The IDEATE Method

Dan Cohen, PhD, is the John C. Whitaker Executive Director and Professor of Practice at theCenter for Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest University. Over the course of his career, he hastaught entrepreneurship and strategy at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Sincecoming to Wake Forest University in 2015, he has cofounded Startup Lab with Greg Pool andcompletely revamped all aspects of the Center for Entrepreneurship. Before joining the faculty atWake Forest, Cohen was on faculty at Cornell from 2007 to 2015, where he founded and directedeLab, Cornell's entrepreneurship accelerator program hailed by Forbes magazine as a major driverof Cornell's ascent to a #4 national ranking in entrepreneurship. In 2012, Cohen was awarded Cornell'sRobert N. Stern Memorial Award for Mentoring Excellence. His academic career began in2005 when he accepted a faculty appointment at The University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business.While at The University of Iowa, Cohen earned accolades for teaching, advising, and mentoringexcellence. Cohen earned his PhD in management from Case Western Reserve University. Hestudies how nascent entrepreneurs develop a passion for entrepreneurship and how, and under whatconditions, they form an entrepreneurial identity. He also researches how entrepreneurs developkey capabilities, such as how to spot and develop valuable opportunities.Before his academic career, Cohen had a successful 15-year entrepreneurial career thatincluded founding, growing, and successfully exiting his startup in 2005.

Generating new ideas that create substantial value is at the very core of entrepreneurship. The IDEATE Method is an ideation method empirically proven to help students identify problems, develop creative solutions, and select the most innovate entrepreneurial idea. Authors Daniel Cohen, Gregory Pool, and Heidi Neck emphasize the importance of deliberate practice and repetition as they guide students through each phase of the method: Identify, Discover, Enhance, Anticipate, Target, and Evaluate. Goal-directed activities and self-reflection questions help students develop their entrepreneurial mindset and skillset.

PrefaceAcknowledgmentaAbout the AuthorsChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: IdentifyChapter 3: DiscoverChapter 4: EnhanceChapter 5: AnticipateChapter 6: TargetChapter 7: EvaluateChapter 8: IDEATE 50 MoreChapter 9: Choose One Big, Valuable, Impactful, Feasible, and Profitable IdeaNotes