The Lab

Notes

Short pieces on the thinking the Lab runs on. How to recognise what you already have, and how to decide which idea gets your time.

Resource or opportunity?
A worked case. A genuine resource and a proven opportunity are two separate findings, and the difference decides what you do next.
Three questions before an idea gets your time
Three questions that decide whether an idea deserves your time, and what each one is really testing for.
The curse of knowledge
Your expertise feels ordinary to you for a documented reason. A 1990 Stanford study explains why what you know best is the hardest thing for you to see.
The IKEA effect
The more you build something, the harder it becomes to judge it. What a 2012 study found, and why month four is the worst time to ask whether anyone wants it.
Compliments are interest. Commitments are evidence.
Everybody loved it and zero people bought it. Why asking what people would do produces politeness, and the question that produces evidence instead.

Start with what you already have

The free resources take you through your own inventory and leave you with one starting point instead of twelve.