The Innovation Journey

Get the reference to Batman. Never mind, welcome to the Innovation Journey. An attempt at writing a book about my journey as an Innovation Leader. I started as an Innovation Fellow, straight out of campus with a silent passion to build something worth something. I had a dream. Just as I finished my programme in university, an opportunity presented itself at the right time to pursue that silent dream. It came to me as a challenge and I took it on. Now, I am the co-founder of a startup in less than 3 years. In this living document, I will write out all the things I have learnt at each stage. I hope it helps you become a better builder, founder and tech enthusiast.

Structure of Sections

I will tell this story using an articles from Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase and polymath. He took the time to dissect how to build a startup in this article. Give it a read and it will give you context.

Idea
- What is an idea
  - Problem
  - Solution
  - Business Model
- How do you evaluate the idea
  - Market research
    - Interviews with target users
    - Secondary information: articles, books, reports
    - Study existing solutions
  - Analysis of data
    - Data points
    - Insights
    - Trends
    - Patterns
- Mindset required here
An idea is not a mockup
- What is an mockup
- How do get from idea to mockup
  - Feature ideas: The way that the application will work and flow
  - Tools:
    - User stories
    - User flows
    - Wireframes
    - Mockups: Figma designs - simulate how the application will look, not how it will work
- Mindset required here here
A mockup is not a prototype
- What is a prototype
- How do you get from mockup to prototype
  - Tools you need
    - VSCode
    - Deployment server
- Mindset required
A prototype is not a program
- What is a program
- How do you get from prototype to program
  - Tools you need
    - Well-tested code
    - Error handling
    - Logging
- Mindset required
A program is not a product
- What is a product
- How do you get from program to product
  - Tools you need
    - User experience
    - Copy-writing
    - Pricing - financial modelling
- Mindset required
A product is not a business
- What is a business
- How do you get from product to business
  - Tools you need
    - Licenses
    - Payroll
    - Incorporation
- Mindset required
A business is not profits
- What is a profits
- How do you get from business to profits
  - Tools you need
    - Financial modelling and projections
    - Cost projections
- Mindset required