Entrepreneurs Master Class Module 1

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Entrepreneur’s Master Class (Module 1) Overview 

Entrepreneur’s start with a business idea or opportunity they perceive as having potential. Depending on their experience and knowledge they approach the opportunity in different ways. This master class is designed to provide entrepreneurs with an overall approach that will minimise risks and optimise their ability to succeed. It will outline what are the important deliverables and things to do to move from idea/opportunity to the next stage of starting to create a proposition in a way that is sustainable. It will provide approaches, tools and advice so that they can follow some proven processes, and they will learn to avoid early stage pitfalls.

What are some of the pitfalls?

·         An interesting idea but too difficult or expensive to create.

·         “This is a new market” there is no competition

·         A solution to a known problem but not practical for the customer.

·         “One we have the product it will run off the shelves”

·         An innovative opportunity but only a small niche market for it

·         The entrepreneurs enthusiasm exceeds the competence required to deliver

·         The available expertise and resources are not sufficient to support investment required.

·         Where do I start?

·         Who can help me?

Objective of Module

Participants on completion of the Module will have a clear understanding of what is important at each stage of creating a new business. They will have the knowledge to decide what is important for them to focus on at the start of a business in the context of their own business. They will have a set of tools to enable them confirm the viability and practicality of their business idea/opportunity and they will have created some foundations for the business.

Some topics that will be covered

·         The proposition/solution creates the opportunity but what problem does it solve, or what is the true opportunity.

·         Is there a market and how big is that market? (How to find out?)

·         What will be required to bring the product/service to market?

·         Competitive analysis (How will we compete?)

·         What resources & competencies are required (Where can they be sources?)

·         Research versus Development

·         How can I get help? (Advice and support available)

·         Sources & Types of finance

·         Some things to do now, that do not have immediate payback but have long term benefit

For further information or to register http://intelligentorg.com/?page_id=411

 

The top 10 tips for successful start-up's

OVERVIEW

Starting a new business is both exciting and risky. Over the past few years I have met with many entrepreneurs and reviewed many business plans. Tremendous talent and creativity exists in our society and technology is enabling innovation whether it be products, processes, or services. However the time to realize the value of the promoters’ investment is influenced by a huge amount of variables and these tips are designed to give some pointers to entrepreneurs considering a new venture or in the early stages of start up.

     Validate Market; you must prove that a market exists and define it, i.e. ID customers, groups, size and spend. Is it static? declining? or growing? It’s more attractive if  it’s growing because you are not trying to take a share from a competitor. A good business idea does not mean there is a market, and only in very rare circumstances are you creating a new market.

     Confirm Competition; if there is no competition it is likely there is no market. The biggest competitive threat for start up’s is the potential that a client will do nothing, because they do not see your value proposition.

     Define Business Model;   Have a clear and defined business model (How we make money!). Model it, identify revenue and cost drivers and convert to a P & L. Make sure you have a primary revenue stream, it confirms the business has a  focus.

     Carry out Feasibility;   before you invest significant, time and money, talk to the target customers and market, present your business and confirm the market exists and the proposed value proposition is accepted.

    Create a Team; rarely will the initial promoter (s) have all the skills required to launch a successful business, know the gaps and how you will fill the gaps even on a temporary or part time basis.

     Engage with Public Support Mechanisms:  There are many supports available, not just financial, but advisory, marketing and incubation programs, find the ones that suit your business and engage early with them. (EI, INI, BIC’s, Trade Associations – in Ireland).

     Prepare a 10 page business plan; any less and your analysis and detail are likely to be incomplete, much more and your focus is likely to be suboptimal. The business plan helps stakeholders understand the roadmap and milestones you (They) are committing to.

     Don’t boil the ocean; Focus on core business and core model. Define the minimum spec. for your product or service to enter the market and get selling quickly. Customer and market feedback will help refine the plan. You will confirm customer value as they will be parting  with money, and you get to market quickly (Be Agile)

    Adopt good business practice; as appropriate for scale and maturity of business apply good process, practice and governance. It really pays back,  helps control the business performance and demonstrates to stakeholders it’s in control (avoids exit transaction issues)

   Adapt & Respond Don’t be afraid to change the business as you learn in the Market & Terminate the business quickly if it is failing

Collaboration Maturity & Collaboration Platforms

How do we release talent within & across organisations (Collaboration)?

With the advent of social media and collaboration platforms, the tools available to leaders and managers have become sophisticated and powerful.  However the ability of organisations to effectively deploy and realise the potential of these new tools can be hampered by the culture, structure and processes within the organisation.

To compete or even to survive many knowledge based organisations need to accelerate innovation, creativity, knowledge sharing /re use and productivity. Increasing the productive engagement of stakeholders whether it be within and organisation or with external stakeholders leveraging the available tools requires a change in how we work.

The purpose of a collaboration platform is:-

a)      Speeding up Responsiveness

b)      Facilitating Innovation

c)       Enhancing Learning

d)      Growing the competence mass of the organization

e)      Increasing the capacity and speed of organizational intelligence

f)       Improving Involvement and Sharing Responsibility

Primary areas for organisation consideration are:-

b)      Enterprise 2.0 - Inside the organization to improve:

a)      efficiency and productivity

c)       B2C 2.0 - Connecting with customers/stakeholders to improve

a)      profitability and customer satisfaction

Organisations are fundamentally human systems made up of people, communities and teams and therefore are the core to any change to accelerate overall performance. Managers and Leaders when designing interventions whether Organisation development or Introducing change such as new technology often omit to take into account the organisation maturity and behavioural capacity of the individuals and teams within.

Why is organisation Development a key component to collaboration?

Because getting the most from the product is as much a people/organizational issue as a technical issue -

¡  Collaboration is an interpersonal activity & should be introduced & managed accordingly – otherwise, it will fail

¡  It is the most complex form of organizational activity and needs an O-D & Change-Management approach

¡  It has the greatest capacity for organizational transformation of any O-D intervention

¡  It can be truly systemic in scope – from customer to production and all stakeholders, functions, etc.

n  “The system is the product”

¡  Systemic Collaboration offers Organizational Advantage, which is best achieved through an Organization-Development approach

¡  Organizational Effectiveness improves performance, retention and sustainable growth

The power and features  of new technologies (Collaborative Platforms, such as Lotus Connections, MS SharePoint, Facebook, Mindtouch etc.) facilitate knowledge creation and re use. The ability to create communities, facilitate rapid identification of a person, expertise or information, make the process of innovation and collaboration be time and location independent can really accelerate the performance and creativity of an organisation.

Deploying these new platforms is not just an IT project and regardless of how mature and effective your IT management processes are, you may fail to leverage the benefits if you do not consider the organisation development factors.

COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY + COLLABORATION MATURITY = COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM

The level of collaborative maturity differs from organisation to organisation, so how do we measure it, in order that our program to roll out a collaborative platform may include appropriate OD interventions, whether they are education, awareness, structure, coaching, facilitation etc. Most Models out there such as CMMi or ISO are descriptive and require a significant commitment, they are not based on the fundamental principles of human systems and human behaviour (And related psychology), they do not consider how humans and organisations learn and change.

However we now have a simple scientific model that allows prompt and effective measurement of the collaboration maturity in an organisation so that any project/program to accelerate innovation, productivity and knowledge sharing leveraging collaboration platform(s) can have the OD interventions and components built into the program.

The Collaboration Maturity Model

n  THE PROBLEM for optimising Collaboration has been identified: it IS getting people to use it, i.e. TRACTION

n  The Model was  DESIGNED with one thing in mind – TO GAIN TRACTION for interventions

n  It does this by measuring the level of organizational functioning so that it can be raised across the board to the required level to optimise collaboration

n  No other framework exists to cater for both organizational diagnosis and intervention guidance

The model is underpinned by human science research and the primary inputs to the model are based on on-line questionnaires that can be completed by participants within 20 minutes.

The outputs of the Model are 1. A report on the maturity level in your organisation on all key dimensions of collaboration, and recommended OD interventions to support your overall collaboration business program.  2. A visual dashboard of the maturity on all dimensions of collaboration maturity.

As well as providing guidance on the OD elements of a program, it also provides a benchmark that can be conducted periodically to ensure the interventions and ant platform program are having the desired effect and ensure the correct timing for further/future OD interventions as an organisation drives towards the Leadership Zone.

How does it fit in the deployment of a collaboration platform?

1.       Business decision to improve collaboration

2.       Business goals and business case for program

a.       Financial, Creativity, Productivity..etc.

b.      New Products/services , cycle times, lead times

c.       Maturity dimensions

3.       Measure collaborative Maturity

a.       On Line questionnaire & reports

b.      Small number of interviews/workshops

c.       Confirm threshold has been reached (Research to date suggests an organisation must be in or entering the learning zone before any platform investment is made)

d.      Design interventions

4.       Create Platform roll out program and project plan

5.       Execute plan

6.       Measure KPI’s and maturity to ensure benefits are being realised.

A Key consideration

To achieve the overall objectives , these new techniques for working as individuals and teams must become central to the leadership and management culture and require on-going support and facilitation. (More on this in the future)