ME3608 Technopreneurship

Instructor:
Mashal Tariq
 5 Steps to Building a Successful Niche
Business
• Unlike conglomerates that target the masses,
niche businesses cater to highly defined
markets that are often over-looked,
underserved or disenfranchised by larger
competitors.

• Here are 5 steps to make your niche business

a hit.
 1. Create a Simple Service
• A simple service is a singular offering that focuses
on the needs of a narrowly defined customer base.
1. Which can easily answer these questions:
2. Who needs your service?
3. What's uniquely useful about that service?
4. What makes your service better than your
competition?
• Fine-tune your brand name, website, and
marketing tactics to focus solely on selling your
unique specialization and expertise.
• Real World Example: 
• In 2004, my partners and I launched a typical "do
everything" video production company. After years of
under-performing, I transformed the company into a
single product specialist. While the vast majority of
video production companies still tout their large
service rosters, Sizzle it! has carved out a niche as the
only company that specializes in sizzle reels--stylized
3-to-5 minute product videos commonly used by PR
and marketing professionals. Result; Sizzle It! has
emerged as a go-to company for sizzle reels and
benefits from top keyword visibility on all major
search engines.
 2. Craft Your Niche Marketplace
• A niche marketplace is a small, specialized market segment within a
larger, viable commercial industry.
• When identifying the niche marketplace you wish to enter, consider the
following questions:
1. Who lives in your marketplace?
2. Why have they been underserved? How can you better serve them?
How can you unite them?
3. In short, why is your simple service the solution to their problem?
• Compile the data you collect to produce a detailed profile of your target
customer. Using the data from your customer profile, join or create online
groups, feeds and networks that are relevant to your simple service.
• Connect with your niche marketplace's key decision makers, enthusiasts,
and influencers using social networks such as Facebook , Ning , Twitter
 and MeetUp .
 3. Become the Niche's Leading Authority
• As the creator of your simple service, you offer your niche
marketplace valuable insight and advice. However, simply
proclaiming you are an expert will get you nowhere.
• Authenticity builds credibility. Relate to your constituents.
• Tell the story behind the founding of your simple service.
• What problems did you encounter?
• How did you solve them?
• Once you've perfected your message, disseminate relevant
content through "expert real estate" such as blogs, forums,
press releases, speaking engagements, newsletters, web
videos and podcasts.
• Real World Example: Joy Berry is a best-selling
author of children's books and, 
according to Scholastic , the inventor of self-help
books for kids. For over 30 years, Joy's advice and
media products have focused on helping parents to
raise responsible kids by teaching them the living
skills their children need to know at various
developmental stages. Result: Joy Berry has
connected to a worldwide audience and sold an
astonishing 85 million books.
 4. Be Specific, Distinctive and Relevant
• Seize every opportunity to point out why your service is a
better fit for your niche marketplace than competitive offerings.
• Take a good look at all of the components that make up your
simple service, from concept to manufacturing and distribution.
• What makes you stand out?
• What do you offer that competitors don't?
• Why are you more relevant to your niche marketplace?
• Use the answers to these questions as ammunition against the
competition. While a competitor may tout their "multi-service
one-stop-shop", your niche marketplace prefers a specialist.
• Your competitor may be a low-cost leader, but your niche
marketplace appreciates high quality craftsmanship.
 5. Copy, Paste, and Repeat
• Keep hammering your message home.
• Expand on your successes.
• Find innovative ways to grow your niche marketplace.
• Locate new avenues, channels and "expert real estate" to showcase your
simple service, its competitive advantages and your expertise.
• You know what's worked; now increase your exposure. Copy, paste, and
repeat.

• Real World Example: Google began as a simple service that could only

dream of being in the same league as companies such as Yahoo and
Microsoft. Today, Google has become the undisputed online advertising
titan by consistently developing, acquiring and partnering with high
trafficked online destinations that expand its AdWords program. Result:
Google generates billions of dollars per year in revenue
 Niche Marketing
• Niche Marketing is a special area of demand for a
product or service.
• A niche market is a specialized market in which a
limited and clearly defined range of product is sold
to a specific group of customers.
• Every product can be defined as its market niche.
Niche Market,
• need to specialize
• Need to be different
• be able to stand out from the crow
PURPOSE OF NICHE MARKETING
• The firm gains from the specialized expertise as well as
from the share markets which is relatively small segment.
• And the firms long term success depends on the skill set
and focus, which is the critical component of the firm.
ADVANTAGES
• The niche marketers develop over a period of time good
relation with their key customers to protect themselves
from any outside threat.
• Their business is very stable and experience no
fluctuations in performance.
• They are able to improve their position in the competitive
market.
 HOW TO IDENTIFY A NICHE?
• Try thinking of a segment of the broad search term.
• Focus on a specific geographical location
• Make solution for unique problems
• Listen your customers if exist
AN EXAMPLE :
General Term: Dog Training
Competition: 167,000,000
Specific Term: Bulldog Training
Competition: 23,300,000
Specific Location: Bulldog Training in Boston
Competition: 6,150,000
Specific Problem: Bulldog Stop Biting
Competition: 4,390,000
PROJECT MNAGEMENT
 1. Initiation
• A solid initiation will set a project up for success and lay the foundation
for all the other stages in its life cycle.
• During this phase, PMs first measure the feasibility and value of a project
in order to determine whether or not it is worth pursuing.
• Once a project is given the green light, team members will be briefed on
the project’s objective and assigned goals during the Initiation Phase.
• PMs should be working closely with their clients and execs to properly
prepare for the upcoming planning process.
• It is also during this phase that PMs should be rallying the team together
and building support for the project.
• One way to do this is to pull the team tighter and to present the project
significance and value to them. It will be important to have everyone on
board.
• Warning: A common problem that can seriously
affect subsequent project stages is the insufficient
alignment of interests between all parties
involved. The failure to properly identify
competing interests and concerns during the
initiation phase or the failure to be transparent can
doom the project right from the start. Experienced
PMs handle this early by creating a set of ground
rules regarding transparency in communication.
 2. Planning
• The planning stage focuses on building a blueprint for achieving the
project’s goals, on time and on budget.
• This roadmap will be used to guide the team through the execution of the
project.
• The plan involves identifying costs, available resources, potential financing
options, and risks, as well as setting a realistic timeframe. Moreover, it
should also include performance measures or baselines to measure
progress and determine if the project is on track.
• During the planning stage, project managers clearly define roles,
responsibilities and tasks, so that all team members are aware of what
they’re accountable for.
• Here are a few of the essential documents PMs typically
create to ensure that everyone knows what needs to be
done and that the project progresses properly:
Scope statement – a document that clearly describes the
project’s benefits, objectives, key milestones and
deliverables.
Work breakdown structure – a diagram that breaks down
the project’s scope into manageable sections
Gantt chart – a project management visual used to illustrate
the project timeline and to plan out the tasks identified in
the work breakdown diagram.
Risk management plan – a document that identifies all
foreseeable risks and possible strategies to mitigate them.
Communication plan – an essential plan if the project
involves outside stakeholders. It should include
communication objectives, frequency and methods, as
well key content to share with the parties involved in the
project.
– When planning project communications, the best PMs
ensure their message will get across by adapting their
approach to fit each particular audience.
– For instance, using simple, familiar PowerPoint visuals
when reporting to stakeholders who may not understand
PM jargon can be an effective way to share key data.
 3. Execution
•Execution is the stage that is most commonly associated with
actual project management.
•PMs should expect intensive activity during this time, from
allocating resources and building deliverables, to creating
development updates, status reviews and performance reports.
•Project Managers should arrange a kick-off meeting to officially
mark the onset of the execution phase, get the team started on the
right track, and ensure everything is properly prepared for team
members to begin executing their assignments.
•The execution phase is active and PMs will be required to leverage
their management skills and their soft skills to keep the project
team motivated, performing and on track.
• PMs may need to:
• eliminate all unnecessary distractions or activities

• get underperformers back on track

• manage morale to prevent burnout

• find needed resources to overcome stalls

• solve conflicts that may occur

 4. Monitoring and Control
• the monitoring phase is actually most often implemented during the
execution stage, not afterwards. While the team executes the project plan,
PMs begin monitoring and controlling it to ensure progression is on track with
the schedule. To achieve this, PMs will be:
• monitoring the tasks that are on the critical path

• verifying and controlling scope creep and taking measures to counter it

• updating stakeholder with status reviews according to the pre-established

communication plan

• comparing planned costs versus actual costs

• seeking ways to optimize performance

 5. Closure
• The final stage of the project management life cycle is the
closure phase, which requires a series of essential tasks and
activities, such as delivering the finished project to the client,
communicating its completion to stakeholders, releasing
resources, and terminating contractors hired specifically for
the project.
• During the closure stage, PMs also hold a post-mortem
meeting to evaluate what went wrong, highlight successes,
and learn what improvements can be made for future projects.
• Using this meeting to recognize and appreciate valuable team
members is a best practice that can help build a PM’s
credibility and brand.
2.PLANNING
 Network Drawing/Analysis
• It is a technique used for planning and scheduling of large
projects in the fields of construction, maintenance,
fabrication, purchasing, computer system instantiation,
research and development planning etc.

• Network analysis is known by many names _PERT

(Programme Evaluation and Review Technique), CPM (Critical
Path Method), PEP (Programme Evaluation Procedure), LCES
(Least Cost Estimating and Scheduling), SCANS (Scheduling
and Control by Automated Network System), etc

• Network is also called arrow diagram.

 PERT chart
• PERT stands for Program Evaluation and Review Technique. A PERT
chart illustrates a project as a network diagram.
• The U.S. Navy created this tool in the 1950s as they developed the
Polaris missile (and time was of the essence—this was during the
Cold War, after all).
• Project managers create PERT charts to gauge the minimum time
necessary to complete the project, analyze task connections, and
asses project risk.
• PERT charts make it easy to visualize and organize complex projects
illustrating the dependencies between each step in the project. 
When project managers should use PERT
Charts 
• PERT charts are best utilized by project
managers that the beginning of a project to
ensure that it is accurately scoped.
• While PERT charts can be used during the
project's implementation to track progress,
they lack the flexibility to adapt to small
changes with confronted with roadblocks.  
 How to draw a PERT chart 
• You can design your PERT chart in a few different ways. The traditional
PERT chart (also known as an activity-on-arrow diagram) contains two
different elements: 
• Nodes represent events or milestones in your project. You can use either
numbered circles or numbered boxes. 
• Arrows represent tasks. The direction of the arrows shows the sequence of
tasks. The direction of the arrows shows the sequence of tasks. Diverging
arrows indicate that you can complete those tasks concurrently. 
• Follow these steps to put your PERT chart together: 
1. List all of the activities involved in the project. 
2. Consider dependencies. 
3. Place nodes and arrows based on the information you have gathered. 
4. Add completion time for each activity. 
 Critical Path Method (CPM)

The critical path as “the sequence of scheduled

activities that determines the duration of the
project.” It is the longest sequence of tasks in a
project plan that must be completed on time in
order for the project to meet its deadline.
 Key Steps in the Critical Path Method
• There are six steps in the critical path method: 
Step 1: Specify Each Activity
Using the work breakdown structure, you need to
identify each activity (or task) involved in the
project. This activity specification list should only
include higher-level activities. When detailed
activities are used, the critical path analysis may
become too complex to manage and maintain. 
• A work breakdown structure breaks down
projects into manageable sections. 
• The first step is to identify the main deliverables
of a project. Then you can start breaking down
the high-level activities into smaller chunks of
work. 
• You can choose how to display your work
breakdown structure. Some people use a tree
structure, while others use lists or tables.
Step 2: Establish Dependencies (Activity Sequence)
• Some activities will depend on the completion of others.
Listing the immediate predecessors of each activity will
help you identify the correct order. To correctly identify
activities and their precedence, ask yourself these three
questions for each activity on your list from step one: 
• Which task should take place before this task happens?
• Which tasks should be finished at the same time as this
task?
• Which tasks should happen right after this task?
• Step 3: Draw the Network Diagram
• Once you have identified the activities and their dependencies, you can
draw the critical path analysis chart (CPA), known as the network diagram.

• Step 4: Estimate Activity Completion Time

• Using past experience or the knowledge of an experienced team member,
you must now estimate the time required to complete each activity.
 Step 5: Identify the Critical Path

• There are two ways you can now identify the critical path. You can eyeball
your network diagram and simply identify the longest path throughout the
network .
• Be sure to look for the longest path in terms of longest duration in days, not
the path with the most boxes or nodes. 
• You can also identify critical activities with the
Forward Pass/Backward Pass technique,
identifying the earliest start and finish times,
and the latest start and finish times for each
activity. 
• If you have multiple critical paths, you will run
into network sensitivity. A project schedule is
considered sensitive if the critical path is likely
to change once the project begins. The more
critical paths in a project, the higher the
probability of a change in schedule.
 Step 6: Update the Critical Path Diagram to
Show Progress 
• As the project progresses, you will learn the actual
activity completion times. The network diagram
can then be updated to include this information.
• By updating the network diagram as new
information emerges, you may recalculate a
different critical path.
• You will also have a more realistic view of the
project completion due date and will be able to
tell if you are on track or falling behind.
 Critical Path Method and PERT
• You can use PERT in your critical path method in step four of the
process, when you have to estimate activity completion times.
The purpose of using PERT is to bias time estimates toward the
most likely scenario and move away from unrealistically short
timeframes. 
• To use PERT, you must estimate the shortest possible time each
activity will take, the most likely length of time, and the longest
time it might take if the activity lasts longer than expected. 
• With that information, you can use this formula when you have
to estimate activity completion times in the critical path method
(step four).
• Shortest time + 4x likely time + longest time / 6 = expected
activity completion time
 How to Find the Critical Path on a PERT
  Chart
• You can identify the critical path on a PERT
chart because the chart includes the same
information needed for the network diagram
in the critical path method.
• How to Use the Forward Pass/Backward Pass
Technique
• The Forward Pass/Backward Pass technique is
another way to find the critical path. It is best
used when you have multiple branches, or
multiple entry points, for an activity. 
• You may also need to use the Forward
Pass/Backward Pass technique if you are asked
to identify the earliest start or finish times, or
latest start or finish times, for an activity. Or,
to find the slack (or float) for each activity.
• Before you start using the Forward Pass/Backward Pass
technique, here are some terms that you first need to
understand:
• Earliest start time (ES): The earliest time an activity can
start once the previous dependent activities are
completed.
• Earliest finish time (EF): The earliest start time for the
activity plus the time required to complete the activity
(the earliest an activity can be completed).
• Latest finish time (LF): The latest time an activity can be
completed without delaying the entire project.
• Latest start time (LS): The latest finish time minus the time
required to complete the activity.
• As you run the Forward Pass/Backward Pass
technique through your network diagram,
arrange each value according to the following
legend (SL stands for slack).
• How to Do the Forward Pass: Finding the
Earliest Start Time and Finish Time
• There are two formulas in the Forward
Pass/Backward Pass technique.
• The first is the Forward Pass formula for you to
use as you move from beginning to end in your
network diagram (from your first activity to
your last).
• This formula will find the earliest start time
(ES) and the earliest finish time (EF) for each
activity.
• To start the Forward Pass, make the ES of the
first task zero. For all other tasks, the ES is the
same as its immediate predecessor’s EF.
• Use this formula to calculate EF:
• EF = ES + Duration
• So, for Design Tank Project, the ES is zero and,
the EF is 10 (10+ duration of 0). We also know
that the ES for Select Tank Supplier is 10 and
the EF is 18 (10 + duration of 8). Continue like
this throughout the network diagram.
• How to Do the Backward Pass: Finding the
Latest Start Time and Finish Time
• The second formula is for Backward Pass,
when you are moving from the last activity to
the first activity (you are moving backwards).
This formula will find the latest start time (LS)
and latest finish time (LF) for each activity.
• To start the Backward Pass, make the last
activities LF the same as its EF. For all other
tasks, the LF is the same as its immediate
predecessor’s LS.
• Use this formula to calculate LS:
• LS = LF - Duration
• For the Test & Commission Tank, the LF is 54 and, the
LS is 50 (54 - duration of 4). For Assemble Tank, the LF
is also 50 and, the LS is 35 (50 - duration of 15 days).
Continue this formula throughout the network
diagram.
• To check that you’ve done Backward Pass correctly, the
first activity (Activity A) should have an LS (latest start
time) of 0.
• Here’s the completed Forward Pass/Backward Pass
technique:
• Two Rules to Remember for Forward Pass/Backward Pass
• During the Forward Pass, if you find activities that join (multiple activities
that flow into one activity), you must run the Forward Pass formula for
each entry point and use the highest value from the formulas.
• During the Backward Pass, if you have activities that join, you must run
the formula for each entry point and use the lowest value.
• How to Calculate Float or Slack on the PMP Exam
• Now that you have calculated ES and LS for each activity, you can find the
float (or slack).
• The slack time, also known as float time, for an activity is the time
between the earliest and latest start time. Critical activities, activities on
the critical path, will always have zero slack.
• There are two formulas to calculate slack based on the values you
identified in the Forward Pass/Backward Pass technique.
• Slack = LF - EF
• Slack = LS - ES
 Gantt chart

• A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart

developed as a production control tool in 1917
by Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and
social scientist.
• Frequently used in project management, a
Gantt chart provides a graphical illustration of
a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and
track specific tasks in a project.