Rarely today are inventions that have a completely new function created. Rather, most of today’s inventions are the offspring of something that already exists but reimagined to tackle a bigger or more complex issue. While pure innovation is possible and new ideas are constantly being pondered, “new” is not always completely necessary. When staring at your blank piece of paper, you might find yourself intimidated by the large amount of startups that are seemingly doing the exact same thing as you. Maybe, there is a product that was never reimagined because it worked just fine the way it was. Just remember, it’s not who creates the invention first, but who creates the invention best. That’s why we created our guide to reinvention: 3 simple tips to reinvent the wheel.
1. Be Disruptive
First things first; let’s tackle your idea. With this new age of consumerism, the traditional methods of inventing won’t do. Instead, you need to employ a disruptive way of thinking. In order to be disruptive, you need to follow one of two guidelines for your product:
- Design your product or service to match the demand of an existing market
- Re-imagine an existing product or service to meet the demand of customers unsatisfied by the current offerings.
By following one of these guidelines, you will be able to focus your efforts on what the consumer needs, rather than what you think will fit a need in the market. By doing this, your product will address needs that have not been singled out, immediately giving you an audience to test your results on.
2. Design with Your Consumers in Mind
Designing with your consumers in mind is one of the strongest ways to stay ahead of the game. It’s so strong that we wrote an entire e-Book about it! By looking at how each change will affect your consumers’ mindset about your product, you can be sure that you’re tackling something that the older model would not have addressed. Remember not to let your consumers determine each aspect of your product but let them determine what need the product needs to fill. Examine what issues the older products are not able to solve and go from there. Ultimately, your product will generate an audience of users just by virtue of its purpose.
3. Embrace Your Failures
It’s ok to fail. Really, it is. Failure simply means that you have exhausted one route to the fullest and now it’s time to pivot towards something else. That doesn’t mean that you have to throw away your entire idea or company – just learn from the past and reinvent what you have done. Find the crux of where you failed and reimagine your idea with that in mind. You will end up with an idea that is stronger than the one before, ultimately giving you a more solid platform to launch your reinvention.
Whether you’re reinventing a product or creating something brand new, we want to help make your product a success. Contact us here at Pivot today to discuss your needs!
