VentureStart Competition
Uniting Entrepreneurs at SDSU
Orientation, Ideation, Trend Spotting
September 21, 2009
connect. learn. grow.
Orientation
• VentureStart Competition
– Uniting entrepreneurs at SDSU
– Learning about ideation, innovation, start-up process
– Learn more about competition at www.sdsu.edu/emc
• Competition Timeline:
– September 21, Information and Ideation
– October 20, Business Plan Elements
– November 6, Business Plan summary submission (1-3 pages)
– November 10, Powerful Presentation
– November 13, Finalists announced
– December 2, Finals competition Aztec Athletic Auditorium, awards
presented to top three teams!
www.sdsu.edu/emc 2
Be an Entrepreneur
• Read about company creation & entrepreneurship
• Set up RSS feeds and Goggle alerts on
entrepreneurship, trends (www.trendhunter.com)
• Hang out with other people that
want to be entrepreneurs
• Take job or internship with entrepreneur
• Entrepreneur “time”:
– Quiet time once per week, 30-60 minutes
– Write all thoughts and ideas in your journal
• Random thoughts, problems that you see or experience
www.sdsu.edu/emc 3
What do You Look For?
You look for Trends:
• Time: Trends don’t happen over-night.
• Roots: “Because a trend is developed in a wide variety of ways, it develops roots,”
Trends won’t vanish even as they evolve, because their roots are deep and intricate.
• Everywhere: A trend will slowly sprout up in different places. After a while, you’ll see it
all over the place.
• Nonstop growth: Trends keep building slowly, never stopping their growth. “A trend
isn’t going anywhere--it will be there for a long time,”. In contrast, “A fad won’t last.”
• Durability: Trends are strong. Unlike fads, they don’t weaken as they become
mainstream; they only become stronger.
www.sdsu.edu/emc 4
Brainstorming
To run a group brainstorming session effectively, do the following:
• Define the problem you want solved clearly.
• Keep the session focused on the problem.
• Ensure that no one criticizes or evaluates ideas.
• Encourage an enthusiastic, uncritical attitude.
• Let people have fun brainstorming. Welcome creativity.
• Ensure that no train of thought is followed for too long.
• Encourage people to develop other people's ideas.
• Appoint one person to note down ideas.
• Evaluate the ideas, choose the best one to pursue further.
www.sdsu.edu/emc 5
Ideation or Innovation
Design Thinking
www.ideo.com
Design thinking is an
approach that uses the
designer’s sensibility and
methods for problem
solving to meet people’s
needs in a technologically
feasible and commercially
viable way. In other words,
design thinking is human-
centered innovation.”
—Tim Brown
www.sdsu.edu/emc 6
IDEO Copyright
Add on or Change the Game
www.sdsu.edu/emc 7
Look at a Problem/Opportunity
• Brainstorm in Groups
– Mix students up between colleges
– 15 minutes of discussion/brainstorming
– One person presents group solution in one minute
“GPS has definitely entered our lives – first with
navigation devices, then cell phones, now what?
- Look at Trends, Industries, etc.
- Identify Key Customer Segments
- Customer Pain or Revolutionary Advance
www.sdsu.edu/emc 8
Next Steps & Meeting
• October 20th – Business Plan Development
• November 6th – Business plan submission, 1-3 pages
via EMC website
www.sdsu.edu/emc 9