Entrepreneurship Workshop: Assessing Customer Needs and Determining Market Size Sep 30, 2017

MEDx, along with the Pratt School of Engineering and the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative, is sponsoring the 2017 Entrepreneurship Workshop Series. September's workshop is "Assessing Customer Needs and Determining Market Size," presented by David Christie, MBA, BSc.

As an inventor and/or entreprenuer, you imagine better ways to do things and create the tools to do so. If you wish to move your invention from the lab-bench into the hands of customers, then you have an interesting and challenging journey ahead. To accelerate that journey and smooth out the bumps in the road, it is best to put yourself in your customer's shoes. Assessing customer needs begins with hypotheses on who your customer is, the pain they feel that only you can resolve, your positioning with them and the value you uniquely deliver. Determining market size begins with assumptions on the segments you may reach, learning what you cannot reach, then creating hypotheses on pricing and the number of units to be sold.

Building from a foundation of well-proven market validation and assessment tools, proven to work with any type of technology start-up, this workshop takes simple concepts and focuses on practical application. These concepts can be applied early at the idea stage, anytime during product development, in preparation for product launch, or to increase sales in the market.

David Christie has helped hundreds of inventors and entrepreneurs to understand their customers and markets, thereby increasing the speed and certainty of their commercialization journey. As an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Wavefront, Canada's National Centre of Excellence for Wireless Innovation and Commercialization, he teaches their Market Validation Program coast-to-coast, and coaches many wireless technology startups. His active consulting practice focuses on early-stage and emerging medical technology companies; helping them create and execute their go-to-market plans. His clients also include world leaders like Abbott and Teleflex. As President, CEO and Director of a publicly traded medical device company, he doubled revenue in two years. He was sales manager-of-the-year for three consecutive years with Baxter Corporation. His forte is in implementing strategic change, delivering financial results, and effectively commercializing technology. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Montana and his Master of Business Administration from the University of British Columbia. 

This event is a workshop and will require significant engagement from attendees. Ideally each attendee (or small group) will arrive with a business concept in hand, ready to apply the lessons of the workshop in real-time. Although attendees will be offered the opportunity to share concepts and ideas with the group, no public disclosure is required.

This workshop will take place on Saturday, September 30th, from 11am-3pm in Schiciano Auditorium, Fitzpatrick CIEMAS Building. Lunch will be provided. Regristration is required.