Is your advantage superior and sustainable?

Objectives• Examine your competitive advantage at

the opportunity identification phase of your new venture creation activities

MacroeconomicChange

Entrepreneurial Motivation

Entrepreneurial Behavior

Industry

Condition

IndustryStatus

Opportunity Identification

ProblemSolutionAdvantageTeam

ValueInnovation

Competition

The Opportunity Analysis CanvasTM

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Building competitive advantage• Begin with a customer-validated

perspective on the problem for your planned solution

• Invest time and resources into building the venture

• To understand your advantage versus competitors, consider the: – Degree of the advantage; and the – Sustainability of that advantage.

The degree of your advantage?• A product or service with better features or

functions• A sustainably lower price for the customer

based on the value created for them– Due to your operations or other cost control

strategies

• A rareness factor, meaning that competitors cannot offer the same set of values to this customer

The sustainability of your advantage?• Sustainability determines the likelihood of

competitors replicating or surpassing your venture

• How easily can a competitor copy/exceed your – Resources, – Know-how, – Operations, – Relationships– etc.?

Sources of competitive advantageSpecialization

Sources of competitive advantageSpecialization

• Taiwan’s KKBOX’s competitive advantage against Western competitors like Spotify is its ability to sign local music labels

kkbox.com

Sources of competitive advantageLocalization

Sources of competitive advantageTeam• CTO: Past CTO & co-founder of an electric aircraft platform company• CFO: Past CFO for Ford of Southern Africa ($3B)• Chief Designer: Past Director of Design at the Mazda North American

Design Center. Past designer with GM and Volkswagen.• VP of Manufacturing: Past production lead with Lexus, Toyota, Volvo,

and Renault (350,000+ vehicles/yr.)• VP of Supply Chain: Past CPO for Sony Ericsson• VP of Human Resources: Director of staffing operations for Google

teslamotors.com

Summary• Competitive advantage depends on its degree and sustainability– Are you significantly better, cheaper, rarer, etc.?– How will you maintain or improve your position?

• Explore sources of competitive advantage– Specialization– Localization– Team– Etc.