Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

Answer: Reading about the international entrepreneurship was probably the biggest surprise in this reading. I guess that since i'm in the US I never really think about entrepreneurship on a global scale. I learned that entrepreneurship can fuel economic growth, create employment and generate prosperity for citizens.

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

Answer: The part on innovation types was a little confusing to me. There were multiple types when I believe that there is only one type of innovation. Innovation is defined as a new method idea or product. So in this case shouldn't all new things just be innovations? This concept was a little confusing for me to wrap my mind around.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Answer: Subce Cross-functional product develpoment teams all come from the firm, why are new product development processes completed quickly? I would ask this question because I think it would take longer especially if more people are arguing about a certain aspect of the product. I would also agk, "Do you plan on opening borrowing to men also?" If not why?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

Answer: Donald defines successful entrepreneurship by saying, "The key to success with entrepreneurship and innovation is moving from the invention of ideas to effective commercialization and acceptance in the marketplace." In my personal opinion I believe that success is defined by you and only you. If you follow your heart and do what you love I believe that is the true meaning of success.

Final Reflection

1) Read through your blog 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.

Answer: When I first started taking this class, I remember that one of the very first things I had to do was do the "My entrepreneur's mantra." I remember thinking to myself, "Why am I reading this mantra and recording it and how will this benefit me in anyway." Looking back through all the assignments they all really building up on top of one another. I went back to this post and I fully agreed with everything that I said in the video that I recorded. I truly believe that I am an entrepreneur now. I also took the time to go through the posts where I interviewed my first strangers in the "customer interviews no 1." I remember how weird it felt to me to actually go up to strangers and interview them about a class. This is something I've never done before and definitely put me out of my comfort zone. Each assignment was a little different that I now see why it helps me define myself as an entrepreneur after. The only time I had moments of drudgery was when I was rushing to get an assignment done before the due date.

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?

Answer: Honestly, I personally got the most out of the elevator pitch. Since we did it 4 times I got to get a lot of feedback from my fellow classmates from each one of the times that I did it. I've never done an elevator pitch before so getting feedback really helped me improve on my pitch and made it to what it is now! I think my most joyous experience was actually creating the idea for my venture concept. I love coming up with cool little inventions and this was an amazing opportunity to take it a step further. I think I am most proud of my most popular post which was "Interviewing customers no. 2!

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

Answer: Yes, like I said above I definitely believe in the entrepreneur's mantra. At the beginning I was really skeptical about all of this but the more I look back on it, the more I realize how much it actually helped me get to where I am now. Definitely increased my entrepreneurial mindset which will in the end always help out with any business ideas I end up doing.

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 think that everyone is passionate about something, and if you follow that passion with all your heart it will eventually lead to the greatest success. I recommend that you don't procrastinate and get all your work done in time. Maybe write down a schedule of when things need to get done so that you don't forget and lose pointless grades on assignments you could've done!

Elevator Pitch 4

1)

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch.

I stated this at the beginning of the video, but I got great feedback from my last pitch. Everyone really liked the idea and urged me to keep going on with it because they want it. I did the same thing in this pitch as well! 

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

I was a little more enthusiastic about trying to sell the product but I truly believe that this product will sell itself. Once people start using it they will tell their friends and everyone will hopefully have it on their phones! I'm inspired to do so because I really would love to have the app. But yeah, people really liked my last elevator pitch so I think I did it well this time too! I'm really thankful for this class in giving me more experience with these pitches because by listening to other peoples feedback I truly learned how to pitch an idea!

Venture Concept 2

OPPORTUNITIES:

-GPS located parking spots that will aid you to the closest desired parking spot in your location.

- Currently there is no app on the market that has the capabilities and functionalities that mine do.

-Prices of parking garages and meters will be shown on the app for easy functionality

-Tow away zones will be shown too so that people know that they can be towed.

INNOVATION:

This idea of a gps enabled parking app will allow for people to look on their phone and find the parking spot that will direct them to their spot. Many people complain on a day to day basis about how they have to drive around for 20 extra minutes to find a parking spot on a busy day. This would save time and everyone has already given me feedback that they like the idea. Also all the added features will help people pick which parking garages they want to go to as well as help them not get towed. Since it is a free app, everyone hopefully will download it to help themselves find parking more easily

VENTURE CONCEPT:

This app will be free because I want to help this ever growing problem. There used to be a parking lot right behind midtown but now it is becoming yet another apartment complex. The amount of parking spots is decreasing and it is getting harder to find spots.

Since it is a free app everyone should be able to download it. I will hopefully get it released on apple
and android so that I can reach the most people as possible.

I decided to just get ad revenue from the app just to pay for the amount of work I personally put into creating the app as well as making it free. I'll probably just make there be 1 add when you pull it up just to generate a little bit of profit.

I will also put an advice board in the app for people to send advice on what they want me to change on the app and I will always listen and probably add the things they want. This will keep customers happy and keep them using my app.

FINAL CONCLUSION

In my earlier posts. I described how people are constantly getting frustrated with the fact that they have to drive around town to try and find a single parking spot. There are so many people that drive and there still isn't an app out there like this one. I have already been talking to a lot of smart app developer friends and we decided to start mapping out the areas around town and finding all the places to park and then putting locations down on a google map format of where the parking spots are. This will then show the user of the app where all the available spots are in their area. Also I wanted to make it free because it is easier for an app to blow up when it is free because most people don't like spending money on simple apps. I think i'm going to continue going on with this idea and bettering it until I finally release it! I drive around campus all the time and always wish I had it. Hopefully it comes out soon so that I can help people as soon as possible!

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1.      What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I thought the 60% expected Annual Return on Investment for startups sought by venture capitalists, and also expecting a 10-15x overall return on investment is extremely high.  What this means to me is that venture capitalists are really only looking to fund the “diamond in the rough,” or the one deal among thousands that has really big upside potential.  It seems to me that the vast majority of startups would not realistically approach these expected returns.

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

I thought the venture capitalist screening criteria was very confusing.  It appears to me that the vast majority of the financial projections of the proposed business strategy are based on pure speculation.  There doesn’t appear to be any hard evidence upon which the decision to fund is based.  It seems that the venture capitalist either fundamentally understands and believes in the project, or they don’t.

3.      If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

        How often do venture capitalists receive a percentage of ownership in the startups they are funding?

2     What percentage of funded startups actually meet or exceed their financial projections?

I would like the answers to these two questions because this would give me an indication of how lucrative it would be to get into the venture capital business.  If there was a “magic formula” for the criteria and the expected vs. the actual returns.  I would like to raise money for startups and get a small piece of ownership in dozens of startups, hoping that a few would really pop.

4.      Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

Nothing that I thought was overtly wrong, however, I thought there was not enough emphasis on the importance of startups bringing in seasoned management to increase their chance of success.  And the granting of equity ownership to attract experienced management.  It would be better to have a smaller piece of a big pie than to have no pie at all.

Google Gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimization (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

Answer: Search engine optimization is something that I've had to deal with a lot in my life. I've been making electronic music for 6 years and had to make sure that my music and my artist name were always the first things coming up on google. I've been making sure to do the same thing with these blog posts as well. My general approach and strategy to search engine optimization is to first figure out what I think people are going to google to see my posts. Then i'll use that information and use it to my advantage by putting those key words or phrases in my posts. Putting labels, keywords in the title and even in your work as well are ways to do this! 

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

Answer: Like I said above I personally try and foresee what people are going to google to see my posts and use those words especially in my posts. I also use my name in all my posts because that comes up on all my posts which will come up on google if you search for that. I understand the point of the "google gold" but these posts don't give me any money or anything from view count so I don't see a point in taking time to focus on keywords at all. If it was regarding my music or my business where I need customers and views for money, then I would focus hard on it.

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What were your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

Answer: I would just post my blogs on social media so that my friends can see what I post. I don't think it really helped since my most viral post only had 14 views which is honestly nothing. Social media generally ignored my posts honestly. If my posts had more views then maybe I would think that they liked what I was posting.

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

Answer: My "What's next" post was my most viral post with a huge total for 14 views. I think it was the most "viral" because it was my biggest post with the most videos and the most work. Plus it was a huge summary of my app which a lot of people liked as well.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

Answer: No I did not. I'm OK with this because as I put above, this is not for a business or for my personal gain so being not the first result doesn't harm me in anyway. I made it on the second page of the results.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

In my initial short interview, I interviewed a close family friend by the name of Mike Jones. He owns his own motorcycle business back in my hometown area. When I interviewed him it actually went very well. I asked him about himself and his dream, his thoughts on what it meant to be an entrepreneur and also what he thinks I should learn from an entrepreneurship course. He answered all of these questions extremely genuinely and offered me a lot on insight into his business and also explained things that he wish he knew before starting this business. The biggest thing I got out of his interview was that he talked about how important it was for a business owner to focus on their clients and make them happy so that they want to come back. Once you have a good amount of clients coming in because they like your service, your business will get up and running.

Since he is still in Asheville, North Carolina, I had to call him again today for this second round of interviews. This is what he responded with.

1. If you could time travel back in time, what would you have done differently for your business to become even more successful?

Answer: I should have had the confidence to expand my business, by branching out and opening multiple dealerships in other areas.  I was nervous and afraid of the financial risk.  I wasn’t sure I could control the new dealerships.  With hindsight, as interest rates were so low, I could have borrowed the money and easily opened several new dealerships and comfortably paid back the loan.  I estimate that my business today would be 3-4 times more profitable.

2. What are the most important qualities you look for when you are hiring an employee?

Answer: The most important qualities are honesty and loyalty.  I have always treated my employees more than fairly, but if they are inherently dishonest or disloyal, no matter how well you treat them they will do something to hurt your business.  Secondly, I look for hard working salesmen, because my business is all about selling products to customers.  Some people are just plain good salesmen.  Lastly, I look for good people skills, like the ability to always put the needs of the customer above just making a commission.

3. If your business did fail, would you start another business, or go work for somebody else?

Answer: Being an entrepreneur has taught me to have confidence in my abilities.  I had to weather many difficulties in my business through the years.  Once you have some degree of success as a result of your own business decisions creates confidence that you can always turn things around and become successful again.  I will never give up the freedom of running my own business.

Since the beginning of this course I've grown immensely. At the beginning I really did not know what to expect. This class was unlike everything I've done before and structured completely differently as well. When I started doing the first assignments I really didn't have any entrepreneurial ideas but as the class continued on I was kind of 'forced' to start thinking harder about these entrepreneurial ideas. Talking to entrepreneurs and interviewing strangers was definitely out of my comfort zone. I have a deeper understanding of the issues entrepreneurs face and am able to ask better questions.  Because of this class I have clarified my goal in life – to be an entrepreneur and own my own business. One of the key factors Mike emphasized is hard work.  Initially I really thought that all an entrepreneur needed was a good idea.  Now I see that the good idea is not enough, that no matter how good the idea is it still requires maximum effort and 100% focus and hard work to make it successful. Mike also noted that my first round of questions were definitely a lot more basic than these that I asked today. He commended me for my growth through the semester and hard work in this class.