Ideas and Opportunities

Sachidananda Benegal
Elsewhere too…

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 IDEAs are dime a dozen

Which of the set of IDEAS framed in the two situations are more actionable by you?

How we frame the situation influences how we conceptualize the IDEA

Should we be fretting over ownership of ideas?

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 • Very novel features to solve specific • How easy is it to build a venture around
problems! these ideas?
All images from the internet, no claim to ownership

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 Idea of an offering
• Specific to a problem of a
user or a consumer
• Often a solution to the
problem
• Choice: Most suitable
solution to the problem
• Make choices to develop
the offering
• Often approached as a
single shot/project mindset
• Relatively concrete in the
minds of the entrepreneurs
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Venture Idea
Venture Idea
• Who would pay for the
offering?
• How to get people to pay for
the offering?
• Choice Bundles: Multi-
dimensional implications
• Make/iterate choices to
Idea of an offering design the organization
• Often has to be approached
with a long term mindset
• Hazy in the minds of the
entrepreneurs
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 Transitioning from an IDEA to a VENTURE IDEA

PRODUCT IDEA VENTURE IDEA

Often holds a solution to Think about how you need to

specific problem build a venture around your
idea

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 Definition: Venture Idea

“an imagined future venture which is a combination of product/service offerings,

markets, and means of bringing the offering into existence”
- Davidsson (2015)

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 Ideas don’t come out fully formed. They only become clear as you work on
them. You just have to get started.

- Mark Zuckerberg @ Harvard Commencement 2017

Src: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmYv8XGl-YU

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A quick recap

• Ideas easy to generate, and influenced by how we perceive the triggers

• Ideas are imagined possibilities

• Ideas carry the seeds of a realized opportunities

• Novel ideas, attract attention. Does it translate to a business?

• Ideas are often incomplete may need developed as venture ideas

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 Definition: Venture Idea

“an imagined future venture which is a combination of product/service offerings,

markets, and means of bringing the offering into existence”
- Davidsson (2015)

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The last time…

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 ADVERTISEMENTS DEMAND
SUPPLY INFLUENCERS
PRODUCT DISTRIBUTORS
SERVICE PRICE CHANNELS SITUATIONS
SUPPLIERS
OFFERING POMOTION

PLACEMENT PEOPLE
VENDORS
VALUE
PLACE
EXCHANGE
TRANSACTION CUSTOMER SEGMENT
RELATIONSHIP CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHIC

BUYER PSYCHOGRAPHIC

USER
B2B
B2C

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 FACTOR YOUR PRODUCT
MARKET PRODUCT MARKET

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 Flow of goods and information L→R
Flow of money R→L

SUPPLY DEMAND

PIPELINE BUSINESSES

PLATFORM BUSINESSES

SUPPLY DEMAND

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 PIPELINE BUSINESSES Where would these businesses lie on
the continuum?
SUPPLY DEMAND

AUTOMOBILE
COMPUTER MANF

RETAIL

BANKS
ONLINE RETAIL

CAB AGGREGATORS
SUPPLY DEMAND

PLATFORM BUSINESSES

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 KEY PARTNERS KEY ACTIVITIES VALUE PROPOSITION CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

KEY RESOURCES CHANNEL

COST STRUCTURES REVENUE STREAMS

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 BUSINESS MODEL REVENUE MODEL

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 SOME REVENUE MODELS

• One time sale

• Rental/Loaning
• Leasing
• AMC
• Subscription
• Freemium
• Razor and Blade

and many more…

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 Do ventures have only one business model?

Does the business model of a venture remain the same through out its existence?

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All images from the internet, and used only for illustration purpose no claim to ownership
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 The 9 building blocks of the business model canvas are tightly interconnected!

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 Short Example video of BMC: Low Cost Airlines

https://youtu.be/wlKP-BaC0jA

Watch this at leisure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP0cUBWTgpY

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 Threat of
new
entrants

Bargaining power Bargaining power

of suppliers of Buyers

Industry Rivalry

Threat of
substitutes

POLITICAL ECONOMIC SOCIAL TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL

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 PURPOSE COMMERCIAL SOCIAL

NATURE PIPELINE PLATFORM

BUSINESS
THE ENTITY • OPERATES IN A CONTEXT

• INTERACTS WITH THE CONTEXT

• DESIGN!
THE ACTIVITIES

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 TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY MARKET
BUSINESSES BASED BUSINESSES ENABLED BUSINESSES ONLY BUSINESSES

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 KEY PARTNERS KEY ACTIVITIES VALUE PROPOSITION CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

KEY RESOURCES CHANNEL

COST STRUCTURES REVENUE STREAMS

FEASIBILITY VIABILITY DESIRABILITY

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A case study
Case 1 (PS)
Mr. PS founded and ran his travel and tour agency from Raipur for over 2 years. While he aspired to be a global player in the travel
space, his experience made him believe that the ecosystem in Raipur wasn’t conducive for his ambitions. Having missed out a
chance to disrupt the travel space, he was on the look out for a new opportunity that would satisfy his ambition.

A request from one of his clients - to be provided with an accompanying photographer during the travel, got PSs’ attention to
explore photography a potential space to disrupt. Following the buzz of aggregators and platforms, he aspired to be the “uber of
photography.” His negotiations with a photographer for his sisters wedding further reinforced his belief – as photographers
charged high margins, to handle the seasonality in their business.

Being in the travel domain, and the request he received, he decided to begin with travel photography. He went to Munnar-Kerala
to assess the demand for such MVP. Without a specific plan but only his camera, he begun clicking photographs for the tourists
who agreed to have a photo shoot. He would then email the photos to the customers or then get them printed for them at the
local printer. He was massively impressed by the potential as he was able to earn over INR 1.25L within the MVP week. He now
believed he was ready to be funding. Since Raipur did not provide an ecosystem, he decided to shift base to Bangalore, where VCs
were present and appreciated technology enabled startups.

Along with a friend, he set up a web page to recruit photographers who were looking out for jobs. They were able to get some
photographers enrolled using Facebook ads, and felt more confident. For PS, it looked all set to take off – all he needed was
investors who would be willing to pump in the money!

If you are mentor to PS, how would you help him build his company next?

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 KEY PARTNERS KEY ACTIVITIES VALUE PROPOSITION CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

Scouting & Coordinating • Website

with Photographers • Telephone
• WhatsApp Photography Customers:
• Travellers
Marketing for leads

Digital backbone for the

? services

Photography when
KEY RESOURCES demanded CHANNEL
Photographers

Webhosting etc.. Social Media:

• Facebook ads

COST STRUCTURES REVENUE STREAMS

Asset light model Commission/Convenience fee

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 What would be VC investors response if PS went to them?

What is the Core Value? What is the peripheral value?

What do you think about the value proposition on the following dimensions:
• Immediacy of demand
• Repeatability
• Is it really a hazzle that needs to be sorted?

Platform? - Penguin Problem. Does this have one?

• Can you convert this to a conventional model – B2C?

• How about B2B?
…Which one would you suggest and why?

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 Modelling using BMC

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 • Value – for whom? How is value proposition different from product?

• Core value – peripheral value

• A plethora of choices at the macro level to think about the business model for the venture!

• A plethora of choices in every box and at every interface!

• Cascading effect of choice in any single point!

• Choice is starting point. Design over Decision!

• Your product is not your offering! It is your business model really!

• Iterative process of experiments!

• Product market fit: Generating a self-sustaining customer engagement cycle

• Survival the goal (but not the end goal)! Growth?

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 Is there an ecosystem problem? What aspect if worked on could make the ecosystem more conducive to work
•
on? Often would mean rethinking the offering itself

How can the offering be developed with ease? What could test if a business is possible here – the complete
•
business model! Make suggestions for relevant shifts

Can you improve market access? What issues exist? Can you think of partnering with someone for it? Avoid
•
“carpet bombing” as much as you can.

Does shifting to a different customer segment make sense? If so which ones are available? Why would they be
•
more feasible?

• What’s the corresponding revenue stream that would be most appealing to the customer segment you serve?

• Are your customers complaining of an allied pain point while you are serving this?

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 When advising a start up venture, remember to prioritize …

• CONCRETE over ABSTRACT

• ACTIONABLE over STRATEGIC

• Things UNDER CONTROL over PREDICTIONS

• HERE & NOW over THEN & THERE

No 30,000 feet “Gyan” please. Your suggestions need to be grounded in the real
world.

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 Other Canvases

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 TYPES

COMMERCIAL SUB PROB

SUB PROB PRODUCT

PLATFORM SOCIAL

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 Canvas are good tool to reflect and visualize thoughts

Be conscious of the level of application of the canvas

Use the appropriate canvas – understand your roadblock

We all work within a context – gain clarity on your boundaries

Frameworks help to think through – they are cascaded

Be cautious of underlying assumptions

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 Value Proposition Canvas

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 KEY PARTNERS KEY ACTIVITIES VALUE PROPOSITION CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

KEY RESOURCES CHANNEL

COST STRUCTURES REVENUE STREAMS

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Case Study - Amazon Dash Button

Scr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OgPTC0EB48 Scr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfdnBOtA_dY

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Another case – Milk Shake

Src: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVcIJno1_g

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 WHAT JOB YOUR CUSTOMER WANTS TO BE SOLVED?

THE CUSTOMER HIRES YOUR PRODUCT TO DO THE JOB

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 TECH PRODUCTS!

Src DOI: 10.1177/0846537120972079

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 questions

THANK YOU

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