Page 15 - Transforming an Idea Into a Business with Design Thinking

xiv ◾ Foreword

Even though technology plays a dominant role in emerging business
models (and will continue to do so), the focus on human centricity has
never been more pronounced. Design Thinking puts the importance of
human centricity at the core of problem solving. Focusing on the user’ s cur-
rent journey in order to identify opportunities and craft a vision for future
experiences is an extremely valuable way of approaching a new venture.
Today, user experience is everything.

There are many books out there about Design Thinking, agile develop-
ment, and business models. But this book brings the three concepts together
in an easy-to-use, structured framework that adds tremendous value to the
entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The step-by-step approach devised by Mashhood will be extremely useful
for budding entrepreneurs and product managers alike.

This book is unique in its bringing a holistic framework together. Many
entrepreneurship books focus on specific angles of a new venture – fund-
ing, financial projections, marketing, business regulations, registration, and
so on. Those are all very valuable, but they address only the “ How” of a
new venture. This book will help uncover the “ Why.”

Mashhood’ s business model framework is grounded in the value proposi-
tion for the key stakeholders, and it will enable entrepreneurs to have hon-
est conversations about what makes their idea tick. This framework very
succinctly places value at the center and helps entrepreneurial teams figure
out how to not just create and deliver the value but also how to capture and
fund the value.

In addition, the framework also brings forth the importance of looking
beyond an entrepreneur’ s idea into the key trends impacting his or her busi-
ness model today and tomorrow.

This book also walks the reader through each step and how to think
about particular aspects of the business.

Mashhood’ s unique approach pushes the entrepreneurial team into
explicitly thinking about assumptions they are making in all aspects of the
venture and into documenting them so they do not drop the ball as the
craziness of the new venture creation envelops their lives. This is one of the
most important and most easily forgotten aspects of many new ventures.
Having an account of these assumptions will help entrepreneurs in under-
standing and mitigating risks.

Raising money for start-ups is what I have done all my life. Having raised
close to $100 million for seven start-ups (and having advised many more), I
can tell you that it all comes down to your ability to tell a compelling story.