ENT3003 Class Blog

Book: How to Fail at Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams The overall theme of this book was, as you could guess, coping with failure, as well as motivation. The book details several of the writer, Scott Adams', personal failures, and how he overcame them. By the end, the main conclusion of the book was that failures are only failures if you choose to not learn from them, and if they come to ruin your motivation and run your life. This book really touched on the idea of tenacity and entrepreneurial mindset-- topics both heavily explained throughout the course. Adams, just as Prof Pryor, assert that entrepreneurs see everything as an opportunity, and that includes failure. Entrepreneurship requires a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and if you get bogged down from failures, you're almost guaranteed to never succeed. Sample assignment based on the book: Go through your week, and write down a couple of ways you felt you failed. Meet with a group, 2-4 people, and talk a...

My experiences: Looking through my past posts, I can see a huge difference in my overall understanding of entrepreneurship and my growth as a learner. Some of my favorite activities, and ones that I had forgotten, were ones we did in the beginning-- like our bug list and identifying local opportunities. I'm most proud of coming up with a business and analyzing it from every perspective. Entreprenurial mindset: I have definitely developed a more entrepreneurial mindset. However, I wouldn't ever consider myself an "entrepreneur" until I actually start a business I'm passionate about.  Recommendations : Get ahead early in this course when you can. Take the first weekends of school to just knock out a ton of assignments so you don't have to worry about them when you're burned out at the end of the semester.  Read the books; they're really cool and informative.  Remember to comment on other peoples' blogs and to do the quizzes. The l...

1. My venture concept: * Changes in red My business: a website that connects potential private investors with technology and medical startups to facilitate investing Opportunity My website collects potential private investors, whether it be investing firms or individuals, and technology startups specifically. Lack of funding for technology and medical startups isn’t necessarily bound geographically. However, some states’ economies’ are more accepting of technology startups, are trying to get there. For example, California’s economy is heavily composed of technology businesses and Cleveland, OH is known for their famous Cleveland Clinic, researching universities, and medical community . Right now, current potential customers can rely on a handful of different funding methods. Most popular right now, however, is participating in a accelerator fund in hopes of gaining exposure or receiving funds at the end of the program. Another major source of funding is...

1. I plan to sell my business to another social media. Whether they decide to keep both sites running separately or incorporate aspects of my website into their own is entirely up to them. 2. I've chosen this strategy because I'm not confident in how long social media will be around, and don't want to invest my entire life into something that might be temporary. Also, since my product is very niche, I believe I will be more successful in selling my company to another platform that could potentially just want to incorporate the functions of my site into theirs. 3. My decision will allow me to focus more on the R&D/ development portion of my business, rather than advertising, marketing and customer service.

A time I failed this semester: I am a photographer for a fashion magazine, and one of the shoots this semester was really difficult to shoot. As a team, we had failed to accurately execute the idea-- the makeup and styling was off, the location we had originally wanted fell through, the models were late, etc. Even more, I was frustrated during the shoot because I couldn't figure out the right lighting, find the right poses for the models, and more. We were certainly unprepared to do the shoot, but went on anyways. Normally, I'm quite proud of my work, but the photos from this shoot just turned out horrible. Needless to say, I was frustrated and felt defeated. Ultimately, we ended up reshooting the shoot. We went back the the drawing board, picked out new clothes, makeup, models and location to better represent our vision, and came with a better plan.   What I learned from it: Failure is easy without the right planning and communication-- making execution difficult and frustr...

New market Current market: technology startups with private investors Potential new market: medical startups with private investors Medical startup Creating value: More money for them More time for startup to focus on developing their instead of chasing funding Faster product development --> product on market faster --> more people helped Interviews: I interviewed two people who have interned for various medical firms.  Suggestions for improvement: Perhaps pairing with a site like Go Fund Me. Perhaps including personal statements from the people the startup would be helping. Ie: cancer patients, the blind, etc. Reflection In researching this new market, I wasn't very surprised with what I had learned. While different from technology startups (my original market), the research I had conducted prior to this assignment was just reinforced. Medical markets are able to more easily receive funding from other funds, such as from the government. While the...

My business: a website that connects potential private investors with technology startups to facilitate investing Opportunity My website collects potential private investors, whether it be investing firms or individuals, and technology startups specifically. The lack of funding is an issue that most specifically targets technology startups as other ventures, such as medicine, have easier access to government funds. Lack of funding for technology startups isn’t necessarily bound geographically. However, some states’ economies’ are more accepting of technology startups, are trying to get there. For example, California’s economy is heavily composed of technology businesses. In addition, places like Cleveland, OH that are looking to diversify their city’s economic identity are starting to move towards tech. The service includes many demographics-- nearly anyone can start a business or want to invest in one. (Whether they are successful or not depends on a myriad of factors, ...

23A - YOUR VENTURE'S UNFAIR ADVANTAGE My business: a website that connects potential private investors with technology startups to facilitate investing Social capital: personal connections to technology startups I spent last summer working for a technology startup accelerator, and made developed personal relationships with 8 technology startups in need of startup funding. Valuable : Extremely valuable. I have personal connections to my target market, and therefore I can tailor my service directly to their issues. I have experienced their struggles first hand. Additionally, I have potential customers for when my product goes live. Rare : Quite rare. Many people know entrepreneurs, but I have a very specific niche of customers, that I happen to know personally. Imitable : Somewhat difficult to copy by others. They can try to go out and meet this type of entrepreneur or connect on LinkedIn, but it takes time to develop trust and connections. Non-substitutable...