Blogs

Originally posted in our March 2023 Top of Mind Newsletter. So you’re setting out to test an assumption that you hope will solve a problem in the world that others will value. As we reflected in the previous article, it is important to start testing ideas rather than carefully planning, especially in the early stages of an idea. But knowing how potential users will interact with the concept is also essential. If you’re establishing a new…

Originally posted in our February 2023 Top of Mind Newsletter. The line between product and service has become a continuum in recent years, and as such, we have to adjust how we conceptualize new ventures. As the services organizations provide become more complex, there is a potential strain on both the end user and the team propping up the internal process. Enter service design. “[L]eaving services to individual talent and managing the pieces rather than the…

Originally posted in our July 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Startups are often seen as risky, requiring significant time and monetary investment to get going. While that’s not an entirely false perception, we at ELI have found that there is much more we, as educators and entrepreneurial support workers, can do to prepare someone for the trials of starting a fledgling business. In this piece from CB Insights, we see the top 12 reasons (by their…

Originally posted in our June 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. While we’re considering paths towards growth and innovation, we also need to think about developing effective systems to channel these goals. As this piece from 2019 suggests, many entrepreneurs treat each sale opportunity as a way to uniquely meet their clients’ needs. Initially, this is great for them to try out many little tweaks to their proposed solution. However, it very quickly limits you from scaling…

Originally posted in our May 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. After two full years of pandemic life, we can better reflect on how we as a society and as individuals handled ourselves. A stark contrast emerges between those who froze and those who found a way. Despite limitations to school or work, some of us found areas of our lives we could control, and made the most of a difficult solution. What was the difference? As…