December 2017
SCORE Indianapolis mentors Bill Petrovic (retired
vice president and treasurer, Roche Diagnostics) and Steve Click
(retired national sales manager and DigiNet manager, WTHR) dazzled us with a
description of all that SCORE (Service Corps Of Retired Executives, a nonprofit
organization supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration) provides. Entrepreneurs and small businesses with all
levels of business experience benefit from expert advice given through confidential
individual mentoring, group workshops, and a well‑stocked, vetted library—for
free or low cost.
The 45 mentors at SCORE Indianapolis (including a retired patent
attorney) point a variety of people in the right direction. Someone thinking about starting a business is
shown how to focus on the appropriate sequence of essentials, how to develop a
successful business model, how to find customers, how to raise startup money,
and how to develop an exit strategy (based on a positive brand, loyal
employees, and loyal customers). A
mature business receives help with problems related to human resources (eg, how
many employees should there be), a supply chain (eg, should manufacturing be
done in China),
and intellectual property (eg, is a patent worth its cost). A business owner can bounce ideas off an
expert. Search nationwide for SCORE
mentors who have the particular expertise you need.
SCORE mentors often recommend using the lean startup
method to build a business. Step 1 is developing
a value proposition,
a description of all features and benefits of your product or service that will
induce customers to buy it. You must
have something to sell that solves a problem and that customers are willing to
buy at a profitable price. To find out
what that something is, you need to figure out who your potential customers are
and talk with them to learn what they want.
To develop a value proposition, start with a learning tool
called a minimally
viable product. See how potential
customers (at least 100) react to one simple product/service that solves one
simple part of a bigger problem. If they
aren’t interested in the problem, either find different potential customers who
are interested in the problem or else invent something that solves a different problem
that does interest them. If they are
interested in the problem, ask what they like and don’t like about your
product/service. Ask them to buy this
product/service as is and see how much they will actually pay. Then go back to the drawing board and adapt
your invention to what they want. Repeat
this process until you have something that your potential customers really like.
Ask what the price of that
product/service should be. The market
decides how much customers will pay (although there are ways
to change the market). The price could
vary seasonally or from year to year. Identify
who will pay, who will influence others to buy, and what your selling channel
(eg, in-person or internet) will be.
Then worry about costs.
Can you manufacture and distribute your product/service for less than
the selling price? Can you sell enough
to make the amount of profit you want?
If you like the answers to those questions, you are on your way to
starting a successful business.
SCORE needs mentors who are familiar with inventing. If you would like to become a mentor, please
contact Mr. Click (indyscore@gmail.com).
Thank you, Mr. Petrovic and Mr. Click, for helping the
business community create jobs and for sharing your extensive expertise with
us!