- Online tutoring service: website, computer, internet connection, teaching experience
- Virtual event planning: computer, internet connection, event planning software, organizational skills
- Social media management: computer, internet connection, social media knowledge, creativity
- Home cleaning service: cleaning supplies, transportation, cleaning experience
- Personal chef service: cooking supplies, transportation, cooking experience
- Virtual bookkeeping service: computer, internet connection, accounting software, bookkeeping experience
- Graphic design service: computer, graphic design software, creativity
- Lawn care service: lawn equipment, transportation, lawn care experience
- Mobile car detailing service: car detailing supplies, transportation, detailing experience
- Pet grooming service: grooming supplies, transportation, pet grooming experience
- Bicycle rental service: bicycles, rental space, liability insurance
- Personal shopping service: transportation, fashion knowledge, communication skills
- Online clothing boutique: website, clothing inventory, shipping supplies
- Virtual fitness coaching: computer, internet connection, fitness knowledge, coaching experience
- Mobile car washing service: car washing supplies, transportation, washing experience
- Digital marketing agency: computer, internet connection, marketing knowledge, creativity
- Mobile app development: computer, software development knowledge, creativity
- Travel planning service: travel knowledge, communication skills, organizational skills
- Home renovation service: construction tools and equipment, transportation, construction experience
- Virtual interior design service: computer, internet connection, interior design software, creativity
Category Archives: Lean Startup Methodology
The lean startup approach focuses on efficient resource utilization, rapid prototyping, and customer feedback to minimize waste and increase the chances of success. It’s an integral part of entrepreneurship education.
Business models and why they are important
Business Modelling
One of the critical parts of starting a business is the stage right after coming up with the idea, ideation. This next stage, which I call “Modelling” within the business startup process is the most critical.
The first part of it is about self reflection and understanding who we are and what we want this from venture. As most startup have limited resources, the nascent entrepreneur needs to look into their strengths and understand how these can be used for advantage and also design a business which does not allow their weakness to dominate the outcome of the venture.
This is normally done by thinking about the available money, people and time, in relationship with the desired outcomes or strategy of the venture. This we thing about as a business model.
The definition of a business model is:
A business model is a recipe of how a venture creates, delivers, and captures value from a customer.
The right business model reduces the risks associated to a manageable level which enables the nascent entrepreneurs to make the business fly.
The format for the business model must reflect its role in the strategic planning process. A business model is a tool that serves a specific purpose within this startup planning process.
The traditional Business Model Canvas one created by Alexander Osterwalder and referred to as the Business Model Canvas is not enough to develop the nascent entrepreneurs business model and therefore I have developed the Startup Business Model Canvas.
The role of the canvas is one of facilitating input, understanding of cause/effect linkage, and commitment to the ultimate strategic choices and the best way to implement this is through a visual model.
What is ideation, the business idea generation process?
Ideation is the systematic process of generating design ideas, developing idea variations, and identifying good ideas that point to promising venture creation.
Every business idea has to start somewhere
The Ideation process lies at the centre of the business startup process where entrepreneurs invest time in design thinking and connecting data sources to opportunities for innovation.Startup Ideation is about generating, developing, and evaluating ideas for launching innovative and viable new ventures.
The intention of Startup Ideation is to provide entrepreneurs with the chance to identify possible opportunities for their entrepreneurial pursuit. There are two types of entrepreneurs – those that have a myriad of business ideas but can’t pick one to run with and those that are aspiring entrepreneurs that are bright and enthusiastic but can’t come up with an idea. Startup Ideation will help aspiring entrepreneurs with idea generation.The ideation process can be split into four phases:
Ideation is a process
Ideation is the systematic process of generating design ideas, developing idea variations, and identifying good ideas that point to promising venture creation. The Ideation process lies at the centre of the business startup process where entrepreneurs invest time in design thinking and connecting data sources to opportunities for innovation.Startup Ideation is about generating, developing, and evaluating ideas for launching innovative and viable new ventures.
The intention of Startup Ideation is to provide entrepreneurs with the chance to identify possible opportunities for their entrepreneurial pursuit. There are two types of entrepreneurs – those that have a myriad of business ideas but can’t pick one to run with and those that are aspiring entrepreneurs that are bright and enthusiastic but can’t come up with an idea. Startup Ideation will help aspiring entrepreneurs with idea generation.The ideation process can be split into four phases:
Four Step Process for Ideation
- Opportunity Recognition
- Clarify the problem: What do we know? What don’t we know? What information is needed to help solve the problem?
- Define the problem: What are our needs?
- Force field analysis: Use this tool to help make decisions.
- Problem Statement: Can we develop one sentence which defines the problem?
- Adjacent Solutions: Who else have solve this problem or a problem like this? What other systems that attempt to solve our problem or inspire us with their design or functionality?
- Idea Generation:
- Idea Selection and Evaluation: Picking the best ideas starts much before the beginning of the ideation process. It is essential that you fix the criteria by which the ideas are to be assessed, who would be responsible for evaluating the ideas, and how the top ideas would be given to the concerned internal teams for further assessment or execution. A proper selection process begins with the use of tags or labels to arrange the ideas into meaningful clusters.
- Idea Communication: The success of implementation is dependent on an organization’s ability to choose the top ideas and take action based on them. It also depends on the organization having appropriate workflows in place so that the right groups take part at the appropriate time in the three steps of the ideation process.