Summer Course 2007 EntrepreneurshipThe World in Your HandsYour company, your ideas, your rules

Faculdade de Ciências e TecnologiaUniversidade Nova de Lisboa

29th August, Caparica

Stages of the Entrepreneurship Process

Rogério Silveira ©

Basics: Five Best Ways to Get Rich

Inheritance Marry rich Win a state lottery Be a show-biz or sports celebrity Start a company

Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities.

Entrepreneurship ranges in scale from solo projects (even involving the entrepreneur only part-time) to major undertakings creating many job opportunities.

Entrepreneurial activities are substantially different depending on the type of organization that is being started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship follows a process:

1. Recognize the entrepreneur in you

2. Identify a business opportunity

3. Develop a business concept

4. Identify and gather the resources needed

5. Write a business plan

6. Make economic/ financial forecasts

7. Implement your project/ create your firm

8. Manage your project/ firm

9. Expand and develop the project or business

10. Recognize ending time

1. Recognize the entrepreneur in you

The entrepreneur has an enthusiastic vision, the driving force of an enterprise.

The entrepreneur's vision is usually supported by an interlocked collection of specific innovative ideas, not available in the marketplace.

The overall blueprint to realize the vision is clear, however details may be incomplete, flexible, and evolving.

The entrepreneur promotes the vision with enthusiastic passion. With persistence and determination, the entrepreneur develops

strategies to change the vision into reality. The entrepreneur takes the initial responsibility to cause a vision to

become a success. Entrepreneurs take prudent risks. They assess costs, market/customer

needs and persuade others to join and help. An entrepreneur is usually a positive thinker, a decision maker, a

risk taker and a leader.

Are you an entrepreneur? Take a test: http://www.fortytwodegrees.co.uk/issue-2/test.html

2. Identify a business opportunity Explore society's change (think about existing and possible new markets and

products (services) Be permanently curious and question actual solutions Be aware for new opportunities Be creative – quantity means quality (but remember: an idea it’s not

necessarily an opportunity; test/ evaluate your ideas in terms of technical and financial feasibility))

Imitate creatively Forecast future needs Travel around - experience Read Talk with as many people you can Remember: you cannot create a need but you can wisely pick one; what makes

an opportunity its the market: this can be the most longer and challenging phase.

3. Develop a business concept

Define the business concept behind your idea Have you tested it? Make sure you found an opportunity: is there a market for your

idea? Who will want to buy whatever you’re trying to sell? Find/ develop the product or service that best fits the

opportunity envisaged and your vision Create a good and solid business concept Make it personal, emotional and sexy Consider creating a trade mark (protect your idea) with

powerful values – this will ease communication and customer retention)

Remember competition

4. Identify and gather the resources needed

Plan into the future Human resources (identify carefully the competences you

need to build your business idea; try to involve your friends and relatives, building a formal or informal team to act as a supporting net – entrepreneurship is definitely a collective phenomena

Financial resources (family, friends and fools) Consider renting, subcontracting, borrowing, partnerships

instead of buying Technology Physical resources …

5. Write a business plan

Business planning is about results: you need to make the contents of your plan match your purpose.

A business plan works for a business to look ahead, allocate resources, focus on key points, and prepare for problems and opportunities. Keep an up-to-date business plan even after the business is running.

Make your business model clear - the development of the business concept is a process that requires time and research

Write it yourself instead of subcontracting anyone else A business plan has several targets: investors, potential partners,

and, above all, the entrepreneur himself, to whom the plan will act as a guide into the future

http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/

A normal business plan (one that follows the advice of business experts) includes: Executive Summary: Write this last. It's just a page or two of highlights. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc. Product or Service: Describe what you're selling. Focus on customer

benefits. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs,

where they are, how to reach them, marketing mix ... Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management

responsibilities with dates and budget. Management Team: Include backgrounds of key members of the team,

personnel strategy, and details. Financial Plan: Include profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, break-

even analysis, assumptions, business ratios, etc.

5. Write a business plan

6. Make economic/ financial forecasts

Make financial forecasts to evaluate the profitability of the project

Pay careful attention to investment and operation costs and cash flows

Foresee self-financing needs (under financing is a common problem during business creation)

Be realistic and avoid excessive optimism Do not expect earns in short term Remember: you’ll always find unexpected expenses, so be

cautious Find free software applications that will help trough this

stage

7. Implement your project/ create your firm Take the needed steps and actions to start your project or business:

Create the firm Develop your product or service – involve customers Gather the financial resources Find a team and train them Find the right partners Find the complementary services or goods Find a local Choose the technologies, tools and physical means and develop your

competences Find the customers and advertise Start operations Attention you’re starting to shape your firms culture and values

8. Manage your project/ firm Does the entrepreneur want to be the manager? Define your management style (recognize your limitations and

ask for help) Identify the critical success factors in your activity SWOT it Evaluate on-going (implement a control system, specially on

operations and costs) Think about efficiency, quality and sustainability Get feed-back from everybody you can Permanently refocus on the market Pro management (analyse historical data) Reinforce peoples competences and development Keep the initial enthusiasm Always seek creativity and innovation

9. Expand and develop the project or business

Keep informed about the market needs (clients, competition, partners, suppliers…)

Draw future possible scenarios (expansion, growth, keep it small but beautiful, diversification, concentration, internationalisation

Be flexible Embrace new challenges (controlled risks) Keep researching and learning Innovate – you’re clients expect it from you (keep

surprising them)

10. Recognize ending time

Recognize the time to end the project or abandon the market before it is to late

Check costs, revenues, client satisfaction, market needs, team’s commitment…

Remember: all projects have their life-time and must come to an end

Summary

Phase I: Discovery -- identifying opportunities and shaping them into business concepts;

Phase II: Feasibility analysis and assessment;

Phase III: Creating your business plan; Phase IV: Launching your business; Phase V: Growing your business; Phase VI: Exiting your business

Tank you for your attention!

rsilveira@esce.ips.pt

fugas-lusas.pt