Company

MetaMemes is a small company with a simple mission: bringing people and ideas together. We're a husband and wife team who enjoys working on projects we're passionate about. We bring in expert consultants when needed, but our backgrounds allow us to be quite self-sufficient.

Inventing ThinkCube

After years of collecting ideas, self-proclaimed idea addict Kes Sampanthar had been longing to share his passion with the world. And the "Aha!" moment struck him while sitting on a beach in Australia – by recording his favorite ideas on small cards, Kes could assemble an Idea Library to provide creative inspiration to others.

But the Idea Library on its own wasn't enough to help people innovate. Over the next two years, Kes immersed himself further in the domain of innovation and uncovered two important flaws. First, while many books, studies, and other products discuss elements of the creative process, none bring it all together. Second, the fundamental step of brainstorming is largely ill-defined. People try to brainstorm and quickly become frustrated when they fail to come up with a great idea, thinking they are the problem.

Developing a product that brings together everything you need to innovate effectively was relatively easy. The challenge was reinventing brainstorming.

Kes realized that one of his hobbies – board games – might contain the answer. Board games are a perfect example of bringing people together in a creative and fun environment. Kes bought and played as many board games as his wallet would allow, and quickly realized that a great board game hinges more on a great mechanic than on fancy pieces or a nifty theme. This realization prompted Kes to consider ways to combine his Idea Library with game mechanics.

After much thought, evaluation, and incubation, Kes built a prototype, which he published in 2004 as MetaMemes – Early Adoption Release. MetaMemes was a game of ideas about ideas intended for 20-30 something game-playing geeks. The game sold out within a year, but largely to an unexpected market of innovative professionals intending to use it with a purpose!

With a new understanding of the market and audience, MetaMemes (the game) was refined to form ThinkCube – the first in a series of products and services aimed at building innovative cultures. Watch for ThinkCube expansion packs in areas like nanotechnology, biotechnology, and management strategy. with your requests!

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