Leading and Sustaining Your Research Program - 2015   I. Your Research Program/Your Business Model

FeasibilityBusiness ModelBusiness PlanExercises

 II. Communicating Your Research

Pitches and Pitch “Competition”Storytelling and Messaging

 III. Managing Your Research Team

Decision TheoryLeadershipTeamwork

 IV. From Research to Industry

MarketingEconomic ImpactResources (IGEM, Tech Transfer, etc.)

College of Business and Economics

• Accounting (B.S. & M.A.)

• Economics• Finance• Information Systems• Management &

Human Resources

• Marketing• Operations

Management• Executive MBA• Entrepreneurship

Experiential Education Focus

Entrepreneurship as Signature Program

George Tanner, Director

The Mission of Idaho Entrepreneurs …is to support and build an entrepreneurial culture at the University of Idaho to expand opportunity. (Campus-wide focus)

… to facilitate student, faculty, and staff new venture exploration and create a more entrepreneurial state and University of Idaho.

… to help commercialize University of Idaho Intellectual Property

• Startups

• Innovation

• Outreach (BTE, Extension, Legal Clinic, Incubators, …)

• Tech Transfer

Idaho Entrepreneurs Successes

• Competition as a Startup Funding Source• $200,000 in 2014-15• Top Honors at 3 Venues in 2014 and 2015• Multiple Startups

• IGEM/Grants/Partnerships• Enterprise Entrepreneurs: (Altered Ego,

Hellhake, Vivid Roots, MotoTrax)• Innovative Ventures: (Tisquantam

Fertilizer, Fast Fermentation, MJ3, Rubicon, BioCement, TimeStage, …)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TesNFIJZr-U

Goal: Convert Innovation to Economic Value

• Team Building: Bringing Ideas and Entrepreneurs Together

• Competition: to hone skills, build networks, develop ideas into business models into business plans, and secure seed funding for startups

• Grant Funding for some, bootstrapping for others, Vandal Venture Fund & Idaho Entrepreneurs Gap Fund for tech/science ideas

2015-2016

• Idaho Entrepreneurs’ Speaker Series• The Idaho Pitch• Business Plan Competitions

• Ideation Events: Science, Engineering, Natural Resources, …

• Outreach: More robust outreach in multiple directions, Think Space / Innovation Lab

Idaho Entrepreneurs is all about experiential education, getting students out of the classroom and faculty/staff out of their comfort zones into the real world where they can develop and test their own ideas and business models.

Our focus is on Launch!

Biz for Scientists 2015

My Agenda

• Why?

• Feasibility

• Business Models

• Business Plans

• Storytelling: Pitching an Idea

Can Science & Business Co-exist?

• Scientists deal in logic, detail, and accuracy.• Entrepreneurs bluster, exaggerate, push boundaries, and 

really believe the future they’re pitching will happen (soon!) 

• Scientists are comfortable talking about technology trends but try not to exaggerate and rely on a scientific basis for their statements. You’re more conservative than E’s are!

• Entrepreneurs communicate their future with ‘users’ and consumers in mind. An E’s perception is an E’s reality!

• Scientists do not feel comfortable talking about ‘users’. They are thinking about the concrete, the science, the results.  

• Entrepreneurs have emotional attachment to their ventures and can go down very unproductive pathways!

• Scientists have emotional attachment to their areas of interest and can go down very unproductive pathways! 

• Is it surprising then that these two worldviews sometimes clash?

• Can the Scientist and the Entrepreneur accept that they are different and value each other’s contribution?

• Can a scientist become a business person, become an entrepreneur?

What you do• You guys do research and discovery in your

labs that proves something, that solves a problem, and hopefully changes the state of science or engineering or technology, and moves things forward –

• maybe even to a commercial application!

• The rationale for scientists thinking about business is well-founded and has been going on for a long time.

Rationale for Biz for Scientists

• At a recent conference at Univ. of Edinburgh, 50 MS & PhD’s learned how to develop their biotech ideas into businesses – and this is going on all over the place.

• Lean Startup / Business Models / Guided Academic Entrepreneurship / BTE

• many examples of similar things…

• NSF funds 18,000 scientists and $7B/yr. but most of the research stays in the lab.

• NSF I-Corps is attempting to change that by fostering entrepreneurship that will lead to the commercialization of technology that has been supported previously by NSF-funded research. (maybe not the most efficient way to do it but it’s a start)

Does Business & Entrepreneurship threaten The University of Idaho’s Core

Values? • E-ship can reinforce a university's mission and strengths. • Turning a research breakthrough into a business is a classic 

exercise in cross-disciplinary thinking and collaboration--exactly the values that great research universities support. 

• E-ship requires subjecting ideas to rigorous challenge and being open to ideas even if they are disruptive. (Sounds like Science, huh!)

• A purely academic institution is always at risk of becoming too rigid, too dedicated to protecting the status quo rather than making new discoveries that contribute to the public good.

• Entrepreneurship requires people to champion crazy ideas and to keep innovating ahead of the competition. 

• Entrepreneurs aren't searching for ultimate truths like you are, but they bring an openness to new ideas and the market brings a unique  intellectual rigor to testing the validity of ideas.

To go a step farther,

• Universities are struggling with funding from the public sector,

• Increased pressure to manage operating expenses,

• so they are seeking additional commercial applications from scienceMaude (1997);

Shriner (nd)

Forms of Research

Some organizations are trying to fill this

gap

University Research

Commercialization

Influencing the Process of Product Innovation

• Business, Intellectual Property, Licensing, and Entrepreneurship are hard!

• Knowledge Gaps

• Market Uncertainty

• Issues of Feasibility

Feasibility

• Too often, we launch new ideas without thinking through what our market is.

• Preparing a feasibility study helps determine if there is sufficient demand and profit potential.

Overview of a Feasibility Study

• Description of the project (and problem it solves)

• Market feasibility• Technical feasibility• Financial/Economic feasibility• Org/Managerial

feasibility

• Results / Conclusion / Next Stepswww2.ca.uky.edu/cmspubsclass/files/adreum/marketanalysis.ppt

Feasibility Study Business Model Business Plan

A feasibility study is NOT a business plan.

•Feasibility is an investigating function – – “Is this idea/innovation/product/company viable?”

•A Business Plan is a planning function to take the proposal from ‘Idea2Reality’

– “How do we do this?”

•A Business Model is something different from both;– it’s the rationale for “how do we create and capture

value?”

A Feasibility Study leads to Business Model development which may lead to a Business Plan. But it all starts with an Idea!

www2.ca.uky.edu/cmspubsclass/files/adreum/marketanalysis.ppt

Where do good ideas come from?

Dylan’s Idea

– The Pain

– Who has the Pain?

– The Solution: TekMarch

• But what about the market, the competition, the key resources and activities, costs, partners, …???

Ideation Exercise• A lot of good ideas  come from an irritation. Think about a problem, a pain that bothers you or something you study or  think about that affects people or the  environment.

1. Describe the pain, the problem.

2. Who has the problem?

3. Do you have a solution?

Once we have an idea …

• Is it viable?

• Is it feasible?

• If so, is there a business model that works in the marketplace where investment and sales are the currency.

But even before that, we need to think about why!

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle

Searching for a Business Model

• Three Examples:

–RoboTrax

–BioCement Technologies

–TimeStage

Getting from Idea to Business Model

Defining Your Business Model

When management-types ask …

"So what's your business model?"

they really want an answer to a much more direct and basic question:

"How do you plan to make money?"

Behind that question is a bunch of others• Who's your target customer?• What customer problem do you solve?• What value does your business

deliver?• How will you reach, acquire, and keep

customers?• How will you define and differentiate

your offering, your value proposition?• How will you generate revenue?• What's your cost structure?• What's your profit margin?

Business Models Defined

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value.

What is the business model for your lab?

Visualizing Your Business Model

I. Customer Segments

• For whom are we creating value?

• Who are our most important customers?

I. Customer Segments• Customers are the heart of any

business model. Without profitable customers, you won’t survive for long.

• An organization must make a conscious decision about which segments to serve and which to ignore.

• Once this decision is made, a business model can be designed around a strong understanding of specific customer needs.

Types of Customer Segments• Mass Market: Business models focused on mass

markets don’t distinguish between Customer Segments.

• Niche Market: Business Models targeting niche markets cater to specific, specialized Customer Segments.

• Segmented: Some business models differentiate between market segments with slightly different needs and problems.

• Diversified: An organization with a diversified business model serves two unrelated Customer Segments with very different needs and problems.

• Multi-sided Platforms (or multi-sided markets): Some organizations serve two or more interdependent Customer Segments.

Your Key Customer

• Who is your key ‘customer’?

• Can you imagine others up or downstream from your primary ‘customer’?

II. Value Propositions• What value do we deliver to the

customer?• Which one of our customer’s

problems or needs are we solving?

• What bundles of products/services do we offer to each Customer Segment?

Value Propositions (cont.)

• Each Value Proposition consists of a selected bundle of products and/or services that caters to the requirements of a specific Customer Segment.

• In this sense, the Value Proposition is an aggregation of benefits that a company offers customers.

• Some value propositions may be innovative and represent a new or disruptive offer. Others may be similar to existing market offers, but with added features and attributes.

Value Propositions• Newness

– Cell Phones or ‘ethical investment funds’

• Performance– Computers or Cars

• ‘Getting the job done’– Rolls Royce airplane

engines

• Design– Fashion, consumer

products, or architecture

• Brand or Status– Rolex or latest

snowboard gear

• Price– Southwest Air or

‘freemiums’• Cost Reduction

• Risk Reduction– Warranties, 3rd Parties. …

• Accessibility– NetJets selling ‘time-share’

planes

• Convenience / Usability– Apple sharing music

across devices

Example: TekMarch Value Proposition

TekMarch is an innovative solution to a problem with marching band music. Our product allows musicians to load parade and show music into their cellphones through our app and then link it to the TekMarch digital screen custom-mounted on their instruments. With TekMarch, the music is always in your pocket, always easily accessible -- but the real value-added is TekMarch’s ability to hear and keep up with the music, eliminating the need to ever flip a page.

TekMarch keeps players on the beat!

Your Value Proposition

• What is your value proposition for your lab or research?

• What is the ‘bundle’ of benefits you offer to your customers?

III. Channels

• The Channels building block describes how a company communicates with and reaches its Customer Segments to deliver a Value Proposition.

• Communication, distribution, and sales Channels comprise a company’s interface with customers.

• Channels are customer touch points that play an important role in the customer experience.

Your Channels?

• How do you communicate your product/results to your customer segments to show that you deliver your value proposition?

• What are your touch points, your interface with ‘customers’?

IV. Customer Relationships

• What type of relationship does each of our Customer Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them?

• How costly are they?• How are they integrated with

the rest of our business model?

Categories of Customer Relationships

• Personal Assistance: human interaction via point of sale, call centers, email, …

• Dedicated Personal Assistance: customer rep assigned specifically to a customer.

• Self-service: no direct relationship. Company provides the means for customers to help themselves.

• Automated Service: more sophisticated form of self-serve; automated services tailored to individuals.

• Communities: many firms utilize user communities to help each other, interact, and expand knowledge base.

• Co-creation: Many now go beyond the traditional customer-vendor relationship to co-create value with customers. Amazon invites customer reviews; others invite customers to design products; youtube solicits content.

Your Relationships

• You identified your customers but what kind of relationships do you maintain with them?

• How do you communicate with them?

• How much information / product do they want?

• How close do they want to be? High-touch or more distant relationship?

V. Revenue Streams• For what value are our customers

really willing to pay?• For what do they currently pay?• How are they currently paying?• How would they prefer to pay?• How much does each Revenue

Stream contribute to overall revenues?

Your Revenue Streams

• What are your revenue streams? One or multiple streams?

• How secure are they? • How do you find new ones? And

what will they need to give you more funds? How do you ‘prove’ they should invest more in your operation?

VI. Key Resources• The Key Resources building block

describes the most important assets required to make a business model work. Every business requires Key Resources. They are what we have to have.

• They allow an enterprise to create and offer a value proposition, reach markets, maintain relationships with Customer Segments and earn revenues.

Key Resources (cont.)

• Key resources can be physical, financial, intellectual, or human.

• Key Resources can be owned, leased, or acquired from key partners.

• Different Key Resources are needed depending on the type of business model.

Your Key Resources

• What are the key resources in your operation? – Physical – Financial– Intellectual– Human

VII. Key Activities

• The Key Activities building block describes the most important things a company must do to make its business model work.

• Key Activities are required to create and deliver a Value Proposition, reach markets, maintain Customer Relationships, and earn revenues.

Key Activities (cont.)

• Key Activities are different for different business model types. – For software maker Microsoft, Key

Activities include software development.– For Walmart, Key Activities include

supply chain management. – For consultant McKinsey, Key Activities

include problem solving.

Your Key Activities

• What are the key activities in your lab/research/teaching? What is it you do?

VIII. Key Partnerships

• The Key Partnerships building block describes the network of suppliers and partners that make the business model work.

• Companies increasingly create alliances to optimize their business models, reduce risk, or acquire resources.

Your Key Partners

• Who are your partners? Who do you need to make your research go? Who supports your lab, your teaching, your research?

• Who is critical to getting the funding, the support, who runs interference, who will take the blame and give you the credit, … ?

IX. Cost Structure

• The Cost Structure describes all costs incurred to operate a business model.

• Creating and delivering value, maintaining Customer Relationships, and generating revenue all drive costs.

• What are the most important costs in your business model? – These costs can be calculated relatively

easily after defining Key Resources, Key Activities, and Key Partnerships.

Your Costs

• What are your key cost drivers?

• Can you manage them, minimize costs, partner for some of them, co-opt for them, …

• Do you have control over your costs?

Your Business Model Canvas

• Take an idea/problem and build a business model canvas.

• www.canvanizer.com

Prototyping

Navigating Your Environment

Proving It

Knox Asthma Canvas

• http://www.slideshare.net/sblank/knox-final-presentation

Telling Your Story

It’s all about the story

• How do you turn your idea into a story-telling session?

• Nothing is more boring than all facts and figures. – Conference presentations– TimeStage

• A recent example: Grid Defender

Your Canvas

• Tell your story!

Pitching an Idea (NanoTubes)

The Elevator Pitch

The Idaho Pitch

http://www.uidaho.edu/cbe/experientiallearning/entrepreneurship-program/elevator-pitch-competition

7 Elements of an Entrepreneur’s Pitch

7 Elements of an Entrepreneur’s Pitch

1. Pain Statement2. Who has the Pain? (Target Market)

3. How do you solve it? (Product/Service/Technology)

4. Who does it now? (Competition)

5. How will you make money? (Bus Model)

6. What resources do you want?7. How do you create value? (what do you

return?)

Your Pitch• Using the seven steps, create a

pitch for your business idea.

Summary Business Plan

1. Executive Summary 2. Market/Industry Analysis3. Product/Service Description4. Revenue/Business Model5. Competition 6. Management Team  7. Financials 

An entrepreneur is someone who has more ideas than

resources!