Chapter 3

Opportunity Recognition,
Shaping and
Re-shaping

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New York: Wiley. ©
 Idea-to-opportunity transition

Viable
Seed of idea Idea
Opportunity

Professional Idea
Passion
Experience Multiplication

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
 Idea multiplication – IDEO
technique
Gather
1 Stimuli
Observe

Multiply
2 Stimuli
Brainstorm/brain-write

Create
3 Customer Build a simple mock up
Concepts

Optimize
4 Practicality
Add/remove features

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
The opportunity space

Global Business Environment

Competitors

Suppliers Your Company Customers Competitors

Competitors
Government Regulations

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
 The customer
Target Audience Categories
Primary Secondary Tertiary
Target Audience Target Audience Target Audience

Common Demographic/Psychographic Categories

Demographics Psychographics
Age Social group (e.g., white collar, blue
Gender collar, etc.)
Household Income Lifestyle (e.g., mainstream, sexual
Family Size/Family Lifecycle orientation, materialistic, active, athletic,
Occupation etc.)
Education Level Personality Traits (Worriers, Type A’s,
Religion Shy, Extroverted, etc.)
Ethnicity/Heritage Values (Liberal, Conservative, Open-
Nationality Minded, Traditional, etc.)
Social Class
Marital Status

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
 Macro trends
Important Trends over the Last 50 Years
Trend Impact
Baby Boom Generation Pampers, Rock & Roll, Television,
Minivans, Real Estate,
McMansions, etc.
Personal Computing Internet, media on demand,
electronic publishing,
spreadsheets, electronic
communication
Obesity Drain on healthcare system, growth
of diet industry, changes in food
industry, health clubs, home gyms
Dual-Income households Child care, Home services –
landscaping, house cleaning,
prepared foods

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
 S-curve
Market Adoption

1 2 3

Time

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
 Setting prices

Price

Assessing Market
Penetration Pricing Cost-plus Pricing Prices for Competing
Strategy Strategy Products
Strategy

Requires Price May Not

Enormous Match The Best Option
Financing The Value

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
Reaching customer – the value
chain
Example - Value Chain of Gourmet Chili
Base
Ingredients Gourmet Food Grocery
-Beef, Chili Distributors Stores
Sauce, etc.
-From Food
Distributor

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
Learning about “stealth”
competitors
Business
Angels
and
VCs

Sources
Of
Intelligence

Suppliers Databases

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©
 Opportunity checklist

Global
Customer Competition Vendors Government
Environment

Price/
Market
Trends Market size Frequency/ Distribution
Growth
Value

Key Success
Factors

Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2007. Entrepreneurship,

New York: Wiley. ©