From Unique Insight to Original Idea: A Founder's Process

As startup founders, we're on a quest for that elusive breakthrough idea - the one that could reshape an industry or create an entirely new one. But when it seems like every idea has already been thought of, how do we unearth truly original concepts?

The landscape of innovation has shifted dramatically. As I've explored in my previous work, ideas are no longer a dime a dozen, the advent of AI and market saturation have made truly original concepts both rare and invaluable.

For us founders, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. How do we cultivate the ability to generate original ideas? How can we acquire unique insights and transform them into innovative concepts with the potential to reshape industries?

I've been grappling with these questions myself, diving deep into the works of thinkers who've pondered this problem before us and drawing from my own experiences while building my startup.

In this essay, I'll explore strategies to unearth original ideas and bring them to life. I'll cover:

Cultivating unique insights: Techniques like "living in the future" and embracing multidimensional thinking, drawing inspiration from thinkers like Graham Wallas [1] and modern innovators.

Transforming insights into ideas: Wallas's four-stage model of creative thought and discuss how to apply it in the context of startup ideation.

Bringing ideas to life: The importance of rapid experimentation and finding early believers, concepts crucial to turning innovative ideas into reality.

Navigating challenges: Common obstacles in the path of original idea generation and discuss strategies to overcome them.

Part I: Landing on Unique Insights

Before we can craft original ideas, we need to fill our mental reservoirs with unique insights. These insights serve as the raw material from which innovative concepts emerge.

Embracing the Fringes

Wallas introduces an intriguing concept he calls "fringe-consciousness." He describes it as a state where ideas exist at the periphery of our conscious thought, not fully formed but hovering just out of reach. These fringe thoughts can be incredibly valuable sources of unique insights.

To tap into this fringe-consciousness, we might try a practice I'd written about: productive daydreaming. This isn't about zoning out but about creating space for our minds to wander productively. We could set aside time for walks without our phones, allowing our thoughts to roam freely. The key is to pay attention to these fleeting thoughts and capture them when they arise.

To engage in productive daydreaming, we need to create space for unstructured thinking. This might mean taking regular walks in nature, as many great thinkers have done throughout history. The key is to pay attention to fleeting thoughts and make unexpected connections. I always keep a notebook handy - you never know when inspiration might strike.

But productive daydreaming is just one piece of the puzzle. We also need to cultivate a multidisciplinary approach to knowledge acquisition.

The goal here isn't just to accumulate information, but to create a rich tapestry of interconnected knowledge. Read widely across various disciplines. Attend lectures outside your area of expertise. Engage in conversations with people from diverse backgrounds. The most innovative ideas often emerge from unexpected connections between disparate fields.

As I noted in my summary of "Pattern Breakers", we have to get into a pattern-breaking mindset. This involves:

- Actively seeking out and recognizing inflections (events that create the potential for radical change)

- Developing non-consensus insights about how to harness these inflections

- Living in the future to escape the assumptions of the status quo

Living in the Future

"Living in the future" is a way to unearth breakthrough insights. For us as startup founders, this might mean experimenting with emerging technologies, even if they're not directly related to our current projects. By doing so, we can develop intuitions about what's missing and what's possible. It's about escaping the assumptions of the status quo and cultivating new patterns of behavior.

As mentioned in "Imaginable"[2], a form of imagination is called episodic future thinking (EFT), where we transport ourselves forward in time and pre-experience future events.

By adopting this mindset, we position ourselves to see opportunities and connections that others might miss.

Embracing Multidimensional Thinking

As founders, we often face complex problems that defy simple solutions. To generate truly original ideas, we need to cultivate a multidimensional approach to thinking - one that combines breadth and depth, crossing boundaries while embracing complexity.

Marylene Delbourg Delphis introduced me to the concept of "thinking thick"[4] - understanding that the world around us is complex and considering all implications when we do something. This approach involves challenging our assumptions, considering second and third-order effects, and exploring the interconnections between seemingly unrelated events or trends.

But thinking thick isn't just about diving deep - it's also about thinking "across." We need to look beyond the boundaries of our immediate industry or expertise. This "across" thinking can lead to novel applications and innovative combinations that others might miss.

To practice this multidimensional thinking, we should:

1. Regularly explore case studies from industries different from our own. What solutions have they found that might apply to our challenges?

2. When faced with a problem, resist the urge to simplify. Instead, map out the complexity, identifying key players, influences, and potential ripple effects.

3. Use analogical thinking to apply solutions from one domain to another. Could the principles of urban planning inform how we design our app's user interface?

4. Conduct pre-mortems to identify potential failure points, forcing us to consider multiple dimensions of our ideas and strategies.

By embracing this multidimensional approach, we position ourselves to see connections and opportunities that others might miss. We're not just solving the immediate problem - we're reimagining the landscape in which that problem exists. This is where truly original ideas are born.

Remember, our goal isn't just to create incremental improvements. We're here to reshape industries and create new ones. And that requires us to think in multiple dimensions, embracing complexity while searching for those unexpected connections that lead to breakthrough insights.

Recognizing Inflection Points

In my summary of "Pattern Breakers", I highlighted a crucial concept for identifying breakthrough opportunities: inflection points. Maples and Ziebelman define an inflection as "an event that creates the potential for radical change in how people think, feel, and act." These are not just any changes, but underlying shifts that make even greater changes possible.

As founders, we need to train ourselves to spot these inflections. They're the moments when the rules of the game are changing, creating opportunities to alter the future landscape of competition. Inflections add to the inventory of what humans can do, opening up new possibilities that weren't viable before.

Recognizing these inflection points requires a combination of deep industry knowledge and the ability to think beyond current paradigms. We might look for emerging technologies that are reaching critical mass, shifts in consumer behavior, or changes in regulatory environments. The key is to identify these inflections early and understand their potential implications before they become obvious to everyone else.

By focusing on inflections, we can position our startups to harness these changes, potentially leading to ideas that don't just improve existing products but fundamentally change how people interact with technology or each other. This approach aligns well with the concept of "living in the future" – by immersing ourselves in emerging trends and technologies, we're better equipped to spot these crucial inflection points as they arise.

The Power of Interdisciplinary Thinking

Graham Wallas, in "The Art of Thought," emphasizes the importance of a broad knowledge base.

Wallas suggests keeping "a rather considerable number of 'folders' or envelopes, labeled with the names of subjects to which he finds his mind recurring." This might translate to using tools like Notion, Obsidian, or Roam Research to create a personal knowledge management system. I tried Obsidian and Roam but as a fan of analog, I write my concepts on 3x5 index cards and pin them on a felt board on my wall.

The goal isn't just to accumulate random information, but to create a rich tapestry of interconnected knowledge. Original insights often emerge from unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated fields.

We could make a habit of reading outside our immediate field of expertise. If we're working on a fintech startup, we might dive into books on psychology or urban planning. These seemingly unrelated fields might offer fresh perspectives on user behavior or community building that could inform our product development.

The Observation of Less Conscious Experiences

Wallas emphasizes the importance of observing "less conscious as well as more conscious psychological experiences." This aligns with modern research on the power of the subconscious mind in problem-solving and creativity.

One way to access these less conscious experiences is through practices like meditation or mindfulness. These techniques can help us become more aware of our subtle thoughts and feelings, potentially uncovering insights that might otherwise remain buried. I've been practicing Transcendental Meditation for the past few months, two 20-minute sessions twice a day.

Another approach is to pay attention to our dreams. Many great ideas throughout history have come from dreams or the state between sleeping and waking. Keeping a dream journal by our bedside could help us capture these elusive insights. I keep a lighted-tip pen and a notebook in my bedside drawer but haven't had the luck of a big breakthrough in my dreams lately.

Part II: From Insights to Ideas

Once we've cultivated a rich bed of unique insights, how do we transform them into concrete, original ideas? Wallas provides a framework that can guide us through this process.

The Four Stages of Creative Thought

Wallas outlines four stages of creative thought: Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, and Verification. Let's explore each of these in the context of startup ideation.

1. Preparation

In this stage, we consciously work on a problem, gathering information and exploring different angles. Wallas emphasizes the importance of setting a clear "problem-attitude" or question to focus our thinking.

For us as founders, this might involve deep market research, analyzing existing solutions, and identifying key pain points. But it's not just about collecting data - it's about immersing ourselves in the problem space.

We might spend time talking to potential users, not just to gather requirements, but to truly understand their lives and challenges. We could experiment with existing solutions ourselves, noting where they fall short. The goal is to develop a rich, multifaceted understanding of the problem we're trying to solve.

In this stage, we consciously work on a problem, gathering information and exploring different angles. Wallas emphasizes the importance of setting a clear "problem-attitude" or question to focus our thinking.

I've been enjoying recording our discovery calls and then using AI to analyze the transcripts to gather non-obvious insights. Non-obvious is the key here since we want to listen between the words and uncover interesting things.

The other thing to do is to connect the Gmail inbox that receives lead/customer emails to Zapier to write email content to Google Sheets and then have AI analyze the email responses. Very helpful to uncover non-obvious insights. It's so crazy what we can do now that we haven't been able to do... ever.

2. Incubation

This is where things get interesting and in my view the most important and mysterious phase of idea generation.

Incubation is a period of unconscious processing, where we step away from the problem and allow our minds to work on it in the background. Wallas suggests that this stage should include "a large amount of actual mental relaxation."

As I explored in my essay on productive daydreaming, this stage isn't about passive waiting but about creating the right conditions for our subconscious to work on the problem.

In my conversation with Alex Pang, author of "Rest,"[5] we discussed the critical role of rest in the creative process. Pang argues that deliberate rest - activities like walking, napping, or engaging in hobbies - can significantly boost our creative output.

As counterintuitive as it might seem, taking breaks is crucial for original thinking. We might build regular "incubation periods" into our work routine. This could be as simple as taking a walk after an intense work session, or as involved as scheduling regular "think weeks" away from the day-to-day operations of our startups like Bill Gates does regularly.

Importantly, Wallas warns against filling this time with "passive reading" or other forms of mindless consumption. The goal is to give our minds space to process and connect ideas, not to flood them with more information.

3. Illumination

This is the moment we all live for - when a solution or idea suddenly emerges into consciousness. Wallas calls the moment just before this the "Intimation" - a rising consciousness that indicates a breakthrough is coming.

The key here is to be ready to capture these moments of illumination when they occur. We might keep a notebook with us at all times, or use a note-taking app on our phones. The ideas that emerge during this stage are often fragile and easily lost, so it's crucial to record them immediately.

It's also worth noting that these moments of illumination often occur at unexpected times - in the shower, while exercising, or just as we're falling asleep. By being prepared to capture ideas at any time, we increase our chances of preserving these precious insights.

Sometimes I get caught without a notebook, and I never take my phone with me on my walks. The Apple Watch comes to the rescue. I record voice memos on my watch about the idea that strikes so I can later get it transcribed once at my computer.

4. Verification

In this final stage, we consciously examine and refine the idea that emerged during illumination. This is where we apply logic, critical thinking, and practical considerations to develop the raw insight into a viable concept.

For us as founders, this might involve creating quick prototypes, discussing the idea with trusted advisors, or running some initial market tests. The goal is to validate the idea while preserving its original spark.

It's important to strike a balance here. We want to refine and improve the idea, but not to the point where we lose the originality that made it exciting in the first place. This is where techniques like rapid prototyping can be valuable, allowing us to quickly test and iterate on the core concept.

The Role of Habit in Idea Generation

While the four-stage model provides a useful framework, Wallas also emphasizes the importance of habit in the creative process. He suggests developing routines that support each stage of the creative process.

For instance, we might develop a habit of regularly reviewing and connecting ideas from our various "folders" or areas of interest. We could schedule regular time for focused problem-solving (Preparation), followed by periods of relaxation or unrelated activities (Incubation). We might develop a routine for capturing and reviewing ideas (Illumination), and set aside specific times for critically examining and refining these ideas (Verification).

By turning these practices into habits, we make it more likely that we'll consistently generate and develop original ideas.

Part III: Bringing Ideas to Life

Having an original idea is only the beginning. The real challenge lies in bringing that idea to life in the form of a product or service that creates value for users. This is where we move from ideation to experimentation.

As I discussed in my essay on why ideas are no longer a dime a dozen, the advent of AI has made execution easier in many aspects of knowledge work. This means that the value of truly original ideas has increased. However, it also means that we need to be more discerning in which ideas we choose to pursue and how we bring them to life.

The Importance of Rapid Experimentation

In "Pattern Breakers,"[3] Maples and Ziebelman introduce the concept of an "implementation prototype." This is different from a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in that it's focused on engaging potential early believers to identify the most important benefit and the most desperate customers.

As founders, we might create a series of quick experiments to test different aspects of our idea. These could be as simple as landing pages that describe the concept and gauge interest, or as involved as functional prototypes that allow users to interact with core features.

The key is to move quickly and learn from each experiment. We're not trying to build a perfect product at this stage, but to validate our assumptions and refine our understanding of the problem and solution.

Embracing Surprises

Maples and Ziebelman emphasize the importance of "savoring surprises" during the implementation process. Both positive and negative surprises can be valuable, leading to refinements in our approach or even fundamental shifts in our concept.

As we experiment with our ideas, we should pay close attention to unexpected results. If users are using our prototype in ways we didn't anticipate, that could point to a new and potentially more valuable direction for our product. If certain features are resonating more strongly than we expected, that might indicate where we should focus our efforts.

Navigating Challenges in Original Idea Generation

Our quest for original ideas often feels like navigating a maze. While the strategies I've discussed can significantly enhance our creative capabilities, we still face specific challenges that can hinder our progress.

Information Overload and Echo Chambers

We face a dual challenge: an overwhelming flood of information and the risk of getting trapped in echo chambers where the same ideas circulate endlessly.

To help with this, we should practice intentional information consumption and diversity seeking. We should:

- Be selective in our reading and information intake, as Wallas suggests. Quality trumps quantity.

- Create systems to organize and synthesize information effectively. Tools like Roam Research, Obsidian, or Notion can be invaluable here.

- Schedule regular "digital detoxes" to clear mental space for original thinking.

- Actively seek out diverse perspectives. Engage with people and ideas outside our immediate industry or geographic area.

- Maintain a broad range of interests and connections, as Wallas recommends. Our next breakthrough might come from an unexpected source.

The Ongoing Journey of Original Thinking

As startup founders, our journey of original thinking never really ends. Each new challenge, each new market condition, each new technological advancement presents an opportunity for fresh insights and innovative ideas.

As we continue on this path, let's remember the importance of balance. In my conversation with Alex Pang, author of "Rest," we discussed how deliberate rest can significantly boost our creative output. As counterintuitive as it might seem, taking time to step back, relax, and engage in activities unrelated to our work can often lead to our most innovative ideas.

The practices I've explored - from cultivating unique insights through interdisciplinary thinking and "living in the future," to generating ideas through the four-stage creative process, to bringing those ideas to life through rapid experimentation - are not one-time activities but ongoing habits to be developed and refined.

It's a challenging journey, but also an incredibly rewarding one. By committing ourselves to the pursuit of original ideas, we open up the possibility of creating something truly transformative - products and services that not only succeed in the market but also make a meaningful difference in people's lives.

Here's to the pursuit of original ideas, to the courage to bring them to life, and to the potential we all have to create something truly remarkable. May our journey as founders be filled with unique insights, breakthrough ideas, and the joy of bringing innovative concepts to life.

[1] Art Of Thought by Graham Wallas
[2] Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything by Jane McGonigal
[3] Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples Jr, Peter Ziebelman
[4] Beyond Eureka - The Rocky Roads To Innovating by Marylene Delbourg-Delphis
[5] Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang