How might we commercialize intellectual property while pivoting from its original use case?
Role: Project Lead, Stakeholder Engagement, Product Strategy, Research, Visual Communication
Deliverables: Business Model, Weekly Meeting with Technology Developer, Weekly Meetings with Designated Mentor, Design Research Insights, Pitch Deck
Software Applications: Mural, PowerPoint
Skills Used: Design Research, Secondary Research, Product-Market Fit, Design Thinking, Synthesis, Strategy
Project
As part of my Commercializing Innovations course, sponsored by the Innovation and New Ventures Office of Northwestern and the Kellogg School of Management, I participated in a 10-week long project to develop a business model and business strategy around a piece of deep technology intellectual property. The technology was developed by AI leader Larry Birnbaum.
My group consisted of five Kellogg (MBA) students and one EDI student (myself).
Dr. Birnbaum created the technology to predict and target users’ preferences based on their Twitter posts and data. The technology uses artificial intelligence but is most unique through its use of natural language processing. We focused on product and business strategy through our market and design research. My team interviewed nearly 50 people to find product-market fit.
Process - Research & Synthesis
My team interviewed nearly 50 people with various, applicable experiences such as marketing, consumer products, and natural language processing. We quickly realized how saturated the social media marketing space is. While this technology was novel when it was patented over six years ago, the technology is less unique today. In order to commercialize the technology, we needed to pivot our strategy and data source/s.
Process - Pivot
The insights offered by the technology are extremely beneficial for users. Based on our large amount of research, we pivoted the use of the technology to consumer product reviews/feedback. We found companies are not incorporating reviews/feedback into product decisions/updates. Instead, they apply a “band-aid” to consumer reviews/feedback.
Process - Solution
Using our evolved findings, we developed a business plan around the technology. The solution includes the patented algorithm, predictive analysis, and dashboard with actionable insights.
Conclusions
We presented a pitch deck to a panel of five venture capitalists. If you would like to view the deck (financials, business model, market sizing, why now, etc.) or learn more about this project, please reach to me!