It’s no secret that some of the most successful companies in history came into being as a result of an intuitive spark from their founder.  It’s also no secret that for industry-leading CEOs to maintain their edge, it’s crucial to think smarter and more intuitively than others. So – to give you some inspiration, here are 38 billion dollar ideas for you to ponder.

THE TALENT TREASURE TROVE 

When SpaceX and Tesla were in their infancy, Elon Musk faced skepticism. Instead of hiring seasoned aerospace or auto veterans, he intuitively brought on board passionate individuals, some even right out of college.

Their raw energy and Musk’s vision were validated when both companies disrupted entrenched industries.

Then there’s Mathilde Collin of Front. Front, an email collaboration platform, attributes much of its growth to the unique hiring approach of its CEO, Mathilde Collin. Mathilde is known for prioritizing soft skills, particularly emotional intelligence, in her hiring process. She has an intuitive belief that technical skills can be trained, but emotional intelligence forms the backbone of a collaborative and empathetic work environment.

INNOVATION’S DANCE 

Steve Jobs once introduced the world to a device that combined an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator. That device? The iPhone. His intuition saw a product not just as it was but as it could be – a lifestyle.

Now – it goes without saying that AI is now an essential tool, innovation isn’t just a key to competitive advantage, it’s quickly becoming mandatory for keeping up. And for those who know how tot use it, the door to innovation is now open to most companies regardless of budget.

Let’s look at innovation in more detail …

THE MARKET WHISPERING 

Remember the time Reed Hastings was frustrated with a $40 late fee for a DVD rental? This personal pinch point led him to intuitivley imagine a different rental model, and Netflix was born.

• Melanie Perkins (Canva) – Melanie sensed that while tools like Adobe were powerful, they were too complex for the average user who just wanted to create a beautiful design quickly. Today, Canva is a multi-billion-dollar company, turning everyone into a graphic designer.
• Stewart Butterfield (Slack) While initially working on a gaming venture called “Tiny Speck,” Butterfield and his team developed an internal communication tool that they found invaluable.They sensed the appeal of what they were doing so they pivoted to launch Slack, a platform that has transformed workplace communication.
• Julia Hartz (Eventbrite) – Ticketing for the Masses: Julia Hartz and her co-founders sensed that the ticketing industry was too insular, focusing primarily on big events. They believed there was a huge market for local and smaller events. Launching Eventbrite, they catered to this segment, allowing anyone to create, share, and join any event.
• Ben Silbermann (Pinterest) –While social media platforms were primarily about connecting people, Ben intuited that there’s a space for a platform that connects people with ideas. Pinterest’s emphasis on ‘pins’ and ‘boards’ provided a unique way for users to discover and organize things they love, setting it apart from other social media platforms.

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY 

Larry Page felt Google’s innovation could be faster. He introduced ‘20% time’, where employees dedicated 20% of their time to personal projects. Products like Gmail emerged from this intuitive move. McKinsey & Company’s 2017 study concurs, asserting such efficiency tweaks can spike performance by 20-30%.

Operational efficiency often emerges from an intuitive recognition of bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or unmet needs within a company’s operations.

While some changes are driven by quantitative analysis, many times, leaders rely on a keen sense of intuition to overhaul processes. Here are five real-life examples:

• Toyota and the Just-In-Time System: When visiting a US supermarket, Taiichi Ohno of Toyota observed that by restocking shelves only as goods were sold, supermarkets reduced inventory costs and minimized waste. That’s how the Just-In-Time (JIT) system was born –  revolutionizing manufacturing by producing only what was needed, when it was needed.
•  Zara and Fast Fashion: Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara, realized that by speeding up the production process and reacting quickly to the latest trends, he could get new fashions to the stores more rapidly than his competitors= in as little as two weeks.
• Amazon and its Kiva Robots: In 2012 Jeff Bezos and his team intuited that human pickers spent too much time walking. By deploying thousands of Kiva robots to bring products to workers, they dramatically reduced processing time and increased efficiency.
• IKEA and Flat Packaging: Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, watched an employee trying to fit a table into a customer’s car and struggling due to its size. The employee then decided to unscrew the legs and put them underneath. The rest is history.

In each of these cases, leaders didn’t just rely on data-driven insights; they had an intuitive understanding of a problem or inefficiency and sought innovative ways to address it.

THE ‘VISION’ 

Howard Schultz traveled to Italy and was enthralled by the espresso bars. He visualized Starbucks, not just as a café, but as a place of community. His intuition paid off, making Starbucks synonymous with coffee culture globally.

• Brian Chesky & Joe Gebbia (Airbnb): When struggling to pay rent, Chesky and Gebbia decided to put an air mattress in their living room and turn it into a bed-and-breakfast for a design conference in San Francisco. This simple act, based on an intuition that people would be willing to stay in another person’s home, gave birth to Airbnb.
• Jessica Alba (The Honest Company): Jessica’s foray into entrepreneurship stemmed from a personal need for baby products without harmful chemicals. Despite not having a business background and facing an established industry, her intuition about the need for transparent and safe household products paved the way for The Honest Company’s success.
• Whitney Wolfe Herd (Bumble): After leaving Tinder, Wolfe Herd had an intuitive vision about flipping the dating app paradigm. Instead of the usual dynamic, she wanted to empower women to make the first move. This intuition not only filled a gap in the online dating world but also addressed broader cultural shifts regarding gender dynamics and empowerment.

LEADERSHIP INNOVATION

Jack Ma started Alibaba in his apartment with a team that had more belief than business acumen. That trust in shared vision made Alibaba the giant it is today.

• Arianna Huffington (HuffPost & Thrive Global) – Recognizing Burnout: Huffington’s collapse from exhaustion in 2007 was a wake-up call. Her intuition told her that the traditional metrics of success (money and power) were not sustainable. This led her to redefine success to include well-being, wisdom, and wonder. Later, she founded Thrive Global, a company dedicated to ending the burnout epidemic, indicating a pivot in her leadership style.
• Alex Tew (Calm) – The Need for Mental Peace: Before mental wellness apps were ubiquitous, Alex Tew felt that in an increasingly chaotic world, people would gravitate towards platforms that promote mindfulness and calm. He co-founded Calm, which has since become one of the leading meditation and sleep-promotion apps.

TECHNOLOGY

When Mark Zuckerberg launched “The Facebook”, he sensed it’d be more than just a college network. His vision saw the potential of a connected world, which led to Facebook’s evolution.

• Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt (Robinhood) – Democratizing Finance: Stock trading was often seen as the domain of the affluent or those with deep financial knowledge. But Tenev and Bhatt believed that with the right platform, it could be democratized. Enter Robinhood – a commission-free trading app, which opened up the stock market to a new generation of traders.
• Daniel Ek (Spotify) – The Power of Streaming: At a time when music piracy was rampant, and digital purchases were the norm, Ek felt that there was a better solution. Instead of owning music, people would prefer to stream it, accessing vast libraries anytime. Spotify was born.
• AI (everything) and then some – of course, this revolution doesn’t need explanation. It’s turning coding numpties into millionaires overnight.

IT’S ALL ABOUT ‘THE BRAND’ 

Richard Branson crash-landed a hot-air balloon in the ’80s, but instead of seeing failure, he saw a branding opportunity for Virgin. Such intuitive brand moves have made Virgin a household name.

Nielsen’s 2015 report champions this, stating 83% value genuine brand narratives over ads.

• Glossier: Emily Weiss transitioned from her beauty blog, “Into The Gloss,” to create Glossier, a brand that captures authenticity. Instead of models, Glossier embraced real people and user-generated content, resonating with those seeking genuine beauty products over airbrushed ideals.
• Allbirds: Sustainability became Allbirds’ hallmark in a market inundated with brands emphasizing style and comfort. They tapped into the increasing consumer appetite for eco-friendly options, setting Allbirds apart with their unique offering of merino wool shoes and a commitment to environmental responsibility.
• Rapha:  Rapha zoomed in, focusing solely on the ardent road cyclist. Their branding captures the raw, emotional connection between the cyclist and the open road, which has fueled fierce brand loyalty.
• Away:  Their suitcases aren’t just containers; they’re travel companions. Their intuitive emphasis on the broader travel experience gave them an edge.
• Who Gives A Crap: Turning a routine product like toilet paper into a conversation starter is no small feat. This brand not only uses eco-friendly materials but also embeds humor in its messaging. The result? A mundane product transformed into a delightful, eco-conscious choice

AND ‘THE EXPERIENCE’ 

Tony Hsieh offered a free return policy at Zappos, sensing that customer trust would outweigh the costs. And it did, with Zappos becoming the gold standard in customer service.

Harvard Business Review’s 2014 article underpins this strategy, tying supreme customer experiences to 140% enhanced spending.

• Julie Bornstein (The Yes) – Personalized Shopping Experience:  Intuitively sensing the desire for personalization, the app reshapes online shopping into a personalized experience by using AI to adapt to user preferences. Each ‘yes’ or ‘no’ refines the app’s understanding of the user’s style, making each shopping experience more tailored than the last.
• Benjamin Witte (Recess) In the crowded beverage industry, Witte’s Recess stands out not just for its unique CBD-infused sparkling water but also its presentation. Sensing that consumers wanted a beverage that spoke to their identity and aesthetic, Recess invested heavily in design, branding, and content, making each can feel like a lifestyle choice rather than just a drink.
• Gemma and Phil Lester (Mush) – Their intuition told them that the modern mom wasn’t just looking for parenting advice but genuine connections with others in the same life phase. The app’s success lies in its ability to foster real-life meetups and friendships.

NETWORKS NOT TRANSATIONS

Oprah Winfrey didn’t just interview people; she connected deeply, turning her show into a global sensation. Her ability to nurture genuine connections redefined TV talk shows.

LinkedIn’s 2016 study corroborates the power of such authentic networking, revealing 85% job placements arise from genuine networking.

• Miguel McKelvey – WeWork: While WeWork is known for its coworking spaces, its real value proposition, envisioned by co-founder Miguel McKelvey, was creating a community for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and startups. Beyond just desks and office spaces, WeWork became a hub for networking events, collaborative projects, and a sense of belonging for many solitary professionals.
• Tobi Lütke – Shopify:  Intuitively grasping the challenges faced by independent sellers, Lütke focused not just on providing an online selling platform but on fostering a community. Shopify’s forums, local meetups, and annual conferences like Shopify Unite have enabled merchants to collaborate and learn from one another.
• Joanna Griffiths – Knix:  Recognizing that women sought open conversations about topics like body image and menstruation, Knix leveraged real customer stories, created community-driven campaigns, and hosted events, establishing a supportive network around the brand.
• Alexandra Zatarain – Eight Sleep:  Alexandra Zatarain, co-founder of Eight Sleep, decided to focus on the larger goal: sleep fitness. The company nurtures a community centered around sleep optimization, offering sleep coaching, insights from sleep data, and forums for users to exchange tips and experiences.

These entrepreneurs have keenly tapped into the modern desire for connection and community. By not just offering a product or service, but a space for users to connect and share experiences, they’ve created loyal communities and, by extension, business success.

Each story is a testament that in business, intuition isn’t about going against the data but about seeing beyond it. 

so – what’s possible for your organisation?  Arrange a complimentary clarity call and let’s explore pssibilities.