7. Opportunity identification - YouTube Videos - MODULE 4 - Home

M2-1: Opportunity Identification - Introduction - Video 1

Transcript

A: So, you are gonna need to come up with an idea.

B: Eureka! This is stupid. Do you guys even know why we are saying this? 

A: To do this we will cover creativity exercises, brainstorming, and finally, choosing the right problem for you to solve.

B: Apparently acha Metis was like getting into a bathtub and he said Eureka he realized that like when he got in the bathtub the water level went up. 

A: So how did great entrepreneurs come up with ideas? 

B: And apparently he ran down the street naked and told everybody.

A: There are lots of approaches. Listening your own frustration 

B: Hey! 

A: Looking at current solutions and asking is there a better way? 

B: Ach!

A: Thinking big, listening to customers. 

So what do you think? getting inspired from great startups. The only wrong approach is to think that the prefect idea will just come to you.

B: It will come to me… I, I’m not...

A: Great ideas come from having lots of ideas. You might be thinking, I need to be creative to have ideas.

B: Did I leave the stove on? 

A: Like most skills creativity can be developed and and improved. Try being more aware of your surroundings. Notice when things aren't working.

B: Hello, hello!

A: Or where there's a need. You could try taking a different route to school or work every day. 

B: Yeah I'm gonna be late again.

A: Or try new activities or foods.

B:  Dua, Dua…Phh, not bad.

A: Good ideas can come at any time 

B: Honey, I got an idea!

A: When you think of something, make a note in your phone. 

B: Is the new iphone waterproof? 

A: Next, we will go over a few creativity exercises before moving on to brainstorming 

B: That double your money you make a stack. I’m on to the next one, on to the next one, on to the next one.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st_5cvHPWrc

M2-2: Opportunity Identification - Creativity Exercise: Two Words - Video 2

Transcript

Our first creatividad exercise is called two words. Open a book or website and point to a word at random. Now, point to another word. These two words now make up the name of your fake company. What is your fake company cell? Who are you customers? And how do you go about selling it? You don’t need to take the words literally. Have fun with it. What do each of the words make you think of? That was weird.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr9bDlu4MvM

M2-3: Opportunity Identification - Creaivity Exercise: Mindmapping - Video 3

Transcript

The next creativity exercise is mind mapping. In the center of a large sheet of paper write a word or phrase of something you are interested in. Like technology, travel, or entertainment. Spend the next several minutes writing the first few things that come to mind around that word and then a few things that come to mind around each of those and so on. Try to go at least three to four layers out. When you are done, highlight a few of the words in the outside layer and piece them together into a  potential company.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6XQj48uZds

M2-4: Opportunity Identification - Creativity Exercise: The Brick Test - Video 4

Transcript

A: One more exercise, “the brick test”. Take a brick. If you don’t have a brick think about a brick. 

B: Wait, I have a brick. 

A: Now, come up as many alternative uses for the brick as possible in one minute.

B: Hello! 

A: You can do this with a friend and compare ideas after. 

B: Do you wanna play a game?

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNdw904l5wQ

M2-5: Opportunity Identification - Brainstorming - Video 5

Transcript

A: Next, we will cover the brainstorming process. The brainstorming process will include choosing what you are interested in and using frustrations to find potential problems to solve. Ask yourself why you're starting a company in the first place. To improve people's lives. To be your own boss.

B: To change the world. 

A: It's  important  to stay true to your values and enjoy what you do. Next, pick an industry you are interested in. Make a list of problems in that industry. Make sure you are solving a real need versus just trying to think of something cool. To do this, start your problem question with, how might we? Find a balance between being too specific. 

B: No, just avocado burgers. 

A: And being too vague. 

B: How would you solve world of hunger? 

A: Too specific is when you try to force a solution you have in mind. And too vague is when you create a generic question like, how might we make blanc better? 

B: Come on! 

A: A way to find problems is to see how people aren't completely satisfied with their current products or services. 

B: What do you mean can’t see the printer? It’s right there. 

A: This is like the iPad. We are professionals, we aren't fully satisfied with other electronics. 

B: Puff!

A: Another possibility is to find ways to appeal to customers who are currently served in the industry. For example, a tablet could be designed specifically for children allowing parents to monitor their internet usage. Spend lots of time looking for underserved customers and finding their frustrations. And look across a range of opportunity types: your frustrations.

B:Aggg, Aggg! Bae, can you this jar for me?

A: Problems in the community.

B: Why don’t people recycle?

A: And global issues. 

B: And what about the bees? 

A: Consider both the frequent problems. 

B: Wait where is my phone? Oh.

A: And the high intensity problems. 

B: Where I put my kids? Wait, I have kids? 

A: During this brainstorming process try not to filter anything out. Write it all down. It may seem silly at the time but it could lead to something great.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDOdsCIPLy4

M2-6: Opportunity Identification - Filtering Problems - Video 6

Transcript

A: After you have a list 20 to 30 potential problems to solve you will filter them down. My favorite tool for filtering is to check each item roughly against fit and potential. Fit is this something you had be excited to solve? Potential, would you be solving a real need that has the opportunity to be different from other offerings on the market? Determine which item is score high on both dimensions. Narrow to a few. Then, review these a bit further. Do some research and get input from others. If you find yourself leaning towards one even if it's not the highest ranked that is fine. Trust your gut over the numbers. There is no magical formula for the perfect idea but it's important to be passionate about what you are working on and feel confident in its potential. 

In this session we cover strategies for finding startup ideas. Including ways to inspire creativity, finding potential problems to solve, and choosing the right problem. At this point you have a short list of potential problems to solve including the one that you want to pursue. Next, we will cover how to better understand the needs of your customer through performing interviews. 

B: Where is my coffee? All right, but where I put the kids.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3M9X88adJ8

Identifying Business Opportunities - Video 7

Transcript

Welcome to the class. This is identifying business opportunities. By the end of this video you will begin to be able to ask the right questions that can identify a real customer or market need. That is how businesses begin, by identifying problem that prospective business founder can solve. Those who don’t know this but pursue starting a business anyway may be excusably following this particular business advice, “If you build a better mousetrap then the world will be the path to your door”. This is dangerous advice. It is dangerous because, well it’s miscoded from the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. That is not quite what he said though it is arguably close. It is also rife with assumptions which can be harmful. 

Assumptions are thoughts, ideas, or sentiments that are taken to be true or self-evident without being tested or verified. Americans have taken this code quite literally and that is why there are over 4,000 patents for mouse traps in EEUU Patent Office. Making mouse traps the most frequently invented device in United States history. Our customers beating a path to any of their doors. When was the last time you thought that a mousetrap was worth spending money on? The advice is dangerous because it assumes that any superior product or service sells itself and makes for successful business. There is definitely more to it than that and we will begin with identifying real customer or market needs. 

First, some distinctions. A customers is someone who will buy something from the business. A market is a group of customers. A need is something that a customer or the market cannot do without. It is necessary. They will suffer if they go without that thing they need.

Key questions for identifying a real need. Do customer have an unsolved problem? The problem in this case isn't just any problem, but a problem that can't be solve yet simply by going to a marketplace and spending some money. Let’s take the example of Pedro and his neighborhood. Pedro discovered one day there were a lot of mice in his house. The mice were eating food in his cupboard as well as damaging electrical  wiring. He went to the grocery to buy a rat poison, but when he got there he saw a lot of his neighbors chatting and easily. “The mice are everywhere but all the poison here doesn't work”, said Mary. “The cats won't even go after them as if they are afraid”, said Andrew. “Even if we buy traps, we can’t possibly trap them all”, said Matteo. Pedro became worried. Everybody was at a loss about this growing mouse problem. Pedro and his neighbors have a problem they can solve, not that they haven't tried. Is there a significantly better way of solving the customer's problem that an existing product or service provides? Let’s take the example of Pablo in his neighborhood.

Pablo discovered one day that there were lots of mice in his house. The mice were eating food in his cupboards as well as damaging the electrical wiring. He went to the grocery to buy a rat poison and when he got there he saw a lot of his neighbors having an excited conversation. “Mouse traps are great because the dead mice are easier to dispose of. When you poison them they die in their holes and you can't get them out. The smell is awful”, said Lucas. “Mouse traps can only catch mice, well one at a time. There is too many mice and they are breeding”, said Martha. “I dislike both traps and poison because they are harmful to my kids and my pets. I think I will call a pest control company and have them deal with it”, said John. Pablo is at the loss which solution to pick. Every choice seem to have a significant disadvantage. Is there a better way to solve this problem? Can your way introduce a sustainably better price for the customer? It’s not a good solution if the customers cannot afford it.

Let's go back to the two mice infested communities. Pedros’ community has an average household budget for solving the mice problem of 10,000$ pesos a month. Pablos’ community has an average budget for solving the mice problem of 2.500 pesos a month. This is when YouCorp introduces the latest in mice control. The Anti-Redent Ninja Robot. While YouCorp part is significantly better what is available in the Pablo’s community. The people there can't really afford it. What's is becoming clear that in Pedros’ community YouCorp may find not only just one customer but a market.

Now, let’s review the key questions in identifying our real customer need. Do customers have an unsolved problem? Is there a significantly better way of solving the customers problem than an existing product or service? Can your way introduced sustainably better price for the customer? YouCorp Ant-Rodent Ninja Robot isn't just a better mouse trap and even if it is the world won't be the path to its door. Certainly Pablo and its neighbors won’t, but YouCorp ceases a business opportunity because beyond being better than moustreaps pest control services and poison, there is a market here that can afford it. Now YouCorp just needs to be the path to Pedros’ store figuratively speaking.

Now here is your assignment. Think of three ideas you think might be foundations of a business. For each of these ask the three questions we discussed here. Take note if there is a real customer need for any of these three ideas. It doesn't matter if the ideas don’t get a yes in any of the questions. What’s important is how you answer these questions seriously, but if you do find that even if one of these ideas have a “yes answer” then hold on to it. By the end of the whole program you may have a real business you can start. In the next video we will do a workshop on some business ideas and try to find the real customer needs that they addressed.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5mz7WISg10

How to Identify You Next Business Opportunity | Inc. Magazine - Video 8

Transcript

My name is Jason Richelson, I am co-founder and CEO ShopKeep.com which is a point of sale system in the cloud which helps retailers make smarter business decisions. I’m a co-founder in here in Brooklyn a grocery store in a wine store that I opened with my partner Amy Bennett about 7, 8 years ago. In Fort Greene and we had a point-of-sale system from a competitor, a large software company and eventually then we started having technology problems. So, the database we were using got full and we had to upgrade it, but it stopped working in the middle of the day. It dawned on me that after fixing these things in just trouble you know not even troubleshooting fire fighting all these problems it is like you know what? We got to switch to a cloud point-of-sale. So I did a little searching in 2008 for a cloud point of sale and I did not find anything. I asked Amy I'm like “I think we should start this company” and she is like “let's do it” and we did and in August we finally got in the App Store around August 5th with what we currently have is you know the ShopKeep register. 

As we have grown as a company with more employees, you know me just understanding what retailers need and being able to talk to them has been a big help for this company, and being able to communicate that down to the engineers who don’t necessarily know you know what a retailer does on a daily basis. 

So when the engineers came up a way to do inventory, I was like “guys! when you do inventory, you start on the left and you count all the way to the right so you need you know you have this beer here and you need to find it and you can't find it on piece of paper and you can't have to look it up. You have to be able to quickly find it by search. Type in the amount, go to the next one. Type in the amount and work left to right and then you are gonna find one bottle over here that was with this one and you need be able to quickly and easily add that to the count” you know I have counted inventory our groceries still in our wine store you know that kind of experience really comes in shop you and everything we do like the simplest, easiest, quickest way to do it and also with the best design you know it needs to be pleasing to the eye and work, and work fast, so that was super important to us, including how we manage the transactions to manage the printing. We just make sure that everything runs really really fast so that you can ring up sales super fast. 

So what I look at other apps in the App Store that compete with us I’m just like “these guys have never stood behind a register like they just don’t get it”. They don’t understand what retailers want to see, what numbers they want to see, where they want to see them, how they want to see them and I do. So when a retailer actually trails ShoKeep they are like, “Oh I get this. This is what I'm looking for”.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chfFJai1Hlg