Research Assessment #1

Date: September 3rd

Subject: The Basics of Entrepreneurship

APA Citation:

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. (2019, August 20). The Entrepreneurial

Process. The Duke Entrepreneurship Manual.

https://sites.fuqua.duke.edu/dukeven/selected-topics/the-entrepreneurial-process/.

Assessment:

Biomedical entrepreneurship is a fairly unknown field of entrepreneurship, though its

obscurity is not a true indicator of this innovative and dynamic field. Biomedical

entrepreneurship, in its essence, is an area of entrepreneurship focused on the commercialization

of biomedical technology and discoveries. Biomedical entrepreneurship is not a brand-new field,

but it is certainly less established than other fields of entrepreneurship. Like other fields of

entrepreneurship, biomedical entrepreneurship involves small-scale inventors bringing their

innovations to the market, as opposed to large companies doing so. The numerous biotechnology

startups of today, which have their roots in the 1970s, are proof that entrepreneurship is prevalent

in the biomedical industry. However, startups that aim to commercialize genetic technologies are

far more common than those aiming to commercialize medical devices, the field I am interested

in.

Despite its differences from other fields of entrepreneurship, biomedical entrepreneurship

still is a field of entrepreneurship, meaning that it has the same core as social entrepreneurship,

for example. Entrepreneurship, in its essence, is the process of creating a new business, a

foundational feature of the American economy. Entrepreneurship, being a process, can be broken
into general steps, or phases. Doing so adds a sense of structure to an otherwise highly difficult

journey, which is why I have decided to research the different stages of entrepreneurship for my

first research topic.

The first general step in the entrepreneurial process is that of “idea generation”

(Entrepreneurial Process, 2019), which is called the “discovery” stage or similar names by other

sources. All of these names mean the same thing, and they refer to the linking of a need and a

solution to it in an entrepreneur’s mind (Entrepreneurial Process, 2019). This stage is the

foundation of the entrepreneurial process, as it is impossible to, for example, determine a

product’s target users without understanding the exact problem it addresses. In my case, I have

already thought of a solution to a problem, which brings me to the next step: opportunity

evaluation. Opportunity evaluation is the step where an entrepreneur considers “whether there is

an opportunity worth investing in”. This step is done before the investment of capital to prevent

the wastage of capital. Since I created my solution as part of a research project, I did not follow

these steps in order, as I have spent time and resources in creating my solution without first

completing this step. However, since my current goal is commercializing my device and not

scientific research, I need to determine whether there is sufficient opportunity before I invest

more capital into it.

The steps that will follow my journey through opportunity evaluation are called

“planning” and “company formation”. The planning stage refers to the stage in which an

entrepreneur determines how to capitalize on the opportunity. Planning focuses on the creation of

the company strategy, which consists of the target customers, business model, company

“position”, & objectives, and the operating plan, which includes the company timeline, staffing

plan, budget, & financing plan (Entrepreneurial Process, 2019). Once a strong plan has been
determined, the entrepreneur must decide what is the “right form of corporate entity”, and must

then actually “create the venture as a legal entity” (Entrepreneurial Process, 2019). At the

completion of this fourth stage, the company finally exists, however it is only in the next stage

that the product reaches the market.

The final phase of this process is growth, the phase where the company creates its

product and starts gaining revenue. A defining feature of this phase is the “shift from planning to

execution” (Entrepreneurial Process, 2019). This phase continues indefinitely after its inception,

though the type of growth may change as the company matures. Entrepreneurship is a process

that is different for everyone, and cannot be completed by simply following a formula, however,

it is a common claim that it can be broken down into these general phases that are fairly

universal.

The growing popularity of biomedical engineering is paving the way for more

entrepreneurial minds to flock to the biomedical sector. As more students major in biomedical

engineering in college, the employment of biomedical engineers grows at a rate higher than the

national average. Having researched the process of entrepreneurship, I now look forward to

interviewing biomedical entrepreneurs and engineers to learn more about the fine details of the

field, and embark on my own journey in it.