Coolfarming: Turn Your Great Idea into the Next Big Thing by Gloor, Peter-Hardcover

What exactly is the "magic of cool"? What makes products like the iPhone cool? (Or, in its own day, the phonograph?) And what if you could make your own ideas cool? What if you could even turn them into the next big thing?

Whether you're an entrepreneur or a business leader, what you want most is to be at the head of the pack with the latest, hottest consumer enthusiasm: a product or service that comes across as brilliant, original, and hip; the kind of thing that not only seems cool in and of itself, but makes the lucky consumer who uses it feel cool.

Building on the ideas found in the groundbreaking book Coolhunting, consumer trend expert Peter Gloor's Coolfarming moves beyond simply hunting for the latest hot ideas that are already happening and shows you how to get the "next big idea" off the ground for yourself or your company by nurturing innovative, cutting-edge ideas from the ground up.

"Coolhunting" refers to the process of seeking out and finding the latest trends. Now Coolfarming shows you how to dig deeper and become a part of the initial development phase of what will be the next hot phenomenon, converting creative dreams into cool products by enlisting the help of dedicated and passionate collaborators. You'll learn how to nurture your own Collaborative Innovation Network (COIN), a group of intrinsically motivated people assembled around a common vision.

COINs are not new. They have long been found swarming around the genesis of new ideas. An earlier example of a successful COIN was Menlo Park, the research lab where Thomas Edison assembled other creative geniuses responsible for "hot new ideas" such as air conditioning and the light bulb. The rapidly expanding uses of social networking and Google's exponential, innovation-driven growth are other, more current examples.

In Coolfarming, you'll discover how to grow your own trends by creating an environment where COINs flourish; then--once a product has become established--extend the creative pool into a Collaborative Learning Network, or CLN, whereby a targeted group of interested people are brought in to learn the basics of the product, make suggestions for improvements, point out deficiencies, and push the idea forward.

When this feedback gets incorporated, things get really interesting, expanding the process further outward to a Collaborative Interest Network (CIN) that encompasses thousands or even millions of users, building what hopefully turns into a loyal fan base...and virtually guaranteeing the success of the idea.

Featuring real-life examples from Linux to the Twilight series, from Procter & Gamble to Apple, Coolfarming lets you in on the practical, step-by-step processes that will allow you to successfully cultivate the kind of swarm creativity that generates hot new trends. . .and then push them over the tipping point to commercial success.