Formulating for Success!

New Venture Creation

Course Description

Do you have a new product idea? This course is designed for entrepreneurs who desire the practical tools necessary to transform their product idea into a marketed and commercial product. We review the basic steps of this journey including- how to assess the commercial potential for your product through consumer research, how to obtain capital funds to finance your product development, how to protect your idea through patenting, how to best market and advertise your product, and best options for manufacturing and distributing your product to the marketplace. 

• how to develop a market and competitive study
• understanding consumer needs
• conducting effective consumer surveys
• small business grants and loan opportunities
• funding through venture capitalists
• how to conduct a patent search, filings, and costs
• advertising options- free and fee based
• developing product specifications
• identifying prototype manufacturers
• low cost distribution options 

Course Outcome

After completing New Venture Creation, students will be equipped with a basic understanding of the following:

• How to develop a marketing plan
• How to assess your product's commercial potential
• How to identify startup capital sources
• How to patent your product idea
• How to develop prototypes for demonstration purposes
• Options for advertising and distribution

Recommended Prerequisites

• No prior experience necessary

Assessment

Students will be assigned 6 homework assignments, and 1 final project.

Syllabus

Lesson 1- Concept Validation - Validating our product concept is important for beginning a new product development. In this lesson, we review market assessment, competitive studies and intelligence, and consumer research techniques. All of these tools are necessary to adequately determine your product's commercial potential

Lesson 2- Securing Startup Funds - This chapter examines avenues for acquiring capital that can be made available to small businesses, i.e. grants, the Small Business Administrations, bank loans, venture capitalists, and personal funds.

Lesson 3- Protecting Your Idea - This chapter reviews basic patent fundamentals, your rights, how to conduct a patent search, how to patent your invention, patent filing costs, and options other than patenting.

Lesson 4- Marketing and Advertising - In this lesson, we will examine the two target groups (consumers and businesses) and the various methods of reaching these groups (Internet, television, and print media).

Lesson 5- Manufacturing and Distribution - In this chapter, we examine how to develop your product package (specification, materials of construction, and drawing), getting it ready for prototype manufacture, and various methods of managing and distributing your product to the market.

Lesson 6- Marketing Plan Development - This lesson teaches the fundamentals of developing a marketing plan for your new product or service. This includes financial data, product data, sales and distribution data, and promotional strategy. We present various market plans from various industries and sectors as case studies.

Lesson 7- Review - This lesson is a review of the overall new product development process applied to entrepreneurs. We summarize content from previous chapters and end with a Final Project

Course Delivery

This course is Instructor-led and delivered through our award-winning online Learning Management System. See our FAQ for more details.

Education Credit

This course has 20 contact hours and can be used for 2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Course Registration

Course only: $49

Course + Certificate: $99