ExperimentFirst
Unit of Wheelhouse Venture Partners


Building your capacity and capability to deliver your own virtual learning incubators
And then came the innovation canvas
First came Business Model Canvas, a one-page alternative to the business plan.
Then came the Lean Canvas, adapted for startups
Now comes the Innovation Canvas. Having worked with 50+ startups through a virtual incubator, the innovation canvas is similar, but also with different 'boxes' that are more pertinent for ideas that are pre-startup stage and geared for internal startups.



Every innovation, is in the business of change. Therefore developing learning around what it takes for the change to happen is critical. What are the barriers to adoption (knowledge, behaviours, habits, fears, skepticisim) , in customer/users.
Lead with change. Knowing what you want your customer to be (after they've gained the value from your solution) is extremely important
What are the characteristics of those who recognise they have the problem, are actively trying to solve the problem, and have the resoures (time, budget) to do so
A problem that is 'urgent and important', quantified, assigned to a person, includes the cost of not solving the problem, how other solutions are failing. Go on a 'problem-journey'
Too many startups focus on 'product'. People need solutions. Furthermore, the focus here is on pretotypes (defined as a manual human focused solution, with no line of coding/ wireframing etc. Of course it will never be able to scale but will reveal maximum learning.
Your innovation is not going anywhere without a team. Building a network of people and relationships (colleagues, executives, ustomers, partners) is at the center of any innovation. You can start by building a virtual team (virtual being they offer limited time to this innovation).
Constraints are extremely important to drive creativity. For internal startups, the constraint may be your budget, or a strategic intent, or framed from a customer experience. Constraints guide you to a creative solution.
In Collective Genius - the art and practice of leading innovation, the authors (Hill, Brandeau, Truelove & Lineback) found three essential characteristics of innovative organisations - collaboration, discovery-driven learning and integrative decision-making. The innovation-canvas facilitates all three.