Waseem Hamad, MBA

Learning Launch – Designing for Growth

1. Challenge: My great challenge would be to find out of many ideas the best working and

profitable idea with the highest IRR (internal rate of return.) You do not know the future and  the market developments or what other companies are planning for the future – so you have  to find out under un-security unique ideas that work which will be profitable in the future.

2. Selection: There will be many light bulbs with lots ideas. Making a business plan is not the

best way because you go to the unknown. Many guesses and assumptions are made and  everything is new to the innovation team and you (“the unknown”.)

Then you make financial projections based on the unknown. If the IRR is not met we “tweak the  assumptions”.

The better way would be – doing lots of experiments with customers and on the market, which  means the testing of a hypothesis (idea in a specific form). Experiments should be fast and cheap as  many companies do with computer simulations.

You have to do the learning process with customers quickly and also test your key customers  assumptions. To understand customers needs is one of the most important topic. Taking to  customers must be done very very quickly.

The process: Frist step will be a hypothesis – the idea relates to a specific target group / specific  persons – customers have a problem causing pain. With the idea the problem will be solved better  than the competition.

What must be true for a good idea? The purpose of a learning launch is to get the truth which can be  confirmed or disconfirmed.  The truth will save you money and surely time. The idea can be adapted  to a better working idea.

Customers have to be prioritized and the data must meet the key assumptions.

“You think – it is a great idea” but YOU are a problem – a risk to be managed because of confirmation  bias. You are looking for data that confirms your idea.

Solution to this:

  just the facts

  search for the big lie

  search for confirming / disconfirming facts

  small multi-functional teams – a skeptic person

Think about:

Under which circumstances will be the idea a bad idea (idea, service not sell) ? You make a list and  ask questions….and you search for these questions. Observation is a key way to learn!

We all are very biased. Everybody’s cognitive blindness is different. We have to share ideas also with  skeptic people. We always believe our ideas will work.

Waseem Hamad, MBA

You have to talk to a minimum number of people. “What is your key problem????”

So ask many people about their biggest problems and then put the data together and identify the  biggest problem for the group.

In the process you will likely often change the idea or adapt to the best working solution for  everybody.

Ideas are like sand on the beach – many…..

Take into consideration – all ideas are not good – and learn from mistakes.

It will take many ideas to have a “bid needle mover”. And innovation is a probability game.

You have to make failures cheap financially and personally.

You also should speek freely – all members of the team should do this.

We have to aks constantly these questions:

  what do we know?

  what do we not know?

  what do we need to know?

  how do we learn – what we need to know?

Test and learn !

3. Application / insight approach: as a startup entrepreneur with a foldable carbon e-bike

(Oceania Cluster) with a very unique design we created a frame very different to others which is  lightweight and much more stable and drives like a road race bike. We never asked : Are  these the points customers really need and are willing to spend lots of money – this was our  biggest mistake – because the foldable bike market is a niche market and not too many  people buy folding bikes. Most buy very cheap foldable bikes and are then unsatisfied about  the quality (bias?).  When you buy cheap – you buy expensive…   At the moment we are in the stage of market entry and building some cooperations with the  goal to enter the market.   As a matter of fact we did not know the tool and had no chance to learn from the customers  too much. This is a learning process and I am sure that some of the content in the course will  help me to make better and more accurate decisions in the future.  Before going life with a product I would gather as much information as possible from  potential customers and make a deep market research. The decisions have to be made quick  without losing too much money.  When you start with an idea you are very enthusiastic and you are sure that it will work well  – creating business plans with financial assumptions which will not be met  - because you did  not have enough information of potential customers and their real needs. This is the most  important to gather as much information as possible and also adapt the ideas – also when  showing business plans to investors to get money – they will make many questions ?

Waseem Hamad, MBA

We also should have asked what do we not know and how do we learn – what we need to  know?   In the future I would aks many people what their real or biggest problems are and out of this  information score the ideas and discuss with the team members also skeptic members. The 3  highest graded ideas I would show customers on the street and discuss again.

Designing is a magic – many people think that design has not different meanings – and everybody has  the power to design.


Waseem Hamad , MBA Learning Launch – Designing for Growth 1 . Challenge : My great challenge would be to find out of many ideas the best working and profitable idea with the highest IRR ( internal rate of return . ) You do not know the future and the market developments or what other companies are planning for the future – so you have to find out under un - security unique ideas that work which will be profitable in the future . 2 . Selection : There will be many light bulbs with lots ideas . Making a business plan is not the best way because you go to the unknown . Many guesses and assumptions are made and everything is new to the innovation team and you ( “ the unknown ” . ) Then you make financial projections based on the unknown . If the IRR is not met we “ tweak the assumptions ” . The better way would be – doing lots of experiments with customers and on the market , which means the testing of a hypothesis ( idea in a specific form ) . Experiments should be fast and cheap as many companies do with computer simulations . You have to do the learning process with customers quickly and also test your key customers assumptions . To understand customers needs is one of the most important topic . Taking to customers must be done very very quickly . The process : Frist step will be a hypothesis – the idea relates to a specific target group / specific persons – customers have a problem causing pain . With the idea the problem will be solved better than the competition . What must be true for a good idea ? The purpose of a learning launch is to get the truth which can be confirmed or disconfirmed . The truth will save you money and surely time . The idea can be adapted to a better working idea . Customers have to be prioritized and the data must meet the key assumptions . “ You think – it is a great idea ” but YOU are a problem – a risk to be managed because of confirmation bias . You are looking for data that confirms your idea . Solution to this :  just the facts  search for the big lie  search for confirming / disconfirming facts  small multi - functional teams – a skeptic person Think about : Under which circumstances will be the idea a bad idea ( idea , service not sell ) ? You make a list and ask questions….and you search for these questions . Observation is a key way to learn ! We all are very biased . Everybody ’s cognitive blindness is different . We have to share ideas also with skeptic people . We always believe our ideas will work . Waseem Hamad , MBA You have to talk to a minimum number of people . “ What is your key problem ? ? ? ? ” So ask many people about their biggest problems and then put the data together and identify the biggest problem for the group . In the process you will likely often change the idea or adapt to the best working solution for everybody . Ideas are like sand on the beach – many … .. Take into consideration – all ideas are not good – and learn from mistakes . It will take many ideas to have a “ bid needle mover ” . And innovation is a probability game . You have to make failures cheap financially and personally . You also should speek freely – all members of the team should do this . We have to aks constantly these questions :  what do we know ?  what do we not know ?  what do we need to know ?  how do we learn – what we need to know ? Test and learn ! 3 . Application / insight approach : as a startup entrepreneur with a foldable carbon e - bike ( Oceania Cluster ) with a very unique design we created a frame very different to others which is lightweight and much more stable and drives like a road race bike . We never asked : Are these the points customers really need and are willing to spend lots of money – this was our biggest mistake – because the foldable bike market is a niche market and not too many people buy folding bikes . Most buy very cheap foldable bikes and are then unsatisfied about the quality ( bias ? ) . When you buy cheap – you buy expensive … At the moment we are in the stage of market entry and building some cooperations with the goal to enter the market . As a matter of fact we did not know the tool and had no chance to learn from the customers too much . This is a learning process and I am sure that some of the content in the course will help me to make better and more accurate decisions in the future . Before going life with a product I would gather as much information as possible from potential customers and make a deep market research . The decisions have to be made quick without losing too much money . When you start with an idea you are very enthusiastic and you are sure that it will work well – creating business plans with financial assumptions which will not be met - because you did not have enough information of potential customers and their real needs . This is the most important to gather as much information as possible and also adapt the ideas – also when showing business plans to investors to get money – they will make many questions ? Waseem Hamad , MBA We also should have asked what do we not know and how do we learn – what we need to know ? In the future I would aks many people what their real or biggest problems are and out of this information score the ideas and discuss with the team members also skeptic members . The 3 highest graded ideas I would show customers on the street and discuss again . Designing is a magic – many people think that design has not different meanings – and everybody has the power to design .