I&E 499: Capstone Seminar - Discovering Opportunities
Course Description:
In the Discovery Capstone Seminar, students worked in teams on discovering an opportunity that they later developed a potential solution to the identified problem. This section helped students understand the importance of identifying an opportunity in the market before jumping straight to figuring out the solutions to a problem. The Discovery Capstone encourages students to focus on exploration, questioning and research to collect data about a given market and determine the opportunities. These opportunities can lead to the development of new innovative ventures, services or products. Throughout the semester, students were tasked with different exercises, assignments and discussions that taught them three core skillsets: (1) understanding the entrepreneurial world around us, (2) identifying and understanding opportunities, and (3) evaluating potential solutions.
In the Discovery Capstone Seminar, students worked in teams on discovering an opportunity that they later developed a potential solution to the identified problem. This section helped students understand the importance of identifying an opportunity in the market before jumping straight to figuring out the solutions to a problem. The Discovery Capstone encourages students to focus on exploration, questioning and research to collect data about a given market and determine the opportunities. These opportunities can lead to the development of new innovative ventures, services or products. Throughout the semester, students were tasked with different exercises, assignments and discussions that taught them three core skillsets: (1) understanding the entrepreneurial world around us, (2) identifying and understanding opportunities, and (3) evaluating potential solutions.
Reflection:
The Discovery Capstone Seminar exposed me to the importance of identifying market opportunities in order to more effectively develop an innovative venture. When identifying and accessing the potential of market opportunities, one should ask the following questions: Can we access the demand? Do we have enough evidence to prove that this opportunity is relevant? How can I validate that this is a genuine problem? Why hasn't this problem been solved before? Is the market lacking a type of service? Are market trends shifting? For every venture, there is an importance of discovery (there has to be a need), development (there has to be a target audience), and delivery (customer acquisition). Below are some additional key learnings that I took away from this course.
Key Learnings:
The Discovery Capstone Seminar exposed me to the importance of identifying market opportunities in order to more effectively develop an innovative venture. When identifying and accessing the potential of market opportunities, one should ask the following questions: Can we access the demand? Do we have enough evidence to prove that this opportunity is relevant? How can I validate that this is a genuine problem? Why hasn't this problem been solved before? Is the market lacking a type of service? Are market trends shifting? For every venture, there is an importance of discovery (there has to be a need), development (there has to be a target audience), and delivery (customer acquisition). Below are some additional key learnings that I took away from this course.
Key Learnings:
- Identifying the problem is more important than finding the solution.
- When marketing or telling a story of a venture, product, or service, start with the Why and not the What. People care more about why you are doing something than what you are trying to sell.
- Market opportunities should have a clearly defined problem, significant demand, be cost effective and have excellent timing.
- Prove that a market exists first before developing a product.
- By asking questions more frequently, I can see specific aspects of the world we live in through a different lens.
- It is important to be passionate and motivated about the venture you are pursuing to ensure that you will be fully committed.
Artifact:
Discovery Sprint
The purpose of the Discovery Sprint was to allow us to identify & assess a problem to determine whether or not we have selected a market opportunity of value. My teammates and I decided to tackle the problem of undergraduate students experiencing challenges when finding roommates post graduation.
The purpose of the Discovery Sprint was to allow us to identify & assess a problem to determine whether or not we have selected a market opportunity of value. My teammates and I decided to tackle the problem of undergraduate students experiencing challenges when finding roommates post graduation.