The Role of Information Search in Opportunity Discovery

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Design Thinking: From Empathy to Insight

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Over the next couple of posts, I want to elaborate on ways to prepare for designing an effective solution for your customer. Starting with a design thinking approach, you will learn how to develop a deeper understanding of the customer's experience as they try to solve a specific problem or complete a job to be … Continue reading Design Thinking: From Empathy to Insight

See an Opportunity? Now What?

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See an Opportunity? Now What? You have an idea and are excited to start a new venture. Now what? As you begin to formulate the concept, you will want to conduct a preliminary assessment of the potential opportunity. There are several issues to address to determine whether a new venture idea is worth pursuing. No … Continue reading See an Opportunity? Now What?

Fall in Love With the Problem, Not the Solution

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A new MBA class started last week, and as I was going over the class overview, one of the students asked, "As a team, where do we start?" As I was giving my response, I realized that this is a question I continually obsess over: What is the best way for an entrepreneur to identify … Continue reading Fall in Love With the Problem, Not the Solution

Embrace Your Superpowers!

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In the last post, I discussed the role that entrepreneurial resilience can play in both a new venture's success and a founders' well-being.  Now, I want to explore with you the importance of character strength development and its application to the venture realization process. I  have worked with strength development approaches for several years, dating … Continue reading Embrace Your Superpowers!

Resiliency: A Key to Entrepreneurial Wellbeing

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As the term comes to a close, we have been discussing the plans that each of the founding teams has for their venture. What are your short and long-term action plans as you head towards an eventual launch? During these round-robin discussions, one of the founders expressed with both excitement and some trepidation, "what a wild, chaotic … Continue reading Resiliency: A Key to Entrepreneurial Wellbeing