From sensing a problem or need,
to an innovative venture idea that offers a solution and creates value.
The first-minute challenge
What annoyed you this week? On the road, at home, at work, in a transaction, in your field. Write it down as it is.
Every annoyance that recurs for a number of people is the start of an opportunity.
Preface
Entrepreneurship is not reserved for those who want to start a company. It is a way of thinking and working that everyone needs, the doctor, the teacher, the engineer and the employee, just as much as the business owner.
In this book we set out together across twelve chapters. The first four chapters lay the foundations: the concept of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial mindset, opportunities and idea generation, and creativity and innovation. Chapters five to eight then move on to building the venture: understanding the customer and the market, the business model, testing and prototyping, and marketing. The last four chapters deal with what a venture needs in order to survive, be presented and grow: money and funding, legal and ethical aspects, pitching and persuasion, and lessons from growth and failure.
I have made sure that each chapter opens with an introduction and objectives, presents the scientific content supported by tables and examples, and closes with a summary, key terms, self-assessment questions and a discussion question, along with references for those who want to read further. I have also linked each chapter to a stop on the “course journey” and a tool in the “toolbox,” so that students move from understanding to applying it to their own venture.
Quick activities
Short activities that break the ice and teach a skill at the same time. Most need nothing more than a sheet of paper and a phone.
Toolbox
Small tools to use with your team. Everything you write is saved in your browser.
Annoyance list
Write down everything that annoys you or the people around you, then rate each one: How often does it happen? How severe is it? The highest score deserves study first.
Score = frequency × severity. Don’t choose a problem because it “would make a good project”; choose it because people really suffer from it.
Ask “Why?” five times
The visible problem is often a symptom. Keep asking why until you reach a cause you can do something about.
Customer interview guide
The goal is to understand the person’s life with the problem, not to convince them of your idea. Don’t mention your solution at the start of the interview.
Ask about the past and reality
- The last time you faced this problem, what happened, in detail?
- How do you deal with it now?
- How much does it cost you in time, money or effort?
- Have you tried another solution? Why did you drop it?
- Who else suffers from it? Could you introduce me?
Avoid questions that mislead you
- “Do you like my idea?” (politeness will answer)
- “Would you buy it if it existed?” (the future is easy to promise)
- “How much would you pay?” before you understand the problem
- Talking more than they do
- Interviewing only your friends
Interview log 0 / 5 at least
SCAMPER cards
Write the current solution or service, then draw a card. Each card asks a question that pushes you toward a new angle. Write down every idea that comes to mind, and don’t judge it yet.
Idea scorecard
Rate your idea honestly with your team (1 weak, 5 strong). The aim is not the score, but knowing where you need more evidence.
Break-even calculator
How much must you sell each month so you don’t lose money? Distinguish between three types of costs:
Message maker
If you can’t explain your idea in one sentence, the customer won’t understand it. Fill in the blanks:
Stakeholder balance: is everyone smiling?
A sustainable venture satisfies all its parties: the customer pays an amount they see as fair, and it is enough for the venture owner and those who work with them to earn. Write each party, what it gains and what it pays or bears, then choose its face.
The value pie: is there a price that satisfies both the customer and the provider?
Calculate for one customer. And remember that time is a cost: every minute on the road or waiting is a minute the provider could have earned from other work.
The default values are the mobile barber example from Chapter 6. Change them for your idea, or try: what if the barber served four people in the same visit? (Divide the time and travel by four.)
Pitch timer
Practice out loud. The timer moves you through the parts of the pitch so you know where your time goes.
Developing the Entrepreneurial Venture Idea
Your space for developing your idea step by step throughout the semester, then downloading your final version and submitting it. Write in your own voice, and ask, consult and test. The work can be individual or in a team.
How do you use this space?
You will choose a real problem, check it with the people who have it, propose a simple solution and test it, and develop your idea every time you learn something new. You write all of this here in nine parts, as a mini business plan. What is required is not a huge venture or a perfect plan, but an idea that has honestly developed based on what you heard and tested yourself. At the end of the semester you download your final version and submit it.
Annoyance list
Interview guide
Chapter 7
Break-even calculator
This page
- Length: about three to five pages. Clarity matters more than length.
- How to write it: in each part you will find an explanation of what is required; press “Example and tips” to see a written example and common mistakes to avoid.
- Saving: what you write is saved automatically in this browser. If you want to continue later on another device, or are worried about losing your work, press “Save a copy to continue” and keep the file, then open it with the “Continue from a saved copy” button.
- Submission: when you finish, download your final version as a Word or PDF file and upload it to Blackboard. Your interview log from the “Interview guide” tool is added to the Word file automatically.
Course instructor: Dr. Omar A. Alsamani
1The problem
What is the problem or gap? Who has it, and when? Convince the reader of three things: that the problem exists, that you understand it, and that there is a real need to solve it. Cite what you heard in your interviews (how many, and phrases people said) and any reliable number.
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- One clear sentence defining the problem: Who has it? When? What is its effect on them?
- The evidence: how many people did you interview? What did they say? (Quote a phrase or two in their own words.)
- How do people deal with the problem now, and why isn’t that enough?
Example:
“Air conditioners in many homes break down at the peak of summer, so families wait two or three days for a technician in intense heat, and sometimes pay large sums to repair faults that simple maintenance could have prevented. We interviewed eight families; six said at least one unit broke down last summer, and one mother said: ’I called three technicians. One didn’t answer, the second said in two days, and the third came and asked for an amount I couldn’t tell was fair or not.’”
Avoid: describing the problem in general terms such as “people suffer from the heat,” relying on your personal opinion without any interviews, or writing the solution instead of the problem.
2The target customer
Describe your customer precisely: “families in new neighborhoods with four or more AC units” is clearer than “people.” Roughly how many are there? How do they deal with the problem now?
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- A precise description of the customer: age or life stage, place and behavior.
- An approximate number of potential customers, and where this number came from.
- Who pays? (This may differ from the beneficiary, like a father who pays for a service his son benefits from.)
Example:
“Families living in villas or large apartments in residential neighborhoods, with four or more AC units, where the head of the household usually pays. After them we target small shop owners. We estimated the number of homes in three nearby neighborhoods at about (…) from a field count, and we expect about 10% of them to be interested in the service, based on our interviews.”
Avoid: writing “everyone” or “all the city’s residents,” or citing large numbers with no source.
3The solution and what sets it apart
What is the product or service? What sets it apart from the alternatives (price, speed, quality, ease, proximity)? Make sure the solution works for you as its provider, for the customer, and for the other parties (supplier, courier, partner).
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- What exactly is the solution? How does the customer get it, step by step?
- What sets it apart from current alternatives? One clear advantage is better than five general ones.
- Is the solution profitable for every party: you, the customer, and the supplier, courier or partner? Is the amount the customer will pay enough for everyone to earn? (Fill in the stakeholder balance below this part.)
- Your message in one sentence (use the message maker in the tools).
Example:
“An annual subscription with two scheduled maintenance visits (before summer and in mid-summer), priority for breakdowns within 24 hours, and a photo report after every visit. The advantage: a known, fixed price and a guaranteed appointment instead of searching for a technician when something breaks. And because we schedule visits by neighborhood, the technician visits several nearby homes on the same day, so he earns a good income, the price stays reasonable for the family, and we keep a worthwhile margin.”
Avoid: describing the solution in general terms such as “a smart app that solves every household problem,” adding many features unrelated to the problem you heard, or a solution that delights the customer but is exhausting or loss-making for whoever delivers it.
Is everyone smiling? Write what each party gains and what it bears. If one of them is not satisfied, write in the solution how you will adjust the model.
| Party | What do they gain? | What do they pay or bear? | Satisfaction |
|---|---|---|---|
4Market and competitors
Is it something people buy daily, or once a year? Roughly how large is demand? Who offers a similar solution, and what indirect alternatives do people use? Don’t write “there is no competitor”; there is always an alternative.
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- Is the product bought daily, weekly or on occasions?
- Direct competitors (offering the same solution), indirect competitors, and alternatives (what people do now).
- A simple comparison table: you versus two or three competitors on price, quality and ease.
Example:
“Demand is seasonal and recurs every year. Competitors: independent technicians (sometimes cheaper, but their appointments are not guaranteed and their prices are unclear), large maintenance companies (reliable, but more expensive and focused on businesses), and the most common alternative: waiting until the unit breaks down and then looking for a technician.”
Avoid: writing “there is no competitor,” which means you didn’t search, or that there is no need.
5Prototype and what we learned
What is the simplest version you tested (a sketch, a page, an order form, a manual trial)? With how many people? What changed in your idea after the test? Changing direction based on evidence counts for you, not against you.
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- What is the simplest version of the solution you tested? (A sketch, a post, an order form, delivering the service by hand to a few people.)
- How many people did you test it with? And what actually happened?
- What did you learn? What did you change in your idea after the test?
Example:
“We posted a simple ad in two neighborhood groups with a booking link for a maintenance visit at a trial price. 19 families booked within two weeks, and we carried out the visits with a cooperating technician. 11 of them asked about an annual subscription, and we discovered that families care about the photo report more than we expected, because it reassures them the work was really done, so we made it a core part of the service.”
Avoid: settling for “we’ll test later,” or showing the idea only to your friends and asking whether they like it. And remember that changing the idea after testing counts for you, not against you.
6Financials
We focus on monthly operations. Write the fixed costs item by item, then the variable cost per unit and the selling price; the result is calculated automatically. Ask yourself about the expected sales: are they reasonable?
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- Fixed monthly costs item by item (rent, salaries, subscriptions, utilities).
- The variable cost per unit (materials, packaging, delivery), and the selling price.
- Expected monthly sales, and where this expectation came from.
- The break-even point is calculated automatically; comment on it: is it realistic?
Example:
“The price of a visit in the subscription is SAR 150, and its variable cost SAR 60 (materials 35, fuel 15, messages and payment fees 10), so the contribution margin is SAR 90. Fixed costs are SAR 9,000 a month (a technician’s salary, a vehicle lease and the scheduling system subscription), so we need 100 visits a month to break even, about 4 visits a day, which is feasible if the visits are close together. Equipping (SAR 12,000) is a start-up cost that we did not include in the monthly calculation.”
Avoid: including start-up costs (equipment and fit-out) in the monthly costs, forgetting small costs such as packaging and delivery, or assuming large sales without evidence.
7The team
How many people does the venture need? Who does what? Are the workers on monthly salaries or contracted per job? And what happens to the team as you expand?
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- Who is on the team, and who handles what?
- Whom do you need to add to actually run the venture? (On salary, or contracted per job.)
- What changes in the team if the venture grows?
Example:
“Three members: the first for operations and scheduling visits, the second for marketing and customer contact, and the third for accounts and purchasing. We need one salaried technician at the start, and we add technicians contracted per visit at the peak of summer.”
Avoid: listing team names without roles, or ignoring who will actually work in the venture.
8Marketing
How do you reach your customer? What is your message in one sentence (use the message maker)? And how do you keep them so they come back and buy again? Choose one or two channels where you know your customer is.
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- Your message in one sentence.
- One or two channels where you know your customer is, and why you chose them.
- An offer that gets the customer to try it the first time.
- How do you get the customer to come back and recommend you?
Example:
“Our message: (A cool summer with no breakdowns, and a guaranteed technician appointment.) We reach customers through neighborhood groups and real estate offices, with a free inspection for the first 20 subscribers, and a free extra month for anyone who brings in a neighbor who subscribes, because neighboring subscribers bring our visits closer together and save the technician’s time.”
Avoid: listing every platform without focus, or simply saying “we’ll market on social media.”
9Growth and the next step
Is expansion costly? Does each new branch or city need start-up costs and staff? And what is the first small step you would take if you decided to actually start? A venture that does not grow usually withers.
Example and tips
Write in this part:
- Is expansion costly? (Does each new location or city need premises, staff and equipment?)
- Where could the venture expand: new customers, new places, or complementary products?
- What is the first small, realistic step if you decided to actually start next month?
Example:
“After three neighborhoods, we expand to others with new technicians, each covering a defined area. We can add small shops and residential compound subscriptions. First step: run the service for one summer in two neighborhoods and reach 60 subscribers.”
Avoid: large expansion plans unconnected to what you have achieved, such as “we’ll cover every city in the Kingdom in the first year.”