At the 19th annual national Chinese Association for Science and Technology, Dr. Zhiyong Li of SAS moderated an Entrepreneurship panel including executives (l - r):
Ms. Grace Ueng, Founder and CEO, Savvy Marketing Group
Dr. Frank Wang, President, CEO, and Founder of BioMedomics
Dr. Prabha Fernandez, CEO and President of Cempra Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Li: What are the key steps to start a business?
Dr. Fernandez : First key step is to get both the IP and the team. Two things you absolutely must have. Cannot raise money without that. IP has to be very strong when it will be approved, not necessarily at that instant. Team must be strong, loyal to you, and one you can trust. As you will be multi tasking and there will not be time to do everything.
Dr. Wang: When you start a business, the key step is you must have an idea that can make money. That is the starting point. After that, you must have passion that you can go along with the idea and do it. Then you can come up with the funding and team and the IP. Then comes down to execution by the people. I learned a lot in this area in my startups - really comes down to who can work with you, who is good with you and loyal with you.
Ms. Ueng: In addition to having an innovative technology/solution, there needs to be a market need for the product you are going to deliver. You should assess the market for what your technology solves. Understand what other competitors there are that offer a similar solution.
So often entrepreneurs tell me they are definitively the best and dismiss other players or believe that they simply don't have competitors. Then is there really a market need for your solution? There usually are others that do something similar things to what you are doing, as that validates the market opportunity.
Once you properly conduct a market assessment, then you must ask 'what is my unique selling proposition (USP)'? And how do I communicate it & package it up? There are so many brilliant technologists, but only a small percentage of them can clearly and concisely articulate what their product does for their end user.
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