Evaluation

Understanding Evaluation

  • Evaluate the idea: What is the feasibility of the new business concept? Consider its practicality, cost, timeline, and potential return on investment.
  • Evaluate the market: What does the market research say? Assess the market size, its growth potential and trends. Identify too the competitors and your unique selling proposition.
  • Evaluate the audience: Who are the target customers? Understand their needs, preferences, demographics, buying habits, and potential response to the new product.

Importance of Evaluation in Business Pitch

  • Risk Management: Quality evaluation can highlight potential risks, their impacts, and can help in devising mitigation strategies. A well-evaluated pitch can reduce the risk of failure.
  • Sound Decision Making: A thorough evaluation provides a robust framework for making key business decisions like pricing, market entry, target audience selection and can guide strategic operations.
  • Securing Investors: Convincing stakeholders or potential investors often depends on the strength of your evaluation. A comprehensive evaluation provides factual, reasoned argument to support your pitch.

Steps in the Evaluation Process

  • Defining criteria: Identify relevant criteria against which to evaluate the business concept. These might include costs, possible return on investment, market enthusiasm, and ease of execution.
  • Gathering information: Conduct thorough research to gather all necessary data to support your evaluation. This could include primary research like surveys and interviews, or secondary research from articles, reports, and industry data.
  • Analysis: Analyze the gathered information, draw conclusions, and prepare for presenting the evaluation.

Presenting an Evaluation

  • Clear Communication: Clearly articulate your findings, using factual evidence to support claims and estimates wherever possible.
  • Response to Concerns: Be prepared to answer queries and provide clarifications on your evaluation. This demonstrates transparency and can further strengthen your pitch.
  • Future Forecast: Include future predictions and potential scenarios based on current evaluation and trends. This can provide investors with a broader perspective of the venture’s potential success.