Entrepreneurial Small Business Chapter 4 - Creativity, Opportunity, and Feasibility
Rearrange (or reverse)
-Magnetic Poetry example -What can you rearrange or reorder in the way your product or service appears?
SCAMPER
-a creativity tool that provides cues to trigger breakthrough thinking -Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify or Modify, Put to other use, Eliminate, Rearrange
Entrepreneurial alertness
-a special set of observational and thinking skills that help entrepreneurs identify good opportunities -the ability to notice things that have been overlooked, without actually launching a formal search for opportunities, and the motivation to look for opportunities
License
-legal agreement ranting you rights to use a particular piece of intellectual property
Opportunity recognition
-searching and capturing new ideas that lead to business opportunities -involves creative thinking that leads to discovery of new and useful ideas
Magnify (or Modify)
-taking an existing product and changing its appearance or adding more features -can also cue you to minimize something
customer segment
A group or subgroup of potential purchasers that can be approached in a coherent manner
target market
A marketing term (also called serviceable obtainable market, or SOM ) that refers to the group of customers in the area you plan to serve who would be likely to be interested in your product, or those of competitors; Also referred to as individuals or market groups called segments
casual model of entrepreneurship
One of two approaches to thinking about entrepreneurship (the other is effectuation). The causal approach is one in which you want to create a particular product or service that does not yet exist, and to achieve that end, you have to cause the product or service to exist. This can mean you will have to learn new skills, or find others to help you achieve your end
value proposition
Small business owners' unique selling points (also known as benefits) that customers can expect from your goods or services, including benefits that differentiate your offer- ing from those of the competition
conversion rate
The measure of how many visitors to your website (or people who click on your online advertise- ment) are actually willing to make a commitment to the product or service promoted on the site
Licensor
The person or organization that is offering the rights to use a particular piece of intellectual property.
Adapt
adaptation from existing products or services
incremental strategy
taking an idea and offering a way to do something slightly better than it is done presently
Feasibility
the extent to which an idea is viable and realistic and the extent to which you are aware of internal and external forces that could affect your business
A/B testing
A way to check customer reaction to websites describing your product or service. Two versions (ver- sion "A" and version "B") of the site are posted and are served up randomly to prospective customers. The version of the website that gets the most commitments from customers is the one kept and the less attractive site is re- vised and the two versions tested until one revision gets consistently superior customer reactions
Put to other uses
Think of ways you could generate a high number of opportunities for your product or service
Pilot Test
a preliminary run of a business, sales effort, program, or Web site with the goal of assessing how well the overall approach works and what problems it might have.
Creativity
a process introducing an idea or opportunity that is novel and useful, frequently derived from making connection among distinct ideas or opportunities
Freemium
an approach to pricing, and a business model, that connects free and premium products or services. Typically a free version is offered and users have the option to pay to move up to premium features. Popular examples include Dropbox (5 GB of space for free, with more space or services at a price) and Angry Birds (free ad-supported version; paid version removes ads)
Imitative strategy
an overall strategic approach in which the entrepreneur does more or less what others are already doing
Business Model
are a way to iden- tify and organize key information on a business and how it achieves its goals. Business models can be analytic tools (like a business model canvas) or a way to do business (like the "razor and blade" business model)
gain
can be any sort of outcome (a product, service, outcome, or situation) customers or potential customers would like to encounter or be able to depend on. It is one of two driving forces of creat- ing new products or services, with the other driving force being pain
Pain
can be any sort of problem, annoyance, source of aggrava- tion, shortcoming, or suboptimal situation customers or potential customers face. It is one of two driving forces of creating new products or services, with the other driving force being gain
feasibility study
evaluates the potential of a business op- portunity by studying five primary areas in depth: the overall busi- ness idea, the product/service, the industry and market, financial projections (profitability), and the plan for future action
Royalty
payment based on the number or value of licensed items sold
Combine
possible combinations that result in something completely different
Radical innovations
rejecting existing ideas, and presenting a way to do things differently
radical innovation strategy
rejecting existing ideas, and presenting a way to do things differently
Eliminate
search for opportunities that arise when you get rid of something or stop doing something
RBI screen
stands for "Really Big Idea" and is a fast technique for making initial assessments (called screens) of prospective business ideas based on five questions. The RBI approach comes from Alex Bruton, and can be found at theinnogrpher.com/toolkit/really-big-idea
Licensee
the person or firm that is obtaining the rights to use a particular piece of intellectual property
Substitute
what might substitute for something else to form an idea