Curiosity: A Necessary Ingredient for Successful Innovation (Coursera)

This course is part of the Technology & Entrepreneurship Specialization.

What you'll learn

Students will understand how to conduct marketplace conversations and learn the value of customer archetypes and personas to enhance ideas.

Syllabus

Course Introduction

Welcome to Curiosity, A Necessary Ingredient for Success. This is the third course in “Reframing Your Mindset to Be a Tech Entrepreneur and Innovator.” In this course, you will develop your understanding of curiosity and how to take action with methods aligned with curiosity. As you get started, take a look at your notes on your ideas and the processes that go into the entrepreneurial process.

Module 1: Marketplace Conversations

Welcome to Module 1! This module is Marketplace Conversations. A marketplace conversation is a talk with potential customers to better understand their needs and pain points. In this sense, your customer IS your market, and conversation is a tool that helps you design effectively. A successful enterprise uses marketplace conversations, many of them, to deeply understand its customers and how to refine possible solutions. In this module, you will examine curiosity and how it connects to innovation.

Module 2: The Value of Customer Archetypes and Personas

Welcome to Module 2! This module is The Value of Customer Archetypes and Personas. Knowing your customer is key and using customer archetypes and personas can help you target your solution. This in turn, increases your chances of building a solution that benefits your customers and succeeds in the market. Successful entrepreneurs know the value of customer archetypes and personas and uses them to develop their solutions. In this module, you will look at customer archetypes and how they can be used to influence innovation.

Module 3: Insight as Innovation Currency

Welcome to Module 3! This module is Insight as Innovation Currency. Insight, a deep understanding of a person or phenomenon, provides what you need to develop and refine your solution. Without insight, you risk wasting time, effort, and capital—and designing a product that serves no one. Therefore, an entrepreneur needs to be able to yield insight from marketplace conversations. In this module, you will learn about insight, including what it is, how it is derived, and how specific ventures have used it.

Module 4: Human-centered Evidence of Curiosity

Welcome to Module 4! This module is Human-centered Evidence of uCriosity. Communication is an important part of your work as an entrepreneur. Not only do you need to be able to gather insight from your customers, but you also need to share your story and findings with others. In this module, you will work to describe a problem effectively with appropriate detail.