Week 8 Reading Reflection

Sources of Capital for Entrepreneurs

1.  What stood out the most to me was the art of bootstrapping. I've heard the saying before but never really knew what it meant until now with doing more with less. Bootstrapping looks like something I would do, trying to make the most of what little I have by rummaging garage sales (one man's junk is another man's treasure), sharing office space, encouraging customers to pay early (to make sure that you get your money back sooner so it's less likely they won't be able to repay), and hiring student interns.

2. Venture capitalists are professional investors who invest in business ventures but when they describes what a venture capitalist would do it sounds like they are practically running the business themselves off of the entrepreneur idea. Rather than just investing money they negotiate for them, recruit employees, contacts, market research and strategy, etc.

3. If someone gave you a proposal for their business idea, what would be the fist factor you would think of? Timing, stability, capability? I'm curious about what you think i the most important.

Would you look for a venture capitalist or a business angel? I'm wondering what you think would be more sound and when wold one be more favorable over the other?

4. The author covered a lot of the basis for how entrepreneurs get their capital either from their personal or family's money to banks, IPOs, and Venture Capitalists. That lenders look over the proposals very carefully to see if they will be able to repay what they are asking. Although they look carefully into a proposal to see if it will produce money, I can see that sometimes a venture capitalist or angel will put their arm or leg out on a hunch that a proposal that doesn't sound like the best option may pull through but it not happen very often since most people are all about making money all the time.

Half-way Reflection

Tenacity & Paying It Forward

Tenaciousness is a skill   Behaviors that I have often used when keeping up with the requirement for this course is to do some of the work before it is due. The work that is given is not usually too hard but it starts to pile up so doing a few assignments beforehand is better in the long run, giving you more time to work on other assignments or other classes since this class also give you all the assignments beforehand.

Tenaciousness is also about attitude   The only time I felt like giving up was when there were a few assignments that I wasn't able to do because of conflict such as an exam or he inability to find what I needed. Yellowdig has pulled me out of this rut, giving me a few of the points that I easily missed. I do a lot more of the assignments now because I can not get all my points from yellowdig. The assignments are not the hardest so I shouldn' have any excuse not to do them.

Three Tips    

1. Do the assignments BEFORE they are due. It will help you finish a lot more of your work and give you that score you desire.

2. Look through others' blogs. Find out what make their blog more popular and tr it out for yourself. Read through others to see if your missing something from your own.

3. Don't skim past the negative criticism that other blogs will give to you when they are commenting on your work. That negative criticism will help your future blog posts become more interesting and clear. Better for everyone.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

Rediscovering Market Segmentation

1. The biggest surprise to me was that consumers are more influenced by their personal values, tastes, and preferences than the demographic population. The part about their preferences to what they liked didn't surprise me but that it was different than the overall because you would think a lot of people would buy what others buy since that's how trends begin.

2. What confused me the most was the fact that people would buy products from companies based on what they'd offer emotionally like sex appeal and increased status than the actual usefulness of the product.

3. What would be the first type of advertising you would use to attract consumers? I'd like to know a list of what would be best and when.

So you're saying that the most useful way to appeal to age groups would be to us what they sue the most, like insurance for diseases as you grow older, alcohol to the youthful, etc?

4. I feel as if though developing an entire new model product should be considered one of the deepest decisions and not the middle-of-the-spectrum decisions. If you're going to change your product, then you basically have to change the way you advertise it, who you choose to segment the product for, where to position it, the whole business as to change it's position, a lot of the time.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

The Pitch: 

G.R.E.E.N.

(Green Research in Ecologically Enhancing Networks)  

     My idea is to create a company in which produces green products that can combine your everyday necessities with green concepts hence the name G.R.E.E.N. meaning Green Research in Ecologically Enhancing Networks.  We would use environmentally friendly resources that are both cheap and easily recyclable or biodegradable such as Aluminum for metal and biodegradable polymers for filters, packaging, you name it. For our first concept we would like to introduce the Potter Spotter (name in pending) which will make use of your phone and any type of plant you may have. The phone would be placed on an adjustable platform that would connect to an aluminum container with enclosed water and the plant placed right under it. Now instead of forgetting where you place your phone and having no place to put your phone when your studying or going to sleep you can place it on the Potter Spotter (name in pending). When your phone vibrates for whatever alarms you set, the vibrations will navigate though the aluminum bars and shake the canister full of water which will cause the water inside to drip through the biodegradable filter and water your plant. This is just a beginning design an will surely improve as will others green concepts.  

A reflection on the feedback you received from last pitch:
I have no feedback from my last pitch but what I can tell you is that I was influenced by the feedback other pitches have gotten. I should speak slow and clearly while giving coherent pitch on my company and product/products while also being somewhat presentable. Also, having something to show for my work instead of just talking about what I'm doing helps immensely for the viewer. (Approved by Dr. Pryor)
A reflection that I could do that I know people would talk about would be my speech and my eye contact. I had a whole pitch laid out because I'm terrible with coming up words on the spot and I talk way too fast. In this video I tried to talk slower than I usually do but I could definitely improve upon it as well as making more eye contact with the camera as it would how that I am more confident and ready to present my Elevator Pitch.

What did you change, based on the feedback?
At the moment nothing has changed since this is my first Elevator Pitch but since I accessed the feedback from other pitches I have developed my pitch better than what it would have looked at additionally.

Customer Interviews No. 3

Interviewing Customers: Third Times Charm!

Describe your interviewing strategy: 

Questions I will ask:

Hello, I'm Joseph, what' your name?

    How are you doing so far today?

     What are your thoughts about living in a dorm or apartment? Anything you would like to share?

     Can you hear people in other room like pipes in the walls, annoying sounds? How often?

     Would you think it would be good if there were sound barriers in the walls to diminish those sounds?

     What would you describe as the advantages and disadvantages of implementing this type of project in dorms and apartment buildings?

Who will I ask? Students who live in a building or house

Conduct the interviews:

Reflect on what you learned:

I learned that a lot of people enjoy doing interviews as you may see that they smile a lot and maybe even laugh or what to purposely make funny faces. I also learned that introducing sound barriers in the walls produced the same types of advantages and disadvantages between each person and that my idea isn't very necessary but mainly for peace, comfort, and privacy. What surprised me the most was the ease of finding people to interview and talking o them, like I o this stuff weekly. I don't really expect much to change but hopefully some people now pay attention to what they hear and ways thy can prevent annoying sounds to improve their living lifestyles. 

Week 6 Reading Reflection

How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy

1. My biggest surprise was how companies view their suppliers and the buyers. Of course I knew that thy probably did a lot of research on suppliers and buyers but there were a lot more reasons than I thought that made a supplier or a buyer a powerful one. Things such as its domination in companies, uniqueness, not obligated to contend with other products, ability to improve, would make suppliers powerful while things such as concentration of purchases, playing company against company for alternative/cheaper supplies, and less price sensitive.

2. The only thing that I could call confusing to m would be that companies are jockeying for position. Companies may be to focused on making their price lower than their rival, advertising slugfests, and introduction of their product that they ma forget the quality of their product.

3. What was the most interesting part of this article to you?

If I were a business, what should I focus on the most?

4. I disagree with the author when he states that the key to growth, even survival, is to stake out positions that are less vulnerable to attack from head-to-head opponents, and less vulnerable to erosion from the business environment. I think the key to growth is to build upon what you were less vulnerable on and to fix what you are vulnerable in to avoid problems int he future.

Idea Napkin No. 1

Piecing it all together

You:   I'm a sophomore in college who has built working robots, solar-powered go-kart, volunteered for an agricultural business and various other places. I have a knack for finding a new way around something if the old or original way doesn't work out for me. As for aspirations, I'm still thinking about those. This business concept would impact my life by making my dorm life easier as I won't be hearing grinding pipes in the walls and others yelling maniacally.

What are you offering to customers:   I'm offering the chance to have a good night's sleep; A chance to enjoy the calming silence of your room. My idea will mellow out stress from a hard days work.

Who are you offering it too:   The product/service that I'm providing will be of use to any conjoining rooms or buildings and for any age that likes their peace and enjoys their privacy. 

Why do they care:   A lot of people who live next to other rooms become accustomed to their environments rambling noises which may increase stress levels during this process. With my service they wouldn't have to go through this. They could enjoy their privacy and peace when they first start living in their building.

What are your core competencies:   What sets me apart from everyone else? I live in a dorm next to rooms with blaring noises that can increase stress levels and I never get my piece. What do I have that others in this area may not have? Inexperience, wistfully.

After writing down on my invisible napkin, I've come to realize that my idea is actually very simple in theory but can cost a a decent amount for the building owners. At least from my perspective my service pieces together and is not disjointed. Coming up with an actual game plan will be the real issue of my service/product.

(Edit Note: The product will most likely be a type of padding that will be placed inside the walls to absorb most of the sound coming through the walls. A new type of wall would be way more expensive and would take more time to implement) 

Customer Interviews No. 2

Fine Tuning: I still feel as if my idea of an opportunity, sch as my sound barrier idea, is on track.

Fine Tune "Who": I did talk to the right customers this time. What I did differently was how I asked the questions. I added a more warm greeting and I didn't ask them about the cost or if it would attract others to live in the area, I let them say it for themselves if it came up. My conceptualization of who my customers for this idea was still the "who" would this idea affect.

Tweaking Interview Q's: Instead of boldly cutting through each question, I feel like it went more smoothly than before.

    Hello, I'm Joseph, what' your name?

    How are you doing so far today?

     What are your thoughts about living in a dorm or apartment? Anything you would like to share?

     Can you hear people in other room like pipes in the walls, annoying sounds? How often?

     Would you think it would be good if there were sound barriers in the walls to diminish those sounds?

     What would you describe as the advantages and disadvantages of implementing this type of project in dorms and apartment buildings?

Go Talk To Customers!:

Learned About Opportunity: I feel more confident that most people would enjoy having a little more privacy in their rooms.

Learned About Interviewing Customers: 

Three tips that I would give to next semesters students:

1. Take your time. Don't talk as fast as I do (which after watching the interviews I realized that I talk way too fast out of habit).

2.  Get to know the individual. Part of interviewing people is to figure out if these are the type of people that you need answers to come from and your not getting information from the wrong sample.

3. Ask for negative feedback. Just as I did, ask about the disadvantage of your opportunity, as well as the advantage. This will give you information on how to tweak it.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice 

1. What stood out to me the most was the section on avoiding trademark pitfalls. It let's the reader know the importance of doing your research to know that you will not be taking someone else's idea such as trusting your attorney and taking a coined and fanciful name instead of something unique int he beginning of a venture.

2. When the author states that the first to invent as the right tot he patent and what happens to the invention I begin to wonder, what if they are not the first to invent something but simply the first to claim the right to the invention?

3. How would you figure to start your own company? Sole proprietorship, partnership, etc.?

    If you were about to go bankrupt, how would you not panic in this situation?

These questions are just for my curiosity about you.

4. What I would disagree with is giving the assets away after bankruptcy to someone the business doesn't know but the court appoints. Sure, this is so that the company doesn't get some of their assets back illegally but sometimes a business should appoint someone and the bank would go through a series of tests to make sure they are indeed trustworthy.