Final Reflection

Although this is the end of our journey together in ENT 3003, you now have a set of experiences that you can use to better navigate the future. My hope is that each of you have, to one extent or another, developed an entrepreneurial mindset. That you keep a sharp eye out for problems, and you're willing to offer a solution. 

For this final reflection, I'd like you to do a few things:

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.

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?

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?

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?

Once you have written your post, please include a picture (for illustration!). Include the phrase "Final Reflection" in the title.

Don't forget to make the declaration. 

My Exit Strategy

All good things come to an end. Eventually, the entrepreneur exists the venture she or he created. Although exit comes at the end of the entrepreneurship process, its implications can be seen throughout. Exit can influence how you identify opportunities, develop products or services, and manage and grow the firm. In this exercise, I would like you to reflect on your own exit strategy.

Here's what you should do:

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?

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

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?

In the post, please include a picture (for illustrative purposes!). Include the phrase "My Exit Strategy" in the title. Please share the URL here, and don't forget to make the declaration.

Make It Real

Make it Real

When the semester began, I argued that our experiences can shape who we are. Now that you're at the end of the journey, we ask you to reflect on where you've been. Next week's "Final Reflection" exercise asks you to look back through your semester and identify the highlights. Reflection is an educational tactic that is useful for making the things you learned stick. (In fact, there's a great book on this called "Make it Stick," by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel, which I'd highly recommend!)

In this exercise, I want you to do a bit more than just make it stick; I want you to make these experiences real. You are all the founders of a new venture, social movement, or other project. You have actually engaged in customer research. You have actually made pitches to groups of potential customers/investors/employees, etc. You have actually identified a product/service mix, described a growth and exit strategy, and you have experience practicing search engine optimization.

I've often thought back on my own life and the years I published a campus newspaper as an undergraduate student. I wish someone had told me I was an entrepreneur; I might still be doing it! Here's my chance to pay it forward:

You have all of the experiences of an entrepreneur. And you didn't just read about it in a textbook. You actually did it. You ARE an entrepreneur.

For this exercise, I'd like you to do something very simple. Put together a resume. An entrepreneur's resume. You'll list all the usual things -- your education, skills, work experience, etc. -- but I want you to actually include a line item that indicates you were the founder of a new venture. This should go at the top, and it should be included in "Work Experience." I also would like you to list some of the tangible experiences and skills you have acquired and practiced in ENT 3003. Some of these skills and experiences can be listed under the "Founder, My Venture" heading. Some of them you can include elsewhere on your resume. 

Now, because this should be your real resume, it should be a Word or PDF file. Please create this resume, upload it to a cloud storage system like your Google drive, and embed a link to it in your blog post. Once you have completed this exercise, please include the phrase "Making It Real" in the post title.

Celebrating Failure

Our friend, Thomas Edison, once remarked -- rather famously! -- that he didn't fail to invent the lightbulb 1,000 times. No! He just discovered 1,000 ways that didn't work. 

In this exercise, bare your soul.

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. 

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

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 four months ago? 

Please include a picture with this post. Also, don't forget to include the phrase "Celebrating Failure" in the post title. Share the post URL here, and don't forget to make the declaration. 

Elevator Pitch No. 3

In this exercise, which will work exactly like your previous elevator pitch exercise, you'll record your elevator pitch and publish it to your blog. Here's what you should include in the post:

1) The pitch. Same as last time, 1-minute long. No Web cams. No sitting. Be dynamic! Upload the video to YouTube (as you do with all of your videos) and post the link.

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. Describe what stood out to you as important, what feedback surprised you the most, what feedback you think was outright wrong or silly. 

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

Be sure to include the phrase "Elevator Pitch No. 3" in the post title.

Once you have published your post and shared it here, make the Declaration!

My Unfair Advantage

As an insurance provider my company will have to operate under the same strict legal guidelines as my competitors. Therefore, my unfair advantage  must be one of the intangible nature. The legendary author of "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee wrote in her sequel novel "Go Set a Watchman" the following quote: "Every Man's Watchman, Is His Conscience." Examining my entrepreneurial proposal at its base I am merely providing insurance to athletes. What separates me from anyone else in the market is my conscience. I view providing insurance to those in need as a moral obligation that has been consistently ignored, specifically by sports entertainment employers. My company shall strive for excellence because any uninsured individual injury could add extra weight to my conscience.

Reading Reflection #2

For my second reading assignment in Principles of Entrepreneurship 3003 I read "Cognitive Surplus", by social media theorist Clay Shirky. Shirky defines cognitive surplus as the ability of the world's human population to voluntarily work in unison on large sometimes global projects. Its a simple definition for a very intangible concept, but it does explain how globalization through technology has allowed for collaboration among the widespread masses. However, a key factor of cognitive surplus is that it can only occur during periods of free time in a person's day. Any information or skillful efforts contributed by an individual hoping to aid in cognitive surplus must be done of their own free will. The second half of cognitive surplus is the current media tools available to create and communicate. 

In my opinion this book relates extremely well to the learning style of this ENT 3003 class. It has a positive message that empowers the reader, teaching them anyone at any given moment can have global impact. Hence the book's tone properly reflects the class. Shirky says a new conception is needed for the word media so it will no longer be perceived as something professionally produced. The following quote is how he prefers to define current media "Here’s mine: media is the connective tissue of society." If I were to design an exercise based around the information in this book I would have a contest between where involved must use as many different media mediums as possible to contact one person in their life at a time to deliver a piece of information. They could use different apps or websites such Snapchat, Skype, Tinder, Facebook, Instagram, blog comment areas to contact one person deliver a small piece of information then move onto a different form of media outreach. After a 24 hour period participants would tally their total number of people contacted. The purpose of this simple exercise is to show people how many different forms of media outreach we didn't have at the end of the 20th century.

My biggest surprise moment of the book probably came when Shirky explains his unique view on some of the benefits of older piracy sites like Napster. Obviously he appreciated the sharing platform for a hungry customer base. He looks at my generation as being more law abiding than our predecessors because with crime rates dropping considerably in numerous parts of the industrialized world millenials devoted ourselves to a particular type of criminality cyber sharing/theft. I've seen few people Shirky's age appreciate Napster in such a way.  
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Overall it was a really great book and I encourage everyone to read it though if you do not have the time to read the book you can find Clay Shirky's Ted Talk presentation online where he explains more about Cognitive Surplus.