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Adaptability After an initial period of selling, Austin changed the way in which he branded his product. In the Week 3 Discussion, you introduced your Value Proposition. Now you are going to take this to the next level. Use the Assumptionator PowerPoint Tool in your Weekly Materials to reexamine your previous assumptions about your product or service. Then answer the questions below:  What are the key actions you need to take to deliver your Value Proposition to your Customers? What have you done to test your Value Proposition? What will you do if it turns out that your original Value Proposition is not resonating with your Customers? NOTE: Refer back to your previous Discussions to help you with this weeks topic. Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone.​   Adapting Your Idea An entrepreneurs initial idea is just that: a starting point. Important factors that impact the brand as it evolves are industry trends, consumer demands, and input from investors and partners. This week, in the Tio case, Austin talks about how he refined and adapted his idea to the point where his business plan would appeal to a large, global funding partner such as General Mills.  Whether you are an intrapreneur or entrepreneur, it is very beneficial to develop your own business plan. This tool enables you, the innovator, to systematically work through the challenges and requirements for building your business or venture. It covers such topics as opportunity and threats, company or team structure, financial support, resources needed, marketing and branding, and many more.  This week you will: Learn how to analyze your idea and adapt it to the market Understand the benefits of writing a Business Plan Explore your assumptions to identify needed adaptation   Tio Gazpacho: Adapting the Product to Market The move from early adopters to reach a broader market is a challenge for any new product. Initially Austin envisaged his product as a functional beverage, to be displayed alongside juices and coconut waters. He believed that his customers wanted a healthy, organic drink in a single-serve bottle and would pay accordingly. By the time his business gained funding support from General Mills, Austins thinking had shifted significantly. Tio was now branded as a meal replacement, designed to satisfy hunger, not thirst; therefore, it was displayed with other food items. He let go of the idea of an organic product, since it made his product too expensive to compete. Instead, he promoted Tio as a healthy, tasty, and convenient single-serve meal option. Refining his product idea required Austin to have an open mind and be willing to reconsider his assumptions 1 classmate to respond to   Dear Dr. A And Fellow Classmates, The key actions needed to deliver the value proposition to the customers. The key actions are being done at the moment on the herd maintenance end of the company (Byers, 1) by doing their quarterly stool testing,  medicating them with the proper external and internal dewormers. While still developing property the CEO’s can start evangelist the alpacas at state fairs, introduce themselves to the local 4-H clubs (Kawasaki, 2). The CEO’s need to start identifying the valuable alpaca fiber that has been collected in the past couple of years and decide on a reputable textile factory to turn it into yarn to sell and to make ends products for myself and customers (Kawasaki, 2, p.92). The testing that has been done on the value proposition The customer/pet-loving audience has been tested on my personal Instagram and Facebook pages had great sharing and liking on both social media platforms (Sutton, 3). The CEO’s also does local herd maintenance and shearing in the alpaca and llama communities which they do word-of-mouth marketing for us on social media community boards which, occasionally sends people to contact us on herd issues (Heyward, 4, p.4). The adaption will be taking if the original value proposition does not resonate with the customers. The arts and crafters (Byers, 1) are not satisfied with the quality of the micron counts from our herd (Alpaca, 5.) two solutions could happen can stop selling yarn to the public and have it all processed at the textile factory into end products that resellers can move faster for me (Kawasaki, 2, p. 92). Lastly, starting to find out the deficiencies in the alpacas (such as minerals, low protein levels) and finding proper pellet feed to enhance their fiber to meet customer’s needs.  If there is lacking knowledge in certain areas for the CEO’s that are not known by most alpaca owners the CEO’s will have to do more research and discussing with a proper educational institution or, may have to hold a seminar on the topic at Boomer Ranch LLC (Kawasaki, 2, p. 198). References Byers Breanne. July 21, 2021. JWI 575: Week 3 Discussion. Results: http://blackboard.strayer.edu Kawasaki Guy. 2015. The Art of the Start 2.0. Portfolio/Penguin. Sutton Mary-Rose. June 10, 2021. What is Product Development? Learn The 7-Step Framework Helping Businesses Get to Market Faster. Results: https://www.shopify.com/blog/product-development-process Heyward Emily. July 23, 2020. So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur? Results: Harvard Business Review. Alpaca Owners Association Inc. 2021. Alpaca Fiber. Results: https://www.alpacainfo.com/academy/alpaca-fiber 2nd classmate to respond to   Hi all,                     Please see the following week 6 DQ post. What are the key actions you need to take to deliver your Value Proposition to your Customers? In order to deliver my value proposition, the following key actions will need to be taken: 1.  Obtain Human Resources – It will be vital to the success of the business that we are able to identify sales and analytics resources to effectively obtain customers and deliver the services. Importantly, these resources must possess the key competencies and values that will be required to be a part of a start up business. In addition, developing these team members will be a critical component to long term success and ensuring we are able to leverage design thinking along every step of the customer interaction (Toka, 1). 2.  Develop a marketing plan – In order to persuade customers and sell my product, it will be crucial to develop a robust marketing plan that leverages storytelling and empathy (Godin, 2). Primarily, the marketing plan should be able to underscore product differentiation and value as these are key elements to evangelizing (Kawasaki, 3). Ultimately, I believe this can be completed initially through social media in order to target the defined customer segment. I’m setting an initial target to obtain 20 customers within the first quarter which I believe is conservative enough to workout any issues but also provides an opportunity to gather feedback and test repeatability (JWI, 4) 3.  Financing – Financing the operation will be critical in order to launch the business. I do believe that I will be able to bootstrap the initial operation as my model requires low-up front capital, focuses on recurring revenue through subscriptions, and maximizing cash flow will be a key focus (Kawasaki, 3). However, once the business grows I will require additional capital to scale and seeking outside equity investment will be necessary (Bussgang, 5). What Have I Done to Test my Value Proposition?  Testing the value proposition is essential to understand if the business model will have any legs or if will require altering to maximize the utility for customers. To date, I’ve completed comprehensive research speaking directly with small businesses, reviewed industry whitepapers and competitive offerings to understand the landscape (Sutton, 6). As a result, there is a high degree of confidence that small businesses are seeking a cost-effective, simple data analytics solution. An important next step will be to develop a prototype to ensure it meets the test of being deep, intelligent, complete, empowering and elegant (Kawasaki, 3). What will you do if it turns out that your original Value Proposition is not resonating with your Customers?                 If the value proposition is not resonating with customers, we will leverage continuous improvement methods to modify the offering to specifically meet the customer needs. As a reminder, a differentiator for my product is to incorporate design thinking along every step of the way which is a customer centric approach to product design (Brown, 7). Further, the entrepreneurial spirit is a vital characteristic of start ups that shouldn’t be squandered and I think its prudent to leverage that to be agile and pivot as needed until you have a product that sticks. In other words, we’ll be fearless to try new things and to learn from our failures. Regards, Marco   What Is Your Value Proposition? In this weeks Tio video, Austin talks about his belief in his product as a new type of savory snack meal that could appeal to busy Americans. Here he is discussing his value proposition for the customer segment he serves.  Read the definitions below for Market (Customer) Segments and Value Proposition, and think about how they apply to your new idea:   MARKET (CUSTOMER) SEGMENTS: Defines the different groups of people or organizations an enterprise aims to reach and serve. VALUE PROPOSITION: Describes the bundle of products and services that create value for a specific Customer Segment. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 6 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 1 of 5 JWI 575 New Business Ventures and Entrepreneurship Week Six Lecture Notes © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 6 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 2 of 5 MAPPING THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE What it Means As you refine your idea and make plans to launch your new venture, you have to assess the competition and make a plan to set yourself apart from other players in the market. Once you have identified your major competitors, you need a way to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. There are many tools to do such an analysis and this lecture describes several recommended models that you can use. Your analysis will highlight areas where your new product or service has an edge. These areas should be the focus of your marketing strategy for the launch and beyond. There are many possible areas to consider, such as location, pricing, business model, technical features, distribution methods, shipping costs and customer service. Why it Matters • Identifying and analyzing your competitors is a key step in preparing to launch your venture • Innovators need effective models to help them identify their product’s most competitive areas • The areas of strength of your product or service form the basis of a strong marketing strategy “Be granular – know what each competitor eats for breakfast.” Jack Welch © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 6 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 3 of 5 ANALYZING THE COMPETITION If you have a great idea, it is likely that somebody else has already thought of it and is trying something similar. Even if your particular offering is unique, the people you are selling to have a fixed number of dollars or hours in the day, and other companies are competing for those same limited resources. How will you set yourself apart from other companies, and how might the competition respond to your entry into the market? Identify the Competition Your first task is to define who the competition is. Do you think there are no serious competitors for your market niche? Countless entrepreneurs have made the mistake of thinking that no other company offers what they are proposing. Even if that is true right now, such an advantage is only temporary; there will be copycats once you achieve some success. If your product or service fulfills a real need, as it must do, that means your prospective customers are currently spending their time and money on a substitute offering of some kind. How will you induce them to change their behavior? Will they take a chance on something new? Consider the timing of your offering, the answer to the question “Why now?” Competitors might have tried before to offer a similar product to your target market, but there may be something different about today’s technology that makes you think you have a better shot now. Markets can take time to mature. Work out why, up until this moment, the competition has not seen this market or product as attractive. Do not underestimate your competitors. They might not have the shiny new product that you have, but they have some other advantages: for example, customers and customer-service track records, hardworking employees, products that work, research and development programs, or credibility. If they are a large company, they also have the ability to sustain a loss for longer than you can. You have to assess each of these potential strengths of your competitors and devise a strategy for competing in spite of them. The good news is that your competitors are not invulnerable. They may have lower costs, but they may not be able to offer better service. Their products may be technically obsolete. They may have disaffected employees and high turnover of staff. They may have profit pressures and be unable to divert resources away from their cash cow to pursue new ideas. They may be over-confident and unable to believe that an upstart small company can unseat them. As you can see, every area of strength in an established company can also become an area of weakness, if it is not nurtured and maintained well. You need to understand these dynamics, identify the weak points in your competitors’ arsenal, and prepare yourself to fight battles that you can win. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 6 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 4 of 5 Assess the Competition Now that you have a clear idea of who your competitors are, it is time to do some analysis. To succeed in the marketplace, you will have to pit your strengths against your competitors’ weaknesses. How can you get started to analyze the marketplace and develop a strategic plan of attack? There are many ways to map the competitive landscape. To get you started, three effective and recommended models are described below. The first model is the features checklist. Make a chart, and in each row, list one of your competitors, and at the bottom list your own company. Each column will represent one of the features of the product or service you aim to sell. This list might include things like low price, online sales, reliable service, good selection, quick installation, and so on. Then, in each of the cells of the chart, describe how competitors perform and how you plan to perform. This chart helps you get a clear picture of your competitive areas of strength. The second model is the individual competitor analysis. Make a list of the companies that you will compete against. For each competitor, analyze and write down the following: Ø Strengths Ø Weaknesses Ø How you will attack Ø How they are likely to respond to your attack Ø Possible alliances you could build with them The third model is a simulation activity in which you compete with yourself. If you started a business today to compete with your own company, where would you begin? What new service could a hypothetical company offer that you would be unable or unwilling to compete with? What M&A deals would throw you for a loop? This exercise is valuable because it enables you to identify the areas where you are most vulnerable. Develop a Plan of Attack Using one or more of these models to map the competitive landscape will help you prepare your most effective plan of attack. You might compete geographically by specializing in a region where your competitors are not yet strong. You might compete on price or differentiate your business through a novel business model. You could differentiate yourself through lower shipping costs or excellent customer service. Or your product might have advanced technical features, such as scalability, portability and interoperability, which make it more versatile than existing products or services. Whatever the source of your competitive edge, mapping the competitive landscape has helped you to clarify and define it, creating a focus for your marketing and branding strategies. © Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. JWI 575 RTC – Week 6 Lecture Notes (1188) Page 5 of 5 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS WEEK’S CLASS As you read the materials and participate in class activities, stay focused on the key learning outcomes for the week: • Learn how to analyze your idea and adapt it to market Do you have a clear idea of the areas where your new product or service has an edge over existing offerings? Which of the models described in this lecture appeals to you the most as a tool to map the competitive landscape? Mapping the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors is a useful analytical process that will give you a better understanding of your new product or service. In turn, this understanding will help you to adapt your new business idea to the realities of the market. • Understand the benefits of writing a Business Plan Have you ever written a Business Plan? An assessment of the competitive landscape and a marketing strategy are key elements of any Business Plan, whatever its format. Just as the recommended methods for analyzing your competition in this lecture help to clarify your new product or service’s areas of strength, so a Business Plan helps to analyze the many challenges inherent in launching a new venture and identify the best strategies for addressing them. • Develop a launch plan for your innovative “big idea” The launch plan is a part of your Business Plan and one that deserves careful attention. The launch is a chance to announce your new idea to your target audience and to highlight its distinctive features and advantages. This is an opportunity that you won’t want to waste. How can you make your launch event and launch activities into effective marketing tools for your new venture? How can the analyses that you did while mapping out the competitive landscape help you to focus on your product or service’s most competitive features during the launch?