ENT3003 Entrepreneurship Blog

1) Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread. 2) Without  a doubt, the most formative experience for me this semester has been learning to "think like an entrepreneur". I define that as having an attitude where I am always looking for problems and creative ways to solve them. I apply this thinking to my work in my internship. Although this makes me an "intrapreneur", the concepts are the same and it has helped me tremendously to be more effective in my work. 3) See my answer above. I do see myself as an entrepreneur, and I believe at some point I will hang up m shingle and go into business for myself. 4) Don't take this class lightly- focus on how this class applies to you specifically. Not everyone can or will become an entrepreneur- someone needs to be an employee after all! But if you pay cl...

1) Venture Concept Opportunity America, and the world, has an aging population. As birth rates in the U.S. decline, we are edging closer and closer to an economy with characteristics similar to countries like Japan, where the average age is 47. In the U.S., the average age is approximately 38, but that ticks higher every year. As our population grows gradually lower, our economy undergoes fundamental changes. We can look at Japan for an example of this sort of change. As the number of retirees rises and the number of workers falls, to things happen. First, selling pressure from retirees keeps stocks lower. Moreover, the country as a whole becomes less productive, as a smaller and smaller portion of the country support the remaining population. How has this worked out in Japan? Very similar to what is described above- Japan’s stock market has been stagnant for decades, the value of their currency has declined and their status on the world stage has shrunk. How does this apply to pe...

1) I plan to hold on to my business for at least several economic cycles. This could mean 20-30 years of ownership. Once the business model has been proved out over at least two generations of customers, the business will be properly matured enough to sell at a good price. 2) The life-cycle of my business is extremely long, from launch to proof of concept, growth and into the maturity phase could take fifty or more years. 3) I think the reverse is actually true- my exit strategy hasn't affected my business. Instead, by business has affected my exit strategy. I am 100% on board with taking a reasonable salary from my business, as long as it delivers consistent cash flow. I won't be ready to sell until the business model is thoroughly vetted over several decades, and I can receive the highest multiple for my business.

Book:  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance 1)  Going into this book, I had a fairly good understanding of Musk. I have kept up with the major headlines related to his work. One of the things that surprised me was that he is from South Africa. Based off his accent it makes sense, but I always assumed he was from the UK. Without a doubt what I like more than anything about Musk is his willingness to embrace risk when an incredible opportunity presents itself. This trait is what has made him so wildly successful, from his success with X.com and PayPal to his current ventures. If there is one thing I dislike about Musk, it is his hubris. However, I think this is born out of his incredibly  high confidence, which is necessary  in his line of work. 2) Musk is exceptional at game-planning. With insight that would make the best NFL coaches jealous,this is what allows Musk to take giant ideas like "colonize mars" and boil the...

Unfortunately, I have failed a few times in this class 🙃 Specifically, there have been several instances where I just did not give myself enough time to complete assignments, or I failed to watch lecture videos and did poorly on a cupcake. I have struggled particularly in the last few weeks. I know what everyone is thinking- "Get it together!"- and I agree. But these past several weeks have been filled with so much change, and several times I have over-estimated my ability to adjust on the fly to my ever-changing schedule and routines. This had led to silly, preventable, careless errors like forgetting completely forgetting to respond to my groups posts. What I have learned from this is that I am not the type of person who can adjust my schedule on the fly without a hitch- I need to have contingency plans in place for how I will re-order things, and then I have to physically record those changes on a notepad or calendar. I think this will end up helping me as I transit...

Existing Market - Offering long-term care to senior citizens without any up-front payment. Clients can pay for their care by pulling equity from their fixed assets (House, Business, etc) - There should be more options for financing. I may be making my target market unnecessarily small by only targeting seniors with large-fixed assets and little in the way of liquid capital. The point was made that most people who have acquired a large amount of fixed assets have also saved somewhat diligently into retirement accounts and mutual  funds. New Market Using my existing business model, I can expand my business by brokering funding for potential clients. Similar to a mortgage broker, my firm could help senior citizens secure 401K loans and other forms of lending. We would be paid a fee from the lender for originating the loan. What is key about this strategy is that it allows us to access new forms of financing for our clients while remaining a non-bank, which is crucial for cu...

Reading: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still win Big  by Scott Adams 1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?  The general theme is to not think of failure as failure, but to see it as a learning opportunity. As cliche as that sounds, Scott Adam's brings depth to the discussion by emphasizing how we need to recognize failure as an essential rung on the ladder to eventual success. 2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? Many people have misconceptions about what an entrepreneur is, and what you need to do to become an entrepreneur. Similarly, Scott Adams addresses many of the misconceptions associated with success, and what it takes to achieve success. 3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? I would p robably have students design  a "life model", where people chart out on a straight line a timeline of what they wan...

1) In my last pitch, I talked to fast and didn't communicate my product super effectively. 2) I slowed my speech and made it much shorter. My product is hard to understand for some consumers, and it does more harm than good to try to explain it in 90 seconds. For this reason, I decided to try to relate my product directly to the current volatile environment, in an effort to connect emotionally with my customer.