Your company's future will be defined by the problems it faces today
Many entrepreneurs and executives try to "look" into the future and find solutions there for their business challenges. But what many forget is that their company may already be sending signals about where it can go and which problems need to be solved.
You may simply not be noticing it yet…
It was with this solution-driven mindset that Silicon Valley emerged and captured the world's attention with its impressive figures and achievements.
To give you an idea: in 2016 alone, the GDP generated by the region would have been enough to rank it 18th globally, surpassing dozens of world economies, despite having a population of just 3.5 million people — a number 3.4 times smaller than the city of São Paulo, for example.
These figures, a reflection of what an innovative ecosystem is capable of, may intimidate many people seeking to innovate — but what we want you to understand is that innovating is simpler than it might seem.
The Silicon Valley companies you know all followed the same innovation rationale: they focus on finding and solving real problems.
Holberton, for example, is reinventing the way people learn through a software engineering school with no teachers, no tuition fees, and no entrance exams.
While traditional education gives students the material first and the test later, Holberton does the opposite: students receive a project and seek out answers and ways to solve it.
They learn how to learn — the way it works in real life and in real companies, not in a 100 percent controlled academic environment.
But what about tuition? A Holberton student only starts paying the school if they land a job earning more than $40,000 per year. If they don't reach that salary, they pay nothing to the school.
The results are already evident: Holberton students don't just learn programming and software — they develop soft skills that any company is looking for: creativity, adaptability, communication, and problem-solving.
According to the institution, Holberton students earn an average salary of $107,600 per year. 100 percent of them find employment within 3 months of graduation, and many now work at companies such as Google, Facebook, NASA, Tesla, and Pinterest.
All of this because it decided to think outside the box and deliver education in a way that differs from 99 percent of traditional schools.
If you don't yet know how to innovate, or haven't found that innovation insight for your company, the first step is to identify the real problems your business can solve.
Now, if you already know that, but still don't know:
— which innovations are available in the market that can help your company right now;
— which companies or startups you can partner with to develop disruptive solutions;
— who the key names and companies in your market are that you can draw inspiration from today.
We at StartSe have a special invitation for you:
The next edition of the Silicon Valley Conference is coming up at the end of November (11/30).
There we will bring together some of the brightest minds in global innovation so that more than 3,000 Brazilians can access companies, startups, and players that you would otherwise only encounter by traveling to Silicon Valley in person.
We have already confirmed the participation of professionals from Brex, Facebook, XP Inc., Pipefy, and the Holberton school, which we mentioned above:
Innovative solutions emerge from the most unexpected situations, including from companies that may not operate directly in your market. An insight from those companies could change the future of your business here in Brazil.