Karl T. Ulrich is CIBC Endowed Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches innovation, entrepreneurship, and design. His books include Product Design and Development, Innovation Tournaments, The Innovation Tournament Handbook, and Winning in China. At Wharton, he has won the Anvil Award, the Miller-Sherrerd Award, and the Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition to his scholarly work, Professor Ulrich is a prolific innovator and entrepreneur, holding 24 patents. He earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT.
@ktulrich
ulrich@wharton.upenn.edu
562 JMHH | 3730 Walnut Street | Philadelphia, PA 19104 US
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Introduction to Product Management
What is a Product? I recently read the book “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker. It really scared me, and I decided that better sleep should be a priority in my life. Being an analytical guy, I first wondered how good my sleep is currently, and how I could monitor the quality and quantity of…
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Unit Economics and the Financial Model of the Business
Belle-V Kitchen is a consumer goods company I founded with several friends to bring to market high performing but beautiful kitchen tools. Although the products we make and sell are outstanding, at least in our opinions, the company has never been a wild commercial success. One of the problems with the business is that the…
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Commercializing a Physical Product as a Solo Inventor
About once a week, a student, alumnus, or member of the general public reaches out and says something like, “I have an idea for a new physical product. I just need to find a manufacturer. Can you help me?” First, let me be clear and succinct about a few points. First, an idea is rarely…
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Customer-Driven Solutions and the Waterfall Development Process
I’ve been a product designer or member of a product development team for over 50 new products and services. There’s a magic moment, which never gets old for me, when I see one of my products out in the wild being used by someone I don’t know. These days, the most common encounter is on…
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Organizational Capabilities and the Fifth Flywheel
The five flywheels framework is admittedly mechanistic – even evoking the analogy of a machine. But the flywheels don’t operate entirely on their own. Managerial action is obviously important, and the flywheels exist within an organizational context with its own distinctive attributes. The JD Power organization ranks North American Hotels for guest satisfaction each year…
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Competition and Product Strategy
You may believe that you have identified a unique opportunity to create value with your new business. You’re probably mistaken about the unique part. Others have likely tried to do this job before, and some scrappy entrepreneurs just getting started elsewhere in the world probably share your hopes and dreams. Even if your insight is…
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Upside Foods (fka Memphis Meats) (alternative protein) – Uma Valetti Interview
Original Air Date: January 25, 2017
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Boom Supersonic (aerospace) – Blake Scholl Interview
Original air date: January 11, 2017
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Cotopaxi (outdoor gear / apparel) – Davis Smith Interview
Original air date: December 12, 2018
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JUST ICE Tea – Eat The Change (food and beverage) – Seth Goldman Interview
Original air date: October 25, 2022
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Carrot Fertility (health) – Tammy Sun Interview
original interview October 11, 2017
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Understanding Customer Needs (Diamond 2)
Let’s say I want to create a better eat-at-home meal solution for work-from-home professionals. That’s not really a strikingly novel problem. Indeed, food and beverage services are some of the oldest businesses in existence. I will face fierce competition to do the job. Why will customers choose my solution and not those of my competitors? …
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Concept Development (Diamond 3)
The triple diamond model is a user-centered approach to design and concept development. The first two diamonds really focus on better defining the “what” – who is our customer, what is the job to be done, and what needs are potentially most relevant to them. In this chapter, we turn to the “how”? Given an…
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Assignment – Entrepreneurship Journal and Self Assessment
You will keep a journal for the duration of this course. You will make entries in the week following each of the weekends in which we meet. The journal is for you. However, to maximize the learning across students in the course, you will post one reflection from your journal in the weekly discussion forum…
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The Triple-Diamond Model of Design
I’ve been a product designer my entire adult life. Here is one of the products I created, the Belle-V ice cream scoop. In full disclosure, I had a lot of help from a talented team. When people see the product they impute genius to the designer – wow, that’s amazing. How did you come up…
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Opportunity Identification
I’ve written a lot about opportunity identification in my books Product Design and Development, Innovation Tournaments, and The Innovation Tournament Handbook. The topic is also covered fairly extensively in the course OIDD 614 Innovation Management. Consider this chapter a quick summary of the big ideas in the context of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities. Often the Opportunity…
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Flava Naturals (Nutraceuticals) – Alan Frost
Original Air Date April 10, 2019
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The Infatuation (restaurant info) – Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal
Original Air Date: November 18, 2019
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Frutero Ice Cream (food) – Mike Weber and Vedant Saboo
Original Air Date – April 10, 2022
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Rebellyous Foods (alternative protein) – Christie Legally
Original Air Date – March 13, 2023