WEEK-10

The last topic in this course was about designing entrepreneur fundraising campaigns. The tutor defined fundraising as a set of activities which are carried out to access financial resources within a specified period to achieve some set goals. I learned about the internal and external sources of finance. Some of the internal sources which I was interested in using our own money, crowdfunding and grants. Own money represents personal funds from savings, inheritance, personal credit cards, etc.  Crowdfunding is about using the general public to fund projects. Grants come from the government, charities and the local authorities. The amount raised by these sources are not fixed, and they depend on the providers.

WEEK-9

We were approaching the end of the unit when we were introduced to a very thought-provoking topic; Marketing. Important ideas from the topic were; understanding the target markets, defining marketing, competitor analysis, 4ps of marketing, Entrepreneurial marketing campaigns and design as communication. Marketing is the management process which identifies and supplies the customer requirements effectively. A target market is a market which a marketing campaign is aimed at. I learned that the best way to identify competitors is to read about them from their websites and compare what you do with what they do. In marketing, the product, price, promotion and place are the main concepts which facilitate the marketing process and campaigns.

I now know that as a marketer I have to be a good communicator so that I can communicate innovation to the product/service users.

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WEEK-8

The tutor taught about learning launch, real launch and launch readiness plan. I had always thought it is about how much you sell to the customers, but I got shocked to know that it is about how much you learn before you present a product to the customers. A learning launch is like an experiment in the marketplace which is cheap and easy to understand. To plan a learning launch, the first question to ask is what product or service will be sold. The second important thing is to do an assumption testing then determine the metrics to measure the success of the assumptions being tested and determining the financial requirements. A real launch is done after some iterations of the learning launch, and it has to be planned effectively. The aim for real launch is to offer a new product to the real users, and it has to build momentum.

WEEK-7

Week 7 was about design prototype. I was ready to make a design prototype by the end of the week. I was excited to understand how to develop a concept when analyzing data. Concept development is a technique used to choose the best ideas from the previous design thinking tools then evaluating them using the business and customer criteria. The previous tools are combined to create discrete concepts. The week got more enjoyable when we created a dessert using the concept development technique. I also discovered that assumption testing is crucial when making a design prototype and the assumptions must be articulate. After testing the assumptions, rapid prototyping is done. This means the concepts are manifested quickly and roughly through an iterative process. Early prototyping is done on a paper and it is very rough and in 2D. The later rapid prototype is refined, and it has more features. Some of the advantages of prototyping included the ability to make a tangible product to the customers, early identification of flaws and the ability to visualize the thoughts of a design thinker.