Spot it and then nail it!

I belong to a business and IT integrated school owned by IBM and SM Foundation—Asia Pacific College and this blog, I believe is a reflection of how my school and professor, Mr. Ramon Duremdes, has molded and influenced me. This is actually my second blog for my Entreps class and it is all about creativity and business ideas. Here it is. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

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Have you been wondering how Jollibee, San Miguel Corp. and the likes, came into existence and succeed? All of these big and respected companies are actually born from scratches of simple ideas. The entrepreneurs behind these large enterprises were able to make their simple idea materialize and prevail. These are just a few examples of those businesses which started small but had eventually grown to be one of the most respected companies around. All credits to those people behind these successes.

I have learned in my class that generation of ideas is the initial stage in a business foundation. It turns out that everything will definitely start from scribbling of thoughts and ideas. After all the possible business ideas have been generated and the best and most feasible one has been selected, all else will follow. Take note that the lists of ideas generated must be evaluated. All ideas must be entertained. In idea generation, we have to go for quantity, above all.

And ideas may actually be generated in many ways. It may be through techniques such as focus groups, brainstorming and problem inventory analysis. They may also come from sources like consumers, existing products and services, research and development, government and distribution channels. While other techniques which may be used are reverse brainstorming, brainwriting, Gordon method, checklist method, free-association and the big-dream approach. Nevertheless, all of these things boil down to one goal, to spot an idea and make a good arrangement out of it.

In today’s generation, it has actually become easier to have access to information that may help in the new venture formation. All it takes is for the individual to utilize such immediate sources effectively and efficiently. Through the web, information like the ones provided by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne and Michael Rappa are just a click away. Kim and Mauborgne’s article, Knowing a Winning Business Idea When You See One, is actually very useful. It provides us with the tools to eliminate uncertainties in a possible venture and these tools include the Buyer Utility Map, the Price Corridor of the Mass and the Business Model Guide. Rappa, on the other hand, provided the list of different business models an entrepreneur may undertake to generate revenue. And these are brokerage, advertising, infomediary, merchant, manufacturer, affiliate, community, subscription, and utility. By the way, Kim and Mauborgne are also the people behind Blue Ocean Strategy; the use of an uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant. New to the ears, isn’t it?

At the end the of day, after having these things added in my knowledge bank, I have been actually very thankful to my second home-- Asia Pacific College and to my professor-- Mr. Ramon Duremdes because through them, I am more prepared to face the business world ahead of me. If not for this Entrepreneurship subject I may not have known nor heard of Rappa or of infomediary or of Blue Ocean Strategy. The things I have learned have been actually very useful to me even if I am still a student. I, together with my group mates, have already applied the tools provided for by Kim and Mauborgne particularly the Buyer Utility Map in evaluating possible business ideas in our business plan. Even the creativity in us was enhanced through the idea stage of our business planning. Although we haven’t finished the whole plan yet, we already gained insights which will definitely be helpful to us in the future. All thanks to you sir!