Influencer Marketing
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Leading High Performing Remote Teams
How can leaders ensure that performance remains high in remote or hybrid-work environments?
Design Thinking
Learn the 5 phases of this problem-solving methodology and switch from technology-centered to user-centered thinking.
Gantt Chart
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Navigating Change Successfully
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Anchoring and Framing
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ZOPA and BATNA
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Content Marketing
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Content marketing is a essential digital marketing strategy for companies looking to provide relevant and useful information to support your community and attract new customers.
Get started on your content marketing journey today.
Sustainable Innovation in Times of Disruption: Choices for a Better Society
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To help identify most effective path forward, you'll need to gain a global perspective to these challenges in an open discussion. How can Japan and the world take action to create a more sustainable, innovative world? Where do you fit in?
It's time to find out.
Social Media & Digital Communications: Impact on Global Public Opinion
Social and digital media have dominated the communications industry for decades. But it's no secret that social media has the power to sway public opinion, and the way in which many companies use these platforms could be seen as manipulative.
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Blockchain
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Mehrabian’s Rule
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Pareto Principle
Your time and resources are limited. Efficiency means learning to prioritize. The Pareto principle (also called the 80-20 rule) can help you identify the best way to use your time for maximum results.
Country Analysis Framework
Overseas expansion requires careful planning. The Country Analysis Framework can help you look beyond an industry-level analysis and reframe your view based on performance, strategy, and context. Try this short course to learn how it works.
SECI Model
The SECI model illustrates how knowledge is created and shared. Learn how to put it to use for best practices, and how the Japanese concept of “ba” fits in to broaden your perspective.
Johari Window Model
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Sunk Costs
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CAGE Distance Framework
Want to expand overseas? The CAGE distance framework can help ensure you're constructing a solid global strategy in four areas: cultural, administrative, economic, and geographic. Learn how to leverage useful differences between countries, identify potential obstacles, and achieve global business success.
Groupthink
Groupthink refers to group pressure and the perception of consensus which together lead to ill-formed decisions—or even unnecessary risks. Learn to identify the warning signs of groupthink and apply countermeasures in this online course.
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Solving problems with the best results means using two types of thinking: deductive and inductive reasoning. In this online course, learn to form a broad premise, make observations, and form conclusions from different perspectives.
Critical Thinking: Hypothesis-Driven Thinking
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Critical Thinking: Structured Reasoning
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Critical Thinking: Problem-Solving
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How to Dream
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Logical Thinking
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Investing & Diversity: The Changing Faces of Venture Capitalists
Is the venture capital industry embracing diversity in investors? Watch global venture capitalists from around the world discuss the state of things and what needs to be done for a more inclusive future.
Servant Leadership
There's more to leadership than driving a team to profit. In fact, there's a word for looking beyond self-interest to prioritize individual growth: servant leadership. Try this course for a quick breakdown of what that is, how it works, and how it can lead to organizational success.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership
Ever wonder what makes a great leader? Whether your role requires leadership or not, understanding organizational behavior is useful for your career. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can set you on your way.
Leadership vs. Management
Leadership and management are different skills, but today’s leaders must have both. Try out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to understand the difference, as well as when and why each skill is necessary for motivation, communication, and value.
Strategy: Creating Value Inside Your Company
Have you ever wondered why certain companies are more successful than others? The answer is strategy: internal processes that control costs, allocate resources, and create value. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can give you the tools you need for that strategic edge.
Strategy: Understanding the External Environment
To plan strategy on any level, you need to understand your company's external environment. In fact, your level of understanding can impact hiring, budgeting, marketing, or nearly any other part of the business world. Want to learn how to do all that? This course from GLOBIS Unlimited is the perfect first step!
Using Japanese Values to Thrive in Global Business
Japanese companies have unique cultural, communication, and operational challenges. But they also have values that have led to remarkable longevity. Check out this seminar to hear how these values help earn trust from overseas head offices and develop employees.
Turnaround Leadership: The Differences Between Japan and the West
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Conflict Management
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Evernote Founder: How Tech Startups Can Break through in Japan
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Women Empowerment: Lessons from Cartier
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Negotiation: Creating Value
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Finding Your Life Purpose with Ikigai
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
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An Investor's Lesson to Entrepreneurs
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Managerial Accounting
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Finance Basics: 1
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Basic Accounting: Financial Analysis
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Pyramid Structure
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Technovate Thinking
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Product Life Cycle
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Logic Tree
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MECE Principle
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Many people believe they have the necessary skills for startup opportunity assessment. But in reality, entrepreneurs often overestimate the business model they created, and non-entrepreneurs tend to underestimate new opportunities. That means almost all businesspeople overestimate their ability to assess a startup opportunity.
So did I.
I have an MBA from Harvard Business School and years of experience working with startups and venture capital. I’ve worked for GLOBIS Capital Partners and the affiliated Apax Partners. With this background, how could I fail? Surely, I thought, with all that education and experience, I must have reasonably strong skills to assess startup opportunities. So, following this certainty, I left VC and jumped into a healthcare startup.
And I failed. I lost all of my assets (small as they were quite).
Now I understand the difficulty of assessing startup opportunities first hand. It is not easy to assess new businesses. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Despite my harsh reality check, I believe that every businessperson can improve their skills step by step and eventually master business assessment. When I set out to do this, I started by speaking with several serial entrepreneurs who have enjoyed repeated success.
And as a result, I came to understand the ten skills you need for accurate startup opportunity assessment.
Next Article
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Startup Skill #1: Customer Interviews
When you think about assessing a startup opportunity, you’re probably already considering the business model, the return—maybe even IPO feasibility. But really, the most fundamental skill for evaluating a startup opportunity is interviewing prospective customers.
When you decide you want to help someone, what’s the first thing you do? You ask them what they need. Otherwise, your efforts to help run the risk of completely backfiring. Similarly, when you set out to sell a new product or service to the market, you need to ask the market what it needs. Good entrepreneurs are generally very good at listening to customers’ opinions.
Startup Skill #2: Industry Analysis
If you’ve studied the frameworks of industry analysis, like Michael Porter’s Five Forces, you know how to analyze industry attractiveness. Some businesses, though strongly needed by customers, are in a non-lucrative position. For example, healthcare service ventures are challenging because the supply of nurses and caregivers is limited in most countries. Web-based services generally find it tough to survive. You generally have no barrier to entry.
How do you acquire this skill? Honestly, googling only gets you so far. The best way to get well-rounded understanding and practice for industry structure analysis is to get your MBA.
Startup Skill #3: Team Assessment
The attractiveness of business depends on who you are—and who you have working with you. If your team is launching a semiconductor startup, for example, you’d better be sure you have industry expertise onboard. If you plan to build a labor-intensive service business, the key success factor is your personal leadership skill.
If you want an accurate startup opportunity assessment, make sure there’s that fit between the business and the team. If you don’t see this (and it can’t be remedied), best to invest elsewhere.
Startup Skill #4: Deep Customer Comprehension
Customer interviews are critical. However, interviewees cannot always be trusted to give you a true or accurate answer, especially right away.
For example, one of my MBA student’s teams was developing a software application that encourages healthy communication between married couples. Only after conducting more than ten in-depth interviews, the team found out that the key driver of good communication wasn’t honesty, romance, or frequent texts to check in throughout the day. It was, in reality, mutually satisfactory sex. It’s perhaps unsurprising that this didn’t immediately reveal itself in initial interviews!
It requires a high level of skill to establish trustful relationships quickly, observe a subject’s life, and find out the market needs that are not obvious at a glance. Interviews often give you superficial answers, so you need to deeply analyze customer psychology. Without that analysis, your startup opportunity assessment will be found wanting.
Startup Skill #5: The Plan-Do-See Cycle
Skillful entrepreneurs are good at making quick trials to understand true customer needs, and this is evident in any startup opportunity they present. Entrepreneurs often create a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP) and conduct customer interviews.
For example, one GLOBIS MBA student was starting a venture to connect amateur cameramen and young parents who want family photos. The team conducted photo-taking sessions several times to precisely evaluate potential customers’ willingness to pay.
This is called the Plan-Do-See Cycle. An all-too-common mistake from amateur entrepreneurs is assuming planning and implementing is enough, and that any rough waters at the start of a venture will work themselves out. It’s good to have faith in your product, but you also need to learn to adjust to the market.
Startup Skill #6: Disruption Opportunities
Many industries have hidden opportunities for disruptive innovation, a concept developed by Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School. Essentially, when a product specification is developed beyond the needs of potential customers, that is a chance for a disruptive innovation (and a prime startup opportunity). Newcomers may present low-cost, low-spec products that appeal to new potential customers.
Innovators have various opportunities for drastic cost reduction. For example, you might lower the quality of the product. Or you could vertically integrate the distribution network and simplify the cost structure. Skilled entrepreneurs have a good sense of pattern recognition and are able to identify opportunities for disruption.
Startup Skill #7: Sharp Understanding of CFS
One expert I talked with was a veteran in the online gaming industry who had mastered the art of analyzing key success factors of similar industries. He told me how understanding the history of the traditional game console industry helped him extract a common theory of success.
In order to assess a startup opportunity, you need to understand its critical factors for success (CFS).
For example, when I invested in an animation production, I (eventually) understood the CFS were 1) to have an excellent creative leader who can attract animators, and 2) to have a disciplined process to manage the cost and schedule.
Understanding these CFSs from the start, or even before the start, would have been beneficial, to say the least.
Startup Skill #8: Neutrality
From a psychological perspective, it’s not easy being neutral. Especially when you have a strong passion in a particular area—passion can cloud your judgment. It creates bias.
When I was working in a startup that promotes early detection of dementia, I had the strongest passion. That affected my judgment. I wanted to get the product out there ASAP because I understood (and was so sure) it was going to help a lot of people. I couldn’t see how hard my product was to sell, or how it was much too early for the market to accept. I was so passionate, I didn’t even try to have an objective view.
Identifying a valuable startup opportunity isn’t only about assessing the product/service or team. It’s also about assessing yourself and assuring you have the right mindset of neutrality so you can see all the possibilities—and obstacles.
Startup Skill #9: Timing
If a startup opportunity is addressing unmet needs in the market, it’s sure to be a success—eventually. Keep in mind that you may be too early. If you haven’t considered the right timing for a product, service, or even business, your startup opportunity assessment is incomplete.
There are two ways to assess timing.
First, ask yourself, “Why now?” If you have logical reasons for why the same kind of business has not appeared already and why it should come out now, then congratulations! You passed the first test!
Second, ask yourself, “Are customers ready to accept this product or service?” That can be hard to determine, so try this: make a brochure that explains your product, show it to your prospective customers, and see if they understand the attractiveness of the product in thirty seconds. If it takes longer for them to get it, your product may be too early. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up, but it does likely mean you’ll need to spend a long time educating the market.
Be sure to consider that extra time in your startup opportunity assessment.
Startup Skill #10: Broad Knowledge of Business Models
In advanced economies, there is no attractive market that is obviously attractive for everyone. However, a broad knowledge of various business models across the world will serve you well. It can help you develop a hypothesis. Even when ninety-nine out of one hundred people see no chance in a market, that broader knowledge may give you a unique idea about how to grasp the market needs and achieve a profit.
So to find real startup opportunities and assess their viability, the final skill is simple: learn all you can. There’s really no better mindset for any business leader than to never stop learning.
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