So... What Even Is Innovation?
Welcome to Open Incubator! Before we dive into launching your next big thing, let’s get real about something people love to talk about but rarely define properly:
What is Innovation?
Innovation is not just about coming up with a “new idea.” It’s about creating something that works better, solves a real problem, and adds value to people’s lives. It’s the spark between creativity and impact. It’s not just invention. It’s invention that people actually want and can use.
What Makes Something Innovative?
An idea becomes innovative when it hits the sweet spot between:
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
This is your Innovation Sweet Spot. Every great idea balances all three.
Types of Innovation
Innovations come in many flavours. Here are a few:
Real Talk: What Isn’t Innovation?
A cool idea no one wants to use.
A fancy app that solves a fake problem.
A product that works well but burns out the planet in the process.
A startup that copies others but adds no new value
Innovation ≠ Noise. It’s about making something better, not just different.
Activity: Innovation Detective
Grab a notebook or open a new doc and do this:
Pick three products or services you use every day (e.g. Spotify, your campus meal plan, a water bottle).
For each one, answer:
Is this an innovation? Why or why not?
Which type is it — Device, Method, Material, or Mindset?
How does it balance Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability?
Key Takeaways
Lean Startup & Design Thinking
Build smarter, not harder. So you’ve got an idea. Amazing. But how do you actually test it, improve it, and build something people want — without wasting time or money?
Meet your new best friends:
• Lean Startup
• Design Thinking
Let’s break them down.
The Lean Startup Approach
Coined by Eric Ries, Lean Startup is about learning fast, failing smart, and building things people actually need.
Instead of building a full product and then seeing if people like it, you:
Build something small (a prototype, a landing page, even a sketch!)
Measure how people react
Learn what works, and what doesn’t — then repeat!
That cycle looks like this:
Build
Measure
Learn
Repeat
What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is a human-centred approach to solving problems.
It’s about empathising with people before jumping to solutions. Here’s the classic 5-Step Process:
It’s not linear — you’ll jump back and forth between steps. That’s normal. That’s good.
Lean vs Design Thinking: What's the Difference?
deeply
Activity: Design & Lean in Action
Let’s try this combo out with a real campus problem.
Step 1: Pick a challenge
Examples:
Students wasting food in the dorm kitchens
Not enough mental health support during exams
Long lines at the coffee shop on Mondays
Step 2: Empathise
Interview 1–2 friends about this issue.
Ask: What’s frustrating? What do they wish was different?
Step 3: Ideate
Write down 5 wild ideas — don’t self-censor. The crazier the better.
Step 4: Prototype
Sketch your favourite idea on paper or a slide. Just enough for someone to "get it."
Step 5: Test
Show your sketch to someone. Ask:
Would this help?
What’s confusing?
What would they change?
Key Takeaways
Teamwork That Works
Because even superheroes don’t save the world alone. Behind every great startup is a team that knows how to balance chaos with collaboration, risk with trust, and "we have no clue what we're doing" with "let's figure it out anyway." Let’s talk about building and working in a great startup team.
Why Teamwork Matters in Startups
Startups are messy. Fast. Unpredictable. You’ll make decisions quickly, wear many hats, and sometimes work out of cafés, basements, or classrooms. Having a strong, diverse, and aligned team makes all the difference. Because when the going gets weird, the weird (aka your team) need to get going — together.
Roles in a Startup Team
Here's a look at some typical startup roles. (Don’t panic — you don’t need all of them on Day 1.)
CEO / Vision Lead
Product Lead
Technical Lead / Developer
Marketing / Comms
Operations / Hustler
Wildcard
The Team Canvas: Your Secret Weapon
The Team Canvas is a tool to help your team:
Get aligned
Know your shared goals
Understand each other’s strengths and values
Key sections include:
Purpose & Values
Roles & Skills
Rules & Expectations
Strengths & Weaknesses
Needs & Concerns
You’ll fill this in during a workshop or team session — or download a copy and try it yourself.
Activity: Build Your Dream Team
Step 1: Imagine your startup idea is real.
Who do you need around you to bring it to life?
Step 2: Create your team lineup.
Assign the roles from above to your current team (or ideal future team). Who’s the visionary? The builder? The customer whisperer?
Step 3: Reflect as a group
What are your team’s combined strengths?
What might you be missing?
What values will hold you together when things get tough?
Real Talk
Good teams don’t avoid conflict — they handle it well.
Communication beats perfection. Every time.
The best startup teams feel like mini-communities. Build trust early.
Celebrate wins, share stress, and eat snacks together when possible.
Key Takeaways
Understanding the Market
Because even genius ideas need someone to buy them. You’ve got an idea. Maybe even a great one. But who is it for? Why would they care? And are there enough of them to make your idea sustainable? This chapter helps you explore who your users are — and how to find your first fans, fast.
Why Understanding the Market Matters
A lot of startups fail because they build something nobody actually wants.
(Yes, even well-designed, beautiful, AI-powered somethings.) Understanding the market isn’t just about “targeting customers” — it’s about finding the people whose lives you want to make better.
Market Segmentation: Slice It Up
Not everyone is your customer. Seriously. If you try to build for everyone, you’ll end up building for no one.
Here’s how you can segment your potential market:
Find Your Beachhead Market
Your Beachhead Market is your starting point — the specific group that will love your solution so much, they’ll be your first adopters, testers, and ambassadors.
To define your beachhead, ask:
Who has the problem most painfully?
Who is easiest to reach right now?
Who will benefit the most from your idea?
Once you win that group over, then you expand.
Create Your Customer Persona
Let’s turn your target user into a real(ish) person. A persona is a fictional character that represents your ideal customer.
Example:
Name: Newman, 22
Location: Dublin
Background: Computer Science student
Pain Point: Struggles with managing academic deadlines and job hunting
Needs: A better way to organise her time and track internship opportunities
Personality: Ambitious, always on her phone, values aesthetics and speed Your persona helps you think like your user when designing your product or service.
Activity: Persona Party
Create a quick customer persona using this template:
Name:
Age & Background:
What problem do they face?:
What motivates them?:
How would your product/service help them?:
What channels would you use to reach them (e.g. Instagram, email, events)?:
Real Talk
You are not your user (unless you are — but validate anyway).
Talk to real people. Don’t just guess.
Your persona will evolve — and that’s good. You’ll learn more as you go.
Key Takeaways
Customer Discovery & Interviews
Because great ideas start with great questions. You’ve got a persona. You’ve got a market in mind. Now it’s time to talk to real humans and test your assumptions — not with surveys or “Do you like my idea?” questions, but with empathy interviews that dig deep. Let’s find out what people actually need.
What is Customer Discovery?
Customer discovery is the process of talking to people to:
Understand their problems
Learn about their context
Discover what they’re really trying to achieve
You’re not trying to pitch. You’re trying to listen.
Why It Matters
Talking to users helps you:
Validate if a real problem exists
Uncover hidden needs and behaviours
Avoid building stuff no one wants
Shape your solution based on real-world insights
Most failed startups skipped this step or did it badly. Don’t be one of them.
The Empathy Interview
Here’s how to run a good one:
Find people who match your target persona
Fellow students, community members, Reddit, Discord, LinkedIn, etc.
Ask open-ended questions
“Can you walk me through the last time you experienced [problem]?”
“What did you try? What worked? What didn’t?”
“What would an ideal solution look like for you?”
Dig deeper
“Why was that frustrating?”
“What happened next?”
“How did that make you feel?”
Listen more than you talk
You should talk less than 20% of the time
Take notes or record (with permission)
Activity: Interview Warm-Up
Pick someone (classmate, friend, stranger) and run a mini empathy interview. Ask:
What’s something you’ve been frustrated by this week?
What did you do about it?
What would a perfect solution look like?
Reflect:
Did you learn something unexpected?
Did you feel tempted to jump to solutions?
This is your training ground. Get good here, and you’ll build things that actually matter.
Tools You Can Use
Problem Statement Canvas – Helps you define what you’ve heard into a real, testable problem
Empathy Map – Helps visualise what users think, feel, say, and do
Decision-Making Unit (DMU) – Helps identify who the real customer is (user vs buyer vs influencer)
Example DMU: A student uses the app (user), but the university pays for it (buyer), and lecturers recommend it (influencer).
Real Talk
People don’t always know what they want — but they know what’s broken
You’re not looking for compliments, you’re looking for truth
It’s okay if your idea changes after interviews — that’s the point
Key Takeaways
Mapping the Journey
Because great ideas follow real-life paths. You’ve talked to users. You’ve heard their frustrations. Now it’s time to step into their shoes — literally — and map the journey they go through while facing the problem you want to solve. This is where empathy turns into action.
What is a Customer Journey Map?
A Customer Journey Map is a visual story of how a user interacts with a product, service, or system — from beginning to end.
It helps you:
See things from your user’s perspective
Understand what they’re doing, thinking, and feeling at each step
Spot frustration points, missed opportunities, or magical moments
Think of it as "A Day in the Life" of your customer as they encounter the problem (with or without your solution).
Common Journey Stages
Add Emotions & Touchpoints
At each stage, ask:
What is the user doing?
What are they thinking/feeling?
What touchpoints (apps, websites, people) are involved?
Where are the pain points and opportunities?
Mark these moments. They matter.
Activity: Journey Jam
Let’s map a journey.
Step 1: Pick a real problem
Example: Finding healthy food on campus
Step 2: Define the user
Who are they? A student? Staff? Vegan? Budget-conscious?
Step 3: Map the journey
Draw a timeline of their experience trying to solve the problem. At each step, write:
What they do
What they feel
What’s frustrating
What’s working well
Step 4: Add insights
Highlight points where:
A new solution could help
A better experience could be created
Innovation could happen!
Tool Spotlight: The Empathy Map
Another powerful tool to use alongside Journey Mapping:
Another powerful tool to use alongside Journey Mapping:
Real Talk
You are not your user — walk their path, don’t guess it
Pain points = design opportunities
Mapping might seem “extra” but it often reveals gold
Key Takeaways
Your First Challenge
Because a clear problem is halfway to the solution. So far, you've explored what innovation is, talked to real people, and mapped their journey. Now it’s time to zoom in and clearly define the challenge you want to solve. A great solution starts with a well-framed problem.
What Is a Challenge?
In startup terms, a challenge is a clearly defined problem you're trying to solve. It should be based on real needs, grounded in empathy, and open-ended enough to allow multiple creative solutions.Think: “How might we...?” instead of “We must build an app.”
A good challenge is:
Human-centred
Specific but not narrow
Free of assumptions about the solution
Focused on impact
From Insights to Opportunity
Let’s say your interviews and journey maps uncovered this: “Students skip breakfast because they’re always running late and the food on campus is expensive.” You could turn that into this challenge: “How might we make healthy breakfast more accessible for busy students?” See how it focuses on the problem, not the product?
Tool: Problem Statement Canvas
You can fill this out by hand, digitally, or even on a whiteboard.
Activity: Challenge Accepted
Step 1: Reflect on what you’ve learned so far
Pull insights from your interviews and journey map.
Step 2: Use the Problem Statement Canvas
Complete it with your team. Take your time. Dig deep.
Step 3: Frame your “How Might We…” statement
Examples:
How might we make student budgeting more intuitive?
How might we reduce digital overload for university staff?
How might we help first-year students feel more connected on campus?
Real Talk
Don’t rush this step. A fuzzy problem = a fuzzy solution.
A good challenge should feel meaningful and open to exploration.
Be flexible. You might reframe your challenge several times — that’s part of the process.
Key Takeaways
Designing the Right Solution
From wild ideas to focused concepts. You’ve defined your challenge — now it’s time to start imagining what could solve it. But slow down — don’t rush into building the first idea that pops into your head.
This is your space to diverge, explore, and dream a little bigger.
Ideation (a.k.a. Creative Chaos)
Set a timer. Grab a pen, a whiteboard, or your laptop.
Rules of Ideation:
Go for quantity, not perfection
No idea is too wild — suspend judgment
Build on others' ideas ("Yes, and…")
Sketch if you can — visuals help!
Activity: 15 Ideas in 15 Minutes
Try to come up with at least 15 different ways to solve your challenge. Yes, really. Don’t stop at 3.
They can be:
Physical products
Digital tools
Services
Behavioural nudges
Community-led ideas
Even fictional/magic ones — go wild first, refine later.
Select & Shape
Now it’s time to converge — narrow down your ideas. Use the Impact vs Effort Matrix to rate ideas:
Ask yourself:
Which ideas solve the problem best?
Which ones are doable right now?
Which ideas feel exciting to you and your team?
Solution Snapshot
Fill out this quick canvas to shape your chosen idea:
Real Talk
Don’t fall in love with your first idea — test it, shape it, evolve it.
Every big idea started small and slightly weird.
You can always come back and pick another idea later.
Key Takeaways
Prototyping Your Idea
Make it real enough to test, fake enough to stay flexible. You’ve picked your solution. Now it’s time to build a version of it — not the final product, but something people can see, touch, click, or experience. That’s your prototype — and it’s one of your most powerful tools as a student innovator.
What is a Prototype?
A prototype is a rough version of your idea that helps you test and learn quickly.
It’s like a sketch of a painting, a trailer for a movie, or a demo of an app that hasn’t been built yet.
The goal is NOT to build a perfect product.
The goal is to learn: “Does this solve the problem in the way we hoped?”
Types of Prototypes
Choose your prototype based on what you want to learn and how much time you have.
What to Prototype
Focus on what’s most important to test.
The core value: What problem are you solving?
The experience: What does the user see, feel, or do?
The functionality: What features matter most?
Don’t build the whole product. Start small.
Activity: Build a 1-Hour Prototype
Set a timer for one hour. Choose your format (sketch, Figma mockup, slide deck, video) and build a quick prototype of your idea.
Ask yourself:
Can someone understand the idea just by looking at this?
Would this be enough to get feedback?
Did I include the most critical feature or flow?
Tools to Try
Canva – Fast, beautiful mockups
Figma – Interactive product design
Google Slides – Great for clickable demos
Lumen5 / CapCut – For explainer videos
Marvel / InVision – Interactive prototypes without coding
Cardboard, Post-its, LEGO – Yep, physical still works
Real Talk
Your first prototype will be messy. That’s the point.
It’s better to test 3 ugly versions than wait on 1 polished one.
Keep it cheap, fast, and focused on learning.
Key Takeaways
Testing & Feedback
Test early, test often, and listen with open ears. You’ve created a prototype — now it’s time to see how people actually respond to it. Will they get it? Will they want it? Will it work in the way you hoped? The only way to know is to test — and to welcome feedback like a pro.
Why Testing Matters
Even the most brilliant ideas have blind spots. Testing helps you:
Find out what works (and what doesn’t)
Discover what’s confusing, clunky, or missing
Learn how users actually behave — not just what they say
Avoid spending weeks building the wrong thing
“You’re not launching. You’re learning.”
What to Test
You don’t need to test everything — just the most critical assumptions.
Ask:
Do people understand my solution?
Can they use it easily?
Does it solve the problem I think it does?
What surprises them (in a good or bad way)?
How to Get Feedback
Use this 3-Question Feedback Test:
Grab a notebook or open a new doc and do this:
What stood out to you?
(Find out what’s memorable, useful, or confusing.)What would you change or improve?
(Uncover friction points or gaps.)Would you use this or recommend it? Why or why not?
(Get a sense of real-world appeal.)
Activity: Run a Quick Test
Share your prototype with at least 3 people who match your target user.
Ask them the 3 feedback questions above.
Record key quotes and observations.
Reflect with your team: What should we change based on what we heard?
Test in person or over video call — whatever helps you see their reactions.
Make Sense of What You Heard
After testing, take 15–20 minutes to debrief as a team:
Patterns matter more than one-off comments.
Real Talk
Not all feedback is equal — listen to your target user first
Don’t get defensive. Stay curious
Testing is ongoing. You’ll test again after every improvement
The goal isn’t to prove your idea — it’s to improve your idea
Key Takeaways
Pitch Like a Pro
Because a great idea needs a great story. You’ve done the work. You’ve explored the problem, built a solution, tested it, and improved it. Now it’s time to pitch. Whether you're talking to judges, funders, or your classmates — the way you present your idea will shape how people respond to it. Let’s make it count.
What Is a Pitch?
A pitch is a short, powerful presentation that communicates:
The problem you’re solving
The solution you’ve built
Why it matters
And what you need to grow
It’s storytelling + strategy + a little sparkle.
The 60–Second Pitch Formula (Elevator Style)
Need to pitch fast? Use this format:
“We’re solving [problem] for [target audience] by offering [your solution].
Unlike [alternatives], our approach [key advantage].
We’ve [traction so far], and next, we’re looking for [your ask].”
Example:
“We’re solving food waste on college campuses by helping students share extra meals through a peer-to-peer food-sharing app.
Unlike traditional food banks, our approach is hyper-local and real-time.
We’ve onboarded 200 users in 2 weeks, and next we’re looking for funding to build our MVP.”
Longer Pitch? Use This 6-Step Structure
Hook – Start with a bold stat, a story, or a big question
Problem – Show why this issue matters
Solution – Present your idea clearly and confidently
Impact – What change will it create?
Traction – What have you done so far?
Ask – What do you need? Support, funding, team members?
Keep it under 3–5 minutes unless told otherwise.
What Makes a Great Pitch?
Clear — anyone can understand it
Focused — no buzzwords, no feature overload
Human — tell stories, not just facts
Visual — use images or a simple slide deck
Confident — not perfect, just passionate and prepared
Real Talk
You’ll never feel 100% ready. Do it anyway.
No one cares about buzzwords. They care about impact.
Confidence comes from knowing your idea, not memorising lines.
Your first pitch will be rough — and your tenth will be.
Key Takeaways
You’re Now an Innovator-in-Action
Welcome to the Open Incubator community. This isn’t the end — it’s a new beginning.
You now have:
A toolkit of ideas, frameworks, and mindsets
Real experience in solving problems that matter
A team, a story, and a journey to build from
No matter where you go next — startup, research, social change, or your next challenge — know this:
You can make ideas real. You already have.
