How to think like an entrepreneur involves a ton of stuff...way too much stuff! Welcome to my brain dump of skills and traits and all kinds of magic that make an entrepreneur successful.
One of the secrets to being successful in business, regardless of whether you want to be an intrapreneur or an entrepreneur, is design thinking. We must empathize with our audience, listen to them, gain insights from them, develop our product roadmaps around their feedback & continuing to rinse & repeat.
In addition to design thinking, we must understand the blueprint of our business, and that is capturing the high level points in the form of a business model canvas. It may seem academic, but it is truly helpful to make sure you understand & can describe your business to others in a succinct fashion. Love it or hate it...it's helpful!
Lastly, we must all understand the buyer of our products and services so we know how to paint a picture around who to talk to when it comes to gaining audience insights, capturing the insights & keeping them fresh in our mind when we go to market.
Is this deck messy and jumping around a bit? Maybe, but I swear there's a method to the madness.
2. Dr. Melissa Sassi
CEO & Founder, MentorNations
CEO & Co-Founder, Skills Hustle
Partner, P3 Network
@mentorafrika
3. Today's Agenda
Entrepreneurship &
Design Thinking
Talk
20 minutes
1
Group Discussion on
Design Thinking &
your Projects
20 minutes
2
Close & Action Items
5 minutes
3
4. What's an Entrepreneur?
Oh, and even if you have not earned an income from your ideas <yet>, that does not mean you are
not an entrepreneur. Yup, you heard that right!
Someone who
develops new concepts
& businesses
1
with a goal of creating
economic opportunity
2
and takes on personal
risk to do so.
3
5. What's an Intrapreneur?
Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur & not everyone wants that in life. The key in the future
of work is to create new ideas & business opportunities that go above & beyond your role in the
company.
Someone who creates
new ventures or ideas
1
in someone else's
company
2
that go beyond their
normal role or function.
3
6. What's your jam?
These are some common traits of an entrepreneur 1
2
3
Are you comfortable with
uncertainty?
Are you ok accepting that the
future is unknown?
Do you have a vision for
rethinking & reimagining the
future?
7. Important Elements in Life & Business:
You do not know the future.
You cannot predict the future.
But, you can take calculated risks & see where things go.
& that's a-ok & potentially exiting for you!
You recognize
8. How you handle
uncertainty matters.
Focus on what you
can control.
1
Take calculated
risks.
2
Document & make
progress against
your goals.
3
Pivot when
necessary.
4
Do so with confidence, perseverance, tenacity, accountability & grit.
10. Skills Hustle: Business Model Canvas
Governments
NGOs & international orgs
Multinationals & big tech
Influencers
Content creators & speakers
Key Partners
Outreach
Evangelism & storytelling
Training
Hacking & problem solving
Mentorship
Certificate & prize fulfillment
Key Activities
Industry experts
Skills Hustle platform & tech stack
Content & curriculum
Learning journeys
Influencers & thought leaders
Key Resources
Key Partners
Social media
Owned & earned digital media
Word of mouth
Events
Paid digital ads
Marketing Channels
B2B2C
Customer Segments
Recoup costs from platform build, tech operating
costs, ongoing people costs, paid media, travel
Cost Structure
Fixed fees for hackathons & innovation challenges
Monthly platform subscriptions
Business Model
Solving the youth skills gap via a gamified, interactive & practical learning experience based on private-public partnerships that
enables youth to be future-ready with learn-to-earn opportunities
Value Proposition
12. Talking with your audience or
customers & capturing their insights at
each step along the journey.
Understanding their wants, needs,
aspirations, pain points, goals,
objectives & frustrations.
Experimenting rapidly with empathy
based on what you understand & have
learned. Put yourself in their shoes &
think about their perspective...not
YOURS.
Being people-centered, which means
focusing on your audience at all times:
employees, customers & potential
customers
wait a minute...
What is
Design Thinking?
13. HUMAN-CENTERED TECHNIQUES HELP US
SOLVE PROBLEMS & CREATE
OPPORTUNITY
Design
Thinking
Systematically accessing insights from your audience teaches us
& others how we can learn from the world around us. It's all about
empathy & creating products, services & solutions that are truly
people-centered. It gives us a process for ensuring our we gain
product-market fit. It helps us reduce risk & increases our chances
of success in the market.
14. Tell me more about
this design thinking
thing!
Empathy is key to identifying with our
audience, understanding their problems,
and seeing potential solutions.
Observe & Develop
Empathy
To solve any problem, we need to identify
alternative strategies and ways of
thinking, as we all come with biases.
Challenge your
Assumptions
To create products or solutions or work
as a team, we need to understand the
perspectives of those around us.
Understand your
Audience
16. Practice design thinking.
WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO DO AGAIN?
Build your team
Identify your
audience
Plan your project
Establish a timeline
Focus
Validate assumptions
with real people
Shift if necessary
#DoTheThing
17. Want to earn some design thinking badges
from IBM?
PRACTITIONER ADVOCATE COACH CO-CREATOR LEADER
IBM IBM IBM IBM IBM
http://ibm.biz/design-thinking-badges
18. Skills Hustle Buyer Persona Example
A Buyer Persona helps you generalize everything you know about your customer segment(s)
Youth y.o. +
6 African countries
Not American
citizens or
permanent residents
Demographics
Build practical, future-
ready skills
Gain access to
experts
Win prizes
Have fun
Solve problems
Needs
Some technical
competence
Proficiency in English
Skills
Solving corruption in
their home countries
Earn a hackathon
certificate
Win $10,000
Goals
Lack of real-world
capacity-building
training
Corruption
Unemployment
Underemployment
Lack of funding
Frustrations
Instagram
Apple
Google
TikTok
Nike
Adidas
Rihanna
Michael Jackson
Fav Brands
Fighting corruption
Building tech skills
Creating
entrepreneurial spirit
Solving problems with
tech
Seeing their solutions
come to life
Interests
Not getting a job
Failure
Not earning enough
to make a viable
income
Gaining access to
experts
Fears
19. Translating Buyer Personas into Action
What are some
quotes that bring
your buyer to life?
How can we make
these quotes
speak to use &
remind us of who
they are?
1
How do they
normally
communicate &
learn?
What social media
channels do they
use?
2
How can we help
our buyer achieve
their goals?
How can we
alleviate their
frustrations & pain
points?
3
How can we
bring our
solution to life so
they NEED it &
how can it
impact their life
in a meaningful
way?
4
20. Ultimately, these tools help us to get to
the point of building an MVP of a
product that is based on design thinking
for our buyer persona.
21. but...
What's an
MVP?
1
2
3
It stands for Minimum Viable Product.
It's the simplest version of your product or
service that allows you to launch your new
solution.
An MVP is the minimum point of gaining
revenue, market share, &/or some kind of market
or customer footprint.
22. Get comfortable with failure.
Know your passions & strengths.
Be a LEARN-IT-ALL & life-long
learner.
Take action & do it often.
Do the thing confidently.
Tell stories with empathy.
Listen with empathy.
Pivot when needed.
Rinse & repeat.
What can we
NOT
forget...EVER?!
23. Is that it? NOPE!
Thrive in
ambiguity.
1
Seek out change.
2
Think critically &
look to solve
problems.
3
Innovate, break
molds, & don't
ask for
permission.
4
24. You are big, bold & full of
ideas.
Yet...you make things happen.
You are an innovator.
1
You are a creator.
2
You make & do.
3
You know how to prioritize & don't run after every shiny thing around you.
25. Stand behind
your goals
your objectives
your beliefs
your experience
Don't be afraid to admit when you are wrong & apologize.
Take responsibility.
26. ALWAYS KNOW
there are new ways to do things
&
things can always be done better
but
sometimes good is good enough
as
perfection is rarely achievable.
28. WHAT ARE THE 5 P'S
of being an entrepreneur or intrapreneur?
PATIENCE
You are patient &
comfortable
pivoting when
failure arises.
PURPOSE
You have a
clearly defined
mission, vision,
goals &
objectives tied to
getting things
done.
PEOPLE
You think and act
with empathy for
your team,
customers,
partners, and
other
collaborators.
PERSISTENCE
You stick with
things, even
when times are
tough.
PROFITS
You recognize
the concept of
doing well while
doing good or
making money
while making the
world a better
place.
29. Who's ready to be an innovator, creator, maker & doer
who changes the world? ME!
Follow me on Twitter for more!
@mentorafrika
