Takeaways from Guy Kawasaki’s Speech on “The Art of the Start”:
Guy Kawasaki’s speech on “The Art of the Start” walked through the main components/concepts that need to be met and understood in order to create/develop a business from a great idea. The first point that really stood out to me was that he believed once a person has a general idea they should “Get going?”. That there should not be a large amount of time dedicated to planning because he believes you will be more successful if you start doing. The subpoint that got me thinking about this main point was that an entrepreneur, engineer, or designer (etcetera) should aim to polarize people with their idea. That an idea will be more successful if people immediately have an opinion on it and that it’s okay if not everyone is a fan or your idea. I believe the sickle cell anemia project has really embraced the idea that once an idea is established, get going. We have jumped into research and are working to get our device up and running. After only a semester and a half we have already had huge success; the control line has been created and the test line is close to being spotted. Kawasaki’s second point that resonated with me was that one’s product needs to be “high and to the right”, aka one must be able to provide a unique product or service and the value to the customer must be high. Kawasaki gave examples of products that met every other category (high and to the left, low and to the left, excetera) and explained how they failed. Going over examples made it easier to understand the concept and helped me figure out how our project met the “high and to the right” criteria. As of right now we are working on our ability to provide a unique product however, the value to the customer is high because the device will be cheap and will help screen/diagnose a disease that highly impacts the customers quality of life.
The next point that Kawasaki mentioned stood out to me because it directly correlates with a process we are currently going through. His 10/20/30 rule for presenting or pitching ones product or service is incredibly important because you want to correctly present our idea to stakeholders so that you can receive the funding and support to continue on your venture. The 10/20/30 rule guidelines for presenting are 10 slide, a 20 minute presentation and 30 point font. This rule can help us plan out our class presentations but will also help us during future presentations at conferences and for potential stakeholders. These guidelines will help us get our message across that sickle cell test strips are necessary in the Sierra Leone health care system in a timely and concise manner. Kawasaki mentioned directly after this point that teams should hire better than themselves and that new hires should be “infected” with love for the product or service. By hiring better than yourself the momentum of the project will continue in a productive way. As our project continues and students graduate new students will be brought onto the team. These students need to be as passionate about the test strips as we are and must be able and willing to put the time in the lab as well as doing research to continue improving the test strip. The final point that really stood out to me was “don’t let the bozos get you down”. I feel like a teams ability to bounce back from being criticized can really make or break the project. Being college students people might not take us as seriously as professionals with accredited degrees however, that should not affect our ability to produce incredible work. No matter what one person thinks our project will be as successful as we make it.
Business Model Canvas: Sickle Cell Anemia Test Strips (I can’t get the lines on the table to show up)
Key Partners
– World Hope, will help us financially and will also help accredit us (people trust World Hope so in turn they will trust our device) – We will need to have a relationship and partnership with the NGOs/government sectors that will be funding the production of the test strips – We will eventually need a company that will be able to mass produce our test strip |
Key Activities
– We must develop a low cost test strip that can diagnose sickle cell anemia; we are currently in the research phase trying to get the test strip to work – We will have to figure out our supply chain management. Who will be producing the strips? Where will they be shipped? Who will distribute them? |
Value Propositions
– Provide a screening device (test strip) for sickle cell anemia; a disease that impacts a person’s everyday life and can result in death |
Customer Relationships
– Get: pitch the device as a screening device that needs to be administered at birth; goal: will be a typical test done at birth – Keep: To reach out and keep in contact with the hospitals buying and providing the test strips to the population; insure the supply of devices is the correct amount in relation to the number of people being tested – Grow: Build relationships with NGOs, organizations and the government to figure out who will be funding the development of these devices |
Customer Segments
– Our customers are going to typically be from developing countries where sickle cell anemia is prevalent – These developing countries typically have free health care services therefore our customers will be the NGOs, organizations and the government who fund medical care services – We will start implementing the device in Sierra Leone a country in Africa (75% of the children out of the 300,000 children born each year with SCA are born in Africa) |
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Resources
– Need access to medical professionals and CWH in Sierra Leone in order to receive feedback on the device and support from them when the device is implemented and administered – Need World Hopes support financially as well as their connections with the FDA and Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone, doctors in the local hospitals and other medical professionals that will aid us in implementing the device |
Chanels
– Hospitals; the device should be used to screen for sickle cell anemia at birth – Community health workers; to distribute and administer the device in local villages |
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Cost Structure
– As of right now the supplies needed to conduct our research is our greatest cost (we are seeking out funding from different grants) – once the device is developed fixed costs will be paying the employees we will need to deliver the devices and paying the manufacturing company to produce the devices |
Revenue Streams
– These test strips will be as cheap as possible and will be sold for a little bit more than their actual production cost in order to keep the business running (paying employees, continuing to develop and improve the test strip, to pay for costs that arise when trying to implement in other countries) |