The Innovation Ferris Wheel

Venture Scorecard

Just as people have periodic health checkups where a physician examines a variety of elements to determine the overall condition of the individual, so too can a venture, company, business go through a similar process. Here are 30 categories to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a business venture. This is also a good checklist for early venture planning and validation research.

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Enterprise ...

 

Glossary

• A

• A/B Testing
• See: Split Testing
• Accounting
• Accounting: the action or process of keeping financial accounts
• Additional Value
• See: Alternative Value
• Addressable Market
• Addressable Market: the total potential market for a product or service, measured in dollars of revenue per year
• Adventure
• Adventure: daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm

Stages of Venture Evolution

Successful business ventures typically move from a] problem/solution ideation to b] planning to c] startup to d] stable to e] sustainable to f] scalable.

Another perspective ...

1. Opportunity ... gap in market, new technology ... maybe, just maybe, we can do something here
2. Idea ... clear problems, viable solutions ... hmmm, looks like there is something here
3. Concept ... viable strategies for earning a profit solving customer problems better than the competition
4. Venture ... viable innovation concept (product, service, process, position, method); viable team (innovator, entrepreneur, money manager); viable resources (people, places, things, time, money)
5. Organization ... team, roles, clear strategies,
6. Company ... legal entity (corporation, LLC, et alia), pre-sales, unstable financials (raising funds)
7. Business ... low-hanging fruit, sales, customers, stable, positive EBITDA, viable business model
8. Enterprise ... scale, scope, markets, growth, significant EBITDA, defined task and assignments, employees
9. Institution ... significant market share, significant industry position, re-invention, continual innovation
10. Tombstone ... the cows have run out of milk

Technology Readiness Levels (TRL)

Most every new innovative idea has a fuzzy front-end. The idea may have potential, at least in someone's mind, but it also likely has "holes" in it.  Will it really work? What about this, what about that?
If we were to score this new idea, from 0 to 9, where would it be? Turns out, NASA and the European Commission created a well-vetted method for scoring new ideas based on the stage of technological progress ... 0 being conceptual, 9 meaning the idea is out there and doing well in the world.

Rules of Some for Innovators and Entrepreneurs

Here's a collection of more tips, tools, and rules of some for innovators and entrepreneurs: RulesOfSome.com

Innovators and Entrepreneurs ...

 

Live and learn (hopefully!) ...

Lute Olson was a very popular basketball coach at the University of Arizona.  He had many of his players move on to great careers in the NBA and other professional basketball leagues.  This quote is a good summary of his philosophy for sharing and teaching how to be a better player.  It works well for innovators and entrepreneurs, too ... let's do what we can as best as we can and learn and iterate and pivot as we go.  But, let's try hard to learn from what didn't go well, and not do the same thing again the next time around.

News Release Implementation Plan

Phase 1

1. Outline base story
2. Identify key individuals in the story
3. Establish time frame for activities
4. Identify target media

Phase 2

1. Interview story makers
2. Write a short story (3 pages) as a follow-up to requests for more information from the media or readers/viewers
3. Write a focused news release(s)
4. Send news release(s) to media

Phase 3

1. Field inquiries from media regarding the release
2. Track response to release
3. Follow-up as needed

Phase 4

1. Summarize activities ... package the story, news release(s), tracking info, results, suggestions for follow-up