What is one way you have innovated on a new product, service, or business model?
To help you recognize the innovations occurring in real businesses, we asked business owners and entrepreneurs this question for their best insights. From revolutionizing client communications to launching an on-demand staffing app, there are several ways that businesses have innovated that may help you find inspiration for your own business.
Here are 14 ways to innovate in business:
- Revolutionize Client Communication
- Bring Transferable Skills Home
- With a Base Product
- Designer Peel-and-stick Wallpaper
- Launch a Profitable Business, Not Just a Start-up
- Take a Unique Spin On a Classic Idea
- Integrate Technology for Unparalleled Performance
- Incorporate New Eco-friendly Solutions
- Balance Listening With Experimentation
- PPE Designed for Women in Demanding Work Environments
- Pet Wellness Driven by Personalized Care Programs
- Build a ‘Done for You’ Podcast Production Solution
- Replace Human Opinions With AI
- Launch An On-demand Staffing App
Revolutionize Client Communication
Modern technology has made life easier in countless ways, but it has also opened the door for information overload. The sheer amount of calls and messages a business owner receives daily can make it difficult to keep track of it all. Threads collects and aggregates all of a business’ communications into one central hub, accessible from a single dashboard. More organization equals more efficiency and less stress!
Francesca Yardley, Threads
Bring Transferable Skills Home
Project Management is a complex international certification that 70% of large businesses outsource to independent contractors like me to save and make millions of dollars. www.purposecommunity.org helps simplify PM to goal, steps, cost, hours, and who’s involved (with a few other things) so it becomes a win-win formula for enJOYing life balance and events. We offer forms and forums to exercise and encourage each other to organize and track purpose, progress, and affirmations individually and in groups. Almost anything can be a project, and so much more fun getting more done, helping each other, waste less, and stress less.
Felicity Blackwater, Purpose Community Goal Network
With a Base Product
We consider all of our products to be innovative and paradigm-shifting. But I’ve personally been plant-based for more than 31 years. My aim was to start a company that could make an impact by making it easy for people to incorporate more plant-based foods in their diets. To make this happen, I knew I needed to partner with someone in order to create delicious food products that even people who aren’t plant-based will love. I jumped at the chance to partner with renowned Chef Dave Anderson who hails from Beyond Meat. That’s how Outstanding Foods was born.
Bill Glaser, Outstanding Foods
Designer Peel-and-stick Wallpaper
Form Paper Co. is a designer-quality peel & stick wallpaper company that is created and vetted by an interior designer. Our wallpaper patterns are high in style, totally accessible and easy to implement. Brought to life by design aficionado and unshakable creative Dala Al-Fuwaires, who’s never been one for cookie-cutter constructs, our peel & stick wallpaper breaks the mold.
with curvy contours and statement-making color schemes that bring instant designer drip into your home, office, or commercial space. Think of us as the stylish solution for imaginative enthusiasts seeking substance over simplicity.
Dala Al-Fuwaires, House of Form
Launch a Profitable Business, Not Just a Start-up
SnackMagic launched in April 2020 as a direct result of the global pandemic. As offices emptied out and everyone had to stay home, we needed a temporary way to save our NYC-based office lunch delivery business.
We knew the joy of giving (and getting) a stash of snacks would help people feel connected and boost morale. And we made sure that gift-giving service would be easy enough so that people can quickly send 1 or 1,000 snack boxes in just a few clicks.
From day one, we wanted to create a business, not necessarily a startup. We wanted it to be an established business that has revenues, profits, losses, and unit economics from the get-go. So we used our existing runway from STADIUM to build SnackMagic. People were on our website just looking before we even launched, and our first order came within 3 weeks.
We scaled the business from $0 to $20 million in ARR in just 8 months. Since then, we’ve shipped thousands of SnackMagic snacks worldwide, and we’re just getting started.
Shaunak Amin, SnackMagic
Take a Unique Spin On a Classic Idea
Our company took a unique spin on the classic meal kit delivery service model. We coupled our fresh ingredients and unique menus with step-by-step video guides taught by Michelin-Star Chefs. Due to our form of innovation, we’ve quickly become an industry leader. If you want to get to the top of your field, you need to come up with alternative solutions to common problems or innovate upon existing ideas.
Seb Evans, Banquist
Integrate Technology for Unparalleled Performance
Water is often the culprit when repairs or replacements to stone veneer panels are needed. That’s why we created the D.RAIN system, which is built into the back of every one of our stone veneer panels and ensures safe drainage when water manages to infiltrate. Integrating D.RAIN technology into our panels has made it possible to say goodbye to excess humidity and mildew, leading to longer-lasting, beautiful siding.
Todd Sriro, Be.On Stone
Incorporate New Eco-friendly Solutions
Increased awareness of the necessity of eco-friendly practices and products has brought about many innovations to pipelining, including our trenchless repair methods. Our spiral wound liners help minimize the impact on a surrounding area when making repairs to culverts, storm drains, and sewers. They are also a long-lasting solution that helps prevent the need for regular repairs in the future, further reducing the environmental impact.
Ryan Shallenberger, SEKISUI
Balance Listening With Experimentation
First and foremost, we ask how a new product will serve the client. Otherwise, why do it? So, we actively listen to clients and their needs. On top of that, we understand that our clients rely on us to be experts in our field (HR tech and AI). They come to us, because they want to find out what AI can do for them. And so while we listen closely to recruiters and talent leaders for the pain points to solve in their industries, we also stay ahead by testing and experimenting with the limits of AI. And we ensure we’re not overreaching our current capabilities too much, which would degrade the performance of our current products and tools. It’s this holistic process that has led us to create products like our Experience Assistant last year, which won Human Resource Executive’s Top HR Product 2021 award.
Josh Zywein, Paradox
PPE Designed for Women in Demanding Work Environments
Xena Workwear makes stylish safety shoes & work apparel, empowering women in STEM and the trades to feel confident in any workplace. The workwear space has long been male-dominated. And for women working in demanding environments, most PPE options have long been uncomfortable, unprofessional, and unappealing. And having to change from office shoes into bulky work boots creates an internal barrier between them and their male colleagues.
How you present yourself and what you wear in the workplace can impact self-confidence crucial for success. This is why Xena designed and engineered a line of PPE products for women in 2019. The Gravity ESD boot is designed to dissipate static electricity, a key feature for electronics manufacturing and working around highly flammable chemicals. And the Omega boot features insulating properties that protect the wearer from shocks up to 18,000 volts. Our attractive, versatile boots ensure women never have to choose between functionality and style.
Hayley Albright, Xena Workwear
Pet Wellness Driven by Personalized Care Programs
Our Rainy Day Fund is an innovative perk of membership in KONG Club by AskVet. As the leader in virtual pet care with over 1 million chats between virtual vets and pet parents, we integrated our customer feedback that the cost of pet emergencies is one of their most worrisome causes for concern.
This emergency fund, funded by us, covers up to $1000 for pet emergencies to the ER. It isn’t insurance but a benefit of membership with our service. KONG Club’s pet wellness platform is unrivaled in the industry due to our unique, personalized pet care approach and benefits. Take your customers’ worries into mind and address them directly to be successful.
Laura Berg, Kong Club
Build a ‘Done for You’ Podcast Production Solution
At Spotlight Podcasting, we have created a full-service podcast production solution that focuses on both execution and business strategy. This means making sure that the show format aligns with our client’s business goals, allowing them to focus on what they do best and leaving the production up to us.
The response to our new product has been overwhelmingly positive. We have found that this success is due, in part, to the fact that we are able to provide a one-stop shop for all podcasting needs: including booking guests, audio editing, graphic asset creation, copywriting, distribution and more. Our clients appreciate not having to deal with multiple vendors or freelancers and can focus on their zone of genius.
Jonathan Baillie Strong, Spotlight Podcasting
Replace Human Opinions With AI
I started WallStreetZen when I realized almost all financial advice was basically unverified. Stock analysts—even highly-reputed ones—pick and chose their metrics for deciding whether to invest or not, and ignore everything that contradicts.
We decided to see what would happen if we took all the information one would consider and removed those biases through AI. The result is WallStreetZen, but you could do this in any industry. Once you really start considering what thoughts, opinions, and ideas are driving your competitors, you’ll be better able to use technology to think more holistically than a person ever could.
Nate Tsang, WallStreetZen
Launch An On-demand Staffing App
We launched the Qwick app in 2019 with a goal of making it as easy as possible for hospitality professionals to control their own schedules. Three years later, we’ve succeeded, by creating a simple way to connect hospitality businesses and qualified professionals looking for shifts, allowing them to set their own schedules, and get paid the same day. An on-demand staffing app like ours saves time, energy, and money. It’s a game-changer for everyone.
Retta Kekic, Qwick
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