[Dell11]

Anyone got any pointers on ways to think of new ideas and be creative?

[amith]

hey!!
there is a famous saying

"concious efforts kills creativity.."

so .. we should continue with our normal work and sometimes ideas strike to us..

[Sam Barona]

First find a problem; then ask your mind, just before you go to sleep, to come up with a solution to the problem.

Your mind will find ways to answer your question.

[penguindude]

If you want to make a great products, solve one of your own problems. Because you normally know all the ins and outs of it.

[akula]

innovation is product of accidents

stay in the game for longer than average

that's how "to think of new ideas and be creative"

ideas will come come as a result of dead ends, and other assorted problems

i don't like ventures ventures who try to be innovative from the begging

I like boring ventures which start out boring and make innovation part of their dna

why? because this approach is more profitable

[NeeJam]

This will help you:

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_T...es/000876.html

It is more detailed here and theres images/illustrations to go with it too: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_T...es/000932.html

[JPO]

Most of my ideas come during long walks or after coffee with friends. I'd recommend discussing some random topic with a creative friend for an hour or so and then taking time to brainstorm privately. I've found that the time directly following deep and challenging conversations is surprisingly productive when digging for that elusive gem of an idea.

[jpmorgan13]

you need to step outside of yourself and be a spectator. observe people, what they do, and why they do it. you will see trends and you will see opportunity to provide a service or product to make their life easier or to fill a gap. be very open-minded and get out and interact with people, thats a great way to stir up your creative self.

stick with what you know, it will make it easier.

[Sam Barona]

I concur with JPO. Brainstorming ideas with friends/colleagues does have immense value. I came up with the idea, which I patented for e-payments after talking about something completely different (Online Radio) with a friend.

Her comments sparked a train of thought that lead to a technology that I sold for a tidy sum to Sonny Ericson. After 4 years of development.

The more intelligent your friends the better; also, dont dismiss friends that are negative in their comments, as these help you identify potential flaws with your idea.

Sam

[Andrew311]

I'm new here, but here are my two cents.

I agree with a lot of what people are saying. Creativity is one of those things that just sort of happens. But that doesn't mean you can't help it along.

Penguindude already made a great point. The best place to start is identifying needs and problems in your own daily life. From there, which problems do you feel you could provide a great solution for? Once you have a problem and a solution, define your market. Are there other people with this problem? If so, how do I reach them? Do I have some friends that fit this market? How do they feel about my solution?

You see a progression here? Suddenly you went from nothing to a product and a market.

Truth be told, though, there is of course a lot more to it than that. Here is where you start having to be really creative to find ways to not only differentiate your solution, but to find your way to your potential customers. For this sort of creative inspiration, I usually take a look around me at what other companies are doing. They don't even have to be companies in the same market attacking the same problem. You'd be surprised how much creativity already successful companies employ that you can learn from and apply to market your own solution.

To find that sort of creative inspiration, there are some really good books out there that will open your eyes to whole new ways of doing business. Interestly enough, I made a post on my blog a couple days ago featuring some good books. That post is here:

Best Business Books of 2006 (link)

Combine these two things I talked about: 1) identify needs and problems you have a personal understanding of and 2) open your mind to great ways of doing business and reaching your customers. If you do that, I think you are a great part of the way towards some quality ideas and creative inspiration.

Hope that helps

[SSM]

One thing that works for remembering ideas is to either take a pen/pad everywhere (small pad) or type it into your phone as a memo.

To get ideas I just try to keep an open creative business mind up and going at all times. When something hits, I do the above, then research it quick, then go from there.