Entrepreneurship

Class 4

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Opera7ons in an Entrepreneurial Venture

Classically, opera&ons become the consumer of
resources (7me, money etc) for most start-ups.
Founders are execu7ng at full speed
Growth and Learning means that the way we do
things is con7nuously being adjusted and changed

Which is why errors are made in:

Stakeholder rela7ons
Leadership
Financial Management
03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Opera7ons.....making it happen
Focus of eort depends highly on business
model...i.e. How we intend to make money
Sales Opera7ons Typically deal with the
demand side of the business
Client aquisi7on, reten7on and mone7za7on

Produc7on opera7ons Typically deal with

geWng the product to the customer
Design, produc7on cycles
Improvement cycles
New product development cycles

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Lets talk about...

SALES & MARKETING

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

You have sold me on the pain

and solu7on
But can you execute a successful
sales and marke7ng plan.

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Marke7ng

what are we talking about?

Because it really annoys me to see marke7ng treated as a solu7on to all problems.

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

My problem with marke7ng and sales

in most business plans
Detailed descrip7on of product

Way too vague den7on of market

Even more vague descrip7on of sales and marke7ng
approach
Absolutely vague cos7ng of marke7ng and sales

Detailed nancial excel sheet of sales and revenues over

next 5 years

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Typically, sales learning will take place over

7mebut you need an ini7al plan

Product Development

Completeness
Features and Functions
Interface to Existing Ecosystem
Ease of Installation

Correctness
Value to Customers
Reliability
Serviceability

Fit
Ease of Use
Suitability for Environment

Marketing

Positioning
Competitive Analysis
Market Segmentation
Marketing Messages
Proof of Value Proposition (ROI)
Packaging

Promotion
Collateral Materials
Advertising, shows and PR
Customer Success Cases

Pricing
Across Market Segments
Across Channels

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Sales

Channels of Distribution
Number and Type
Channel Support and Training

Sales Force
Sales Model
Sales Pitch
Training and Development
Lead Generation
Technical Support

Sales Stage
Learning
Development
Expansion

Back to Basics.
Why marke7ng ?
To achieve a business objec7ve..
Sales Related ( Revenue, Margin)
Resource Related ( Costs, HR, Access)
Strategy Related ( Reputa7on, Nego7a7on)

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Why Communicate?
Change Behaviour
Accelerate Behaviour
Amplify Behaviour

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Tools & Services

Adver&sing: TV, Print, Online, Outdoor
Direct Marke&ng: Mailings, Online, Social, etc
Public Rela&ons: Media Rela7ons, Public Aairs/Lobby, Events, Social
Media
Point of Sale/ Trade
Collateral/Sales Support Materials: Brochures, Stands, etc
Other

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Messaging
Will drive your sales scripts
Will drive your communica7ons content
Will drive your communica7on tools

Go back to your elevator pitch!

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Typical Communica7ons Needs

Large Client Base
Need for reach and low cost per contact
Need for repe77on and reminder, s7mulous
Need for incen7ves

Small Client Base

Rela7onship / Reputa7on Based
Recommenda7on / Word of Mouth
Media / PR

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Typical Communica7ons Needs

Large Client Base.
Need to simplify messages
Emo7onal Content
Short afen7on span
Mavens, inuencers, connectors

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Typical Communica7ons Needs

Small Client Base.
Need 7me to establish and deepen rela7onships
Rela7onship before transac7on
Purchasing decisions take 7me
Ra7onal reasoning drives decisions
But need to show success for word of mouth

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Making marke7ng make sense.

Visibility is not always sales
Overpromise underdeliver can kill a startupespecially in Blue Oceans that are aiming
for large volume B2C or concentrated B2B
The urge to overspend is with you always

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Marke7ng and your business plan

Focus on the rst 6-12 months
Understand your business model and its
needs:
Quick and fast customer acquisi7on?
Gradual customer adop7on before 7pping point?
Linear growth, aquiring customers one by one?

Show me that you have a clear understanding

of what you need to do in the 7me period,
and how you will be doing it

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Marke7ng and your business plan

Your choices will drive:
Your business growth plan
Your resource needs
Your nancial projec7ons

Remember:
Your plan needs to be coherent and ra7onal, every
decision you make will impact all your other planning

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Marke7ng and opera7ons

How will you handle opera7onal aspects of
marke7ng and sales?
Channel what will be your key distribu7on
channel?
Who are the key players in this channel?
What do they look for, what do they appreciate?
What are their key fearswhat have they seen fail
many 7mes?
What will your channel cost be?

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Marke7ng and opera7ons

How will be you approach the chosen
channels
Tools and strategies?
What are the key metrics that you will use to
measure success or failure?
What are the main risks you see in your strategy?
What partners / suppliers will you be using in your
rst 6-12 monthsand then?
Who owns the nal users?
03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Marke7ng and opera7ons

Usually, team members who understand this
aspect of the business can become fundamental
for success..
If not, then should be the driver behind your
recruitment strategy
Amer pain, user, payer and oer, your ability to
understand how to deliver value will determine
the success of your pitch
03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Lets talk about...

PRODUCTION OPERATIONS

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Produc7on...
Typically the start of the founders journey
Very quickly handed o to an organiza7onal
structure
Rela7vely easy to stabilize today

BUT
Most Businesses make crucial mistakes in that they
forget the passion for product quality that drove
them to start a business
03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Produc7on....
Product Development

How are we going to do it?

How long will it take?
How many resources are we going to dedicate to it?

Product/ Produc7on Improvement

What will our cycle look like?

What is our ul7mate objec7ve?
Can we envisage improvements through growth?

Costs, scale benets etc

New product development

New New product
Extension Products

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Produc7on & the Business Plan

Usually the easiest part of the plan
This is how we will produce
But typical mistakes are:
Under-researching the produc7on side of our
business ....ex. we will outsource all of it
Which means we will lose control.....

Under es7ma7ng the 7me of produc7on...

Time to market

Under Es7ma7ng the costs

ForgeWng the nify grify details of making it work
03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4

Produc7on & the Business Plan

The key is ensuring that the Produc7on side of
the business plan gets the importance it
deserves
Look at your sales and nancial projec7ons
Then look at volume per day and ask yourselves....
Is this realis7c? Can we handle this....
What resources will we need.

03/10/16

Entrepreneurship Class 4