Innovation attracts methodologies, tools, techniques, and fads like few other areas of activity. Corporate Explorers want to know what will help them go from an initial idea to building a thriving business. Finding a way through the forest of material can be daunting and time consuming. This section presents an integrated model for understanding the innovation work based on the three disciplines already introduced – ideation, incubation, and scaling. Our goal is to describe the most important aspects of each of the disciplines and provide guidance on how to apply the methods involved. Corporate Explorers will need to consult additional resources to learn about specific methods – such as design thinking. However, the next three chapters will put these into the context of an overall journey of building a new venture.

Our description of the three disciplines implies linear stages – with a Corporate Explorer moving from ideation to incubation and then to scaling (see Figure II.1). That is partially true. New ventures do move through these points of maturity. There are definite transition points as evidence justifies increasing resources to the new venture. However, we call these disciplines because it is a learning process in which all three are present throughout. Ideation is a discipline used throughout the journey, because you will need to find solutions to many different problems. Incubation is premised on experimentation, which often starts in ideation, and certainly continues into scaling. Scaling starts in ideation, as Corporate Explorers develop hypotheses for the potential assets that would make an idea a fully functioning business. So, although we present these as linear stages, reality is more iterative.