What will be your most promising growth opportunities? Form a small team, give them ninety days, and ask them to do the following:
Blitz the market. Conduct twenty to thirty in-depth interviews in or around the periphery of the market, including fringe users, futurists, and startup companies.
Analyze trends. Look at patent filings, venture capital investment, demographic shifts, and regulatory changes.
Align on goals and boundaries. Have senior leadership clarify what they will consider under the right conditions, and what they will not do under any circumstance.
Brainstorm. Your goal is to develop fifty or more opportunity areas.
Synthesize. Detail five to ten high-potential opportunity areas.
Now describe and analyze each shortlisted opportunity area using the following template.