Introduction

The Brightest Idea
The Brightest Idea
Yeelen Kamanda ©

This module will help you to understand how to start a business with a simple step by step guide. Anybody with a good idea can start a business, but it is necessary to implement specific processes and use dedicated tools to make this successfully. This module will provide a set of resources, processes and tools necessary to found a new enterprise. Starting a business involves different activities, such as:

         Developing the business idea

Successful business ideas are the main key factor for a new business. Some tools can be useful to define the different elements of a business idea.

         Carrying out a market analysis

The market analysis is one of the most important parts of any start up strategy. Do it right, and you will have an useful tool to lure investors, sidestep pitfalls, and most importantly, attract customers.

          Carrying out a business plan

The business plan is one of the main documents based on which you will organise all the processes and tasks.

In this module the fundamental steps to start a new business will be presented. The module will help you to plan your business and manage it in the right way. The tasks will be related to different domains as:

-          Project management

-          Creativity

-          Innovation

-          Business

-          Law

-          Finance

-          Marketing

The exercises included, will suggest also online free tools to use in order to carry out the foreseen tasks.

The module will help you to simulate the foundation of a new enterprise. You have to follow the different steps and complete the suggested exercises:

Develop the business idea

  1. Reflect on your business idea
  2. Use the brainstorming technique to foster creative thinking
  3. Complete the Lean Canvas Model
  4. Create a Goal Matrix

Carry out a market analysis

  1. Produce a stakeholder matrix
  2. Analyse the main competitors and carry out a SWOT analysis related to your company
  3. Create a customer needs questionnaire

Business Plan

  1. Create a business plan

 

The general learning outcomes in the modules sections are

• Definition of an innovative business idea

• Definition of mission goals, products, evaluation indicators

• Identification of stakeholders, competitors, clients

Task

The light in the night
The light in the night
Yeelen Kamanda ©

Defining your business idea is essential to be able to start your new company/start-up/firm and turn your dream into reality.

One of the most important things is the concreteness of your idea as well as the tools that allow you to develop it.

These tools are:

  • the market knowledge

  • the product or service knowledge

  • the competition knowledge

  • the technologies

  • the marketing

  • the communication

  • the organisation

  • the business plan

  • the financial analysis

First of all you have to keep in mind that every activity starts with an idea which must be sustainable, realistic, logic and feasible. Secondly, it is very important to fix concrete and measurable goals. Your vision about entrepreneurship and goals has to take into account all the elements and variables that could determine and influence your success. For all these reasons, it is important to know well those elements and variables. You could analyze the situation by using the tools presented above.

By following this process, you will understand which one of your ideas is the best idea!

The activity of this module is divided into three steps:

  1. Creative Phase;
  2. Self-reflective and motivation phase;
  3. Develop the the business idea.

In the creative phase you are asked to use your creativity to propose an original idea for a future start-up.

During the self-reflective phase you will have to reflect on the motivation that drives you to take this path.

Finally, to consolidate the first two steps, we propose a third exercise of greater difficulty where you will be asked to define your idea through a standard model.

Process

The module will help you to simulate the foundation of a new enterprise. You have to follow the different steps and complete the suggested exercises:

Develop the business idea

  1. Reflect on your business idea

  2. Use the brainstorming technique to foster creative thinking

  3. Complete the Lean Canvas Model

  4. Create a Goal Matrix

Carry out a market analysis

  1. Produce a stakeholder matrix

  2. Analyse the main competitors and carry out a SWOT analysis related to your company

  3. Create a customer needs questionnaire

Business Plan

  1. Create a business plan

 

Let's start with the first phase, that is to develop the business idea !

First we will do a creative exercise, then we will continue with a reflexive exercise and then conclude with a more in-depth and more technical exercise that will allow you to develop this idea development phase.

Exercice 1 - Creative phase

Take paper and pencil and write down some ideas that you would like to turn into an entrepreneurial project.

For each idea you write, try to structure it in a scheme and to answer to the following guiding-questions by justifying your answers. This process will help you to better organize your idea and to get an overall picture of how your business picture will look like.

Tip: the ideas with more answers to the single questions would probably be the most realistic and feasible

Exercice 2 - Reflective Phase

Write down the idea you chose on a new sheet of paper. Hereafter, answer the questions you find in the exercise 2.

Exercice 3 - Develop the business idea

To consolidate the first two steps, we propose a third exercise of greater difficulty where you will be asked to define your idea through a standard model.

 

 

Conclusion

In this module you exercised on finding a business idea and on the characteristics that this idea must have in order to become a concrete project. Moreover, we worked on the necessary motivation for the development of an entrepreneurial project.

However, before starting to act it is very important to know the laws and regulations of the country where you live.

In the next module we will discover the main laws and regulations that are involved in the process of starting a new business.

Evaluation

  • Be aware of the complexity related to the creation of a new business/social business
  • Be aware of the motivations that drive to the realization of a new business/social business
  • Be able to identify the necessary competences in this field
  • Be able to analyze your own capacities for managing the emotions and the situations you may face during the realisation of a business/social business
  • For a full description of ECVET, Skills, Competence and Knowledge for this module see Methodology Handbook and Competence Matrix

Resources

Videos


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Other

  • Paper and pen