear: businesses are facing a high level of uncertainty.

And when things get uncertain, many businesses freeze.

We saw the same thing happen during the early days of COVID. Leaders paused investments, delayed launches, and waited for things to “settle down.” But in times like these, waiting too long can do more harm than good.

Uncertainty makes people risk-averse. It pushes leaders to avoid decisions, fearing that a choice made today might be the wrong one tomorrow. But freezing up rarely works. The businesses that survived—and even thrived—during COVID were the ones that stayed nimble, focused on what they did best, and kept innovating.

I worked with several companies through the pandemic and continue to support businesses navigating today’s uncertain environment. Based on those experiences, here are a few key strategies that can help you stay steady (and even grow) when the ground beneath you starts to shift.

Best Practices for Managing Uncertainty

1. Focus on Your Core Strengths

When things feel out of control, the instinct is to grab at everything for as much control as possible. But in reality, uncertain times call for simplicity. What does your business do best? What can others do better?

Double down on your strengths. Let go of the rest through partnerships, outsourcing, or automation. Whether your competitive advantage is cutting-edge tech, a seamless supply chain, or unbeatable service, lean into it.

2. Know the Real Value You Bring

Big shifts often push companies to try new things—and that’s not always bad. But don’t lose sight of why customers choose you in the first place. Innovation that doesn’t match your core value can fall flat.

Stick to solving real problems. Be creative, but stay rooted in what makes you valuable to your customers.

3. Make Strategic, Not Emotional, Decisions

It’s easy to panic when the future feels foggy. But now is the time for clear thinking. Create guardrails for decision-making so you don’t chase short-term fixes that hurt you in the long run.

Stay focused on strategy. Don’t let fear make your decisions for you.

4. Keep Innovating

The biggest mistake I see in tough times? Companies hitting the brakes on innovation. This is when we need it more than ever!

Innovation isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s your engine for long-term growth. If you stop now, it could take years to get momentum back. Keep moving. Stay flexible. Adjust your plans, but don’t abandon them.

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Uncertain times can be scary—whether you’re leading a team or just trying to keep your job. But uncertainty doesn’t have to mean stagnation. The companies that keep investing in themselves and in new ideas are the ones that come out stronger on the other side.

Let’s not freeze. Let’s keep moving.

Why 99% of Innovators Fail on the Financials

They plan for 100% success

Innovation is risky, but that risk can be managed. In my years working with businesses struggling to hit their growth goals, I’ve seen the same mistake over and over: they don’t plan for failure. 

Innovation requires optimism and a willingness to explore new ideas. But the reality is, some ideas just won’t work. If you don’t prepare for that, you’re setting yourself and your team up to fail. This issue was so common that I dedicated an entire chapter to it in my recent book, Risk-Free Innovation: 10 Ways to Manage Uncertainty.

One of the biggest reasons innovators fall short of their goals is because they don’t include failure in their financial planning. New ideas come with unknowns, and some launches will underperform. If not properly planned for, this can lead to teams losing their annual bonuses, or even their jobs – which in turn creates a fear of failure and a resistance to taking future risks needed to innovate successfully.  

So instead of fearing failure, the best way to succeed is by planning for it.

Here’s a simple process for doing that:

1. Set Your Innovation Revenue Goal

Start by deciding how much revenue you need from new products or services.

Example: 

• Your company currently generates $20 million in revenue, and wants to grow at 12% each year to reach $35 million in 2030 

• That means we need to develop at least $15 million from innovations over the next five years to fill that gap. 

2. Plan for Failure 

I’ve seen firsthand that even companies with strong innovation processes still see 40% of their new launches fail. That means you need to overbuild your pipeline to make sure you reach your goal.

Here’s how the math works:

• Target Revenue: $15 million

• Expected Success Rate: 60% (assuming 40% of projects fail)

• Required Pipeline Value: $25 million (because 60% of $25M = $15M)

To summarize, if our goal for the next five years is to grow the company by $15 million dollars through innovation, we have to come up with ideas that have a total expected value of $25 million so that when 40% of them fail, we will still meet our goal. 

3. Set Expectations with Leadership  

One of the toughest parts of this process is convincing leadership to get on board with this mindset shift. On the surface, it might seem like you’re asking for extra funding. But the reality is, this approach actually reduces risk because it ensures your company meets its targets even when things don’t go exactly to plan.  We aren’t promising the world and failing to deliver, we’re trying to overshoot our goal so that if we fall short, we still end up where we wanted to be in the first place. 

Another key expectation that needs to be set: innovation takes time to make money. Between R&D, testing, and marketing costs associated with launching a new product or service, leaders will be champing at the bit to see some quick returns. Unfortunately, it will take some time before the big profits start rolling in. While new products and services should bring in more revenue than they cost to make, it could take months before they actually turn a net profit for the total return on innovation. 

This chart shows the relationship between profits and revenues over the course of an innovation’s lifecycle. 

Innovation Profitability Lifecycle

It will take some time post-launch for innovations to begin earning overall profits when you take into account the development costs.

Why Planning for Failure Works:

Instead of crossing your fingers and hoping every launch is a hit, you accept that failure is part of the process and adjust your financial models accordingly. 

This approach:

• Reduces the risk of missing your targets

• Creates a healthier innovation culture 

• Ensures your company hits growth goals more consistently

When you plan for failure, you can innovate with confidence. The most successful companies aren’t just the ones who take the biggest risks; they’re the ones who take enough shots to make sure they win. Even the best baseball players only get a hit less than 40% of the time – innovation isn’t all that different! 

If you want innovation to be a focus of your company’s culture and growth strategy, you need to plan for failure. 

Don't Fall for This Consumer Trap: The Say-Do Gap

“But It Tested Well!” - Anonymous Former Marketing VP

So much of market research boils down to a simple goal: talk to consumers, ask what they want, and pass those insights to the marketing team to drive brand, advertising, and innovation. However, one of the biggest challenges we face is the “say-do gap” – when consumers report one thing in research but do another in the real world. 

This discrepancy is not intentional, but a reflection of behavioral psychology – there are several unconscious biases that are easily missed in consumer research. Without addressing these, studies can deliver insights that sound good but don’t reflect reality.

The entire business’ success rides on these consumer insights being accurate – if we aren’t aligned with what our customers truly want, we have zero chance of survival. To overcome this, make sure your market researchers are using the right techniques to get data that reflects reality and gives your marketing team a fighting chance. 

Here are four methods to uncover deeper, more accurate consumer insights.

1. Behavioral Observation

When filling out a survey or participating in a focus group, people do their best to be honest about their behaviors. But as many people who have tried to keep a food journal know all too well, sometimes we aren’t as aware of or honest about our choices as we might think. Instead of asking, create opportunities to observe real-time decision making to eliminate bias and get more accurate data.

Do this through:

• In-store tracking & shop-alongs 

• Digital diaries and longitudinal studies to track behavior over time

• Ethnographic research that places the researcher in the context of the consumer

2. Mitigate Focus Group Biases

Focus groups can provide valuable qualitative insights, but they also introduce potential biases such as groupthink, where participants subconsciously agree to others’ opinions, and confirmation bias, where facilitators unintentionally steer responses toward expected answers. 

To reduce these effects:

• Use skilled moderators with an understanding of behavioral psychology.

• Encourage detraction and dissension among participants.

• Use anonymous tools to collect private opinions before group discussion.

• Supplement focus groups with individual contributions to validate findings.
  

3. Allow for Neutrality & Indifference

Consumers often feel pressured to solicit a strong opinion, even when they don’t have one. This can lead to forced or inaccurate responses. While hearing “I don’t care” and “no preference” can be frustrating, it's useful – now we know where more work is needed. 

Don’t confuse: 

• Genuine enthusiasm and passive acceptance.

• Forced binary choices and definitive preferences. 

• Low-energy or apathetic participants with lack of interest in content.

4. Conjoint Analysis & Trade-Off Experiments

For those entrenched in design and content, the differences between options may seem obvious. But for research participants, choosing between two products or advertisements might be a challenge due to a number of conflicting variables like design, function, and price. Conjoint analysis creates a clear “either/or” scenario that isolates these variables and zeroes in on the best overall option.  

Use conjoint analysis to:

• Separate preferred aesthetic and functional design attributes

• Learn which functions consumers are willing to pay for 

• Fine-tune or wordsmith specific elements of advertising 

The Zero Point Mindset

Breaking Free from Bias to Drive Innovation

In today’s fast-paced economy, companies that fail to innovate don’t survive. But if innovation simply required resources and talent, wouldn’t Fortune 100 companies be the ultimate masters of it? Why, then, do startups so often disrupt deeply entrenched industries?

At its core, innovation demands a willingness to break free from entrenched ideas, habits, and assumptions. “Move fast and break things” sounds great in theory, but most companies struggle because they approach strategy with biases that cloud decision-making. They seek data that confirms what they already believe instead of letting insights lead them somewhere new.

This is where the Zero Point Mindset comes in; a deliberate approach to innovation that strips away biases and resets the way businesses think. It’s about creating a clean slate, allowing organizations to get out of their own way and develop solutions that are not just incremental improvements, but true breakthroughs.

The Zero Point Framework

1. Deconstruct Assumptions
   Before you can build something new, you need to identify and challenge what’s holding you back. What internal orthodoxies drive decision-making in your company? Are there universal beliefs or “sacred cows” in your industry that can be challenged? At Zero Point, we start by questioning these assumptions, separating fact from opinion, and identifying blind spots that could be limiting growth.

2. Listen to the Market, Not Just Your Gut
   The best ideas don’t come from brainstorming in a vacuum; they come from listening to real customer needs. This means conducting empathetic market research that engages with customers on an emotional level. It also means studying behaviors rather than relying on purely on what people say they want. Innovation should be driven by data and insights, not legacy thinking.

3. Redefine the Problem
   Many companies solve the wrong problem — or address symptoms rather than root causes. The Zero Point Mindset forces businesses to reframe challenges, uncovering hidden opportunities. Instead of asking, “How can we improve our existing product?” ask, “What problem are we really solving for our customers?” This shift in perspective often unlocks entirely new solutions.

4. Test, Learn, and Iterate
   Once you have a fresh perspective, the next step is experimentation. The Zero Point approach embraces rapid prototyping, testing, and iteration. Small, real-world experiments validate ideas before large investments are made, ensuring that new solutions are not just innovative but also practical and scalable.

5. Commit to Continuous Reinvention
   Zero Point isn’t a one-time exercise; it’s a mindset that must be embedded into company culture. Businesses that continually challenge their own thinking, seek out new insights, and adapt to change are the ones that stay ahead. The competitive landscape shifts daily. The only way to lead is to embrace reinvention.

By adopting the Zero Point Mindset, businesses free themselves from outdated thinking and unlock the power to create, innovate, and lead. The future belongs to those willing to start from zero.