Greetings and welcome to getting started with technology startups Session 3. In this session, we'll be talking about opportunity recognition. In particular, we'll introduce some of the different options, methods, and strategies available to identify market gaps and stimulate the ideas, new ideas, and be able to formulate how to approach or service a particular market gap or a need. Let's go ahead and jump in. First, just a quick overview of different methods and strategies. One, right off the top, gosh, if your group or your organization or you as an individual have technology intellectual property, that is a huge asset. In particular, if that matches a market needs. Striving to identify and associate new technology development with known specific market needs or market gaps or the identification of specialized knowledge and resources that may be available is a very important strategy and can do well to identify new opportunities. Also, recognizing a window of opportunity. Sometimes there may be a need, but the timing is not just right, or perhaps it is dependent on something else to happen, change in the weather, some type of event occurring. There could be any of a number of different external events that might stimulate a window of opportunity and you might also think of a window of opportunity as being first-mover advantage, one of the things that we'll talk about as well. Having access to expert analysis and critical data. This can be essential to really understanding the dynamics of how the market is operating. If you're able and you have the resources to do the research and derive your conclusions, that's wonderful and you can work within your capabilities to do that. Sometimes it might mean purchasing a market research document or some type of data that helps you understand better what the market needs are, or even perhaps the peculiarities or uniqueness of your technology and your product and/or service potential solutions. How can you identify value and really emphasize the benefits that it brings your potential customers? When you're able to do that, that actually cultivates a sense of attractiveness and like a pole or a magnetic pool, if you will, from the market, from your customers, or from your target customers. In addition to that, being able to manage risks can really identify what the potential liabilities are associated with the introduction of a new product or service or potential risk associated with a known market gap, for example, in relation to your proposed market or service. Let's talk just a little bit about the first-mover advantage. We recognize there are both advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages include obviously time to market being the very first one there. Sometimes the first-mover advantage may have cost of the benefits as well. The first in associating and lining up supply chain and getting suppliers to support the development of the product, and having access and availability to the resources that are needed. All of this is very key in getting started and taking advantage of first-mover opportunity. Disadvantages include what are the environmental conditions and what educational resources are needed in order for the market to recognize your product and solution. In other words, is the market receptive? Is there an allowance for other possibilities, and does the target consumer need to actually be educated? If there's a learning process or a learning curve associated with technology or with the product or service, or perhaps the particular entry methods or approach to the market, that could potentially serve as a disadvantage if everyone in the market is expecting something from another approach if you will, or to address a particular environmental setting and your product or service is in a different context then thus the education and your potential customer may need to be educated about the benefits or perhaps even how to access your product or service. Of course, if your technology is not proven, it may be questionable. Customers may not recognize the value and the educational component carriers on educating customers, educating markets, educating the technology usage as well. Those things amplify one another. Some of the other potential barriers to entry that could apply to your new product or service, or it could apply potentially to your competition. Customer loyalty and habits, again in a pattern and they do things in a regular way. If your new product or service offers an alternative, they may need to be educated about that. Thus the multiple references to education because so many different ways that your information needs to make its way into the mind of your target customers and into the marketplace in general. Switching costs and opportunity costs. Sometimes a customer may be buying when they may have a particular cost benefits associated with their suppliers or their established network or maybe they have a backlog of a particular type of part that needs to be used and introducing your part may mean some design changes or may mean some disruption to their manufacturing process, or some changes to how products are stored and delivered as well. If there is novelty or uniqueness to your product, it could potentially serve as a barrier to others coming in and if there's a critical need. What we're basically recognizing is that the potential barriers to entry could apply to both the new product or your existing competition. In other words, the new products and services are experiencing these types of challenges, and if you are able to overcome these challenges, your competition will face the same type of challenges as well and you may have a leg up, leg up on time to market, and that thing. That completes Video 1 of seven. I'll see you shortly for Video 2.
