Entrepreneurship and New Venture Strategies
Many of us aspire to creating something new; doing original work; making an impact and helping people solve their pressing needs. We have all heard of the entrepreneurial heroes like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg and Elon Musk and their achievements. We use the tools, products and services that they created. If you harbor hopes of doing something similar, making your own dent in the universe, here is were you can get a quick handle on the latest thinking and processes for turning your dreams into reality.
A start up is not a mini version of an existing company. It is a completely different animal.
Over the past decade a new way process for thinking about and developing start ups has evolved. It is called the Lean Start Up methodology and it is a radical departure from previous thinking and has been a huge part of Silicon Valley enterprise creation and has now spread to large enterprises like GE, government agencies like DOD and NIH, as well as being implemented in incubators and accelerators world wide.
A startup is a temporary enterprise in search of a sustainable and repeatable business model. Before you think about writing a lengthy business plan and creating financial projections, you need to go through the iterative process of finding product/market fit.
Lean startup is a proven and tested methodology that employs the scientific method of first generating hypotheses, testing them against customers, and refining your value proposition based on their response.
This seminar will get you familiar with the concepts and processes that reduce risk and increase the probability of being successful in any new venture.
You need to get out of the building, meet with customers, and collect data. And iterate, pivot or persevere in response.
What gets measured gets managed.
Entrepreneurial mindset
How best to organize, execute and deal with uncertainty and risk and fear of failure
- 7 Habits
- 80/20 Rule Pareto’s law
- Pomodoro Technique
- Stoicism
You need to first find a viable business model and product/market fit before you attempt:
Business Plans: why no business plan survives its first encounter with potential customers
Financial Projections: Adoption, scale and growth dynamics
Gurus:
- Steve Blank
- Eric Ries Lean Start Up
- Sean Ellis Growth Hacking
- Osterwolder Business Model Canvas
Start up Methodology
Searching for a repeatable, sustainable Business Model
Business Model Canvas
Value Proposition
Problem/Need Solution
- Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
Benefit
- Entertainment
Customer
- Discovery
- Validation
- Development
Relation between Value Proposition and Customer segments
Product/Market Fit
MVP Minimal Viable Product
- Low Fidelity
Niche Down and Iterate
Adoption and growth trends
Strategy
Lean Strategy
Blue Ocean
SWOT analysis
Technology
Barriers to Entry
Competitive Analysis
- Petal Diagram
2 essential ways to compete:
- Cost leader
- Differentiation
Business Structure
- Sole Proprietorship
- LLC or LLP
- Corporation
Marketing
Branding
Growth Hacking
Monetize ideas
- Business Model
- Pricing
- Free
- Fremium
- Getting Customers to pay (Toupee)
Economics
- Supply and Demand
- Costless products/infinite supply
Finance
- Capex vs Opex
- Risk vs. Reward
- Valuation
- Debt
- Equity Investment
Marketing in the Digital Age:
- Web 2.0
- Growth Hacking
- Customer Funnels
- Conversions
- Branding
- Permission
- Content
- The Long Tail
Create Assets for competitive advantage, barriers to entry, and to fund around:
- Write Patents
- Trademarks
- Domain names
Dealing with Failure; lessons learned
Transition and Side Hustle
- Bootstrapping
Scale and automation
Technology
- Convergence
- Rogue Waves
Value Proposition
Pain Killers
- Easier
- Savings
- Time
- Effort
Solving
Intensity
Frequency
Gain Creators
- Quality
- Performance
- Delight
Ranking Gains and Pains According to relevance to customers
Customer Segments
- Customer Archetypes
Product Market Fit
Technical Insight
Market Insight
Competition
Competitive Analysis
Customer discovery
Messaging
Top 3-5 pains
Customers Persona/Archetype
Profile:
Age
- Sex
- Budget
- Matter
- Motivate
- Influences
- Role Models
Customer Acquisition
Budgeting Discipline
Premature spending is the killer of start ups
- Burn Rate
- Runway
Marketing Funnel
Get, Keep, Grow customers
Get
- Awareness campaigns
- Interest
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Track conversions
- Viral loop
- Incentives
- Accelerate
- Reduce CAC
Keep
- Loyalty programs
- Churn/attrition rates
- Contests
- Blog
- Content marketing
- Permission marketing
- Seth Godin
Grow
- Unbundling
- Freemium
- Upsell
- Cross sell
- Next sell
- Referrals
- Affiliate marketing
Activate customers
Calls to Action
Customer Acquisition Cost CAC
Lifetime Value LTV
Metrics
LTV greater than CAC
Present value calculation on LTV
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) < Life time value (LTV)
Revenue Models
- Product/Service
- Freemium
Revenue Streams
- Strategy
Pricing
- Tactic
Business Model Canvas
9 squares
Product/Market Fit
MVP Minimal Viable Product
Scale
FOMO fear of missing out
Venture Capital
Investors
Lean Strategy
Branding
Lean Startup: get data for revenue model
Diffusion of Innovation
- Early Adopters
- Evangelists
- Crazy People
- Business Development
- Main Stream users
Package Products
- Unbundle
- Value based packaging
Partner Strategy
Resources
- Physical
- Financial
- HR
- IP
- Trademarks
- Logos, branding, slogans
- Copyright
- Trade secrets: NDA
- Patents
- Trademarks
Cost Structure
- Most Expensive Costs
- Fixed Costs
- Variable Costs
Costs < Revenues
Sustainable Business Model
Metrics that Matter
What gets measured gets managed
Execution Metrics
- Balance Sheet
- Income Statement
- Cash Flow Statement
