3 questions every startup needs to answer to catalyse creative thought

The startup journey is usually seen as a quest for answers of different kinds. Entrepreneurs spend most of their time racking their brains over the answers to things as diverse as value propositions, funding sources, office locations, and team compositions. These are absolutely necessary cerebral rituals of the startup adventure, no doubt.

But somewhere it is also perhaps symptomatic of our obsession with the ‘Indian question-paper mentality’ – how all of us rapidly and studiously begin answering a query once it is posed. We seldom question the veracity of the question itself. It also harkens back to a scientific finding, of our minds always being in the ‘auto’ (‘auto’ not to be confused with ‘autorickshaw’), as in ‘automatic’, mode. We are programmed as a species to quickly seek solutions. The famous adage goes, “We exercise our mind by jumping to conclusions.” While this kind of thinking serves us well for most tasks and challenges in our lives, it sometimes comes in the way of thinking differently. This is an aspect central to startups and innovations, especially when resources are at a premium.

Perhaps it is time to go back to our old tradition of focusing more on asking the right questions, as wonderfully illustrated by the Upanishads. The value of this perspective is also borne out in Western philosophy, specifically Socrates’s didactic method. It is also interesting to note that many recent innovations began with an interesting question. Edwin Land’s son’s innocent query of “Why can’t I see my picture right now?” led to the invention of the Polaroid camera. Akio Morita’s enquiry on “The possibility of listening to music while on the move” switched on the Sony Walkman.

A provocative statement made at a workshop held by the Australian Cricket Board in 1996, “Why can’t you hit a six off every single ball?” laid the power stroke-infused foundations for cricket as we experience it these days.

Our late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a great proponent of the pause. I think in addition to informing us about speeches and debates, this great legacy of his also seems to be telling us something about our cerebral processes.

It seems to be saying “Stop and think!” Pause and look at what is happening. Consider the questions that are emerging.

In my experience over the years of getting people to think “out of the box”, I have always found getting people to ask the right questions, of themselves and their businesses, to be an extremely potent tool to catalyze creative thinking. While there are many which could be cited, here are three questions which provide particularly rewarding results. Feel free to use them to ignite your own thought process:

What is the inspiring purpose of your business? How do you make the lives of people better?

When people initially start taking a crack at this question, they usually begin with dwelling on what they actually have on offer. For example, personal trainers might say, “Adding muscle, improving body shape and stamina, regulating the clients’ diets.” But persisting and imploring people to think more expansively often culminates in inspiring replies like, “I am in the business of keeping my clients strong and healthy so that they can live life to their full potential.” As you can readily appreciate, that is the kind of thought which can get people out of their beds with a renewed perspective and enhanced desire, every single day.

What will you never do?

A lot of focus in our lives is spent on figuring out what we will do. But exploring thoughts along the opposite direction can bring a strong sense of direction to one’s business. It can influence organizational cultural nuances like never being late for any meeting, or treating all employees with respect, no matter what. It can also span operational routines such as never allowing a bill to stay outstanding for more than 30 days. It even can span major strategic decisions such as not expanding beyond a certain limit, or beyond one’s core expertise, however tempting the opportunities might be.

For instance, Franklin Templeton, one of the giant financial mega-brands in the world, essentially chose to largely participate only in the mutual fund arena. This sort of thinking gives a tremendous drive and momentum to a startup because one is very clear on which paths not to take.

What is that little “extra” you are going to offer?

There is a famous idliwallah somewhere outside Mind Space in Mumbai. He has an interesting way of conducting business. He charges his customers for the idlis that they eat but gives them an almost unlimited amount of chutney, which happens to be quite delicious. People usually end up finishing their idlis and find a lot of the tasty chutney remaining. So they end up ordering more idlis. The man should probably be a management consultant. But this anecdote does cite how each and every one of us needs to devote some thought to what is the ‘chutney’ equivalent of our business.

In other words, what is that little additional service or benefit that we provide, at no extra cost, which will keep our customers coming back for more, and more, and more…?

In the end, these are but three questions. But one can readily appreciate that questions are those curved punctuation marks which straighten out our thinking. In fact, I would add that questions provide the curvature and impetus for your businesses to truly take flight. So to grow your business really fast, don’t just obsess over the answers. Concentrate on asking the right questions.

Vinay Kanchan is an author and independent trainer in creative thinking.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)