I've been reading everything I can find on pre-hospital care delivery in urban Indian milieu. I was very pleasantly surprised to find new commercial products being rolled out in a very saturated market in the US last week.
TV Guide parade- shared with me by a child's parent in clinic contained an ad for this product
http://www.greatcall.com/5Star_urgent_response/5Star_responder/?gclid=COGs_-PHwq4CFcFw4Aodcl98Uw marketed by Sears/Walmart and other large retailers
On 2/14/2012 this new app was launched http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/02/15/former-sun-ceo-schwartz-back-with-startup-carezone/
I'm planning to sign up for the App (free before March 15) and become an early adopter to learn more about their features. I may become a 'customer evangelist' if it helps me monitor and serve my elderly parents in India. If there is a US market for such products, I hope there may be some adopters in emerging markets too.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Competitive Positioning Map
We have discussed the importance of identifying where we stand in relation to our competition. It can be helpful to choose a variety of factors and rate where we stack up against the competition; however, I have found that it can be advantageous to take an even more targeted approach through the use of a competitive positioning map.
In order to successfully implement this method, you will need to choose the 2 most important factors for your product or service that will enable you to differentiate yourself from the competition. For example, let's choose the two factors price and quality. If you decide that you can maximize economic profit through a premium pricing strategy, then you should seek to be in the top right quadrant of the grid (highest quality and highest price).
After selecting where you need to be on the map (check mark) and where the competition currently stands (red x's) then you need to be 100% dedicated to establishing that competitive position. Differentiation is often a critical successes factor and it is imperative to know where you stand and where you are headed. This approach is intuitively simple to understand and has a high visual impact when explained to others.
Staying True to Brand
This week's reading on "The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand" made me realize the importance of not only building a brand, but staying true to it. Once consumers were convinced that Blendtec's blender worked (it even pulverized an iPad!), they became a marketing tool within themselves, spreading the word about the product through various forms of social media.
This made me think of ways in which I could stay true to the purpose of the Friend a Farmer Fair Trade Cart and create an environment in which consumers could consistently be reviewing it and giving feedback. I have been looking at similar ventures such as Loveys Lattes, an organic fair trade espresso cart in New York and California but don't see them creating much hype. What is the point of having a website that is not updated and frequented often? http://www.newyorkcoffeeandcompany.com/carts.html http://www.newyorkcoffeeandcompany.com/carts.html
While the experience I would offer would be more of an interactive one, I'm not sure that it's enough to create a buzz after usage. Since the cart is mobile, I think it would be neat to integrate it into Foursquare or another location based application and create hype around "Where is the Friend a Farmer Fair Trade Cart now?" but the challenge is attracting people to want to know where it is in the first place.
Knowing (and fearing!) the space
Hey class,
The biggest challenge I'm currently facing is how to nail down a feasibility plan while retaining some leeway to alter my venture down the road. When you jump off the pedestal and into the pit, things get murky.
Again, I'm the guy creating an open-source idea-sharing network. Is it a website? An app? Will it feel like a database? Or more like a game? What do people want out of such a thing? Do they actually want it? Will they actually use it? And how do we build a service that resonates with how (and how fast) people think?
I've done some competitive analysis that shows countless existing approaches to idea-sharing. A few, for example:
With so many possible directions to move, it is difficult to gauge the most successful approach. Then, too, it is so difficult to separate what I want from what is optimal, not to mention determining whether the dollar should be the primary evaluative metric. "I want to change people's lives! The money? Oh, right. Oops. Feels like an afterthought. Uh oh."
I guess what I am realizing is that our class is teaching us to go head to head with an issue that many businesses might skirt: Why am I here in the first place?
Sure, our personalities, hobbies, contexts, and awarenesses initially lead us to choose one venture over another. But then we find ourselves trying to make the most of that venture, for better or worse, and start to get that feeling that we and our venture are now wedded. Things start to get serious. And now is about the time when I usually feel myself backpedaling, realizing the limits of the space or (in my current case) just how dangerously wide open it is.
It takes a certain degree of conviction to follow through on these projects. I hope you're all hanging in there leading into the feasibility plan deadline. If I can't immediately offer words of wisdom, I hope at least that my little communique provides some comfort in knowing that someone else out there is as mystified (but hopefully also as determined) as you are.
Having Two Different Customers
Nate and I discussed towards the end of last week's class, our problem of having two different customers for our social venture. We realized that one customer would be the students that participate in the program. These customers would be the ones experiencing a potential improvement in their life (and hopefully future) by becoming part of the program and learning the different skills communicated through our program. Our second customer would be those people who purchased the luxury boats built by the students in the program. The money put forth by these customers would cover the costs incurred by our social venture and enable it to continue. Both customers are extremely important for making our social venture successful and thus when thinking about this week's articles on marketing strategies and creating customer evangelists, I realized that we would have target each customer base in a separate yet equally important way.
The concept of creating a customer evangelist will be crucial to the success of our venture. We need both the students and the boat buyers to spread the word about our program. Ideally by showing the city of Miami the good our program is doing for the students in the area we would create a buzz about our venture increasing the number of students who apply. Students will love the program, the skills they develop, and the opportunities they receive. They will communicate this to other students who will then also wish to join the program. As more and more students become involved, the more we can expand our venture, engaging more students and thus possibly more luxury boats. More luxury boats means more boat buying customers who can also spread the word about our program. This circuit would enable our program to sustain itself and potentially expand. However, it is apparent that creating our customer evangelists will be essential to getting our name out there.
Furthermore, our teenage participants will most likely be users of social media. They, like much of the US teenage population, will be members of online communities, use facebook regularly, and have twitter accounts. Our teenage customers may be one of our greatest assets for marketing and exposure. By realizing this early on the social venture process, we can make sure to utilize our customers to expand our program in the most efficient manner possible.
Lastly, when thinking about how to market our boats to potential customers, I believe it is important that we communicate to buyers that our boats are not only luxury but also serve a good cause. As I mentioned before, if you had the opportunity to spend money on a luxury boat built by a regular company or a luxury boat built by students in a program aimed at serving them and teaching applicable skills, which would you choose? By creating a buzz word or phrase (ie Building boats, building futures) that communicates this notion, we could garner more support in the community and increase our customer base in terms of buyers.
How to present your case?
A team of four MPM students were selected as part of a global case competition, to present their ideas on how One Laptop Per Child could reach 10 million children in 5 years. I was a part of that team, and I wanted to share with you all the things we learned on how to make our presentation to these judges stand-out. The judges were C-level executives from various not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, including the Director of Business Development, OLPC.
Research
We spent a month researching everything about OLPC, everything from news, reviews, talking to people in the field, talking with professors on several angles to look at the case, etc. We got data from the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Census, articles published by the White House, etc. We talked with Amy, who had spent some time at the grass-roots level actually working with the OLPC XO and with the winners of the case challenge in 2010. All this copious research helped us create a profile of facts, and numbers, which would later strengthen our case.
Focusing on an idea
This was the hardest part of the whole process. Whether it is a case study, or actually working with your own idea, it is extremely important to focus on a clear solution. We started working on a 30 second elevator pitch that would define our solution and make its parts clear and concise. We would use this pitch when describing the essence of our idea to others: why are we doing this, what is the current scenario, what is our specific solution and why us. If you can explain it to a friend or a colleague with no background in your field, then you have done a good job. I tried it with my mom :)
Making the presentation
We had to present our idea to the judges in 12 minutes, and use that time for the actual presentation or Q&A as per our discretion. After viewing many TED talks on how to present an idea, we decided that it would be a 2/3 presentation (8mins) and 1/3 Q&A session (4mins) so, once again having a very clear message that could be conveyed in that time was important. All our slides had to content dense, in that, each slide should be able to tell the story, in and of itself. The presenter would only provide additional detail, or walk the audience through data/graphs. We removed every extraneous detail that did not add more information to our flow and tried telling a story with each slide. "Storifying" your slides hooks and engages the audience, and makes them feel a part of the process, instead of just being a silent spectator. Throwing a couple of jokes allows you to gauge the level of engagement you have from the audience :)
Keeping it simple and feasible
I know I mentioned this already, but I cannot stress on the importance of keeping it simple. We spent a month working out our solution, and knew the background, history and details of the case inside and out. But our judges (except the one from OLPC) were completely new to the case, and more than 1/3 of our audience was from 2 other tracks (Housing and Energy, we were Education). So we stayed away from any acronyms, and practiced the presentation several times to make sure we stayed away from superfluous information.
We also tried to really understand the problems that were faced by the organization and worked on a idea that could be achieved starting Monday (the competition was on Saturday). This made our solution believable, in fact, each of us used our actual experience to ensure that our ideas could be put into action immediately. Feasibility is key, and this was resonated by all the judges through-out the competition.
Overall, I believe that a great idea can be completely lost in a not-so-great presentation, but a well presented solution can make a good idea great! If you think of any additional suggestions, please share :)
Research
We spent a month researching everything about OLPC, everything from news, reviews, talking to people in the field, talking with professors on several angles to look at the case, etc. We got data from the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Census, articles published by the White House, etc. We talked with Amy, who had spent some time at the grass-roots level actually working with the OLPC XO and with the winners of the case challenge in 2010. All this copious research helped us create a profile of facts, and numbers, which would later strengthen our case.
Focusing on an idea
This was the hardest part of the whole process. Whether it is a case study, or actually working with your own idea, it is extremely important to focus on a clear solution. We started working on a 30 second elevator pitch that would define our solution and make its parts clear and concise. We would use this pitch when describing the essence of our idea to others: why are we doing this, what is the current scenario, what is our specific solution and why us. If you can explain it to a friend or a colleague with no background in your field, then you have done a good job. I tried it with my mom :)
Making the presentation
We had to present our idea to the judges in 12 minutes, and use that time for the actual presentation or Q&A as per our discretion. After viewing many TED talks on how to present an idea, we decided that it would be a 2/3 presentation (8mins) and 1/3 Q&A session (4mins) so, once again having a very clear message that could be conveyed in that time was important. All our slides had to content dense, in that, each slide should be able to tell the story, in and of itself. The presenter would only provide additional detail, or walk the audience through data/graphs. We removed every extraneous detail that did not add more information to our flow and tried telling a story with each slide. "Storifying" your slides hooks and engages the audience, and makes them feel a part of the process, instead of just being a silent spectator. Throwing a couple of jokes allows you to gauge the level of engagement you have from the audience :)
Keeping it simple and feasible
I know I mentioned this already, but I cannot stress on the importance of keeping it simple. We spent a month working out our solution, and knew the background, history and details of the case inside and out. But our judges (except the one from OLPC) were completely new to the case, and more than 1/3 of our audience was from 2 other tracks (Housing and Energy, we were Education). So we stayed away from any acronyms, and practiced the presentation several times to make sure we stayed away from superfluous information.
We also tried to really understand the problems that were faced by the organization and worked on a idea that could be achieved starting Monday (the competition was on Saturday). This made our solution believable, in fact, each of us used our actual experience to ensure that our ideas could be put into action immediately. Feasibility is key, and this was resonated by all the judges through-out the competition.
Overall, I believe that a great idea can be completely lost in a not-so-great presentation, but a well presented solution can make a good idea great! If you think of any additional suggestions, please share :)
Branding, Social Media, and Advertising Overload
Social Media and Branding: Readings and Experience on this Constantly Evolving Relationship
Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan are correct in their guiding assertions of the role of social media in branding and marketing efforts in "The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand". In summary, a company must first get the basics of their marketing efforts in order (identifying their audience, differentiating their product, pricing, etc.). Marketing teams must place consistently delivering on brand promises (and communicating these successes) above developing social media efforts; social media efforts should compliment their existing, thoughtful efforts. Since I currently work at a marketing research and branding firm I can affirm many marketing departments across a wide span of industries are mortified of being left behind in the social media frenzy. The race-like pace to marketing development gave the rapid emergence of social media a sense of unprecedented urgency: god forbid consumers can't Tweet about the new Tide laundry detergent pods. What if there's no YouTube channel to post the commercials on? What if our users can't share their wonderful experience with Tide Pods on Facebook? *Tide isn't one of our clients but their recent branding struggle with their new line of detergents has drawn the attention of many members of the marketing community*
Joking aside, keeping pace with social media is important as it amplifies rewards but also expedites knowledge of failures. An angry user is more likely to report his or her frustrating experience and now these users have many more means of doing so. Companies want to ensure they are keeping up with their product's online identities and managing their brands strategically online. The danger is that these efforts (both creating original channels and content online as well as overseeing independent channels) could ultimately end up posing as a distraction from the primary focus of the institution or organization: the brand promise. Many of the projects undertaken by the company I work for involve making small changes to their overall approach to integrate social media effectively. This is obviously more important for some firms than others from a demographic perspective (some brands don't want or need to concern themselves with a substantial online presence.) As news broadcasts integrate Twitter feeds and companies create create Facebook pages fort their products I can't help but feel we are now throwing advertising overload into the fray of information overload. As Professor Zak mentioned last week, Google plans to launch a line of augmented reality glasses. Does this mean now I'm going to be subjected to ads via my Twitter or Facebook feeds inches from my eyes when I simply wanted information on a product I see? Who knows, but hopefully marketing companies will continue to be aware that just because they can, doesn't mean they should.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
An Obvious But Difficult Obstacle in Emerging Markets
In the article "Strategies That Fit Emerging Markets", Metro Cash & Carry was exemplified as a company that changed the market contexts in which they operated. This triggered my recent visit to Vietnam, in which I saw the complete establishment of Metro in my hometown. It was only four years ago that it began its development; now it is a fully operating company in a developing country.
Studies have enumerated the various benefits foreign companies can provide to developing countries, such as more jobs and better products. The shift from roadside markets to large warehouses provides Vietnamese residents with fresh, healthy foods. Multinationals existence in developing countries also benefit local governments because it provides them with much needed tax money. Given these benefits, it must be a win-win situation for Metro and Vietnam, right?
Not necessarily. In my last visit to Vietnam, I rarely saw any local Vietnamese people enter Metro. Although it was built in a central location, the parking lots remained relatively empty. Besides the wealthy, most Vietnamese people were content and accustomed with the old-fashioned roadside markets. Culture definitely has a lot to do with an individual's preference. The development of strategies to enter emerging markets must take culture into account.
Side-note: I can't see Metro being profitable in Vietnam in the next 5-10 years. There are too many cultural and social obstacles that need to hurdle. First, Vietnamese households do not store foods lasting longer than 1 or 2 days (tops). Most families buy groceries on a need-basis, buying only what is needed for that day's meal to prevent spoiled and uneaten foods. Second, most households do not have refrigerators or freezers to keep food from spoiling. The lack of storage devices contributes to the limited groceries.
Studies have enumerated the various benefits foreign companies can provide to developing countries, such as more jobs and better products. The shift from roadside markets to large warehouses provides Vietnamese residents with fresh, healthy foods. Multinationals existence in developing countries also benefit local governments because it provides them with much needed tax money. Given these benefits, it must be a win-win situation for Metro and Vietnam, right?
Not necessarily. In my last visit to Vietnam, I rarely saw any local Vietnamese people enter Metro. Although it was built in a central location, the parking lots remained relatively empty. Besides the wealthy, most Vietnamese people were content and accustomed with the old-fashioned roadside markets. Culture definitely has a lot to do with an individual's preference. The development of strategies to enter emerging markets must take culture into account.
Side-note: I can't see Metro being profitable in Vietnam in the next 5-10 years. There are too many cultural and social obstacles that need to hurdle. First, Vietnamese households do not store foods lasting longer than 1 or 2 days (tops). Most families buy groceries on a need-basis, buying only what is needed for that day's meal to prevent spoiled and uneaten foods. Second, most households do not have refrigerators or freezers to keep food from spoiling. The lack of storage devices contributes to the limited groceries.
On realizing I am a 'Customer Evangelist'...
I've often thought of myself as rather detached from mass marketing and traditoinal U.S. consumer culture, even as an MBA student. I didn't grow up in the U.S. with Black Friday shopping mobs and commercialized holiday seasons, I hardly watch TV now because I can't take the commercials, my favorite clothes are made by local tailors in Senegal and I'm honestly too broke to even be a very loyal consumer of most brands I do appreciate. I often tease my husband for 'drinking the Apple juice' because he is so obsessed with anything Apple or Steve Jobs (he has vowed never to sell or dispose of the older Apple products we own, which he claims are the last relics of Steve Jobs). I engage in the classic Mac v. PC battle just for the fun of it, but with no real heartfelt belief. In fact, I look forward to trying a Mac next. So how can it be that I am a customer evangelist?
I was able to recognize a couple of signs upon reading this week's article on "Customer Evangelism." It was a little worrisome, but very enlightening. I've shared two cases below:
Sign #1: Last week a friend of mine told me she is prepping for an interview with Google. She explained that they will likely ask her about her favorite Google product and what improvements she would recommend. Upon asking for my advice and thoughts on this, I launched into an excited 30 minute monologue extolling the values of Google Docs and how once a few glitches are worked on it will have achieved near perfection. I'm pretty sure that my eyes were lit up as the article describes and my voice was "tinged with emotion." Needless to say, she had ample food for thought for the interview.
Sign #2: My first time flying by myself on a long-distance flight was to South Africa when I was 16 on South African Airways. I will never forget the thrill of being upgraded to business class, of eating chocolate and watching movies. Ever since I've never missed the opportunity to use South African Airways (SAA) when traveling from the U.S. to Senegal, even though its tickets are often relatively expensive. Last year I traveled to Senegal three times, all on SAA, once for free because of a flight delay and another time on a two-for-one deal with a friend. All of this is perhaps just the regular behavior of a loyal customer. I think what puts me in the 'evangelist' category is this: as head of decorations for Tepper's International Festival last year, I actually emailed the head of SAA's corporate marketing division with praise and a request for vintage airline posters to go with our 'around the world' theme. Yes, I went that far. But you know what, they sent the posters. Some evangelism is deserved.
I hope these mini-cases are as enlightening for you as they are for me. From the company perspective, I think the trick is to never compromise quality of customer service as you grow (SAA) and to involve feedback from your customers in your innovation and growth processes (Google Docs). Once you have a critical mass of evangelists, you are set; they minimize your promotion costs and provide invaluable representation of your product/service. I should know, right?
I was able to recognize a couple of signs upon reading this week's article on "Customer Evangelism." It was a little worrisome, but very enlightening. I've shared two cases below:
Sign #1: Last week a friend of mine told me she is prepping for an interview with Google. She explained that they will likely ask her about her favorite Google product and what improvements she would recommend. Upon asking for my advice and thoughts on this, I launched into an excited 30 minute monologue extolling the values of Google Docs and how once a few glitches are worked on it will have achieved near perfection. I'm pretty sure that my eyes were lit up as the article describes and my voice was "tinged with emotion." Needless to say, she had ample food for thought for the interview.
Sign #2: My first time flying by myself on a long-distance flight was to South Africa when I was 16 on South African Airways. I will never forget the thrill of being upgraded to business class, of eating chocolate and watching movies. Ever since I've never missed the opportunity to use South African Airways (SAA) when traveling from the U.S. to Senegal, even though its tickets are often relatively expensive. Last year I traveled to Senegal three times, all on SAA, once for free because of a flight delay and another time on a two-for-one deal with a friend. All of this is perhaps just the regular behavior of a loyal customer. I think what puts me in the 'evangelist' category is this: as head of decorations for Tepper's International Festival last year, I actually emailed the head of SAA's corporate marketing division with praise and a request for vintage airline posters to go with our 'around the world' theme. Yes, I went that far. But you know what, they sent the posters. Some evangelism is deserved.
I hope these mini-cases are as enlightening for you as they are for me. From the company perspective, I think the trick is to never compromise quality of customer service as you grow (SAA) and to involve feedback from your customers in your innovation and growth processes (Google Docs). Once you have a critical mass of evangelists, you are set; they minimize your promotion costs and provide invaluable representation of your product/service. I should know, right?
Using social media
Blogging is something that is far outside my comfort level. As I thought about what to include for last week I kept thinking I have nothing to say. Rather, I had nothing to say that I wanted to be read publicly. I think about blogs as journals; only to be read after I die or am offered an obscene amount of money for my memoirs. So, forcing myself to overcome this discomfort and general aversion to living life out loud...
The article "The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand" suggests using social media for insight. This makes sense to me particularly because I don't use it now for the same purposes as many other people do. I check my social media accounts only to see what people are discussing rather than post any updates. The insight of what people's needs are, particularly related to how technology is used for general education, can potentially be good conversation starters in building a market, positioning, and, in continually revising the pitch.
The complement of that however is to use social media to make the case and continue the conversation about why I think my idea is a good idea that can help bridge a divide. Using it but not overusing it to the exclusion of other marketing tools and likewise not ignoring social media in the effort to establish a market may be a delicate dance. Much like my own comfort level dance.
The article "The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand" suggests using social media for insight. This makes sense to me particularly because I don't use it now for the same purposes as many other people do. I check my social media accounts only to see what people are discussing rather than post any updates. The insight of what people's needs are, particularly related to how technology is used for general education, can potentially be good conversation starters in building a market, positioning, and, in continually revising the pitch.
The complement of that however is to use social media to make the case and continue the conversation about why I think my idea is a good idea that can help bridge a divide. Using it but not overusing it to the exclusion of other marketing tools and likewise not ignoring social media in the effort to establish a market may be a delicate dance. Much like my own comfort level dance.
Service, a gateway drug for social entrepreneurship
I recently came upon this article on Twitter, the tweet said "Service, a gateway drug for social entrepreneurship." The tweet didn't make sense to me at first, but as I started to read the article, the idea came together. The article starts off with the story of a bright young mind who traded in his $80,000 a year job to do service in Haiti, very inspiring indeed. But what really got my attention in this article was how this young man used his experience in Haiti has an opportunity to think about a social venture concept. He actually put himself into a situation where he could get a first hand look for the problem and went on to innovate from there. Innovation can come from the most unexpected place, and doing service in an area that interests you is a great place to start.
This was a process that I personally connected with. It was a trip to Tanzania two years ago that really shifted my thoughts about technology in emerging markets and it is an experience that is still fueling my drive to see entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa. I was working with my professor and a group of engineers from my undergraduate university to install computers in rural Tanzanian primary schools. From this experience I was able to realize issues with sustainably implementing technologies in underserved communities, but more importantly I was inspired by the motivation of the youth to use these technologies. We had youth volunteering their time outside of school to learn how to use these computers, youth (literally) running towards me when I had a camera or mobile phone in my hand. Technologies I feel we take fro granted really excited these children. It was this experience that inspired to want to create a social venture for youth, that really leveraged their capacities.
I don't know if anyone else in the class had a similar experience but I feel the process of using service has an opportunity to I feel as if this process is something that we can all something from as we think about our social ventures.
Article can be found here:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679373/fostering-the-next-generation-of-social-entrepreneurs-through-service
This was a process that I personally connected with. It was a trip to Tanzania two years ago that really shifted my thoughts about technology in emerging markets and it is an experience that is still fueling my drive to see entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa. I was working with my professor and a group of engineers from my undergraduate university to install computers in rural Tanzanian primary schools. From this experience I was able to realize issues with sustainably implementing technologies in underserved communities, but more importantly I was inspired by the motivation of the youth to use these technologies. We had youth volunteering their time outside of school to learn how to use these computers, youth (literally) running towards me when I had a camera or mobile phone in my hand. Technologies I feel we take fro granted really excited these children. It was this experience that inspired to want to create a social venture for youth, that really leveraged their capacities.
I don't know if anyone else in the class had a similar experience but I feel the process of using service has an opportunity to I feel as if this process is something that we can all something from as we think about our social ventures.
Article can be found here:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679373/fostering-the-next-generation-of-social-entrepreneurs-through-service
When choosing a country to do a startup
I came upon this article recently that talking about choosing a country in Africa to pilot your startup. I instantly connected with the article because in my conversation with different people about social entrepreneurship, I've heard many people say that they want to do a start up in Africa. As we all know Africa is continent of cultural, social, and economic diversity, no two countries are the same. So when choosing a country to pilot your project it seems difficult to choose. You could pick a country out of a hat, but their is a systematic process one can take when choosing a country. I like how this article lays out a decision framework for choosing the best country to pilot your startup. Although the article talked about specifically African countries, I feel as if this decision framework could be applied to developing countries around the world.
This article does a very good job of really going beyond surface level factors when choosing a country to conduct you startup. In Africa, countries such has Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa seem to get all of the attention. Although it seems as countries such has Somalia and the DRC that face horrific human rights violations are brutally overlooked. Not only countries within Africa but emerging markets in the Caribbean, Latin American and South-East Asia that do not see innovation on the same scale as Africa. In all what the article does is create an opportunity to think outside of the box when launching your social venture. It gives your a holistic framework in assessing the the viability of your social venture in particular countries.
I especially like the paragraph about "Being Global" it's a great opportunity to think about how your social venture can scale to communities across the world to make impact. M-Pesa is a great example because not only is it an innovative technology that a market is being created around, it's a technology that takes into account the unique contextual requirements of people of the society, Kenyans. Most Kenyans may not have access to computers, but they have access to phones. The creators of M-Pesa took into account the increasing mobile penetration rate of Kenyans, which is why m-pesa is so successful.
The article can be found here : http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2012/01/18/which-african-country-is-best-to-do-a-tech-startup-a-decision-framework/
This article does a very good job of really going beyond surface level factors when choosing a country to conduct you startup. In Africa, countries such has Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa seem to get all of the attention. Although it seems as countries such has Somalia and the DRC that face horrific human rights violations are brutally overlooked. Not only countries within Africa but emerging markets in the Caribbean, Latin American and South-East Asia that do not see innovation on the same scale as Africa. In all what the article does is create an opportunity to think outside of the box when launching your social venture. It gives your a holistic framework in assessing the the viability of your social venture in particular countries.
I especially like the paragraph about "Being Global" it's a great opportunity to think about how your social venture can scale to communities across the world to make impact. M-Pesa is a great example because not only is it an innovative technology that a market is being created around, it's a technology that takes into account the unique contextual requirements of people of the society, Kenyans. Most Kenyans may not have access to computers, but they have access to phones. The creators of M-Pesa took into account the increasing mobile penetration rate of Kenyans, which is why m-pesa is so successful.
The article can be found here : http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2012/01/18/which-african-country-is-best-to-do-a-tech-startup-a-decision-framework/
Positioning
A portion of the recent readings focused on positioning. Positioning is one of my favorite subjects of marketing. Below I have placed a link for a book titled 'Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind'. Its a really simple and insightful read.
A section of the book focuses on the concept of metaphorically comparing the consumers mind to a ladder. The point would be to position your business on the top rung of the ladder, and maintain that position. The book goes further to explain that there is one ladder in the mind for every industry or sector of products, so the optimal approach is to pioneer a new industry or sector. Its easy to move down the ladder, not so easy to move up the ladder.
Below, I have also attached a link to the Entrepreneurship Encyclopedia definition of positioning. I have chosen to attach this because it clearly illustrates the preliminary actions and thoughts to deciding on a business position.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Positioning in the Encyclopedia
Enjoy!
Nate
A section of the book focuses on the concept of metaphorically comparing the consumers mind to a ladder. The point would be to position your business on the top rung of the ladder, and maintain that position. The book goes further to explain that there is one ladder in the mind for every industry or sector of products, so the optimal approach is to pioneer a new industry or sector. Its easy to move down the ladder, not so easy to move up the ladder.
Below, I have also attached a link to the Entrepreneurship Encyclopedia definition of positioning. I have chosen to attach this because it clearly illustrates the preliminary actions and thoughts to deciding on a business position.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Positioning in the Encyclopedia
Enjoy!
Nate
Thursday, February 23, 2012
A link to a classic story about entrepreneurship
http://www.sinden.org/verger.html
A friend mentioned this story in a different context. I think it really highlights how entrepreneurship has many dimensions and is not limited by geography, culture, education, wealth. Hope you enjoy reading it and are inspired by it, as I was.
When you identify an internal need, what you do may benefit more people than yourself. Desire+dissatisfaction= opportunity
A friend mentioned this story in a different context. I think it really highlights how entrepreneurship has many dimensions and is not limited by geography, culture, education, wealth. Hope you enjoy reading it and are inspired by it, as I was.
When you identify an internal need, what you do may benefit more people than yourself. Desire+dissatisfaction= opportunity
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Target Market --> Penetrated Market
I thought this would be a good forum to elaborate on what I referring to in class when calculating market penetration. The equation I referenced was (target market) x (awareness) x (purchase intent) x (all commodity volume: ACV).
Purchase intent represents the percentage of the target market that would likely purchase your product or service assuming they are aware that it exists. Similar to awareness, purchase intent would also need to be calculated by target segment.
Awareness represents the percentage of the target market expected to be aware of your product/service. This figure is usually based on the combination of various marketing techniques and ideally increases in the long-term. For example, let's suppose we are selling a new toy - the awareness calculation for the first year could be as follows:
Awareness (Year 1):
- PULL Strategies:
- Magazines/newspapers: 1.5%
- Events: 1.0%
- Online: 6.0%
- Transportation media: 0.5%
- Play centers: 0.5%
- Word of mouth: 0.5%
- PUSH Strategies:
- Public relations: 1.5%
- Point of purchase: 2.0%
- Awareness per segment:
- Children: 10%
- Parents: (18-65): 20%
- Grandparents: (65+): 8%
- Weighted awareness: 14%
Purchase intent represents the percentage of the target market that would likely purchase your product or service assuming they are aware that it exists. Similar to awareness, purchase intent would also need to be calculated by target segment.
ACV represents the proportion of the target segment that you would be able to physically reach in order to provide your product or service. This calculation may be harder to derive at first until having more color regarding your distribution, cost and capacity constraints.
Hope this was helpful. Clearly there are numerous other methods of calculating market penetration, but this is one technique that I found to be useful.
Anticipating the Challenges of Piloting A Social Venture
This week's readings about market segments, targets and positioning made me think about the complications of 'testing' a target market via a pilot for a potentially large-impact social venture. Once I've done the research and completed the feasibility plan for my 'Diaspora Connect' idea, I think the next step will be to partner with a technically capable group within the CMU community to build the tech platform to pilot the idea. Right now I can segment my market by national origin, age and occupation, average income, or frequency and size of remittances, among other characteristics. I can also segment based on the various values of the service: those who seek smaller fees, those who will be attracted by the social enterprise investments, those who are anti-corporate money transfers...etc.
Right now I envision the ideal target market as immigrants/residents/naturalized citizens who are professionally established (regardless of age) and frequently send significant amounts of money 'back home'. This brings up the first challenge - how do I identify this pocket of the population when the best source of this information would be Western Union, possibly my most daunting competitor? Next how do I ensure that the pilot 'does no harm' especially considering the inherent risks in international money transfer and financial management? I may be jumping the gun, as I am still in the research/feasibility phase, but it seems that a lot of foresight and reflection on these issues is necessary to successfully manage the expectations of one's target market and anticipate competitive response. Is anyone else having trouble with this? Thoughts? Advice?
Right now I envision the ideal target market as immigrants/residents/naturalized citizens who are professionally established (regardless of age) and frequently send significant amounts of money 'back home'. This brings up the first challenge - how do I identify this pocket of the population when the best source of this information would be Western Union, possibly my most daunting competitor? Next how do I ensure that the pilot 'does no harm' especially considering the inherent risks in international money transfer and financial management? I may be jumping the gun, as I am still in the research/feasibility phase, but it seems that a lot of foresight and reflection on these issues is necessary to successfully manage the expectations of one's target market and anticipate competitive response. Is anyone else having trouble with this? Thoughts? Advice?
Monday, February 20, 2012
"Positioning" the Friend a Farmer Fair Trade Cart
Today's reading on "Market Segmentation, Target Market Selection, and Positioning" was very helpful in further developing my social venture concept.
In my Analytics of Social Media class, we had a very interesting presentation by Professor Dan Boyarski form the CMU School of Design. He highlighted the distinction between developing a product or concept and actually consuming it. In other words, as a social venture "creator" I hold only a small percentage of say in what the fair trade coffee cart should actually be. This should be based primarily on the needs of the target market - the greater Carnegie Mellon community.
The "positioning statement" helps me put this product clearly in the lens of this community. Here is my initial attempt of what it would be:
"Our Friend a Farmer Fair Trade Cart provides you an exciting opportunity to be a globally conscientious consumer in a hands-on, interactive environment among all other campus coffee and chocolate vendors because it is the only fair-trade, mobile, self-serve cart that is ready at your convenience."
I know this needs some work, but it's a start! Furthermore, I'm beginning to wonder if such a clear distinction can be made between horizontal and vertical differentiation as stated in the article. Fair trade prices can be competitive with non-fair trade prices. The former is not necessarily more expensive. Hence, I think the term "better" needs further clarification in the context of vertical differentiation. Metrics of better could be a multitude of things - convenience, packaging, taste, etc. How can it be generalized? Furthermore, I can see the Cart being horizontally differentiated from competitors as well - especially if people are informed and prefer fair trade over non fair-trade. Again, this could vary however based on how loyal a consumer is to such products.
In my Analytics of Social Media class, we had a very interesting presentation by Professor Dan Boyarski form the CMU School of Design. He highlighted the distinction between developing a product or concept and actually consuming it. In other words, as a social venture "creator" I hold only a small percentage of say in what the fair trade coffee cart should actually be. This should be based primarily on the needs of the target market - the greater Carnegie Mellon community.
The "positioning statement" helps me put this product clearly in the lens of this community. Here is my initial attempt of what it would be:
"Our Friend a Farmer Fair Trade Cart provides you an exciting opportunity to be a globally conscientious consumer in a hands-on, interactive environment among all other campus coffee and chocolate vendors because it is the only fair-trade, mobile, self-serve cart that is ready at your convenience."
I know this needs some work, but it's a start! Furthermore, I'm beginning to wonder if such a clear distinction can be made between horizontal and vertical differentiation as stated in the article. Fair trade prices can be competitive with non-fair trade prices. The former is not necessarily more expensive. Hence, I think the term "better" needs further clarification in the context of vertical differentiation. Metrics of better could be a multitude of things - convenience, packaging, taste, etc. How can it be generalized? Furthermore, I can see the Cart being horizontally differentiated from competitors as well - especially if people are informed and prefer fair trade over non fair-trade. Again, this could vary however based on how loyal a consumer is to such products.
Culture Wars: Entrepreneurship in Singapore
When Capital is Not Enough
The Impact of Culture and Social Norms on Entrepreneurial Efforts in the Far East
I had the good fortune of stumbling across an article on BBC World News today related to entrepreneurship in Singapore that made me think a little differently about macro-level cultural influence on entrepreneurship. Singapore made a commitment to entrepreneurship in the early 2000s (governance, regulation, education) per the recommendations of an economic review committee. Today it ranks number one in the world for ease of doing business and number four for starting a business. It is viewed as the technology and start up hub of South East Asia. In addition to government facilitation and the removal of regulatory barriers, as well as existing infrastructure, Singapore is flush with investment capital. What was striking to me was that with all of these (extremely significant) structural supports in place to support entrepreneurship it is actually a cultural hang up that is dragging on the spirit of entrepreneurship.
In short, in many Asian cultures failure is unacceptable and difficult to recover from. In the words of Ron Mahablr, Founder of Asia Cleantech Capital, "In California if you fail that's not necessarily a bad thing...But in Asia if you fail it's tough to turn around from that."(From BBC article) As well all know, failure is far from uncommon in the entrepreneurial realm. In fact, it is almost to be expected at some point over the course of an entrepreneurs career (especially in the event they pursue multiple ventures). The article asserts that in Asia fear discourages young people from pursuing entrepreneurial careers. Furthermore, the education system focuses on conceptual learning with objective right and wrong answers. In contrast, at the inception of entrepreneurial ventures things are seldom so black and white. Given all Singapore has going for it in the entrepreneurial space (government support, infrastructure, investment) should the next step be an attempt to tinker with the cultural outlook on mattress of success and failure or creative and original thinking? Can this be done? Or frankly, should it? Perhaps Signapore is destined to be a land of opportunity for all with the ideas and drive to succeed in their respective ventures a la Silicon Valley. I am interested to hear your thoughts on this...
The right package
As I read the articles assigned to us this weekend, a case study that was presented at the "India Today: Economics, Technology and People" workshop in CMU in Oct 2010 kept coming back to me. It was the success of the shampoo sachet in rural India. For the longest time, people in rural India (and many in urban India) used regular soap to wash their hair. The price of a bottle of shampoo, even though approx. Rs30 (less than $1), was unaffordable to most. In fact, the shampoo industry did not even consider rural India to be their target market.
However, sometime in 1990s a small company in South India (Chik Shampoo) started selling 10ml shampoo sachets for 25-50 paise (or 1/4 to 1/2 of a rupee) only in the rural markets. Instead of the shampoo bottles available in retail stores, these sachets were sold at local grocers and roadside vendors, easily accessible to almost every rural family, or what large companies thought was not even a viable market. These sachets became a huge success, so much so that everyone now sells not only shampoos, but sachets for everything - other personal products, detergents, food items, etc, all priced at for a few Rupees or less.
So what did the maker of Chik Shampoo do differently? His product was probably not the best shampoo available in the market, so he had nothing unique in terms of the "Product". The "Place" he was targeting was definitely at the bottom of the pyramid, people who were least expected to buy shampoos. But, he had the "Price" and the "Promotion (or Packaging in this case)" right. If shampoos, or any personal products, are made affordable to the poorest of people, then you are creating a huge market that never existed before!
In a similar case, soda companies like Pepsi & Coke introduced the Rs5 bottles in India. They realized that the Indian consumer did not consume at Rs10 bottle of soda (or 300ml as they originally sold them), in fact two people shared one bottle of soda. So they launched new bottles at half the price and about half the quantity (200ml). These new Rs5 bottles have allowed Pepsi and Coke to now target both urban and rural segments of India, hence significantly increasing their target markets.
To conclude, I believe that innovation can be applied to so many areas of a product, and we talked about this in the last class. Sometimes, you can change the whole game by introducing the same product to a completely different market by understanding their needs and buying power. In the case of the shampoo sachets, these minimally priced products actually work out to be more profitable than their more expensive bottle counterparts because of the economies of scale. Even OLPC is trying to adapt a similar reasoning to their laptops; manufacturing in numbers drives costs down. Obviously, this cannot be the strategy for every product, but with the immensely growing markets in developing countries, it is definitely something to think about!
However, sometime in 1990s a small company in South India (Chik Shampoo) started selling 10ml shampoo sachets for 25-50 paise (or 1/4 to 1/2 of a rupee) only in the rural markets. Instead of the shampoo bottles available in retail stores, these sachets were sold at local grocers and roadside vendors, easily accessible to almost every rural family, or what large companies thought was not even a viable market. These sachets became a huge success, so much so that everyone now sells not only shampoos, but sachets for everything - other personal products, detergents, food items, etc, all priced at for a few Rupees or less.
So what did the maker of Chik Shampoo do differently? His product was probably not the best shampoo available in the market, so he had nothing unique in terms of the "Product". The "Place" he was targeting was definitely at the bottom of the pyramid, people who were least expected to buy shampoos. But, he had the "Price" and the "Promotion (or Packaging in this case)" right. If shampoos, or any personal products, are made affordable to the poorest of people, then you are creating a huge market that never existed before!
In a similar case, soda companies like Pepsi & Coke introduced the Rs5 bottles in India. They realized that the Indian consumer did not consume at Rs10 bottle of soda (or 300ml as they originally sold them), in fact two people shared one bottle of soda. So they launched new bottles at half the price and about half the quantity (200ml). These new Rs5 bottles have allowed Pepsi and Coke to now target both urban and rural segments of India, hence significantly increasing their target markets.
To conclude, I believe that innovation can be applied to so many areas of a product, and we talked about this in the last class. Sometimes, you can change the whole game by introducing the same product to a completely different market by understanding their needs and buying power. In the case of the shampoo sachets, these minimally priced products actually work out to be more profitable than their more expensive bottle counterparts because of the economies of scale. Even OLPC is trying to adapt a similar reasoning to their laptops; manufacturing in numbers drives costs down. Obviously, this cannot be the strategy for every product, but with the immensely growing markets in developing countries, it is definitely something to think about!
Social Entrepreneurship
In my previous two blog posts I have updated people on my venture and attached links that correlate to my post. Again my venture has evolved. I think I am going to do a do a 180 turn and head back into the boating segment. I agreed with feedback that introducing this as a vocational program might have negative feedback.
My current elevator pitch:
Built to order high power luxury speedboats built to order. Create partnerships with South Florida teen programs. Designate times to teach skills and allow teens to participate in builds. Exposure to industry practice and specialist expertise will help misguided teens to find career paths as well as teach communication and team work skills.
Feedback is always appreciated.
I have begun research on luxury product social ventures but have had difficulty as luxury products require large amounts of capital.
In other thoughts, I am a consistent reader of business books and magazines. The theme of selecting and building the right team for your venture is always recurring in conversation about entrepreneurship. After doing a little reading about the topic I did a little hunting on the web. Bellow are a few interesting links about building the right team.
Building Teams
Building Your Team
5 Strategies
Nate
My current elevator pitch:
Built to order high power luxury speedboats built to order. Create partnerships with South Florida teen programs. Designate times to teach skills and allow teens to participate in builds. Exposure to industry practice and specialist expertise will help misguided teens to find career paths as well as teach communication and team work skills.
Feedback is always appreciated.
I have begun research on luxury product social ventures but have had difficulty as luxury products require large amounts of capital.
In other thoughts, I am a consistent reader of business books and magazines. The theme of selecting and building the right team for your venture is always recurring in conversation about entrepreneurship. After doing a little reading about the topic I did a little hunting on the web. Bellow are a few interesting links about building the right team.
Building Teams
Building Your Team
5 Strategies
Nate
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Entrepreneurship and teamwork
In searching for something good to talk about this week, I decided to search the phrase "be the best entrepreneur ever." Can't beat that, right?
I expected a bunch of silly fluff, but instead found an article called What's an Entrepreneur? The Best Answer Ever written by Eric Schurenberg for Inc.com. Schurenberg fishes up a decades-old quotation from Howard Stevenson of Harvard Business School:
Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.
Through Schurenberg, Stevenson explains that entrepreneurs are likely to start from humble beginnings not because those with small bank accounts are more willing to take risks, but because they are accustomed to making something out of nothing.
Schurenberg also comments that "When you don’t have the cash to boss people around, like in a corporation, you have to create a more horizontal organization." We've talked a lot in class about how having a good team is more instrumental to success than having a good idea. A good team is skilled and works well together, and a good idea is something for which people (or experts) can forecast value. But what keeps any team working on an idea?
I think the glue between team and idea is shared passion. Team and idea can only get you so far before water-treading and disenchantment set in. This seems another feather in the cap of entrepreneurship. Because immediate rewards are often low, collaborators tend to get on board only if they truly believe in the project: "The pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources."
This semester, I've been lucky to draw a collaborator who believes in my project and an independent-study advisor who happens to be building his career on the theme of online idea-sharing that we're exploring. I think back to all the times I tried to float a project without anybody jumping on board, and realize it had less to do with their skill or my foresight, and more to do with their interest before I even opened my mouth.
I'm no expert at this point, but here are my two cents: For all the great things you can say about your idea, its feasibility, and the prowess of those already on board, what really matters most in your pitch is that you show how much you love your idea, and that you find someone else who is ready to latch onto that spark.
Love it first, choose your audience second, and prove it third. With just a little luck, you'll find a friend in battle. I hope. :)
How Dell Has Reinvented Itself
A successful company just doesn't sit on the "fruits of its labor". Successful companies are never satisfied with their achievements; they are always trying to improve because there are always competitors ready to move in. The buyer utility map and six stages of the buyer experience are good frameworks to assess a company's offering and how they are perceived in the eyes of a buyer. The mix-and-match of utility levers and stages is a very creative way to increase the value of one's offering. In recent years, Dell Inc. has used this concept to reinvent itself and the way it provides customer service.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1768894/dell-reinvention-update
In May 2010, Dell formed a Customer Advisory Panel (DellCAP) to improve its customer experience by leveraging the power of social media. Dell realized that its customer support was falling short of expectations; customers were waiting too long for an agent and many support issues were left unanswered. In an effort to shorten the response time and quality of service, Dell has incorporated Twitter into its customer support. Now, customers can go on Twitter, voice their concerns, and receive immediate feedback. Dell is hoping to simplify the customer support experience so that they can improve customer productivity (i.e. give them more time to do other things).
My only concern with this method of customer support is Twitter's limited character content. Unless the issue is extremely simple, I can't see Dell customer service agents resolving computing issues in less than 140 characters. Overall, I think that this is a very creative and unique way of providing customer service. It's definitely a business model that can evolve with the growing social media industry. Dell's incorporation of social media into its business is a great example of how companies should look for different ways to capitalize on the different utility levers or stages of the buyer's experience. How can your social venture exploit the six utility levers and six stages of the buyer experience?
China Philanthropy: A Blog of Social Venture Group
As I was doing further research into tobacco use in China and seeing if there were already previously established advocacy groups or nonprofits dedicated to reducing tobacco consumption, I stumbled upon this outstanding website called China Philanthropy: A Blog of Social Venture Group.
Social Venture Group (for those who like myself had never heard of them) is a team whose mission is to: "multiply the impact of philanthropy to China by 1) increasing the efficiency and transparency of charitable giving; 2) building a community of generous, committed donors; 3) fostering a healthier social sector." The group has provided assistance and consulted a wide range of nonprofits, corporations, and individuals who wish to provide goods and services at the grassroots level in China.
Besides its actual ground work, Social Venture Group also runs the China Philanthropy blog I originally stumbled upon and mentioned above. This blog is the real reason for my post today. First, directly pertaining to my social venture, I found an interesting article from October 2011 on how and why tobacco usage continues to grow in China. Besides many of the facts I have mentioned before, the post (link below) also makes reference to the role cultural norms play in the prevalence of cigarette usage in the country. I was shocked to find out that at least 100 schools were funded by the tobacco industry and tobacco names, slogans, and promotions often appear around these schools. Apparently one slogan on a gate of a school read "Genius comes from hard work- Tobacco helps you become talented."
This concept of social norms and cultural influences seems to be a huge part of what my social venture will have to address when working on an awareness campaign for smoking prevention in China. While this topic is something we briefly touched upon in class, I don't think I really understood its ramifications until reading this article today. I am sure some of the rest of you might find similar problems or issues in your areas of innovation, so I do hope this article will be of some help/interest to you. Also after spending some more time on the blog site, I have seen many interesting articles pertaining to multiple different fields. While in general the articles are based on experiences in China, I am sure many are applicable to other countries or situations. The links for my specific article as well as the social venture groups website are below.
http://blog.socialventuregroup.com/svg/2011/10/tobacco-use-continues-to-grow-in-china.html#more
http://www.socialventuregroup.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Friday, February 17, 2012
Ownership Dilution
There is a difference between raising capital and raising the right type of capital. This is something every entrepreneur needs to be mindful of when searching for investors. Although raising capital is critical to funding a successful venture, how much ownership should one be willing to give up in return?
Typically, investors exchange cash for equity ownership. For example, let's assume that you hold 100 shares of your company which is equivalent to 100% ownership. If you were to provide an additional 100 shares of your company in exchange for seed capital, then your equity stake would be diluted down to 50%. After numerous rounds of funding you might be left with only a very small percentage of your own company.
Bottom line - raising capital is important, but maintaining control and sharing in the upside of your own venture is paramount.
Here is a brief explanation of dilution provided by Frank Demmler, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/fd0n/51%20Anti-dilution%20protection.htm
Typically, investors exchange cash for equity ownership. For example, let's assume that you hold 100 shares of your company which is equivalent to 100% ownership. If you were to provide an additional 100 shares of your company in exchange for seed capital, then your equity stake would be diluted down to 50%. After numerous rounds of funding you might be left with only a very small percentage of your own company.
Bottom line - raising capital is important, but maintaining control and sharing in the upside of your own venture is paramount.
Here is a brief explanation of dilution provided by Frank Demmler, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/fd0n/51%20Anti-dilution%20protection.htm
Thursday, February 16, 2012
An open source platform for mobile messaging already used in 80 countries
http://www.frontlinesms.com/about-us/history-and-support/
Fellow students,
Please check this out and see applicability to some of your projects,
Sangeeta
Fellow students,
Please check this out and see applicability to some of your projects,
Sangeeta
A feasible solution aimed at illiteracy/innumeracy
http://challenge.bfi.org/2011Finalist_TARAAkshar
For classmates interested in implementing solutions for illiteracy/innumeracy in low resource settings, here is a social venture with a similar aim,
Sangeeta
For classmates interested in implementing solutions for illiteracy/innumeracy in low resource settings, here is a social venture with a similar aim,
Sangeeta
Monday, February 13, 2012
Conflict of Interest:
Vying for Capital as Social Entrepreneur
Social entrepreneurs face inherent challenges in assessing and pursuing their ventures in an environment which promotes private, for-profit ventures. Such ventures typically produce more substantial returns for investors and are thus generally more palatable to all but those particularly interested in social innovation or philanthropy. As I have begun the process of evaluating the feasibility of my own project, World Reader, I can't help but feel I would be met with a cool reception when it came time to face my hypothetical investors.
In one respect, a social venture could relatively easily achieve the principle pillar of success: adding significant value to a customer or end-user. Additionally, social ventures solve significant problems and address dire needs. The venture could also be dynamically different and enjoy competitive advantage over other goods or services available. The issue is that the individuals who benefit are not willing (or able, frankly) to pay a premium price for the goods and services rendered. This makes the good or service unlikely to provide a margin or posses moneymaking characteristics even if the market for the product is robust. These shortfalls make it improbable that the good or service would be viewed as an investment with a good balance between risk and reward.
The overall positioning of a product like my proposed World Reader feels uncertain due to its inherent social nature. There is obviously a market for a product (the 785 million illiterate individuals highly concentrated in several countries). It offers a competitive advantage over other means of literacy promotion because it doesn't require a human and financial capital intensive physical teacher. The value creation could be immense; as I go about performing research on costs of illiteracy (social and economic) even marginal reductions could prove beneficial for these largely undeveloped, under-served nations. The reward is philosophically palatable, and now is as good a time as any to combat illiteracy particularly as we increasingly become a global economy motivated by technological innovations that will leave illiterate populations even more disenfranchised. However, the risks of both the mission of the product (illiterate don't care to learn to read, self guided methods are ineffective, etc.) mount on the inherent risks to investors (losing their money) to make the bottom line even less certain. How does one engineer a devoted social venture that is desirable to more than merely philanthropic investors?
Customer Productivity: The key to a "winning business idea"
This week's reading on "Knowing a Winning Business Idea When You See One" is very interesting and useful.
It surprises me how many innovative ideas there are out there that don't take into consideration what this article deems to be the "most commonly used," but "least obvious" lever of utility - that is customer productivity. The idea has been increasingly emerging when examining social innovation success stories. A great example is the SMS crop service for Indian farmers deployed by Thomson Reuteurs. This service brings commodity prices, crop, and weather data at a farmer's fingertips. Having this information truly enhances the farmers' [customers'] productivity so they can make conscientious harvesting decisions, not rotate crops when it could be detrimental to soil fertility, etc. Furthermore, I was surprised to learn that this is so low-cost that three months of information sharing via SMS is approximately the same price as a Starbucks latte in the United States!
Another point this article highlights is the need for a greater volume as the nature of the goods becomes more "knowledge-intensive." In the case of this SMS crop service, there is more definitely more value if more people are using it. But this rests on the customer productivity foundation. More people will use it if they are convinced that it will enhance productivity.
Here is a link to the video explaining the SMS crop service: http://careers.thomsonreuters.com/#/?hero=732305%7C%7C%7C%7C
It surprises me how many innovative ideas there are out there that don't take into consideration what this article deems to be the "most commonly used," but "least obvious" lever of utility - that is customer productivity. The idea has been increasingly emerging when examining social innovation success stories. A great example is the SMS crop service for Indian farmers deployed by Thomson Reuteurs. This service brings commodity prices, crop, and weather data at a farmer's fingertips. Having this information truly enhances the farmers' [customers'] productivity so they can make conscientious harvesting decisions, not rotate crops when it could be detrimental to soil fertility, etc. Furthermore, I was surprised to learn that this is so low-cost that three months of information sharing via SMS is approximately the same price as a Starbucks latte in the United States!
Another point this article highlights is the need for a greater volume as the nature of the goods becomes more "knowledge-intensive." In the case of this SMS crop service, there is more definitely more value if more people are using it. But this rests on the customer productivity foundation. More people will use it if they are convinced that it will enhance productivity.
Here is a link to the video explaining the SMS crop service: http://careers.thomsonreuters.com/#/?hero=732305%7C%7C%7C%7C
Education
As I think about how to refine the elevator pitch I am also thinking about refining the concept, tweaking it for relevance. I read this article about education in the developing world. Our concept of education versus what is relevant for non schooled youth who want an income. Thinking about numeracy as my focus rather than a combination of numeracy and literacy. Education is the way out of poverty but so to is knowing how to handle and discuss numbers particularly relating to financial literacy. Maybe the numerical aspect will entice those who would benefit to want to use the application more.
The Stanford Social Innovation Review has pretty interesting articles.
The Stanford Social Innovation Review has pretty interesting articles.
Naming Your Startup
As we are all more firmly settling on our venture ideas, I thought this article on how to name your startup pretty relevant. I remember one or two students in the class already had a clever title for the venture; however, I figured a few, including myself, could utilize this article to begin brainstorming ideas. Also the book mentioned in the article, 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, looks interesting.
My favorite tip: "Can they remember it?"
http://under30ceo.com/13-tips-to-naming-your-startup/
Neat summary of Creative Commons
Here is a great video by Jesse Dylan at CreativeCommons.org that neatly summarizes the reasons behind Creative Commons and the motivations for using them in your own work:
The focus is on art and music, but it is no great leap of imagination to see how other areas of enterprise could also benefit.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Engaging Stakeholders in the Creative Process + The Value of Fun
One key insight that stuck with me from last week's readings is the fact that stakeholders, especially potential funders, appreciate feeling needed and helpful in the creative process. While, from a distance and in the abstract, this seems rather obvious, it is much harder to accomplish as an entrpreneur in action. This recommendation to engage and partner with others in the process is also mentioned in this week's readings as one of the important steps to building a lasting business model (SAP did this well by acquiring firms that complimented their skills).
Another, similar insight from this week's reading is that innovation can sometimes simply mean making a part of a product or service (its purchase, use, or disposal) more fun (among other such improvements). A contemporary example is Volkswagen's 'Fun theory' experiment on the simple service of stairs versus escalators. People seem to generally choose things that are fun over boring or ordinary alternatives.
I see these two points being intertwined: engaging stakeholders in the creative process and leveraging the value of fun. Perhaps the greatest evidence of these being a successful mix for aspiring entrepreneurs is the crowd-funding trend led by Rocket Hub. Who knew that funding a venture, anything from a dance performance to a video game, could be so much fun? Crowdfunding brings together the engagement in the creative process, the social dimension of belonging to a group with similar passions, and the fun of seeing the project take off from someone's garage to the New York Times.
I am reflecting on how to integrate this cool trend and the need for stakeholder involvement and fun into my idea. I think it's a salient lesson for all of us. Let me know if you have any interesting ideas on how to do this!
Another, similar insight from this week's reading is that innovation can sometimes simply mean making a part of a product or service (its purchase, use, or disposal) more fun (among other such improvements). A contemporary example is Volkswagen's 'Fun theory' experiment on the simple service of stairs versus escalators. People seem to generally choose things that are fun over boring or ordinary alternatives.
I see these two points being intertwined: engaging stakeholders in the creative process and leveraging the value of fun. Perhaps the greatest evidence of these being a successful mix for aspiring entrepreneurs is the crowd-funding trend led by Rocket Hub. Who knew that funding a venture, anything from a dance performance to a video game, could be so much fun? Crowdfunding brings together the engagement in the creative process, the social dimension of belonging to a group with similar passions, and the fun of seeing the project take off from someone's garage to the New York Times.
I am reflecting on how to integrate this cool trend and the need for stakeholder involvement and fun into my idea. I think it's a salient lesson for all of us. Let me know if you have any interesting ideas on how to do this!
Continued Research
After doing more online research, I've had a strangely difficult time finding out about indigenous cultures that are extra aquatic... so I've decided to spend my time pursuing the other half of the same venture. I have been researching south florida and its extensive history in boat building and toying with the concept of some sort of partnership with a manufacturer to source materials and or instructors.
South Florida has hundreds of boat manufacturers of all kinds and is known for it. In linking students with professionals we can build relationships as well as knowledge.
Below there is a great link with a couple articles about some high school students responses to building wooden boats as an extracurricular activity.
Elevator Pitch: High school students in south Florida will come together in an elective class to build boats with industry professionals, teaching team work, communication skills, and a trade skill. Once built the boats will be shipped in sets to river based cultures in countries around the world.
List of Florida Boat Builders
High School Boat Build
South Florida has hundreds of boat manufacturers of all kinds and is known for it. In linking students with professionals we can build relationships as well as knowledge.
Below there is a great link with a couple articles about some high school students responses to building wooden boats as an extracurricular activity.
Elevator Pitch: High school students in south Florida will come together in an elective class to build boats with industry professionals, teaching team work, communication skills, and a trade skill. Once built the boats will be shipped in sets to river based cultures in countries around the world.
List of Florida Boat Builders
High School Boat Build
Effective Presentations: Less is More
Two of the biggest lessons I learned from last week's lectures were: (1) Pitching upside-down and (2) the 10/20/30 Rule. Dr. Millie Myer made a great point in pitching upside-down- when you have only 30 seconds, you need to start with the main idea and work down from there. Similarly, the 10/20/30 Rule provides a good framework for presenters to be concise, effective, and convincing. Like many of you, I've seen my fair share of presentations. The ones that were most entertaining and captivating to me weren't the ones with the most information or the ones with the most slides; rather, the presentations that intrigued me were short and simple. A bi-product of these presentations' success is the presenter; more often than not, I found myself convinced (not from the presentation but) through the series of stories and analogies provided by the presenter.
I found an interesting article from Inc. that gives tips on how to fix your presentations. The advice/tips are not earth shattering, but the author provides a really good example of their application. I've always believed that short, concise, and text-free presentations were the best ones. But from my experience here at Heinz College, most of the student presentations are inundated with words and unnecessary information. I can't stand this! I've tried the simple presentation approach and received negative feedback; I've tried the extensive presentation approach and received great feedback. Based on my idea of a great presentation, this is counterintuitive.
What is your idea of an effective (i.e. a good) presentation? What are your experiences with giving long, complex presentations as compared to short, simple ones? How was the presentation received?
I found an interesting article from Inc. that gives tips on how to fix your presentations. The advice/tips are not earth shattering, but the author provides a really good example of their application. I've always believed that short, concise, and text-free presentations were the best ones. But from my experience here at Heinz College, most of the student presentations are inundated with words and unnecessary information. I can't stand this! I've tried the simple presentation approach and received negative feedback; I've tried the extensive presentation approach and received great feedback. Based on my idea of a great presentation, this is counterintuitive.
What is your idea of an effective (i.e. a good) presentation? What are your experiences with giving long, complex presentations as compared to short, simple ones? How was the presentation received?
Africa's Chance to Leapfrog the West
Last Thursday, Amy and I, along with a few other CMU students, were given the opportunity to have lunch with the World Bank President. Mr. Robert Zoellick. While my initial impression of the World Bank was just that, it is a bank that loans money to various countries, we also learned that the World Bank engages in disseminating innovative knowledge sharing. And surprisingly, not all of this innovative knowledge is transferred from the developed nations to the developing. In fact, certain countries have taken already developed platforms in the West, and had a field day customizing it to their needs. While Mr. Zoellick was primarily talking about projects like M-Pesa, I came across an article in the Harvard Business Review, called "Africa's Chance to Leapfrog the West", that took this concept to a whole new level.
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/02/africas_leapfrogging_opportuni.html
Briefly, the article points out that in places like Africa that lack legacy infrastructure, "there is an opportunity for a genuinely transformative, future-friendly reconceptualization of the very notion of infrastructure".
The author discusses the concept of Leapfrogging, a hypothesis (based on Joseph Schumpeter's notion of ‘gales of creative destruction’) which proposes that companies holding monopolies based on incumbent technologies have less incentive to innovate than potential rivals, and therefore they eventually lose their technological leadership role when new radical technological innovations are adopted by new firms which are ready to take the risks [Wikipedia "Leapfrogging"], with respect to technologies like cloud computing, social media, etc. These have resulted in an increased opportunity for Africans, as well as the notion of achieving more with less when compared to their Western counterparts.
However, as with all new technologies, it is not as simple as it seems. Leapfrogging is just the means, and not the end. So, it is up to the entrepreneurs and innovators to use these set of tools and techniques within the constraints of the country's culture, social norms, etc., and transform Africa with "one entrepreneurial triumph after another".
~ Ketaki
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/02/africas_leapfrogging_opportuni.html
Briefly, the article points out that in places like Africa that lack legacy infrastructure, "there is an opportunity for a genuinely transformative, future-friendly reconceptualization of the very notion of infrastructure".
The author discusses the concept of Leapfrogging, a hypothesis (based on Joseph Schumpeter's notion of ‘gales of creative destruction’) which proposes that companies holding monopolies based on incumbent technologies have less incentive to innovate than potential rivals, and therefore they eventually lose their technological leadership role when new radical technological innovations are adopted by new firms which are ready to take the risks [Wikipedia "Leapfrogging"], with respect to technologies like cloud computing, social media, etc. These have resulted in an increased opportunity for Africans, as well as the notion of achieving more with less when compared to their Western counterparts.
However, as with all new technologies, it is not as simple as it seems. Leapfrogging is just the means, and not the end. So, it is up to the entrepreneurs and innovators to use these set of tools and techniques within the constraints of the country's culture, social norms, etc., and transform Africa with "one entrepreneurial triumph after another".
~ Ketaki
Africa Innovation Hubs
I thought I would share this article about governments in African countries and the promotion of tech innovation.
http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2012/02/10/the-role-of-government-in-promoting-tech-innovation-in-africa/
The capacity of African tech entrepreneurs is really incredible and there is lots of innovation coming out of the continent. Although no one can deny the importance of a governments role in tech innovation. There are fortunately some African countries that with forward thinking leaders, fostering innovation in those countries. Unfortunately many countries do not, stifling tech innovation and widening the digital divide.
I found it interesting how the article talked about the importance of incubation hubs. Places where young entrepreneurial thinkers can go, get mentored and really become empowered as to the type of impact they can make in their countries. Here are some links to some of the hubs.
1. iHub - http://ihub.co.ke/pages/home.php
2. activespaces - http://activspaces.com/
3. Co-creation Hub - http://www.cchubnigeria.com/
4. BongoHive - http://bongohive.com/
These hubs really have become the center of innovation in African communities, they do a great job of taking advantage of local capacity. Goverments are in turn increasinlgy starting to realize the importance of the hubs for building technolgies that are contextual to the citizens of thier countires. As I am sure we all know "Necessity is the mother of invention” with the way the digital dividing is becoming wider and wider and western communities advancing technologically, these hubs serve the purpose to make up what these communities lack and that is an entrepreneurial spirit where people of communities, are building for their communities.
Ketaki brings up an interesting idea in her blog post on Africa Leapfrogging the West. As many ICT4D initiatives fail, western communities are starting to realize that forms of technology and interaction that work in western communities won't necessarily work in Africa. That because of the different context, which is really where the African entrepreneurial spirit gets to shine.
I feel as if these innovation hubs can serve has a very important bridge between Western and African Communities. Western organizations I feel have and resources and and African communities have the indigenous knowledge. This serves has a healthy tension, because bridging both types of services can bring the maximum amount of impact to the community.
http://afrinnovator.com/blog/2012/02/10/the-role-of-government-in-promoting-tech-innovation-in-africa/
The capacity of African tech entrepreneurs is really incredible and there is lots of innovation coming out of the continent. Although no one can deny the importance of a governments role in tech innovation. There are fortunately some African countries that with forward thinking leaders, fostering innovation in those countries. Unfortunately many countries do not, stifling tech innovation and widening the digital divide.
I found it interesting how the article talked about the importance of incubation hubs. Places where young entrepreneurial thinkers can go, get mentored and really become empowered as to the type of impact they can make in their countries. Here are some links to some of the hubs.
1. iHub - http://ihub.co.ke/pages/home.php
2. activespaces - http://activspaces.com/
3. Co-creation Hub - http://www.cchubnigeria.com/
4. BongoHive - http://bongohive.com/
These hubs really have become the center of innovation in African communities, they do a great job of taking advantage of local capacity. Goverments are in turn increasinlgy starting to realize the importance of the hubs for building technolgies that are contextual to the citizens of thier countires. As I am sure we all know "Necessity is the mother of invention” with the way the digital dividing is becoming wider and wider and western communities advancing technologically, these hubs serve the purpose to make up what these communities lack and that is an entrepreneurial spirit where people of communities, are building for their communities.
Ketaki brings up an interesting idea in her blog post on Africa Leapfrogging the West. As many ICT4D initiatives fail, western communities are starting to realize that forms of technology and interaction that work in western communities won't necessarily work in Africa. That because of the different context, which is really where the African entrepreneurial spirit gets to shine.
I feel as if these innovation hubs can serve has a very important bridge between Western and African Communities. Western organizations I feel have and resources and and African communities have the indigenous knowledge. This serves has a healthy tension, because bridging both types of services can bring the maximum amount of impact to the community.
Dell Social Innovation Challenge
Anyone can apply for this relatively easily, takes about a couple of hours for the application. And even though I just realized that today is the deadline, i though i should share it with the class. Once you have the required fields filled in, you can continue to edit the content till the end of the challenge!!
http://www.dellchallenge.org/
Good luck,
Ketaki
http://www.dellchallenge.org/
Good luck,
Ketaki
Thursday, February 9, 2012
A 'sound' idea for Marcel and Cynthia
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/09/books-with-soundtracks-no-really-this-one-works/
I read this today and it reminded me of Marcel's idea for books to address adult illiteracy
and Cynthia's idea of mobile app to teach basic math and reading to underprivileged children.
I read this today and it reminded me of Marcel's idea for books to address adult illiteracy
and Cynthia's idea of mobile app to teach basic math and reading to underprivileged children.
Invest in Management or Concept?
In class we have briefly discussed the various mindsets behind investors. Venture capitalists and private equity firms only provide funding to a very small percentage of entrepreneurs - typically in the single digits. While having the right management team and having an innovative concept usually complement each other as the optimal strategy, most investment firms will put more weight on one or the other. The question is - how do we know which one is more important and what can we do about it?
The answer is: it depends.
The intuitive answer is to hedge your bet. Be able to sufficiently cover both areas in order for the potential investor to be comfortable that you have the right team with a strong business plan. I personally believe that unless the venture concept is an absolute home-run, more emphasis should be put on proving that your experience and expertise are the foundation of your business. Furthermore, the superior abilities of your management team are ultimately what will make your venture successful and that the investor should be investing in YOU first and foremost.
Again, this is a very subjective topic and one could argue that markets are efficient, consisting of other talented individuals, in which one's venture is not worth the investment unless it is truly unique. It will be imperative for all of us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of not only our concepts, but also the people behind our ideas. In order to effectively raise capital, it will be essential to prove why we are the right people to execute our ventures.
Additional resources from the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business:
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
CEMLA, MIF/IDB and World Bank Launch enviacentroamerica.org To Make Costs and Conditions of Remittances More Transparent
I just came across this article, and thought it might be interesting (and/or useful) for the Diaspora Connect Project -
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23106029~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23106029~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
http://www.good.is/post/is-the-social-enterprise-bubble-about-to-burst/
Hi,
This is a great article that brings together 5 different people who run social venture projects in Africa. It gives one perspective about the role of social enterprises within the development sector in emerging economies. I specially like the last paragraph where they give advice to would-be social entrepreneurs.
Hi,
This is a great article that brings together 5 different people who run social venture projects in Africa. It gives one perspective about the role of social enterprises within the development sector in emerging economies. I specially like the last paragraph where they give advice to would-be social entrepreneurs.
Winning pitch of MIT''s 100K competition 2011 in their emerging markets category
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snyw3xGHpuQ&feature=related
I came across this example of a successful pitch of a business plan conceived and executed by a team. Many of you have already participated in sessions like these at CMU which I could not attend. I'm learning something new in each session, from each of you in class.
I came across this example of a successful pitch of a business plan conceived and executed by a team. Many of you have already participated in sessions like these at CMU which I could not attend. I'm learning something new in each session, from each of you in class.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Project Rwanda CMU 2010
In last weeks class, we had a great discussion regarding the features of the One Laptop per Child technology. Below is the video from my trip to Kigali,Rwanda in May 2010.
Our team helped teach music, programming, and acting to fifth grade primary school students. It was a great experience and we learned a lot -- including being sensitive in utilizing a technology and aware of the fact that we may be imposing on an education system that is already effective. We prioritized getting to know the students and centering our lesson plans around their interests as well as teaching methods that they were already accustomed to -- i.e. group discussions, competitive tasks, games that they enjoyed etc.
We experience the frequent technical shortfalls of the laptops first hand -- mouse pads failing to after dust collection, speakers turning on and off, etc. but interestingly, we also got a sense of the students' strong desire to fix glitches and advance using the technology on their own.
Our team helped teach music, programming, and acting to fifth grade primary school students. It was a great experience and we learned a lot -- including being sensitive in utilizing a technology and aware of the fact that we may be imposing on an education system that is already effective. We prioritized getting to know the students and centering our lesson plans around their interests as well as teaching methods that they were already accustomed to -- i.e. group discussions, competitive tasks, games that they enjoyed etc.
We experience the frequent technical shortfalls of the laptops first hand -- mouse pads failing to after dust collection, speakers turning on and off, etc. but interestingly, we also got a sense of the students' strong desire to fix glitches and advance using the technology on their own.
Innovation in Braddock, PA
As someone whose family has long been located in Pittsburgh, I am fascinated by the area and its history. My time at CMU has only increased my interest in the region. Ironically, I was recently reminded of an extremely innovative person in Pittsburgh who is greatly improving the lives of Braddock citizens with his new policies and programs including green jobs, artistic endeavors, and youth employment. Last year Heinz had this man, Mayor of Braddock John Fetterman, come speak at one of our convocations. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to hear him speak, he told a riveting story of why and how he became involved in Braddock and what steps he has taken to revitalize one of the poorest areas in Pennsylvania.
In looking for some inspiration for a social venture of my own, I visited Braddock on Friday to see the revitalization efforts first hand. I also reread Fetterman's story of Braddock (link below). While what Fetterman is doing in Braddock may not directly relate to any of the projects we choose to pursue this semester, I thought sharing the story with everyone would remind us that one person can make a huge impact on the world around them. A good notion to remember at the beginning of a social venture... Enjoy!
http://monthlyreview.org/2008/12/01/braddock-pennsylvania-out-of-the-furnace-and-into-the-fire
In looking for some inspiration for a social venture of my own, I visited Braddock on Friday to see the revitalization efforts first hand. I also reread Fetterman's story of Braddock (link below). While what Fetterman is doing in Braddock may not directly relate to any of the projects we choose to pursue this semester, I thought sharing the story with everyone would remind us that one person can make a huge impact on the world around them. A good notion to remember at the beginning of a social venture... Enjoy!
http://monthlyreview.org/2008/12/01/braddock-pennsylvania-out-of-the-furnace-and-into-the-fire
Thinking about possibilities
For quite a long time I have thought about what very simply
I could do to make things better. While working for established organizations I’ve
had to, for better or worse, mind the store.
When that gets stale the choices are to do nothing, accept it for what
it is, or make a change.
For me this course is about making a change.
I can across this pbs page about people who have made a
change. Maybe some have seen either the documentary or the page itself, from
2005. The video is no longer available but the information is relevant for me.
Maybe for others as well.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/
Cynthia
The Audacity of Entrepreneurship
The Audacity of Entrepreneurship
After hearing and discussing everyone's pitches last class I was compelled to do some reflection on the subject of attitude and its ultimate impact on the success or failure of an entrepreneurial venture. More specifically, on the ability for a venture to garner support. Our class was almost unanimously thoughtful, modest, and deliberate in the presentation of their ideas and passions. Everyone seemed open and receptive to questions and constructive criticism, as well. In another entrepreneurship course I am presently taking this was not the case.
More specifically, every member of the class was placed on a team of other students to generate and pitch an entrepreneurial venture. I missed my group's initial brainstorming session due to illness and was unpleasantly surprised by the initial set of ideas that had been generated. They were the product of one student's interests and passions in particular and no credence had been given to even basic feasibility assessment: was there demand for these products or services, who was the target audience, what problem did they solve, what sort of financial capital would be needed at start up, etc.
To my surprise the student who generated the primary idea (which the other team members supported) was taken aback when I asserted the store he proposed would cater to a niche and diminishing market and compete in a larger market that is completely saturated. The business model was not sound, the business itself would be extremely capital intensive, and its revenue streams were questionable. However, of all the people I have spoken with or heard a "pitch" from this semester, this student was the most certain and steadfast the business was a "good" idea. His confidence (unfounded as it was) was convincing enough our group mates backed him almost without question.
Would this attitude ultimately lend itself to success in entrepreneurship? In terms of an idea getting off the ground I think attitude plays more of a role than I had originally given it credit for. More specifically, immovable confidence and certainty. I thought a good idea would stand on its own two feet almost regardless of who it came from, and an awful one would be transparent also without credence for its source or how the source felt about the matter. I don't propose self doubt or crippling worry and uncertainty as an infallible alternative to this person's baseless cockiness, but I would at least suggest thoughtfulness and an iota of due diligence through market research before throwing your support behind a venture. To him this was crazy talk, and to him our group's support was evidence of the idea's viability. I think if the group was legitimately investing their own money, however, many of the questions I raised would have come front and center much sooner.
Brad Myers' Recent IP Lecture
Hi everyone,
I attended professor Brad Myers' lecture on intellectual property last week and thought you might be interested in some of the basic information he provided about IP and more specifically patents. If you have been wondering how the system works, or perhaps how to protect your own work from competition, professor Myers' points may be useful.
Myers distinguishes between four kinds of intellectual property: copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents:
- A copyright provides exclusive rights to an exact, original expression for a limited time. They are assigned freely and automatically for all works, can be registered, and apply to books, code, icons, and things with form and substance--not ideas or information.
- Trademarks identify a commercial product to avoid confusion. They never expire and can be used for words, icons, or even colors. TM, (R), and SM are varieties of trademark.
- Trade secrets need not be disclosed (of course) until a patent is issued. These may include plans, marketing analyses, and algorithms. If it's covered by a non disclosure agreement, it probably has something to do with trade secrets.
- A patent provides exclusive rights to an invention for a limited time--in the US, 20 years from issue. Internationally, patents are reviewed and issued based on a "first to file" rule. The US used to be "first to invent," but the recent America Invents Act erased that and instituted the same policy followed by the rest of the world. Patents often cost more to acquire than the profit they wind up making. It can cost $20,000 or more to patent an invention domestically, and possibly as much as $100,000 for international patents. Patents must be "novel and nonobvious to a relevant tradesperson," "useful," and "properly disclosed for possible reproduction." (See http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article01/39.html) There are provisional patents one can get through an academic institution, which cost a mere $125, but this may not apply for the purposes of our class.
An overarching point of the talk was that patents are highly competitive and constantly challenged by federal courts, the International Trade Commission, and frequent reexaminations by patent office workers. Open source licensing and creative commons offer alternatives--google CTTEC and nosoftwarepatents.com for more on this.
Best,
Russ
Sunday, February 5, 2012
On Water
For my social venture, I have decided pursue boat building. After conducting some research on passed social ventures that have built boats I feel this will be a unique experience with powerful effects.
I am exploring the concept of hosting an education program for teens to take part in a real world boat building process. Students from high-schools in south florida will work together in collaboration with a number of boat manufacturing entities based in south florida to design and build watercraft. This concept seems realistic and very feasible to me.
Similarly, I am researching the use of water craft by indigenous tribes. Dugout boats are some of the most common hand crafted boats in the world. Cultures on rivers all over the world are known for using this type of boat for fishing, hunting, traveling, fighting, and trading. I plan to continue my research, identify a specific culture that has an unmet need within a marine life scope, and perhaps design a product that will be the solution to their unmet need. This project feels like there is a bit more disconnect between the end user and I.
Below are some links: one showing an article about a canoe building education program based in the bronx, the next showing a similar program based in canada, and the last is a wiki page briefly showing the history and use of dugout canoes in the world.
NYC Boat Building Social Venture
Youth Boat Works
Dugout Boats
I hope to hear some feedback on which direction people feel will be more opportunistic and effective.
I am exploring the concept of hosting an education program for teens to take part in a real world boat building process. Students from high-schools in south florida will work together in collaboration with a number of boat manufacturing entities based in south florida to design and build watercraft. This concept seems realistic and very feasible to me.
Similarly, I am researching the use of water craft by indigenous tribes. Dugout boats are some of the most common hand crafted boats in the world. Cultures on rivers all over the world are known for using this type of boat for fishing, hunting, traveling, fighting, and trading. I plan to continue my research, identify a specific culture that has an unmet need within a marine life scope, and perhaps design a product that will be the solution to their unmet need. This project feels like there is a bit more disconnect between the end user and I.
Below are some links: one showing an article about a canoe building education program based in the bronx, the next showing a similar program based in canada, and the last is a wiki page briefly showing the history and use of dugout canoes in the world.
NYC Boat Building Social Venture
Youth Boat Works
Dugout Boats
I hope to hear some feedback on which direction people feel will be more opportunistic and effective.
Open Innovation
Our discussion the other day about the potential challenges and opportunities of open source innovation and collaboration made me think of a couple of Mckinsey Quarterly articles that came out last month: "Managing the Business Risks of Open Innovation" and "Wiring the Open Source Enterprise".
The key takeaway from these articles is the overwhelming trend towards open source innovation online and the fact that more traditional IP-oriented companies will either have to work harder to differentiate their 'core IP' or adapt to the model of more collaborative IP-free innovation. As we mentioned last session, the success of such efforts will depend on how users are motivated/incentivized and how strong the foundations are. The authors recommend a grassroots approach.
What I find most interesting is the analysis done on which industries will most likely adapt to and benefit from this new trend. The chart below provides some insight into a broad swath of different sectors possibly effected beyond just the obvious IT software development hub. I was actually surprised by what seem to me to be high-risk categories such as 'medical, precision and optical instruments' and 'coke, petroleum and nuclear fuel'. These beg the questions: how would one balance open innovation, quality control, and security in such categories? Bob Lewis, CEO of Communications Consulting in South Africa commented:
The key takeaway from these articles is the overwhelming trend towards open source innovation online and the fact that more traditional IP-oriented companies will either have to work harder to differentiate their 'core IP' or adapt to the model of more collaborative IP-free innovation. As we mentioned last session, the success of such efforts will depend on how users are motivated/incentivized and how strong the foundations are. The authors recommend a grassroots approach.
What I find most interesting is the analysis done on which industries will most likely adapt to and benefit from this new trend. The chart below provides some insight into a broad swath of different sectors possibly effected beyond just the obvious IT software development hub. I was actually surprised by what seem to me to be high-risk categories such as 'medical, precision and optical instruments' and 'coke, petroleum and nuclear fuel'. These beg the questions: how would one balance open innovation, quality control, and security in such categories? Bob Lewis, CEO of Communications Consulting in South Africa commented:
"...If something is “open,” who takes ultimate responsibility for its shortfalls, especially in a climate where even operational computers at power stations have been hacked?"Perhaps this calls for an even more innovative process or model of responsibility-sharing to allow open source innovation to flourish in a safe and collaborative environment.
The chart below shows analysis based on the following three questions posed to industry leaders:
- Do specialized firms offer proprietary solutions within certain layers of my industry’s value chain?
- Do integrated firms seek to cut development costs in my industry by drawing on open technologies to substitute for these proprietary solutions?
- Are the underlying technologies complex—consisting of so many bits and pieces that a significant number could inadvertently infringe on proprietary IP held by specialized firms?
 |
| Source: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Managing_the_business_risks_of_open_innovation_2911 |
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