A story from a coffee shop owner who faced bankruptcy.

Then he tried one exercise: He took his menu and asked: “What if we Eliminate 80% of this?” The result? A simplified “3-coffee menu” that tripled sales. His secret? The SCAMPER Technique—a 100-year-old innovation tool used by Disney and Google.

Let’s break it down.

One Topic: SCAMPER Technique

What is SCAMPER?

SCAMPER is a creative thinking framework that helps you look at problems from seven different angles. Think of it as a mental Swiss Army knife for innovation. Instead of starting with a blank page, you systematically examine your product, service, or process through seven specific lenses.

The acronym stands for:

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify
• Put to Another Use
• Eliminate
• Reverse

How It Works in Practice

Let me break down each step with real examples:

Substitute: What can you replace to improve things? Netflix substituted physical DVDs with streaming. Simple swap, massive impact.

Combine: What if you merged two things? Uber Eats combined food delivery with ridesharing technology. Boom—new business model.

Adapt: How can you adjust something for a new context? Instagram adapted photo-sharing for mobile phones when everyone else was focused on desktop.

Modify: What can you tweak, make bigger, or smaller? Apple modified the smartphone by removing the physical keyboard entirely.

Put to Another Use: Can you repurpose something? WeWork took the concept of shared office space and applied it to an entirely new demographic.

Eliminate: What can you remove? Google’s homepage eliminated everything except the search bar. Sometimes less really is more.

Reverse: What if you did the opposite? Warby Parker reversed the traditional eyewear model by cutting out middlemen and selling directly to consumers.

Why SCAMPER Actually Works

The beauty of SCAMPER lies in its simplicity. It forces you to think systematically rather than randomly. When you’re stuck, you don’t need divine inspiration—you need a process.

Study has seen teams generate 50+ ideas in a single hour using this technique. Not all ideas are gold, but that’s not the point. The goal is to break through mental barriers and get your creative juices flowing.

Making It Work for Your Business

Here’s how to implement SCAMPER effectively:

Start with a clear problem statement. Vague problems lead to vague solutions. Instead of “How do we improve our product?” try “How do we reduce customer onboarding time by 50%?”

Work through each letter systematically. Don’t skip steps just because one seems less relevant. Often, the best ideas come from the most unexpected angles.

Encourage wild ideas first. Your team will naturally filter out the crazy stuff later. Right now, you want quantity over quality.

Document everything. That “stupid” idea might spark something brilliant later.

A Success Story (Example)

That coffee shop story, I mentioned? He used SCAMPER to completely reimagine their approach. Here is how,

1. Replaced specialty beans with locally roasted, cheaper alternatives (saved 30% costs) [Substitute]
2. Merged “coffee bar” + “co-working space” (charged premium for hourly desk access) [Combine]
3. Copied bakery’s loyalty program: “Buy 9 coffees, 10th free” [Adapt]
4. Scrapped large cups → offered only one size (simplified operations) [Modify]
5. Opened early to sell breakfast sandwiches to construction crews (new revenue stream) [Put to Another Use]
6. Cut 22 drink options → kept only 3 bestsellers (espresso, latte, cold brew) [Eliminate]
7. Flipped “staff makes drinks” to self-serve stations for refills (cut labor costs) [Reverse]

The result?

• Tripled sales in 6 months
• Won “Best Minimalist Cafe” award
• Now franchising the model

Your Next Step

Pick one challenge you’re facing right now. Grab a pen and paper. Write down the seven SCAMPER prompts and spend 10 minutes on each one. Don’t overthink it—just write down whatever comes to mind.

You’ll be surprised what your brain comes up with when you give it a clear framework to work within.

Innovation isn’t about waiting for lightning to strike. It’s about having the right tools to generate ideas when you need them. SCAMPER is one of those tools.

What problem will you SCAMPER next?

Read last week’s JustDraft newsletter about Microplanning over Micromanaging.

Interested in travel, Read last week’s LensLetter about Scams related to Travel using AI.

Two Quotes to Inspire

Creativity is connecting old dots in new ways. It’s not about brilliance—it’s about bold questions.

Innovation isn’t magic—it’s method. It starts when you stop accepting things as fixed.

One Passage From My Bookshelf

You don’t have to be a genius to be creative. Most people are far more creative than they give themselves credit for. When you start thinking of creativity as a muscle that gets stronger with use, it changes everything.

📚 From Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley & David Kelley