As we examine the Industry and Industry Conditions, we're going to first look at Knowledge Conditions. And we're going to start by talking about industries. The definition of an Industry broadly, is a type of economic activity. So there Agriculture and Education. There's construction and Retail, there's Accommodation and Food Services. There's Health Care and a variety of other industries. When talk about a specific industry this is a landscape, and the scale that we are talking about. Business or big category of economic activity, is what we mean when we talk about the term industry. So selecting the right industry, is easier said than done. The success of it depends a big deal, on your understanding of the industry. And an industry where there's some opportunity for you. This might be an industry for which you already have some experience or expertise in. And it's important to focus on identifying an industry, that is favorable to new entrants. And if it's not favorable, that's okay, but you're going to have to work a bit harder, to have success within that industry. So the knowledge and demand conditions. Or the first two elements that we'll examine. And what we want to really understand here is the relative attractiveness of an industry, based on the level of knowledge, and the level of demand that, that industry exhibits. So for knowledge, what we mean by knowledge, is the amount and the type of know how. That's needed within an industry. Industries that have specific expertise demands. Or is success based more on your financial capital, or your location, or your relationships? We want high-knowledge industries. Why do we want high knowledge industries, for new ventures? Well, we don't want whoever has the most money to win, because somebody is always going to have more money than you. We don't want whom ever has the right location to win, because then it is just a race for that location and whoever holds it is the winner. We don't want to rely solely on relationships either. Unless you happen to be the one who has the relationship, you would otherwise just be out of luck. But knowledge. Knowledge is something that's a bit rarer. Knowledge of something, is something that takes some work to develop, and also some work to maintain. And knowledge based industries, are uniquely advantageous for start-ups. One of these is SQUARESPACE, a company we may have mentioned before, that was a software startup out of the University of Maryland. that cost very little to start if you are a computer programmer, or if you can build a team that includes some computer programmers, that you can build a website tool. Charge eight dollars a month. Host that online. Market based on revenues you're generating. And slowly grow that to multi $100 million venture. Which is what was able to do, soon after his under graduate experience here in college park. So we like knowledge based businesses. That really are based on what you know, what you can learn, and what you can implement. So to leverage your knowledge, or to explore ideas that preferably align with your education or your professional experiences, make good use of what you know. Seek ideas that align with your know-how, that align with your interests, and that hopefully align with some of your social capital as well. What do you know, is influenced by a variety of things. Consider the element of what, you know now, as well as what you would like to know in the future. So choose something, when you're thinking about startups, that you're passionate about. Choose industries that you're interested in, and that you want to spend many days, and many nights, working with that. Look for opportunities too, that favor unique ideas. Now if you have a concept that isn't in an area that you may not have the education or the experience in today. That's okay. But make sure it's something that you really want to know. And you're willing to put in the time. Perhaps months, perhaps years of building the educational and the work experience that might be needed, to really be an expert in that industry. So you're going to be playing some catch up. Against others that might be in that space. We want to recognize that, and we want to prepared to do that. So you need to expand on what you make currently know, if you're looking to get into a industry that's new to you. You may also partner. You may partner via co-founders, or partner via early executive hires. Pers to build out your expertise within industries that might be new to you. So that's another avenue that can be done instead of or in complement to, you building that expertise yourself. So, in summary, we encourage you to explore ideas that leverage your know-how. That'll leverage knowledge. We want to recognize that you can build that knowledge or you can team. You can team with co-founders. You can team by bringing on executive hires that bring some complementary knowledge into the space, and also may bring some social capital. They may know some individuals that you don't know within that industry, that would be of great value and as we examine this. We want to keep at the forefront of our mind that knowledge based conditions, are uniquely valuable in the creation of new ventures.
