The following curriculum was prepared for WeWork:
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNICATION
Overview:
This program is intended to help support entrepreneurs with defining themselves and effectively sharing their ideas with potential customers, investors, and partners. It will take an idea from start to finish, assessing, determining and supporting communicative needs at each step. The program can be presented as a series of individual seminars or as a semester-long class.
Elements:
While the program is intended to track and respond directly to the needs of those involved, it will generally include the following elements:
Character analysis/Biography – Another key element of a media kit is a biography of the entrepreneur. As with other elements, the process of assessment will yield focus and clarity of purpose and allow and encourage the entrepreneur to find and promote personal and professional proclivities that work well with the product and the market. Also, in learning how to tell one’s own story, entrepreneurs become more effective at assessing those proposed by others.
Problem-Solution essay – This tool will be used to assess the market, determine an issue that can be dealt with through the entrepreneur’s idea and proposing that idea to market.
Market research/Synthesis – This tool will encourage further assessment of the market, with an eye towards effective and appropriate handling of research materials in a contemporary context. Once established, the source materials will be annotated and synthesized into a market assessment that can help the entrepreneur establish him/herself and his/her plans for development.
Audience analysis – This segment will encourage the entrepreneur to asses his/her potential customers in order to more effectively provide for their actual needs (in addition to those he/she proposed above). It serves as the obverse of the above exercise in that it focuses more on the end user as opposed to the producer.
Negotiation – Once the audience has been determined, it is important to be able to make them feel that they will benefit from idea being proposed and that it can in fact help them deal with the alleged problem that has been put forward. Negotiation skills also help with acquiring funding and other means of support.
Proposal – This is the “rocket pitch”- a brief but effective corporate summary in which the previous research is condensed into a statement that focuses on the solution rather than the apparent problem and seeks to set the new idea apart from other elements in a given space. This piece is vital in that it not only encourages the entrepreneur to focus his/her idea but also serves as the basis for marketing and other promotion, publicity, and sales.
Product review – Even for those who create it, an objective assessment of a product is vital for a successful launch. Through the analysis of other items and ideas with which the entrepreneur may not be so connected, the entrepreneur will come to see the elements and exercises involved in creating such a review so that they can use it to improve and tune their idea/product and also react to the criticisms of others more effectively.
Press release – Especially as many entrepreneurs serve as their own marketing departments, the ability to craft an appropriate press release and to know how to distribute it effectively are key skills. Even if the producer is able to hire professional public relations support, understanding this tool is vital to maintain and support a unified public image for the company as a whole.
Blogging – Regardless of who is promoting the idea, or who takes ownership of it, the entrepreneur needs o maintain a connection to it in order to keep it in the forefront of the popular market and personal memory and also to maintain and support their personal brand. This element will focus on the nuts and bolts of writing (grammar, etc.) so that entrepreneurs can communicate effectively on a regular basis.
Social media – As it is the primary means of communication for many individuals and corporations, a basic understanding of the many available options is important in order to ensure that the idea is being marketed and distributed through the most appropriate means.
Grant proposal – As many entrepreneurs must seek outside funding, an understanding of the basics of grants is essential. This element can also be useful for those seeking venture capital.
Case study – A culminating project will involve designing and drafting a case study regarding the particular idea that is being presented. This study will include details regarding the initial goal of the entrepreneur (market research; analysis; proposal), what it was about them that made them believe they were most appropriate to bring it to market (biography), what challenges they faced (problem-solution), what research they conducted before proceeding, their findings, and how those findings determined their path forward (research; analysis), the plan and the individual steps involved therein (proposal), any partners who were enlisted (biography, proposal), sources of funding (grant proposal) and the results thus far. Again, by being able to take an objective look at their own process (and the process in general), entrepreneurs will be better prepared to proceed with their own ideas and to engage and interact with those of others as well.
At the end of this program, entrepreneurs should have a more solid understanding of the many ways in which communications matters to their endeavors and a greater confidence in handling at least part of the messaging burden themselves. From appropriate research methods to proper grammar and punctuation, the smallest slip can men the difference between being bought out and being run over, so communication in its myriad forms is key to success as an entrepreneur and as an individual.
