Innovating Without A Budget
If you have to innovate, and you have no budget, what should you do?
It is a scenario that arises often. Management, particularly those who are proponents of some nebulous concept of innovation culture, believe that all it takes to get innovative is throw people at the problem. In some organisations, it is much easier to find people than find money, so it seems like and easy way to get an innovation program started.
The issue with this is that making innovation happen is not just about ideas and people. It also requires execution, which is the difference between an idea which sits around gathering dust, and one which can actually be converted into something that creates revenue. Execution, usually, requires money.
Therefore innovators with no budget at all will almost always fail, and here is the reason.
Before anyone is able to make an investment decision with respect to a unique innovation, there are three key questions which need to be answered. The first of these is “Can we do this?” which is actually a technical question around doability. The second question is “Should we do this”, which is actually about the financials of the innovation. And the third question is “When?”, which has to do with market entry timing.
To answer these questions, the innovation team will likely have to pay for research, for prototypes, meds online without prescription and for the time of analysts. It is a rare innovation group that has every skill it needs in house.
Consequently, an innovator with no money at all has almost no alternative but to try to answer all the key questions him or herself. This mostly results in exceptionally poor business cases, due to the lack of any substantive detail. The result is innovators wind up tossing poorly formed propositions at stakeholders and order pills online without prescription hoping for the best. Usually, they don’t get taken seriously.
Before you begin your innovation group, you need to consider the funding options. James Gardner’s free online innovation book has material you should consider.