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Block 3. Dragons’ Den

 Well, this is where you are heading in Block 3…. into the Dragons’ Den!  [Notice that the apostrophe comes after the letter ‘s’ in Dragons’.  Why?  Because there is more than one Dragon in that Den just waiting for you and your business idea!!]

What is it all about?

Background. Well, hopefully from Block 2 you will have ‘got’ the idea that the world is changing and we and every aspect of life and business are changing too….  For businesses this has all sorts of potential impacts and implications: threats and opportunities.  Remember my conceptual diagram of what businesses are continuously trying to do?  Well we have been working on the right hand side of it: the ‘External Influences’: so in Block 3 we will be dealing with the potential new product and service opportunities (in the commercial and public sectors) as you see them arising from the external environment and how organisations might begin to combine their internal resources in order to seize such opportunities.

blending the business

So here is your Block 3 task.

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Phase One

  1. Think (individually) about the work that you did for Block 2 and the implications of the changes in the organisation’s environment and come up with as many new product and/or service ideas as you can.
  2. (Together with your team members) compare and contrast, analyse and evaluate these ideas and put them in a ‘pecking order’: a list prioritised according to the highest chances of success.  In order to do this, I would like you to think systematically in terms of the following criteria.:
  • ‘feasibility’  – technically, can it be done?
  • ‘viability’  – is it likely to make a reasonable return on investment?
  • ‘acceptability’  –   this is a function of the ‘4 Es’
    • Economic – will it be cheaper than other alternatives?
    • Effective – will it do/achieve more? How well will it solve the problem or do the job?
    • Efficient – will it be easier and faster than alternatives?
    • Equitable – (if it is a service operating in the public sector) – will it be perceived as being ‘fair’ by those benefiting and those not?
  • ‘timing‘ – is it the ‘right’ time / is the market ready ready, able and willing to engage with the new product/service (or is it ‘too early’ or ‘just too late’)?

NB. For each of the criteria above, for each of the ideas, the team must award a mark / 10 (and be able to offer a justification and explanation) where:

  • 10 = yes, perfect / ideal: 100%!
  • 9 = almost perfect / idea  90%
  • 8 = excellent, but short of almost perfect’ 80%
  • 7 = good 70%
  • 6 = reasonable but uninspiring 60%
  • 5 = barely acceptable  50%
  • 4 = has potential but too many problems  40%
  • 3 = weak and insufficient  30%
  • 2 = extremely weak  20%
  • 1 = fundamentally flawed  10%
  • 0 = totally disastrous – a complete non-starter.

3. Be prepared to summarise your list and explain your No.1 product/service idea to the rest of the group [in English].

The OUTPUT at the end of Phase 1 will therefore be a list, in ranking order, of the ‘best’ ideas which you have developed, analysed and evaluated.

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Phase Two

  1. Take your No.1 idea and ‘flesh it out considerably taking a ‘What / Why / Who / When / Where / How‘ approach to it in order to define it rather more fully.
    • WHAT exactly is the big idea? What makes you excited by it?  What makes it different and superior to other such products and services?
    • WHY are you convinced it will work? 
    • WHO is the product / service aimed at …. WHO are your competitors?
    • WHEN will the market be ready for the product/service (too early and you may overshoot it / too late and someone else may already have done it) …  How long do you think it will take to break even and make a profit?
    • WHERE will you market it and to whom?  Where will you find your finance?
    • HOW might you get the idea developed and defend against someone else simply ‘cloning’ it?  … and, above all, HOW will you ‘pitch’ your idea to the Dragons (see 2 below)?   You will need to develop the answers to these questions to a reasonable level to be convincing to the Dragons.
  2. Review the BBC’s Dragons’ Den website and have a look at the sort of ‘pitches’ that people make to the Dragons for funding support (how they use their time, present the information, appear up-beat and confident, have convincing information at their fingertips and deal with penetrating questions from the Dragons), and the comments and advice from the Dragons about doing ‘pitches’ etc.  If the ‘pitches’ are not available in France… have a look at some of them on You Tube. The Dragons’ top tips on business start up will be useful, for example:

3. Prepare your Pitch for the Dragons’ Den (and work with me on any difficult business questions, presentational strategy or business vocabulary issues).

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Phase Three

  1. Deliver your ‘pitch’ to the Dragons!!!
  2. Answer the Dragons’ questions
  3. Receive your Dragons’ Decision and feedback.

Remember … they’re out there…. and they’re waiting for YOU!