FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL

ECONOMIC RELATIONS

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
COURSE

DEVELOPING THE OPPORTUNITY

Instructor: Tran My Linh, Ph.D.
 Content 01 Introduction to Entrepreneurship

02 Entrepreneurial opportunity

03 Discovery Driven Planning

04 A Prototype

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW DR. TRAN MY LINH 2022/10/18

 4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

“A business is talked into existence.” -Weick, Suttcliffe, Obstfeld

v Why do you summarize a 100 page business

plan? To prompt the right question.

v How do you summarize a 100 page business plan?

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UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW DR. TRAN MY LINH 2022/10/18
 4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

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UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW DR. TRAN MY LINH 2022/10/18
 4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

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UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND LAW DR. TRAN MY LINH 2022/10/18
4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

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4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

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4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

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 4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

Two sentence pitch

v For wealthy individuals and car fans who want a high-end

sports car that is environmentally friendly, the Tesla
Roadster is an electric car that delivers unprecedented
performance without damaging the environment.
v Unlike Ferraris and Porches, we offer amazing
performance without any direct carbon emissions

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 4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

Advanced Options: Two sentence pitch

v The Hook:
The $9 billion a year supercar market has no equivalent of the
Prius.
v The Team:
We were founded by Elon Musk and include the top EV
engineers on the planet.
v The Ask:
We are looking for $50 million in Round F financing for a 10%
stake in the company.

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 4. A Prototype
Elevator Pitch

v Prompt the right question

– High concept pitches if they work
– 2 sentence pitch as a starting point
v Make sure to take time to craft!
v Different pitches for different audiences
v Show where possible!

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Interview

Conducting Customer
Interviews
v Everyone should conduct
a least 3 interviews before
they launch their business
v • Interviews are powerful
tools

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Interview

What to use interviews for

v Great for:
- Finding out what people love or
hate about a product
- Finding out about current
solutions
Finding out why particular
solutions have been chosen
- Getting a sense for customer
environment
v Bad for:
- Predicting future actions
- Making assumptions about
demand
- Figuring out pricing
- Figuring out wished-for product
features

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Interview

First step in interviewing: Who to Interview

v Potential end customers/users
- These are people who have the need you are trying to solve.
- You can learn about their needs, and about how they try to address
them on your own.
v Potential buyers
- Store managers, retailers, or other buyers
v Experts
- When trying to find out about complex issues like regulation, industry
structure, technology, and industry history.
- Industry experts, academics taste makers, or journalists may help get
sense for the market.
• A list of 95(!) ways to find interviewees: http://is.gd/95ways

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Interview

Second step in interviewing: Asking Good Questions

v Ask similar questions to everyone
v Don't start with your solution
v Ask them about themselves first, to set them at ease and
understand context.
v Make sure to listen and be quiet, resist the urge to talk too
much. Also, ask open ended followup questions: "what
happened next?” "and then what?" etc.

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Interview

Second step in interviewing: Asking Good Questions

v Then delve into the problem, asking open-ended questions:
- What is the biggest issue associated with [your problem]?
- Tell me about the last time you encountered this problem...
v Next, ask them about how they solve their problem now:
- How are you dealing with this now?
- What do you like about this solution? What do you dislike?
- Have you tried other approaches? How have you searched for solutions?
v Last, you can talk about your solution:
- You should introduce the idea or solution and let the interviewee ask
questions about it.
- Don't try to sell

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Interview

Final step in interviewing: Draw conclusions

v No matter how good your memory is, write your results
down right after the interview
v Don't draw conclusions until after the interviews are
done
v Look for patterns in the interviews

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Conducting Surveys

• Surveys should be done after interviews

• Surveys can be used to convince or to

analyze

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

General notes on question types

• Consider demographic questions at top

• Only use Yes/No to qualify
• Be careful with open-ended questions

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Question types: Multiple Choice - Bad

Q: Given the state of the economy, where do you

buy sweaters?
a. Amazon
b. Mass merchandisers
c. Clothing stores
d. Other online sites

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Question types: Multiple Choice - Better

Q: Where have you bought the most sweaters from in the

past 12 months?
a. Amazon
b. Other online sites
c. Physical mass merchandisers (such as Costco,
Walmart, etc.)
d. Physical clothing stores (such as GAP, Lands End, etc.)
e. I have not bought sweaters in the last 12 months
f. Other [please specify]

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Question types: Rating Scales -Bad

• It is hard to find the right sweater, rate how much you
comparison shop before buying a sweater:
–1
–2
–3
–4
–5
–6
–7
–8
–9
– 10
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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Question types: Rating Scales -Better

• How often do you comparison shop before buying a

sweater
– 1. Never
– 2. Rarely
– 3. Sometimes
– 4. Most of the time – 5. All the time

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Questions on pricing/features - Bad

• How much would you pay for a great new sweater delivered to
you every month?
– $5
– $10
– $50
– $200

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Questions on pricing/features – Better (Monadic)

• How willing would you be to subscribe to a service for
$20/ month that sends you a sweater every month like one
of the ones below?
• Randomize the question someone gets
• Don’t do: pricing ladder, Von Westendorp, open-ended
questions
• Best approach is conjoint analysis

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

How do you know if you have good questions?

• Pretest!
– Initially face-to-face
– Then, small sample
• Looking for:
– Variance (surprise!)
– Comfort and understanding questions
– Missing options, frustrated choices
– Annoyance and bias
– Timing

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 4. A Prototype
Testing Your Idea - Survey

Analyzing results
• Response rates
• Under 20% a problem
• Use comparisons to the overall population to identify bias
(census questions)

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Physical Goods

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Physical Goods

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Physical Goods

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Physical Goods

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Physical Goods

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Physical Goods

Working with a Supplier for Prototypes

• Two basic approaches:
1. ODM (“original design manufacturer”)
• The factory has the know-how.
• Their staff create a design based on your requirements.
• Advantage is that they know how to design for efficient production.
– Design work is often “free.”
• Disadvantage is that you have nothing proprietary.
2. Factory producing to your proprietary design.

• Does your enterprise’s advantage come from a unique, proprietary

design?
– If yes, then you have to own your design.
• Design should be in-house (or possibly with close partnership with a
consulting firm). Then work with a factory to produce your proprietary
design
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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Service

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Software

Why Bother Prototyping?

• Serves 2 main purposes
– To clarify user interface to user and/or developer – To clarify
functionality supported
• Benefits:
– Reduce cost & time relative to building full product and iterating.
– Can involve other stakeholders such as non-engineering
founders into product discussions
– Increase product quality by ensuring UX & UI are clear before
implementation

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Software
Types of Prototypes
Throw away Prototyping
• Create a model of the final
system that the user can
evaluate.
• Once feed back is obtained,
design & requirements are
frozen, development begins and
the prototype may be discarded.
• Relatively fast method of
prototyping
Evolutionary Prototyping
• Build only those portions of the
system that we understand and
slowly working our way to other
portions.
• Development team creates a
system with the features that are
well understood
• Prototype evolves to become the
final product
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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Software

Types of Prototypes

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Software

Types of Prototypes - Interactively

Interactive Static
• Reacts to user’s input. It is clickable • Series of screens
and allows the user to enter input into • Can help focus on content instead
forms. of minor details
• Simulate show the final product will
work

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Software

Tools for Prototypes

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 4. A Prototype
Creating a Prototype – Software

Practical tips on Prototyping

• Gather requirements
• Develop initial prototype that is static and of low/medium
fidelity
• Get initial feedback
• Develop interactive prototype of medium to high fidelity. Get
feedback and iterate
• Freeze design and proceed to development

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 References

University of Pennsylvania, Entrepreneurship 1: Developing the Opportunity. Retrieved from:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-entrepreneurship-opportunity/home/week/1
https://www.coursera.org/learn/wharton-entrepreneurship-opportunity/h\

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