Dr. Muhammad Nawaz Iqbal
Since innovation and commercialization are important parts for converting technical ideas to sellable products, it becomes quite crucial in the engineer’s process of evolving to a technical entrepreneur at the onset to know that mere technical expertise cannot do alone. There is need also for engineers to have a good understanding of the wider market environment, customer requirements and how a product lives in that environment. Therefore, while it is important for them to understand that solving problems cannot be a substitute for identifying opportunities, this change in perspective is necessary. While engineers possess profound expertise it is equally important that they acquire a comprehensive understanding of business concepts such as market research, customer outreach and strategic planning. Changing from engineer to technical entrepreneur usually begins by identifying the marketable prospects in the invention. Engineers have been conditioned to handling complicated technical dilemmas but they must also comprehend how to locate some of such problems that can be addressed commercially. Trend identification of a workable need necessitates empathy for the customers – knowing their sufferings and the importance of new product or service to them. In most cases, this means that engineers should leave their laboratories and go to the market because only there do potential users and stakeholders get really involved in idea confirmation procedures.
Subsequent to thinking about some key aspects it may be said that ones design could enhance with proper IP management. As such, it is indispensable for engineers developing new technologies to know how to protect their inventions through patents, trademarks or copyrights. This means that they will have marketable products free from any threat of competition copying them. Moreover IP protection increases the worth of a start-up by making it possible for investors to see uniqueness in the product. Unfortunately this may not come easily because the legal frameworks involved are quite complex and this necessitates working together with lawyers who understand more about it all.
Engineers should also embrace prototype and iterative development as an art. The path to a functional product from a conceptual idea takes different stages of development, testing and refining. Engineers are skilled at creating prototypes but new skills are necessary when transforming these prototypes into scalable and ready-to-market products. Here is where lean development practices come in minimizing wastage, maximizing feedbacks and continually improving the product through real life information about it. Thus engineers have to learn how to go fast when they are developing their products by incorporating customer feedbacks while at the same time managing the intricacies of product development. For an engineer to achieve commercialization, he must understand the money side of the whole product development and introduction process. Engineers who become entrepreneurs should be well-versed in startup finances like venture capital, seed capital from angels, crowdsourcing and bootstrapping. They have to come up with comprehensive business plans that reflect income generation models, expenditure patterns and possible profit levels. Financial literacy is extremely important because most technical initiatives fail due to insufficient financial planning and implementation rather than lack of innovation. Having a well-defined financial strategy can help in getting the required funding instead of just letting an idea stagnate.
Engineers are also required to hone their marketing skills. They must be able to communicate the value of the new technologies they create in a way that is easy for everyone else to understand. To do this, they ought to convert complicated technical terms into simple language that investors, customers, and partners can easily comprehend. These professionals should develop skills as narrators so as to emphasize both technical prowess and practical advantages of their products. Knowledge of branding, digital marketing and customer acquisition strategies are fundamental for startup growth and market expansion.
Scaling the business is next big hurdle to be crossed by technical entrepreneurs. Once the product has been tested in the field, attention is directed towards increasing production capacity, manufacturing and distribution processes. Engineers are advised to look past first version and think of ways of producing en masse, managing supply chains as well as organizing logistics. This means that they will have to form alliances with various manufacturers and distributors whilst also thinking about collaborating with foreign firms thereby making globalization a key factor for them if they really want their inventions circulated worldwide.
The pathway of entrepreneurship is laden with a minefield of uncertainties, failures and learning moments. Engineers who turn out to be successful entrepreneurship are the ones that embrace ambiguity by learning new skills, adjusting their businesses to new challenges constantly improving their products. Engineers must have insatiable curiosity, keep on engaging critics throughout the entire process and be dogged in trudging on despite disappointments on the road of the business person. It is this combination of perseverance and technical know-how that enables an engineer move on transform into a winning tech-entrepreneur.
