Discover Program
Purpose of project
We know that the top two reasons startups fail, according to CBInsights, is 1) they run out of cash and 2) no market need.
Airdrie took the lead on a collaborative project to develop and deliver curriculum that fills a gap across Southern Alberta: too many entrepreneurs are not moving from intuition to evidence in their business development.
This business development gap often manifests as a significant number of businesses, after opening, approaching entrepreneur supports organizations with what appears to be a ‘marketing problem’. However, upon closer examination, it becomes evident that their challenge may stem from a deficiency in consumer demand or a lack of alignment between their product/service and the market.
The Discover Program equips entrepreneurs with the competencies and confidence to test their business ideas. Participants are guided to develop a one-page business plan to deconstruct their idea into its key assumptions, identify who their customers are and conduct tests for desirability, feasibility and viability.
Visit www.airdriecommon.ca/discover to see program details.
Partnership and stakeholder engagement
Content development (total cost of $12,520) was cost-shared amongst four partners: APEX Alberta (southeast Alberta), CARIN (central Alberta), RINSA (southern Alberta) and Airdrie. The source funding for all four partners was Alberta Innovates, who promote collaboration when seeking funding.
Two of the partners led the curriculum development to ensure content was relevant outside of our individual communities. Each partner owns a version of the program and are in different stages of execution.
Partnership allowed us to do more for less and extend reach to entrepreneurs. Airdrie took the role of project lead and was the first to deliver the curriculum. Since launching in fall 2023, APEX Alberta delivered the program to economic development/innovation providers who meet with clients and will focus on entrepreneurs in 2024. CARIN is incorporating the curriculum into their Catalyst Incubator for both new ventures and incubator graduates.
We feel encouraged that additional municipalities in northern Alberta (not initial project partners) are also utilizing this curriculum and finding it helpful.
Effectiveness / meeting objectives
The outcomes we achieved across Southern Alberta include:
- More entrepreneurs moving from intuition to evidence in the business development process, with potential to reduce the failure rate for startups and increase the number approved for financing.
- Increase in the number and quality of small businesses, and tech enabled startups, as they de-risked their ideas.
- Improved competencies and confidence to test business ideas, proceeding from idea to launch with less risk and at a lower cost. Alternatively, walking away from ideas with low viability more quickly.
- Existing businesses developed competencies to revisit their business model regularly and/or validate the addition of a new product/service.
- Service partners who work with entrepreneurs were provided with training and a common language to better serve clients with testing business ideas.
Please see the outcomes for Airdrie’s pilot in the additional materials.
Challenges and changes made
The primary challenge for this project was to increase awareness of an alternative approach to business development. The business development practices in the Discover program are only a decade old, developed by author and innovator David J. Bland. We see this approach to testing business ideas as the future of innovation and entrepreneurship, as validating an idea is so much bigger than traditional marketing research and business plan development processes. Please see additional materials for more information.
