Ladies And Gentlemen, Here’s What True Innovation Looks Like.
Entrepreneurs sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that everything has been done before. In short: everything that is worth inventing has already been invented, and it isn’t possible to come up with a product that’s truly unique. So why even bother trying?
Well, that’s not quite true.
Here’s the thing: as time passes and society progresses, our needs evolve. For entrepreneurs, this fuels a demand for new and innovative products.
And on the supply side: as new technologies emerge, we have more resources available to engineer these new and innovative products. And we can do so at more cost-effective prices!
When you think about it this way, there’s really nothing stopping us. (Perhaps our imagination and problem-solving skills need to be honed, but that’s it!)
Need some inspiration? One of our favourite ways of getting our creative juices flowing is watching Shark Tank, a television series which shows aspiring entrepreneurs pitching to a panel of investors.
To get the ball rolling, we’ll highlight a few of the most innovative products we’ve ever seen on Shark Tank. First up: this device which keeps hair from clogging drains!
Drainwig first appeared on Shark Tank back in October 2017, and they immediately intrigued the sharks with their hair catcher for shower drains.
Now, there are plenty of other products that try to fix the problem of hair getting stuck in shower drains, but they don’t quite work. For example: you could buy a hair trap which goes on top of your drain… but you’ll still have to remove the hair from the hair trap, and that’s basically no different from cleaning out your drain.
Drainwig, on the other hand, allows you to clean your drain without ever coming into contact with the clogged up hair. Pretty amazing, huh? We won’t get into the technicalities, but the company walked away with $300,000 (in exchange for 15% equity!) from Kevin O’Leary.
Next, we have the Prontobev 30 second wine chiller. (That’s not a typo. This thing actually chills your wine – and other beverages – in 30 seconds flat!)
The usefulness of this product is pretty obvious. Maybe you have friends coming over, and you forgot to put your bottle of wine in your fridge. You could just add ice to the wine, but that will dilute it, and you don’t really want to serve your friends watered-down wine. Luckily, there’s Prontobev to the rescue!
Similar to Drainwig, this product also amassed a great deal of interest from the Sharks. They eventually secured $100,000 in exchange for 25% of equity from Mark Cuban.
Last but not least, check out this Brightwheel classroom management app.
This app is pretty genius, and it’s a godsend to both parents and teachers. First, parents get a “real-time feed” of their child’s day; this allows them to monitor their child remotely, and have peace of mind that their child is doing just fine.
For teachers and schools, the app can be used to keep track of attendance, communicate with parents, monitor student performance and achievements, send notices and paperless invoices, and even collect payments. Gone are the days of teachers painstakingly typing in their observations on each student into a single Excel file!
After pitching to the sharks, the company managed to secure a joint offer from Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca. The two sharks pumped in a total of $600,000 in exchange for 6.68% equity, which they split equally.
(Psst: here at RICE, we’ve helped one of our clients develop an app similar to Brightwheel. Check it out here!)
At the end of the day, the first step in building a successful business in understanding your customer’s needs and pain points. Once you do that, start thinking about how you can innovate to serve their needs!
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