Climate Fresk

Climate Puzzle Facilitator

Florian Hameister - The Innovation Process Guy

I help medium-sized manufacturing companies identify the best ideas, validate customer needs, and discover new market opportunities. Together, we minimize development risks and achieve sustainable success – efficiently and without detours.

How I can support you:
🎯 Find and validate the best ideas – structured and objective.
🎯 Understand what your customers truly need and develop compelling solutions.
🎯 Discover and prioritize new markets and applications for your technologies.
🎯 Design sustainable, circular products and business models.

What’s in it for you:
🎁 Clarity and focus in your product development.
🎁 Reduced risks in new projects.
🎁 Innovations that are both economically and environmentally successful.

Facilitator & Coach for Sustainable & Customer-Centered Product Development for Industrial Companies

Strategyzer

Strategyzer Innovation Coach

Circular Economy Nordhessen

With Circular Economy Nordhessen, we want to support companies with insights, learnings and exchange to shift to a more sustainable Business

 Co-Initiator

Where to Play

Market Opportunity Innovation Consultant

FORTH Innovation Institute

Innovation Facilitator

ONLINE INNOVATION

A practical “HOW-TO-INNOVATE-ONLINE“ book.

After describing ten common pitfalls, we share some great tools and techniques that work in practice. We discuss the “Achilles heel“ of innovating online and present you ten methodologies you can use for online innovation in a hands-on-way.
https://www.onlineinnovation.online/

Co-Author

Miro

Helping companies and teams to find the right product idea before wasting tons of money, time and effort in development.

Miro Expert

MURAL

- 🆁🅴🅼🅾🆃🅴 Innovation Workshop Consultant

The MURAL Consultant Network is a global community of leading independent consultants, agencies, and facilitators deeply committed to fostering creative innovation and work transformation. They are constantly working to bring Design Thinking practices to their clients and leverage MURAL🧡 as a visual workspace to enhance their creative collaboration and bridge the gap between in-person workshops and ongoing, remote collaboration in the cloud 🚀.

Part of the Consultant Network

FORTH Innovation Method

Together with Gijs van Wulfen, the founder of the methodology, I train participants in a 6-week learning journey the FORTH Method, and how to do the whole journey 100% 🅾🅽🅻🅸🅽🅴. Mastering the tools and the online facilitation.
Check the training here: https://forth-innovation.learnworlds.com

🅾🅽🅻🅸🅽🅴 FORTH Innovation Master Facilitator and Trainer 💻 🎯

In 2016, Design Thinking was already hip, too hip for me. What I missed with Design Thinking was the corporate perspective. I found this in FORTH.
FORTH is a structured 12-week innovation process that combines business thinking with design thinking. 
Here, the innovation assignment with clear success criteria and focus and the commitment and involvement of management are the factors that ensure that successful business cases are presented and go into implementation.

FORTH Innovation Facilitator 🎯

customercentric and sustainable products and business models, through facilitation and coaching

I empower medium-sized manufacturing companies to develop sustainable innovations faster and more efficiently.

With over 10 years of experience in product development and 8 years as an innovation consultant, I support innovation managers and R&D teams in medium-sized manufacturing companies to turn great ideas into market-ready products and business models. My focus is on identifying market opportunities, validating concepts, and minimizing development efforts – without wasting time or money.

How I can support you:
🎯 Find and validate the best ideas – structured and objective.
🎯 Understand what your customers truly need and develop compelling solutions.
🎯 Discover and prioritize new markets and applications for your technologies.
🎯 Design sustainable, circular products and business models.

Why work with me:
✅ 10+ years of experience in product development in medium-sized companies.
✅ Practical, customer-centered approaches you can apply immediately.
✅ Proven workshops and sprints that sustainably strengthen your team.
✅ Engineering and business background: I bridge the gap between technology and business.

What drives me:
I believe that successful innovations come from well-structured processes, true customer orientation, and sustainable business models. My goal is to help you and your team develop products that are not only economically successful but also make the world a better place.

Let’s talk! Message me here on LinkedIn or schedule a video call with me. I look forward to driving innovation with you.

Florian Hameister

Risk aversion is often the biggest killer of innovative ideas.
It’s driven by uncertainty:

➪ How will this impact our organization?
➪ What does it mean for my position and influence?
➪ Can we make it profitable?
➪ Will customers actually buy it?
➪ Are we even capable of building it?

When idea concepts lack clear evidence, decision-makers are more likely to say no—especially if doing nothing feels like the safer option.

🚀 How can you reduce the risk of rejection?

💎 Make clear how the idea supports organizational goals and outcomes.
💎 Show how it helps decision-makers in their jobs to be done.
💎 Make uncertainty visible instead of hiding it.
💎 Outline the next steps to reduce risk—what do you need (time, money, effort)?

What would you add to this list?

_ _ _

👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💪 I help innovation teams tackle the challenges of early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 I believe in #CustomerCentricity and #CircularEconomy as drivers for innovation.

✨ If you liked this post:
💾 Save it for later or share it with someone who might find it useful.
🔔 Hit the follow button for insights on how to reduce risks in product development.
📬 Let’s connect – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

With proven formats and focused facilitation, I help midsize manufacturing companies develop customer-centric and sustainable products and business models—pragmatically, efficiently, and with minimal risk.

No alternative text description for this image

Spent half a day at the IMPACT FESTIVAL – and it was absolutely worth it.

I met some amazing people in real life:
 👉 Patrick from circularity.fm – locking forward to our chat
 👉 Julia, a fellow facilitator for Climate Fresk Deutschland.  
 👉 A reunion with Mathias and Jan from the re:connect - Inkubator für regeneratives Wirtschaften, plus their colleague Anna, who I’ve “known” for years through LinkedIn and endless online meetings – but met in person for the first time.

I spent more time traveling than actually being at the festival — definitely not the most sustainable choice 🙃 — but still 100% worth it.

Real conversations.
Shared laughs.
New sparks for collaboration.
And a lot of positive, constructive energy.

Exactly what we need.
(Instead of the destructive “piggy” or “Stadtbild” comments … you know the type.)

_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about hashtag
#CustomerCentricity & hashtag
#CircularEconomy as drivers for hashtag
#Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

WHEN REALITY DOESN’T MATCH YOUR EXPECTATIONS…

Chuck Norris walks into a cage with a tiger.

He bends down to pet it when suddenly—
Grrrrrrr… 😬

The trainer immediately says, “Get up very slowly and back up.”

So, the tiger gets up very slowly and backs away. 🐅😂

Expectations vs. Reality?
A classic assumption gone wrong.

In innovation, unaware assumptions can be just as dangerous as stepping into a cage with a tiger when you are not Chuck Norris.

📌 We all make assumptions—without realizing it.

📌 We think we know how customers behave, what they want, or how they make decisions.

📌 But when we don’t challenge those assumptions, we build products, strategies, and business models that simply don’t work.

The first step I recommend is to reflect on what you think you know and mark assumptions as assumptions.


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

🖼️ Video: All rights and credits belong to the respective owner(s).

WHY CUSTOMERS SWITCH – THE 4 FORCES OF PROGRESS

Customers don’t just “decide” to buy.
They are pulled and pushed by hidden forces.

Jobs to Be Done practitioners like Bob Moesta describe it with the 4 Forces of Progress:

	➪ Push of the current situation: frustration with today’s solution.

	➪ Pull of the new idea: attraction of what’s possible.

	➪ Anxiety of the new: fear of risks, costs, or complexity.

	➪ Habit of the present: comfort of doing nothing.

Switching happens only when push + pull outweigh anxiety + habit.

Clayton Christensen emphasized the same truth in Competing Against Luck: without understanding causality, innovation is just guesswork.

Lesson: If you want adoption, stop asking “Do you like it?”. Start mapping the forces that drive or block change.

👉 Which force is holding your customers back the most today – anxiety or habit?


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

ENGINEERS: FEASIBILITY IS NOT ESSENTIAL FOR BUSINESS CASES.

Stop wasting time on it.


Feasibility is always a top priority in engineering-driven organizations.

Teams spend weeks or even months trying to answer:
“YES, WE CAN.”

But feasibility is rarely the most significant risk for new products.

The real threat? Missing product-market fit.

So before you invest weeks in another feasibility study, do these two things instead:

1️⃣ Get a Probability of Feasibility
 •	Take a fixed time frame (a few hours) and define the key assumptions that need to be true for the idea to work.
 •	Estimate probabilities for each assumption with expert input.
 •	Determine an overall probability of feasibility—don’t forget time to market, which has a huge impact on feasibility.
 •	Then, put feasibility aside. I know it feels weird not to have a “YES, WE CAN” answer.

2️⃣ Focus on Product-Market Fit
Go back to the opportunity you want to solve.

If it’s a problem, check if it’s well-defined (Who has the problem, what is it? When, where does it occur? Why is it critical to solve?)
How much evidence do you have that this is a real pain point?

If the opportunity is based on customer needs, try to understand their jobs, pains, gains, and constraints. How much evidence do you have for your assumptions?

Does your solution truly solve the problem? Use the Value Proposition Canvas to check.	How much evidence do you have that customers actually believe your solution works?

Find out if there’s a market—and don’t just rely on market potential analysis. Get customers to commit to your product idea (pre-orders, letters of intent, development agreements, etc.).

Define a probability of market success based on evidence. No data yet? Start with 10% success probability and improve from there.

TL;DR
 •	Get a probability for feasibility—not a definite answer.
 •	Focus on problem-solution fit, then the product-market fit.
 •	Separate what you assume from what you know.

What would you add?


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

“DAD, I WANT A CAT!”

Who else has been there? 😂

Kids come up with brilliant ideas without fully understanding what they mean.
Like getting a cat… or a dog… or something even wilder.

Ideas are exciting and spontaneous, but their impact and consequences are often far from reality.

Sounds familiar? It should—because the same thing happens in business.

💡 A great idea doesn’t mean a great outcome.
💡 Our assumptions about ideas rarely match reality.
💡 That’s why testing ideas before building them is crucial.

Because sometimes, what seems like a perfect idea turns into unexpected chaos. 🐈🏡😂 and it leaves a deep hole where you buried much money, time, and effort.



_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

🖼️ Video: All rights and credits belong to the respective owner(s).

DATA TELLS YOU WHAT – BUT NEVER WHY

Companies today collect more customer data than ever.
Clicks, demographics, NPS, feature usage – all neatly stored in dashboards.

But here’s the problem:
Data only tells you what happened.
It never tells you why it happened.

Clayton Christensen called this the trap of correlation.
Just because two things appear connected doesn’t mean one caused the other.
Example: Ice cream sales and forest fires both rise in summer. Correlation? Yes. Causation? None.

The same mistake happens in innovation. Teams see patterns in customer data and assume they’ve found insight. But without causality, you can’t predict behavior.

Lesson: Progress doesn’t live in data points. It lives in the stories behind decisions. That’s why Jobs to Be Done interviews focus on the causal chain: the struggles, triggers, and trade-offs that lead to a choice.

👉 How does your team make sure you uncover why customers buy?


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

🖼️ Picture: All rights and credits belong to the respective owner(s).

INNOVATION IS NOT ABOUT PRODUCTS – IT’S ABOUT PROGRESS

Clayton Christensen told the story of milkshakes.
A fast-food chain wanted to sell more. They tried to optimize flavors, add ingredients, run promotions. Nothing worked.

Then they asked a better question:
“What job do customers hire a milkshake for?”

The insight:
In the morning, commuters bought milkshakes because they were easy to drink in the car, lasted long, and kept them full until lunch.
At night, parents bought milkshakes as a small treat for their kids.

Two completely different jobs.
Same product.

The company stopped optimizing the milkshake itself. Instead, they designed experiences around the situations – faster service for commuters, smaller cups for kids. Sales went up.

Lesson: Customers don’t buy products. They hire them to make progress in a specific situation. If you don’t know the job, you’re innovating blind.

👉 What job do your customers really “hire” your product for?


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

NOBODY IS SHORT ON IDEAS.

The real problem?

Figuring out which ones are actually worth developing.

Not having the budget to build them all? That’s a good thing.
Because let’s be honest—most ideas are crap anyway.

The challenge is spotting the high-potential ones before they eat up time, money, and resources.

Business cases should help with this.
But too often, they’re just sales brochures—filled with unproven assumptions rather than an actual certainty status.

What if you could turn dreamy business cases into a probability of success—so you can make the right decisions before committing to development?


_ _ _


👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

IN INNOVATION, IT'S RARELY ABOUT having complex frameworks, endless brainstorming sessions, or rigid approval processes that make the biggest difference.

It's usually just removing unnecessary steps, cutting long approval loops, and getting honest customer feedback faster.

If your idea needs 80 slides to sell, it's not ready; test it with real customers instead.

_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

90% of new products fail.
Yet, most development processes are still set up to waste money, time, and resources.

Why?

Because they’re built backwards—focused on execution before real validation.

📌 Here are the root causes of failed product efforts—straight from Marty Cagan’s INSPIRED.

I get it. Changing an entire system is tough.
But if you want to reduce risk without slowing down, here are two practical ways:

1️⃣ When your product pipeline clears up

- Run a fully immersive innovation journey with a team of 7-10 people.
- In just 15 days of effort, you get customer-tested, innovation-ready business cases.
- I highly recommend the FORTH Innovation Method for this.


2️⃣ Before investing heavily in your next business case

- Do a Business Case Reality Check first.
- Get real certainty about its probability of success before wasting time and money.


_ _ _


👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

TOP 10 root causes for failed product efforts

SOMETIMES, WE HEAR WORDS… BUT MISS THE MEANING.

Ever asked a simple question and got an answer that made you question reality? 🤔😂

Understanding others’ perspectives isn’t always easy—product development is no exception.

Use heterogeneous teams in the innovation phase. Different demographics and work backgrounds form a group that will create a lot of different viewpoints, share insights, generate massive learning for everyone, and lead to fewer blind spots.

Because innovation isn’t just about ideas—it’s about understanding perspectives.


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

🖼️ Video: All rights and credits belong to the respective owner(s).

STOP SELLING PRODUCTS – START HELPING CUSTOMERS MAKE PROGRESS

Most companies obsess over their products.
They refine features, polish specs, optimize performance.

But customers don’t wake up thinking: “I want a new product.”
They wake up with a struggle.

“I need to get to work faster.”

“I want my child to eat healthier.”

“I must reduce downtime in production.”

Products are only means to an end. The real driver is progress – the improvement people want in a specific situation.

Christensen called this the essence of Jobs to Be Done: people hire products to make progress. If the product helps, it gets re-hired. If not, it gets fired.

Lesson: Innovation isn’t about building more things. It’s about uncovering the struggles customers face and designing solutions that move them forward.

👉 What progress are your customers really trying to make?


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

EVERYONE THINKS THEY NEED the latest tools, the best frameworks, or a perfectly structured roadmap to speed up product development.

What they really need is to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks, test ideas early, and enable faster decision-making.

Most companies struggle because their approval chains and rigid processes slow them down. Too many decision-makers, too many sign-offs—by the time a product is ready, the market has moved on.

If your innovation process is buried under layers of approvals, you're not streamlining development—you're suffocating it.

HOW TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS FAST

Old Way
➪ Stick to a rigid product roadmap
➪ Invest heavily before testing assumptions
➪ Launch and hope for adoption
➪ Fix mistakes after development

New Way
➪ Adapt the roadmap based on real customer insights
➪ Test risky assumptions before committing resources
➪ Validate demand before building.
➪ Prevent costly mistakes instead of fixing them later

Validating early leads to faster success than rushing development,

If you want to speed up development, start by slowing down and validating before investing.

👉 What’s one thing your team does to prevent wasted development time? Let me know in the comments.

_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

THE CHOSEN ONE!


Most of you will smile at this video.

But the innovators among you—who have been there—might feel something else entirely… 😅


Alexander Osterwalder once said:
“You can’t pick the winners without investing in the losers.”

Yet, too often, companies move forward with the ONE idea.


Instead, try this approach:

💎 Define objective selection criteria—desired outcomes, restrictions, and an Innovation North Star to guide you.

💎 Involve a cross-functional team—different perspectives lead to better, more diverse ideas.

💎 Use a multistep selection process—start with many ideas and narrow them down in steps, making them more tangible at each stage.

💎 Move from Thoughtland to reality—separate facts from assumptions before committing.

💎 Prioritize & validate assumptions—be aware of biases when interpreting results.

💎 Test until confidence is high—remember, what people say vs. what they actually do are two different things.

💎 Pivot or kill your darlings if they fail validation.

💎💎 Bonus tip for the advanced:
Want to save even more time and effort?
Do a customer deep dive with Jobs-to-Be-Done interviews.

With expert help, you can uncover what truly drives customer decisions—in under four weeks with limited effort on your side.

Have a relaxing weekend


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

🖼️ Video: All rights and credits belong to the respective owner(s).

MOST COMPANIES FAIL TO INNOVATE EFFICIENTLY because they rely on guesswork instead of structure. 

You can’t speed up time to market success without evaluating whether this is the right idea.

If someone is telling you that skipping validation and jumping straight into development will get you faster to market success, you're the fool.

Innovation efficiency requires transparent focus, understanding, selection, and validation processes before development. So please approach it with that mindset.

👉 How do you ensure your innovation process stays structured and effective? Let me know in the comments.

_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

YOUR IDEA IS CRAP VS. YOUR IDEA IS AWESOME.

it depends on...

The framing

The process of selecting the best ideas is hugely underestimated.

Everyone talks about idea generation, but an idea isn’t fantastic or useless—until it’s framed correctly.

For me, two things matter most:
📌 Framing the challenge
📌 A structured selection process

And no, framing doesn’t mean dumping ideas into an Excel file with 20 generic criteria—that just kills motivation and wastes potential.

1️⃣ Framing: Setting the Right Context
An idea is only as good as the challenge it addresses. Before evaluating ideas, define:
✅ What business outcome needs to be supported?
✅ What does success look like for decision-makers?
✅ What customer opportunities need to be solved?

👉 These should be your selection criteria—for this specific challenge.


2️⃣ The Selection Process: Iterative, Not Instant
It’s impossible to rate an idea properly at first glance—most are just a few words in the beginning.

That’s why selection should be a multi-step process, refining ideas as you go:

🔹 Step 1 – Gut feeling: Everyone picks their top 3 ideas based on the selection criteria.
🔹 Step 2 – Clarify & refine: Align on the idea level and get a shared understanding—most ideas are either too vague or too detailed at first.
🔹 Step 3 – Idea concept: Link the idea to an existing customer opportunity.
🔹 Step 4 – Customer testing: Validate assumptions with real customers.
🔹 Step 5 – Business case: If the idea passes all stages, build a real case with all relevant info for decision-makers.

By framing ideas properly and selecting them step by step, you avoid wasting time on weak ideas—and ensure the best ones get the chance they deserve.

How does your team evaluate new ideas? Gut feeling or structured process? 👇

_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

🖼️ Picture: All rights and credits belong to the respective owner(s).

How most successful product are created:

- focus on business outcome
- total commitment on customers needs
- multistep selection process with clear and simple criteria
- involvement of sponsors and make it their idea
- continuous validating of assumptions 


Why most products fail:

- ideas are made on what is believed customers need
- opinion-based decision making
- focusing on building the product right, not on finding the right product. 
- involving the customers the first time when the product is finished


_ _ _



👋 Hi, I’m Florian!
💡 I help innovation teams reduce risks in early-stage product development and turn chaos into clarity.
🌍 Passionate about #CustomerCentricity & #CircularEconomy as drivers for #Innovation.

📌 Want frameworks & tools to make better product decisions?
🗂 Get free access to my Library for Innovation & Circular Economy – full of templates, guides & checklists.
🔗 Find it in my Featured Section.
📬 Let’s connect! I’d love to hear your take.

Dr. Huseyin Guler

Kastamonu Entegre

Global R&D and Innovation Director

The key tasks of the newly created department were to use innovation as a strategic lever to transform a traditional business into a high performing organization, to drive engagements with external stakeholders including public sector based on strategic agenda of the company and to provide high-level qualified input to senior management on medium to long-term opportunities
•	Acted as an influential leader contributing to future of the company, initiated the idea of development a technology roadmap & led all level preparatory work. Manages an exponentially growing CAPEX & OPEX budget with 29 head quants and continuously networks with internal & external partners to bring the technology roadmap to life. 
•	Created a positive environment & empowered key people, trendsetter customers, strategic suppliers, top universities and EU & TUBITAK funds for differentiated innovations. As key milestones, the company established an R&D Center at Technopark Istanbul, and a concrete innovation portfolio was formed. 5 distinctive new products came to the launch stage and two new innovative products started to be exported. 
•	Introduced corporate programs such as Idea Platform, Corporate Acceleration & Incubation Programs, and Innovation School that triggered the flow of information, networking and visibility of talents within the company. Kastamonu Entegre's innovation approach turned into an exemplary model and received 5 awards in 2 years including TIM (2 Inovalig awards in 2 years among more than 1200 firms), TÜSİAD, PERYÖN & Sustainability Academy
•	As a trusted advisor, executed proactive and data-driven works with the public authorities where it was ensured that possible bureaucratic practices that could complicate exportation were not implemented. Also, another study resulted with the legislative arrangement removing barriers which may create shortage in sourcing of raw materials

Business Planning and Innovation Director

As a function directly reporting to CEO, main objectives of this role were to continuously analyze global competitors & trends in the sector, to conduct preliminary research for new initiatives and to search & bring value-adding new business models & practices
•	Competently delivered support to CEO including monitoring local & global legislative and policy-based developments and played integral role as business controller to identify & attract rising potentials and took proactive measures for imperfections observed
•	Ensured a strong link between the company vision and the need for innovation in line with a comprehensive analysis on developments in the related sectors, global trends, consultations with senior executives & wide array of functional groups across the organization & key stakeholders
•	Coordinated the feasibility studies and managed the relations with the Italian authorities during the launch phase of the Italian investment of the company

Strategy and Business Development Director

Özyeğin Üniversitesi

Faculty Lecturer

United Nations

Member of Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-Based Industries

TÜBİTAK

Executive Committee Member, Entrepreneurship Support Group

Türkiye Teknoloji Geliştirme Vakfı - TTGV

Climate Tech Ambassador

Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Biggest local Chamber in Turkey with 30.000+ members, 110 staff, $ 15 million budget and over $ 100 million assets
Head-hunted to this function with an objective to drive medium to long-term opportunities for the local industry, to advance public-private partnerships and to develop projects with government to push local ecosystem to more value-added side 
•	Restored visibility & effectiveness of the chamber through quadrupling engagements with government, members & partners, achieving 50% increase in revenues in one year, getting approval for establishing 3 thematic centers with $ 32 million government funding 
•	Skillfully orchestrated 20+ high-level meetings with related Ministers & senior government officials and presented 20+ position papers including establishment of new generation organized industrial zone which later announced as one of the mega-projects of the government
•	Acted as the voice of the chamber and successfully represented members’ interests at Ministry of Economy about not being adversely affected by the new tariffs on special fibers

Secretary General

TUBITAK

TUBITAK is the main governmental R&D policy making and funding body in Turkey with $ 1 billion yearly budget
Initially appointed as Head of Unit, then strategically promoted to the leading policy role within the organization with an objective to adopt EU best practices, advance policy formulation practices with key stakeholders and establish new innovation enhancing mechanisms 
•	Coordinated the preparation of policy proposals for 10 meetings of Supreme Council of Science and Technology. In this process, collaborated with government institutions, regulatory bodies, universities and industry associations and prepared policy recommendations that turned into legislation in areas such as e-government, techno-entrepreneurship, energy, health, gifted individuals and R&D funds 
•	Partnered with key institutions and leaders in the government to verbalize strategic policy options for enhanced use of ICT in education; conducted feasibility studies for FATIH Project which was a large-scale ICT project led by Ministry of Transportation & Ministry of Education covering all students and schools in Turkey 
•	Built a network of companies, academics and leading agencies in a partnership with Ministry of Health which turned to a primary strategic initiative in medical biotechnology including a concrete technology roadmap, launch of the first Medical Biotechnology Research Program in Turkey and definition of health as priority research area for Turkey
•	Collaborated intensively with key public institutions and formed a platform to define Entrepreneurial and Innovative University Index which became a best practice at OECD level
•	In collaboration with Ministry of Development developed a framework for the performance assessment of public funded R&D centers; later this study became a binding legislation and has been published in the Official Gazette

Director of Technology & Innovation Policy

Initially acted as Deputy National Coordinator then in 2006 appointed by the top management as National Coordinator with a mission to create mechanisms, partnership structures and marketing tools to maximize EU funds allocated to Turkish organizations
•	Acted as a member of Turkish delegation during the screening process of Science & Research legislations between Turkey and EU 
•	Developed and executed innovative programs on Turkish R&D potential, set milestones and measures to involve more Turkish firms in EU programs; also organized first ever Turkish R&D Day at European Parliament in Brussels to maximize highest impact 
•	Formed a collaborative community of potential Turkish ICT partners through training programs, sharing best practices, informative events, initiating matchmaking actions for Turkish ICT firms with their counterparts in Belgium, Germany, France and Ireland
•	Established links and actions to enable reverse brain drain from US (focus group meetings at Silicon Valley and US Universities including Harvard, Stanford, Drexel, Berkeley and Yale) 
•	Utilized the formation of R&D Working Group under YOIKK and strengthened partnerships with TOBB, TUSIAD, TIM and YASED

National Coordinator for EU Technology Funds

TOFAS

Contributed in the development of TOFAS international business for the Middle East Market and supported the growth of local business through refurbishment of commercial products through product adaptability and enhancement

Product Development Specialist

Turkcell

Developed marketing activities & campaigns for customer retention in the defined customer segments

Marketing Specialist

TÜBİTAK TÜSSİDE

Conducted research on global management standards in health care sector

Researcher

Dr. Hüseyin Güler is an innovation leader with over 25 years of experience in sectors like telecommunications, automotive, public service, and wood-based panels. He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering, an MBA, and a PhD in innovation networks. His career includes key roles at TURKCELL, TOFAŞ, and TÜBİTAK, where he led major innovation focused transformations. As Global R&D and Innovation Director at Kastamonu Entegre since 2015, he spearheaded the company’s innovation transformation, resulting in new business models and new products with exponential growth. He is also acted as Climate Technologies Ambassador, advocating for sustainable innovation.

Member, Entrepreneurship Support Group Executive Board

Gerçek yenilik, mevcut olanı yeniden yorumlamaktan doğar.

Tamamen köksüz bir yenilik neredeyse imkansız...İster bilimsel, ister zihinsel, ister ekonomik düzeyde olsun, inovasyon geçmişin yapıtaşlarını yeni bağlamlarda birleştirir.

Bu nedenle inovasyon için gereken şey çoğu zaman “hiç duyulmamış fikirler” değil...eski ve yeni unsurları farklı bir bağlamda yeniden yorumlama becerisidir.

Disiplinler arası kesişimlerde ortaya çıkan çapraz polenleşme, eski bir kavramın yeni bir probleme uygulanması veya bir alandaki yaklaşımın başka bir alana taşınması, çoğu zaman güçlü yeniliklerin kapısını aralar.

Hume’dan Einstein’a ve Schumpeter’e uzanan bu düşünsel çizgi, inovasyonun özünde yaratıcı bir yeniden birleştirme olduğunu açıkça gösteriyor.

Eski ile yeni arasındaki ilişkiyi anlamak, çoğu zaman yeniliğin asıl kaynağıdır.

Bu bağlamda şu sonucu çıkarabiliriz:

▪️Zihin yaratıcıdır ama keyfî değildir;
yenilik yapar ama köksüz değildir;
geleceği kurar ama geçmişin yapıtaşlarıyla.

Bu yüzden inovasyon sadece bilgiyi çoğaltmak değil, bilgiyi yeniden düzenleyerek dünyayı farklı açılardan görme cesaretidir. Tabi ki buradaki ana  gaye, dünyayı daha iyi hale getirme çabasıdır.

Kant’ın çağrısı bu noktada yeniden anlam kazanıyor:

▪️Sapere Aude — Bilmeye cüret et.

Kant’ın amacı, bireyin kendi aklını 
kullanabilmesiydi. Ancak bugünün perspektifinden optimizasyon odaklı dünyanın kısıtlarını yaşıyoruz.

Bugünün dünyasında mesele çoğu zaman bilgiye erişim değil, 
bilginin bizi sınırlayan otomatik kalıplarını fark edebilmek. Bu otomatik kalıplar bizi iyileştirmelere ve optimizasyonlara sınırlı bırakıyor.

Bu nedenle Kant’ın çağrısını şöyle tamamlayabiliriz:

▪️Uyumsuzlanmaya cüret et.

Buradaki “uyumsuzluk”, sosyal ya da siyasal bir duruşu değil...bireysel  ve kurumsal alışkanlıkların, teknik rutinlerin ve zihinsel kalıpların dışına çıkma iradesini anlatıyor. Benim gözümde bize öğretilen rutinlerden ve kalıplardan sıyrılma, kendi özümüzü keşfetme cesaretidir.

Böyle bakınca inovasyon, yalnızca aklın özgürlüğü değil...alışkanlıkların ve zihinsel konfor alanlarının ötesine adım atabilme cesaretidir.

Son soruyu bu nedenle sormak kaçınılmaz görünüyor:

Bilmek kadar, bildiklerimizi dönüştürmeye de cesaret ettiğimizde inovasyon daha mümkün hale gelmez mi?

Peki buna engelimiz ne?

Ne dersiniz?

#değişim #yenilik #inovasyon #teknoloji #eğitim

Yeni Rota

Üniversite yıllarımdan itibaren uyum skorlarım hep ortalamanın çok üzerine seyretti. 

Özetle, uyumlu bir insanım.

Ama şimdi, 25 yıldır iş dünyasının içinde olan birisi olarak şunu soruyorum:

▪️ Acaba en doğrusu bu mu😍

Gelin buna bir açılım yapalım.

Her inovasyon aslında bir değişim iddiasıdır ve bu değişim iddiası eninde sonunda “konvansiyonel düşünceye, her gün yürüdüğümüz yola, her gün yaptığımız pratiklere ters düşüyor”. İşte bu noktada uyumsuzluk cesareti devreye giriyor.

Her inovasyon “belli rutinleri bozma iddiası” taşıdığı için bir korku yaratıyor.

Ama öyle bir eşik noktası var ki, bu eşik aşıldığında uyum sağlamayı seçiyoruz”. İnovasyon sürecinde başarılı olanlar, geçmiş bildiklerinin çoğunu yıkma cesaretini gösterebilen kişilerdir.

Yine de uyumsuzlukta “denge” kavramını özellikle vurgulamak gerekiyor. Buna "dengeli uyumsuzluk" diyorum çünkü bağlamı da anlayabilmemiz, ritmi de ayarlayabilmemiz gerekiyor.

Aksi Don Kişotçuluk bana göre. Çünkü varsayımsal Yel Değirmenleri bizi boğuyor.

Özetle, dengeli uyumsuzluk cesaretini gösteren bireyler inovasyonları yapar ve hayatımızda büyük teknolojik dönüşümleri de başlatıyor. 

Herkes inovasyon yapabilir, ancak bu “dengeli uyumsuzluğu" gösterip hayallerini hayata geçirebilenler iz bırakıyor. 

Benden bu kadar...Şimdi söz sizde🥰🫶

Görüşlerinizi merak ediyorum.

Güzel bir cumartesi olsun🌱⛵️

#yenilik #değişim #inovasyon #teknoloji #arge #lider #startup

Uyumsuzlanma Cesareti

Ufkun ötesindeki sınırsız olasılıklar üzerine...

“Yolunda yürüyen bir yolcunun, yalnız ufku görmesi kâfi değildir. Muhakkak ufkun ötesini de görmesi ve bilmesi lazımdır.” 
#MustafaKemalAtatürk

"Yolda olmak" öylesine bir adım mı olmalı, yoksa bu daha büyük bir serüvenin cesur başlangıcı mı?

"Yolculuk" kelimesi son dönemlerde sıkça karşımıza çıkıyor. Ancak bu yolculukta sadece göz önündeki ufku mu görmeliyiz?


Ufkun ötesini görmek, bir adım ötesini düşünmek, vizyon sahibi olmak demek💹

Bu, hayatta sadece var olmanın ötesine geçmek, yanmak, yanmayı göze almak demek. Ama yanmak, öğrenmeyi de bilmek demek aynı zamanda🌱

Ufkun ötesine bakmak, sadece kendi geleceğimizi değil, etki gücümüzün olduğu alanlarda yönü değiştirebilecek güçlü fikirleri, iyi ve güzel olan için yenilikleri ve çözümleri aramak, disiplinle gayret etmek, engellere takılmamak suçu ve de sorumluluğu başkasına atmamak demek. Ama vazgeçmek, yok olmak, onca evrensel mirası bırakmak demek♻️💦

Ufkun ötesine bakmaya cesaret etmek, ihtiyaç duyduğumuz enerji ve tutkunun notalarını da gösterir bize! Orası net. Ama aklımızın estiği gibi risk alarak değil, bilgiyle ve erdemle adım atarak. Başkalarının aklıyla bütünleşerek🔥🚀🌌

Yol da bizim, yolculuk da❤️⛵️

Ufkun ötesi de...veri ile, öngörü ile, kolektif akılla...Birlikte🎶🧠

Parlayarak. Parlatarak..

#motivasyon 
#liderlik 
#yenilik
#inovasyon 
#teknoloji 
#eğitim 
#gelecek

Bu hafta bir kaç kişiden Trends & Friends buluşmalarına katılmalı mıyım sorusu aldım.

En son 18 yaşındaki oğlumdan da "Baba sizler neden İstanbul'daki en güzel konseri en güzel yerden izleyebilecek bir bedele bu buluşmalara gidiyorsunuz?" sorusu gelince bu yazıyı yazmam gerektiğini düşündüm.

Bir defa iki şeyi not olarak düşmemde fayda var. Bana soran hiç bir arkadaşıma net bir tavsiyede bulunmadım, çünkü bu herkesin kendi başına karar vermesi gereken bir konu. İkincisi, sevgili Dr. Sertaç Doğanay'ın başlattığı bu girişimle organik bir bağım yok. Ancak Sertaç çok sevdiğim bir dostum ve onun attığı bu adımın başarılı olmasını gönülden istiyorum. 

İlk üç buluşmada Fazıl Oral (f0), Akan Abdula, Sitare Baras gibi isimleri konuşmacı olarak gördükten sonra, bu seferki konuk Pelin Dilara COLAK olacak.

Bu introdan sonra şimdi oğlumun sorusuna yönelik düşüncelerime gelelim. Yazacaklarım biraz spekülatif olabilir. Ancak, buna hakkım olduğunu düşünüyorum çünkü:

1) Doktora tezime karar verirken çokça ağlar/network'ler üzerine okumalar yaptım.

2) Ben de ekteki içerikte referans aldığım yaş grubunun içerisindeyim.

3) Her ne kadar bu konuları akademik olarak çalışmış olsam da, geçmişteki bir çok bakış açıma eleştirel bakıyorum.

4) Yaşam dinamik, sabitlerimizi azaltmaya ihtiyacımız var. Bunun yolu da kendi gerçekliğimizle kucaklaşmaktan geçiyor.

Trends & Friends buluşmalarının ilgili görmesi, bana göre 40-60 yaş bandındaki profesyonellerin bir arayışını net bir şekilde ortaya koyuyor. Bunu doğal olarak çalıştıkları kurumların dolduramadığı bir alanda, ve de aynı zamanda İstanbul'daki konferans endüstrisini oluşturduğu bir boşlukta aramak mümkün.

Neticede Salim Ismail, bize "Eksponansiyel Organizasyonlar" kitabında işaret ettiği "kitsel dönüştürücü bir amaç" inşa etmeyi öneriyordu. Kurumlarımız bunu başaramayınca yetkin bireylerin kendilerini görünür kılmak isteyebilecekleri yeni bir boşluk da oluşmuş oluyor.

Elbette eleştiriler olacaktır. Bu çok doğal, ancak mevcut durum bir yönüyle birey ve kurumlar arasındaki anlam kaymasına işaret ediyor. Girişimci Kurumlar Platformu'nda Tuğrul Ağırbaş'ın liderliğinde, Jason Lau'nun sunumu sonrası tartıştığımız üzere benzer bir durum bireyler ve kurumların yapay zekaya bakışındaki asimetride de mevcut.

Haliyle bu henüz çok görünür olmayan bir gerilim noktası. Bu da ister istemez tecrübeli profesyonelleri bir endişeye taşıyor. Bunu kabaca "acaba dışarıda olup biten önemli şeyleri mi kaçırıyor muyum endişesi", yani FOMO olarak tarif etmek mümkün. 

Ancak bu basit bir FOMO değil.

40-60 yaş bandındaki profesyonellerin yaşadığı, gençlerin sosyal medya kaynaklı "eğlenceyi kaçırma korkusu"ndan çok daha derin ve stratejik bir kaygı. 

Bunu ekteki içerikte üç katmanda ele almaya çalıştım. Hatalarım varsa, affınıza ve anlayışınıza sığınıyorum.

Görüşlerinizi merak ediyorum. Sizler neler düşünüyorsunuz?

#değişim #eğitim #yenilik #gelişim #inovasyon #teknoloji

FOMO Basit Bir Konu Degil

Kirli Ellerin Bilgeliği

Sustainable Brands'de Stefano Kaslowski ile birlikte katıldıkları ve bende çokça iz bırakan oturumumuzdan sonra değerli Cengiz Ultav, Sabiha Gökçen Havalimanı'na doğru yol alırken bana şöyle dedi:

“İnovasyoncunun eli kirlidir.” 

O cümleyi ilk kez duyduğumda kendi kendime "nasıl yani" dedim, sonra giderek daha çok sahici buldum ve sonra da ellerime baktım.

Çünkü el, ancak toprağa değdiğinde kirleniyor. VideoWall'lı renkli salonlarda tertemiz kalmış bakımlı eller değil; denemiş, yanılmış, çokça da yanlış anlaşılmış eller kirleniyor.

40 gündür bu üç kelimelik cümleyle dolaşır haldeyken, Geçenlerde ise Zeki Demirkubuz'dan 4 kelimelik ve bendeki bölük pörçük düşüncelerimi tamamlayan ve de öbür cebimde taşımak isteyeceğim vurucu bir ifade daha duydum:

"Bilgi, masumiyeti yok eder."

Sarsıcı. Kabul etmesi zor belki de. Ama gerçekçi.

Kirlenen ellerin de masum kalması mümkün değil zira. 

Masumiyet güzel ama kısıtlı. Bir noktadan sonra bilgi, masumiyeti alıp yerine sorumluluk koyuyor.

Ve inovasyon tam da buralarda, tam da çelişkilerimizle yüzleşebildiğimizde başlıyor.

Sadece bilmekle değil,
Bildiğinin sorumluluğunu almakla,
O sorumluluğu kirlenmeyi göze alarak pratiğe dökmekle.

Yıllardır anlattığım gibi, inovasyonun özü insana ve doğaya fayda üretmektir. Gerçek yenilik, insanın hayatına dokunan, gezegenle uyumlu bir değer ürettiğinde anlam kazanıyor. Ve her inovasyon çabası, küçük ya da büyük bir değişim iddiasıdır.

Arafta olmak, bu anlamda, “kirli ellerle” yaşamayı kabul etmektir bana göre...

Ne tamamen steril teoride kalmak, ne de düşünmeden koşarak.
Aradaki o ince çizgiyi, yani dönüşen ve dönştüren sorumluluk hâlini sahiplenmektir.
Üstelik Don Kişotlaşmadan yapabilmektir.

Bu pazar akşamında içimden geçenler bunlar. Bugün bana bu ilhamı Figen Özer'in 5 kelime / 5 sorusu verdi. Yucel Keyik ile etkileşimimiz ise bu yazıyı tetikledi. 

Görüşlerinizi merak ediyorum. 

Kirli ellerin bilgeliği size ne çağrıştırıyor? Bilgi gerçekten masumiyeti yok eder mi?

Güne bir not olarak bir pazar akşamı şarkısı yolluyorum...

https://lnkd.in/dbJdRivy

#yenilik #değişim #gelişim #eğitim #teknoloji #gelecek #rilke

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