MGMT 327 Final Review

Competitive landscape

5 Forces. Suppliers. Customers. Competitors. Direct. Indirect - substitutes, potential entrants. Stakeholders

Competency trap

occurs when the very things that help companies succeed is the things which make it hard to see the need for change.

Adaptive organization

one that automatically adjusts its process and performance to current conditions.

Analogs

previous examples that can help your assumptions

Antilogs

previous examples that show problems with your assumptions

Customer need pivot

product solves a different need than anticipated

Customer segment pivot

solves same problem but for a different customer

Leaps of faith

strategy is based on assumptions, need to test them as soon as possible. Radical innovation has lots of uncertainty, high risk, but high possible return. You must create a market.

School of one

students have daily playlists of their learning tasks that attuned to each student ́s learning needs, based on that student's readiness and learning style. There are assessments built into each activity so that data can be fed back to the teacher to choose appropriate tasks for the next playlist. This data can be aggregated across classes, schools or even whole districts. You can see immediately the change on those of your students who are at that point in the curriculum. If you judge it to be a good change, you could roll it out immediately for every single student

Channel pivot

switching channel of recognition for greater effectiveness

Platform pivot

switching from application to platform, and vice versa

Business architecture pivot

switching from low volume to mass market and vice versa

Engine of growth pivot

switching growth strategy to grow faster and become more profitable

Success

the accomplishment of an aim or purpose

Actionable metrics

the kind of metrics we use to judge our business and our learning milestones.

Engine of growth

the mechanism that startups use to achieve sustainable growth. Designed to give startups a relatively small set of metrics on which to focus their energies.

Operational excellence

the product will attract imitators. Once the market for the new product is well established, procedures become more routine. To combat inevitable commoditization of the product in its market, line extensions, incremental upgrades, and new forms of marketing are essential.

Structural inertia

the resistance to change and momentum of past innovation.

Failure

the state or condition of not meeting a desired goal. It is an important part of the learning process. It helps stretch our abilities, do things the first time, and take risks. It is a sign that you have taken on challenges to expand skills

Creativity

the tendency and ability to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others. Intangible.

Bootstrapping

using your personal funds

Technology Pivot

when discovering tech to solve a problem by using different tech

Zoom-out pivot

whole product becomes feature on larger product

4 steps for big idea

Finding the Right Problem. Breaking Patterns. Breaking Rules. Growing the Solution.

Value creation hypothesis

First, decide if a product/service is value creating or destroying. Value is not just short term profitability - multidimensional

Single-piece flow

Fold all of the letters, attach the seal, and put on the stamp, Avoid extra time required to sort, stack and move around large piles

The land of the living dead

Happens when a company has achieved a modicum of success, just enough to stay alive, but it is not living up to the expectations of its founders and investors. Companies that cannot bring themselves to pivot get stuck, neither growing nor dying.

7 mistakes to avoid in initial funding

Hiring too many employees. Businesses cost more that anticipated. Copywriting and design can wait, things change. Miscalculating fixed costs and income. Not keeping spouse/family in the loop. Spending too much on features that is not central for the value of the product/service. Shortcutting your talent to keep costs low

Opportunity Recognition

Ideas are important triggers, but the entrepreneur must see the potential value in an idea

Imposter Judo (boomerang)

If a similar idea to yours already exist in market, you can use these as a quick and simple way to gather feedback. You might ask customers to sign-up and give you feedback on a competitor's website, or repackage an existing product.

Patterns for pivoting or preserving

If new experiments are more productive than previous, it is successful. Poor quantitative results force us to declare failure and create the motivation, context, and space for more qualitative research. These produce new ideas, new hypotheses to be tested.

Learning Milestone 3: Pivot or persevere

If we are not moving the drivers, we are not making progress. It could be a time to pivot, start the process all over again. Reestablish a new baseline and tune the engine from there. A successful pivot is that this is now more productive.

Dry-wallet

In order to test whether your customers will actually purchase your products, and for how much, you can deploy a simulated "purchase" now experience.

Creative productivity

Influences by time, other people places, settings, domain specific knowledge and strategies that people can use individually or in groups.

Cohort analysis

Instead of looking at cumulative totals or gross numbers, one looks at the performance of each group customers comes into contact with the product independently.

10 rules for better brainstorming

Invite innovative thinkers "brainboosters". Include the group in problem identification. Overlook flaws of potentially good ideas. Protect fragile egos. . . "brainwriting". Purge the old ideas. Change the location: "brainwalking". Question assumptions: rethink problems in new ways. Move away from the problem. Have fun. Know when to quit.

Need pull

Knowledge creation provides a push, creating an 'opportunity field' which sets up possibilities for innovation. But you also need a pull...

Concierge MVP

Manually perform tasks related to delivering the value of your product or service.

Examples of Metrics

Manufacturing Companies Rate of Growth: Profitability per customer, Cost of acquiring new customers, Repeat purchase rate. Marketplace companies, Network Effects: Sellers largest customer base, Buyers most competition among buyers and availability of choices

Culture

More established, difficult to change. More descriptive in nature. Broader inclusive concept of values and rituals

Large batch death spiral

Moving the batch forward often results in additional work, delays, and interruptions

Balanced market analysis

Not too much ("analysis paralysis") Not too little (launch immediately, without an insightful understanding of customer needs)

Motivations

Personal characteristics, personal environment, personal goals, business environment, and idea all contribute to one's motivation

Knowledge push

Possibilities which emerge as a result of scientific search.

Business Risk

Potential for a company to have lower profits, or a loss. Drivers of this will vary based on type of business. Consider buyer behavior and competition

Market Risk

Potential to lose money due to overall performance of financial markets. Examples: economic factors, political factors, natural disasters

Unhealthy conflict

Power struggles, arguing over fairness, sabotage reputations/careers

Individual creative process

Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, Implementation

Globalization

Process of interaction among people, companies, governments, etc., aided by information technology, with effects on environment, culture, political systems, economic development, prosperity, human physical well-being in societies around the world.

Marketing and distribution plan

Projecting market share, Product, Pricing, Distribution, Promotion, Sales potential, Placement

Secondary data

Public sources, commercial sources, educational institutions, online sources

Experimentation

Putting assumptions and hypotheses to the test. Should be falsifiable. Should have clear hypothesis. Empirically test predictions. Theory is vision of the start-up

Small batches and their advantages

Quality problems can be identified much sooner, Minimize waste, Let people discover truth faster

Video trailers

Record a "real life" scenario using your product, where you can edit the video to create the illusion your product is real. Then, use the video as part of your landing page or marketing message.

Climate

Recurring patterns of behavior, attitudes and feelings that characterize life in the organization. More observable in the organization, easier to change. More normative. Trust and openness. Challenge and involvement. Support and space for ideas. Conflict and debate. Risk taking, freedom

High hurdle

Refers to any experiment where you actually make your experience more difficult to use, in an effort to gauge real interest.

Dynamic Capabilities

Right balance between exploitation of existing competencies and the exploration and development of new competencies.

Validated learning

Rigorous method for demonstrating progress when one is embedded in the soil of extreme uncertainty. Demonstrate empirically that the team is discovering valuable truths about start-ups prospects. More concrete, accurate, and faster than market forecasting or classical business planning.

A Startup's job is to

Rigorously measure where it is right now, confronting the hard truths that assessment reveals and then Devise experiments to learn how to move the real numbers closer to the ideal reflected in the business plan.

Analog/Physical

Sell a physical version of the product, even if your final product will be digital.

Key questions on validated learning

Should this product be built? Can we build a sustainable business around it?

Characteristics of good problem

Significant. Socially responsible. Comprehensible. Open to experimentation. Ambitious yet achievable. Authentic

How do firms grow?

Strong emphasis on design and innovation

Pivot or persevere

Structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy and engine of growth

Primary data

Survey, in-depth interview; data you collect yourself

Entrepreneurial Traits

Tenacity, Passion, Tolerance of Ambiguity, Vision, Self-belief, Flexibility, Rule Breaking

Learning milestones

The goal of creating these is not to make the decision easy, it is to make sure that there is relevant data in the room when it comes time to decide

Divergent thinking

The means determines the end. Open-ended process Broad definition of the problem (to avoid missing opportunity). Multiple drafts, versions, iterations. Different. Design Thinking. Radical. Push. Exploration. Intentive

Market research

The process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market and about the past, present, and potential customers for the product or service. Research into the characteristics, spending habits, location and needs of your business's target market, the industry as a whole, and the particular competitors you face.

Innovation

The process of translating ideas into useful - and used - new products, processes or services.

Creative Processes in the Organization

Understand the opportunity. Generate ideas. Planning for action. Developing solutions, building acceptance

Mechanical Turk

When a complex backend is required, such as databases, algorithms, or complex engineering, consider simulating the backend behind the scenes.

Rapid iteration

When the work is done in small batches and delivers a clear verdict quickly, team benefits from the power of feedback.

Sources of ideas in a small business

Work experience. Similar Business. Hobby or Personal Interest. Serendipity. Family and friends. Education and experience. Technology Transfer and Licensing

Distinctive core competency

a competency that distinguishes a company from its competitors

Core Competency

a competency that is essential or central to its overall performance or success

Opportunity

a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.

Brainstorming

a technique generally used in a group setting to quickly generate a large number of ideas about a specific problem or topic. It can help you: Encourage creative thinking and generate enthusiasm. Avoid the "paralysis of analysis" by not evaluating ideas

Large batches

all complete at the same time

Collective Creativity

an approach of creative activity that emerges from the collaboration and contribution of many individuals so that new forms of innovative and expressive art forms are produced collectively by individuals connected by the network.

Growth Hypothesis

an assumption on how users find your product.

Competency

anything a business does well

Lean startup

asks people to start measuring their productivity differently. The goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build - the thing that customers want and will pay for - as quickly as possible.

Kanban (means visual card or sign)

capacity constraint. Only small number of products in development; product prioritization. Have backlog (start working), in progress (in development), built (awaits validation), and validated (Confirmed and good to go). Complete only when validated (confirmed by customers)

Value capture pivot

changing how company captures value

Invention

coming up with a new idea. Requires creative abilities

Entrepreneurship

dynamic process of vision, change and creation

Zoom-in pivot

feature becomes whole product

Structured Brainstorming

go around in a circle and everyone throws out an idea. Advantage: each person has an equal chance to participate, regardless of rank or personality. Disadvantage: lacks spontaneity and can sometimes feel rigid and restrictive

Minimum viable product (MVP)

helps entrepreneurs start the process of learning as quickly as possible. It is not necessarily the smallest product imaginable, though; it is simply the fastest way to get through the build-measure-learn feedback loop with the minimum amount of effort. It is designed not just to answer product design or technical questions. Its goal is to test fundamental business hypotheses (value creation/growth).

Fast experimentation methods

Blog. Ask questions on Quora. Create surveys. Collect pre-orders. Run test ads

Feedback loop

Build: Turn ideas into products, MVP. Measure: Experiment, Go see for yourself, See how customers respond. Learn: Pivot or persevere, The 5 whys, Find and fix root causes, What creates value

Healthy conflict

Competitive rivalry stimulates firms to invest in innovation and change. Imitation and learning from others, collaborate

Customer Archetype

A brief document that humanizes the target customer

What is innovation accounting?

A disciplined, systematic approach to figuring out if we are making progress and discovering if we are actually achieving validated learning. It turns the leap-of-faith assumptions into a quantified financial model.

Innovation sandbox

A mechanism for empowering innovation teams out in the open. One way is to create a sandbox for innovation that will contain the impact of the new innovation but not constrain the methods of the startup team.

3 attributes of metrics (3mA's)

Actionable Metrics- For a report to be considered actionable, it must demonstrate clear cause and effect, otherwise it is vanity. When cause and effect is understood, people can learn. Accessible metrics- Departments too often spend their energy learning how to use data to get what they want rather than as a genuine feedback to guide their future actions. Everyone must understand the reports. Auditable metrics- We must ensure that the data can be retested and is credible to employees.

Learning Milestone 1: MVP

Allows a startup to fill in real business data in growth model, Sign up and trial rates, customer life value, etc.

Convergent thinking

Define the problem. Do the research. Determine the objective. Devise the strategy. Execute the strategy. Evaluate the results. Traditional, project management. Efficient. Incremental. Also exploitation, need pull

Learning Milestone 2: Tuning the engine

Every product development, marketing other initiative that a startup undertakes should be targeted at improving one of the drivers of its growth models.