Today is my first Monday as a 30 year old and I seem to be full of ideas to blog.
Here are some of my thoughts:
In general water, waste management, and energy are going to be big markets in the future.
With all the portability of iphones and cloud computing there are also a lot of opportunities to mobilize things that didn't used to be mobile.
Two other thoughts are really around the push for math/science education and also some of the concepts in the "4 hour work week" namely making a distribution channel that is automated.......a math/science education game that is downloadable would be a great venture.......
Another link a talk about sustainability from a guy from IDEO:
http://www.ideo.com/
Monday, January 31, 2011
Commercialization Class
Gordan Hoffman came to the commercialization class last week.
Here are a few tid-bits from him that I enjoyed:
What is Technology Entrepreneurship?
Building a viable and fund able new business through the application of technology.
10% of business has to do with the technology- rest is distribution, sales, ect...
Often it is the second mouse that gets the cheese....with a great graphic of a dead mouse....meaning first one there got caught by the trap...and second mouse could actually take the cheese.
Entrepreneurs often have personality disorders...they either think they are Nepolian (CEO) or are Technologists in love with the technology.
Lessons Gordan Learned:
Here are a few tid-bits from him that I enjoyed:
What is Technology Entrepreneurship?
Building a viable and fund able new business through the application of technology.
10% of business has to do with the technology- rest is distribution, sales, ect...
Often it is the second mouse that gets the cheese....with a great graphic of a dead mouse....meaning first one there got caught by the trap...and second mouse could actually take the cheese.
Entrepreneurs often have personality disorders...they either think they are Nepolian (CEO) or are Technologists in love with the technology.
Lessons Gordan Learned:
- No single formula
- can be too early or not early enough
- Flexibility in chaotic market is key- need a complementary team that works well under pressure with mutual respect
- Great ideas tend to have multiple parents- look for developing competitors and build a strong patent portfolio
- Don't get duped by pre-marketing customer enthusiasm
- Understand your customer's buying behavior
Selling is what it is all about.
Break Even Point
Just a review:
Break Even Point is such a simple and useful calculation:
Q= delta fixed costs/delta variable costs
Break Even Point is such a simple and useful calculation:
Q= delta fixed costs/delta variable costs
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Wednesday
I love technology.
It is amazing.
Ok soooo I can admit I am a late adopter.
However, I would like to say that iphones are AMAZING!
I am doing some basic research and downloaded visio...
technology is fun fun fun...
It is amazing.
Ok soooo I can admit I am a late adopter.
However, I would like to say that iphones are AMAZING!
I am doing some basic research and downloaded visio...
technology is fun fun fun...
Friday, January 14, 2011
Memo Formatting and Friday Suprises
Memo Formatting:
http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/workbooks/memo_format.html
Well couple of interesting things:
1. Something that shouldn't have taken very long took.....4 hours! (oh well...done now)
2. I got a gentle kick in the butt....which is good for me. :) ok.
Now methods of forecasting:
Qualitative (Judgement)
http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/workbooks/memo_format.html
Well couple of interesting things:
1. Something that shouldn't have taken very long took.....4 hours! (oh well...done now)
2. I got a gentle kick in the butt....which is good for me. :) ok.
Now methods of forecasting:
Qualitative (Judgement)
- Executive Opinion
- Delphi method (panel of experts, queried iteratively)
- Sales Force Composite
- Market Research
Quantitative (causal and time series)
- Linear Regression (casual)
rest are time series
- Naive approach
- Moving Averages
- Exponential Smoothing
- Trend projection
- Linear Regression
- Seasonal Variation
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Randoms:
Student Entrepreneur:
http://michigantoday.umich.
Rich Corone spoke in class today.
Talked about organic growth.
My business law class blows my mind.
http://michigantoday.umich.
Rich Corone spoke in class today.
Talked about organic growth.
My business law class blows my mind.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday's Biz Concepts
Monday Monday....
Break even Analysis and Point of Indifference
Break even= Fixed Cost / (price customer pays- cost)
This is how many units you will need to sell before you get your money back!
Point of Indifference:
Let's say your choosing between two things and want to know at what volume one is a better choice than the other....BAM! you want point of indifference.
Pt of Indifference (or units need to produce to get same number for both options)= delta Fixed/ delta cost for your two options.
I also did a little thinking about the commercialization project today.....and a TON of reading!
Oh! also fun legal fact:
Bystander Rule: The common-law bystander rule holds that, generally, no one has a duty to assist someone is peril unless the bystander himself created the danger.
Also....I can't tell if this blog is totally lame or will turn out to be something cool....
Break even Analysis and Point of Indifference
Break even= Fixed Cost / (price customer pays- cost)
This is how many units you will need to sell before you get your money back!
Point of Indifference:
Let's say your choosing between two things and want to know at what volume one is a better choice than the other....BAM! you want point of indifference.
Pt of Indifference (or units need to produce to get same number for both options)= delta Fixed/ delta cost for your two options.
I also did a little thinking about the commercialization project today.....and a TON of reading!
Oh! also fun legal fact:
Bystander Rule: The common-law bystander rule holds that, generally, no one has a duty to assist someone is peril unless the bystander himself created the danger.
Also....I can't tell if this blog is totally lame or will turn out to be something cool....
Friday, January 7, 2011
NPV and Breakeven
So I have officially learned about NPV and break even point.
Also, made it through my first week!!
Time to go dancing
Also, made it through my first week!!
Time to go dancing
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Seriously...Business Law messes you up!
I cannot quite describe this feeling...butttt....after my business law class today, all I wanted to do was threaten to sue people. 90% of cases don't go to court and I don't really want to go to court....just force people to pay money for being unjust.
As far as the projects with the university go...learned a lot more about the full gamut of what is happening. I am actually pretty excited about the one I am working on.
I also took my first quiz since 2003. Yikes! I need to warm up the memorization muscles.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
oh yah...one more thing
checking out a free project management software:
http://www.zoho.com/projects/
http://www.zoho.com/projects/
What did I learn today?
In a nutshell:
definition of Operations= producing goods or services.
Productivity= (output)/(input)
Total Cost= Fixed Cost +Variable Cost *Number of units
Break Even Quantity = Fixed Cost/ (revenue per unit sold- cost per unit sold)
def of "stare decisis" = "let the decision ride" (legal term)
def of "common law"= laws that judges have used judgement to uphold the INTENT of the law.
I really love being on-campus.
It is fun and I like having my office here.
I am definitely still not in the swing of things....but I am trying.
I am really going to try to do this like work.
Work 8-9ish to 5ish-6ish....hahaha I'm saying that as it is 8pm. :)
Tomorrow I'll meet with the other Commercialization people....so that should be good....we'll see what tomorrow brings!
definition of Operations= producing goods or services.
Productivity= (output)/(input)
Total Cost= Fixed Cost +Variable Cost *Number of units
Break Even Quantity = Fixed Cost/ (revenue per unit sold- cost per unit sold)
def of "stare decisis" = "let the decision ride" (legal term)
def of "common law"= laws that judges have used judgement to uphold the INTENT of the law.
I really love being on-campus.
It is fun and I like having my office here.
I am definitely still not in the swing of things....but I am trying.
I am really going to try to do this like work.
Work 8-9ish to 5ish-6ish....hahaha I'm saying that as it is 8pm. :)
Tomorrow I'll meet with the other Commercialization people....so that should be good....we'll see what tomorrow brings!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Day 2 of MBA
Well today was Day 2 of my MBA education.
Last night I met with some of the people that will be working on a potential start-up that I will potentially be leading from the university. The issue I see that could be a problem is too many people and too little focus....but I am going to wait until my meeting Thursday for a little more definition of what I will be doing....I'll blog about how it unfolds.
I am taking a business law class that I think is going to be interesting and operations management.
I am feeling like I might read The 4 hour Work Week again....or at least review the notes I took.
The other book that I listened to recently was Drive by Dan Pink. I found it very interesting. Here is a link to a talk that he gave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFiJc
In the book he talks about other types of companies rather than just non-profit and for-profit. For example: low-profit companies.....very interesting...needs to be investigated further.
Last night I met with some of the people that will be working on a potential start-up that I will potentially be leading from the university. The issue I see that could be a problem is too many people and too little focus....but I am going to wait until my meeting Thursday for a little more definition of what I will be doing....I'll blog about how it unfolds.
I am taking a business law class that I think is going to be interesting and operations management.
I am feeling like I might read The 4 hour Work Week again....or at least review the notes I took.
The other book that I listened to recently was Drive by Dan Pink. I found it very interesting. Here is a link to a talk that he gave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFiJc
In the book he talks about other types of companies rather than just non-profit and for-profit. For example: low-profit companies.....very interesting...needs to be investigated further.
Monday, January 3, 2011
If at first you don't succeed....
O.k. I took a little break from blogging.
More or less September 20 was the date of the partner meeting that indicated that the business relationship was not healthy. Things were not positive and I didn't want to blog all the negative details. However, I am am going to get back to blogging and wanted to give a recap on the things I learned while being a part owner in a start-up business where I had gone full-time and the founders had not.
On Team Leadership:
Soooooooooooooo that start-up partnership did not work out very well for me.
The environment was not healthy so I cut my losses and began looking for other opportunities.
The experience also highlighted that it would be useful to have some finance and accounting background.
I was able to find an opportunity to work on Commercialization and Innovation projects at the local university while working on my MBA.....today was my first day!
Here is an interesting link on Web Development Start-ups: http://sixrevisions.com/project-management/web-developers-guide-to-getting-a-startup-up-and-running/
More or less September 20 was the date of the partner meeting that indicated that the business relationship was not healthy. Things were not positive and I didn't want to blog all the negative details. However, I am am going to get back to blogging and wanted to give a recap on the things I learned while being a part owner in a start-up business where I had gone full-time and the founders had not.
On Team Leadership:
- Create a shared purpose/effort. (What are we trying to do?)
- Agree on a general path. (How are we going to get there?)
- Communicate regularly. (What is stopping/slowing us TODAY?)
- Give tools that are needed. (Let me make us successful! I want to contribute! Just give me a little...)
- Allow progress to occur in whatever style. (I am me! I am free! I am happy!)
- Create metrics that provide you useful DATA and share it. (I know we are on the right track because I see the data!)
- Include everyone...reward everyone.
Partnership Musts:
- Risk and ability to influence tempo of growth need to be coupled.
- Keep communication regular. (reduces length of time of frustration)
- Seek understanding through questions. (diffuses anger)
- Couple efforts and compensation. (people want to be working towards success...)
Motivation Starters:
- Recognize other people's contributions.
- Help others contribute.
- Respect others.
- Care for other's well-being.
On Retail Interactions with customers:
- Have a united front!
- Don't threaten! Suppliers are your friends.
- Check your facts before you tell prices!
The environment was not healthy so I cut my losses and began looking for other opportunities.
The experience also highlighted that it would be useful to have some finance and accounting background.
I was able to find an opportunity to work on Commercialization and Innovation projects at the local university while working on my MBA.....today was my first day!
Here is an interesting link on Web Development Start-ups: http://sixrevisions.com/project-management/web-developers-guide-to-getting-a-startup-up-and-running/
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