Exploring Opportunity and Viability

This unit introduces foundational entrepreneurship concepts and skills used to discover, evaluate, and validate business opportunities. Students learn industry and economic analysis, customer discovery, business model options, basic legal/IP considerations, team formation, supply chain and early financial planning to prepare for developing a formal business plan in subsequent units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze economic trends and industry structure to produce a concise industry/opportunity assessment that identifies at least two viable opportunity spaces and key forces affecting growth
• Conduct customer discovery and basic market validation (interviews, personas, or surveys) to generate a demand estimate and document three validated customer needs that guide an MVP
• Evaluate alternative business models, distribution/supply chain options, legal business forms, and intellectual property approaches to recommend a feasible business concept and protection strategy
• Apply team-formation principles and the components of an initial financial plan to assemble a draft go-to-market plan that outlines roles, revenue/expense assumptions, adoption strategy, and primary risk-mitigation measures