Opportunities

1. Opportunities Under construction…July 9, 2013

2. Dimensions of an improvement • How many people does it help? • How many people will buy it? • How much do they value it and are willing to pay for it? • How long does it last? • Does it need to be replaced?

3. Magnitude of innovations • Incremental – small change • Radical – major departure from how things were done before) • Discontinuous – sharp change on otherwise smooth progression in performance • Breakthrough – change that had previously been impossible • Disruptive – seriously upsetting to an existing company

4. Timing – The window of opportunity • Too soon: market or antecedent technology is not ready (“sink the boat”) • Too late: the market is already gone, the product or service has become obsolete, or competitors have already moved too far ahead (“miss the boat”)

5. Timing – The window of opportunity • Could have been done sooner: Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, discount stores, bungee jumping, credit cards • Had to wait: Yahoo!, Google, eBay, iPods, space flight, digital cameras, laser printers, health warnings on cigarette packages…

6. Most entrepreneurs…* • Recognized, rather than sought out, business opportunities • Learned of opportunities from someone else (business associates, relatives, social contacts) • Found opportunities in fields where they had work experience (esp. when opportunity offers chance to use prior training) • Unanswered question: “Do intentional efforts to seek out opportunities work?” [ * Random selection of businesses from the Yellow Pages, 1988 ]

7. Opportunity