Life at Ventures: A Look Inside Our Innovation Funnel
June 2, 2022
In order to develop world-changing products, we first must create world-changing ideas. There is no exact recipe for innovation — as much as we wish there was — but we know to engineer the future of humanity, we need a curious blend of research, development, and experimentation - and the creative minds to support it.
Forming a team of people willing to think differently and challenge themselves - and each other - will be what results in breakthrough opportunities. It will be the footing for ATB Ventures to bring trusted and loved products to the market.
In response, we have taken the approach of democratizing our mandate of “Always on Ideas”. We know that the next best idea could come from any of us, but it is most likely to come from a combination of us all. We work together - a collective of diverse minds - in order to challenge our existing thinking patterns, ultimately leading us to think outside the box. It is within that space we have and will continue to uncover world-changing ideas.
From idea to reality
All of our products start with a single ingredient: curiosity. Each member of our fast-growing team is an innovator with the autonomy to pursue big ideas. And all of us, from engineers and data scientists to researchers and salespeople, have a genuine interest in finding solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges– like ensuring everyone has control over their data through digital identity, creating open-source tools for innovators, and making sure AI is being used responsibly and fairly.
The Ventures team are all experts in one field or another, but that doesn't mean we limit our ideas to our areas of expertise. Instead, we encourage everyone to challenge the status quo. What are the problems people are facing now, and what will they evolve to be five, ten or even twenty years from now? As we combine our collective resources to generate answers to these questions, our focus isn't on technology itself, but rather on harnessing the potential of emerging technology to solve complex problems.
But even as we're resolutely forward-facing, we recognize that our products must succeed in their testing within today's market. For us, that sparks three major design-thinking questions, each of which we ask ourselves again and again as we funnel ideas toward products in an iterative, experimental process:
Is this product desirable? Will it solve the problems and improve the day-to-day lives of real-life, present-day customers?
Is this product feasible? Are we capable of developing the technology to bring the idea to life?
Is this product viable? Can we create a business plan that will justify the expense of time, money and resources needed to create the product?
Answering these questions requires a multi-pronged approach involving the input of many different team members. We take time to familiarize ourselves with the existing research, and we perform research of our own. We conduct exploratory interviews with customers to zero in on specific desires and pain points. And we design mockups that we test and test again, refining the product step by step in response to real-world pressures and needs.
Engineering the future
We take the responsibility to improve lives very seriously, and as such we are constantly creating solutions to problems that different people around the globe are faced with. We know that with a diverse mix of people and a healthy amount of ambitious thinking we can help engineer the future of humanity.
This has been a glimpse into life at Ventures. Please get in touch with our Talent Acquisition team if you think you have a unique perspective to add into the conversation. Our next life at Ventures piece will focus on our data team and the stories that they weave from analog numbers - make sure you don’t miss it by signing up for our newsletter.