Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Overview  Things to consider when reviewing an opportunity include: Selecting a venture Bringing ideas and marketing together Finding opportunities Making your venture unique

Selecting a Venture  Need to identify: The type of business you will start How you will start it  Two ways to set up a business: Idea-driven opportunity Market-driven opportunity

Idea-Driven Opportunity  A venture that starts as the result of an invention or an innovation Invention  A product or process that is a new idea; something that has never been seen or made before Innovation  Using new technologies, materials or processes to improve on existing products or on how they’re produced or distributed

Idea-Driven Opportunity continued  Can run into a problem with this type of opportunity  You may have a great idea, but what if the timing is wrong e.g. the market doesn’t want to buy it

Market-Driven Opportunity  A venture that starts with an idea about the market rather than about a product  Entrepreneur looks for a customer base first and then develops a product suitable to the market

Market-Driven Opportunity continued Advantage  You know the market wants the product Problem  Do you have the expertise to design and make the product?

Bringing Ideas & Marketing Together  No venture is ever purely idea- driven or market-driven  Need help with marketing (idea person) and ideas (marketing person)  Can either learn the skills yourself or hire someone  Must ensure venture is feasible Has the potential to succeed and has reasonable goals

Finding Opportunities  Venture is feasible only when it solves a problem or satisfies a need or want  Must research what is not already available in the market  If a product or service is already available, you must be able to improve it through innovation  Options for investigating the market: Segment the current market Create a product or service map

Segmenting the Current Market Market Segment  Any part of an overall market that has common characteristics  Segments can be large or small  Easier to determine what is available in a market if segmentation is smaller  Must identify what segment of the market your product or service will fit into before launching your business

Product or Service Mapping Product Mapping  An activity that allows an entrepreneur to visualize all products or services that are available in a particular segment and group them by specific features

Product or Service Mapping continued  Involves looking at sales statistics, product history and any other information available about the product or service  Based on the information, a product map is created  Map shows all characteristics that make the product or service popular  See page 342 of your textbook for an example

Making Your Venture Unique  Important to identify what will make your product or service different from others currently in the market  Need to set yourself apart so consumers will select your product or service instead of the competition