Webinar powered by NGI TETRA and NGI TruBlo.

When: 2 June 2022 | 15:00 CEST
Where: Online

Registration: https://meet.zoho.eu/iBWV0Wuwxw

As your customer base grows and you start to make a profit, it’s only natural to start thinking about your next steps and ask yourself: is it time to scale?
But where to start and what are the next steps to take? Scaling can be full of challenges and premature scaling is considered to be one of the main reasons why young companies fail.

At this webinar we will talk about:

• What are the key questions to ask before scaling?
• What is premature scaling?
• What are the components of a good “ready to scale checklist”?

Speakers

KTH Readiness System

You will be introduced to the KTH Readiness System, a unique and effective approach for self-assessment of how far your project has evolved. There are many, many approaches how to getting an idea off the ground and transforming it into a real world. One approach which should be known more widely is the KTH Readiness Level. It is a simple, yet very effective and helpful approach to letting an idea evolve, step by step. The approach comes from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH).

Brief overview

Originally developed as a step-by-step development approach for technology at NASA, the KTH Readiness System has extended to seven dimensions that are relevant for every new idea. The key questions are: How ready is your idea to be used by customers, how far evolved are the development steps for the technology, the business model, the IPR, the team and the funding.

Each of these dimensions will be checked against a grade scale, which starts at one and has the highest level at nine. The scales are visualised as thermometers. The visualization is used as a simple tool to enable an assessment of the founders, potential funders and other stakeholders. The system is very simple to use and helps to align the many possible activities of a start-up into a logical build-up process. 

For illustration, here are the levels to work on for the business model. The process starts at the bottom, at level 1. In this process, an early, unclear business idea is gradually filled with assumptions, gradually described and then checked for viability through tests with potential clients. Based on the findings there is an added business model, early pricing and projections for revenue. 

In total there are six Innovation Readiness Levels:

• Customer Readiness Level (CRL): To confirm customer needs and interest
• Technology Readiness Level (TRL): To develop and test the technology, product, service, or concept
• Business Model Readiness Level (BRL): To establish that the concept can be financially, environmentally, and socially viable and feasible
• IPR Readiness Level (IPRL): To clarify the legal and IP situation and secure relevant IP protection
• Team Readiness Level ( TMRL): To secure the right competencies and align the team
• Funding Readiness Level  (FRL): To secure the necessary funding to take the idea to the market

Value and benefits

The KTH Innovation Readiness Level is a tool with many applications that adds value for several users and stakeholders (idea owners, coaches, managers, and external partners). For example:

• Snapshot of status and maturity – use the tool to quickly and without bias assess the maturity and current development status of an idea
• Reality check –  the tool enables idea owners to more objectively define their progress across several important dimensions
• Coaching and communication – offering clear and defined terminology and a visual model allow coaches, advisors, and idea owners to communicate effectively around the idea development. It also provides a structure for individual meetings as well as the entire process
• Guidance – the model provides key steps and questions that need to be addressed and gives a clear roadmap for both coaches and idea owners throughout the process
• Portfolio management – the possibility to quantify and visualise the development progress of the ideas in your entire portfolio can generate useful metrics that help your organisation to objectively and fairly allocate resources and in other ways control and guide your innovation support process

The model is built to align with and include the current best practices and well-known methodologies in innovation development such as the lean startup methodology, the business model/lean canvas, etc.

More info:
https://kthinnovationreadinesslevel.com