The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

In this weeks show, Phil McKinney and Kym McNicholas talk about the winners of the technology and innovation competitions held at CES along with an eclectic set of companies and innovations they believe could be winners in 2016. They discuss: Extreme Tech Challenge – one of the largest innovation competitions with more than 3,000 entrants each year, […]

In this weeks show we discuss the 15 secrets successful innovators know about time management. As inventors, innovators and creatives, we struggle with prioritization given that we tend to be working on multiple ideas at the same time. I know I struggle. This weeks guest, Kevin Kruse, is a New York Times best selling author has […]

This weeks show is the annual "prediction" of what will be at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and what that means for the innovation trends and technology trends for 2016. Some of the innovations and technologies discusses include: Next generation TV's and displays Virtual Reality (VR) and what to expect for content Wearable's such […]

This weeks show gives insight into a serial entrepreneur and the cycles he went through from starting, pivoting and selling his past companies and his current start-up that has gone through its pivot to find its place in the market. What's the secret of pivoting your company so that its a better chance of success? Guest: Jeff […]

In this weeks show, Kym McNicholas joins Phil to share her surprise and enthusiasm for Colorado, and specifically the Boulder, start-up scene along with sharing her work with Sir Richard Branson and the Extreme Tech Challenge.

Some of the topics the two cover include:

* Kym reveals some surprises on Phil and his “personal time” activities and his secret weapon at trade shows

* Colorado and the Boulder start-up scene

* The difference between the startup culture in Colorado and Silicon Valley

* The Extreme Tech Challenge and Sir Richard Branson's involvement

* Discuss the process to select the top 25 out of thousands of companies submitted

* Discuss the 5 in the top 25 companies that are from Colorado

* Kym and Phil's share their favorites of the top 25 companies in this years Extreme Tech Challenge

You can listen to the audio for the December 6th show.

The top 25 companies in this years Extreme Tech Challenge are:

Note: No killer question this week.

In this weeks episode, we take a look at toys that help our kids to discover their own creative ability. With the emerging creative economy, creativity is quickly becoming a foundational skill that everyone will need to have to succeed and where better to start than with our kids creativity. What's the secret to creative kids?

We cover such topics as:

* Why are some toys better than others when it comes to allowing our kids to experience their own creativity?

* Are unstructured toys (e.g. “Instructions Not Included) better at sparking creative kids?

* What does it take to create this new generation of toys?

Show Links:

* Modular Toys on Amazon

* Modular Toys website

Guest: Vitali Minin – Founder and CEO of Modular Toys

Vitali Minin searched for 3d racetrack construction toy for his son but he could not find a true 3d racetrack construction toy. The natural response for this kind of situation for any entrepreneur was – “I`ll do it”. Using his design background, he developed the concept, including the design,  and presented it to the big companies in toys industry. Fortunately – all of the companies rejected the idea.

To give up was not an option. Vitali searches and finds Plastokit Quality ltd, a plastic injection factory in Israel. He forms a partnership with Avi Levy and Shimon gal,  the owners of Plastokit. They together developed the first prototype of Modular Racetrack and presented it at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. As they say, the rest is history.

Today, Modular ™ Construction Toys specializes in the design and production of three dimensional construction toys. The concept is based on a new patented and innovative modular system that enables multiple variations developing 3D perception, planning, creativity and abstract thinking.

* Vitali Minin on Linkedin

* Modular Toys on Facebook

* Information on Modular Toys products

Other Resources:

* How to Nurture Creativity in Your Kids

* How to teach kids to be more creative (video)

* Kid Entrepreneurs: A 10 Year Old Who Is Franchising His Idea S12 Ep14

Killer Question

Odds are that you and your competitors are actually competing in two distinct ways. The obvious battle is the one to win customers from each other. The less obvious, but equally important, one is the battle for the resources required to produce your product.

In previous episodes, I touched on the concept of unexpected jolts, and how the disruptions they cause can be not only destructive but also an opportunity for a savvy company to make bold moves and leapfrog over their competition.

One way to prepare for jolts is to assess your relationship with key suppliers, and figure out if those relationships are strong enough to survive an unexpected event.

In the innovation game, finding and engaging in a community of innovators where you can get your questions answered is important. Otherwise, you face your biggest innovation challenge alone.

This weeks show centered around the answers to the most common listener questions. These questions included:

* What is the biggest innovation challenge (mistakes) organizations face?

* How did the “7 Laws of Innovation” come about? (Link to poster)

* What was your biggest innovation success?

* What was your biggest innovation failure?

* What was your biggest innovation challenge?

* How did you get into doing the Killer Innovations podcast?

* What is your opinion of the decision for HP to split into two separate companies?

* Given that you worked with Carly, what is your opinion of her?

Direct link to Season 11 Episode 35

Killer Question:

Not that long ago, a passenger complaint letter to Virgin Atlantic circulated around the web. It was very long, fully illustrated with photos, clearly somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and very funny, but it made a few good points about the bad food and surly service this particular passenger had experienced. All these years later it still occasionally shows up as one of the most-read stories at telegraph.co.uk.

In 2009, another disgruntled passenger created a music video about how United baggage handlers had broken his $3,500 guitar. He uploaded the song to YouTube, and to date it has been viewed more than fifteen million times. United’s customer service department, which had originally denied him any kind of compensation, quickly changed their minds as the video went viral. They adjusted their tone from defensive to humorous and held a meeting with the passenger. Eventually the airline made a charitable donation to a jazz school in his name.

The problem is that none of their existing, former, or potential customers care that United eventually resolved the customer complaint. All they remember is that it took a funny song and nine million YouTube hits to get the airline to do the right thing.

The point is, it’s easier than ever to find out what your customers are thinking and saying about you these days. It’s also much easier for their opinions to go viral, so it’s imperative that you respond to your them with the same speed and immediacy they use to critique you. Social networking sites have fundamentally changed the nature of the customer complaint. Customer complaints are morphing from one-off exchanges between a customer and a service representative into ongoing conversations, often in real-time, visible to the public, and open to anyone who cares to comment. By monitoring these sites, you can hear what your customers are saying about you, without them even being aware that their opinions are being heard.

When I was still with HP, I found out about a notebook hinge problem through Twitter. How? I had HootSuite app up all the time, and I used it to search for any tweet related to HP. One day I was sitting in my office and a customer tweeted that he was having a problem with a hinge on his HP notebook. The complaint got my attention.

I put down what I was doing and went to respond to the tweet, but before I could even get my hands on the keyboard another customer replied, “It’s a known problem, HP has a repair protocol.