Workshop 2 - Guidelines
Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Design Toolbox
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A) FORMAT
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IE&D Workshops: a safe environment
• The workshops are a safe place where mistakes are considered
opportunities to learn.
• There is no criticism, only feedback.
• Workshops 1 to 3 are meant to show your evolution, research,
thinking.
• The presentation should be to the point in a business style, although
much of the content discussed is academic in the first stages.
• The presentation at the final workshop will be different! You will
remove most of the academic frameworks and spend less time
discussing your research and just focus on your conclusions: your
final business case…
• The business plan competition is different again!
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Presentation development
• If you have a template, use it as a guide, nothing more
• You should experiment with formats to build your own story, one that
is appropriate for your idea
• The final presentation at Workshop 4 will be a more standard format
Recommendations:
• Use pictures or visual aids (including props at the
workshop) where possible, to make the message easier to
understand.
• Be methodical but also creative and use your judgement:
please don’t look at it as a ‘box-ticking’ exercise.
• Use your own graphics/branding – this is also part of your
message
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Time management and
presenting skills
• Plan to present for 20 minutes at this workshop
(followed by 20 minutes feedback from coaches and peers).
• One slide typically requires 1-2 minutes of speaking
so roughly 10 slides is probably the right number for you.
• But your best guide is to practice in advance and see what
works!
• Don’t overrun the time slot – the coaches may stop you midsentence if you do!
• Don’t overcrowd single slides with too much text!
Guidelines are for spoken content as well as slides.
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B) CONTENT
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What to put across in workshops 1–3
Whatever format or sequence you use, in general you should put
across the following things at each workshop:
1. Status of your business case. This means: present the case in its
most recent form, in headings
2. What did you do? What is the research you have done or what are
the actions you have taken to make progress.
3. What did you learn? What are the insights the research provided?
4. What does it mean? Explain how the insight now changes your
view on the case, e.g. problem, solution, clients, industry, markets,
channels, business model, profitability, etc…
5. Next steps? What are you going to do in the next phase? How will
this help you? What is your hypothesis?
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Specific Purpose of workshop 2
1. Present your updated idea to the coach
2. Show the background work you did to justify your assumptions
and statements (from the IE&D toolbox). The emphasis is on:
• Positioning in market and industry, including competition and
protection
• Business model
(including very basic financial feasibility hypothesis)
3. Your aim is still to explore the feasibility of your idea and be open
to potential changes or ‘pivots’, so present your case as
objectively as you can.
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1. Introduce the idea
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Introduce the idea
•
This is your slightly evolved ‘elevator pitch’, summarising your proposal at this
stage, to be further explained in the following slides.
– Make it interesting, to the point and lively, to capture your audience’s attention.
•
A quick and simple summary (one spoken paragraph or a few bullet points) of
your business idea so far, indicating what you currently know about:
– Problem/solution or Technology/Applications
– Why your proposition is novel and how it’s competitive compared to other
offerings
• In particular the advantages to user/customer (faster, simpler, easier, cheaper, etc.)
– What type(s) of customer or user you envision
– Possible size of the market/opportunity
– Possible business model(s)
•
Since this is an introductory summary of the whole presentation, it may be most
effective to write this slide after you have written the rest of the presentation.
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2. What did you do?
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How have you worked on the idea?
List the sources and methods you used, e.g.:
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Observation (design research), persona building, problem analysis
P/M matrix
Industry analysis
Competitive analysis
Teece model and Strategy Matrix
Expert interviews
Other …
You do not have to use all kinds of research or all
frameworks in the Toolbox. Just let the coach know what
you did use and why it was relevant to your case.
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3. What did you learn
and
4. What does it mean?
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Market and opportunity: Pull
For a Demand-Pull Idea:
•
Your earlier market assumptions were perhaps based on simple Trend
Analysis or Problem Definition (e.g. ‘customer pain’).
•
Now you should show an in-depth analysis of the customer journey, the
problem and what the solution should look like in theory;
•
You should be capable of presenting one or more personae to make the
target market SEGMENTS clear
– Customers with what specific characteristics would use this product/service,
whereas what other segments of the market probably wouldn’t?
– Based on what criteria?
•
Based on your bottom-up research, compared with top-down research
(e.g. Market reports) the quantitative market estimation should become
more refined
Background Tools: Empathic design, Entrepreneurial Market Research
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Market and opportunity: Push
For a Knowledge-Push idea:
• Earlier, your positioning of the technology/solution in the broader market
may have been fairly vague
• Now show what is your most likely application and target market segment?
– Why is this segment the most suitable one in which to start your business? Why
is it most likely to adopt your offering?
– Why is it attractive? Refer to a Product/Market matrix if useful.
•
•
•
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On what criteria did you dismiss other applications/segments? Have you
dismissed them definitely or just postponed for later review?
Comparing results of your bottom-up research (preferred witnesses, specific
segments) with top-down desktop research (e.g. general market reports),
estimate the likely potential size of this market? In volume? In £ value?
If the segment(s) you researched is/are not attractive, what are alternative
options to explore?
Where/from whom did you get your information?
Background Tools: Entrepreneurial Market Research (‘preferred
witnesses’)
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Industry environment
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Which industry do you expect to operate in?
How is it structured?
Where can you position your venture in the industry Value Chain?
– What will your business do, what will be done by other players?
– What are the challenges from powerful industry players or what is the ‘path
of least resistance’ to reach the market?
– Do you need to cooperate with a major partner or should your business
integrate vertically?
– Can you leverage the environment to exert a ‘pull effect ‘ on customers?
•
Indicate, by type or even by company name, other industry players you
would have to work with or compete against.
Background Tools: Value Chain analysis or Value Network (or both if
applicable), Teece Analysis.
•
Stay objective: Indicate gaps in knowledge that need to be researched,
or assumptions that still need to be verified (with Preferred Witnesses or
desktop research).
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Competitive context
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•
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What competitive factors help your business? What factors are a
challenge? *
Where does your business have more or less bargaining power?
• Some of this information could be collected from experts during
your Entrepreneurial Market Research
Most importantly: what strategies could be used to mitigate, overcome or
get around any difficulties?
•
Background Tools: Preferred Witness Research with industry
members, Industry reports, Five Forces analysis,
•
*Remember that there is rarely any such thing as ‘no competition’, so
don’t make the mistake of claiming this in your presentation.
 Consider alternative customer choices, not just direct competition.
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Technology, design and novelty
If applicable, describe (in simple layman terms) the technology and/or design concept
behind your business, or how technology or design will enhance your business idea
• and how this is significantly novel with respect to other offerings on the market
» Be specific – ‘twice as fast, which can save up to X amount of time per user’
Talk about what the technical features do, more than how
• Indicate the type of technology (e.g. “lasers”, “genetics”), but don’t give a long
technical explanation which would either bore the listener or disclose too much
sensitive IP **
• Explain the features in terms of what they do and the benefit, e.g.
• The user can now do x, y and z, not possible with competing products
• It’s faster, cheaper, more accurate (or whatever the customer needs)
** “It’s like this: don’t explain how to make an atomic bomb, just tell me what the
bomb does.”
— Investor advising entrepreneurs on pitching and disclosure
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Freedom to operate and
protection strategy
Describe:
• Do you have Freedom to Operate? (Does your business risk infringing any
third party IP rights?)
• Any similar patents or other rights currently registered by others?
• Any ways around these (in-licence IP, design-around, etc.)?
• How is your idea protectable (or not),
• through legal mechanisms or strategic ones;
• What are the costs/benefits or these mechanisms?
•
What is your IP protection strategy, or alternatively a route to market
capable of creating value and barriers to entry against competitors?
•
Background Tools: Protection Mechanisms
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Business model
Your business model is derived from a combination of considerations:
» The features and requirements of the Market segment, Industry environment,
Competitive factors, Protection strategy...
Ergo:
• What is your proposed way of selling your offering?
– In what form (market for products or services (sell/lease?), market for
technology, IP licensing? Combination of several things?)
– Through which channels, to whom? What’s the route to market?
– Pricing model – be clear about who will pay as well as how and how much
– Protected how?
– Does the model seem financially sustainable? Back-of-the-envelope
financials on profitability?
•
How is this model competitive?
– How is it novel compared to other offerings on the market?
– How does it address challenges and capitalise on insights from your
research?
Background Tools: Business Model
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Conclusion and self-assessment
Summarise what you think you know at this stage in your
entrepreneurial journey:
• What assumptions about the business have begun to look more
certain?
• What has changed in your business idea as a result of your
research?
• What are remaining gaps in knowledge or risks, as well as your
advantages (e.g. with respect to your value chain and your customer
segment)
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5. What are your next steps?
– Any questions?
• Explain to the coaches what you think you need to find out in the
next phase to verify your idea’s feasibility and further develop a
business case
• Although the coaches will tell you what aspects they think you need
to improve or develop further, this is also your opportunity to indicate
any area you are uncertain about and ask for specific advice.
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Appendix: supplementary slides
Presentation time is limited, so you must be selective and concise with
information.
If you feel concerned about too much succinctness, you may wish to append a
few supplementary slides at the end with more detailed information or
illustrations.
You might use these slides to illustrate your thinking if asked by the coaches
to explain further how you reached your conclusions.
This could help you manage your presentation time while having detailed
information ready if needed.
This is optional if you think it’s needed, not required.
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