Market Opportunity: The Early Adopter

Early adopters are prepared to work with your minimum viable product and want something they can put into action – whether to solve a pressing problem or to satisfy an immediate need or to play to a serious want or desire.  Winning over "first-time buyers" is the challenge of entrepreneurial marketing – namely, how to crack the code to successfully enter and penetrate a market with severely limited resources, no brand presence, and lacking hands-on experience in selling to a new breed of customer. This program focuses on how innovative and early stage companies commercialize new products with emphasis on entrepreneurial strategies and business models aimed at scaling a market for profitability while minimizing risk.         

Participants experience a fast-moving no holds-barred 2-day journey peppered with relevant and pressing topics in entrepreneurial marketing that are dissected from a decision-making or managerial perspective.  The program is built around six key questions: 

[1] How do I perform market research?

[2] How do I validate a market and define a segment?  

[3] How do I choose the right channel strategy?

[4] How do I utilize cost-effective digital marketing methods?

[5] How do I configure the product offering for quick sale?

[6] How do I decide on a business model that delivers increasing profitability?   

The format is 100% interactive.  Real life situations come alive.  Team exercises pick up the pace including “live cases” with entrepreneurs showcasing their venture and answering questions. Venture teams analyze and make recommendations.   

Senior Professor of Practice, Dale Falcinelli, is a longstanding member of the Lehigh MBA faculty and creator of VentureSeries.  Having served many hundreds of CEOs and boards of emerging growth and early stage companies, he brings many decades of management consulting and investment banking experience into the classroom.  Dale is well-known in the venture capital community and has lectured at the Wharton School at Philadelphia and San Francisco campuses.   An undergraduate and graduate alumni of Lehigh, Dale is the recipient of many awards and is recognized by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern PA for his contributions to the Lehigh Valley business community.  He has served on numerous corporate boards and appeared on Fox Business, A&E, and PBS.   

This program is designed for entrepreneurially-spirited C-level executives and senior managers of growth enterprises as well as founders of early stage companies as part of our Executive Certificate in Corporate Entrepreneurship.