How Intuit's founder used observation from Apple's Lisa to start up his company

• The Lisa wasn’t trying to do financial software at all, but that graphical user interface the mouse and drop-down menus was amazing.

Spotting only part of an already existing great intelligent system insight

• Following the meeting, he drove to the nearest restaurant and sat down with a pad of paper. He wrote out the various insights that he’d gained from watching the concept of the graphical user interface.

Writing down the insights you gained from the above step to make the thoughts clear. insight

• Cook’s observation convinced him that not only could the Lisa perform repetitious financial functions, but that its easy-to-use mouse and drop-down menus would allow the average person to use a computer.

Add your own imagination to find a new potential. insight

• He was completely intrigued by the concept of making the items on a computer screen “work just like their real-world counterparts.” (For example, a Quicken electronic check looks just like a paper check.)

Real world mimicry, using associations insight

• By building a software program that acted a lot like what people do in their daily lives, Intuit grabbed over 50 percent of market share the year after it was introduced.