2 - Recognizing Opportunity

Summary

Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.

Samuel Smiles (Scottish author 1812–1904)

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Entrepreneur’s Diary

I think that I have developed a disruptive technology for producing fish in an indoor water-recirculation system. My design dramatically reduces the costs and complexity associated with the water-reconditioning equipment used in indoor fish systems. My design uses less space, is more environmentally compatible, is more reliable, and uses much less energy than other systems that most people are using for this purpose. As far as I can tell, there is nothing that our system doesn’t do better than any other system anybody is already using. What I don’t have is a practical means of demonstrating this technology. It is tough to be the groundbreaker. How then can I proceed? The producers that are using the technology that I plan to replace aren’t willing to convert their system to my system, because it takes them out of production for a considerable time, and to them, my system is unproven and therefore introduces a risk that they don’t have now.

So how do I demonstrate my technology? I have to become my own customer. I am going to have to build a fish farm that features my technology and its benefits. Where do I begin? I have to design a large-scale facility capable of making a profit, then build it, and then operate it. Now, I have to ask myself, “What business am I in? The system technology business or the fish business?” Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. The truth is that I was about to be in both businesses. My immediate focus, however, was on the fish business. That is where the long-term, continual profits lie and where I pitched my investment proposal to investors. Apparently, I had just recognized my opportunity. Recognizing opportunity, preferably centered around some type of disruptive technology, is what Chapter 2 is all about. But what’s a disruptive technology? I’ll try to answer that question for you in this chapter and how it applies to a start-up.