Is your advantage superior and sustainable?

Objectives Examine your competitive advantage at the opportunity identification phase of your new venture creation activities

Macroeconomic Change Entrepreneurial Motivation Entrepreneurial Behavior Industry Condition Industry Status Opportunity Identification Problem Solution Advantage Team Value Innovation Competition The Opportunity Analysis Canvas TM Entrepreneurial Mindset

Building competitive advantage Begin with a customer-validated perspective on the problem for your planned solution Invest time and resources into building the venture To understand your advantage versus competitors, consider the: –Degree of the advantage; and the –Sustainability of that advantage.

The degree of your advantage? A product or service with better features or functions A sustainably lower price for the customer based on the value created for them –Due to your operations or other cost control strategies A rareness factor, meaning that competitors cannot offer the same set of values to this customer

The sustainability of your advantage? Sustainability determines the likelihood of competitors replicating or surpassing your venture How easily can a competitor copy/exceed your –Resources, –Know-how, –Operations, –Relationships –etc.?

Sources of competitive advantage Specialization

Taiwan’s KKBOX’s competitive advantage against Western competitors like Spotify is its ability to sign local music labels kkbox.com Sources of competitive advantage Localization

Sources of competitive advantage Team CTO: Past CTO & co-founder of an electric aircraft platform company CFO: Past CFO for Ford of Southern Africa ($3B) Chief Designer: Past Director of Design at the Mazda North American Design Center. Past designer with GM and Volkswagen. VP of Manufacturing: Past production lead with Lexus, Toyota, Volvo, and Renault (350,000+ vehicles/yr.) VP of Supply Chain: Past CPO for Sony Ericsson VP of Human Resources: Director of staffing operations for Google teslamotors.com

Summary Competitive advantage depends on its degree and sustainability –Are you significantly better, cheaper, rarer, etc.? –How will you maintain or improve your position? Explore sources of competitive advantage –Specialization –Localization –Team –Etc.