Managing Redundant Knowledge in Venture Development

As my students will confirm, I am a process nerd. I live and breathe anything that supports the development of new ventures and innovation. You can refer to an earlier post on the new venture realization process I use with founders and startups. For this article, I want to focus on "connecting the dots" during your venture … Continue reading Managing Redundant Knowledge in Venture Development

Maximizing the Value of Startup Mentors & Advisors

Startup founders often seek advice for a variety of reasons. By tapping into the expertise of various individuals, they gain valuable insight and advice on navigating the challenges and uncertainty of starting and growing a business. In addition, founders gain support and encouragement as they work to bring their ideas to life and overcome obstacles. … Continue reading Maximizing the Value of Startup Mentors & Advisors

Startup Failure: Five Avoidable Challenges

Many articles describe the challenges that entrepreneurs face as they launch new enterprises. The statistics certainly validate how difficult starting a new business can be for even experienced entrepreneurs. However, it is challenging to provide current statistics on startup failure rates, as these rates can vary depending on various factors, such as the industry, location, … Continue reading Startup Failure: Five Avoidable Challenges

The Power of Crowdsourcing for Startups

People frequently ask entrepreneurs how they come up with new ideas. This answer is not as straightforward as one might think. There are many ways that entrepreneurs and innovators come up with new ideas, products, and processes. Even once you have a list of idea-generating sources, it is only half the story. As it turns … Continue reading The Power of Crowdsourcing for Startups

The Reading Deck: Early Business Plan Document

No idea or company attracts resources to help it grow unless the entrepreneur can communicate the opportunity clearly to potential stakeholders, whether they are investors, bank loan officers, corporate partners, acquirers, suppliers, or employees. Over the years, I have worked with thousands of startup founders and teams and have honed in on a suite of … Continue reading The Reading Deck: Early Business Plan Document

The Role of Information Search in Opportunity Discovery

One of the core professional skills that all entrepreneurs and innovators need to develop is what I call venture knowledge management. When you think about creating a new venture, from opportunity recognition to launch, founders are inundated with information. This information comes from multiple sources: Market research Talking to customers Seeking advice from mentors Speaking … Continue reading The Role of Information Search in Opportunity Discovery

Maximizing Social Impact through Innovation

In a recent post, I spoke about the importance of applying a structured innovation process to develop and launch your startup. Furthermore, I argued that a reasonable approach would accommodate a variety of contexts, from startup to corporate innovation. This article focuses on using the venture realization process to develop social innovations that create value, impact, … Continue reading Maximizing Social Impact through Innovation

Discovering Your Marketplace

I want to offer steps you can apply to develop a good understanding of the market opportunity you are pursuing as you build your business plan to launch the venture. This analysis divides into four areas: Founder, Customer, Industry, and Startup Ecosystem. As discussed in previous posts, the first area deals with the founding team's … Continue reading Discovering Your Marketplace

Classify Your Startup to Optimize Market Research

My initial idea for this post was to write about the steps required to conduct a practical analysis of the relevant industry or sector that helps the founder examine the external environment in which the team will operate. The more I researched industry analysis methods, the more I realized how challenging it could be for … Continue reading Classify Your Startup to Optimize Market Research

New Venture Realization: Principles & Practices

In this post, I want to update our readers and subscribers on the current thinking about how new ventures move from an early idea to launch. I have been teaching topics associated with innovation for over 30 years, focusing on new product innovation. Over the years, my interests have evolved to include new venture creation … Continue reading New Venture Realization: Principles & Practices