Ireland write in their book, Entrepreneurship , that most startup ideas emerge in one of the two following ways:. An opportunity should have several specific qualities, such as the right timing, the right product, or an added value that the service offers to consumers to encourage them to purchase it. Study how customers interact with products.
Such information shows that there is both a desire and a trend in our markets for mobile shopping, and an entrepreneur might find in this case an opportunity to build a mobile application for purchases from major local stores. Observing such trends can be done through statistical reports published free of charge based on research done by specialized companies and institutions.
Some reports may not be free; these usually contain more valuable and detailed information. Recognize problems and develop innovative ways to solve them. Anti-virus software companies are entirely built on this approach. The Wasselni app , for to take a regional example, is a startup project in the Arab world that ameliorates an issue faced by almost everyone: traffic. Look for very specific segments of customers that other companies do not serve because they prefer to target broader groups.
Do you remember how Maktoob offered an Arabic language e-mail interface back in ? At that time, big e-mail service providers such as Yahoo! Today, we might think of the displacement of taxi drivers by ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft as a modern-day example of this concept.
To own and operate a New York City cab, for instance, one must buy what is called a taxi medallion, which is basically the right to own and operate a cab. Drivers take out loans to buy these medallions, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But now, ride-sharing services have eaten in to the taxi industry, all but destroying the value of the medallions, and the ability of taxi drivers to make the same money they were before the popular services existed.
This change has left many taxi drivers in financial ruin. To him, the goal was to progress, and progression starts with finding new ideas. He identified these methods for finding new business opportunities:. We can understand theories of opportunity as related to supply or demand, or as approaches to innovations in the use of technology. The first situation is a demand opportunity, whereas the remaining situations are supply situations.
The final three incorporate technological innovations. Supply and demand are economic terms relating to the production of goods. Supply is the amount of a product or service produced.
Demand is the consumer or user desire for the outputs, the products, or services produced. We can use the ideas from Schumpeter to identify new opportunities. Our focus is on identifying where the current or future supply and the current or future demand are not being met or are not aligned, or where technological innovation can solve a problem. More recent research has expanded on the concept of technological entrepreneurial opportunities, identifying several areas: creating new technology, utilizing technology that has not yet been exploited, identifying and adapting technology to satisfy the needs of a new market, or applying technology to create a new venture.
Remember, entrepreneurial opportunity is the point at which identifiable consumer demand meets the feasibility of satisfying the requested product or service. Chester Carlson , a physicist, inventor, and patent attorney, spent ten years searching for a company to develop and manufacture a new photographic machine for office use to make copies faster and for less money. Can you imagine a school or office today without a photocopy machine?
The companies that Carlson approached with his invention missed the opportunity to invest. For Carlson, it was the beginning of a technology product development company that has been granted more than 50, patents worldwide. Today, Xerox continues to innovate. A good place to begin your entrepreneurial quest is to read as much as you can, especially with new technology developments, even outside the field you work in.
Remember that as technologies start to emerge, we often do not yet understand their commercial potential. For example, microwave technology was first applied in radars to track military submarines. But, thanks to a curious man named Percy Spencer and the accidental melting of a peanut bar in his pocket one day while tinkering with the technology, the microwave was born.
It would take a few decades for it to be produced at a price the mass market could afford. Think of drones, too. When they were invented, the multiple uses for this technology were not yet identified.
Now, drone technology is being used by real estate firms, package delivery services, agriculture, underwater search and scientific research, security, surveillance, and more. Being tuned in to new experiences and information can lead to identifying opportunities. Entrepreneur Fred Smith found a system to solve the problem of overnight package delivery in founding Federal Express.
He earned only a C on his paper, by the way. Many entrepreneurs start their business after working for someone else and seeing a better way to operate that business, and then start their own competing business.
Note that entrepreneurs need to be careful about starting competing businesses. Indeed, some entrepreneurs, like Smith, conduct research as an idea percolates, paying attention to new experiences and information to further advance their idea into an entrepreneurial opportunity. While exciting, not all ideas will meet the criteria for a business opportunity.
The feasibility of an idea is often the difference between a successful and a failed entrepreneur, not because one worked harder than the other, but because no real opportunity existed when the venture began. Ideas should be reflected on and opportunities tested. Advances in technology provide opportunities to address customer needs with better, more convenient solutions.
When a defense laboratory creates a new technology, businesses can create new products with it soon after. After the technology-driven business opportunity has been identified, entrepreneurs will need to obtain the rights to make and sell the invention.
A patent license agreement commonly facilitates technology transfer from a federal laboratory to an entrepreneur or business. Under the patent license agreement, the Nevada company has the intellectual property rights to make and sell the fuel to the fast-growing commercial spaceflight and satellite industries and has already filled orders for NASA and the Air Force. The database is keyword searchable, but there are also buttons that allow you to search the technologies by 11 technology areas, e.
By clicking the summary filter, you will see technologies that TechLink has dived a bit deeper into, often by interviewing the inventor. These summaries contain more information that is helpful to understand what problems the technology can solve. Most entrepreneurs develop good ideas in fields they know. Brainstorming can quickly lead to a list of ideas and problems that the technologies may address. Entrepreneurs can evaluate their brainstorming ideas by asking questions:. Once you have identified a viable business opportunity with available technology, there are several paths that you can take to licensing the technology.
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