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September 30 2011

NESTA Handbook Two

(Notes from the information I gained from the NESTA handbook two.)

Getting Off The Ground.

Building blocks:

  • Business facts - 
    Do you have a good idea or a good business idea?
  • Mission statement -
    Summarise the impact you want to make with your business
  • Intellectual property -
    How to identify, protects and exploit your IP
  • Evidence -
    Using evidence modelling and fake evidence, illustrate what success will look like for you
  • Values - 
    Identifying the values and underpin your activities 

Two important questions should be answered instantly:

1. What is it I do? - I run a photography gallery.

2. Why should my customers care? - Because I offer unique, high quality images.

Take on board:

1. Customers have to want what your offering.

2. You need to say how you meet that demand.

3. You have to keep appealing to the demand.

4. You have to continuously innovate to compete and survive.

(Your not the centre of attention - your customers are)

(You don’t need to do everything yourself, build partnerships and alliances)

(You need a vision for your business in order to position your offering and you need to communicate this vision clearly and consistently)

(You need to understand your personal motivation for running a business, including the importance of financial returns)

(You need to be able to measure the performance of your business, which at certain critical moments can only be measured in terms of money)

Three key facts to distinguish a business idea from a creative idea:

  1. There must be a clear need for your product or service (or you must create one) and you should be providing a new or improved solution for that need.
  2. That need must have sufficient potential to create a demand.
  3. There should be sufficient reward within your idea to be able to support your immediate business needs, as well as your future business requirements

Spotting opportunities - ask: 

  • Is there a need for what I am offering?
  • Will there be sufficient demand?
  • Will that generate sufficient reward for me to move my business forward?

Intellectual property
If you’ve spotted an oppourtunity or thought of an idea, you need to think about intellectual property. Music, books, computer software, prodcuts we use in our daily lives are all products of human creativity and that human creativity is protected. It is creations of the mind, once expressed that make up intellectual property.

The crucial word is ‘expressed’. There’s no IP protection in the UK for idea’s or concepts, only for expression of those ideas or concepts. 

Most common types of IP protection for certain types of activities:

  • Patents and design rights
  • Copyright
  • Trademarks

 Managing your IP and unlocking the value of your creativity: identify, protect, exploit, enforce.

Values:

Values are important because,

  • They access your business idea in terms of how it honours your value
  • Test how your work/life balance needs to be adjusted
  • Stay inspired when dealing with the more mundane aspects of business or when things aren’t going so well
  • Keep on track when your offered different choices or opportunities
  • Communicate why someone should care about your business, as your values often connect with those held by other people.

Mission Statement

A mission statement is a clear, concise summary of why a business exists and it’s future intentions. A mission statement can tell customers alot about your business, so it’s very important to take time to develop it.

My mission statement:

To give unique photography in the highest, desirable quality.

Evidence modelling

(a process which can help you process your idea)

  1. What does it enhance?
  2. What does it replace/make less desirable?
  3. What does it revive?
  4. What might it be the backlash?

  1. lilgemg posted this