The 3rd period of this mooc is about understanding opportunities.
From the flow of ideas, opportunities we are all exposed too, it is important to put in place a process for quickly filtering the one that make sense, and from there identifying the best one that are worth investing time and eventually resources on.
The framework that we propose to use for that purpose, applies, across industries and nature of business (retail, manufacturing, online, product or service, etc.). The framework identifies 2 core dimensions for assessing a venture project, which break down in a number of sub-questions:
The attractiveness of the business opportunity?
Is there a market?
From the nature of the differentiator, what is the value proposition and the competitive advantage?
Is it possible to build a sustainable business?
Is it doable as a startup?
The cost of entry for building a success
The main risks factors that can lead to failure
The feasibility of the execution
The core skills required to lead the venture to success
This framework is part of a 4 steps process:
Understand the core know-how involved in building the venture, as it will drive how you will allocate and burn resources for building the project
Recognize the industry and competitive battle ground, as it will help to understand against whom the venture will compete, and anticipate on how they will try to harm or retaliate or slow you down
Identify comparable is crucial, as not finding one is often considered as highly suspicious about the potential of your idea. And finding a comparable is of great help for the entrepreneur, as it provides evidences and confirmation of the viability of the business case, and key reference point about the journey (funding, traction and growth dynamic, exit, etc.)
There is no better way to understand the rational of this lecture than trying to apply the process and use the framework to one of your idea.
There are additional resources listed on the website, that might help you in this learning process.
