“An Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision, and is willing to risk! “
The 4 pillars of Entrepreneurship and creating a winning product are – RISE
R – Research
I – Identification
S - Solution
E - Execution
Research:
Market Research is one of the most used marketing jargon among start-ups and sadly, the least used phenomenon. In order to take any business idea to the next stage, it is essential to prove it using reliable information that the idea is wanted or needed by the target market. Using biased participants to conduct primary research will not aid the launching of your product or service. Lack of understanding of the market, poor product development, poor location, poor planning, or even cash flow problems, many of these can be solved or even prevented with good research.
Inventors and start-up entrepreneurs often become too focused on the details of developing their new product or service. Market research is an important piece that helps them step back and see the big picture of how their product might fit into the marketplace. Through market research, entrepreneurs gain valuable information about industry trends, who their competitors really are, and which consumers they should target and how. Start-up entrepreneurs benefit from market research in developing, fine-tuning, and enhancing their particular product or service, which ultimately leads to greater revenue through new customers.
Identification:
Market research should help entrepreneurs identify specific market trends that may affect their new business or product. It should also identify existing and potential competitors, potential customers, how their idea can be differentiated from existing products, pricing trends, and other useful information that will allow them to improve on their product or service while it’s still in the pre-launch or development phase. All of which leads to a more successful endeavor, even if it means scrapping the idea. One way to overcome the dilemmatic situation is to know how the existing entrepreneurs identified the opportunity and set up their enterprises. An investigation into the historical experiences of Indian small enterprises in this regard reveals some interesting factors.
DO a SWOT ANALYSIS: One of the best ways of identifying new business opportunities is to complete a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis based on the research done above. A SWOT analysis is one of the most popular strategic analysis tools. It is an acronym for four key factors affecting your business: strengths and weaknesses of your business, and opportunities and threats facing it. A SWOT analysis typically provides you with valuable information about your business and can help you to identify new opportunities and prospects that you can potentially exploit.
Solution:
After identification of the need, given the competition and all the regulatory constraints that exist in that market, that will provide you with the opportunity to tailor your service or product — or combination of the service and product — to that marketplace.
If you have access to sufficiently robust market data, you choose the features based on (a) customer needs and (b) based on differentiation from competitors (current or possible), in line with your vision for the product.
Writing the problem statement with the solution is one of the major steps which should be followed. The outcome of the thorough research and identification of problems done previously plays a key role in defining a problem statement and solution here. Only after in-depth research into the various factors that they will be able to come up with a convincing material.
Once the problem is in place, odds are someone has tried to solve that same problem. Look back at companies who have failed to address this problem and figure out why they failed. Did they try to take on too much, too quickly? Was their price point way off target? Did their idea just come too soon, before the demand had matured? This information only will help to avoid similar pitfalls, but to take the business even farther.
If there are still some active competitors in the space, take a hard look at what they offer and at what price. Maybe even have a friend purchase an item or use their service to see where they excel and where they fall short. If the aim is to dominate the market, the key is to know where the start-up can do better than the competition. Think big. Your location doesn't have to stand in the way of a great concept. With options such as the UK innovator visa, the possibilities are endless.
Execution:
After all the above steps now is the time to start the venture and execute the dream and make it a reality.
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Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics.
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Take your time in moving from your idea to a business.
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Build a strong team around you and learn from them. Expand your own learning and knowledge by helping others.
References:
https://www.inc.com/james-paine/entrepreneurs-here-is-how-you-can-find-problems-to-solve.html
http://www.mukmik.co.ke/ebooks/HOW%20TO%20IDENTIFY%20OPPORTUNITIES.pdf
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/42940
http://www.5nbusinessconsultants.com/tips_for_finalizing_idea_of_your_startup
We, at OpenGrowth, are constantly looking for innovative and trending start-ups in the ecosystem. If you want to have more information about entrepreneurship, strategies and tools for an entrepreneur, then do let us know in the comment section below.
Contributor: Akriti Verma
She is a creative, ardent and vivacious individual. She is passionate about bringing change through technological innovation by challenging the status quo. Through OpenGrowth University she envisions to empower and enable individuals with innovative ideas to pursue and excel in their entrepreneurial journey. She loves to paint and write poems.
