More slides about opportunities

Under construction…January 20, 2014

Dimensions of an improvement

• How many people does it help?• How many people will buy it?• How much do they value it and are willing to

pay for it?• How long does it last?• Does it need to be replaced?

Magnitude of innovations

• Incremental – small change• Radical – major departure from how things

were done before)– Discontinuous – sharp change on otherwise

smooth progression in performance– Breakthrough – change that had previously been

impossible– Disruptive – seriously upsetting to an existing

company

WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY

The window of opportunity

• Opportunities or are created in real time and are characterized by a window of opportunity

• For an entrepreneur to seize an opportunity requires that the window be opening, not closing, and that it remains open long enough

Windows of opportunity

• Markets grow at different rates over time, typically following an “S” growth curve (next slide)

• As market quickly grows, more opportunities become available

• As market matures, conditions are not as favorable

Windows of opportunity

Windows of opportunity

Types of risk in the window of opportunity – sinking the boat and missing the boat

Timing – The window of opportunity

• Too soon: market or antecedent technology is not ready (“sink the boat”)

• Too late: the market is already gone, the product or service has become obsolete, or competitors have already moved too far ahead (“miss the boat”)

Timing – The window of opportunity

• Could have been done sooner: Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, discount stores, bungee jumping, credit cards

• Had to wait: Yahoo!, Google, eBay, iPods, space flight, digital cameras, laser printers, health warnings on cigarette packages…

Discussion questions: Windows of opportunity

• How does the availability (breadth of dissemination) of knowledge affect the window duration? (Think Dean Kamen Segway versus Bob Reiss and Trivia Inc.)

• What could you do to estimate the window of opportunity to find the optimal point of entry?

Most entrepreneurs…*

• Recognized, rather than sought out, business opportunities

• Learned of opportunities from someone else (business associates, relatives, social contacts)

• Found opportunities in fields where they had work experience (esp. when opportunity offers chance to use prior training)

• Unanswered question: “Do intentional efforts to seek out opportunities work?”

[ * Random selection of businesses from the Yellow Pages, 1988 ]

Opportunity

Some textbooks don’t address “opportunity” – what else is there?