The teacher with the red pen
Wendy Willems, teamlead business development LIOF
"The teacher with the red pen. I've heard it more than once. Why does this actually have a negative undertone? I think the entrepreneurs I work with are always happy with the result: a solid, complete business plan followed by hopefully an approved application for a grant or funding!
So why "the teacher with the red pen" anyway? As an entrepreneur, you often have a technical, academic or just professional background and experience. This also often means that you have a different perspective than, say, an investor or someone from an assessment committee. As a business developer, I can help you take a broader and more market-oriented view.
I'll have to look that up, though....
The same goes for me. As an outsider without substantive knowledge, I can quickly see what's missing from a plan. Do I have to Google what a particular term means at least once for every paragraph? That is often not good news. Even an investor or committee member often does not have all the knowledge to understand the sometimes overly technical plans. Or simply: no time. A few red lines can then quickly make your plan clearer ...
What does an investor want to hear?
Since 3 years LIOF is 1 of the initiators of MedLim. An acceleration program for medtech startups around the world. I myself have a keen interest in health, but no medical or technology background. Therefore, my role is not to tell entrepreneurs how to set up a clinical trial. For that, we work with Medtronic Bakken Research Center and other partners. What I do is explain to entrepreneurs what an investor wants to hear. Or I put them in touch with investors or other stakeholders, such as a key opinion leader from the hospital.
Make sure you know what your customer wants
It is extremely important to start talking to your potential customer very early in the development process. And I don't mean with 1 or 2 potential customers, but with 40 or so. This is something many entrepreneurs forget. Maybe you recognize this: you want to get started, move on, move on to the next step - and not spend too much time on this first phase. While that very phase is so important.
Above all it means: listening carefully
Do you engage in conversation? Then you might catch yourself talking endlessly about your invention or technology out of enthusiasm. Wonderful, of course. But in that start-up phase, you have to ask a lot of questions. And listen as well as you can. Listening to see if that customer really has a problem that you are solving with your idea. For example, is your product very expensive to develop, but only a "nice to have" for the customer? Then chances are slim that that customer is willing to pay for it. You want to discover that in time.
"A few red lines can often actually make your plan clearer
On the photo: MedLim team edition 2023.
Wonderful to see how much this can yield
One of the things I teach entrepreneurs is to do this market research at the right time and in the right way. Last year I went through this process with a cardiologist. I was amazed at how someone who is so good at her job is also so good at this market research. She put her network to use and within a few weeks she had collected a database of information. This now helps her choose which features the product should and should not include in the initial phase to solve her future customers' problem. I get so excited about that! And I love watching her reap the benefits of this, both in the development of the product and the conversations with investors.
Who is not (yet) strong, must be smart
Of course, as an entrepreneur you cannot be both the technician and the researcher and the financial expert and the marketing manager. The trick is then to gather a team around you to complement you in those areas where you are not so strong yourself. I also like to be part of the team. My goal is to make you even better as an entrepreneur. And for that I will gladly put a few stripes!
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