Week 8 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? 

• So far the book has covered such a range of topics in such depth regarding entrepreneurship and innovation, that to see it move even further into intricate detail about financing in entrepreneurship was a bit of a surprise, especially since start-up, innovation, and individual entrepreneurship funding is absolutely its own ballgame. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• I am currently taking financial accounting as an economics major and it is ruining my life, so when I saw references to accounting principles and theory, part of me wanted to cry, and the other tenacious part of me wanted to delve in and figure out exactly what the author was writing and explaining because I find financial accounting unnecessarily confusing. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• See the end of Question 4
• What are the three most important takeaways (if you could narrow it down) to financing and understanding finance in business? Basically 3 point summary of all there is to know, please: go. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I think that statistics and facts can be thrown around all day in regards to the perfect "pick-me" formula when presenting to and dealing with venture capitalists, but that in today's day and age, you have to have a little "extra something" to get picked to be financed by a venture capitalist. Obviously, when competing against the best of the best in your field, you must differentiate to stand out, but what would be most interesting to me would be a breakdown of the most effective differentiation methods when dealing with Venture Capital. 

The Twenty Percent

1) Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers. Who do they think their target customers are? What are their customers' unmet needs?Where do they find their customers? What are their customer's demographics? What kinds of media do their customers consume? Etc.
I spoke to the owners one of my favorite panaderias (José from Pastelería Nunos) in Madrid about how they started and how they became so successful. I chose them over another sustainability cafe that I knew of in the city to interview because they have built a very very loyal customer base, which can be hard to do, especially as a young company in a gigantic city, and in my experience in businesses like this, the most important thing to focus on is the people.  

• According to the owner, José Fernández-Ramos, the keys of success to his business are:
• Location: they have a prime location in the heart of Madrid; "tenemos mucha suerte...." 
• Their target customers are the local workforce in Madrid's city center & their "hotspots" of the day are the transit times, like breakfast and lunch, when the business people of Madrid traditionally take their coffees and pastries
• As opposed to some other more modern businesses, their social media is fairly limited, and they prefer to build their customer base in-person because they are targeting a very specific audience in a very specific location, otherwise if they were planning on expanding, he says he would consider other channels of communication for his customers.

After being asked for advice on how to go about starting a bakery-type business, offered me the advice to keep it simple. He said the most important thing is to recognize one customer need, and to clearly address that need better than your competitors. In his case, this was pastries and coffee. "Not complicated and my customers clearly like it."

2) Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described. As these 'target customers' the questions in the paragraph directly above.

• After talking to three different customers between the breakfast and lunch rushes at the bakery, this is the feedback that I received: 
• Customer 1: Banker, Santander Bank, Madrid
• Loved the bakery because of the convenient location on his way to work; also loved that it was a family environment and that when José is in the bakery, he makes an effort to personally check on his customers. He did not have any critiques for the bakery.
• Customer 2: Undergraduate University Student, St. Louis University Madrid
• Only the second time she had been to the bakery, but came back because she enjoyed the wide selection of pastries and said the coffee was very good. "A good way to start my morning." She said she would continue to come back. Only critique offered was a suggestion to be able to call in orders or have a web page where people could see what pastries or deals were offered on a particular day. 
• Customer 3: Construction Worker
• Likes the wide selection that the bakery had to offer and that certain specialty items were available depending on the time of the year, which kept him looking forward to coming back (like the turron during Christmastime, for example). Did not have any critiques other than that the bakery can get crowded and noisy at times, but that that is a sign of content customers. 

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist. 

• Yes, the entrepreneur has a clear picture of who his customers are and what they want to take from his business. I really liked the advice he gave me in regards to "keeping it simple" when it came to my business ideas and how I sold them to customers, because I know I have a tendency to get wrapped up in details a lot of times. One thing that José might want to pay attention to eventually is his customers' need for contact through social media, even though he prefers to run more of a traditional, "mom 'n pop" style operation. 

*entrepreneur requested that I not record the interview*

Half-Way Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a skill. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

• Time management is huge; perhaps one of only two really important thing about this course- the assignments aren't complicated, but it's a matter of staying on top of the deadlines and not getting sidetracked, which proves to be more complicated than not sometimes. 
• The other important thing about this course is to approach each assignment as a piece of homework and just get it done; for instance, I'm not a good interviewer & I don't like being videotaped because I get nervous and awkward interviewing people, so I have to look at it as a deadline in order to get over the avoidance stage of the assignment and just get it done. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

• During the prototyping process of my sustainability project, there have been many times that the project has appeared to be much more heartache than was worth the effort, but after moving forward and seeing real progress and getting real feedback, it seems much more probable and definitely worth it. 
• I've always been a fairly tenacious human, but this course has been an opportunity to use my persistent qualities to be productive and see results with a project that I otherwise didn't have time for. 

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

• If you're not already a "time-management badass," take this as an opportunity. Get on top of your stuff. Turn them in.
• Don't be embarrassed about these projects; after surviving the majority of them, they're really not that bad, and once they're done, it's cool to look back at them and realized you survived them, and like me, probably gained new experiences from them. 
• If you have a project that you're passionate about, use this class as a tool to move forward with your project. If you have a project that you haven't started yet, start it.