The prospective map: a new method for helping future entrepreneurs in expanding their initial business ideas

Business plan preparation is still a major element of entrepreneurship education programmes. However, it would appear that students are often asked to complete the exercise without first having an interesting idea on which to build their plans. It is therefore reasonable to think that entrepreneurship courses should be more concerned with introducing students to the exploration of business ideas, which is a crucial step in the opportunity identification process. However, there is a significant lack of appropriate teaching tools for this purpose. This study aims to fill part of this gap by proposing a method that can be used to help fledgling entrepreneurs explore the possibilities offered by their ideas, before beginning the more rigorous process of preparing a business plan. The method in question was used with 12 potential entrepreneurs, who were then asked to comment on the method's utility, describe the changes it produced to their initial idea, and suggest any changes to the method itself. The results are presented and commented upon.