Innovation Simplified
TM
Ideas understood, designed and delivered.
Manufactured product ideas brought to life through clarity, inventive mindset and purposeful delivery.
Steve Blanks | Innovator and author of Skiing Uphill
A different way of approaching innovation
Innovation is rarely simple. Progress often feels like skiing uphill.
You already understand your business, its culture, capabilities, products and markets. My role is to work alongside you as ideas evolve into action.
Wherever you are in the product development journey, a simple process helps you move forward with pace and intent.
See It — Make It — Launch It
Innovation Simplified
TM
Product development becomes clearer when it’s broken into three.
in³ — innovation, cubed
TM
Innovation Simplified is shaped by three critical insights; a way to navigate complexity with intent and clarity.
Use them independently or combine them for a complete, end-to-end innovation journey.
Inspire
The plan cycle
Just getting started?
Getting the foundations right early sets everything that follows.
Clarity is established and experience is applied where it counts.
Invent
The design cycle
Getting creative?
True innovation happens when ideas spark between people.
An independent perspective helps surface opportunities that aren’t always obvious.
Innovate
The deliver cycle
Ready to make it happen?
Innovation is turning ideas into successful products.
This is where the innovation black run truly begins.
Inspire
Plan Your Vision
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Are you a start up needing help to become investment ready?
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Are you a larger business who needs to capture their inner entrepreneurial spirit?
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Do you have a clear vison plus a product roadmap in place to guide the journey?
Choose when to act
Pausing is not hesitation. It’s intelligent preparation.
Align, then enact
Passion is not planning. Act with purpose, not speed.
Once timing and alignment are in place, it’s no longer a solo endeavour.
Invent
Where Ideas Collide
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Are you struggling to make inventive steps that will set you apart from the competition?
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Do you need help to research & adopt materials & technology to create a USP?
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Do you need help to spark & visualize ideas that are optimized for manufacture?
Make to learn
Progress comes from making, testing and adjusting, not waiting for perfect answers.
Build together
Ideas strengthen when they’re challenged, shared and shaped with others. Momentum is about to change the stakes.
Innovate
Execute Your Ideas
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Are you struggling to deliver innovation programs, often missing launch deadlines?
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Are your Team empowered & engaged or blocking progress?
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Do you have agile processes that inject pace into the delivery cycle?
Put it into the world
Ideas change the moment they meet users and customers.
Stand behind it
Credibility builds when products evolve and you stay present.
Reality casts the deciding vote.
How I help
Exploring further
A chance to talk through where your idea is, what’s uncertain, and what decisions are coming into view.
Sometimes that leads to further work. Sometimes it simply brings clarity.
Either way, you leave with a better sense of what the next step should be.
From thinking to making
When further support is needed, the work quickly becomes practical.
That might involve shaping and refining product concepts, exploring materials and manufacturing routes.
Sometimes that means CAD, analysis and 3D printing. Sometimes it means working through suppliers, manufacturers and production constraints before committing to tooling.
The focus is always the same: reliable, repeatable manufacture and part performance.
Service packs
Three collaborative options
Start Up
Micro enterprise exclusive within first year of trading. Includes an Idea viability health check plus innovation pathway plan to help kick start your business when you need it most.
Tailored
Aligned to your business goals, timeline, culture & budget; made to measure you might say! Includes a deep dive to understand your vision & clarify the services you require, creating a clear scope of work exclusively for you.
Retained
Non-executive advice, quarterly innovation MOTs Proactive partnership role to keep you on track to meet growth targets & scale the opportunity, for as long as you require.
Steve Blanks
Experience shaped by doing
My work is grounded in turning ideas into practical, manufacturable products.
Over more than three decades, I’ve designed, developed and launched physical products across a wide range of sectors, often under constraint, often with imperfect information, and always with real-world consequences.
That experience shapes how I approach decisions when they matter.
How the work typically unfolds
Working together is collaborative and practical.
Sometimes that’s hands-on design work. Sometimes it’s stepping back to make sense of trade-offs and choices that aren’t obvious at first glance.
Experience You Can Trust
With extensive global manufacturing experience, I help SMEs turn bold ideas into real, manufacturable products.
Specializing in advanced materials, emerging technologies, and user-centric design, I ensure your product isn’t just inventive—it’s practical, scalable, and production-ready. .
What I Do
Collaborate – Think of me as an extension of your team, listening and acting in your best interests.
Design – Sparking inventive ideas and refining them into reliable, repeatable products.
Project Manage – Delivering on time and on budget, keeping innovation moving. .
Who I Am
Always Open – Honest, practical advice with a freethinking approach to problem-solving.
Entrepreneurial – Thriving in creative chaos, bringing clarity and a path to success.
Positive Mindset – Fearless in doing what’s best, learning from every step.
Bio
I bring first-hand experience from both entrepreneurship and leading global design teams— helping businesses turn ideas into reality.
With 30+ years in global manufacturing, I’ve worked across Automotive, Aerospace, Rail, Construction, and Electrical sectors, solving complex challenges across borders.
Expert in product innovation, specializing in plastics and precision metal forming, I know how to leverage materials, technology, and design for optimal manufacturing.
A serial inventor and Aptiv Innovation Hall of Fame inductee (2018), I understand the value of IP and how to protect it.
I also know the startup journey first-hand—winning the 2013 Nesta Hands Off My Bike competition, a UK government-backed initiative that launched an innovative bicycle security product.
"Replacing metal with polymers in an established market is tough; Steve's non-executive guidance helped us deliver a game-changing, user-centric solution.”
JOHN PITT
Founder
KLIPP-IT, U.K.
"Steve is a true innovator. His creative thinking enables him to approach challenges from unique angles, often resulting in solutions that are not only effective but also transformative."
JON ZICK
Head of Product Innovation
HellermannTyton, USA
“Innovation is to find the right path to a prototype and finished product. Steve has proven to be able to do just that."
KAI GOERLICH
Consultant
Visionary Labs, Germany
in³ Blog
Thought-provoking insights
Nuggets to help move you forward around the three key themes of
Inspire | Invent | Innovate
Blog coming soon...
So, what’s stopping you?
Struggling to execute ideas? Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
Book a free, no-obligation consultation and take the first step toward smarter, faster innovation.