30A

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.

I think I really had a great time with all the exercises and modules this semester. I really liked how you called the quizzes cupcakes this made me not stress out about the tests and I think that made me to even better on the tests compared if you called it an exam or a test. 

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

I think reading the books was the most formative experience in this class. I also thought learning about other business leaders really helped me out in this class a lot. 

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

I think in the start of this module I couldn't see myself as an entrepreneur but right now I think I can. Its awesome to see my mindset change. I will the class for helping with this experience. 

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

I would recommend practicing and working on the elevator pitch since you never will no who you will need to pitch to and who will be in that elevator with you when you need it. 

29A

·     What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? 

I created this opportunity so that many people can be in contact with cheaper prgrammers for less then the expensive costs that they are today. After looking at my feedback more clearly now I have realized that this problem I saw is needed more than ever, and the motivation for this change is in the best interest of small business owners. 

·     How is this market defined geographically and demographically? 

Since this is an online business so the need and the market demographics are the entire world. I feel like I would like to stick to the United States in the beginning since that's a market I understand well. 

·     How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?  

Not many customers are having that need satisfied now. Thats why I'm coming in and changing it and creating my service. 

·     How big is this opportunity?

This is a huge opportunity the only way I can compare it to is that my need will help customers like how Shopify helped small business’s grow and scale while saving money. 

·     How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

This has only been open in the last 10 years since the internet and business became a big thing. 

·      What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?  

They will switch because my product and service is cheaper then the alternative. 

·      Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?  

The competitors are no one yet. 

·      What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept? 

Price points will be $7-8 an hour. 

·      How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?  

Create a C suite and a heirchy for my firm

The three minor elements

I also want you to cover three final elements in your description. Your treatment of these questions can be relatively short. Please focus most of your time on the opportunity, innovation, concept descriptions above.

First, describe what you think your most important resource will be. You might call this your venture’s “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage.” Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?

Our most important resource is our people. 

Second, what’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers. 

I want to tackle the high cost of domains for websites and provide even more services more my customers. 

Third, what’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision? 

In five years I would like a high market share of the programming industry when it comes to small businesses. 

The feedback I received was very eye opening and I think I enjoyed he process of creative criticism since it made my venture concept better. I made more details in my venture concept so its better now then my first one. 

What I changed from my last feedback because thats what I learned from the feedback. This means I added more details to my newer venture concept. 

28A

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I think if this business really takes off I might give it to my kids and make it a family business, but this would mean they have an interest and are business minded or if the business had room to grow. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I did this because it gives me one exit out if I needed one. Also this gives me a legacy for my kids if I needed it to. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

The decisions I made for my exit strategy didn't effect much. I think making this concept changed my opportunity horizon. 

27A

• Andrew Carnegie, David Nasaw

1) You read about an entrepreneur: 
I read a book about Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw. 

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

Andrew Carnegie has empire on his mind, and he is the perfect story of the American Dream. 

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I was confused on how he had such a large market share of steel during his time and he got into steel. 

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

Why did you get into steel?

What still motivates you?

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

His opinion of hard work was to build an empire to help create an empire that will help others. I think I share that opinion too. 

26A- Celebrating failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

I was motivated last semester to hit 275 pounds on my bench press. I failed miserably attempting it and could only do 265. It was embarrassing because I had the goal and I couldn't reach it. 

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

I learned that I might have had too much of a goal in such a little amount of time. I think if I did this later and had more of a time frame I would have had that goal done by then. 

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were just a few months ago?

Failure was hard for me. I believed in myself and trained for that number but I couldn't do it. Im currently training for that number and have giving it more time for me to develop it. 

25A- Whats Next?

• Existing

Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.

In next I need to assemble my team. 

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. 

Customer 1- He believes that my venture is a good idea but needs more people

Customer 2 Believed that I should work and focus on creating great customer service. 

Customer 3 Thinks I should focus on creating better SEO for my business. 

Step 3: What makes the most sense in the next step of my business is to create a team of good people. This will help my create social capital. 

I also like the idea of making a great SEO so my keywords for my company is great and we can have organic growth for my website. 

New Market.

Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

I'm planning on targeting many small business's so we can have many long term clients, and once they grow into medium sized business's we can increase our bottom line. 

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

I can create value since my service will be cheaper hence this Will create value to my clients and customers. 

Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 

Person 1- They thought my concept was great but thought having programmers in the US is the best solution and not hire off shore programmers even if they were cheaper. 

Person 2- Person 2 thought that I had some great product/service mix. They liked my idea alot and thinks I have a great opportunity in the new market. 

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

I learned alot in past post. I think looking at the new market was very eye opening. I also got some great opinions from some customers and people about my ideas and how they would work. 

Overall this post has alot of some great ideas and things I can work with. Having these great programmers helps create that high level of social capital. 

Programmers for less

ENT 3003: Venture Concept Write-Up Guide

Christopher Pryor, Ph.D.

  As part of ENT 3003, you are required to write a short (2-page, single spaced) description of a concept for a new venture. This write-up guide describes what you should cover in your write-up, and in so doing, it also presents a recommended outline for you to follow.

   The three major elements of your write-up are the (1) opportunity, (2) innovation, and (3) venture concept. You should begin your write-up with detailed descriptions of each of these elements. 

·     What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? 

I created this opportunity so that many people can be in contact with cheaper prgrammers for less then the expensive costs that they are today. 

·     How is this market defined geographically and demographically? 

This is an online business so the need and the market demopgraphics are the entire world. 

·     How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?  

Not many customers are having that need satisfied now. 

·     How big is this opportunity?

This is a huge opportunity the only way I can compare it to is that my need will help customers like how Shopify helped small business’s. 

·     How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

This has only been open in the last 10 yeRS

Innovation.An innovation may be defined as a new or creative service, product, or process that may be applied in the marketplace to address customer needs. The service, product, or process you develop in this class may be radically innovative or it may be incrementally innovative. In this section, I would like to you discuss your innovation in moderate detail. Explain what it is, what it does, and how it works. You should also describe how you will make money – in other words, what, exactly, are you selling and for how much? For instance, if I was starting a business to teach people how to play the piano, I would be selling an hour of my time for $50. 

Venture Concept. A venture concept may be defined as the application of a specific innovation to address a specific opportunity. In this section, describe how your innovation will solve or address the opportunity you identified. You also want to explain why customers will buy your innovation. In describing the concept, you also want to be sure to cover issues such as:

·      What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?  

They will switch because my product and service is cheaper then the alternative. 

·      Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?  

The competitors are no one yet. 

·      What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept? 

Price points will be $7-8 an hour. 

·      How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?  

Create a C suite and a heirchy for my firm

The three minor elements

I also want you to cover three final elements in your description. Your treatment of these questions can be relatively short. Please focus most of your time on the opportunity, innovation, concept descriptions above.

First, describe what you think your most important resource will be. You might call this your venture’s “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage.” Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?

Our most important resource is our people. 

Second, what’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers. 

I want to tackle the high cost of domains for websites. 

Third, what’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision? 

In five years I would like a high market share of the programming industry. 

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

• Generate a list of all of the resources in your venture (produce a list of at least 10 resources that you already possess). This can include your human capital, social capital, financial capital, and capabilities. You may also discuss the organizational culture you intend to create (but, obviously, it's not a resource that you have, now.) 

1.   Extensive and high quality Idea

2.   Human Capital

3.   Need in the market for my service.

4.   Social Capital

5.   Huge access to lots of financial capital

6.   High Work Ethic

7.   Great C Suite

8.   Access to many mentors in my field

9.   Educated Employees

10. Experience 

valuable, rare, inimitable (how hard it is to copy by others), and non-substitutable

      1. Extensive and high quality Idea

V-Quality is hard to come by

R- Not many ideas are rare

I- Patent protects ideas

N- Hard to change

      2.   Human Capital

V- We have high quality people

R- They are hard to come by

I- Patent idea

N- Hard to find

      3.   Need in the market for my service.

V- High Need

R- Market need

I- Patent

N-Hard to create

• 4.   Social Capital
  V- Great employees that are valuable

  R- Not many good employees available 

  I- Highly educated employees

  N- Needed for market
  5.   Huge access to lots of financial capital
  V- Not many firms have lots of capital

  R- Rare to have access to capital

  I- Cant create cash out of thin air

  N- can't substitute money
  6.   High Work Ethic
  V-We have high quality people

  R-Work Ethic is hard

  I- Cant create work ethic

  N- Hard to substitute great social capital 
  7.   Great C Suite
  V-We have high quality people

  R-Cant create work ethic

  I-Highly educated employees

  N-Hard to substitute great social capital 
  8.   Access to many mentors in my field
  V-We have high quality mentors

  R- Rare to find good mentos

  I- Cant duplicate a mentor

  N- Only a few mentors per field
  9.   Educated Employees
  V-We have high quality people

  R- Can't find many highly educated employees

  I- Highly educated employees

  N- High need for good people in market
  10. Experience 

      V- Expierence is valuable

      R- Expierence is rare

      I- Cant duplicate experience

      N- High need for good people in market

All of these resources are important since they all come together to create a high functioning and successful venture. 

22A- Elevator Pitch No. 3

The feedback that surprised me the most was how insightful and helpful my comments were. It helped me grow the way I approached the pitch and even made great improvements. 

I also found that I even memorized the whole things and I was extremely comfortable in front of the camera it was great. I also feel that the pitch was so much better then my last one and all of the others! This was a great assignment and I feel like I'm a pro now on the elevator pitch!

21A- Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I read was Makers: The New Industrial Revolution by Chris Anderson. 

1) The General theme of the book is trying to explain how there is a new industrial revolution that can change everything. They talk about 3D printing and more are changing making things to machines to computers. 

2) This book has connected and enhanced my learning experience in ENT3003 because I learned a lot about how today’s business world is changing in terms of the way our computers change the manufacturing process just like in the first industrial revolution did in the past. 

3)The exercise that I would design for the class that was based on "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution" would to list ways that our world has changed in terms of manufacturing. This would engage the student to think about our changing world. 

4) In reading this book I had a big surprise reading how much 3D printing has changed the way we can make things. 3D printing is so cheap and easy to use. I was also surprised the things you could print and the wide array of how open source all of this software was. 

20A- Growing your social capital

 domain expert in your industry

1) Who they are and what their background is. The domain expert in my industry is a small business owner out of Palm Bay, FL

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

This person is a domain expert because they have alot of authority in the Internet service industry. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I found them through a facebook group and I got connected ever since. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

They just wanted to share their knowledge and help other people grow their business. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

This person will give me great feedback and insight into my company and others. 

an expert on your market.

1) Who they are and what their background is. She is an expert in the Internet market

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

Market expert since this person has made alot of money online. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I actually got connected by a friend who was into Internet Sales. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation?

They wanted me to share my knowledge I had in Internet Sales and my experience to help them also. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

This person will help me scale my business if I choose to do so. 

an important supplier to your industry. 

1) Who they are and what their background is.

This person is an important supplier in my industry. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

Important supplier since they help with the client programmer connection

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I found this person from contacting the company he worked for. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

I Skyped him and we talked. He didn't want anything from me he just wanted to help 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

This person can help me with my business in the future just by his connections. 

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

This experience really helped shape how I participated in future networking events. It showed how many people you can connect with by just the power of the internet. This was different then my last experiences since it was in person and not online.