Theory

This Post Will Teach You: You will learn how to analyze business opportunities The three checkpoints needed to evaluate a business idea Opportunity analysis helps us separate when to take action from when to keep looking. A methodical approach to opportunity analysis will help improve consistency and thoroughness across niche businesses. The aim of this is to be able to lay out ideas side by side in order to draw better correlations and insights from one business to another. Overall, a consistent approach to opportunity analysis will provide more meaningful takeaway lessons for future ventures, and ideally improve the overall thoroughness of analysis. The product cycle of each niche will cover the following five phases:   1. Contextual Analysis This is the environment that the idea occurs within. Specifically, what are the enabling factors of this niche business? For example, an app idea requires the context of smartphone penetration in your target demographic. Context analysis can occur either before or after idea formation. The most important factor here is the trend of the context. Are smartphones with data plans on the rise or decline? How does that affect the business idea in 6 months? 6 years? Does the market still exist? Do you believe it will grow or shrink? Context lays the foundation for the business. Deliverables: What technologies and factors make this possible? What is the trend? How long will this niche last?   2. Product Ideation This is the process of brainstorming product ideas. In three steps product ideation involves an idea generation phase, an elimination and refinement phase, and a declaration of vision. The most important...