You will learn strategies around how to improve your idea, conduct customer discovery, build a minimum viable product, gain valuable user feedback, develop a business model and how to pitch your idea or business.
Whether you have an idea or need an idea, session 1 teaches you how to look for insights, discover opportunities and improve your idea through ideation. It also introduces you to the cohort experience and connects you with other like-minded people.
Through a series of mapping techniques, you will gain a better grasp of your user’s needs, their engagement with the problem you are solving and how your solution can impact them. This will lead to a better understanding in how you can talk to and connect with your user at a deeper level.
Learn about what is protectable and novel about your idea, how to talk about your venture without giving away the secret sauce, and get introduced to the many resources that are available regarding patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
A minimum viable product (MVP) is a prototype that allows you to test your idea with real users to learn how well it solves their problem and gain valuable feedback. Depending on your idea, there are many ways to tackle this. This session will help you identify the best way to create an MVP for your idea.
In this session you will learn key ways to gain valuable feedback, including seeking customer validation. One of the best ways to reduce risk is to simply talk with your users, get them to try your product or service and see first-hand if they truly value your solution to their problem.
Discover your true value proposition, what will make you stand out and make customers respond. Craft a story and develop a business model canvas to help you chart your next moves and build a formal strategy around.
Work to create a presentation that introduces the world to your idea and gets you comfortable talking about the venture with those outside of your inner circle. Pitches will be 5 – 7 minutes and you will gain valuable feedback for the future of your idea.
This is the culmination of all your hard work and an opportunity to announce to the world that you are ready for business. You will pitch to a live audience that will help you get the word out about your business and can potentially help grow your business through key introductions and even investment.
ignitor is an entrepreneurial accelerator through Wichita State University Office of Innovation and New Ventures and is funded in part by an EDA grant.
