5-step idea development framework
My 5-step framework to developing ideas. I’m kind of going to use Oak’s first bike as an example
My 5-step framework to developing ideas. I’m kind of going to use Oak’s first bike as an example:
Step 0 - The Idea
So, it starts with an idea, right? I wanted a criterium-specific bike and couldn’t find a brand that made one with all the characteristics I wanted.
Step 1 - Research
First, I confirmed my assumptions and really searched for that bike. Eventually trying to making one become the logical solution. Sometimes someone has developed your idea before, which is when competition comes into the fold. That shouldn’t discourage you, it should make you figure out how you’ll be different!
Step 2 - Sketching
Roughly outlining the idea helps me understand if it really is something I want to commit to. It also helps with the details needed for the next step. In this example, I laid out, with as much detail as possible, the specific things I wanted to incorporate on this bike.
Step 3 - Help
This is a hard step for a lot of people—asking for help. More often than not, you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) do everything by yourself. This is a great time to ask for help. If you’re developing a product, this is where you find who can help you make it [AKA your supplier(s)]. Ideally you find several people that can help /make your idea and choose the one(s) that make more sense!
Step 4 - Test & fine-tune
Test the craaap out of your idea. Make it fail so others can’t. Figure out how others could break, misinterpret and rip-off your idea. Then, fix it. To the best of your ability, make your idea as bulletproof as possible. This is where you’ll understand if it can really work or not.
Step 5 - Share!
You did it! If this is a product, market it, if it’s a personal project/ idea, just share it with your following or your friends and family. Even if you did something that was intended for yourself, a “good job” from someone you love will got a long way. So don’t be shy. I too am here to brainstorm and hear all of your ideas!
Link batch #3
Cool content, cool products, and some bike nerd stuff.
Cool content
As you can imagine I’m a sucker for criterium content and so far, the documentaries by the Butcherbox team for a few years, were my favorite, having watched them a few times. A couple of days ago, team American Cycling Group presented by BMC came out with an awesome documentary on the American Crit Cup series, made by one of the most iconic content creators in the industry—Angus Morton.
Why it’s relevant to me. This is the race series I’ve dreamed of racing and now do at the professional level, so this just gets me really excited.
Why it’s relevant to you. These short films are a great way of learning about our sport and falling in love with it!
Cool products
This is a bit random but I obsess over random bike products and now you’re going to know all about them (sorry, not sorry). Wheels are a huge part of racing bikes and I’ve changed my favorites many times but these ones have stuck for a few years now…
Why it’s relevant to me. I don’t have them because I run Shimano group sets (even though they’d work fine, it’s a branding thing, I guess). But there’s just nothing like the look of simple, classy Italian wheels… (I told you—random)
Why it’s relevant to you. Just because I haven’t used them it doesn’t mean you can’t. Meaning, they might be installed on some upcoming Oak bike builds…
Bike nerd stuff
Crank length has been a rising argument in the past 1-2 years as people are looking for more and new ways to improve their performance and become more comfortable on the bike. I really enjoyed the points Jamie had to make about it here.
Why it’s relevant to me. I’ve been running shorter cranks for almost 7 years now, mostly because of fixed-gear racing, and then just got used to it. It’s cool to learn more about the science behind it.
Why it’s relevant to you. Are you average height or shorter and ride bikes? Then this is probably relevant to you and could make you just that much more comfortable/ faster on the bike!
Link batch #2
Cool content, cool products, and some bike nerd stuff.
Cool content
There’s just something about a beautiful bike. This mechanic/ photographer is one of my favorite people to follow online because of the amazing taste he has in putting bikes together.
Why it’s relevant to me. This inspires me and helps me come up with ideas for not only my bikes but also Oak’s!
Why it’s relevant to you. It’s easy to get carried away with all the available choices out there but sometimes simply “copying” or getting inspired by someone else’s choices, will take you to the next level.
Cool products
This bike bag is changing the experience of traveling to bike races.
Why it’s relevant to me. I’ve been traveling with bike bags for 12+ years. I’ve tried all kinds of bag models and usually lean towards the more aesthetically pleasing ones. While traveling to so many races in the past year, functionality became more important. This is the only bag I’ve ever seen/ used that makes traveling with a bike less annoying due to the fact you don’t have to remove your handlebars and seat post (if you’re short like me).
Why it’s relevant to you. Racing bikes, traveling with bikes, functionality, design… These are all things at the core of Oak, which makes this product not only important to our brand but also a teaser…
Bike nerd stuff
Following the trend in the professional peloton of using longer stems, this gentleman did some testing on how that would affect an average Joe and the results are quite interesting.
Why it’s relevant to me. I too usually try to install longer stems on my bikes because again, I too have found similar results. Plus it looks cool.
Why is relevant to you. Maybe you’ve struggled with comfort on the bike and this can help. Maybe you want to look more like the pros and didn’t know if you could try…
Link batch #1
Cool content, cool products, and some bike nerd stuff.
Cool content
Cool products
Bike nerd stuff
Idaho bike racing
I wanted to highlight the local Idaho bike community. It’s not perfect (like everything else in life) but it’s pretty freaking awesome—I set out to organize a sanctioned race for the first time. It was a blast.
I wanted to highlight the local Idaho bike community. It’s not perfect (like everything else in life) but it’s pretty freaking awesome—I set out to organize a sanctioned race for the first time. It was a blast. Thanks to everyone on ULTRAPASS (our development racing team), the event ran smoothly and (even though it was cold) we crowned a bunch of new State Champions and showed the local community we’re here to stay. I’m excited to start getting Oak more involved in the community through these endeavors as it will obviously be a locally based company!
As most of you know, cycling is a pretty niche sport, yet the Tour de France is the second most watched sporting event in the World. In the US we don’t have that type of racing but it is here that criterium racing thrives. As the sport grows, it’s a great time to get into it. You can now watch the Tour de France on Netflix and more and more US criteriums are providing livestreams (starting with a week of racing at Speedweek which starts this Thursday!) so stay tuned because it’s only going to get better!
Oak intro
I’ve been working on this specific project for about 5 months now. Actually if I’m being honest, it’s been 28 years in the making… Some of you have known me since childhood, some from school, sports, previous business endeavors… All of those outlets have played a part in this—what I believe to me my life’s project.
My name is André Abreu. You know me because I’m sending this e-mail to all of my contacts—from my parents to acquaintances. I have something to share with everyone.
I’ve been working on this specific project for about 5 months now. Actually if I’m being honest, it’s been 28 years in the making… Some of you have known me since childhood, some from school, sports, previous business endeavors… All of those outlets have played a part in this—what I believe to me my life’s project.
Oak.
Oak is going to be an extension of me, my passions and my family. The word oak itself, comes from my mom’s last name (and my middle name), which is Carvalho (oak tree in Portuguese).
No, I’m not selling anything, I’m just sharing from the heart. I’ve been developing this brand out of the excitement of finally understanding what I’m really passionate about and how I can turn that into my life’s calling.
So, what exactly is Oak? Right now, it’s this e-mail. It’ll be e-mails that I’ll send periodically updating you all on the world of bikes, and our place in it. Yes, it is a bike related thing and if that’s not of your interest, that’s ok. By the end of this e-mail, hopefully there’s a few of you left…
This brand will be the culmination of a lot of things a lot of you know me from: a bicycle company (Kingdom), a cycling team (ULTRAPASS), content creation (StachePower), my family (Abreu), design (Slash) and of course, who I am in all of these things and what I try to embody in everything I do—joy.
Through my business and cycling endeavors I hope to get more people excited about bike racing, bicycles and just some good ol’ adrenaline pumping through the veins. To be honest with you all, I’m not entirely sure what this will turn out to be. I do have a lot to share on the matter, thus why we’re here.
There’s quite a few things in the works and I will share all of it, every single detail, with you all. For now, I won’t bore you too much and conclude by saying thank you for reading this far. If none of what I said sounds interesting, feel free to unsubscribe. If it does, look out for the next e-mail as not only will I be updating you on the company, but also start sharing some links I’ve been enjoying/ think to be relevant lately.