7: Global Marketing & Sales

Summary: This session examines strategy and entrepreneurship including the concepts of disruptive innovations, marketing, customer development, lean startups, and developing a business model. During the first part of the session, the importance and implications of the technology adoption life cycle are examined. We also survey the key elements of entrepreneurial marketing including a compelling product/service strategy, a well-crafted positioning and competitive differentiation and a subsequent penetration strategy (including distribution, promotion and pricing). Marketing as a set of relationships (i.e., partnerships and alliances) with customers, technology allies, distribution and promotion partners and even competitors will also be discussed along with the popular lean startup philosophy.  As time allows, we will investigate the importance and critical elements of "thinking globally" from a startup's perspective and the search for a business model that is sustainable and viable.

Guest:
Anand Subramani, Zynga

Study Questions (Policy on Study Questions.)

• What makes marketing so difficult and important in a startup?  What is its relative importance to the product development and sales functions?  Moreover, what is the difference between a market analysis and a marketing strategy? What is a positioning statement?
  
• What is a discontinuous (disruptive) innovation? What are their implications for entrepreneurs?
• Why have customer development and lean startup philosophies become so popular with entrepreneurs?

Required Readings (Policy on Required Readings.)

• Technology Ventures (Byers, Dorf, and Nelson): Chapters 11 (Highlights).