Week 8 Reading Reflection

What surprised me the most in this week's reading might be venture capitalists. I never really knew what they were and I have heard that term before. After reading the assigned reading I learnt what they were and to my surprise they were not what I thought they were.

As to what was confusing to me, I have to say that the section about "Equity Financing". Since I did not know any of the terms that were used in that section, I was confused most of the time while reading it.

The two question I would ask would be:
 1. What are the exact requirements involved in a private placement according to SEC's Regulation D?
2. Why has there been a recent increase in entrepreneurs who are unable to secure financing through banks or through private or public stock offering?

I did not think the author was wrong about anything he talked about in this week's chapter.

Half-way Reflection

1. The behaviors that I mostly used in to keep up with this course is consistency and inspiration to actually to do the assignments (super necessary) and don't forget friends.

2. There are so many moments in which I have actually felt like "giving up" (and I still have those moments). I happens almost every week for almost every assignment but most times I pull through, but mostly because of my friends that are also taking the class since they help me and we do the assignments together. Without them I don't know what I would do. I do not feel like I have develop a tenacious attitude but I have become more tenacious than I was before. One thing that contributed to this was after the first few times talking to strangers when I decided that I didn't really care what people said.

3. The three tips I would give to future students in this course about tenacity would be:

• To not care what people think, whether it be a fellow student, friend, TA, or professor.
• Keep in mind the end goal.
• Don't give up (support yourself with your friends).

Week 7 Reading Reflection

One thing that surprised from the reading was that demographics is no longer a strong base for marketing strategy. I was surprised by this because my dad uses demographics all the time for marketing strategy in his business so I always thought it was a strong base.

This week's reading was a hard one to read, but one thing that confused me was the jargon that he used that I didn't really understand like divergent psychodynamic segmentations.

The 2 question I have for the author are:

1. What do you think is the best tool to create an advertisement environment?

2. How would one switch from using demographics as a base for marketing strategy to a better base?

I didn't disagree with anything the author said in this week's reading.

Free Money

I went outside, near a small open field that has a half basketball court, in my friends neighborhood. I approached people that I thought would be more willing to listen to me. I started my conversations by asking them if the wanted a free dollar. My plan of conversation was just to convince to take my dollar because I thought it was a nice thing to do. Out of five attempts I was able to give away 4 dollars. Most people won't reject a free dollar although they usually do question it.

Giving a dollar was pretty easy but I think that it was a little awkward. My predictions were mostly correct in that people would be awkward and that they would question as to why I was giving them a free dollar. I think most people would accept a dollar for free, because it is a free money, I mean who wouldn't take free money.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

I liked reading the feedback from my last pitch. It was mostly good and some people did point out a few points that I should have focused on like a better explanation of where I am gonna sell my product and who am I gonna sell it to and also competition. There was one point which I thought was simply silly and that was to explain how was I going about to create and manufacturing; I believe that was silly since it would take to much time and I was not actually important to say in an elevator pitch.
I didn't actually change much from the last elevator pitch, I added a few points like where I plan to sell my product and to who and also added a better explanation of what it was. So here is my second attempt at an elevator pitch:

Week 6 Reading Reflection

One of the things that surprised me in this weeks reading was that high rivalry can actually negatively affect the businesses that are competing. It can drive down a company's profit potential and it also limits the profitability of whatever industry the high rivalry is in. This came to a surprise because I always believed that the more rivalry there was between companies, the better it is.

A thing that was confusing to me is the relevant industry. I din't fully understand what the relevant industry is and it is defined.

The two question I have for the author are:

1. Do different industries require a different amount of rivalry to be able to amount to the best profitability of that industry or are they all about the same?

2. How commonly do people make mistakes in defining the industry?

I did not see anything wrong in what the author wrote, especially since this the first time I am learning about this.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. Who am I? I am a student and I am good with computers. I am also good at solving problems and I love riddles. I have programming skills, also language skills and quick problem solving skills. I have many experiences in my life that give me different skills. My aspirations is to see my product in the market and doing well. I see my business being a big part of my life. 2. I am offering the customers an easy way to carry their boards without having to buy a new backpack or anything else. 3. I am offering my product to anybody who uses any type of board. Specifically college students that use boards for transportation and end up having the hassle the carry their board when just walking. 4. The customers care because a lot of times when people use their board for transport they end up just carrying their board when there are walking with other people of there's too much traffic. So with my product people will can enjoy carrying their board hassle-free. 5. What sets me apart from other businesses that sell things to transport boards is that my product can work with any backpack and any board, you don't need to get a new backpack or buy more than one strap depending on your boards.

I feel like the elements above fit together but at the same time I feel like there are a few weak concepts in there too. Especially the customer, I feel like I have a weak description of who the customers will be, but at the same time I don't think I have to be very specific about it since there is a broad range of people who own boards and use them daily. Other than that I don't there are many weak concepts and it all fits together very well.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

In this week's reading, what surprised me the most was the amount of different forms of business there actually are. I only knew of partnerships and corporations but after I read the chapter I learned that there many variations for each and each of those variations has its unique characteristics. Depending on the form of business one has they have their own advantages and disadvantages.

One thing that was unclear to me is how information actually becomes a trade secret. I wasn't sure if there is something a business has to do to make their information a trade secret, in relation with the government, and how they keep it a secret.

The two questions I would ask:

1. How do trade secrets become trade secrets? And what happens if competition finds out a trade secret?

2. Is it better to have a partnership or sole proprietorship when have a small or medium family restaurant business?

I did not disagree with anything the author said in this chapter. I believe the author was right about everything.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Short Description:

The opportunity that I saw was that people who like to use boards for transportation get annoyed to have to carry their in their hands when they are not using it. My solution to this opportunity was to make straps that connect with your backpack that will hold your board. You can use this straps on any backpack to hold any board. My business name is BoardStrap.

Elevator Pitch: