B2BMR0102 - Market Research for Entrepreneurs and Defining Market Fit
Course Description
Overview
Market Research for Entrepreneurs encompasses the first three modules and provides the foundation and first steps of your startup journey by helping you understand the thought processes and behaviors of successful entrepreneurs while connecting those traits to your military experiences. In addition, these early modules will take you through some initial market research experiences that are designed to help you understand your customers and their desires. These first modules are followed by a two-week “application period” during which time you will be able to apply your new knowledge and continue to research on your own. Market Research for Entrepreneurs is a prerequisite to moving forward with Defining Market Fit.
Defining Market Fit represents the last three modules that will help you redefine the interview process and take you to a completely new understanding of how your concept fits into the market. At the same time you will be working on the outline for your business plan and we will help connect you with SBA resource partners that will provide you with support and mentorship as you move forward in your entrepreneurial career.
This course in market research and defining market fit will place unique demands on you due to its cross-disciplinary and inter-functional nature. It requires you to address many dimensions of your business concept including marketing, human resource management, finance, accounting, information technology, production, operations and supply chain management, and managerial economics. In addition, many broader aspects of your professional and personal life experiences are relevant in this course. As such, the course acts as a vehicle for acquiring knowledge and developing skills, attitudes and behaviors associated with starting and sustaining a new business.
This course will provide you with a clear, repeatable process for customer discovery, value proposition management, and market fit that is necessary to insure long-term success and growth. It is not an exercise on how to conduct research at a computer or use the library to research markets. This is an experiential learning opportunity – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. You will be talking to customers, partners, and competitors, as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty in the launch of your new venture and we will be with you every step of the way. You will work directly with an instructor and benefit from the experiences of your classmates to turn your great idea into a great company. You will learn how to use multiple tools to understand your customers and brainstorm each part of your company.
Class Culture
Startups communicate much differently than inside a university or a large company. Much like the military there will be times when this communication style can feel brusque and impersonal, but in reality, it is focused and oriented to create immediate action in time and cash-constrained environments. You have limited time and we will push, challenge, and question you in the hope you will learn quickly. Our instructors will be direct, open, and tough, all with the intent of seeing you through this phase. These comments are not personal, but they are part of the learning process and should all be accomplished in a respectful and supportive manner.
Your instructors also expect you to question them, and challenge their point of view if you disagree, and to engage in a real dialogue with them. We want you to challenge yourselves quickly and objectively, and to appreciate that as entrepreneurs you need to learn and evolve faster than you ever imagined possible.
This course is not for you if you prefer stability and predictability, or if you do not like the ambiguity and tension created by new ideas and untested concepts, as those are the very essence of entrepreneurship.
Faculty Author
Neil Tarallo, Senior Lecturer, Entrepreneurship, The Hotel School, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University
Director, Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities
Benefits to the Learner
Upon completion learners will:
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Be able to use market research methodologies to facilitate customer discovery and value proposition design
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Understand how to apply the first stages of the startup
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Use market research processes to determine market fit
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Understand and apply the final stages of the startup process