Identifying the Opportunity

 This week we read a portion of an excellent article called Identifying and Exploiting the Right Entrepreneurial Opportunity for You. This article inspired me and built my excitement and confidence for starting my businesses. Something that was eye opening for me was the counsel to be ready for your initial idea to spark an entirely new set of ideas. You need to be open to it and not look at your business idea too narrowly or single minded. I need to be open to pivots, even if it is at the very beginning of my idea. 

Just as I need to be open and I will add humble in the formulation of the business, as it grows, I need to preset milestones and benchmarks that force me to regularly assess my business and investment with open and objective eyes. They can be goals in relation to customers, product development, sales etc. But this is not all, an important element is to also check in with people closes to me that can help me see things I might have missed. They can help me see how I am doing in my work/ home balance and relationships. I had never thought of that before.

I need to be humble. When I find a partner, I need to find one that balances my inadequacies. I learned it is best if I have worked with that person before, so I have a good feel of how we work together and if their strengths are truly the ones I need.

Beyond these points, there are five various criteria that I should analyze when assessing opportunities. They are realness of opportunity, durability of opportunity, marshalling the resources, managing the venture, and harvesting the venture. One of the analysis questions that speaks to me the most is in relation to the durability of the opportunity.  It is 'Will we be able to develop distinctive competencies?' Creating a business or meeting a need is not enough. I have pondered on the word distinctive. I believe it is not enough for me to find what I want to offer distinctive; the customers need to recognize it as such. You might be working alone to build the business, but it is not a solo job. You are dependent at every step of the way on feedback from customers, investors, your family, and potential partners. Through this article and others form this week, I have developed a better understanding of the multifaceted elements to discovering and building out a business opportunity.