The Basic Basis of Entrepreneurship

Venture Concept Analysis: Dorms By Design T he Opportunity:  The ideal customer for our business is either a high school senior preparing to go to college or a student already in college.  The main element our customers must possess is a need for ways to express themselves in terms of living situations and college decor. All of our customers are geared to be mostly first-year college students moving into their first dorm, but another side of our market is that group of students is moving out of their first dorm into a bigger apartment. For myself and many of my friends, time is our most valuable asset, and spending time hunting and shopping for dorm room decorations is not an effective use of this asset. Having a service, it allows you to fully customize and create in dorm decoration package would free up lots of time during college and before you even come to university allowing for more time with friends, family, doing things you enjoy, and maybe even studying...

Cognitive Surplus.  1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The general theme of the book Cognitive Surplus was that the world being connected by technology adds a new mass of information that we as creators and innovators can use to our advantage.  2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? I think that this book was a valuable insight into the idea of entrepreneurship given that the book was based around the assimilation of technology into the culture of innovation and collaborative work efforts. It talks mostly about how being able to generate new information and get in contact with helpful resources easier is a huge edge for modern entrepreneurs.  3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? I think you could organize an exercise where students have to identify ten opportunities or advantages that the internet or onl...

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 that my exit strategy will be to aim to sell the company within a maximum of 10 years to either another buyer looking to carry on the company or to another larger company to whom we pose a threat to in the marketplace.  2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? I think that it is a really rewarding feeling knowing that you built something from the ground up that put a big dent in a far bigger company. I think that as an entrepreneur, allowing for a buy out to occur, put money in your pocket and allows you to move forward and start the process all over again.  3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your conce...

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 think that one of my biggest failures this semester comes from my approach to college and the attempt I made to actually learn something here. While it seems like common sense that you would come to college and focus on your education, I tended to have a focus this semester on trying to cultivate a tight circle of friends and ultimately learn how to have a new life on my own away from my home state of Virginia!  As I put more pressure on building the social atmosphere I wanted, I began to see a slip in my academics, finances, and my overall drive that I once had to be the best! I ended up building myself some pretty bad habits over the semester including missing assignments, skipping class, spending money I didn't really have, fai...

Venture Concept Analysis: Dorms By Design The Opportunity:  The ideal customer for our business is either a high school senior preparing to go to college or a student already in college.  The main element our customers must possess is a need for ways to express themselves in terms of living situations and college decor. All of our customers are geared to be mostly first-year college students moving into their first dorm, but another side of our market is that group of students is moving out of their first dorm into a bigger apartment. For myself and many of my friends, time is our most valuable asset, and spending time hunting and shopping for dorm room decorations is not an effective use of this asset. Having a service, it allows you to fully customize and create in dorm decoration package would free up lots of time during college and before you even come to university allowing for more time with friends, family, doing things you enjoy, and maybe even studying....

Existing Market.  Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture. I believe that Dorms By Design’s next step in terms of potential expansion would be to simply get out and start building test or sample rooms and survey what students want most. Having tangible samples to show off and definitive price points would greatly help out ability to guage market fit and test our hypothesis more in depth. It’s difficult for me to advise an expansion of product offering etc. when we haven’t even rolled out the products in our original hypothesis.  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 about what customers might want next.  Since this week we all have three posts ...