Examining my Business Idea

At this moment I am working on the feasibility study. The article for this week gave me some lights on this matter.

The article “Knowing a Winning Business Idea When you See One” talks about strategies for identifying business ideas with real market potentials. It specifically describes three tools:

- Creating Exceptional Utility. Successful innovator focus on how the product or service will change the lives of its customers. The Buyer Utility Map, and the Buyer Experience Cycle can help to find out and asses the utility of the product.

- Setting Strategic Price. Today, the information flows so quickly that you cannot afford to test the introduction price. You must know from day one the right price. If the price for a product/service is not easy to determine, the manager can use other mechanisms: compare products of different form but same function, or compare products of different form and functions but same objective. Also the price must take into consideration other factors such as IP, patents, etc.

- Building a Business Model. Every business at the end, has to turn a profit. In this respect, the dimension shall be considered: the cost target, the partners, and price model. A business sets its cost target to remain competitive. It can manipulate process, suppliers, and other aspects to achieve the target. The partnership may turn very important as other companies can complement your missing capabilities. And finally, choosing wisely the price model: direct selling, renting, time-sharing, slice-sharing, etc. can help the business overcome market barriers.

In respect to my venture, I did an exercise on the Buyer Utility Map, and did an analysis based on the Buyers Experience Cycle. Also I brainstormed about the possible partners/alliances and price model the business could adopt.

In the Buyer Utility Map analysis, I had filled the Simplicity+Purchase, Simplicity+Use squares. In order serve senior people, the site should be very simple (and user friendly). Also the square Productivity+Use was filled with “resume management” functionality. As the venture progresses, I should comply the Convenience row.

In terms of Buyer Experience Cycle, I found that the Purchase challenging one. I should think of how to reach the market. One possible answer is the segmentation and targeting concentration, as mentioned in the class. Another important cycle is the Use. Probably do survey and/or usability research will give me more insight about this topic.

Partnership and alliances seems straight forward at this moment. I am thinking making partnership relations public service institutions, universities in this sector, and other related NPOs.

The price model for now is membership, and advertisement in the site.

In order to develop my innovation and entrepreneurship skills, I searched related books. Recently I found an interesting book: “The Innovator's Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation” by Peter J. Denning, and Robert P. Dunham. I will post a summary when I am done reading it.

. Young-Suk .