Incredible Idea or Real Business

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Incredible IdeaorReal Business?

• Kirstie Chadwick
• Director - UCF Venture Lab
• Executive Director - Winter Park Angels

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VS
IDEA
OPPORTUNITY

• Technology discovery
• University RD
• Personal problem
• Working parent getting kids to 5PM soccer
  practice

• Product or Service adds value
• Makes money
• Saves money or time
• Provides insurance
• Has relatively large market
• How many people share your problem?
• Can these people easily access or afford your
  idea?

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Step 1 Opportunity Assessment
Just cause it looks cool doesnt mean they will
buy it
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The 3 Key Ingredients Needed for A Great Biz
Right People
Right Product
Right Market
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Market Checklist

• Can you name your top 3 competitors?
• How will you win today and 3 years from now?
• Is the problem you are solving big enough for
  your customers pay?
• Have you done a realistic market assessment to
  see how many customers care about the value you
  bring?
• Can you make a profit in this market?
• Can you get references in your market to state
  your value on your behalf?

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Business Boo Boo 3 Our Market is HUGE - 50
Billion and Growing at 30 Annually
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Bottom Up vs. Top Down Market Opportunity
Analysis
Product Idea A medical device that monitors for
early signs of cancer Top Down Bottom Up

• U.S. cancer treatment costs exceed 7 Billion
  annually
• We can reduce the treatment cost per patient by
  90 ? saves industry 6.3 Billion
• We believe it is reasonable to gain 1 of this
  total market for our device
• Total market is 1 of 6.3B ? 63 million

• There are 20 million people at risk of getting
  cancer in the U.S.
• 20 have been diagnosed in the past five years
  with cancer, and there are 1.4 million new cases
  each year in the U.S.
• Our target market the 5.4 million cancer
  patients that are actively monitoring for
  regenerative cancer
• 100 price 540M market

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Where Do I Get Market Info?

• Technology
• Literature journals
• Experts, research faculty
• Market
• Talk to potential customers
• Competitor websites
• Industry magazines
• Conferences
• Business
• Advisors, mentors
• Recruiters
• Service providers
• Industry experts

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Business Boo Boo 4 We Dont Need to Talk to
Customers We Already Know What they Want
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Step 2 Building the Right Team
Make sure you have the people that can get the
job done.
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People Checklist

• Do you know what skills you are missing on your
  team?
• Do you have high-level contacts in your chosen
  market(s)?
• What employee and founder agreements do you need?
• Are you being honest in assessing your own
  limitations in skills?

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Business Boo Boo 1Me, My Spouse My Best
Friend
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Business Boo Boo 2 I Should Be CEO Because I
Know My Product and Market Better than Anyone
These Leaders Are Showing Symptoms Of Founderitis
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Step 3 Product Development
The Product or Service Must Solve an Urgent Need
in Your Market
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Product Checklist

• Is your proof of concept or prototype done?
• What partners do you need to license stuff from?
• How will you support your customers?
• How will you deliver your product?
• How much will it cost to get my product to market?

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Business Boo Boo 5My Product is Ready For
Prime Time!
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Business Boo 6We Dont Have Any Competition
Microsoft
You
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Step 4 Getting To Market
How You Gonna Sell and Distribute the Product AT
A PROFIT?
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Sales Marketing

• Sales and Marketing is EXPENSIVE!
• Build cost of sales into pricing
• Sales Team Options
• Direct Sales Force
• Product Reps
• Inside Sales/ Call Center
• Pricing
• Competing on price or value?
• Aligned with your target buyer?
• Advertising
• Industry journals
• Conferences - panels
• Trade show booths
• Press coverage

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Focus On Customer Benefits, NOT Technical
Benefits of Product
Technical Benefits
Business Benefits

• Seamless integration
• Scalable, adaptable
• Secure networking
• Improves network performance
• SO WHAT???

• Increase your revenues
• Reduces your risk
• Cut your costs by 30

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Product Geek Speak Is Boring

• WRONG
• Our technology is the first integrated and
  automatic book scanner that will scan and
  digitize bound documents at a speed of 1,200 PPM
  at a fraction of the cost of existing solutions
  based on a disruptive digital imaging technology
  initially developed at Bell Labs and protected by
  12 patents.
• BETTER
• We capture the future of knowledge by seamlessly
  digitizing physical libraries at a very low cost.

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Distribution

• Middlemen cost money
• Build into your pricing
• Make sure they bring value to you
• Pay attention to customer interactions
• Hold Distributors Accountable
• Pay based on volume sales
• Limit terms of agreement
• Avoid sole distributor contracts if possible

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Questions?www.venturelab.ucf.edu - lots of
templates!