Right now at my school, students are deeply into the process of finding a job. And since the interview is a critical component for getting hired, here is a video that portrays one way to get that job:
http://www.omgsoysauce.com:80/3319/how-to-nail-your-next-interview/
Thanks to Allen Kupetz for sending this along.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Help is Available
Maybe it’s because I’m a closet “foodie” but whenever I run across a story in the press about the food and hospitality industry, I always read it. In the Wall Street Journal, the story titled, Sweet Returns, I also liked the message. In particular, note the issue of reinvention and seeking out of resources from the community.
So, instead of hunkering down and hoping the economic downturn would be short-lived, Mr. Gottenbusch reinvented his business. With the help of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program partially funded by the Department of Commerce and designed to give small firms access to manufacturing specialists and other advisers, Mr. Gottenbusch looked for new customers in unusual places, created unique products to drive store traffic, joined a purchasing association to keep costs in check and took advantage of the real-estate slump to scoop up a new store location on the cheap.
The result: Servatii not only survived last year, it thrived, with sales rising 15% to $8.5 million. Mr. Gottenbusch declined to give profit figures.
As an entrepreneur, one of the biggest mistakes I made was in trying to do it all on my own. I never once turned to the colleges or universities in my home town of Orlando, and never once did I turn to the resource providers such as the SBA, Department of Commerce or others that could have helped me. Now that I’m in the academic world, I always remind entrepreneurs that there are resources out there in the community, many at no or very low cost, that can help you grow your business. The challenge for the resource providers is to find ways to reach the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur needs the help; they just can’t spend the time trying to look around the town to find it. The resource providers need to find ways to reach their potential client and make accessing their services simple and easy.
So, instead of hunkering down and hoping the economic downturn would be short-lived, Mr. Gottenbusch reinvented his business. With the help of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program partially funded by the Department of Commerce and designed to give small firms access to manufacturing specialists and other advisers, Mr. Gottenbusch looked for new customers in unusual places, created unique products to drive store traffic, joined a purchasing association to keep costs in check and took advantage of the real-estate slump to scoop up a new store location on the cheap.
The result: Servatii not only survived last year, it thrived, with sales rising 15% to $8.5 million. Mr. Gottenbusch declined to give profit figures.
As an entrepreneur, one of the biggest mistakes I made was in trying to do it all on my own. I never once turned to the colleges or universities in my home town of Orlando, and never once did I turn to the resource providers such as the SBA, Department of Commerce or others that could have helped me. Now that I’m in the academic world, I always remind entrepreneurs that there are resources out there in the community, many at no or very low cost, that can help you grow your business. The challenge for the resource providers is to find ways to reach the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur needs the help; they just can’t spend the time trying to look around the town to find it. The resource providers need to find ways to reach their potential client and make accessing their services simple and easy.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Entrepreneurs and the Recovery
Nasir Ali of the Syracuse Technology Garden passed to me an article about entrepreneurship from Newgeography. The article was entitled, Entrepreneurs Ignored in Recovery Plans, was posted on April 22. The article detailed results from a Kaufmann survey on entrepreneurship and the government. The key findings of the Kaufmann report included the following:
By a margin of three to one (63 percent to 22 percent) Americans favor business creation policies as opposed to government creating new public and private sector jobs. In fact, 79 percent of respondents say entrepreneurs are critically important to job creation, ranking higher than big business, scientists, and government.
Only 21 percent of all survey respondents say that the stimulus package supports entrepreneurial activity and 33 percent believe it will retard entrepreneurship.
While 78 percent of survey respondents say innovation is important to the health of our economy, only 3 percent say they believe the stimulus package will encourage innovation.
Americans think the government does little to encourage entrepreneurship, despite its importance; 72 percent of respondents say the government should do more to encourage individuals to start businesses. Almost half of respondents think the laws in America make it more difficult to start a business.
The article also discussed the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and the STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs, advocating at the conclusion of the piece that the USA should be “doubling if not tripling the investment in both of these programs. At a minimum a $5 billion SBIR program should be put in place. It will get us much more in growth than the Treasury bailouts of the banks, or General Motors. It represents both what America wants – Small Business Innovation – and needs in these times of economic stress.”
By a margin of three to one (63 percent to 22 percent) Americans favor business creation policies as opposed to government creating new public and private sector jobs. In fact, 79 percent of respondents say entrepreneurs are critically important to job creation, ranking higher than big business, scientists, and government.
Only 21 percent of all survey respondents say that the stimulus package supports entrepreneurial activity and 33 percent believe it will retard entrepreneurship.
While 78 percent of survey respondents say innovation is important to the health of our economy, only 3 percent say they believe the stimulus package will encourage innovation.
Americans think the government does little to encourage entrepreneurship, despite its importance; 72 percent of respondents say the government should do more to encourage individuals to start businesses. Almost half of respondents think the laws in America make it more difficult to start a business.
The article also discussed the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and the STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs, advocating at the conclusion of the piece that the USA should be “doubling if not tripling the investment in both of these programs. At a minimum a $5 billion SBIR program should be put in place. It will get us much more in growth than the Treasury bailouts of the banks, or General Motors. It represents both what America wants – Small Business Innovation – and needs in these times of economic stress.”
Thursday, April 23, 2009
US News Ranking in Graduate Entrepreneurship Programs
I’m pleased to announce that the US News and World Report released this morning it’s list of specialty programs in MBA schools, and the graduate entrepreneurship program at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University was ranked 15th (tied with Duke) in the nation! For us, this is particularly good news as we’ve moved up three places and ahead of outstanding schools such as University of Michigan, Northwestern, Dartmouth and DePaul University.
Rankings, while always interesting to those in academia, are for me a time to reflect on all the people who’ve helped us achieve this honor. In particular, I think of all of the entrepreneurs who’ve reached out to our program and helped our students by judging business plan competitions, speaking in our classrooms, all the way to just having a cup of coffee with interested students. While I’m very pleased that entrepreneurs have provided so much help and support to the Syracuse University program, I also know that entrepreneurs are helping colleges and universities across the country. Thanks to all of you for making a difference in the lives of so many students who are excited about entrepreneurship. We couldn’t do it without you!
Rankings, while always interesting to those in academia, are for me a time to reflect on all the people who’ve helped us achieve this honor. In particular, I think of all of the entrepreneurs who’ve reached out to our program and helped our students by judging business plan competitions, speaking in our classrooms, all the way to just having a cup of coffee with interested students. While I’m very pleased that entrepreneurs have provided so much help and support to the Syracuse University program, I also know that entrepreneurs are helping colleges and universities across the country. Thanks to all of you for making a difference in the lives of so many students who are excited about entrepreneurship. We couldn’t do it without you!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Starting a Business... with $10!
Allen Kupetz, author of The Future of Less, sent over this from the International Council for Small Businesses. This comes from University of Alabama professor Craig Armstrong who challenges students in an experimental class to start their own business… as long as they spend $10 or less! Now before you start to laugh, think about the valuable learning that will take place launching a business on ten bucks. In my old days at Disney, usually over a couple of beers, we would debate the merits of who is more creative: someone who spends $50 million on a great attraction, or someone who delivers a very good attraction for $2.5 million. In Dr. Armstrong’s class, students have to be very creative in accomplishing something that still fits a need in the marketplace, while doing it for very little money.
The $10 Business, developed by Dr. Craig Armstrong of the University of Alabama, is an experiential learning exercise that requires students to start their own business using $10 or less. A member of USASBE, Dr. Armstrong won the Third Place Prize in the 2009 3E-Learning Competition for the $10 Business. One key rule of the exercise requires students only allowed to spend or invest additional funds in their business with profits earned. In the execution of their business plans, students are responsible for keeping a weekly diary that details the thoughts, actions, and responses throughout. Dr. Armstrong notes a very favorable response from his students, who claim this exercise as the highlight of their undergraduate education. A strong sentiment indeed, especially considering that Dr. Armstrong uses the exercise with his first-year entrepreneurship students.
Some $10 Business stats include;
Dr. Armstrong's highest earner made over $2,200; Student used wine corks to make framed displays and magnets for customers.
Same student continued to operate the wine-cork business for the rest of the semester and earned over $3,000.
Two students earned over $1,000 after 5-weeks.
In a class with an enrollment of 47, the average amount of profits earned per student was $200.
This same class generated about $9,400 of wealth on an initial investment of $470.
90% of all students make mor than $10 in five weeks
Dr. Armstrong's inspiration for developing this exercise lies in his entrepreneurship research regarding the resourcefulness of entrepreneurs. The $10 Business is intended to identify resourcefulness and expose the entrepreneur's creative side. According to Dr. Armstrong, “This exercise raises the type of research questions that we need to ask in entrepreneurship.”
The $10 Business is truly a test of the imagination. Especially for entry level entrepreneurship majors, this exercise produces an initial shock that soon fades away after some thought and discussion about the ways to start a $10 business. The initial question is always; do I start a service-oriented business or develop a product offering? The answer to this question will undoubtedly be affected by given limitations, but real success comes when a student can most effectively maximize the impact of their initial investment.
Dr. Armstrong does point out, however, that there is a lot of heterogeneity in students' imaginations. Some business ideas are bland, some are really innovative and others fall into the undergraduate party mentality of creating a beer delivery service. All things considered, students turn to service-oriented businesses more frequently than product offerings. Some past service-oriented businesses include dorm room cleaning, home delivery for beer, house painting, and babysitting. One student started a business that supplied out-of-town condo owners with food, supplies, and labor to stock and prepare their homes prior to arrival. As Dr. Armstrong points out, “College service-oriented businesses such as food and drink delivery are much more representative of the majority as opposed to those selling home-made gift baskets.”
The $10 business is also a result of Dr. Armstrong's past experiences with students who have often expressed their desire to learn how to start a business. This experiential learning exercise gives students' the chance to see first hand what it takes to execute such a task. The experience gained is invaluable for the entrepreneur, particularly considering that they began with only ten dollars!
In the lecture that immediately precedes implementation, Dr. Armstrong expresses to the entire class that there are no ground rules for the creation of your business. The only requirements are; the daily maintenance of a journal that includes ideas and business plan initiatives, and observation of the $10 maximum initial investment. Dr. Armstrong encourages the inclusion of emotions and thought in the journal because it serves as a great way to track progress over the five-week process. The journal is graded for completion and weekly maintenance as apposed to quality ad success which will be difficult to judge. The goal of the exercise is to award completion and thoroughness and not to punish students for unsuccessful ventures because successful entrepreneurs often have stories of failure.
Over the course of the exercise, Dr. Armstrong will only share a few journal entries with the class for guidance. The journal does have a very informal style. Dr. Armstrong even recommends creating a separate Gmail account for email all correspondence and accessibility to the gChat and Google Groups features.
Students who have participated in the exercise have started a wide-array of businesses that cover a multitude of industries. The real joy for the professor is to see the spark of imagination among students and their commitment to making it work. Dr. Armstrong told me that, ‘Pushing the initiative is really fun to watch and after 5 weeks, when they want to take the business farther, then I can help.'
Quotes from Students
"Our professor gave us the seemingly impossible task of starting a business and running it for the semester... with a start up budget of only $10! How do you start a business for $10? I started making crafts with wine corks. I started out small making wine cork boards and refrigerator magnets, and it has been a very good experience so far. I started collecting wine corks from local restaurants and wine stores on a weekly basis to build up as much inventory as I could. Once I got to the point where I had enough capital to start buying corks in bulk, things actually took off."
"This is one of the best activities that I have done during my tenure at the University. I enjoy practical experiences. I wish the University would place more emphasis on activities of this type."
"I really thought that it was a great learning experience because when you first think about starting a business with just ten dollars, it seems impossible, but when you gather information and find a problem that can easily be solved then you can start your own business."
The $10 Business, developed by Dr. Craig Armstrong of the University of Alabama, is an experiential learning exercise that requires students to start their own business using $10 or less. A member of USASBE, Dr. Armstrong won the Third Place Prize in the 2009 3E-Learning Competition for the $10 Business. One key rule of the exercise requires students only allowed to spend or invest additional funds in their business with profits earned. In the execution of their business plans, students are responsible for keeping a weekly diary that details the thoughts, actions, and responses throughout. Dr. Armstrong notes a very favorable response from his students, who claim this exercise as the highlight of their undergraduate education. A strong sentiment indeed, especially considering that Dr. Armstrong uses the exercise with his first-year entrepreneurship students.
Some $10 Business stats include;
Dr. Armstrong's highest earner made over $2,200; Student used wine corks to make framed displays and magnets for customers.
Same student continued to operate the wine-cork business for the rest of the semester and earned over $3,000.
Two students earned over $1,000 after 5-weeks.
In a class with an enrollment of 47, the average amount of profits earned per student was $200.
This same class generated about $9,400 of wealth on an initial investment of $470.
90% of all students make mor than $10 in five weeks
Dr. Armstrong's inspiration for developing this exercise lies in his entrepreneurship research regarding the resourcefulness of entrepreneurs. The $10 Business is intended to identify resourcefulness and expose the entrepreneur's creative side. According to Dr. Armstrong, “This exercise raises the type of research questions that we need to ask in entrepreneurship.”
The $10 Business is truly a test of the imagination. Especially for entry level entrepreneurship majors, this exercise produces an initial shock that soon fades away after some thought and discussion about the ways to start a $10 business. The initial question is always; do I start a service-oriented business or develop a product offering? The answer to this question will undoubtedly be affected by given limitations, but real success comes when a student can most effectively maximize the impact of their initial investment.
Dr. Armstrong does point out, however, that there is a lot of heterogeneity in students' imaginations. Some business ideas are bland, some are really innovative and others fall into the undergraduate party mentality of creating a beer delivery service. All things considered, students turn to service-oriented businesses more frequently than product offerings. Some past service-oriented businesses include dorm room cleaning, home delivery for beer, house painting, and babysitting. One student started a business that supplied out-of-town condo owners with food, supplies, and labor to stock and prepare their homes prior to arrival. As Dr. Armstrong points out, “College service-oriented businesses such as food and drink delivery are much more representative of the majority as opposed to those selling home-made gift baskets.”
The $10 business is also a result of Dr. Armstrong's past experiences with students who have often expressed their desire to learn how to start a business. This experiential learning exercise gives students' the chance to see first hand what it takes to execute such a task. The experience gained is invaluable for the entrepreneur, particularly considering that they began with only ten dollars!
In the lecture that immediately precedes implementation, Dr. Armstrong expresses to the entire class that there are no ground rules for the creation of your business. The only requirements are; the daily maintenance of a journal that includes ideas and business plan initiatives, and observation of the $10 maximum initial investment. Dr. Armstrong encourages the inclusion of emotions and thought in the journal because it serves as a great way to track progress over the five-week process. The journal is graded for completion and weekly maintenance as apposed to quality ad success which will be difficult to judge. The goal of the exercise is to award completion and thoroughness and not to punish students for unsuccessful ventures because successful entrepreneurs often have stories of failure.
Over the course of the exercise, Dr. Armstrong will only share a few journal entries with the class for guidance. The journal does have a very informal style. Dr. Armstrong even recommends creating a separate Gmail account for email all correspondence and accessibility to the gChat and Google Groups features.
Students who have participated in the exercise have started a wide-array of businesses that cover a multitude of industries. The real joy for the professor is to see the spark of imagination among students and their commitment to making it work. Dr. Armstrong told me that, ‘Pushing the initiative is really fun to watch and after 5 weeks, when they want to take the business farther, then I can help.'
Quotes from Students
"Our professor gave us the seemingly impossible task of starting a business and running it for the semester... with a start up budget of only $10! How do you start a business for $10? I started making crafts with wine corks. I started out small making wine cork boards and refrigerator magnets, and it has been a very good experience so far. I started collecting wine corks from local restaurants and wine stores on a weekly basis to build up as much inventory as I could. Once I got to the point where I had enough capital to start buying corks in bulk, things actually took off."
"This is one of the best activities that I have done during my tenure at the University. I enjoy practical experiences. I wish the University would place more emphasis on activities of this type."
"I really thought that it was a great learning experience because when you first think about starting a business with just ten dollars, it seems impossible, but when you gather information and find a problem that can easily be solved then you can start your own business."
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
At the Intersection of Art and Technology
One of my favorite blogs is written by Daniel Pink. Never exactly sure what he is going to write about, but it usually makes me think of things I haven’t thought of. Today, he gave me five very nice minutes at the intersection of art and technology. Enjoy the Internet Symphony Global Mash-Up.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
VC's Raising Money
Dave Berg sent this article over from the Washington Post titled, Fewer Funds are Raising Capital for Startups. The article by Kim Hart begins with these stark figures:
Only 40 venture capital funds nationwide raised money during the first three months of the year, marking the lowest level of institutional funding in six years.
The funds raised $4.3 billion in the first quarter, an increase over the $3.5 billion raised the previous quarter but down nearly 40 percent from the corresponding period last year. Nearly twice as many funds were able to raise money in the first quarter of 2008, according to data released yesterday by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association.
Only 40 venture capital funds nationwide raised money during the first three months of the year, marking the lowest level of institutional funding in six years.
The funds raised $4.3 billion in the first quarter, an increase over the $3.5 billion raised the previous quarter but down nearly 40 percent from the corresponding period last year. Nearly twice as many funds were able to raise money in the first quarter of 2008, according to data released yesterday by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)