Strategy Roundtable For Entrepreneurs: New Assessment Tool For Entrepreneurs

We have done almost 90 roundtables so far and, based on this extensive experience of learning directly from entrepreneurs about their core issues, 1M/1M has just launched a new assessment tool for entrepreneurs.

It is a quick self-assessment that you can apply to calibrate where you are in your business-building process. We have also provided relevant 1M/1M curriculum modules that you can use to bridge the gaps in your knowledge and understanding of a robust entrepreneurship methodology. Please note, curriculum modules are only accessible to 1M/1M premium members.

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ShareVolution

As for the pitches today, first, Daniel McPherson from Australia pitched ShareVolution, an app store for the Microsoft SharePoint community. Daniel expects SharePoint’s cloud based solution provider eco-system to develop over the next few years. He wants to provide both a branded app store and white-labeled stores for developers to put on their respective sites.

There is one problem with the strategy, though. The SharePoint cloud eco-system is not sufficiently mature, and for Daniel to be able to realize his vision, he needs to get enough application developers active soon. My advice was to keep doing the SharePoint solution development and consulting work the company does today and develop the store project as a side effort until the market is ready. Cash needs to come into the business. For now, it won’t come in through the store.

Acelerar Technologies

Anupam Rajey from Lucknow, India, presented Acelerar Technologies, an outsourced accounting services BPO project from India. Anupam has serious segmentation issues. He is heading straight into an intensely competitive market without adequate differentiation or competitive positioning. I asked him to review the TrueCFO project in my Vision India 2020 book. In it, I have mapped out a similar project, but with a clear delineation of the segmentation and positioning as well as a go-to-market strategy. I advised Anupam to come up with a 2011 strategy. He currently has a 1999 strategy.

MyTab

Next, Heddi Cundle from San Francisco, California, discussed MyTab, an online gift-registry of sorts to raise money for travel. Heddi wants to do this, that and the other from wedding registry to charity donations. I asked her to focus squarely on just travel. In addition, her segmentation strikes me as incorrect. Those who need to raise money for travel, most likely, are the disposable income strapped gen Y, as opposed to the gen X or baby-boomers, whom she wants to target the solution to. The idea is interesting, but needs positioning and validation with the right set of target customers.

CareerDhaba

Then, Harshil Parikh, from Bombay, India, pitched CareerDhaba, an online solution for career counseling for the Indian student population in the 16-25 age group. This strikes me as yet another entrepreneur who needs a tightening of his segmentation big time. Age 16 kids have very different career counseling needs from age 18 kids. Age 18 is worried about college and that in itself is a sizable market. I asked Harshil to focus his entire product and go-to-market strategy on the college-bound age 18 market and develop his assessment module, vertical search engine for colleges and trust network to address the needs of that market and that market alone.

Green Earth Aerogels

Last up, Fortunato Cardenas from Barcelona, Spain, presented Green Earth Aerogels, a nano-materials company in Barcelona, Spain focused on developing insulation gels from rice. Fortunato is facing a dreadful economic climate in Spain — a meltdown of sorts, really — and is looking for U.S. partners to help bring his product to market. So, if you happen to be an expert in nano materials and green buildings, please feel free to contact him through his website.

You can select the business you like best of those discussed today through a poll on the 1M/1M Facebook page. The recording of today’s roundtable can be found here. Recordings of previous roundtables are all available here. We will be holding future roundtables at 8 a.m. PDT on the following dates:

Thursday, June 23, 2011: Register Here

Thursday, June 30, 2011: Register Here

Thursday, July 21, 2011: Register Here
Thursday, July 28, 2011: Register Here

And you can sign up for the 1M/1M premium program here.

Sramana Mitra is the founder of the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) initiative, an educational, business development and incubation program that aims to help one million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant, she writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy and is author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series and Vision India 2020. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. As an entrepreneur CEO, she ran three companies: DAIS, Intarka and Uuma. She has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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