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 was slightly surprise that you have to answer a bunch of questions if you just want to start a business. I suppose it does help regulate things a bit, though. However, the biggest shock is how poorly the banks are doing. According to estimates, very few commercial banks will survive over the next ten years. I just hope the economy does well and there is room for innovation in the market.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
The only thing that really confused me was why venture capitalists are so eager to put money into a an investment. Shouldn't there be a more formal process? It seems like this would be a great way to introduce a lot of risk (since there is no formal process), and that isn't a good idea.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
(1) If you needed capital would you prefer debt or equity?
(2) As a follow up to my confusion - how could this process be better or have less risk (and if not and you think it is viable, then why?).
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I didn't disagree with anything, but I don't think that venture capitalists have as little information about business before they invest in it. There might be some sort of reflex where after investing so many times you just figure out which are going to fail or succeed and which will fail based on only a few guidelines, but it doesn't seem like companies fail or succeed in predictable ways all the time, so how is an venture capitalist to know if something is going to succeed. It's just not viable, and that's why I think there should be a more formal method of doing this or maybe even slightly stricter regulations. It's almost like if some guy in a suit likes you (well, you better be his best friend) then you get funded and if not, then you're out of luck. Not only do human biases come into play here, but it's just not solid.
2.28.2016
Half-way Reflection
Tenaciousness is a skill.
During the course of the semester, I have learned quite a bit about entrepreneurship and the business world from both the text book, readings online (such as on Yellowdig) and real experiences (like interviewing people about a product). In order to keep up with the requirements (which - guilty as charged - I definitely did not do at the beginning of the semester), I found that you just have to plan ahead and keep on top of all of your work.
Tenaciousness is also about attitude
I suppose I have become more tenacious as the semester continued. I felt like a lot of the assignments did not teach me anything yet required a lot of time, but I persevered and did most of them anyway.
Three tips
For next semesters' students I offer the following advice for fostering skills that support tenacity and developing the 'tenacious mindset':
(1) Do your work ahead of time and review all of the assignments so you know which ones will take a lot of time and effort.
(2) When you get rejected don't give up. You learn from your mistakes more than you learn from your triumphs.
(3) Maintain the right attitude. A major key to success is confidence and the attitude that you maintain.
During the course of the semester, I have learned quite a bit about entrepreneurship and the business world from both the text book, readings online (such as on Yellowdig) and real experiences (like interviewing people about a product). In order to keep up with the requirements (which - guilty as charged - I definitely did not do at the beginning of the semester), I found that you just have to plan ahead and keep on top of all of your work.
Tenaciousness is also about attitude
I suppose I have become more tenacious as the semester continued. I felt like a lot of the assignments did not teach me anything yet required a lot of time, but I persevered and did most of them anyway.
Three tips
For next semesters' students I offer the following advice for fostering skills that support tenacity and developing the 'tenacious mindset':
(1) Do your work ahead of time and review all of the assignments so you know which ones will take a lot of time and effort.
(2) When you get rejected don't give up. You learn from your mistakes more than you learn from your triumphs.
(3) Maintain the right attitude. A major key to success is confidence and the attitude that you maintain.
2.21.2016
Week 7 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 was quite surprised that geography and other societal factors actually do not hold that well in terms of marketing. I have noticed that, unfortunately, people still seem to be relatively segregated. I have lived in the Northern, Southern and Mid-Western United States and it doesn't matter where you go. For some reason like live with like and have similar friends with similar interests (I would suppose because most people do not like change and the unknown - as it is only instinct to not venture to an unknown place because if you were a caveman, venturing to an unknown place by yourself would almost surely mean death). So, it would make sense to me that geography would have some weight as to a buyers habits. So, that was quite surprising that it is not. However, upon further analysis, it makes more sense that a buyers habits would depend on, well, his habits when he/she buys things (as correlation equals, well, correlation).
I was also surprised that the strategy for advertising (reflecting the general population, itself) has changed. You would think that advertising would remain the same, but - as the article indicates - spending habits and wars and many other factors have changed how and what people buy.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I wasn't quite sure what the author meant by "psychographics," first of all. I assume he was referring to segmentation for advertising, but he just all of a sudden used the term and it seemed to be referring to the segmentations, but I wasn't quite sure.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
I would ask the author if he thinks that the marketing approach will change in the future (near or far) and would we be able to come up with a representational model for this to try and predict it (perhaps based on different aspects about the conditions of the economy, social situations, wars, etc).
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I don't know if I really have the knowledge to argue with the author. Based on my experiences, I think that geography has more to do with advertising and predicting someone's purchases for this key reason: if you live in a town and you are, let's say, 7 or 8 years old and your friend gets a cool new toy, then you are going to want that toy as well. Regardless of your age, if your peers get a certain thing that is deemed by all of your peers to be very cool or useful, then you are more likely to buy that. Additionally, these items' "coolness" or appeal would almost certainly depend on age (except, perhaps, say phones or computers - which almost every age demographic seems very interested in having).
I was quite surprised that geography and other societal factors actually do not hold that well in terms of marketing. I have noticed that, unfortunately, people still seem to be relatively segregated. I have lived in the Northern, Southern and Mid-Western United States and it doesn't matter where you go. For some reason like live with like and have similar friends with similar interests (I would suppose because most people do not like change and the unknown - as it is only instinct to not venture to an unknown place because if you were a caveman, venturing to an unknown place by yourself would almost surely mean death). So, it would make sense to me that geography would have some weight as to a buyers habits. So, that was quite surprising that it is not. However, upon further analysis, it makes more sense that a buyers habits would depend on, well, his habits when he/she buys things (as correlation equals, well, correlation).
I was also surprised that the strategy for advertising (reflecting the general population, itself) has changed. You would think that advertising would remain the same, but - as the article indicates - spending habits and wars and many other factors have changed how and what people buy.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I wasn't quite sure what the author meant by "psychographics," first of all. I assume he was referring to segmentation for advertising, but he just all of a sudden used the term and it seemed to be referring to the segmentations, but I wasn't quite sure.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
I would ask the author if he thinks that the marketing approach will change in the future (near or far) and would we be able to come up with a representational model for this to try and predict it (perhaps based on different aspects about the conditions of the economy, social situations, wars, etc).
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I don't know if I really have the knowledge to argue with the author. Based on my experiences, I think that geography has more to do with advertising and predicting someone's purchases for this key reason: if you live in a town and you are, let's say, 7 or 8 years old and your friend gets a cool new toy, then you are going to want that toy as well. Regardless of your age, if your peers get a certain thing that is deemed by all of your peers to be very cool or useful, then you are more likely to buy that. Additionally, these items' "coolness" or appeal would almost certainly depend on age (except, perhaps, say phones or computers - which almost every age demographic seems very interested in having).
2.20.2016
Free Money
For this assignment I decided to go to Turlington Plaza since there is a lot of pedestrian traffic and the gym. I decided to approach mostly men because I thought it would be weird to approach women offering money, and in order to "get the conversation going" I just offered them free money and sort of fanned out the dollar bill. Only two of the 5 people I offered the dollar to accepted the money and only one person on camera accepted the dollar.
Here are the videos of two of the interactions.
Here are the videos of two of the interactions.
2.17.2016
Elevator Pitch No. 2
1) The pitch
2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch
Unfortunately I didn't do the last pitch; however the feedback that I received from the interviews I did seemed fairly conclusive. Most people think that web browsers could be faster than they are from a user perspective. I also think that they could be faster from both a user perspective and a developer perspective - mainly for these two reasons: (1) I have experienced trouble with bloated and large web browsers and (2) the way the content is structured (HTML/CSS/JavaScript/etc) uses at least three languages (usually to represent content) and the symbols in the web content are so repetitive and take up a lot of space. All of the feedback I got seemed like a pretty accurate reflection of the general attitude - e.g. web browsers could be faster than they are (we all agree on this; ok, maybe not all of us, but probably most of us).
3) What did you change, based on the feedback?
Since the feedback reflected how I initially thought people felt, I don't feel like I need to change much. People didn't seem as concerned about the security of a web browser (compared to the speed), but I think it is sort of taken for granted. So, if I could make a web browser that is much faster than Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and Opera and all of the other ones and made the security as good or better than the current ones, then I think that people would switch over from the current system of representing web content (e.g. the 3 or more languages of HTML/CSS/JavaScript/etc) in about a decade.
Technology continues to advance and computers are soaring ahead in terms of hardware. However, this does not mean that software that we use almost every day should remain stagnant. Of course much software is probably pretty close to being optimized for the platforms it runs on; however, it seems that web browsers could be faster (and potentially more secure) than they currently are and people seem to agree with this. Therefore, I have decided to attempt to create a web browser that can interpret a new type of web content that - of course - would take up significantly less space. This, in turn, means that the amount of data you need to transmit over the internet connection would be drastically minimized. Other optimizations would make this the fastest web browser yet. Additionally security would remain a large factor in the production of the browser. Security, I think, is taken for granted in modern web browsers, so this browser would obviously have to be very secure so people wouldn't be able to access files or glean any information through a victims web browser. The final product, I am sure, would be a sophisticated and fast web browser, and I am sure it is possible.
2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch
Unfortunately I didn't do the last pitch; however the feedback that I received from the interviews I did seemed fairly conclusive. Most people think that web browsers could be faster than they are from a user perspective. I also think that they could be faster from both a user perspective and a developer perspective - mainly for these two reasons: (1) I have experienced trouble with bloated and large web browsers and (2) the way the content is structured (HTML/CSS/JavaScript/etc) uses at least three languages (usually to represent content) and the symbols in the web content are so repetitive and take up a lot of space. All of the feedback I got seemed like a pretty accurate reflection of the general attitude - e.g. web browsers could be faster than they are (we all agree on this; ok, maybe not all of us, but probably most of us).
3) What did you change, based on the feedback?
Since the feedback reflected how I initially thought people felt, I don't feel like I need to change much. People didn't seem as concerned about the security of a web browser (compared to the speed), but I think it is sort of taken for granted. So, if I could make a web browser that is much faster than Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and Opera and all of the other ones and made the security as good or better than the current ones, then I think that people would switch over from the current system of representing web content (e.g. the 3 or more languages of HTML/CSS/JavaScript/etc) in about a decade.
2.14.2016
Customer Interviews No. 3
1) Describe your interviewing strategy.
I tried to interview people that were in computer science because this pertains to them more, but I also asked people not in computer science.
2) Conduct the interviews.
3) Reflect on what you learned. What did you learn from the interviews? What surprised you the most? What do you expect to change as an outcome of these interviews?
I learned (based on the people I interviewed) that most people are mostly worried about the speed of the web browser. Web browsers are fast, but I think that they can be even faster. I thought people would be concerned more than they appeared to be about security (and of course the security and speed of web browsers is, indeed, good for what it is). I don't expect much to change as a result of these interviews because I learned that people think (as do I) that web browsers could be faster.
I tried to interview people that were in computer science because this pertains to them more, but I also asked people not in computer science.
2) Conduct the interviews.
3) Reflect on what you learned. What did you learn from the interviews? What surprised you the most? What do you expect to change as an outcome of these interviews?
I learned (based on the people I interviewed) that most people are mostly worried about the speed of the web browser. Web browsers are fast, but I think that they can be even faster. I thought people would be concerned more than they appeared to be about security (and of course the security and speed of web browsers is, indeed, good for what it is). I don't expect much to change as a result of these interviews because I learned that people think (as do I) that web browsers could be faster.
Week 6 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 am surprised that the government can foreclose an industry by creating license requirements and limiting access to raw materials. I was particularly surprised that this takes place for ski-areas. I had no idea.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
While this article is great, they don't dwell much on anything that doesn't follow this norm. What about GNU/Linux? These open-source projects in the software industry have given proprietary software distributors a run for their money.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
I would ask if GNU/Linux or other open-source projects follow the same patterns described by the article.
I would also ask if there are any outliers to these trends.
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I didn't see any false information. Who actually knows how accurate the information is, however, as it is simply a theory of competition, no?
I am surprised that the government can foreclose an industry by creating license requirements and limiting access to raw materials. I was particularly surprised that this takes place for ski-areas. I had no idea.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
While this article is great, they don't dwell much on anything that doesn't follow this norm. What about GNU/Linux? These open-source projects in the software industry have given proprietary software distributors a run for their money.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
I would ask if GNU/Linux or other open-source projects follow the same patterns described by the article.
I would also ask if there are any outliers to these trends.
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I didn't see any false information. Who actually knows how accurate the information is, however, as it is simply a theory of competition, no?
2.11.2016
Idea Napkin No. 1
1) You. Who you are.
What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what
are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how
do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in
your life?
I am a programmer - or rather I enjoy developing software and solving problems. I have a bit of experience, and, although I haven't recently had time to work on much of anything but school, I certainly want to develop things - hardware and/or software related ... or really anything that will help people - in order to provide something that is useful and will benefit at least some because I feel as though technology is a platform to help people (as much as it is a time-suck and sometimes scary or dangerous). That is why I want to develop a web browser that is somewhat functional but that is ultimately more secure. I also want to figure out a way to create websites that do not rely on the conventional way of structuring data, making it look good and handling complex user interactions with three different programming languages (HTML, CSS and JavaScript respectively). Creating a new way to represent web content might be my first goal since it might actually be easier than writing another web browser. The browser would obviously have to handle all the web pages that are out there right now, but if it can be structured better and perhaps even more securely, then why not try to get that out into the market so that people can use it?
2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).
I am offering a web browser that would need to transmit only the most number of bits needed so as to transmit web content as efficiently as possible (because right now there are a lot of unnecessary characters (and therefore bits that get transmitted). I will also look into ways of making this more secure. You may even be able to make standard web pages transmit less information (and thus make them quicker) by "compiling" the HTML and CSS files into something like HTML bytecode. I am not sure if that is a thing, but I heard something of that nature from a better programmer than me, so that could be an additional step in order to try to maintain compatibility with all of the current types of web pages but also make them faster. In fact, that would probably be a better option, but I truly believe that there is an even better way to structure data and I want to see if it can be done.
3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?
The new way of representing web content would ultimately cause (hopefully) two things - well (hopefully) at least two positive things. The first thing would be that it would be much easier to create a web page. The reason for this is because I would structure the web browser and the content to be well structured yet fast (as fast as I could make it at least). The second group of people this would affect would obviously be the customer. They would receive a nice new web browser that is extremely fast and hopefully secure. This browser would be open source (meaning anyone can read and edit the source code), so people who are better at security than I am could look at the source code and try to make it as robust as possible). Many current browsers, I think, are open source. A major drawback for this is that it adds another way of structuring web content which is a major problem since all of the web pages today are structured ... well how they have always been structured and there have been so many technologies developed for modern day browsers. I still think I can make it better.
4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.
Who wouldn't want a faster, more secure browser? I wouldn't necessarily charge money for it, but I am quite confident that people would invest in this and if the software did, in fact, take off, then I could make a nice-looking website and then charge companies to advertise on it. So, the customers wouldn't be paying me (why would they, in fact, when there is Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.), but I could draw from the popularity by advertising and seeking investments. If it grows extremely big, then I could end up providing very useful software platforms that people would love to use (similar to google who has its hand in a lot of honey jars in the software industry - e.g. this blog I am currently using).
5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?
The will is about all I have. I think people have tried to do this before. I am not sure. If I were to try to develop this, then I am certain I would have many, many hours, days, weeks, months of reading to do and then years of testing to do, but it has to be possible. In the end, no one in the software industry knows where anything is going to go. You have to stay on top of all the new things and try to be innovative; otherwise you become obsolete very quickly or get stuck at a pretty crappy "old-school" job. So, invent the future. Don't wait for it to be invented for you.
I am a programmer - or rather I enjoy developing software and solving problems. I have a bit of experience, and, although I haven't recently had time to work on much of anything but school, I certainly want to develop things - hardware and/or software related ... or really anything that will help people - in order to provide something that is useful and will benefit at least some because I feel as though technology is a platform to help people (as much as it is a time-suck and sometimes scary or dangerous). That is why I want to develop a web browser that is somewhat functional but that is ultimately more secure. I also want to figure out a way to create websites that do not rely on the conventional way of structuring data, making it look good and handling complex user interactions with three different programming languages (HTML, CSS and JavaScript respectively). Creating a new way to represent web content might be my first goal since it might actually be easier than writing another web browser. The browser would obviously have to handle all the web pages that are out there right now, but if it can be structured better and perhaps even more securely, then why not try to get that out into the market so that people can use it?
2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).
I am offering a web browser that would need to transmit only the most number of bits needed so as to transmit web content as efficiently as possible (because right now there are a lot of unnecessary characters (and therefore bits that get transmitted). I will also look into ways of making this more secure. You may even be able to make standard web pages transmit less information (and thus make them quicker) by "compiling" the HTML and CSS files into something like HTML bytecode. I am not sure if that is a thing, but I heard something of that nature from a better programmer than me, so that could be an additional step in order to try to maintain compatibility with all of the current types of web pages but also make them faster. In fact, that would probably be a better option, but I truly believe that there is an even better way to structure data and I want to see if it can be done.
3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?
The new way of representing web content would ultimately cause (hopefully) two things - well (hopefully) at least two positive things. The first thing would be that it would be much easier to create a web page. The reason for this is because I would structure the web browser and the content to be well structured yet fast (as fast as I could make it at least). The second group of people this would affect would obviously be the customer. They would receive a nice new web browser that is extremely fast and hopefully secure. This browser would be open source (meaning anyone can read and edit the source code), so people who are better at security than I am could look at the source code and try to make it as robust as possible). Many current browsers, I think, are open source. A major drawback for this is that it adds another way of structuring web content which is a major problem since all of the web pages today are structured ... well how they have always been structured and there have been so many technologies developed for modern day browsers. I still think I can make it better.
4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.
Who wouldn't want a faster, more secure browser? I wouldn't necessarily charge money for it, but I am quite confident that people would invest in this and if the software did, in fact, take off, then I could make a nice-looking website and then charge companies to advertise on it. So, the customers wouldn't be paying me (why would they, in fact, when there is Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.), but I could draw from the popularity by advertising and seeking investments. If it grows extremely big, then I could end up providing very useful software platforms that people would love to use (similar to google who has its hand in a lot of honey jars in the software industry - e.g. this blog I am currently using).
5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?
The will is about all I have. I think people have tried to do this before. I am not sure. If I were to try to develop this, then I am certain I would have many, many hours, days, weeks, months of reading to do and then years of testing to do, but it has to be possible. In the end, no one in the software industry knows where anything is going to go. You have to stay on top of all the new things and try to be innovative; otherwise you become obsolete very quickly or get stuck at a pretty crappy "old-school" job. So, invent the future. Don't wait for it to be invented for you.
2.07.2016
Week 5 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 was really surprised that you could get a patent for composition of atoms. It makes sense I guess but it was somewhat surprising.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I wasn't really confused at all throughout the course of the reading. I thought it was pretty straight-forward and insightful.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
I would ask the author if he has any patents and if not how did he acquire all of this knowledge about patenting and intellectual property rights (he is a professor of entrepreneurship, so I suppose he would know these sorts of things, but I would be curious to know if he does, indeed, have any patents). I would also like to ask him his view on outsourcing. He did mention that it has been highly politicized in the United States, but I wonder what his views are.
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I didn't find any fallible information and didn't disagree with him about anything as it was pretty factual and not based on theory.
I was really surprised that you could get a patent for composition of atoms. It makes sense I guess but it was somewhat surprising.
2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I wasn't really confused at all throughout the course of the reading. I thought it was pretty straight-forward and insightful.
3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
I would ask the author if he has any patents and if not how did he acquire all of this knowledge about patenting and intellectual property rights (he is a professor of entrepreneurship, so I suppose he would know these sorts of things, but I would be curious to know if he does, indeed, have any patents). I would also like to ask him his view on outsourcing. He did mention that it has been highly politicized in the United States, but I wonder what his views are.
4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I didn't find any fallible information and didn't disagree with him about anything as it was pretty factual and not based on theory.
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