Business Founding Case, Part 1: Early Market Research
Case Name: Leslie Bowen, PhD
Description: 41-year-old Leslie Bowen, an associate professor and neuroscientist at a university, has a business idea based on selling lab-grown neurons that she will produce using a novel approach.
Progress to Date: Leslie has discussed her idea to start a business with her university Technology Transfer Office representative, Laila Robinson. Laila helped Leslie realize that entrepreneurship is a path she is interested in pursuing in order to apply her research and contribute to clinical advances by researchers who use her lab-grown neurons. Laila helped Leslie understand that she can mitigate the personal financial risk of starting a business and that entrepreneurship has advantages for women with children. These factors helped solidify Leslie’s commitment to forming a business.
Scenario, Part 1: After Leslie presents her idea to Laila Robinson at the Technology Transfer Office, Laila describes several areas of early market research for Leslie to pursue to assess the business potential of her idea.
It may seem early, but doing some research to make sure there is a need and a market for your idea is important. How large is the market for these neurons, and are you sure it is a unique idea? You said that people in your field will want lab-grown neurons. What about other fields?
I think the market will be sizable, given the neurons’ potential for use in many different areas of clinical research. I know it is a unique idea. It’s based on a process I invented, and I’ve investigated it to make sure no one else has thought of doing it this way.
Good. You have to investigate whether researchers would be able to afford them too. Can they be mass-produced? How much of a supply would a typical researcher need?
I don’t know that yet. I’d need to work with an engineer to design an easily scalable manufacturing process. I keep improving it every time I run into problems. I’d have to talk to my potential customers as well to better understand their needs.
These are the types of questions you should try to answer before starting a business. The answers will give you some idea of whether entrepreneurship is worth the effort. I’ll give you a list to consider. Let’s meet again and talk about what you learn.
Laila’s list of early market research topics
View Part 2 of this case
