My first approach is to try and read as much as possible of what is out there regarding a certain topic or problem, just to get an idea of how it might develop next. For me, that’s the most interesting thing, trying to understand how a certain business idea could grow, even become huge, and what it would take. What are the steps? And then understanding how easy or difficult it might be to get there. Sometimes the difficulties are purely technical. The current technology might only bring you so far. Oftentimes, though, it’s about the organization, people, risk, and all sorts of other elements come into the mix. I then try to analyze where the critical points are that might make a project fail or work. This is a concept that X (formerly Google X) uses so well. Shell too had a wonderful innovation accelerator that focused on identifying the potential key points of failure in a project and testing those first, rather than funding a project sequentially, one step at a time – which is a more typical approach. This system forces you to look at the whole process. You try to identify the critical steps, the most difficult issues to overcome. If you can find a good solution for those, then you can work on the rest, and fund the whole project.