Page - 7 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

2.3 Putting It All Together: TheDigital Entrepreneurial Mindset Basedon the reviewofentrepreneurshipanddigitalisation literature, it ispossible to define a digital entrepreneurial mindset (DEM) as the inclination and ability to discover, evaluate and exploit opportunities while adopting digital technologies more quickly than a regular entrepreneur. The process of discovering new digital opportunities involves careful consid- eration of current products and services in the targetmarket and the role of digital technologies in their provision. This should be considered from the customer’s perspective; thus, considering customers’ needs and identifying how digitising current products and servicesmay improve a company’s ability tomeet customers’ needs. In particular, this involves understanding current businessmodels that serve thepublic andgenerate value aswell as consideringnewconfigurationsofbusiness models that will addmore value for customers. In the case of Turo, anAmerican peer-to-peer car-sharing company, customers are looking for ways to solve their transport needs. Trough the app customers can borrow a car rather than lend their ownTurounderstood this need anddesigned its businessmodel to offer short-term rentals of vehicles, which can be rented for a period of just a fewminutes up to a few hours by using only an app (Growjo 2018). Evaluation concerns careful consideration of a digital opportunity. Particular attention should be paid to the (potential) market size for a digital opportunity. Before exploiting the opportunity, it should be clear that therewill be demand for the product or service. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should evaluate whether or not theycandeliver thenecessaryvalueof this product basedon their resources. In this respect, entrepreneurs should also consider factors such as theirmanagement skills and their passion and persistence for developing the product. Digital opportunity evaluationmayalso include the applicationof the stage-gate process, inwhichyou pursue an opportunity only if it passes all ‘gates’, including factors such as risk objectives, financial resources and other criteria. Airbnb startedwhen its founders were struggling to pay their rent and started renting their home to strangers. However, before proceeding with their business, the founders evaluated the potential market for their idea. Once you prioritise digital solutions or technologies, you can exploit the entrepreneurialopportunity.Thisfinal stepofopportunityexploitation representsan essential step to making a digital business successful. This last step includes activities and investments that an entrepreneur conducts to receive returns from the new digital opportunity by constructing an efficient business system (Fig. 1). Pervasive digitalisation leads not only to spotting emerging opportunities in the digital environment, but also, more importantly, to prioritising them over other possible products. Implementing a digital mindset should result in a business recognising and exploiting opportunities arising from phenomena such as: 1. Technological developments and advances in infrastructure 2. Artificial intelligence used to enhance the quality of decisions Developing aDigital EntrepreneurialMindset for Data-Driven… 7