Final Reflection

After going over my blog posts from the past semester, I can definitely say my most formative assignments were the interviewing customers ones. These would also be the assignments I'm most proud of completing. I think they were important to me because I failed so many times at them. They were difficult assignments but I managed to do them all and learn a lot by the end. After finishing the first set of customer interviews, I wasn't nearly as nervous doing it the second time. I think these assignments were definitely the most important in developing a tenacious attitude.
The assignment I'll remember the most in ten years would definitely be "Growing Your Social Capital." I was surprised at how welcoming the people I interviewed were. I didn't think they would want to spend time talking to me but I got the opposite reaction. I think a part of the reason the assignments went so well was because I called the people and talked to them personally rather than just emailing them. I'll never forget the conversations I had and what I was able to learn from them.
The most joyous assignment was definitely "Google Gold." Reaching the first and second pages of Google was the affirmation I needed that everything in this class paid off for me. I was so surprised and satisfied by the results I got.
I think I can definitely say I am an entrepreneur after taking this class. I can tell that I've started to use the entrepreneur's mindset in every day life. Whenever I see something I don't like, I look at it as an opportunity and think of how it could be improved. This is definitely something I didn't do before this class. I think the skills I've gained will be important in continuing to be an entrepreneur in the future.
The one recommendation I would make to future students would be to be confident in your opportunity. Don't just settle for something but actually think of an idea that could succeed in the real world. The entirety of the class is built around that idea and you're going to want it to be something worthwhile. The quality of the opportunity could shape how much a student gains out of this class. Besides that, another important way to succeed in this class is to be proactive. If you wait to the last day to complete assignments, they're probably not going to get done. And if they somehow manage to get completed, the quality of the posts won't be nearly as good. That's why doing the posts ahead of time is extremely important to success in the class. Having quality posts and learning a lot from them is the most important part of developing the entrepreneurial mindset in this class.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

From my last elevator pitch, I got a lot of positive feedback. People said it was an awesome idea and I presented it well. This is great to hear but I unfortunately didn't get a lot of constructive feedback for me to improve upon. The only real thing somebody mentioned was to maybe have a little bit more enthusiasm in my next elevator pitch. I think this is pretty good feedback because enthusiasm is definitely important in an elevator pitch. I adjusted this pitch to have more passion in it and I hope it worked out well.

Week 15 Reading Reflection

The most surprising part of this article was when Akula said the most critical factor of their growth was focusing on the customer. This was surprising on two levels. First of all, it's surprising that other companies don't focus on the customer in their work and are only in it for themselves. The other surprising part was that SKS operates in the customers' favor even if it hurts the company in the short term. Most companies don't do this today and it's very admirable.
The most confusing part of this article was when Akula explained how microfinancing works and that they are usually non-profits. Usually when I think of financial planning, I think that the person in charge usually takes in a chunk of the sales. Maybe this is a different type of financing and works somewhat differently. Either way it's very interesting to see how it works.
The first question that I would want to ask would be what was the hardest part about starting this business. I'm sure there were lots of difficult stages and I would want to know what was the biggest roadblock. The next thing I would want to ask would be what was it like working with another culture. This is definitely a challenge for anybody running an international business and I'd want to know what it was like.
I didn't find any thing to disagree with in this article. It was kind of impossible to do so since the whole article was just the story of a company. There weren't really any opinions and it was just the facts of what had happened.

Venture Concept No. 2

There I was, laying in my bed just a day before I needed to turn in my opportunity for ENT3003. I looked up and realized that I was never going to be able to do it and I would fail the class miserably. Then all of the sudden, the sun shined through the window and illuminated my textbooks. It made perfect sense. There was such an opportunity to be had with textbooks. College students hate having to buy them for many reasons and I realized there has to be a better way. At the beginning of each semester, the average students deals with extremely high costs, textbooks that get mailed late, and textbooks that are in horrible condition. This need for an easier way became quite obvious to me as I thought about the opportunity. Students were going to want a cheaper, easier, and faster way of getting textbooks. The vast majority of the people in this market are college-aged students located around these college towns. Most of these students currently get their textbooks from Amazon, Chegg, or the school bookstore. Students can’t be very loyal to any of these suppliers because they force an extremely high credit card bill. I think this is a pretty big opportunity with a potentially short window of opportunity. Textbooks are such a huge issue that there needs to be some large change and I believe that change could come soon as students are getting fed up with the process as it exists today.

After noting all of this information, I came up with an app that could fix this broken system for a lot of people. The app would operate by connecting college students on the same campus together. Students would create a profile and list all of the textbooks they’re in need of and those that they’re selling. The app would connect students with matching interests and allow them to exchange their textbooks at designated locations on campus. The app would be profitable primarily through advertisements that I could charge companies a monthly fee for (not sure on an exact number). 

This innovation would address the opportunity at hand because it would make the textbook process much easier and cheaper for students. The average student might only end up paying 40 or 50 dollars for a textbook compared to the 200 for a brand new copy. I think there would also be lots of companies who would want to advertise on my app primarily because they would be advertising to college students who are always on their phones. If they saw ads for local restaurants or bars, they would probably visit them at some point. I don’t think it would be difficult to get customers to abandon Amazon or the school bookstores mainly just because of how much cheaper my app would be. The cost of these competitors would be their main weakness. Also the fact that their service takes a lot longer is another weakness. When it comes to the Facebook Textbook Exchange page, I think I have the upper hand here as well. When I ask customers and friends about the Facebook page, I get mixed responses. Some people find it easy while others find they have to spend a lot of time looking for textbooks and sometimes don't even find it. If you want to find a specific textbook, you could be scrolling for forever. With my app, all you have to do is look up the ISBM and any matches would instantly pop up. This makes it overall faster and easier. I don’t think distribution will be a real issue, as I’m not selling a physical product. The only thing I need would be people researching to determine what campuses are most in need of the app and where to market the app. I would probably start out with a small team of employees. To start I would need at least three people. There would be one person to code the app, one person to develop how the app looks, and then me to continue developing the actual idea. After that, I would just develop several small teams of people who can come up with ideas, people who take care of the finances, and people who engineer the app.

I believe my secret sauce is my success at meeting new people. According to different strength tests, this is my best strength. I think I can make a good impression on people and hopefully add them to my team if need be. This would be a really important resource when it comes to hiring experts in the field.

I think the next direction that my company is headed is online textbooks. I want to create a system where people can get online textbooks through my app. I think this is good because so many classes are abandoning physical textbooks today. I would also want to have homework help, study guides, and tutors involved with this aspect of the website.

I assume within five years after this app started, I would probably try to sell the app to somebody else. This would primarily depend on how successful the app is. I would hope that I continue to be an entrepreneur and look for new opportunities beyond TextSwap. I think this first experience will be a springboard to more opportunities as an entrepreneur. 

I got some really good constructive feedback from my first venture concept. The most important thing people mentioned was differentiating myself from my competitors, specifically the Facebook Exchange page. I made sure to include that in this revised venture concept. I also took the advice of eliminating the download fee for the app since the Facebook page is already free. I think this will level the playing field even more. Other than though, I got some really positive feedback as well. People were commenting that I went into a lot of detail and agreed that there is a definite opportunity to be had here. Some of them even said they would use the app themselves which is great to hear. 

Week 14 Reading Reflection

I think one of the more surprising things from these chapters was when Kuratko said "many companies today are recognizing the need for corporate entrepreneurship." I'm just surprised that companies didn't realize this until recently. Entrepreneurship and innovation just seems like such a necessity that it would have always been important. Maybe with companies like Apple and Google doing so well, other companies have tried to follow their path.
The most confusing part from these chapters was when Kuratko first started talking about social entrepreneurs. He first mentioned how most social entrepreneurs had to be NPO's but then mentioned how for-profit organizations could be social entrepreneurs as well. This seemed like kind of a contradiction to me and was a bit hard to understand the difference.
One question that I would ask Kuratko would be whether he considers innovation to be chaotic or systematic. He mentions how a lot of people disagree on which it is so it would be interesting to see which side he is on. The next question that I would want to ask would be which part of the CIIP he considers to be the most important. They obviously all contribute a lot but I'd like to know which he finds the most effective.
The part that I disagreed with the most was when Kuratko mentioned how entrepreneurship can fix climate change and solve other ecological problems. I've never really thought of this as entrepreneurship and I've never heard of an entrepreneur really helping the environment. Maybe I just have a different definition in mind of what a social entrepreneur is.

Google Gold

My main approach to search engine optimization was just using my keywords over and over in my blog posts. I thought this would be my best chance to reach the first page of Google. In addition to this, I went a step further when it came to commenting on other blogs. Not only did I include my own link, but I also described what the post was about and used the keywords there as well. I thought the combination of the link and keywords would really help me SEO.
My main keywords were TextSwap(the name of the company) and textbook exchange app(essentially the purpose of the app). I think another important keyword was probably college or college students since that's who the app is aimed at. I chose these keywords because they seemed to be the most relevant in regards to my app and what it did. I don't think I consciously refined my keywords throughout the semester although I bet I did subconsciously. As I developed a more specific idea of what the app looked like, I probably started using my keywords more often.
I didn't really use social media to promote my blog that much. I didn't think that my Facebook friends or Twitter followers would really be interested in my class blog and would just scroll past it. I did always thumbs up my YouTube videos and share my posts on Google+ though. These may not be the most popular social media but it was the easiest thing to do that would help.
My post with the most traffic was my second elevator pitch. This beat the other posts by a long shot as it has 27 page views and it's the only page with 20 or more views. I think part of the reason for this is that there were four people assigned to comment on this post. This obviously increased page views. In addition to this, I think it had a lot of views because it had a YouTube video in the post. Anybody who saw the video on my YouTube might have gone to the blog to check out the post. Other than these reasons though, I just think I did a good job with the elevator pitch. I thought it went really well and would be a good example for people to look at.
When I finally looked up my keywords for this assignment, I tried a couple different things. I first googled the phrase "TextSwap textbook exchange app college students" and ended up being the eighth post on the first page. Yippee! When I cut the phrase down to just "TextSwap textbook exchange app college," I went down to the fifth post on the second page. I'm still pretty happy with this though. I further cut it down to "TextSwap textbook exchange app" and dropped one spot to the sixth post on the second page. Overall, I'm very happy with my results. Although I didn't get on the first page on all of my searches, my worst attempt was still on the second page. It's really difficult to reach the top page of Google so I'm pleased that I made it there on at least one of my searches. All of my SEO efforts paid off!

Very Short Interview, Part 2

After going over my initial interview, I found some correlations between the answers I got and what I have learned in this class. He told me that overcoming the fear of failure is very important and that's definitely something we've talked about in this class.
I went back to Dr. Fogarty and asked him three more questions. Q: When do you most value being an entrepreneur?
A: On pay day.  I get paid exactly what I am worth.  I can't blame anyone else for what happens.
Q: How have changes in technology over the past decade changed the way you work?
A:I can now transact business without ever having to meet the person face-to-face.  It can all be done with technology.  Not necessarily a good thing.
Q: If you could go back in time, what's something you would change in regards to your work or being an entrepreneur?
A: I would have started younger and done more research up-front to find the best fit for my needs and desires.  Knowing what you want in advance is critical.
I think after going through everything this semester, I was more comfortable reaching out again to Dr. Fogarty. When I did part one of this assignment, I was much more nervous about the response that I would get. But now that I've gone out and interviewed random people, interviewing somebody I know is quite easy. I also feel like the entrepreneur could tell that I progressed based off the more advanced questions that I asked him.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

I thought the most surprising thing from this reading was when he talked about the control factor. It's crazy to think that someone who only owns 2% of a company can be the deciding factor in key company decisions. There must be a lot of thought and persuasion within the company to try and win that 2% though and it would be interesting to read about a real life situation where that played out.
The price/earnings ratio was probably the most confusing thing I found from this chapter. I've never been super familiar with the stock market so it was confusing to read about it. It makes a little bit more sense now that I've read it all but it was definitely hard to understand at first. Hopefully that knowledge will come in handy when I start investing.
One of the questions that I would want to ask would be what he considers to be the best way to avoid start-up costs. They're obviously important when starting up a company so it would be interesting to know how to avoid or minimize them. The other question I would ask would be what he thinks is the most important part of analyzing a venture. He talked a lot about different aspects but it would be good to know what he thinks is the most important one.
The biggest thing I found that I disagreed with was when Kuratko said that small businesses shouldn't compare themselves to large corporations. Maybe they don't plan on being as big as Apple but I think it would be a good idea to see what made them successful. By understanding that, the owner of the small company can perhaps apply some of it to their company and become more successful.

Celebrating Failure

I think my most notable failure in this class would have been for the first assignment where we had to interview customers. I went around Turlington that afternoon and had seven people deny me before I got my first interview. This was extremely frustrating and I almost gave up on the assignment. I didn't understand why people wouldn't want to be interviewed for just 60 seconds. There were some people who were even kind of rude when they rejected me.
I did learn a very important lesson from this failure though. I figured out the key to interviewing customers. The first seven people that I talked to all were walking somewhere when I talked to them. When someone is walking somewhere, I realized they are far less likely to agree to an interview. The five people that I did ended up interviewing were all either sitting or standing around somewhere. Since they're not going somewhere already, they are far more likely to agree to the interview. In the next few assignments where I had to interview customers, I made sure to talk to people who were sitting down. I did end up failing a couple more times but I never reached seven again which was great.
Failure is extremely frustrating for anybody to deal with but it is inevitable. Anybody who wants to be an entrepreneur will fail at one time or another. I think whenever I face failure, the first thing I do is think about what I can change. If I'm failing then I'm obviously not doing something right. I look to see the source of the problem and what changes I can make to eliminate the problem. I think this class has changed the way I look at failure. I'm definitely more likely to take a risk now. Before this class, I would never have wanted to interview customers about a random idea but now I think I could do that easily.

My Exit Strategy

I think the best option for my app TextSwap is to build it up and sell it in the span of a few years. I think this is the best option because I would like to do more than just manage this app. I'm hoping TextSwap would be a spring board into many other opportunities I can find and take advantage of as an entrepreneur. By selling it, I can gain a large sum of money that could help me in my next venture. I think my decision to do this has influenced my other ideas to some extent. Throughout the course, I've known that as a college student it would be very difficult to run an app and manage classes. So whenever I've come up with new ideas for TextSwap, I've always kept in the back of my head that eventually somebody else would probably be running this company. I want to come up with the best ideas that would help the future CEO succeed and give them the best starting point. I don't think this has influenced how I came up with the opportunity or how I decided to acquire resources though. My ideal situation would be I make the app and have a team with me. My team would test the app on a college campus and see the results. If the app is successful, hopefully an investor would like the idea and would be able to bring TextSwap to campuses around the nation, which is something I'm not sure I would be able to do at this point. I did want to start up the app and develop it to some extent before selling it though.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

One thing that was surprising was the three different types of failures that Kuratko talked about. We've talked about failure a lot in this class but we've never really acknowledged different types of failures. It was interesting to see what the different types of failures were and how a company should respond to each type of failure. Understanding this probably puts the company in a much better position.
I think the most surprising thing from this chapter was the amount of start-ups that lack strategic planning. It just seems like kind of a no-brainer to me. Without a plan, how can a company expect to succeed? I guess it's easier just not to plan things out and hope for the best but it just seems like a necessity.
The first thing that I would ask Kuratko would be what he considers the biggest reason that more people don't plan strategically. He talks all about the different reasons but it would be interesting to see which is the biggest reason people don't plan things out. The second question that I would want to ask would be what Kuratko considers the toughest part about growth. He talks all about transitioning to management while also maintaining an innovative quality so I would like to see what he finds the toughest part about that to be.
The biggest thing I found that I disagreed with was when Kuratko said it was necessary for everyone in a firm to share the entrepreneur's vision. I think it's important for everybody in a firm to share the entrepreneur's mindset but I don't think everybody should have the same exact vision. If everybody thinks the way the top entrepreneur in the firm does, then there won't be any new and innovative ideas.