Funding for your company

Funding for your company 

   First, I would look into my saving account, and pull out as much as I possibly can. That amount would probably be enough to get me to build the first prototype to attract the investors. My first priority is family and friends because I think I will get the most money from them. If family and friends were not enough to start the business, my next options would be looking for the angel investors. However, an angel will only invest if they see the company's potential, and not afraid to lose their investment. Most importantly, they agree to provide capital with an acceptable term. 

Start-up

Start-up


    Start-up is a documentary movie about the journey of two young entrepreneurs, Kaleil and Tom who start up their business called govWorks. Spoiler alert, the company went bankrupt in 2000, but it's a good lesson for whoever wants to build their own company. During the first part of the movie, the two partners went all over the place in the US to look for investors. There were lots of struggle during this period. During the trip to Boston, they had trouble with legal representation, but they were able to get over it by few phone calls. Still, they closed the 10-million deal from one of the investors. However, it was not always a smooth ride as their third founder decided to leave the company, and took back his investment plus interest. This is due to his belief in the company's success. Even though Kalei and Tom still had high hope for the company that they worked so hard to make it from an idea to a company.

    Over time, their company gained more employees as the company's service is getting ready to launch. Their company soon appeared on TV and headlight of business paper, and they finally got the attention they deserved. While the company was getting closer to the milestone, a few competitors started to copy to their idea. Moreover, their website was not functioning as they expected, and they began to run out of money. This is where the company's situation started to go downhill. The company was broken in, and lots of equipment was stolen. They started to run out of money while the website had not reached its stable stage to be released to the users.
   
    In my opinion, the business world is a tough place to be, and an idea to be a success must be based on the practical purpose. Kalei and Tom had a great idea but, I think if they had their concept placed in a few years later, it would be a huge success. People at that time don't need to have access to the internet as people nowadays. But, I have to admit Kalei and Tom as they must have lots of courage to bring their idea to life, and to get them a better life.
                                       

Guest Speaker #3

Guest Speaker - Shadrach White 

Shadrach White is one of the most inspiring guest speakers that I got a chance to listen to. He presented to us his journey from a copier technician to a 100% owner of his company, CloudPWR. He asked this question at the beginning of the presentation, which one of us are in sales? In fact, every one of us is actually in sale because we all have something to sale such as an idea to a product. His first company is called Rucker Parker Basketball Gear which sold Jersey short. He was not just passionate about the basketball gear, also the stories behind it. So, his strategic moves were to honor an old-time basketball player whose family lives in Brooklyn, New York. The family was touched by his offer because no other companies had ever done that, they just took the name without any gratitude.

His story during the time of CloudPWR gave us lots of great advice. One of them was who should get paid first, and the importance of it on managing a company. Also, he mentioned about not being cheap while hiring a lawyer. Because for every million that you make, you will get a lawsuit from someone who's trying to get a piece of it. In order to make himself a 100% owner of the company, he must have been put a lot of effort while processing the workload carefully and being well prepared for the unfortunate. 

Guest Speaker #1

Guest Speaker - Erik Hanberg 

On Feb 7th, our class had a chance to listen and making questions to the first guest speaker of this quarter, Erik Hanberg. We had a prospect in the entrepreneurship through his experience. First, Erik showed us his work as a self-publisher and, the books that caught my eyes is the sci-fi trilogy. He surely did some research on the market about what kind of topics people looking forward to buying. He mostly works with Amazon and its site such as Audible to help his books reach out for more customers. On the other hand, I can tell that he really loves what he's doing and, I personally can't force myself to write books because of profits. Moreover, he talked about his podcast company which covers the Tacoma and Seattle area. It's a great place to learn about the local news and community activities in it. We also had a good look at his financial chart comparing his self-employed salary his employed salaries throughout a year looks like. In the end, it's a good start for us to hear someone who has lots of great experience in the entrepreneur business. 

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Protecting Your Intellectual Property 

Having your own business idea and now what you want to do is to have the strategies on how to protect it from being snatched by the outsiders. For such big investors, stealing the business idea could seriously harm their reputation in the business world. However, we should not be careless. Instead, we are only highlighting the necessities while keeping them interested and not seeing it as a financial risk as we go through the business plan. It's worth notice to ask for your partners, your potential investors or whoever you discuss your business plan with to sign the non-disclosure agreement. Moreover, getting the legal patent if you feel confident and having the financial support to keep it under your name. You might need an attorney if you are not sure about the steps to apply for the patent or just simply ask them for legal advice or what to be concerned during the process. The file could be easily found at USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office.) Most important, we have to keep every document related to the business idea and managing the number of copies if you have ever planned to give to anyone. Protecting your Intellectual Property is crucial as it helps to tide the investors to your proposal and to get the most out of the deal. 

Summary of The Technology Entrepreneur's Guidebook

          

       Summary of The Technology Entrepreneur's Guidebook

    In the introduction of the book, the author reveals the five struggles of entrepreneurs in the business world so, the readers who plan to start on this path, know what they are getting into. To construct your business's idea for long-term value, the entrepreneurs need the specific set of objectives and several qualities. One of the most critical skills for the entrepreneur is being able to write a convincing business plan to the investors. Each part is separated with different purposes to meet investor's criteria and, the author noticeably reminds us to make it short while keep the sufficient amount of information. The investors tend to skim the business plan until they found the part that is interested. Off to the first part, you have your chance at the executive summary which reveals to the investor the major part of the business plan. This tends to be kept in one page and, the investors would still be able to pull out all the necessary information. If they move to the part which means you are successfully making them interested in the business plan. The next part is about the company's purpose and product description. Most importantly, it is highlighting the information and offers which will satisfy the investors. How can the product be dominant in the market or how it stands out with other competitors? It's the kind of question that the investors are looking to be answered. Technology entrepreneurs are more than having a good idea, you also need many different qualities and skills to make it to reality. 

Talking About Your Business Idea

Questions: How easy/hard was it to talk about your business idea and why?

  This is the first time that I have ever had and shared my business idea to anyone. It was not so hard because I only think it as a part of the in-class activities and it does not involve with any kind of property agreements. Moreover, the idea still needs some build-ups in order to move forward to the next step. That kind of thoughts helps me to share my ideas freely with my classmates and make them feel comfortable to share their opinions. However, I was still afraid that my idea would not sound convincing or fit their personal needs since I came up with it from a recent experience. They might not find themselves in the same situation and, the idea would become less persuasive. Nonetheless, the purpose of sharing our thoughts/ideas is to discuss it leading to a greater set of valuable ideas, insight and perspective. I also understand that ideas were not meant to keep for yourself instead, I could use it to work collaboratively and develop it.