34. AMAR BHIDE
“Most of what you hear about
entrepreneurship is all wrong. It’s
not magic; it’s not mysterious; and
it has nothing to do with genes. It’s
a discipline and, like any discipline,
it can be learned.”
- Peter F. Drucker 1985
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scientific business strategy
35. 1 Vision
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
37. The Road Map
AMAR BHIDE
1. Search for opportunity
2. Light blub moment
3. Writes business plan
4. Raises funds
5. Hires great team
6. Builds product
7. Orchestrates big launch
8. Achieves hockey stick growth
9. IPO
10. Retires on island
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scientific business strategy
38.
39. Business Plan?
Yes!
No!
21%
79%
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
Source: Bhide (2000)
40. “new ventures launched with formal written
business plans do not outperform ones
launched without them.”
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
Source: Lange, Mollov, Pearlmutter, Singh and Bygrave (2007)
41. Low levels of planning
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
Source: Dencker, Gruber, Shah (2009)
42. High levels of planning
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
Source: Dencker, Gruber, Shah (2009)
54. AMAR BHIDE
"OK, I need to know which of their various groups of students,
trainees, and individuals would be most interested so I can
target the audience a little bit more. What other
information...I've never done consumer marketing, so I don't
really know. I think probably...I think mostly I'd just try to...I
would...I wouldn't do all this, actually. I'd just go sell it. I don't
believe in market research. Somebody once told me the only
thing you need is a customer. Instead of asking all the
questions, I'd try and make some sales. I'd learn a lot, you
know: which people, what were the obstacles, what were the
questions, which prices work better. Even before I started
production. So my market research would actually be hands-
on actual selling."
Source: Sarasavathy (2007)
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
55. AMAR BHIDE
"Ultimately, the best test of any product is to go to your target
market and pretend like it's a real business. You'll find out soon
enough if it is or not. You have to take some risks. You can sit and
analyze these different markets forever and ever and ever, and
you'd get all these wonderful answers, and they still may be
wrong. The problem with the businessman type is they spend a
lot of time with all their great wisdom and all their spreadsheets
and all their Harvard Business Review people, and they'd either
become convinced that there's no market at all or that they have
the market nailed. And they'd go out there big time, with a lot of
expensive advertising and upfront costs, because they're gonna
overwhelm the market, and the business would go under."
Source: Sarasavathy (2007)
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
56. 1 Vision
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
57. 1 Vision
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
62. Effectual Thinking
Meal 1
Knowledge of
Cooking
Meal 2
Ingredients
on Hand
Meal 3
Equipment
Meal 4
Available
People I Meal 5
Know
Meal 6
paulshawsmith
scientific success strategy
63.
64. Effectual Thinking
Course
Match
FaceMash
Partner
Friends
Customer
Students
paulshawsmith
scientific success strategy
69. What are the advantages of being means-
driven rather than goal driven?
(6 mins)
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
70. • You are not chasing investors.
AMAR BHIDE
• You are not waiting for the perfect opportunity or perfect set of
resources.
• You are working with your strengths without having to
overcome your weaknesses first.
• Good stakeholders want to shape goals, not just provide
means.
• You are increasing the possible stakeholder who can self-
select in your venture.
• You are increasing the probability of innovative surprises.
• You are increasing the likelihood of finding or creating
opportunities that are a better fit for you.
• You are increasing the likelihood of even failures being
learning experiences that you can recover form faster and
build on when you are ready to try again.
• You are forcing yourself to get creative with meager resources
including slack resources and even waste.
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
71. When are goals useful and when are
goals harmful?
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
72. Inventory your means
Who you Who you What you What you Who you Who you
know know know know Are Are
Your rolodex Your prior Tastes,
knowledge values and
preferences
Classmates Knowledge Passions
from your
job
Serendipitous Knowledge Hobbies
encounters from life
The strangers Informal Interests
in your life learning,
hobbies
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
73. Inventory your means
AMAR BHIDE
What means did you acquire or build:
• As a teenager.
• At school.
• At university.
• In your first, second, etc…. Job
• In your private life.
• With your hobbies, activities, etc.
• From your parents.
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
74. AMAR BHIDE
Create a list of all your means
Who am I?
What do I know?
Who do I know?
(10 mins with partners)
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
75. AMAR BHIDE
Come up with at least
3 great business ideas.
(10 mins)
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
76. I don’t have a good idea
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
77. Where do ideas come from (in theory):
Patent Office
Government (CSIR, NRI)
Technology Transfer
Trade Shows
Doctoral Dissertations
Invention Expositions
Brainstorming
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scientific business strategy
78. Where do ideas come from (in practice):
Personal satisfaction and dissatisfaction
Industry knowledge
Outgrowth of hobbies
Ideas trust on one by others
Acquisition of company or product already started
Ideas rejected by employer or other company
Very small start, then growth
Customer generated ideas
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
79. Assessing Opportunities
Is it doable?
Is it worth doing?
Can I do it?
Do I want to do it?
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
80. Feasibility Value
Is it doable?
Is it worth doing?
Technology feasibility
Market
Financial feasibility
Market feasibility
Economic feasibility
Do I want to do it?
Can I do it?
What turns me on about it?
Personal What will it take to do it?
Why do I want to do it?
Who else do I need?
Exit strategies
paulshawsmith
scientific business strategy
