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So what? who cares? why you?™
Commercialization & Entrepreneurship Workshops

One-day workshops or multi-day retreats

Purpose

To engage researchers, scientists, engineers and technology entrepreneurs in the thought processes, language, and "spadework" required to turn good science and technology ideas into great opportunities.

Summary

Anyone who wants to pursue a good science or technology idea has to communicate the idea to an "investor" at some point. An investor may be a grant reviewer, the director of a research foundation, a technology transfer officer, potential financial investors including friends and family or venture capitalists, potential licensors, and so-on. Often, the value of a good technology idea is expressed in terms of its technical merits or features. But typical "investor" audiences don't usually understand the inherent value of technical features. To turn a good idea into a great business opportunity, it needs to be articulated to address the key questions investors want answered.

BREAKOUT SESSION: Workshop participants get a chance to go "Fishing for Customers" with Wendy's Market Fishbone tool.

This workshop engages participants with a structured methodology, useful tools and techniques to discover and then articulate the business value of a new and novel idea. It empowers researchers, scientists, engineers and technology entrepreneurs to talk about the business value proposition for their discoveries and inventions.

Content

The workshop delves into each of three key tenets that comprise the So what? who cares? why you?^® methodology:

So what? What is the real business problem being solved and how "burning" is this problem?
Who cares? What clusters of potential customers exist that are willing to pay money to solve the problem?
Why you? Why will your idea win in the market? What makes the idea different? What is your competitive edge and how can it be sustained?

BREAKOUT SESSION: Wendy shows participants how to "Plot Your Competitive Radar" using another signature So what? who cares? why you^®? tool.

Participants will be introduced to simple yet effective tools for building answers to each of these questions. Interactive hands-on activities, breakout sessions, and real-world case examples ensure that the workshop is multi-dimensional, meaningful and immediately applicable.

Take Away

Participants will leave with more than lessons learned: they will also have a concrete value proposition to engage investors and other business backers in the language of business. Arrangements can also be made for each participant to receive a copy of the book, So what? who cares? why you?^® : The Inventor's Commercialization Toolkit.

Format