Innovation and Insights

This episode is a conversation with Kuntal Joisher, the first vegan to summit Mount Everest. I’ve known Kuntal for many years – we went to the same college and later took different paths. Thanks to social media, I’ve been able to follow his work. Kuntal is a computer engineer turned mountaineer who’s accomplished four summits of 8000’ers and 20+ summits of 6000’er mountains. The most surprising pa...

In this episode we learn about tennis and how it inspires startups with Vaniya Dangwal. She picked up tennis when she was 12. Soon she made the Top 10 rankings of Indian junior tennis, turned pro and achieved a WTA ranking of 1031. She now helps startups in India reach the next level. More about her below. We spoke about her tennis story and how it inspires other work. Here are the broad things Va...

In this episode, we learn the power of micro habits from Amit Agarwal , the author of Small is Big . He discovered this principle during a painful experience in a meditation program. The discovery changed his life and he's on a mission to share it with the world. We can complete challenging exercises such as a marathon by focusing on one step at a time. I was more curious about learning appro...

I had an opportunity to interview Michael Haase, the CEO and founder of Plant Jammer. They have developed an innovative AI solution to reduce food wastage at home. 33% of food is being wasted every day. Of that, our homes contribute to approx half of that problem. One way of solving it is by emptying the fridge. I've tried this but genuinely do not know how to be creative about it. It's...

A good football team in NFL, the American Football League, is known for how well it executes the two-minute offense. When its back is against the wall facing a time constraint, it has to march the troops across the field and score points. The two-minute drill defines a team and usually its performance in the playoffs.  How does all this relate to innovations? Crunch time situations call for Mind-B...

Concussions are a very serious topic that affects both adults and children alike. As we expect, they occur during strong physical impacts including accidents or hard contact sports such as American football. However, they are prevalent in a larger variety of sports. In this episode, we talk to Dr Piya Sorcar, founder and CEO of CrashCourse and TeachAids. CrashCourse is a VR/HD video interactive cu...

An innovation exercise generally means an ultra-positive event. It's kind of like an all you can eat sugary, sweet experience. And as we all know, anything unbalanced is not stable. Today, I want to talk to you about criticism and the key role it plays in innovation. One common misconception is that innovation means only positive thoughts. Anything critical is perceived as unfavourable, somet...

In this episode, we talk about how you can capture attention of your customers of your consumers in the shortest amount of time. With the least budget. We analyze marketing at mega sporting events such as superbowl, and world cup finals for cricket and football. We draw examples from movie marketing. Finally, we derive the technique to increase your chances of gathering highest visibility for your...

Every sports team has at least one standout player. This person is someone that every team member looks up to. When the team is doing well, it's easy to attribute the success to this person. However, I'm sure you realize that the crew matters a whole lot more. Similarly, in innovation projects you need to blend the talents of the creative thinkers with the teams perspectives. We dig into...

In this episode we talk about the principle of surprise - If you want to target new customers, want to offer than new products and services you must introduce a principle of surprise. Just the introduction of something new will not make then customers for life. There is a small nuance which we have to take care of and you will be successful in the long run. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linked...

In this episode, we discuss what do we mean by systems thinking and systems planning. This is a concept that a lot of businesses can benefit from. When it comes to entrepreneurs of small and medium sizes, adopting systems thinking can dramatically change your operations. You will eliminate most of the inefficiencies and this will directly impact your ROI. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin...

 In this episode, we dig into how great companies are able to charge a premium that the customer is happy to pay. There's a very simple, clean, and straightforward process that they follow. We will discuss an amazing thing the blue bottle coffee company does. We also cover restaurants and car dealerships. The learnings will apply to other industries too.   Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.li...

There's something uncanny about great sports teams. They figure out a way to get things done. There's something different about how they conduct their business. It's like wins show up for them even when they are not playing "hard". That's where the non-sports folks can draw good examples from. In this episode, we talk about how we can work on innovation projects. We d...

In this episode, we will talk about journey mapping, and how you can use it to bring about interesting innovations. Whether you are making a product or services, mapping a customer's steps is one of the best ways to learn their journey. Learn what their pain points are, where you have opportunities for improvement, and what to solve. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Jo...

When it comes to prototyping, there is a common error all of us make. We spend a whole lot of time and energy and effort in the journey leading up to the prototype. We are so convinced in our process that we end up creating the best thing possible.  However, we have a huge blind spot - the user.  The after-effects of this blind spot are huge.  The user may not like what you've made. You might...

Welcome to innovation sports and life. This is your friend Hemang.  First off, an apology with all of you. I then share why I like this intersection of innovation and sports and why do I think it really applies to how we live our lives. You see, any time we are involved in intense physical activity. For example, running. I used to be a long distance runner. And now again getting back to it. And I&...

The customer discovery phase calls for a number of approaches to understand your customers. It is important for product developers to really understand what matters to their users. Survey forms are one of the frequently used tools to capture feedback. However, they must be used in a strategic manner because there are times when they may give incomplete or even misleading information. We dig into h...

Let's look at how you can navigate a situation when an innovation problem has you stuck for a long time. When should you persist and when is it ok to call it quits. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Join his FREE newsletter at https://www.innovationsportslife.com/

Let's take an example to understand the difference between true, meaningful innovations and jugaads or hacks. Both are important and there is a key differentiator between the two. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Join his FREE newsletter at https://www.innovationsportslife.com/

The best racquet sport players always prefer a certain spot. No matter what the opponent does, they try to reach their preferred location on the court. Once there, they dominate the game. Their process is very much applicable to our lives and especially in the field of product management. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Join his FREE newsletter at https://www.innovationspo...

Let's take a look at reality shows, the Got Talent shows and see what they teach us about scaling up. We also analyze the business of sending someone glitter. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Join his FREE newsletter at https://www.innovationsportslife.com/

Picking ice creams is a fun challenge. I had one and chose an interesting flavor for some guests visiting over. I wanted to share my experience of how a brand missed out on an essential element for ice creams. How it, sort of, screwed up the customer journey and hence, the customer experience. Let's learn from this and how we can ensure customers will keep coming back for our offering. Follow...

Ever seen amateurs play tennis? Observe their game closely once and you'll see clues of how you might be living your life. I am an amateur and there are some harsh observations. We all share certain behaviors and they reflect in our products. Amateurs can also teach us a few things too :) Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Join his FREE newsletter at https://www.innovati...

Small and Medium Enterprises can sometimes give up too easily on an innovation project. Test Cricket, the long format of the game, has certain elements that capture our life well. There are many instances where you have to persist to get the result you want. It's a game of patience and how we apply it to Innovation. Follow Hemang Shah at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemang Join his FREE newsle...

I love how the San Antonio Spurs play the game of basketball in a beautiful manner. Their brand is being unselfish. No matter which superstar they have on the roster, each one does the right thing. The way they play the game teaches us a lot to us too. We can implement some of these observations for all our projects. Especially for innovation projects, this approach can work wonders. Follow Hemang...