Jessica Williamson and Wendy Muise with the Innovative Approach to Economic Development Project award from Economic Developers Alberta for the Discover program. Williamson is idea-maker and program manager for Discover and Muise is curriculum developer and one of the program’s talented facilitators.
Have you ever fallen in love with an idea?
Perhaps the most simplistic version of this concept is what my dad calls, “a buck a dream.” You purchase a lottery ticket and lose yourself in daydreams of what life will be like when you do, in fact, win. Though you may have niggling doubts about the odds of success, your storytelling mind chooses to get carried away with envisioning an idealistic future.
Many entrepreneurial ventures start out as an idea that someone has fallen in love with. While I also love “love,” I have made it my mission since joining Airdrie Economic Development in 2020 to guide entrepreneurs to take more calculated risks versus simply following their passion and (sometimes-idealistic) dreams.
In 2023, Airdrie developed a new program that fills a gap across Southern Alberta. Too many entrepreneurs and innovators execute business ideas prematurely because they seem great in theory, make sense in a spreadsheet or look irresistible in a business plan. In essence, they are not moving from intuition to evidence in their business development.
Our new program, Discover, supports the key task for a startup entrepreneur — reduce risk and uncertainty. Discover is based on business-development practices that are only a decade old, developed by author and innovator David J. Bland. Bland created his own entrepreneur-support niche, which grew from his 11 years working at startups. Of his startups, one was successful, the other two were not. His book, Testing Business Ideas, is inspired by the patterns that emerged from the two that didn’t succeed. He developed hands-on techniques for quickly testing new business ideas to reduce risks and enhance the likelihood of success.
Over eight weeks, starting Oct. 22, in Airdrie’s Discover program, participants will be 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 (do customers want this?)
• Feasibility (can I do this?)
• Viability (can I make money?)
I recently had the opportunity to see Bland speak in Calgary. He believes this approach to testing business ideas is the future of innovation and entrepreneurship. I wholeheartedly agree that validating an idea is so much bigger than traditional market research and business plan-development processes. I’m excited to be part of building an entrepreneurial ecosystem of excellence in Airdrie that equips our residents and incoming entrepreneurs with the tools to build viable business solutions that people love and are willing to pay for.
I hope to see you this fall and work together in developing your business ideas into success stories that capture the heads, hearts and wallets of a target audience of raving customers.
Learn more about Airdrie’s Discover program at www.airdriecommon.ca/discover.
Jessica Williamson is an economic development officer with the City of Airdrie.
