Cornish Steve
18th January 2006, 23:30
In a couple of months' time, we'll be looking to reach budding entrepreneurs with a unique offer. I can't go into details quite yet, but it's not unlike the franchise model. There's a key difference though: Instead of entrepreneurs having to pay to own a franchise, we'll give them an allowance of 'goods' for free to help them get started. This means that interested parties can start a business at no cost and at no risk.
We want to stay below the radar and not make a big public splash. We aren't going to install our new web capabilities until the last minute (in the meantime, we're keep our old site running), and we'd even prefer not to have a good search engine ranking (I know this sounds odd!). Nonetheless, we want to reach entrepreneurs and to put our offer to them clearly and effectively.
One approach we're going to try is to announce a competition for MBA students. As part of their entrepreneurship class, we're asking professors to allow teams to create their own business using our concept. Teams will compete against one another to win business (for us and for themselves). Each team should win a sizable cash prize and a donation to their supporting university. Do you think that universities in Britain would be willing to join in?
Can anyone recommend other ways to reach aspiring entrepreneurs? Should we be joining other forums to establish credibility before launch time? Should we be reading certain publications or establishing particular contacts? Should we be reaching out to certain communities (e.g., the disabled community has many unemployed among their ranks). Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks.
We want to stay below the radar and not make a big public splash. We aren't going to install our new web capabilities until the last minute (in the meantime, we're keep our old site running), and we'd even prefer not to have a good search engine ranking (I know this sounds odd!). Nonetheless, we want to reach entrepreneurs and to put our offer to them clearly and effectively.
One approach we're going to try is to announce a competition for MBA students. As part of their entrepreneurship class, we're asking professors to allow teams to create their own business using our concept. Teams will compete against one another to win business (for us and for themselves). Each team should win a sizable cash prize and a donation to their supporting university. Do you think that universities in Britain would be willing to join in?
Can anyone recommend other ways to reach aspiring entrepreneurs? Should we be joining other forums to establish credibility before launch time? Should we be reading certain publications or establishing particular contacts? Should we be reaching out to certain communities (e.g., the disabled community has many unemployed among their ranks). Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks.