Goldsmith Technology Commercialization Model
Step 3: Venture Assessment
When market research is complete and the entrepreneur is convinced the product can be made and there is sufficient market demand to justify production, the final step of the investigation stage is the Venture Assessment. This step initially involves answering a series of questions in logical sequence: Does it make more sense to license this product opportunity to a company that can take it to market, or does the entrepreneur have the resources and ability to pursue a commercial venture?
If the answer is “yes” to licensing, the next questions are: who are the potential licensees, how much additional development work is required to secure a license, and what are the standard license fees and royalty rates in the industry? If, on the other hand, the entrepreneur decides to pursue a venture, the next questions are: what experts are needed, how much and what kind of capital will is required, and what role will the founder play in the venture? The ultimate question, however, is: will this venture opportunity generate sufficient return on investment to justify the risk?
Definition: The process of determining whether the business opportunity demonstrates profit potential.
Objective: The objective of the venture assessment is to determine if the concept offers sufficient profit potential to pursue additional investment of time and money for additional research.
Product: The product of this step is a brief description of the business model.
Business Activities
The research activities common to this step are those necessary to demonstrate that the concept will generate a profit and that the organization is capable of taking the product to market.
During the conceptual phase, at least the following must be completed:
- Identify financial, physical, and human resources required for commercialization
- Identify the status of intellectual property requirements
- Establish a positive profit potential
Milestones: Preliminary cost and revenue estimate
Funding Sources: Personal finance, Friends and family
Business Information: Completion of the conceptual business step will usually result in an estimate of the revenues and costs of product sales, identification of source and use of capital for the development phase.
Key Questions
Do you have experience in launching a business enterprise?
Does this venture appear to have profit potential?
Are you the right person to commercialize the product?
Is your enterprise the right one to commercialize the product?
Have you estimated the resources (capital and service providers) required to launch your venture?
Have you researched the intellectual property considerations?