When a younger cousin of mine approached me with a technology-based business idea, unique in its own right, I asked him to prepare a pitch deck for it. He wanted to know what 'pitch' was and how to do it. I informed that what he described to me for the last half an hour in a written form, would be a prototype. When he would make a slide with the gist of the prototype, it would generally be named pitch. A pitch deck basically is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote or Prezi used to provide your audience with a quick overview/short summary of your startup, business venture and company. You will usually use your pitch during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors or clients. According to famous evangelist and author, Guy Kawasaki, who is also an American marketing specialist and Silicon Valley venture capitalist: pitch should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes and contain no font smaller than thirty points.Â
This is applicable for any presentation to reach agreement: for example, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership etc. Whereas a prototype is an early sample, model or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. Though the prototype is mostly used in the production sector, in some cases, for service-oriented business, professionals use this term as well.
My cousin further asked me, then, how about 'Business Plan'? I answered pitch and prototype are the first steps of a business plan, but a business plan is a huge thing because people have to research and work more on it. It needs to conduct market survey/study, marketing plan/strategy, feasibility study, investment procedure, fixed assets, financial costing, bank loan and in some contexts, environmental impact assessment and so forth. However, for small business or for startup, initially, entrepreneurs do not need it in detail. And I add that in the development sector, the pitch and prototype are usually termed a concept note and business plan matter is dubbed a project proposal. In general, prototype and concept notes should be within two to five pages, but a business plan and project proposal's pages could be up to 50 pages or even more. You may also hear about the term 'infographics' which means making complex information eye-catching, shareable and easily understandable. Most importantly, they play a crucial role in the increasingly visual world of marketing. Through this, entrepreneurs can show up their idea and invention through various graphical presentations.
I actually tried to make him understand as simply as possible without resorting to  any academic and theory-based approach. But the aforementioned terms have their own formats and vary from one company to another, one organisation to another. The similarities concerning a title, aim/objective, goal, ways to implement, budgeting are there. So, my suggestion is that, if anybody has any idea either in a business venture or social development, just write it down with the tentative format and share it with your friends and families and those whom you know are best suitable - who are doing business - for working on similar ideas.
There is a fear, though, that if someone shares his/her thought or idea, it may be hacked. No doubt, chances are there. These are rare, though. Rather, it reshapes and matures the idea, enhances creativity alongside assisting in plugging the loophole. Let me share my experiences. I had three ideas and shared them with others. Some of them enjoyed the huge media coverage but still no one copied them. If someone has uniqueness, people can't copy it.Â
There are some measures to take the ownership of the idea or invention through Intellectual Property Rights viz. patent, trademark and copyright laws etc. These are the government approved rules and regulations to protect proprietorship. Anybody can apply to attain service marks, for instance, the sign ® stands for the 'Register', but before that one has to acquire â„¢ sign which stands for 'Trademark' first. These services in Bangladesh are performed through the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT) of the Ministry of Industry. Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trademark already in use or proposed to be used in Bangladesh may apply in writing for registration of a Trademark in a prescribed manner. An applicant has to lodge for the registration with subsequent fees for the trademark to the Trademark Registry Wing of the DPDT at Motijheel, Dhaka. The Copyright Office Bangladesh at National Library Building, Agargaon, Dhaka is responsible for maintaining the register of 'Copyrighted', the sign © which is for films, literature, plays, artistry, radio, TV airing, software and website etc.Â
And if someone wants to publish a book or a book-like product like a journal, periodical, research report, s/he can register for ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and can get the 11 digit number through applying at the National Library of Bangladesh, Directorate of Archives & Libraries of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The Bangladesh Copyright and IP Forum (BCIPF) advocates IPR (intellectual property rights) protection, awareness and enforcement. It has a legal aid centre under the name 'IP Plus Law Clinic' which provides pro bono services to startup businesses and creative individuals. There are various law firms in the country which work on the issues for fees.
Last but not least, one easy but helpful way to generate an idea in entrepreneurship is to Google your thinking. Just write it down what is in your mind about the thought and can include 'your idea + Bangladesh' to downsize the idea and to get whether it is done in the country. You will get thousands of links and can be sure whether your idea was worked on before nationally or internationally. People can write down 'sample pitch/prototype/ business plan or concept note/ project proposal/ event proposal + his/her idea' to further concise it. One further recommendation for a young entrepreneur is that don't try to copy others or follow others' idea. Because each and every person has his/her own uniqueness that you may not have. So what you have, what you desire and can be able to do, think about it? Hopefully, you will clinch an idea, fine-tune it and can start working on it.
The writer is a freelance journalist, CEO of NewsfeedPR and a fellow alumnus of International Exchange Alumni of U.S. Department of State.
radiadhk@gmail.com.
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Tuning an idea of youth entrepreneurship
Syed Rabius Shams | Published: January 11, 2017 19:50:49 | Updated: October 23, 2017 01:20:31
Tuning an idea of youth entrepreneurship
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