Why, What, Where and How of Innovation?

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The brain works just like a computer, so, let’s program it.


Innovation, the most commonly used noun around us. The word is so very powerful that all of us wish to use it in our daily lives, in our resume’s and most importantly, when we talk. But what actually is innovation? Why is this noun so powerful and can change lives, how do we become innovators?


There are quite a lot of books, articles, write-ups, videos and many more just on this topic. Most of these touch on the aspects of why innovation is important to organisations, but here, I would like to touch upon the very same thing for us, individuals.

The Why?

Why should we innovate ourselves? Just as organisations create innovation process to increase their value every day, we as individuals should also think outside the box from time to time to enhance our value to the family, organisation and society we live in. The moment you stop creating value, there is nothing much left for you to do.


The What?

According to science, we use 100% of our brain. However, thoughts and ideas which emerge depend on how sharp your brain is. For instance, say you never ever played basketball in your life. One day, you suddenly started playing a tournament. What would be the outcome? Other players are using techniques and methods to beat you to the game. And they will. Why? Because, they have been training their mind and body to the game. They know all the technical details of the game which will help them to visualise more permutations and combinations to scoring than you.

In the similar way, if you continuously think and exercise your brain, you will be able to bring out the best in you.

The Where?

The big question, where does innovation happen? Is it in the mind or brain?

Innovation happens in our mind supported by the activities of the brain.

Let me back this up. Mind is mental aspect and the brain is physical. When a thought arises in mind, depending on the status of the brain, the reaction comes. If the brain is active, producing normal amounts of serotonin, thoughts are backed up with meaningful thought process. But if one is not producing enough serotonin, the same thought might not yield the same result.


The How?

To learn something new, one must pay attention to two things – The Principles and Methods.
Principals are the foundation stones. Principals are nothing other than the domain knowledge. Understand the domain, to better strengthen the idea which can create a higher probable solution / innovation.
Methods are which in which you depict the solutions.

Sounds simple, but it’s a lot more effort than one can see.

Thoughts?

Why I am open to Work in 2021?

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Once you are an Entrepreneur, you are an Entrepreneur. You really wish not to go back to work for any reason what-so-ever. However, being an Entrepreneur opens you a whole new world of challenges. How much ever you plan, what ever you plan, you will come to terms with the uncertainty and this keeps knocking everyday in your journey.


Over the last 18 months, the idea of HAPLO was to narrow the gap between technology and Real Estate. We build the platform and in these unprecedented times our deal closure times have increased 3-fold.

We are a bootstrapped startup and we wish to remain this way (apart from being open to angel funds) until we establish our name in the market.
Being bootstrapped, we have been cash crunched and we have looked at various options to keep things going.

I am a strong espouse of theThirdOption.

Option 1 – Give up.

Option 2 – Generate revenue and keep going.

theThirdOption – Work to generate income and focus on the sales.

Being an entrepreneur is getting creative. Personally, I have made a choice to get creative and start looking at options where I can work and continue on building our product.

I personally and strongly believe in HAPLO. It will change the way technology penetrates into Real Estate.

However, at this point of time, since we do not want to close or borrow, I am choosing to work part-time/consulting to keep myself and HAPLO afloat.

I talk more about this in my latest Podcast – Entrepreneurship in 2021

What are your thoughts on my perspective?

HOPE

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Since March, life has changed for the complete world and I am no exception to this. As an entrepreneur, it has been a humbling experience to live without much progress in what I do and convincing potential clients to adapt our technology has become even more tougher. Each day, I start with a HOPE that today things are going to change, but the day ends with disappointment and depression.

I however believe that if we stay resilient and keep focusing on the goal, things are definitely going to come your way over a period of time. How to stay resilient?

Resilience is not a quality which will come in a day, it has to be practiced. This is an attribute which comes over a period of time. People who changed the world have this quality and I tell myself that this is what is required to ensure success.

We have come of an age where we see sudden successes and ideas changing the world, but did those ideas get executed overnight? Of course not. Yes, one or two might have, but the main changes did not happen overnight. Internet has been in use since the 1950’s, but it took 40 years to become mainstream. Internet is something which changed the course of the world. Without internet we cannot image today.

SAP, when it came to India took 10 years to add 1000 clients, but the next 1000 came in the 11th Year.

Our idea to change the way properties are managed and technology intervention to enhance operations is a tough nut to crack, but I believe we can do it.

However, the only thing I have today is the HOPE that TODAY is the day that things are going to change.

The Third Option

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As individuals we always have 2 options in life- To do or Not to do. But have you any time considered the third options which exists?

For every situation in life, we predominantly look at the 2 options which are in front of us. Yes/No. But there are chances that 99% of the time, these two options don’t work and we need to work on a mix which we rarely see. This is called the “rare mirror view”.

Since the time I have started this entrepreneur journey, I personally went through this many a times. Especially, during the last few months, I am being in this situation almost each day. Should I give up, or push myself. Each day bring a new challenge. Many a days I feel like this is done and I cannot push another day. I will give up now. When I sit down to actually write the options down, the first 2 are always Yes/No. However, when I spend more time thinking about the problem, I get the third option and the next few days will be about pursuing the third option. This option will make you look at the situation In a different way.

After few days or so, again the same situation and the exercise repeats; but now you have 3 other options which did not exist on the day one.

What the Third Option does is basically it will help you see the situation differently. This threshold will look like it is ceasing to exist each time. For instance, over the last few months, I personally got 6 other options on how I can get things done when the first time I had only 2. This changes everything and this is how I started learning more.

Today, I have more options than I had on Day 1 and surprisingly this gives me more avenues to address the situation and, the Yes/No have become the last 2 options.

Essential guide to #Coworking #Automation

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Technology is an investment and not an accessory. 

Various aspects of business operations require different approaches for enhancing the output of the function. We use various software for areas which we are not specialised in. For instance, Financial software requires specialities which all of us do not understand. Sales and Marketing also have various tools to optimise your efforts. However, when it comes to automating the business model, we tend to take it for granted and assume we can get things done on our own. 


Investing in the right technology for managing your #Coworking and #SharedOffice space also requires specialised approach to getting the optimum output. 

Essential guide to #Coworking #AutomationHere are a few things which we feel are the right ingredients for #Coworking automation. 

Building Communities

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When ever I go for a sales pitch, I get this question – How can your platform help build our community?

 The 3 conferences I attended over the last one year, this was one of the most common question. There have been sessions and tracks on building communities and I tried to attend to understand the perspective. 

Technically, Culture is how people in a Community co-exist (live). So, when we build a community, we are directly building a Culture of the space. 
Let us bring this conversation to the context of workplace. Be it a factory, be it an office, Culture existed from the beginning of mankind. So, how is it different today in the context of a #Coworking or #SharedOffice space? 

After sitting through these conferences and talking to various people and my clients and potential clients, I am coming to understand that the aspect of Community in workspace relates to how people are bonded around. The common theme. 

In a factory, the community looks at working together to accomplish a task. Be it building an aircraft or an automobile or any other. Tasks are defined, SLA’s set and employees are trained to focus to ensure all tasks are complete end of the day meeting all the required metrics. Employees rejoice the success of their produce. 

Now, let us move this to an office. What I mean by office is collection of employees working on different parts of the workflow. Be it a Bank or a Technology firm or any other. Organisation sets the objective of the tasks and employees are meant to complete these tasks on time to accomplish the goal. 
In the context of #Coworking and #SharedOffice space, this becomes a little tricky. Why? Because it is not a factory or a traditional office. People from various organisations co-exist. 

How do we build a Community here? That’s the question. I have friends who are working on building their spaces with culture of their ideas. Few succeed and few fail and few are very clear of how they want their community to be. However, no one is able to crack the code for a framework to build communities. Hence turning to technology to build it for them, or help create one for them. 

How to build a Community?

Building a community is a human exercise. We spend time with people who care about and who are like minded, fun to be around with, who inspire us or whom we inspire. At times, even if we don’t like someone’s company, over a period of time, the relationship grows upon us. 

In the workplace, there are no set rules. A culture/community is already built by the time we get there and it takes a lot of work to change people around, alternatively in most times, we adapt to the new environment. If it really gets toxic we move out. 

In a #Coworking or #SharedOffice space setting, this gets even more complicated. Members curate the community mostly. I have seen spaces where the culture is already set and the leadership is very clear on how their space’s culture should be. They let their potential clients know about their culture and make them adapt to their way of seeing things. Alternatively, they just leave it to members to structure the community the way they want and if there is anything required to be done, the leadership steps in to curate the community. 

However, one thing is common, the culture of a #Coworking or #SharedOffice space is not deep rooted because everyone who shared the space and every company has their own was of seeing things and they would not liked to be forced upon. So, there is a very fine line of how culture is built.

How do we translate this to technology? 

For me, curating a community is like creating a product. It starts with a basic functioning design and over the period of time, it evolves into how the users like it. We can take a lot of examples, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Slack etc. and a lot more. In fact I keep seeing new products coming with different value prepositions. 

When Orkut came, everyone was excited to be connected in the virtual world, share pictures and what they have been upto. In no time, Facebook took over as the de facto space for connecting with people. 

After Facebook, came twitter and then came Instagram. Why? Couldn’t Facebook cater to all the needs of people. All the three are same, connecting people virtually to share a message, news, picture or video. But, still, all the three coexist today with differentiation. 

What is the difference between each one? Facebook became de facto for connecting with friends, sharing updates, pictures, videos etc. Twitter became de facto for sharing messages to an audience in a more simplistic manner. Instagram focused on pictures and now slowly towards videos and advertisements. 

Each of these platforms have their communities and build their culture and it is difficult to measure which is better. 

When we bring this conversation down to Coworking spaces, it becomes difficult for each space to create different cultures and communities, so, insteadspaces focus on building a culture which they wish to represent. Based on what the need is, you use the appropriate platform. 

Technology, can help create cultures by identifying interests and gathering members opinions and then structuring an ecosystem which caters to most of the members. 

When we bring this conversation down to Coworking spaces, it becomes difficult for each space to create different cultures and communities, so, instead of spaces focus on building a culture which they wish to represent. Based on what the need is, you use the appropriate platform. 
Technology can help create cultures by identifying interests and gathering members opinions and then structuring an ecosystem which caters to most of the members. 

A word of caution here, building a community takes a long time and as time progresses, it is also important for spaces to adapt to the changing needs. 

Did we crack the code? It is work-in-progress, but sure there are the building blocks. 

Automating Coworking

Automating #Coworking

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Any business, be it a cycle repair shop or a departmental store these days uses a technology device to provide consumer satisfaction and also put in order their business workflow. 

Recently, I have been to a cycle shop for a small job. After he finished, I realised I did not carry my wallet for some reason. I apologised to him and mentioned I would be back with the money. He smilingly asked me to do an online transfer. I had my phone and immediately transferred the paltry sum of Rs. 20 (~$0.15). The cycle shop owner is a one-man army and does all the work, but looking at automation for payments. Simple for him and easier on his clients. 

Now, let us move to #Coworking. The #Coworking business model has been evolving over the last few years and it will continue to evolve for the next few years, and then suddenly it will pivot to a different model altogether. 

What should be the solution?

Not complicated, but meaningful and value driven. 

There is one challenge, once you automate the workflow, tweaking the flows as business models change becomes the hardest task. 

How should we design it?

Keep in mind the user workflow. The user workflow remains the same anywhere in the world, however, how it is executed differs. 

Let me take an example – When you walk into a car showroom, the sales person approaching you and inquiring what you are looking for and then showing you the product they have and how it fits into what you are looking for, providing a test drive, explaining all the features and towards the end, offers they have and loan process if any. A simple user workflow for making a sale. 


Now, this is the same process for an entry-level car or a Rolls Royce or Lamborghini. What differs is the execution. 


An entry-level car buyer can be someone who is purchasing a car for the first time, but the Rolls Royce buyer is definitely not a first time car buyer. An entry-level car buyer can be a novice, but a Rolls Royce buyer definitely knows the configuration of the car already and he is coming for purchase. 
This is where the workflow changes. It might be the same sales software both showrooms use, but how they sell is different and there are definitely more KPI’s for Rolls Royce than an entry-level car showroom. 


This is one of the key pain points we wanted to address when we were conceptualising the idea for automating the #Coworking business model. 

Differentiator

In my humble opinion, the software might remain the same, but the options available for customising are tremendously high. 

What should new ideas think of?

There are no new problems to solve, all we are focusing on is the fine tuning of the solutions

When we are conceptualising new ideas, we need to understand the business model in detail. Work with existing business to understand how they do things. If possible even go to outside markets to understand how things are done there. With this understanding, identify the key aspects which your solution would address. I personally recommend to pick all common workflow’s and pick two or three next level workflows. 
We worked with spaces with 40 seats to thousands of seats. The workflows are same, but the pain points are different. 

Value

After you identify the problem you wish to solve, find the client’s value for using your solution. This value is highly recommended to be monitory value, else time value. Because these are the only two things which matter in the end.

 
The other important value can be helping the business owner get to the next level in their business, providing this option has a tremendous value too. 

Automating #Coworking space

There is no set rule to follow while automating your space, pick the technology which matches to your need and if you have not envisioned it yet, helps you envision your long term plan for building your business. 
Yes. I do agree that jazz and beautification is important, but what is more important is the functionality and measuring the time and money. If these two key ingredients are addressed, you could start with it. 


How we do it?

I will not be able to elaborate in detail in this post as to what the exact value we provide (but talk to us and we can show you), but one thing I can mention here is focus on the Experience. This is our Unique Value Preposition along with with many other’s.