SFP Ct. Fy IDEA TO OPPORTUNITY MAPPING Innovative opportunities do not come with the tempest but with the rusting of the breeze Peter F Drucker LEARNING OBJECTIVES Secu ene af In this chapter you will learn about: Myths around innovation - Opportunity and ideation as aspects of business innovation Methods for opportunity sighting Usage of opportunity evaluation sieve for evaluating opportunities Ideation techniques 120 map and its significance Evaluation and selection of appropriate 120 map - cee126 I Entrepreneurs Treony AND PRACTICE \ Journey of an idea: Nalli Silks ‘South India brings to one’s mind tall temple towers and swish of Kancheevaram sarees. “And a nsme that has becorne synonymous with Kancheevaram sares is Nallis. Handed over just ike traditions ofa land, Nall’ i a family business that is being now handled by the fir generation Gen-Y members Nall started in 1928 by Nall Chinnasami Chet asa small 20059 shop catering to select set of people. The family of weavers belonged originally to Padmasaliyar community in Andhra Pradesh. Most of them migrate in Sth and 16th centuries to setle down in Kancheevaram. Nalli Chinnasami Chettiar initiated the entrepreneurial Joumey by starting off hs shop at his residence in Chennai, which later was moved tits location at prime Chennai Panagal Pack in 1935. For thiny years the store saw regular and loyal customers and was growin that suited the unhurried tide ofthe owners In 1988, afer the sudden premature dest of Nall Nerayansany Chet the son of Ral CChinnasami Chetty, the control was transfered tothe grandson Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty. Foreed to dcop out of college et the demise of hs father, Nal Kuppuswam would have prefered a beter ety f taking over the family business. Under the able stewardship of his uncle, Nalli Kuppuswami Chety, put Nallis ona growth agenda that was nat on speeded bt wea of ven nt si steal indy The tng clea tee ih it the business required ~a shot in the arm. The brilliant school finalist, learnt nuances of retailing quickly and bought about swift changes. ‘While loyalty was the reason for repeat customers, heavy discount schemes was what actually controlled growth of both customer base and spend. He declared that there would be no discount-selling offered by the store which was ‘unprecedented inthe 1950s. He established leadership position inthe textile field by introducing industry changing. amendments. Riding on customer relationship and high quality, much against others expectation, the customers started growing multifold. Within no time he had tumed the enterprise into a multcrore empire spanning showrooms and looms across the ‘gion. His concept of reviving old designs of silk sarees and presenting them in new forms was a runaway hit. He ‘was also the first one to introduce special designs that were inspired through current films. Every innovative move of his was welcomed warmly by the customers. Very soon he had converted the 200 sqft into a sprawling 30,000, 9 ft, tree floor building stretching from one street to another. Nalli’s at Panagal Park soon became a single stop shop for connoisseurs of sarees. Today Ns and exporter of fabries, apparel and home furnishings. Nali's today representa category killer in the saree industry with ranges from traditional silks to light weight chiffons, crepes and even designer sarees. It has surprised its Patrons with entering into appare! line for women and ready-to-wear men’s wear. Ithas extended its range to include accessories, jewellery, stoles and shawls What the third generation achieved for Nalli's, the fourth gerération furthered it. Ramanathan K Nall, the son of alli Kuppuswami Chetty, started Nalli Silk sarees that has made geographical expansion by opening over twenty cutlets across nine states. Today Nallis have ther offices in USA and Singapore. Under his management a sprawling $0,000 sqft of exquisite showroom has been opened just a stone throw away from the original family run outlet. ‘Across these eighty odd years as the business went from one generation to next, Nalli’s products maintained their superlative quality, earning them reputation worldwide. ali Next, the next avatar from the house of Nall’, is the brain child of the president and fifth generation entrepreneur Lavanya R Pillai, Having learnt under her father Ramanathan K Nalli, she has brought home to Nall professionalized set-up, product diversification and new retail formats and the sub-brand Nalli Next. Nall today Tepresents an iconic heritage brand steeped in tradition, holding on steadfast to core value of trust and quality that has grown steadily under every generation of the founding family. has broadened its focus from being not only a leading saree retailer but also a first class manufacturer eT 71 DEMYSTIFYING TERMS “Words often mean more than the intended meaning; based on their usage prevalent over a period of time, There is a tendency to use some words interchangeably; even when they may actualy diffe significantly in their meaning. Similarly, with respect to entrepreneurship and the process of starting up, one ofien hears some tems repeatedly. Is then important to understand, facknowledge and appreciate the fact that the discussions are based on certain assumptions to the ‘meanings of these words that one may use and hear often. such pairs of words that you are going to encounter repeatedly when you ee Eee oes ‘or practice entrepreneurship. These eight words atthe minimum fre going to appear not just inthe course of studying this book but also in arity of literature with22 Oromner Mars _y Az, respect to the subject. This section will attempt to establish the true meaning of few commonly used terms in the field of entrepreneurship. 8, Idea and opportunity ‘One may actually question the need or significance of trying to differentiate between the terms idea and opportunity. Very often in practice we would find these two being used interchangeably, but there exists a subtle yet clear difference between them. Anentrepreneurial mind typically is opportunity focused. It as an uncanny ability to identify opportunities quickly in any given environment. Call it art or science ~ an entrepreneurial ‘mind is always identifying opportunities. An opportunity exists in the ecosystem, outside of the entrepreneurial mind at that particular point in consideration. It can also be safely assumed that an opportunity which can be capitalized for business purposes needs to exist where customers ‘exist or atleast where potential customers exist So, for our purpose of study we will understand opportunities to be situations that can be leveraged for business purposes that lie outside the entrepreneur in the external environment. The environment may include the market place and the situations (defined by a need/gap or challenge) can arise out of various reasons - a new need, an underserviced need, an unmet need, etc. ‘An idea on the contrary is more based on the entrepreneur's ability to come up with thoughts ‘An idea is a thought; something that an entrepreneur visualizes intemally. The inspiration or triggers for the ideas can come from an internal ideation process in the mind ofthe entrepreneur or from the external environment, But an idea is always something that emerges from the internal thought process of the entrepreneur. An idea is then normally arrived at as a means to capitalize ‘an opportunity that is available outside. Hence ideas and opportunities as terms should not be used loosely but carefully by the ‘entrepreneur as they mean clearly two different things. Very often we are told that the success of a business was because of a phenomenal idea, This misteads or distracts the listener from the fact that a good idea should always exist within a framework of a great opportunity. An idea that is not sitting within an opportunity will represent a figment of imagination and wishful thinking and not a foundation for a commercially viable business, Foran idea to work, the presence of the right opportunity isa must. This is such a fundamental supposition in entrepreneurship that we can safely say success of any business is built on a good idea to opportunity (120) map, 1__ [Lies within the entrepreneur. Lies outside the entrepreneur. 2 | Itisa thought that can leverage an_ || Itisasituationthatcan beleveraged for business existing or future situation or need. | purposes by applying a valid thought. 3 | Every idea need not have an Every opportunity to be realized requires an ‘opportunity, idea. 4 | Acreative mind is focused on idea | An entrepreneurial mind is focused on generation. opportunity identification. Further in this chapter you will come across what an idea to opportunity map is and why businesses should be created around an idea to opportunity map. b. Industry and market \ Probably the confusion or the inability to differentiate between an industry and a market exists ‘much more commonly than what one observes in the earlier pair. Many practitioners may not realise the difference between these terms. Understanding this is essential, as it could make @4 fo Lrttenraunsar Toe a Pract I ae ena Significant difference inthe very approuch to businoss, lind Players inthe market compete by providing similar products oF services) gy while Serving Sinlar needs. Competition arises betwoon players in the, lndustry-servicing. & Particular need tn the market, Hence, studying ai -ndiey.can provide a tot-ofjnsights about @% Competition and studying’ industrial landscape can throw pen numerous opportunities as wel Market on the other hand, by its very meaning, represents the place where a consumer makes 4 purchase, Hence, markets are the places where transactions tend to happen. Studying market ¢ Place throws open in-serviced or unmet needs of the potential consumer or buyers of the product Macrvice: So an entrepreneur may identify opportunities in the market place and by servicing, ¢ {hese Will eventually belong to some industry, Entrepreneurial ventures by their very nature are bised more on ‘market driven‘ opportunity. Attitives Wemay find that some of these ve tures CATT Totally disrupt the existing, industry structure c Or even Bive rise to.new industry, But they most often or almost always tend to change market breferences or create consumers out of non-consumers. So, iis important for an entrepreneur to € ‘@erstand along which lines he needs to be focused to be effective. To understand market and industry fe us take the following example, Let us consider the ‘need for communication amongst people and those people specifically who want to communicate over a distance, These people then represent the market as they are looking. for solutions that can be bought at a certain price. In that market we could have players in various industries like ‘mobile telephony, web based communication or land-line, & Creativity and innovation ‘ Creativity as a term lies in the artistic domain, Ent aiTeremty: Fence, a creative tint is bound to be associated with it. Though this sounds like a ‘ Universal truth it very often is not. Ths is because not all'entreprencurs do very ercative work; but they are still able to produce great companies by being more effective, efficient and filling common gaps that ean be corrected in an industry through the implementation of a rather plain straightforward idea My While there are many ventures based on highly ereative solutions, the innovation ies more 4 in the application of an idea rather than the extent ofits novelty. Itis important to understand this Failure to understand the context an differences between, being creative and coming up with ¢ innovative solutions can prove costly for an entrepreneur, tis very easy for an entrepreneur to get lost in the creative pursuit of things and move away @ from the socio-economic side of venture creation, Creativity is assumed fo have a greater tinge | of at and anistic expression; innovation is said to be more on the application and business side of the entemprise. Innovation may lack novelty but the application of the idea itself could make it hovel. So, while coming up with innovative solutions you are not necessarily searching for a new base idea every (ime, From an enireprencit’s perspective to become more effective one has to he more focused on the economic value addition that is possible and not necessarily the uniqueness, Unnterstanding this helps to maintain a fair balance between the creative side and the innovation driven economic side, . d. Invention and discovery Though widely understood invention i the process of coming up with abs olutely new combinations of technologies or new ideas That ean see some practical appl ation. Discovery on the other hanidis identifying something that already exists in the natural environment, Discovery typically afi8eS"out OF keen observation, experimentation And realization. Invention comes. from more of experimentation and deep thinking, Invention therefore becomes eligible as an intellectual ‘of the institution in the form of a patent, copyright, etc, But discovery is attributed to the discoverer although intellectual rights are not possible over discovered items, eprencurial minds are supposed to think &I los 10 Oprcerunary Marrnss. { 129 ‘AS one sets out to practice or study any domain; one of the first things they need to be aware is the myths around its theory and practice. Failure to do this would lead to their ineffective understanding, practice failures and subseyuent sub optimal outcomes. The area of innovation, being a subject more of practice than theory, invites many myths that stand as stated earlier, 25 Obstacles in the path of successful practice and implementation. While studying these myths, it {s important to understand the ‘how and why behind their debunking, so the reasoning could be applied to any version of these ot any new/creative ones that one may encounter. Validation of every negative statement and supposed road blocks is required before acceptjng them and giving. up on the situation, 7 Mrs imertion seine ie Most innovations are considered to have taken place or happened at a discrete and particularly ‘magical moment. Innovation for the sake of interesting story telling, has got associated with a ‘specific WOW" moment. There is no denying that the filling of the last number in a sudoku puzzle or final word in a'crossword puzzle creates a different level of excitement and satisfaction. However, itis also true thatthe placing of the lst number or last word is not very different than the other ones placed before. Similarly, a lot of emphasis is given to the path breaking final step. ‘The earlier hard work done to make this final step possible often goes ignored. ‘While Edison’s light bulbis chronicled in great detail, the invention of each ofthe components, the number of failed experiments which led to its success doesn’t get its deserved attention Such disproportionate attention leads many tp think that path breaking idea like ‘telephone’ are ‘magical thoughts that comes to the mind of a genius in one sudden flash. This brings to the forefront another complication that is the necessity to be a part of the gifted genius coterie for such innovative thoughts to get flashed in one’s mind. history and all the evolutionary work behind an see numerous people-working hard over a fairly long period of dl problem or challenge prior to arriving at the celebrated solution. The journey to the great idea has not been unleashed in one moment but has been through persevered efforts through a large number of failures and challenges. Hence, crediting and taking it for granted that ‘one person sitting alone gota flash of genius and came up with a world changing innovation is a iyth and powerful one. If believe iid deter a Tot of individuals from carrying on an b. I (Ona visit to any leading bookstore one would find it difficult to ignore the lure of various titles ‘n innovators and those that promise to give you an inside view into the innovator’s mind map. ‘How to think like Leonardo’ ‘Innovate the Edison way’; “The Mckinsey way’; ‘The GE Way" “How to lead like Welch’ and so on to’name a few. Many students and entrepreneurs are urged to read these books to understand and ‘crack the ‘code of the innovation process. In their quest to find a method for innovation, when one reads |teratur about innovators and inventions they often retum disappointed. They are falling a Ng epene broed myths here: the frst being the strong belief that there is a particular nietiod alle Yor Oop innovative solution and the next one bein; novative mind 1s there really @ method to innovation? Many i No! But this is, it we are looking for a world view method. At an individual level though, each innovator has an approach that is highly individualized. Hence, can I leam that one method of innovation? The is: No. But, can eam to be more innovative? The answer is: Yes. Then on reading about innovators can I create a method for my innoyation activity? The answer is:Z Myth 4 Innovation is lonely vocation andi require eccentricity a Enrecrneneursiae THEORY ANO PRACTICE { + alot of other factors to come to fruition namely ~ i the innovator himself, So even ifone assures one 4 vd worked, it may not be as effective im One & ea did to develop such open and ¢ | Innovation requires apart from mindset time, culture, people, market, ecosystem an« ‘can learn how exactly Eigon’s or Leonardo's min ‘own current context. But yes, learning about what these genii agile thinking can go a long way in creating the relevant mindset ‘and Animal Planet Channels would be treated someti0ce and Famous bird's egg batching. As one will watch ih the hard cover eg, one waits with rapt anentio® Tiving noisy bird. And when the shell racks there 15} ¢ id be there at the bird's side. “Anyone who is a regular viewer of Discovery ‘with incredible visual of an ostrich egg or ano ‘vith open mouth a beak relentlessly pushing throu to see the transformation ofa plain oval egg into @ more celebration at the viewers’ end, than what wou ‘While a viewer will recap Iter with wonder the chick breaking out of the eB = 7 re will | g seme tae bology lesson where hatching of the eps was scientifically explained by patents teacher. seme process of life incubating within dark was, within space that begs fox more ‘comfort, led bythe weight and warmth af the mothe ill but frgtten, and least celebrated ‘One wonders why? Why i ing to us celebrating the hat al tention is given to the result ening to ws leer ‘moment of hatching ~ while much hatching, Maybe itis because the less is spoken about the process of HOcES soften laborious, boring and a definitly tough work. Not something that one wants to connect, Prth there is too much realism inthe process of hatching. ‘oat as homan being prefer to ive in the Belief that the egg and the ehick are the ony forms of existence anything in between is ether unimportant or not noteworthy. “This aide tat we all commonly adopt is also mirored i the way we look at great ideas We oe tha changed and we fgg a prosesing that the great minds did to come to that ie | For us s individuals when we celebrate te ‘epiphani reat idea by simply sitting under an apple tee (Newton gravity) eke benzene) or even while having a bath (Archimedes ~buoyancy)- Weft to understand, acknowledge and appreciate the thought process, the hard work, the boing vo esa aparessiv search forthe unkown that was behind such gest ideas. Its ack aoa ing and appreciation that stops us from experiencing similar ‘epiphanit’ momen + moment — we also inwardly hope to get one ‘by sleeping and dreaming of snakes Aayth 3 You need that great big idea to win 5 4 ult we are constantly told and taught to ‘conform’. When one ( wm the norm they are immediately barraged “if it is so simple someone would have done ‘Constant exposure to such ficult to see; but ater ‘As we grow from a child to an ac attempts to see something even slightly different fro down with ‘killer statements like: this won't work’, this earlier’; ‘nobody will buy ths’; “its too plain and too obvious’. statements has led minds to become closed. In truth ideas are not beng trained to NOT see them they just rma inplainsight, Definitely it snot the idea thats big or small but i isthe application or the challenge that the idea or innovation addresses that decides the success ofthe thought, A small and a very ary ious thought could lead to solving of critical and large problems, while many out of the as ean get relegated in reality to expensive fights of fantasy. The reason why an idea lly dependent upon culture, timing, competition, polities worl ‘or innovation will become a hit is actual and not necessarily on the strength ofthe idea itself. Believing in this myth that one needs area dens ~ deters people rom coming up with simple and practical solutions. This myth then becomes atop deterrent for an imaginative mind capable ‘of generating a lot of simple and sound ideas. characteristic ‘Alot of famous innovators seem tobe associated with some amount of eccentricity and boxed in the category of ‘geeks’, peop! le who prefer to be left alone and are highly temperamental. However, when oné studies the life of these innovators, you will find their inspirations have ways come fom the everyday work! and not fom the labyrinth oftheir lonely minds. While He tue that most innovators fend spend time alone interestingly they are also people whofoea to Orromtinaty MAPA 134 fie have astrong team working with them and behind them. Take Bill Gates, Steve Job, Edson he, sil had people around them. The solitude that is sought is more to create a Space in time where thoughts and inspiration from every occurrence can) be channelized. So while it ts definitely not required that you have to be a loner to be a good inndvator ~ working alone occasionally with only your thoughts is a recommended catalyst for ideation. _ [rte nly il ides gato sel imran Insome way people have come to believe that they only buy into radically new ideas and thous But as a matter of fact rive on selling what is already existing on varia Tea eee TS send companies out Of business most oTIRS ine rather than help them. A standing example is why smart phones werent accepted “hen they were originally produced, while the -pod, which is just another MP3 player, changed the markct dynamics. There ino correlation to prove that absolutely new ideas have been widely sccepted; in fact if any there ae hundreds of examples to prove it otherwise. And innovation does i ecessarily mean a whole new out of the world idea; it could be as we will see later in the 1; a new application of an existing idea, etc. chapter a new use for an existing tool When we focus our efforts on only the radically different or absolutely new, does innovation actually become risky and expensive? If one would allow innovation to.be an_evoluionary process; and keep it opportunity driven (challenges, need, problem etc} hen innovation leads to I lest Tika more predictable and more remunerative business / product change. TAUGHT? _ We at ichiban conducted a very small informal survey to understand this question better. One would be rather surprised at what we heard. Whom we spoke to, were all very interested in the subject of innovation. Almost all of them were very interested to know if there was a way to leam to apply innovation into their work lives, But many ofthese young, minds were also holding on to a firm thought of whether “innovation can be taught?” We were very happy to note that most of the youth and learning facilitators in the country resonated with our strong view that after a certain age, teaching has reduced impact and learning takes over. And innovation ike many other subjects cannot be taught, but it can be learnt, Also, learnt more effectively when facilitated! Surprising but true! During the course of our ex ‘ence wilh the Teaming and education industry, we have strongly advocated this view that faciltatic increases the effectiveness of learning. And this holds true in the case of innovation also, It is ore vem AEN ~ + Innovation is not invention and neither sit momentary spark of genius. This is because when innovation is applied to a business Setting, it Should Tsar in economic ‘benefit. Economic benefit will arise ‘only Hone value addition to a potential consumer. A potential consumer can be found in the market places ants constantly seektig some fori of Vale, By se i We at place: an enteprens can derive econot ‘alae ofthe potentiat customer, the market place can ‘it which the entrepreneur is going to use the idea they ‘market place isthe result of good business innovation cing this need ofthe potential customerga mie value to the enterprise. This need for ‘be thought of as ‘opportunity’ and the way y come up with, to service the need in the experiment. Hence business innovation is133 I Joe 10 Omomner: Mune: _g is called as the 120 map. It is the effectiveness of this mapping that determines th c theeentreprencurial venture. Later inthis chapter we will look at step by step evolution of the 120 Tap, the selection of the best [20 map and how the shortlisted [20 map then gets translated into a real-time bu Mee es RELEVANCE OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Entrepreneurship by its very nature is about walking ina path that isnot commonly trodden; hence the traveller of this path, that is the entrepreneur, is bound to or forced to think differently and take number of risks as they move along. The entrepreneur, therefore has to think innovatively, differently and possibly creatively as well. Decisions need to be taken under high pressure situations and at times very quickly without much time for rigorous analysis. In these kind of situations itis better thatthe entrepreneur keeps himself aware of the environment and changes taking place so as to make an educated guess. In this process, any creative bent that can be cultivated by the entrepreneur is beneficial While creativity and use of creative skills is definitely beneficial to the entrepreneur, they have to consciously develop the skill of innovation because there is an economic benefit associated with it, Innovation does not refer to ideation, since ideation is just a part of innovation. Innovation consists of multiple tools. One amongst them is ideation. The entrepreneur needs to develop the skills that are necessary to ideate and filter these ideas down and select the idea to imap to the opportunity that may or may not exist visibly in the market place. Constantly learning by observation, introspection and externally through consumption of relevant information will help the entrepreneur become more skiliful or adept at applying innovation in practice. Hence, ‘hile creativity and innovation as subject is important to an entrepreneur, the extent to which these two have to be developed would depend upon the nature of industry or market in which the entrepreneur tends to be in and service respectively. It may also depend on the strengths of the individual practising the same and their interest towards each of these areas. But it is not possible to remove either of these areas from the life of the entrepreneur. PURE me WW keen neue unc {FAs a part of research that we do, we started to study Bharathiar ~ his life and works, to derive some essons for today’s youth, We came across lots of information about this man who lived to less than Forty | but who has earved himself a unique position inthe hearts of his countrymen today. | ‘To know that he knew Bengali and Marathi was as amazing a fact as knowing that when he died there were not even four people who had come to pay their last dus. As we continued to read on him we | found a wealth of information pointing out to his obsession of free India, freedom to women, equality amongst al and his undying passion o bis language. In fact, having lost his mother atthe tender age of five, he has been heard often to say, “Tamizh is my mother!” Just reading these made us feel humble tobe his fellow countrymen in spite of not having lived in his time, But along with these information are also bits and pieces of his strugele in personal life, his poverty his family’s anguish at thei inability to support themselves, the shunning of Bharathiar by his Fmmediate society ~ the same society that after his death is hailing him as the brightest star in Indian skies, looking up to him for inspiration, naming their children, especially girls after him. Then what ‘went wrong in the lifetime of Bharathiar? ‘As a matter of fact, what went wrong for the great Leonardo Da Vinci? The man who had the foresight to make blueprints for bridges and airplanes, while the society, was sil grappling with smaller issues. He was shunned as a mad man anda lunatic, Today his fife, work and even mind is being studied with a hope that we can understand what made such a great mind. When he died he was branded not as great thinker but as a failure! ‘Not too much of a difference between Bharathiar and Leonardo ~though the forms of expression for each of them was different! We can get scores of other examples of people hailed today’ as great thinkers, philosophers and scientists who however were criticized, ridiculed, ignored, insulted and punished by their contemporaries. (na fighter vein they seemed to lack a good PR and hence had to setle for persons from the next generation to unearth thei works and showeas them inthe right perspestive. Only the repackaging and rediscovering oftheir life's work after their death catapulted them to the heights that they truly deserved. ‘We are sure they would not have minded this recognition during their lifetime!134 Jitters Theonr wo Pracrce 1 G JNestso had another in of thought; while Bhaatiar and Da Vine were ignored we have Edo ‘ho has more than 1000 patents, created the famous Menlo Park Laboratory, founded the company Ct and also the al-famous lightbulb; tobe precise the frst commercially practical incandescent light. H ‘made ita point to convert every effort spent inthe lab to be useful on a practical level and also was Ve Dearticular about the economic viability for mass production and usage. Now what diferentited Edison from Bharathiar or Da Vinci? All three of them were driven by Passion tocreate and innovate Altre of them allowed themselves amedium of expression, which w9 ‘ery different from their contemporaris. All three of them pursued their passion unmindful of failures ‘te and commen fom pb, Alles fihem ive tir ves by their owm stands & ‘But Edison had the advantage of being enterprising, thinking of how to make his ideas be accept and see them at work. We could say to some extent Bharathiar and Da Vinci were more gullible a ‘were unable to gauge the impact oftheir own work on the society They were truly unmindful of ho thi work was perceived. Ther joy and stsfction came fom the proces of eration mare than creation itself. Edison was as much bothered about his end produc, as he was bothered about th Process islf This difference helped Edison crete histor and also witness is creation while Bharathia 8nd Da Vine had to settle tobe credited much after ther lifetime similar to Copernicus and Galileo. Ye undoubtedly it would be better if we ean witness our success during out lifetime. But what is most important inal his» is fo be able to leave behind something that lasts wet beyond our lifetime! Had Bharathiar or Da Vine taken to hear the ertcism and ridicule, today we will ‘not be having a legacy to discus. Had Edison got cari away with suocess of his enterprise we woul ‘ot have had him continue to experiment with the unknown. Whether itis Edison or Bharathiar ~ what actually got them fame was thit single-minded obsession to their belief, that they were right and th@ strong faith tha, as individuals, they could bring a change in the society ‘What it takes to live a fife of Bharathiar or Edison requires lot of thought and contemplation. DA we have it in us to forge on, unmindful of our surrounding? Can we be consumed by our own passion? (Can we break truly the worldly ties and become unmindful ofthe stress that it eeates? Can we see ourselves tothe sweetness of success and continue to indulge in experiments that fil? ‘These are the questions we need to answer ~ individually. But we would not want to live a life which does nt leave afotprint in the sands of time! Parting Thoughs, “« Letme livea life consumed by obsession to perform rather than comfort of complacence! Let me livealife that els the fire in me every day —because one day’I know it wil touch someone else! Excerpt from the book ~ ‘Entrepreneurship =A Life of Commas, Not Full Stops! by Raj Shankar and Meera Krishnan. < 7.6 OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS c As established earlier, while ideas are important and understanding of ideation ‘techniques generate ideas are valuable tools for the entrepreneur, the step before indulging in ideation® to arrive at the opportunity space. Doing this will ensure the effort for ideation is applied onh ‘om a scientifically identified opportunity and is not a random activity of generating interesti® options for investment. Although the ideation process is more luring to one as it has be Popularly practised and is acknowledged to be an intense and energetic exercise, the nied of ideating sans a defined opportunity space will prove very costly as ideas that get generatg may be attractive as thoughts but often fail to meet commercial ‘expectation, It is hence adviser that an entrepreneur should make ‘identifying and analysing opportunity’ asthe starting point § business innovation. This paradigm shift in the activity sequence of zeroing in on the core ide for the venture; can become the differentiator between a practically successful start-up and § ‘interesting yet commercially failed start-up.k ke f Oro rms _y 1 Opportunity Marketdriven [resets { Demographic Changes in Technological [Supply Demand changes societal situation changes changes Regulatory pee Corporate eee” |[ me aie % Figure 7.2 Opportunity Analysis While many a thought has been given to ideation and its techniques, very litle literature is available on pure opportunity identification and its approaches. Even if there is literature available on this subject, it is not being keenly referred to and easily applied in practice. Since the whole area of innovation and entrepreneurship is all about practice, itis important to be able to apply any frameworks, approaches, methods in real life. To make the whole process easier to assimilate, appreciate, understand and practice we will look at the process of opportunity selection to be made of two stages: Pee a + Opportunity Sighting + Opportunity Evaluation Opportunity Sighting ‘The renowned management thinker Peter F Drucker said “the overwhelming majority of successfull innovations exploit change”. This quote essays beautifully why opportunity sighting is a useful skill inthe entrepreneur's toolkit. ‘As detailed earlier, an opportunity is something in the market place is the result of Some action or social domain are broadly of two types: +. Market driven People driven ‘Though in many ways they may seem similar, there are definitive and subtle differences. Understanding the difference enables us to identify the drivers for the subsequent ideation. One key difference between these two is the fact that while market driven changes are natural fallout ‘of actions of man over a period of time, people driven changes are man-made or rather artificial ‘which have been introduced specifically into the ecosystem as policy or governance decision. Example: ‘The need for greater variety in small cars during the last five years is a result of numerous market driven changes namely coming out of recession, greater number of IT jobs landing up in India, 1TeS market growing fast, lifestyle changes due to increasing disposable income, etc. Restricting the number of scooters to be produced during the days of the license-raj was a ‘man-made change which ed to certain opportunity; which was tapped by a few people. arises in the market place. An opportunity Age in the social domain, Changes in thease Teor wo Puc gee which have been introduced into the ecosystemasa governmental é destin bali t « These changes cannot be stopped. As this is evolutionary it is difficult to spot but can lead to huge wind | cha i ind J changes needs influence, ace {all change if sighted cart exploitation of business opportunit ‘Nurtures innovation | The scope for innovation i less. Example: demographic trend Example: declaration of special tax holiday for indicating a lage numberof | particutartype of business asa prt of government elderly persons. policy. Another man-made opportunity was the tax holiday given to IT businesses in India ower t last decade. This policy decision, which was man-made and hence people driven change, led to a large number of people becoming entrepreneurs in the IT industry. © While itis important to acknowledge whether it is a market driven opportunity or people, driven opportunity ~ the base for both is action of man and the impact of his evolution OG society Segregation of these is important for the simple reason that there are a few subtle but ignficant differences between the categories, Hence, they subsequently require different action from an entrepreneurial mind. We shall now take a quick look at the changes under these categorie present numerous business opportunities to an entrepreneurial mind. Taking some examples froma, the Indian context, we will proceed to understand how keeping abreast of such changes can! give us the first mover advantage. Spotting these changes does not require any deep scientific 0 ‘quantitative insights. Al it requires from an entrepreneur is a disciplined process of staying more connected and aware of happenings in the economic, social and political arena € Market Driven Opportunities € \Market driven changes can be considered as the response of the social system to the continuoug changes that are happening in the iifluencing forces within the social realm] For example, way recession; chaiige'in climate of even demographic changes can be considered as influencers oF stimaTos thar would TavoKe a response from the societal reali. As seen from the examples While theseare almost always uncontrollable; ohe can predict these changes. These changes are of the natural variety and evolve over a period of time. While these are unstoppable, they can almost alvays be delayed, controlled or at times even profonged through intervention in the form of regulations, ete. As these are changes that happen over @ ‘Period of time and do not rise out of the Blue, if watched and tracked carefully can lead to early sighting of corresponding busine opportunites leading to a more purposeful and suecessful innovation effor. (Market driv opportunities can be better understood when grouped by the Four major change categories thal Kado them>) 7 Demographic changes + Changes in social situations + Technological changes + Supply demand changes sand bow they cai ADADNLD DDL137 fe Oromnnery Mare _y a. Demographic changes ‘What is hailed about India and China? More than the growth rate of the GDP, which is interesting enough, alot of talk is about the rising numbers belonging to the category of 18-35 years in age, ‘making these economies the youngest countries by average age. While these are with respect to alot of people moving into the younger age groups, some of the developed countries are facing a different kind of demographic change — for example, in Japan a lot of people are moving into the $5 — 70 years group. ‘Now from a pure opportunity sense can we say which country’s situation is better? It is not like the countries that have more people in the 18 ~35 age group are standing at an advantageous position representing growth, while the countries with ageing population indicate a period of decline. When you see this from the eyes of an entrepreneur both the situation presents a host of interesting opportunities. While in India or China the need for products like cars, bikes, education, food, clothing, entertainment, ec., will be on the rise; ageing countries present needs in the area of health services, old age homes, housekeeping, insurance, medical services, geriatrics, financial services, etc. It is important to know both the changes have not happened overnight — it has taken years for the change to slowly evolve itself into an opportunity that can be harvested today, Any entreprencurial mind which was paying attention to this slow but sure change would be more prepared to exploit this opportunity with unique ideas; while for others these opportunities will remain hidden in plain-sight! Another important and pertinent aspect of these changes is that they will not disappear very ‘quickly. They are bound to take the same time they took coming to move away. Hence, a smart ‘entrepreneur can identify and quickly come up with innovative solutions to commercialize these ‘opportunities. b. Changes in social situations The combined action of men around the globe, create changes which influence the status of a society. The impact of such changes can be localized to a region, a country or have an impact across the world, For example, countries go through periods of turbulence, war, internal conflicts, recessions, prosperity, etc., and each of these happenings presents us with interesting” opporeartttes ‘These changes require us to be more sensitive to the changing socio-economic and political climate if opportunities are to be sighted and leveraged. Let us understand this better, taking India itself as an example. In the late 1960°s and early 1970s the impact of wars fought led us through a petiod of protectionism. The general temperament was that of conservative spend and low risk appetite, Hence, the level of investment into the new areas was very less. So one could see very little entrepreneurial activity or expense, During the nationalization drive that followed ~ there was a lot of doubt and fear in the minds of people (local and foreigners) leading to low interest in starting up of new ventures. The ecosystem thus did not allow for enough entrepreneurial activity. Then the much talked about liberalization eee 107 {by fore or by choice) and rom then onwards there has been no loking back. now appears that India can now spread her win; is ip whit Bie ss ea cs ro igs of enterprising entrepreneurship which had Another regional example from recent times is the Sri Lanka. The country was in internal battle for decades. fife has changed in the island nation. While about a ‘homes / hotels by early evening; today, alate eveni ‘waiting time, as itis running a full restaurant. thange in perception or mood at With the end of the long drawn battle, year back people would be back into their ing dinner at a 7-star hotel requires 20 minute Such changes in society are inevitable as evidenced bj i i d , xy world history. They can be easily ‘apped into and businesses ean get created around them, These changes are once again not138 ‘ -Siaseleorwo mene « wae peers ‘overnight. However, these require alittle more detailed level of racking Dalize and be an early player. Hotels in Sri Lanka that took the risk of mosifying themselves in the last four to six months pri rer Prior to ending of the war h iciary of the cathe ar have been the beneficiary of the current ‘Technological changes Technology can really move the world to the next level. thas been the central piece in not on {he entrepreneurial history but civilization of man himself. Right from invention of the wheel to steam engines, aeroplanes, the internet or mobile services, technology has always given wings toG Aceamers by ating asa medium, giving shape to their imagination. Strong economies have been, built based on technological advancement ~ U.S. being a good example. Even a small county lke Israel, in the middle of a chaotic and war torn region has built a formidable image based on, its ability to chur out solution after solution using technology as a base. « Technology changes need to be constantly tracked. Some entreprencurs may be closely ‘associated withthe creation of the next technology; But may not be technically inclined. This ‘should not deter them from understanding, identifying and leveraging the changing technology. @ ‘There are technopreneurs who work on creating the next technological break-through. They, create abusnes around discover of new technology. Many R&D departments around the word ‘work on tis kind of opportunities. But for an entrepreneur to leverage this change, the business @ need not be built purely over discovery of new technology. Infact, many suecessful businesses hhave been those which have found a use for this newly discovered technology to address an@ already existing problem in the society. ‘Theimportance of focusing technological innovation onto challenge / problem thatis existing @ in society is key to commercalizaton. Ifyou closely watch the business landscape you will also notice that many technology focused busineses are not too profitable. Fr every Microsoft there are ten of service oriented technology businesses. ILis widely believed that if you are in the fundamental business of discovering technology, ‘you are bound to be a success, On analysis one can find that the most successful businesses are@ those which are built on applied innovation and technology. Technology changes, lead to availability of new tools using which, a number of opportuites © cean be serviced. For example, e-bay, website designers and developers, search engine marketing, and optimization; look around and you will see the number of opportunities that a change in technology ean bring, ¢ Consider the very popular and straight forward case of mobile telephony in India, When it ‘was introduced people were against it! They said cost is high, many technology break through’ are needed, et, n about 10 ~ 15 years look atthe penetration and the new businesses around the technology change: mobile handset manufacturers, sevice providers, service resellers, tower ‘companies, cable companies, spare parts forall these devices, service centres for mobile phones, te., Look at the new trend - with the constantly increasing need for data access, the technology is now slowly penetrating and getting accessible. Mukesh Ambani recently announced a billion & dollar investment into the space — is this also going to allow a lot of companies to be created in ‘te tre? Wel, we will need to watch who capitalize the last mile spend! _ de Supply demand changes § ‘Constant changes in supply demand scenarios lead to numerous opportunities, To spot these s require someone to be constantly in touch with the market, The mushrooming of IT companies @ ‘saw the need for increase in skilled labour, which in tur saw the proliferation of skill development insttyes and vocational institutes. Because ofthe overall high growth of the industry, there was a © tremendous need for more qualified students and hence the inerease inthe numberof engineering and science colleges. Te inflow of people into major cities to work inthe IT sector created a & huge wave in the housing market and other basic amenities. And the story goes on LAANFSM Vicks or anne Frome Meme _ og The basic need driven social market scenario if watched carefully can help entrepreneurs come up with tumerous opportunities. Such opportunities of demand and supply will always exist as the societal and economic conditions are constantly changing. However, unlike the Previous categories opportunities due to supply demand change are short-lived To capitalize these inherently domestic consumption driven opportunities, one needs to be {in touch with the local markets through studies and reports by various research institutions and government, intelligence agencies, etc. People Driven Opportunities These are artificial changes brought about by policies at the public and corporate levels. These are driven by protectionist measures, liberal measures, corporate policies, regulations ete Many are created for the greater long-term good of a certain section of society. While these are noble intentioned opportunities, the biggest problem with exploiting these is the need for influence, access to information, etc. People driven opportunities can be viewed under the below categories: + Regulatéry changes. ——~ 3 + Tradebarriers. + Corporate policies ‘a. Regulatory changes Regulatory changes constantly spawn out business around implementation and also businesses around its direct beneficiaries. For example, a simple change in the filing of quarterly returns, that mandates the usage of 26AS forms instead of the traditional Form 16A have led to financial intérmediaries start service desks to help corporate file these in time. While the ticket value of ‘each sale seems really small, the volumes make the game pretty interesting In fact the whole area of accounting and finance in India especially in the small business domain is witnessing considerable change ~ resulting in a number of start-ups come up with various solutions using a combination of offline and online to make it cost effective and of gieat value for the SME businesses. ‘When the government decides to subsidize a particular industry or create certain waivers in input costs let's say ike agriculture; a definitive attractive proposition opens up for entrepreneurs and corporate. One great example of regulatory changeiis the exemption of axes forthe IT industry for almost a decade. This had the effect of mushrooming of IT companies across the country. With a number of other developed nations realizing the greater value they could derive from outsourcing of ‘work, this industry has grown leaps and bounds, While it may seem that the inflow of outsourcing work is the prime reason for thriving of the IT industry; itis actually this regulatory decision that has encouraged entrepreneurs to start ventures jn the IT space allowing the companies to grow, provide jobs, generate excess cash and re-invest in infrastructure development. b. Trade barriers Viewed in principle as an extreme protectionist and conservative method, trade bariers represent special laws, controls and restrictions that are placed by counties for trading in specific industries. Sometimes the sectors are. given time to rise up before allowing an open platform for competition to decide who should stay. These barriers can be used by small businesses and new units to build their capability, capacity and scale. While they are known in the long-term to inhibit or deter growth of the industry at large, nevertheless they create opportunities in the short-term which will help the business person or140 mm fe Saeaee ee ee ieee ‘ the entrepreneur to prepare himseliferself for the heavy competition that may ensure once the ¢ barriers are removed. ‘The Indian government has not been keen on allowing foreign direct investment as @ Protectionist measures on the domestic retail industry. This tendency, however, is sowly ¢ loosening out with greaier potential benefit from liberalization. Also business related to arms’ and ammunitions ae subject to heavy restrictions because they directly impact the security of ¢ the nation, q & Corporate policies Very large corporate entities can impact small businesses by their policies. For example, if a large company decides to outsource a particular part of its work, it gives rise to the opportunity @ for some enterprising entrepreneur to take it up. Again this is very entity dependent and requires One to have strong relations and access to policy information, Many times it may be difficult to @ access this information and usually the business goes to one who is there at the right time a the right place, Here is one more important point for entrepreneurs in India regarding the importance q ‘of networking, Networking is important for the small business owner or entrepreneur for coming 4 across such opportunity, Networking is covered in greater detail in Chapter 16. Iti important to note here that all of the above categories of opportunities ae indicative. Opportunities are constantly being made available, identified, capitalized and commercialized in the market place. At times one may need radical ideas to convert them into successful businesses ~ but most of the time it just requires one to be aware ofthe environment and apply 4 the knowledge that we already possess on the situation. If we observe closely, we will natice that across the industries many ofthe businesses being created are because ofthe inherent needs 7 which have become visible as opportunities have been capitalized on and commercialized, The business and social environment in India is going through tremendous change and @ hhence it becomes vital for us to watch the change and track it constantly. This will result in fone becoming more aware of interesting and intelligent opportunities servicing our domestic @ consumption requirements, which are growing daily by leaps and bounds. It would be interesting to note that what appears as an opportunity for someone may not 4 appeal to another despite both being equally entrepreneurial. One may not find concurrence all ¢ the time on possible potential opportunities that a change can bring. Infact itis this difference in the ability to sense an opportunity that creates a market place. IF everyone in the market place evaluates every opportunity in the same manner then there would be no market place, for as per plain economics, a marketplace exists because there is difference is perception about the same © thing, All the above opportunities that we have detailed can lead to both successful businesses and very harsh failures. And it could be that one change, can present multiple opportunities for consideration. Now that we have understood where to look for opportunites, i i important that ‘We proceed to understand how to evaluate the better of the available opportunities. How does ‘one know which of the opportunites can be tapped into more easily? What is the commercial Potential that an opportunity presents to the entrepreneur? could come from aspects like your personal perspective of the opportunity, the market's outlook and the societal outlook. The next section will show how one can evaluate the available opportunities so that the ‘opportunites that suit the entrepreneur can be short-listed for subsequent ideation and planning Opportunity Evaluation ie The only thing that is more important than even building the business model in the process of trying to create a company, isthe evaluation of the opportunity on which the business is to be ¢ 6 S % All these questions require more than sighting ofthe opportunity to answer. The answers. 6 6 4 6 4 built. The importance of basing the business on a valid and feasible idea-opportunity map is a ¢ «——— Evaluation Sieve". I Ine To Orportunity MAPPING. | 141 sure way of building a successful and sustainable businesd) We have already seen enough reasons ‘why opportunity should be the starting point of the entrepreneurship process over the commonly ‘accepted norm that idea should be the starting point. But once we decide and convince ourselves that opportunity isthe starting point for creation ofa successful business enterprise or entreprencurial venture, it is very important to know how to identify and evaluate an opportunity. It is only on evaluation and selection of an opportunity should aspects of ideation and subsequent selection of suitable idea to opportunity map(s) happen. We have already seen different ways in which opportunities can be identified. Now that ive are aware of the sources of opportunity a large list of alluring opportunities may present themselves faster than before, When faced with multiple opportunities all of them looking equally appealing, how does an entrepreneur select the one(s) that suits him the best. For this we will, look ata systematic evaluation of the identified opportunity through the tool called ‘Opportunity Opporturity Evaluation Sieve ‘The opportunity evaluation sieve is a simple tool designed to help an entrep the Value of the opportunity that has" ited. Usually in the process of trying to create‘an ceterprise-the entrepreneur of the founding group usually identifies an opportunity that is fairly new lithe eivironment. Being small in number as-@ team and constrained on other resources as ‘wellritgets very difficult for the entrepreneur or founding group to locate enough information to do a detailed study to understand if the opportunity is valid or not. So it would be very beneficial if the entrepreneur has a tool that would enable them to quickly validate these opportunities. However, many tools are often not accepted in practice, as the entrepreneurs find these tools unwieldy and very theoretically aligned. Taking into consideration the real time pressure on resources and need for simplicity, the opportunity evaluation sieve is designed as a simple back of the napkin tol that can be worked on by the entrepreneur over a cup of coffee. 8 é g E 3 i z 5 3 Figure 7.3 Opportunity Evaluation Sieve simplicity ofthe tool should not be taken as an indicator ta belitt i h le the importance of this step or effort that hasbeen putin the past to systematically study opportunities, Just as we have ‘understoog in innovation, that it is the process of constant thinki ipbanic i ‘ ‘ant thinking that leads to the ephiphani ‘moment, this tool channelizes the thoughts ofthe entrepreneur sy asking specific fee the opportunity leading to the moment of realization, aan142 oft pn PRACTICE \ ¢ tructed in three perspectives. Answering som@ wll enable the enteprencur to decide if tha ¢ «@ practice of entrepreneur: yonal and ool wou into business or into th hatever be the reasons they are pet embedded in them. So the first part of t personal or entrepreneur's perspective. ne eustomer’s perspec atio ‘or the market perspe 4 oft ture that is being created is going to provide service and Jerspective, th aspect which needs to be taken into con ¢ day this particular bus quires somebody 10 nefits and whetheg “The third perspective is the industry or business perspective. This bu ative Me station or capitalizing model, th tive advanagesec. Based on the responses received acro th canbe short-listed. Ii important to understand that opportunity evaluation is a time specific hat is an opportunity to opportunity tomorrow and vee oul be conduc ation to derive maximum ive. It is important because at the vervice: Hence, understanding the they wil pay are very important st enables to understand if there is sustainability irthe itp importa ed to internal aspect of busine of thi-opportuity. Iti profitability. Tie possibility er things 1 perspectives, opportuni may not be process, Somethi din short elapsed duration and at the time close: versa. Hence, the evaluations Let now look into detail as to the variou © needs to go through in the opportuni ion sieve. 1. Does this opportunity align with | my personal interest | 2. Does this opportunity align or | lag system? ‘with my personal value | 3, Does this opportunity | l adequately feed my personal passion? | | 4. Dol have adequate skills and | resources to operate in this | opty space? | Does the opportunity have the | | potential to service the personal | | antbition? | | DOTTY 1s exploiting this opportunity in | 5 fine with my risk propensity? | ADA THInes 10 Orronruny MAPPING 143 Does this opportunity solve a real customer need? 2, Does this opportunity have adequate customer sizing’ 2 3. Is it possible to define and deliver value proposition that would excite the customers in this opportunity’ 4, How aligned is the opportunity to the cultural perspective? 1 5. How aligned is the opportunity t0 the socio economic perspective? 1, How complex is the challenge that is present in the identified opportunity space? | 2. Whatis the nature of competition that you may face in this opportunity space? 3. What could be your sustainable competitive advantage while ‘operating in this space? [ 4. Whatis the predicted profitability that one may enjoy while operating in this space? 5. Whateouldbetherequirements of working capital while operating in this opportunity space? 1, First Sieve: Entrepreneur's Perspective This is frst sieve that must be applied. Why? ~ Itis important to note that the decision to get into entrepreneurship is itself a very personal choice. Ifpractice of entreprencurship does not satisfy this one single decision point or aspiration then however interesting or exciting this opportunity may be, it may not keep the entrepreneur happy. This means they may sodn lose interest in the venture leading to its failure, Answering some simple questions may help in evaluating how an opportunity would satisfy this perspective, ‘The questions that the entrepreneur must ask about the opportunity under consideration are: a, Does this opportunity align with my personal interests? Every person has his own interest of what he likes to do and does not like to do. It is very important to understand if utilization of this opportunity will involve activities Which he or she may NOT be in(erested in doing.144 = JE Teoe ano Peace _y « G@ 2 , Does this opportunity align or clash with my personal value system? c enirepreneu Gh Will this opportunity involve activities that will go against the value — oes ee — isa very import qustn thats to ease ight atthe Benning, Vue system sone that cannot be created post the creation of an enterprise. It should be decided a Bee aie ‘hat the value system should be and will be. The value system of an enterprise i ‘= shadow of the founding team or entreprener ‘The value Si alignment then depends on various behaviour or activities that need ‘e b cared oto commerily expat te oppor. tis important for an enreprenc 9 understand if there are any activities that are to be done which they think is not right. This ist extremely important. Failing to do this early could lead t6 a lot of discomfort and clash between, 7 the entrepreneur and venture as time progresses. i e Does this opportunity adequately feed my personal passion? This is « necessary condition but not a sulficient one, Passion is the underlying engine in any cotrepreneural venture So assessing i the opportunity is going to create adequate avenues for @, {he entrepreneur to pursue his passion isa very important consideration in opportunity evaluation. Does this opportunity enable me to put some of my personal passion to work? Does it enable ‘me to experience great happiness or joy in the journey? A resounding yes to the above questions could indicate a more favourable evaluation. G 4. Dot have adequate skills and resources to operate in this opportunity space? w Though at the outset skills and resources seem to be two different items, in the evaluation of an © pportunity they should be viewed together. Does the entrepreneur or the founding team have the majority ofthe skillset to adress this opportunity? Does the entrepreneur have the required © amount of ability to put together the initial resource set? How quickly can the skill set required « ‘o capitalize this opportunity be put together? These are some key questions that éan provide us with answers for this aspect. Understanding this with respect to an opportunity i important as ¢ some opportunities may require larger resourcing even atthe start in compatison to some that may not be so demanding, . S ily when the entrepreneurial team sable to mobilize and provide forthe resource demands, can the venture truly st art-up. Hence itis very important to understand, ifthe resourcing needs © ‘an be serviced by the entrepreneur and founding team comfortably at th 1 point of start ¢c © Does the opportunity have the potential to service the personal ambition? c time and energy and i t0.add onto the personal achievement target of the is bound to leave the entrepreneur tired145 EF ‘opportunity has-a certain possibility of being unpredictable in its outcome and events. Similarly ‘every entrepreneur has a certain inherent capability to handle risks. IP these qo do not align, then the opportunity may not be the right one fo purstic. For example if the entrepreneur is prepared to take only certain amount of risks in the financial aspeets, then looking at Spportunities where financial risk is very high and outcome is unpredictable mnay-not be appropriate. Risk as asubjectin entrepreneurship needs more thinking. While taking on risk or opportunity is considered one of the main points or characteristic with respect fo an entreprencur, does it have to stop with intelligent risk taking oF should it be stretched? Is it a personal choice or are there standand and uniform levels across this practice? These require further thinking The level of risk propensity is dependent on the entrepreneur; and opportunities also have varying level of risks. Matching these two is absolutely important and their misalignment could be the singular reason for early demise of the start-up venture, 2. Second Sieve: Customer's Perspective ‘The customer perspective is very important because by solving this opportunity, we are expecting, that there isa fairly large paying customer who will enable the enterprise to become profitable and sustainable ovena period of time. Therefore, analysing the opportunity with respect to the potential customer is vital. This again can be done by asking some very simple and straight questions. 4, Does this opportunity solve a real need for the customer? One of the first things fo ask when we look at an opportunity with respect to the customer or market perspective is: does this solve a real need or is it addressing a real challenge being experienced ‘or will be experienced in the near future in the market? It is a very important question to evaluate and difficult to justify, Certain amount of prior experience and interaction with people in the potential audience can yield some directions. It also depends to some extent on understanding ‘how important this particular need is and how often it arises, how much customers are willing to pay to solve this need or challenge, cic. It is important to acknowledge if the opportunity space is sitting on a current problem that the customer’s are facing, if so it ean be safely assumed that the likelihood of finding a paying customer would be high. If the opportunity is around a need that is not yet realized or recognised, finding a buyer would involve activities right from creating awareness of the solution and its benefits, This makes the commereialization in such an opportunity space that much more difficult 'b. Does this opportunity have adequate customer sizing? Sizing of the market becomes the second important aspect ‘customer perspective + Does this opportunity create enough buyer-base? + Arc there enough buyers? + of evaluating the opportunity from the How many people believe that paying for such a solution is vital? * How many customers are available today in serviceable quanti y? sit a Siti it Sopcaiebossible to define and deliver valve proposition that would excite the customers in this Yah Proposition isnot something that one can give while dealing in an opportunity space. It seoetine tt the customers wil ind exciting or worth paying for. Hence, value proposition Sem anays be thought of fom te perspective of customer and market andot or eon146 Eramrperesrsne Toso ato Paacnce ems ee possible customers wham one may serve it the opportunity space and ofl Fhe a Consideration cn actually deliver (o heir expectation of values, Defining ld one ofthe frst thing that should be addressed in evaluating the opportu The following questions can help in evaluating. the same: « + Whats the value that is being expected? * — What is the value that can be offered? s * Inthe value large enough for charging a premiuin? Cc * Will it be tough to get somebody to pay for this service? ‘Avery important asp considerapat rom the shove questions on value isthe simpli of the same, 4 + Does this involve understanding issues? Y + — Can it be easily understood by the potential customer to make the purchase easy? c + Will this involve a huge marketing cost to enable the understanding? € These set of questions’ become important especially if the opportunity is addressing 3 unstated need. Also in opportunities that are exploring, new and unknown technology; cost ¢ introduction into the market is very high. While the cost and efforts associated in fulfilling. me maybe lesser for the day-to-day product, ¢ 4, How aligned is the opportunity with the existing cultural perspective? Very often a great opportunity that is widely felt -may not have many takers when the susie is offered, The strong beliefs entrenched over the years would make it really tough for ear adopters. For example, let us look at offering support service to elderly or the aging paren! ‘community in India. Although this could be an increasingly felt need due to various reasor@ of lifestyle changes, you still may not have too many takers from society. The very thought of leaving a paren in the ear ofa tied party is something thats agains the existing belief of cai for parents. So, while looking af any opportunity it is very important for one to understand how the customers would perceive it. Would thisdbe aligned to their existing beliefs? Does it challengg any of the deep-rooted dogmas? Answering these questions is critical before one proceeds any further in the evaluation. ¢ ‘e. How aligned is the opportunity to the socio economic perspective? ‘ How welthe opportunity isalignedtothecurretsocialandeconomieperspectiveofthcustomers! is a question that will tell us how many takers can actually be there for this opportunity. ( For example, if one has idemtifid in India that eration of world clas sportsman are not happening at the rate that is desired, it would be at a high-level, an excellent opportunity. However itisalso true than India accessto education and penetration of educational institutions isless. And people who have access to education havea strong inclination to be very academically inclined.) Gur education system driven by socal and. economic expectation is still largely curriculum based. So, when one looks at the opportunity of integrating sports as the prime subject, takers’ are going to be fewer than what seemed intially as a large opportunity. Then it brings us to the, question-is the opportunity still worth pursuing? . . ‘Similar to the shove example, every opportunity when weighed against the existing socal and eoonomie perspectives and preference ofthe customer base is bound to throw light onthe case and extent of possible commercialization potential. : 3. Third Sieve: Business or Industry Perspective 5 “The third aspect of evaluation is business or industry perspective. This takes into consideration nature of business that could be required. The opportunity by default has to have @ service or produc to operate within ito ease outa problem or satisfy a need. Evaluating the opportunityog a k toes 10 Onroensty MAPPING. 1 147 identified with respect to challenge complexity, competition and required competitive advantage could throw considerable light around the complexities and challenges involved in leveraging this opportunity. Set of questions that could throw light in this aspects are: ‘2 How complex isthe challenge that is present in the identified opportunity space? Evaluating the nature of the challenge itself and the possible solution capability is an important factor in opportunity evaluation. Few questions that may throw light on the challenge level of the opportunity are: + What is the nature of the challenge being addressed — is it common place or complex? + How easy or difficult is it to solve it? + Does it require upfront huge research and development cost? Does it require a long lead time because of product development? The above questions will allow us to evaluate the complexity of the opportunity and overall solutioning. For example, an opportunity in the education space, food industry and biotechnology can have different degree of complexity of both challenge and solutions. It is important to assess this at the start. 'b. What is the nature of competition that you may face in this opportunity space? The tool on five forces as designed by Michael Porter provides an elaborate understanding of ‘one's competitive environment. Though a detailed competition analysis as suggested by the five forces model may not be needed at this point in time, understanding the five forees to look at the potential industry could give some key insights. Answering the questions below can give a first level evaluation of the opportunity with respect to potential competition: + What would be the kind of competition one would have to face in servicing this ‘opportunity? + Are there other direct solutions? + Isthis need today being addressed by some indirect solutions? + Arethere cheaper alternatives? + Can substitutes be found easily to this solution? Attimes the opportunity identified may not pertain initially to any particular industry, Hence, cone may not have direct peers or other parties to compare with. So, studying the competition can be slightly more difficult a the point of start. Having said that itis important for an entrepreneur not to disregard competition or write it off at this stage. It is important to understand who else is in the market or which other industry in the market may potentially distract the customer from ‘using your service. & What could be your sustainable competitive advantage while operating in this space? Having a sustainable competitive advantage is essential for any business to grow, sustain and scale. And this cannot be thought of in-between the journey. Whether you are the first person inthe ‘opportunity space or an addition, your sustainable competitive advantage is going to distinguish you from the other players. Hence understanding the challenges around finding a differentiator and the effort involved in ensuring it is not replicable by your competition, is an important factor to consider in selection of the opportunity. The opportunity space, where you will be able to cater to this challenge more easily should be considered favourable over the opportunity space where there may not be any differentiation — unless this space is justified by the volume of customers {as evaluated in the customer perspective), Few questions that may help us in evaluating the opportunity with respect to this aspect are:Ae Orem Meme _y aa an = inte Costin of the sieve or any other tool is not to remove or eliminate ino contdeatan ang of entereneusip. is oensre few eta spe are taken iis vey monn atte manes when it comes to seting up and rnning the vente and appreciate that these small aspects are what makes ‘entrepreneurship’s driving foree and tence should never be dismissed. Having said ths, itis also important to accept tha itis dificult forthe entrepreneur to not {el emotionally attached and bonded to the enterprise he has created, There are innumerable {examples in history to show thattoo much of emotions and allowing emotions to rule enterprise creation and business is not a very intelligent approach, Usage of various tools like the sieve, business model, ete, is only to remove the personal and emotional bias towards a particular opportumity and idea. But there are exceptions to every rule and there are enterprises that have risen to great heights due to pure emotional attachment that the founder had with the business, While the usage of tools can be left tothe choice ofan entrepreneur; it cannot be denied that using the tool reduces the chances of missing out important aspeets while making a decision. nee the entrepreneur evaluates the opportunity and then decides the opportunity with which they would like to work on, the entrepreneur should spend time ideating on the opportunity. This helps to come up with various ideas that can be used to service or capitalize on this opportunity ‘To arrive at ideas there are various ideation techniques and problem solving tools that have been in existence. Whatever be the tool or approach that is used in ideation, the result i a set of ideas that the entrepreneur thinks are good and viable to be applied on the opportunity. 7 APPROACH TO IDEATION ‘A technique for producing ideas’is a famous 48 page book authored by the successful advertising man James young, A similar interesting work on the creation or production of ideas is the ‘Art of thought’ by Graham Wallas. Though these books have been written in the 1940s ‘and 1920's respectively, they contain some of the very fundamental inputs with regards to idea generation. In the recent times, we find numerous books, ie write oe ‘websites and pone dedicated to idea generation, A variety of techniques are being suggested to come up with ideas Eyen though the ae techniques and” the methods used by more recEnt authors sound useful and interesting in some way or the other they always fall back on the generic idea fractured by ‘the above two authors. 1 ‘An overall approach to idea generation can be summarized in the five steps based on franiework™ suggested by James Webb Young: Shaping and ‘evelopment fides establishing the comect Incubation ‘Syothesizing information Gathering information Figure 7.4 Approach to Ideation150 I ENTREPRENEURSHiP THEORY AND PRACTICE 1 « 1. Gathering information q The firs te is gathering of information, in which the intent isto collect as many ideas ot ‘much information that is already available or can be obtained about a certain topic. HOW ‘manages to keep the information for future consumption i truly left to the practitioner. The i of piling information for future use on certain topics is @ technique suggested not just only James Webb Young, but also by numerous other authors. In all probability, this is a process continues through life, wherein information is just captured and kept. Go 2. “Synthesizing information g ‘The second step is working on the information within self or ‘synthesizing the information. Inge step one looks at applying these ideas to what one may know. The collected information may be mixed with each other to provide or suggest a new approach oF lead to some interesting thous. ‘Constant synthesising of information may slowly. give rise to a complete idea that can be farther Tefined. After a certain period of synthesis, one may find the idea not moving any further. TIE, it is time to move onto the third step. + 2 _ 7% Inesbation ¢ Leaving the idea aside for sometime is called incubation, In this trefdea that has fairly taken she. is left giving the subconscious mind enough time to work on the idea to make some connect. THis leaving alone of the idea stimulates many thoughts and approaches when one encounters a rig? situation or a problem. This is a step where you don’t take much action but you let things happen. subconsciously. This incubation leads to the next step which is ‘establishing the connect’. @= 4. Establishing the connect < “Due to the fact of curing ofthe idea in mind, at some point when mulling over a chaltef@E” the connect will happen to give you the ‘WOW? moments. These ‘eureka" moments hapy almost unexpectedly. But these are not chance moments. It is because of a very structured ad orderly process that hasbeen happening in your mind over a certain period of ime. The poi’, ‘occurrence of these eureka moments and the ability to observe and capture them are the activites embodied inthis step. The next step is shaping and development ofthe idea, on 5. Shaping and development of idea c- ~ This is the step where the WOW moment or the idea that has got generated is looked at fra" an implementation perspective or translation into action, that is putting it to practice. There ‘many methods by which an idea can be tested and also improved upon to beable o gt it into implementable state This five step framework suggested above for ideation is a fairly generic approach. All approaches that may be suggested are various forms or versions of this approach, - Atthis moment itis important to be aware that any creative pursuit has alot of artistic natug- attached to it. Being creative means cultivating a set of skills and habits to become more awe of the thoughts that occur in your mind. When it comes to coming up with ideas to leverage Spportuity, these skills have to be used to direct thinking effort towards a certain topic or arse of work. & When i comes to business, implementation ofan idea within the opportunity spac is wh he life and work of Edison can be C i; S$ ceIoeA To Oprosrunsmy Maren S Fe Orome Mme 1 51 While there are innumerable methods suggested for generation of ideas some of the common ‘and most used approaches are briefly described in the following section, ON TECHNLQVES . Tdeation techniques are those set of activities which when carried out by an individual or a group ‘jay OF individuals will lead to the agcumulation of ideas. Some of the ideation techniques are focused "on problem at hand; while afew allow the collection of unrelated set of ideas. Based on the context of ideation activity, the Scope ofthe ideation activity, the individuals involved in the ideation and the time available for the exercise, a suitable ideation technique is selected. Following are some of the more commonly used ideation techniques. > Lyn whor Focus Group Chareayeove xp pw ‘A focus group is a way of interviewing a group of people on a specific topic to gain further iRaygME about OF On Te tpi Irs usally moTETEN 6p Te Hisslewer ore reenter ano \WOUIT TRE 16 Get this information. The group composition is relatively homogeneous. This technique is adopted when the need is felt that the collective wisdom of the group would provide more information which may not come out sharply when interviewing individuals. ‘The interviewer generally moderates the discussion. A group can be anywhere between eight to nrenty members ‘The discussion runs for a few hours. The moderator keeps getting the focus ~ ‘OF the group back to the area tinder ideation. The moderator also gets the attention of the group to important discussion points where there are notable deviations. The discuss and frank. Itis conducted more in the form of an open answers to specific questions. aa ns are very open scussion rather than soliciting individual nique broadly used by companies to get ideas on pa analysis of a product or feature and also improvement initiatives -kaging, new features, benefit \ Ls ye) eer ogeree 2, Oe o [ yee atsumew » Wut og C7 "Cw Brainstor This is one of the most popular methods to generate ideas through open and free discussion without too much moderation. The objective is to generate as many ideas as possible on a certain E topic. The greater the number of ideas better is.the result. The group is encouraged to combine 4 and look at various ways of coming up with as many new ideas as possible. Criticism of any f idea or negative f ‘evaluating of ideas is strictly prohibited during these discussions. E Though the process is seemingly an unstructured Way’ of generating ideas, itis a great way t0 quickly generate a lot of ideas. It is not expected that every idea that gets generated from a brainstorming session is useful. The ideas generated from the brainstorming session needs to be mnalysed to remove those that may not be useful, which infact would be more than the useful nes. However, itis a proven Tact that amongst the myriad of ideas generated in a brainstorming session are some real gems wi makes the entire exercise worthwhile, ‘Typically, people who dome into a brainstorming session tend (o be a very heterogeneous mix, As the intention is to generate as many ideas as possible, the heterogeneity encourages differing perspectives and outlook. The group is typically about eight to fourteen people. ‘Though moderation of the discussion itself is limited, the role of the moderator is a must. [n'a ‘brainstorming session the moderator starts the session With a clear definition of the objective.on is preferable to have a moderately the topic aver aroumid Which the discussion is to be centred. defined OBjeOTIVE AC THE start. A nawTowIy-defined objective will impair the effectiveness by giving litle room for creative thoughts, while a broadly-defined objective could lead to a lot of inretevant ideas geting generated The moderator would not make any attempt to channelize the discussion unless a very large deviatiot’is'seen between the idea generation process (Ke, brainstorming) and the desired objective, All ideas generated would be collected without any analysis or evaluation.152 “in solitude without any external influence. I Eeenericseisir Theory ano PACTCe_y Creative Writing This technique is typically used when lot of iterary strengths available about writing around topic. Various people ae brought in or encouraged to write about atopic from theit perspecti around the objective that is stated or a problem or a challenge that is posed. Creative writing free flow in nature. Iti left 0 the person trying to jot down the ideas that come (obi or! mind during the process that is most important. While the utility value of the method may + be very high, from business contents it may trigger a lot of new thoughts and ideas in the mj cof an entrepreneur. This could be true especially when he collates the various views that co! to his mind Wish Lists (poke! oy Wish lists method is generally used to collect ideas especially from a potential custont environment, People could be asked a random fo name what they would like fo 38S @prody Gra feature that could address a particular problem. They may also be asked to come up WT some features that are not present in the current product that is being used. The questions md also be directed to what they may want to see which is very different from what is currently vogue. 'At times wish lists are obtained from people by asking them to assume certain role ‘and then listing out their preferences from the product. Wish lists are very useful in produf development scenarios where absolutely unheard of or new ideas about situations or product can be gathered. ) owes) be pe Al olapen oo | po a deal Scenario (Com oe MS vite lar ff y 4 {deal Scenario technique as the name implies requires the participants to imagine a future situation ‘which in their definition will be an ideal solution to the problem or challenge or soluti iand. They may be asked 1 imagine and desribe it in words. At times to increase the creativity quotient people may also be asked to create visuals either as a collage or a painting that wou describe the future looking scenario of what will be the ideal solution ‘ ais Add bey pmpvarea , rovt Remaand de Campaigns | ve ‘ umpaigns are another method where entreprencurs or institutions can initiate idea generationg 's around a problem or a challenge. They could use various forums or events to collect ‘leas and reward some ofthe best ideas that they get, and thereby gaining access to many ideas One can make use of campaigns routinely in aspects of hamessing creative ideas around tag line. creation, logo creation where the challenge is open to many people. Similarly, one can extend the usage of campaign to gamer innovative ideas on something more specific like how to handle ag current opportunity ora challenge. feo poets ‘ Introspection’ dom Introspection is another interesting ideation technique thats used to arriveat ideas. In ivesicies ‘one takes time off from general activities to just thinking about the topic at hand, This is done any interaction. Whatever ideas come to the mind are “ted down. Though this lacks the collective wisdom that i the prime lever in other methods, it € is known to produce some great results especially in case ofa very well defined problem. ‘ AAAR A153 former ras oy ‘One definitive and useful hit that cn solve a fot of prob an solve a lot of problems and pain pints for an entreprnear is | | i cron ncn An cee ateck all toe that must be eared ty the | | ecerencar al ints intime it mal notebook tat can be Ket inthe pk os atop ta. | The choice and the syle of the notebook isle to the enrepreneuc tis however advisable that the ee ‘without too many distractions. A plain o a simple uled notebook would Tafice the purpose without the gamish of inferesting desin or quotes. The only ther parapheralia | required for this is a pen that will write. aati = — The entrerene now bas to develop he ait jot down arhing and evening the id | imercsting a5 he passes through the day. Ths type ofan observation notebook ifmainiained well over @ | | period of ime wil givers ola of nresing ideas and thoghs a most expected omens 17 Sometimes we get the most briliant idea when we are wating for a meeting at a client's place or} | jestas we fish Histening toa speech at a. conferece or posta shor informa discussion afer dimer. } | Ge. While we can atribue itt a flash of brilliance, maintaining the observation notebook actually | | fins the ve step framework of eat, increasing the hares of sch “WOW' moments |” Maintaining an observation notebook whee ideas nd thoughts canbe captured and recorded may | | semextemely tong Seer aivioe But ish disciplined approach owards someting 3 | } Seativeas coming up wit the righ idea that could define your succes. raz ( Tee a) Senne (TRIZ is acronym of Russian phrase means ‘Theory of inventive problem solving”. This method was i inthe navy who weat about reverse engineering old di ‘and inventions. After studying slanverOds patents and inventions he identified some specifi patterns that ‘underline any invention. As per this method there are various combinations or principles that can be used to arrive at 2 ‘olution for a problem. TRIZ is used widely to arrive at product innovation. A nwenkye prs lem tolvin ) “Teorija Rezbenija Izobretatelskib Zadach’ and literally tified by a Russian engineer Time Machine * The time machine is another interesting approach. In this approach people are asked to travel a {ea years forward from now to imagine the situation that they could be in with respect 1 the Gfallenge under consideration. The imagined scenario canbe then worked upon 12 Tead to some current ideas. Catch-Ball “GCotch-ball technique has its origin from Japan. Catch-ball is a method of | throwing an idea to Fedivideals oa group. They then add something otha idea and pass it over othe next individual tr group, In this way the idea evolves or improves. In this method over a period of such passes the idea is expected to take a particular shape. avert labios Scientific Method (&2') Lew 7 7 “The other common method is the scientific method of researching (0 come UP with newer ideas. Trig.a vey evolutionary method and one that is proces driven. fn this approach a particular vies fe taken and subjected to experimentation to seek its evolution to the next level. THis is typically done in RED centres “iarting with the raw ingredients an attempt is made to ‘evolve the final composition by trial and error method. An ‘entrepreneur could find this to be quite gh expensive proposition. However, there are industries like pharmaceuticals petrochemicals, ‘biotechnology, etc., where this is the only available option to come across ‘solutions to existing ‘Apart Srom the techniques listed above there are numerous other techniques such #5 the think He approach, or the big dream approach, parametric analysis, heuristic approach, value analysis approach, attribute fisting approach, checklist method, pre-asociation method, forced erase method, ee, or generating of ies. Te etreprenent should look forthe method and154 ffm Treon 0 Pracnct_y ‘ ation B approach thats most eomfortable to them and relevant tothe ontext of ideation, IF eet to happen on enhancement of an existing prodict design ~ then TRIZ, wish lst, brainsto may be more appropriate as technique. Ihe ideation has to happen on possible solutions tag ‘identified opportunity or challenge, then brainstorming, facus groups, ideal scenario, cate etc., could be more appropriate, 7.9 IDEATION CATALYSTS ott ¢ : Catalysts are those substances which when added fo a chemical reaction hastens the same with actually participating in it. Similarly in ideation, catalysts ean be thought of as something that c e improve the chances ofereat ideas getting captured or thought of. Understanding sue etal ould help he enreprener and iden oseck such etalysts fo enhance efetveness of € ideation process. What could such catalysts be? ‘The fist and foremost is being resourceful, This implies that fora person to come up with go ideas it helps if they are able to capture and gather as much information as possible. It 7 be helpful if the person is able to carry on activities that will enable them to access newer ‘more useful information that is getting generated in their ecosystem. Being in contact with ‘current happenings and people from other interests and fields is a good way to keep one abreast ‘current information and trends. Reading voraciously and pursuing formal methods of knowledy expansion are also good methods that could enable one to be resourceful. When it comes to idea generation being resourceful and knowledgeable can 1e chances of fruitful deation© ~The second characteristic can be the child-like ability to think without barriers. Though: are offen subdued within the self when one gets overtly analytical at the point of coming up w ideas. Fear of the idea being ridiculed by peers for being silly or stupid discourages a pers However, ifone ist adopt the innocence ofa child in coming up with idea it could lead to a of creative and éut of the box ideas. Pre-empting the reception that an idea would receive Aigiract the ideation process itself. Keeping an open mind to happenings around one-self is the next catalyst. When one af: critical or judgmental about what appears as a suggestion or someone else’s idea, it erodes ts capability of one to see beyond the person who has offered the suggestion. Criticism is like ale in the eye that reduces the visibility ofthe interesting things that happens right in front of Qe eyes. Being open-minded also encourages people to indulge in mindshare with you. Tolerance for error and accepting fulure are key qualities that will aid ideation. There Ge nothing that breeds a good idea like a failed one. If one can view mistakes that happen with FeslR recess oUt ediing, meas sultant fa secu thong process. Fear of failure abruptly stops the thought process. Tolerance for errors also aids nature to experiment. This encourages the person {o attempt something different and new witho ‘worrying about the chances of error, and when a mistake happens keeping the strength to lea from it and move on. Removing the fear of failure from the mind can bring.a lot of courage an boldness to attempt neWw things‘which can also help in improving the chances of ideation ie: creativity Increasing the variety of people and experience that one encounters can also be a gre$ catalyst, Many times people who have little interest other than their primary occupation tend become stereotyped in their thinking because of their limited exposure, Having healthy intereste™ in hobbies and activities other than their primary "bread-winning’ occupation will help the mir. in becoming better at ideation. Variety is one of the basic fuels for creativity. It enables mixin, cof possibilities. Conscious attempt needs to be made to bring variety into life be it by listening * people, reading books, traveling, collecting items or participating in social activities, etc. Above al its the ability to believe in oneself that you are creative enough to come up wish nwer ideas Very often we hear people suggesting they are not as creative as another. Some ev believe they may not be creative at all, so they may not be the right people to come up with ideas a te e| Toga To OrroRruniTy MAPPING. 1 155 ‘While there may be a relative truth in the differences of creativity potential between individuals itis very unlikely that a person is not creative. It is just that itis kept dormant or rather forced into dormancy. So, to facilitate ideation it is important to allow your mind to believe that it is ‘creative. those that mark a turn for soclety af Tage. All of us are familiar withthe Archimedes from as early as our eighth grade — when we all snickered as we visualized a man running on the roads of Greece shouting “Eureka! Eureka!” This image is imprinted more in our mind even more thai the law of ‘hysies that he prescribed. So much so that today stumbling onto a brilliant idea. But was the “Eureka | needs some thinking ‘Archimedes, a well-known mathematician had been working on the problem of how to determine the purty af an regular golden votive ron, A problem set out by Hie of Syacse, We do not | ‘ureka’ stands as a metaphor to signify the sudden noment actually just one moment in time? Thi Huan wt to dati adele vith varios hs res ead leis of pas | {know how long Archimedes had been mulling over this problem ~ but we can safely assume the day the had the “Eureka” (Héureka in greek meaning “I have found it") moment, was not the frst day he tip-toed into his bath-tub. When the vision of water feet — connected to th ‘moment happen, thinkets”he has been processing inthe labyrinth of his mind — did the ‘Eureka’ So more than the toe dipping in the water ~ it was the relentless thinking and working on the challenge in the world of his office and study that led Archimedes to stumble onto the ‘Eureka’ moment One cannot attribute say a date like 2nd August 2 BC, 9:15 am in Syracuse to Archimedes discovering the principles of buoyancy as he put his toe in the bath, But one can definitely attribute it to the days preceding this event when the foundation for this was being laid through constant contemplation and thinking. The bath was just a trigger. ‘While itis a trigger that almost always urgés the mind to make the connection toa great idea ~ the [process that prepares foundation of connect is essential. And the strength and speed of arriving at the reat idea is largely dependent on how one's mind is prepared for receiving the signal. The preparation can come only through constant research, thoughts and ideation on the problem or opportunity at hand. ing from the bath-tub on immersion of his | | (diuvresad tor vele ov Dsipe wompsel & chemiial | 7.10 IDEATION INHIBITOR ( 4 t E Just as there are catalysts there are also inhibitors, that stand as obstacles in the way of effegtive practice of any skill. When it comes to creativity and ideation, most of these obstacles arise from ivity or ideation cannot be learnt. Ideation infact is wh ‘both simple and straight-forward, Ivis infact one of the definitive Skills that can be learnt and taughtto anyone irrespective of the age or any other parameter. Many individuals strongly believe creativity and ideation are inborn talents and cannot be leat, On. the contrary men are born creative but while few allow themselves to polish it through consxant Practice, most-of us allow the talent to become dormant under the debris of doubt and failed cexperimegts. i > : Second is fear of failure. Very oftep creativity is difficult to practice when there is fear of failure inthe mind. In many societies especially conservative societies, itis ‘constantly emphasized front childhood that one has to adhere or comply to certain norms to exist in the society. Failure to align is seen as waywardness and is not encouraged. So, many times children are taught to think alike in a rather programmed fashion. This deters people in the society to come out with path-breaking ideas = ‘When a person is constantly worried about what others may thifk or find about him, they ‘are unlikely to express themselves contrary to the mob opinion, This stifles fresh thinking, If this feeling of being ostracized for holding a different opinion or treading a non-traditional route is Temoved, the urge to experiment would increase. And with experimentation comes the fruits of great ideas.156 learnt Fear of failure, Fresh thinking or child like al without barriers, fashion, Open mindedness to happenings in the eco system, Increase in the variety of people and] experience 7.11 CID SYNDROME ‘Too much of anything is nothing! ‘This is what happens to an overtly idea ‘Catalysts and inhibitors to ideation ean vastly imy ideation capability comes with a cost if overdor Belief that ereatvity of ideation cannot ‘prone mind, While understanding ideation technig Pressure to align and think in a programy prove the capability to come up with id ne. This is what we refer to as CID (Chrog dation Disorder) Syndrome. ‘When a person becomes very. fective in the practice of ideating, he could become a vic of his syndrome, When this happy ens the person progressively gets more and at any point in time he isle This stops him from focusin, and more idea re ft holding onto ideas that get better than the previous or i On any of the ideas and taking them to implementation. Ase entrepreneur they have identi fed a great opportunity but they are unabl le to start as coming Up ‘ith that one great idea never gets done, Causes Results Const eng ‘king something “eer willcomp * Come ihe ‘ot thing ee permet tes Frito cogsize ‘ht ideaion cess hstobe supped ‘one pit tcc De exaay of implemen + Lossoftine + Los ofeneny + Nore? & Figure 7.5 cD Syndrome This is highly applicable in the ‘An idea is just the start fe Point of the venture and cannot be considered. ite fo recogni this and put a stop tothe ideation process so that the su Las the end bsequent st nnann o Poings eps can a eaF224 10 Orromney Mares i =| 157 be caried out could prove fatal tothe entrepreneurial venture. While looking out for g00d/reat ‘ideas, the entrepreneur should also carry out steps to validate the implementation possibility of these ideas. "MAPPING IDEAS TO OPPORTUNITIES toons Now that we have identified opportunites that could best suit our personal and professional Profil, using ideation techniques we can come up with many ideas in the specific opportunity space. What is important here is to acknowledge that while ideating on an opportunity space, fone should strictly avoid evaluating the ideas for what they are worth. This would deter the ability to come up with original ideas that don't at the first level seem plausible as solutions Once the entrepreneur comes out with a list of ideas, then every idea tied to the opportunity ‘under consideration becomes known as an Idea to Opportunity Map (120 Map). Now these 120 maps that have resulted as an output of ideating in a specific opportunity space is what Actually represents the business idea. Now as is obvious one opportunity could have many ideas associated with it, For example, ifone has identified ‘working professionals not having access to healthy wholesome breakfast’ as an opportunity, many ideas can be associated with it like a chain ‘of healthy breakfast stores near IT parks, a serve-at-desk option ora stall in the cafeteria. All the three ideas are mapped to the single opportunity. Each of these are called as an 120 map. OPPORTUNITY EVALUATION IDEATION ioMAP OPT 1 3 6 Figure 7.6 Opportunity Ideation "Mop it ‘it fide. ‘Now an 120 map has its own demands on implementation and limits of returns it can provic ; As the busines is going to be built on an 120 map, understanding each ofthese 120 maps and weighing them against a set of criteria that wil allow the entrepreneur to recognise those 120 ‘maps that are best suited in terms of commercial and personal gains is the next obvious and needed step. 7.13 120 MAP EVALUATION SIEVE fi i in for the the ideation process has been used to arrive at a list of ideas, it is important Scare select one idea amangs the avaliable ones for further processing Sima t the opportunity evaluation sieve, we would be using an idea sieve for filtering out the mote suitable {ideas from the complete lst of ideas generated forthe opportunity space.158 A& EvaneseneunsiiyTizony AND Pra This second sieve is more rigid and is very important as it results in the selection of 1 method by which the opportunity is to be capitalized on, Every idea selected for the opportu ‘epresents an Ide9 to Opportunity Map (120 Map) for us. Instead of evaluating only the idea, ‘would be evaluating the idea in the e: further processing 4 AALAAS ontext of the opportunity to select the more suitable ones! ~ OPPORTUNITY EVALUATION smectic ao uarsmcie i i { MMABAA A) & & “igure 7.7 Opportunity Ideation 120 Map Evaluation Similar to the opportunity evaluation sieve, this sieve is also made of certain imperatives ‘The evaluation of the 120 map can be done through a channelizéd thought process, put forth ie form of some basic questions. This sieve is based on evaluation of four aspects as against the opportunity sieve which had three. The four imperatives that we have when we evaluate the 120 map are: + the economic imperative + the cultural imperative =* “the social imperative + the'personal imperative. anne ee STE SACO i y eae ere 1 1. Do we have a clear customer definition for hx : the 20 Map? ‘ fa 2. Does the entrepreneur have the adequate ~ capability to deliver the 120 Map? 3. What is the cost of execution for the 120 Map? *jae Orem iueme__y + 159 | 4, What are the external dependepeies | | ] involved indtivering the B0Map? |, ‘| | j ['s. ts the value proposition aligned to the | | | customer's expectation in value and price? | ] : sips nea | [/6. Can the margins and cash eycle support | | sustained operations? | Aitken taraseta 1, Are there any glaringly important cukural aspects that you may touch using ths service? 2 Are there any cultural stand point on which your business can leverage itself upon? 3. Are there strong, cultural ties that could add value tothe particular idea chosen to service the opportunity identified? ems 1. What isthe society’s perspective to this 120 Map? 2, Are there potential support systems in the society? 3. Are there benefits that society can derive by the creation of this enterprise? 4. Does the 120 Map pertain to a socially ness or social b Gn 1.. How well does the 20 Map align with personal aspiration? 2, 1s the anticipated reward fromthe 20 Map ified by its tisk quotient? the 20 map look exciting enough for the Entrepreneur to purste? 1. The Economic Imperative ‘There are various aspects that need to be considered in the economic imperative. These aspects ccan be understood under the following heads ‘8, Dowe have a clear customer definition for the 120 Map? First and foremost aspect for consideration is whether the current 120 map clearly services a customer need-which is another way of asking, are there customers or potential users who can be clearly identified for this particular nature of servicing this opportunity or need. ie. do we have a clear customer definition? Some questions that may help us here are:romney Mare _y 161 hhave an impact on the setting up ofthis business and running ofthis business. $o, industry-related issues ean be analysed at this stage from economic or business perspective of the 120 map. 2. The Cultural Imperative The second aspect is the cultural imperative. This may not have a direct bearing on the business being contemplated at this stage. However, considering that culture is not something that is going, to die away, it becomes important to take this into consideration in comparing the 120 Maps" capability to cater and leverage to the cultural nuances of the potential customer segment. ‘Current cultural context and its probable evolution, and haw your potential customers you ‘wish to serve are thinking, can have a gonsiderable bearing on suiccess of the venture. Though it ‘may not have direct economic implication it may be worthwhile to consider the alignment issues with respect to cultural aspects of the potential market that you intend to serve. Following are some of the questions that may need answers at this stage: + Are there any glaringly important cultural aspects that you may touch using this service? Are there any cultural standpoints on which your business can leverage itself upon? *+ Are there strong cultural ties that could add value to the particular idea chosen to service the opportunity identified? 3. The Social Imperative This is another aspect that is usually ignored but one that can have a huge impact on the entrepreneurial journey. First and foremost, it is important to understand the society's perspective to the business opportunity sighted, It is important to understand if the 120 map is socially acceptable or would give rise to some concems. An entrepreneur, seldom starts the joumey thinking he would shut it off when faced with opposition. And the strongest obstacles, could come from the social fabric of the ecosystem in which it is getting implemented. Constantly pre-empting the reaction of the social ecosystem to the 120 map or business venture; understanding levers of support and roadblocks could go a long way in the successful implementation of the venture. For example, in the advisory business it is usually accepted that the advisors have @ Jarge level of experience, grey hai, etc. Also in some closed communities and certain family businesses external help is not appreciated or welcome. Though this should not be a reason why an entrepreneur should not start an advisory business; ithas to make him more aware ofthe level of difficulty or time required to reach a certain scale. ‘Are there potential support systems in the society thathas been created to enable ventures such as these to start off? It may be interesting to note that every society that i forward looking creates some mechanism fo promote entrepreneurship. For example in India we may see the creation of technology incubation centres; technology business incubators; Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Parks (STEPS) and so on being created in variety of institutions across India, by Government of India to enable entrepreneurs to test and stat off their ventures. Especially “with respect to technology where initial cost may be involved even to pilot ideas, government provides grants, subsidies and seed capital to test the variety ofthe ideas as experiment so that entrepreneurs can work with an environment that i conducive for potential success ‘Another aspect in today’s world is to understand if business is socially responsible, Are there any benefits that society can derive by the creation of this enterprise? ay fy jn ‘The last aspect is also whether the 120 map pertains to a socially driven business or social ‘business? Is it addressing some societal concer and servicing this by making a reasonable profit? *Yest to both the questions could mean you are trying to create a sustainable social enterprise. Each of these have a variety of implications. For example, if you are doing something that addresses the rural markets in India, then the Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI at ITT Madras) and the TE-net which tres to come up with telecommunication solutions to servicé the162 Enrrerreneursiip THiory ral market may bea great pace to associate with. These are centres that have been created Uf ‘enable entrepreneurs with specific interest in certain aspects of society. Apart from these other aspect of the society is the long-term impact of the enterprise on the immediate society whet itoperates. Any 120 map that canbe seen socially asa business thats fr the Betterment of ig ‘community rather than the restricted benefit of the entrepreneur, stands to gain more support fot the ecosystem, ‘ 4. The Personal Imperative ¢ ‘The last perspective is the personal imperative. The personal imperative are the questions that arg to be answered by the entrepreneur or the founding group about their view on the [20 map. One) may find some repetition of the questions with the opportunity evaluation sieve. It is importang here to understand the answers would now have to be evaluated forthe individuat 120 maps that have emerged for the shortlisted opportunity. 4. How well docs the 120 map align with personal aspiration? C ‘This is to understand if continuing further with the I2O map and looking at potential model and plan for the business, will service the aspiration of the entrepreneur or founding group; It coull be wealth creation, it could be recognition, it could a social cause that has always been in th mind etc., but it has to address atleast one, If the aspiration quotient is not being serviced b} pursuing the 20 map then it could be ane aspect that could go agains the otherwise feasible [2¢@ ‘map. This one reason can put a stop when all other aspects could give a green signal. b. Can the entrepreneurial team fulfil al the start-up demands ofthe 120 map? « Does the entrepreneur or the founding team have the ability to turn this 20 map into a reality @ Not all 120 maps need be possible and neither should the founding team or the entrepreneurial team try to somehow make them work. The practical implementation of the 120 map should bi considered in a detached and unbiased manner. Ifthe is not naturally available or cannot be easily put together, then the answer should be given as ‘No’. ‘Is the anticipated reward from the 120 map justified by its risk quotient? c Is there a justifiable level of benefit for the kind of risk that the entrepreneur is going to take’ Wilt fall under the realm of nteligent risk-taking? The level of sk involved in trying to bring the 20 map to realty and the rewards it promises to give is it wort taking? Or will it becomage 4 point of conflict ata later stage? 4. Does the 120 map look exciting enough forthe entrepreneur fo pursue? ¢ Is the whole picture that is emerging look exciting enough for the entrepreneur to get up and make the attempt every single day? Does the 120 map create energy in the founding team or ‘entrepreneur to talk about it in every given opportunity? Is it an 120 map that can bring pride 1% pedple who associate with it? So, evaluating the motivators in the 120 map that would enhance willingness to take on the struggle to see this through, the willingness of people to associate and attach a sense of pride ~is probably the last question to be asked before accepting the 120 map as the potential candidate for a start-up. ; This second sieve must be done much more strictly and may require a lot of extemal input, How and where can an entrepreneur find this? Since the entreprencurand his founding team must be constrained on resources in terms of people, money and access they have fo look for shor-cu ‘or quick ways to arrive at answers to many of these questions, However, an entrepreneur should not shy away from taking some efforts in providing answers to these questions All cannot be gut feel: better to involve some external people in this evaluation to take their views. Various trade publications, news items, reports, etc, and good libraries should be extensively used to find ‘answers for areas where the entrepreneur may not be sure. The result of the two sieve process, (opportunity evaluation and 120 evaluation) is potentially feasible 120 map which ean become the base of a successful business. By doing this the entrepreneur improves the chances of sucess, ‘of his new venture creation. S S S163 fe retary ere WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE 120 MAP Now this leads to the next question: what does one do with a feasible 120 map? Most often centreprencurs are advised to come up with ideas, write business plan from them and then raise capital when needed to start the venture. While this has been practised rather elaborately and ‘extensively by the entrepreneur community at large, this may be the singular justification forthe “other interesting statistics of 95% failure rate within the first year of business. ‘The [20 map oF 120 mapping process helps in increasing the chances of success of potential ~ enterprise ad entrepreneur drastically. But itis also important to understand that 20 map by itself eannot become the base for writing the business plan. An12O map can only tell us that there is a potentially viable way to exploit the opportunity. ‘Without understanding the economics of creating a business one cannot go on to writing the business plan for the identified 120 map. When the business plan is writen without understanding the economics of business, the plan becomes a simple literary document. The business plan gets ‘eritten at a very high-level, detailing only the various standard sections. For example, writing how the business would do its saleS and marketing in the business plan without understanding extemal dependencies or cost structure of delivery and potential market to be served can become ‘debacle leading to a definite failure “This is the reason why we say business plan should just be a manifestation of how business should funetion and not how a business functions Ifa business funetions as stated in the business plan ~ most of the business will fail, Most ofthe business should be designed to function. But in practice many entrepreneurs skp the step of designing the business and move directly to writing the plan “The next step between [20 map evaluation and business plan formulation is called business modelling Business modelling is an aspect of business management that as been put on the back burner. Thaugh early discussions on business modelling have happened in 60's of the previous century the aspects of business model took a backstage for few decades. fhe dot com bubble in the beginning of the millennium created great the basics of business. Around this time business models started ‘odelling as an activity tries to draw how a business model is dismiss the fact that business model cannot be uncertainties. But it is important to However, the burst of tl interest in people going back to gaining importance. Business m« intended to function. Most practitioners may designed on paper as business in real world has too many gain understand if we do not design the business consciously as to how exaelly we want tN aanill take its own shape, When business models are not consciously designed and adjusted, many issues come into the picture. i. . : % { 5 Y a a Sats8 « Figure 7.8 120 Map 120 P MA OfJ Bammer Ton 0 Puce 1 Startling fallout of incorrectly designed business model are issues faced when stempiing scale, There are certain businesses that on the face looks like the opportunity is worth much than what the business is currently achieving. But one finds it very difficult to actually break ‘current level and scale. There seems tobe alot of constraints creating stress while trying to sc ‘A main reason is the failure to design a correct model. There are some business models that 3 best left small, Trying to scale those models presents too much of difficulty and dependencid Recognising this early is very important. Forall te easons discussed above, vhat we wl do with an 120 map sto design abisind model for the 120 map and then translate it into one or more business plans to service the audieng itis intended for. So, the next step where the I20 map moves on, is business model design. « 4 Very often aspiring entrepreneurs get carried away by the power of their ideas. And at times cy realization on the commercial infeasibility of the idea comes at a very high cost. It is necessaff to understand and appreciate that an entrepreneurial venture should use a commercially viab ‘on a strong opportunity. Hence, the starting point for any entrepreneurial venture is and he to be opportunity sighting. ¢ While creative ideas seem to be almost always the best, they may really not be viable in the realistic world. Same is true when one looks at opportunity. It is very essential that ev entrepreneur before taking the step of investing resources in real time business, apply cert processes to understand and establish both the alignment and commercial feasibility of tH ‘opportunity and the subsequent idea. ‘This chapter reveals some unconventional wisdom that has been learnt and researched first hand to provide much better suecess rates. This also lays the foundation for taking the though ahead to the next level of business model and planning. ‘ < “aide eis win an nv while opportuni sa station that es ouside he enteprener Ande isequred § toleverge an existing or future opportunity. Marat s the pace where acta sles happens withthe estomer, wil instr sth place where players compete. Creativity denotes the artistic eapablityof someone to come up with something new, while innovation is the application ofan idea Invention i idenying something new while, discovery is unearthing an existing truth. While inventors can claim rights der ther invention, a discoverer can only take the credit for the discovery but cannot claim rights over thesame. Innovation is the result oF scientific process and is nota moment of realisation. Innovation canbe eat. While having Treat idea ean help in reat innovations, they are not necessary, Innovation is use ofan idea (new or old). Suscessful innovation is more ofa tam effort, rather than an eccentric’ whim. « Busines nmvation is the method of linking an existing opportunity witha great idea. ; For sucessful entrepreneurial venture one would require to sight an opportunity or need, on which ideas canbe arivea tty at for commercial leverage. i COpporinty sighing is and should be the stating place forall successful ventures, Idea shoul be based upon the @ denied opportunity: : ‘An opportunity nomally arises out of changes that happen. 6 ‘There are two main sources of opportnity-Market driven opportunity and Pople driven opportunity. Market driven opportunity arses from those situations or needs that are created through continuous evolution of society. | Mat diven oppotuits can be crated by changes in demographic, societal svations, technological changes and + « supply demand changes ‘ People riven oppo arises fom thos tuations or seta are created as 2 filo of erin ation that have | Peake by the people most} in governing capabilites. Pople driven opportunites can be created through changes ‘ Frrtpltons,trade barter inosion and relaxations and changes in corporate policies, i 1a. When apporitsarsng out of changes ae sighed, its imparant to shots tase oppomunitis that wil suit the 4 rofsioral end personal spration ofthe ctrepreneuril mind. ‘ ties shouldbe evaluated with the opportunity evaluation sieve, which will evaluate the alignment of each against certain common itr an oN