Hello all,
This week's post will just be a short one, detailing how our team is doing and what stage we are at in this project. We have now firsthand learned the lesson that you must always be ready to embrace change as an entrepreneur - in the last week, we made the big decision to step away from our selected project, CRISPR, and begin looking for other options. Ultimately we decided that, the technical struggles of working with the CRISPR professors and the patent complications, coupled with the fact that it isn't ready to put out a business-facing product without many years of R&D and massive sums of funding, together offer enough justification to turn to a different project. Our new goal is to select a patent that is potentially less technical and more ready to be converted into a product that can be built and sold now. We are heavily considering the Earthquake/Natural Disasters Early Warning system, as it is something that would be cheap, feasible, and very very easy to market. But we are leaving this week open for more exploration and discussion, and we hope to select a patent soon. Last weekend was a nightmare for all of us, work-wise, but this weekend we plan to meet for a full day and really hammer out a large part of the project - deciding our roles, creating a more detailed value proposition, and extracting conclusions from customer surveys. We are definitely in a stage of flux at the moment, but I'm excited to see where we go from here.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Rejection Activity
Hello all,
This week's post will cover my thoughts on the rejection activity we did in the last class, and why I felt it was valuable. I've heard of similar trading activities being assigned by Haas classes, and I think that it teaches an important lesson to entrepreneurs.
I specifically had 2 major takeaways from the activity. 1 - It doesn't matter how much a product is worth, it matters how much the customer thinks it's worth. When we were trying to trade away the box, we had to convince people that it was worth more than the $0.50 "list price." That was the only way we were able to trade up for more expensive items, ultimately ending up with a $20 Arduino display. We used different pitches to convince people of the box's value - telling them they could use it to store stuff, putting a love note in it, etc. But the main point was, we were only successful because we were able to convince people to trade items worth more than $0.50 for a $0.50 box. 2 - You can't take rejections personally. This is one of the hardest things, in my opinion, because no one likes getting rejected. However, it's inevitable that life will be full of rejections - internships, college applications, investor pitches, relationships, etc. If the first rejection from an investor phases you, your company is never getting off the ground. In our process, we had 5 people willing to trade, and a far larger number who said no. It was important to keep trying, since ultimately we had success. Another reason why I said it's important not to take rejections personally, is, because, sometimes it did seem very personal. We noticed that people who seemed friendlier, and seemed to like us more, were more willing to make trades. That made me realize that, to some extent, business decisions can be influenced by personal feelings, which is why presentation and first opinions can often be so important. To that end, I feel that it's definitely important to be personable and likable as it will definitely help your chances as an entrepreneur, but it's also important to recognize that not all people will like you, and sometimes that may result in rejections.
That's all for this week. Looking forward to the next class!
This week's post will cover my thoughts on the rejection activity we did in the last class, and why I felt it was valuable. I've heard of similar trading activities being assigned by Haas classes, and I think that it teaches an important lesson to entrepreneurs.
I specifically had 2 major takeaways from the activity. 1 - It doesn't matter how much a product is worth, it matters how much the customer thinks it's worth. When we were trying to trade away the box, we had to convince people that it was worth more than the $0.50 "list price." That was the only way we were able to trade up for more expensive items, ultimately ending up with a $20 Arduino display. We used different pitches to convince people of the box's value - telling them they could use it to store stuff, putting a love note in it, etc. But the main point was, we were only successful because we were able to convince people to trade items worth more than $0.50 for a $0.50 box. 2 - You can't take rejections personally. This is one of the hardest things, in my opinion, because no one likes getting rejected. However, it's inevitable that life will be full of rejections - internships, college applications, investor pitches, relationships, etc. If the first rejection from an investor phases you, your company is never getting off the ground. In our process, we had 5 people willing to trade, and a far larger number who said no. It was important to keep trying, since ultimately we had success. Another reason why I said it's important not to take rejections personally, is, because, sometimes it did seem very personal. We noticed that people who seemed friendlier, and seemed to like us more, were more willing to make trades. That made me realize that, to some extent, business decisions can be influenced by personal feelings, which is why presentation and first opinions can often be so important. To that end, I feel that it's definitely important to be personable and likable as it will definitely help your chances as an entrepreneur, but it's also important to recognize that not all people will like you, and sometimes that may result in rejections.
That's all for this week. Looking forward to the next class!
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Hey everyone,
In this week's blog post, I'll be talking a little bit about the value proposition and how it is essential to a budding company/startup. The value proposition is essentially a summary of why customer's should buy your product - what value does it bring, and why is it better than the alternative products that may offer a similar value? Some crucial things to consider here are that your product must meet a need or solve a problem. Identifying a problem for consumers, then building a product that solves that problem will ensure that there is demand, and thus your solution is more likely to have customers willing to spend on it. An interesting article I read on Forbes also mentions that one of the keys to a value proposition is that you not only solve some problem, but that you do it better than all the competing products. That sounds obvious, but it's critical to ensuring that customers buy your product, and not a competing one. The last important thing, in my opinion, about a value proposition, is the way that you market it to your potential customers. It's almost more important for your customer to believe that your product will bring them value than it is for the product to actually do that. That's not to say that your product shouldn't work - it obviously should - but you could have the best product in the world, and if it isn't marketed well, customers won't buy it. I mention this a lot in my video, but building an ad and marketing campaign that shows customers that the product will bring them value is critical to its success and to bringing in revenue.
In this week's blog post, I'll be talking a little bit about the value proposition and how it is essential to a budding company/startup. The value proposition is essentially a summary of why customer's should buy your product - what value does it bring, and why is it better than the alternative products that may offer a similar value? Some crucial things to consider here are that your product must meet a need or solve a problem. Identifying a problem for consumers, then building a product that solves that problem will ensure that there is demand, and thus your solution is more likely to have customers willing to spend on it. An interesting article I read on Forbes also mentions that one of the keys to a value proposition is that you not only solve some problem, but that you do it better than all the competing products. That sounds obvious, but it's critical to ensuring that customers buy your product, and not a competing one. The last important thing, in my opinion, about a value proposition, is the way that you market it to your potential customers. It's almost more important for your customer to believe that your product will bring them value than it is for the product to actually do that. That's not to say that your product shouldn't work - it obviously should - but you could have the best product in the world, and if it isn't marketed well, customers won't buy it. I mention this a lot in my video, but building an ad and marketing campaign that shows customers that the product will bring them value is critical to its success and to bringing in revenue.
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Hello All,
In this post I'll be talking a little bit about the Lego activity we did in the last class. Overall, I thought this was a great activity. Not only did we get a bit of a break to mess around with Legos and have some fun, it also covered some very important points, specifically in regard to planning on detail. One of the interesting concepts displayed was the potential disconnect between the plan and the reality. On paper, it's easy to draw a perfect solution with all the ideal parts, and exact descriptions. However, when it comes time to build, there are a lot of concessions that have to be made. Two huge ones that we experienced firsthand are time and resources. That means that you have to recognize that your final product is most likely not going to be the same as what you put down on paper, and that seems to be a natural part of the entrepreneurial process. The other factor that was important was specificity in planning - making sure to include instructions like what was the device being built, which parts were needed, etc. All of that information was vital to making a good plan - even if the plan was compromised for the sake of practicality - having a specific plan gives more direction to the building process. Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable activity.
In this post I'll be talking a little bit about the Lego activity we did in the last class. Overall, I thought this was a great activity. Not only did we get a bit of a break to mess around with Legos and have some fun, it also covered some very important points, specifically in regard to planning on detail. One of the interesting concepts displayed was the potential disconnect between the plan and the reality. On paper, it's easy to draw a perfect solution with all the ideal parts, and exact descriptions. However, when it comes time to build, there are a lot of concessions that have to be made. Two huge ones that we experienced firsthand are time and resources. That means that you have to recognize that your final product is most likely not going to be the same as what you put down on paper, and that seems to be a natural part of the entrepreneurial process. The other factor that was important was specificity in planning - making sure to include instructions like what was the device being built, which parts were needed, etc. All of that information was vital to making a good plan - even if the plan was compromised for the sake of practicality - having a specific plan gives more direction to the building process. Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable activity.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Hello all!
For this week's blog post, I'll be talking briefly about what excites me and the type of people I enjoy working with and what kinds of partners I'd want on my team for this semester.
I consider myself a pretty accommodating person, and I am open to working with a variety of different people. However, there are two traits that I really value in people when working in a team. First is the willingness to listen to others, as well as the willingness to make your voice heard. It's hard to find a balance between the two, but if either is neglected, the group will suffer for it. It's obviously bad to take over a discussion and not let anyone else speak, because you'll never know what potentially brilliant ideas have been shut down. It's equally bad to not voice your own concerns when working in a team, because an idea that you have could be extremely valuable to the group, and they won't know unless you share. Second is having an open mind. Simply put, I really value group members who are willing to drop preconceived notions and be open to new ideas that they hadn't considered or given credence to before.
As to what excites me in terms of projects, I really want to work on an idea that is somewhat technical in nature (e.g. engineering, biotech)and will have a widespread impact. That's why the idea of the Natural Disaster warning system that I discussed in my last post really caught my attention - it's simple, but has an impact that could affect millions, even billions, potentially. Projects like these will definitely be amongst my top choices when it comes to discussing ideas.
For this week's blog post, I'll be talking briefly about what excites me and the type of people I enjoy working with and what kinds of partners I'd want on my team for this semester.
I consider myself a pretty accommodating person, and I am open to working with a variety of different people. However, there are two traits that I really value in people when working in a team. First is the willingness to listen to others, as well as the willingness to make your voice heard. It's hard to find a balance between the two, but if either is neglected, the group will suffer for it. It's obviously bad to take over a discussion and not let anyone else speak, because you'll never know what potentially brilliant ideas have been shut down. It's equally bad to not voice your own concerns when working in a team, because an idea that you have could be extremely valuable to the group, and they won't know unless you share. Second is having an open mind. Simply put, I really value group members who are willing to drop preconceived notions and be open to new ideas that they hadn't considered or given credence to before.
As to what excites me in terms of projects, I really want to work on an idea that is somewhat technical in nature (e.g. engineering, biotech)and will have a widespread impact. That's why the idea of the Natural Disaster warning system that I discussed in my last post really caught my attention - it's simple, but has an impact that could affect millions, even billions, potentially. Projects like these will definitely be amongst my top choices when it comes to discussing ideas.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Hello all,
My name is Viraj Thakur, and I'm a sophomore at UC Berkeley studying computer science. Some of my favorite hobbies and pastimes are binging Netflix, hiking, playing basketball, going to concerts, and hanging out with friends. Before I get into a potential project idea, I'd like to give you all a little more information about myself. Although I'm a CS major and my main interests definitely lie in the technical side of CS, some other topics I'm interested in are biology, entrepreneurship, and business. I think this class sits perfectly at the intersection of business and tech, as it covers intellectual property and patents from both a business and engineering perspective. I really liked how large parts of the class are committed towards understanding patent law and understanding how to use patents to create a sustainable and financially viable business. To that end, I'm sure I will enjoy taking this class and I look forward to learning skills that I hope to directly apply in the future. With that, I'll go on to talk a little bit about a potential project idea that I discussed with some other students last class.
The patent that our company idea was centered around was a patent for an early warning system of natural and man-made disasters. The claim specifically included a fire-alarm style system that would be installed in the home. It included a connection to local disaster networks, EEW (Earthquake Early Warning) systems, internet, etc. It would also have an audio/visual alarm of some kind, and include a processor that could provide specific warning information or instructions. Our company idea was essentially to produce and install these in the home, as well as to integrate them with smartphones and laptops. We can look to the example of earthquakes to see how valuable such technology would be. If there was an earthquake coming, EEW systems (these are not yet installed everywhere, but states are taking initiative - California has mandated their installation and is only lacking funding currently) can actually pick up the tremors at the fault line and predict the earthquake will be coming. These EEW systems would then transmit a message to the alarm system installed in the home, which would then blare like a fire alarm, warning anyone in the home of an impending earthquake. It could also then connect to the homeowner through a smartphone app or through email, to warn them of what would occur. In this way, we could have a safety mechanism similar to a fire alarm to keep people out of harm's way. This would not only warn someone in a home to head to safety seconds or minutes before disaster struck - it would also warn someone not at home of an impending disaster in their area. Such a product would, ideally, save lives and also be easy to market and sell.
My name is Viraj Thakur, and I'm a sophomore at UC Berkeley studying computer science. Some of my favorite hobbies and pastimes are binging Netflix, hiking, playing basketball, going to concerts, and hanging out with friends. Before I get into a potential project idea, I'd like to give you all a little more information about myself. Although I'm a CS major and my main interests definitely lie in the technical side of CS, some other topics I'm interested in are biology, entrepreneurship, and business. I think this class sits perfectly at the intersection of business and tech, as it covers intellectual property and patents from both a business and engineering perspective. I really liked how large parts of the class are committed towards understanding patent law and understanding how to use patents to create a sustainable and financially viable business. To that end, I'm sure I will enjoy taking this class and I look forward to learning skills that I hope to directly apply in the future. With that, I'll go on to talk a little bit about a potential project idea that I discussed with some other students last class.
The patent that our company idea was centered around was a patent for an early warning system of natural and man-made disasters. The claim specifically included a fire-alarm style system that would be installed in the home. It included a connection to local disaster networks, EEW (Earthquake Early Warning) systems, internet, etc. It would also have an audio/visual alarm of some kind, and include a processor that could provide specific warning information or instructions. Our company idea was essentially to produce and install these in the home, as well as to integrate them with smartphones and laptops. We can look to the example of earthquakes to see how valuable such technology would be. If there was an earthquake coming, EEW systems (these are not yet installed everywhere, but states are taking initiative - California has mandated their installation and is only lacking funding currently) can actually pick up the tremors at the fault line and predict the earthquake will be coming. These EEW systems would then transmit a message to the alarm system installed in the home, which would then blare like a fire alarm, warning anyone in the home of an impending earthquake. It could also then connect to the homeowner through a smartphone app or through email, to warn them of what would occur. In this way, we could have a safety mechanism similar to a fire alarm to keep people out of harm's way. This would not only warn someone in a home to head to safety seconds or minutes before disaster struck - it would also warn someone not at home of an impending disaster in their area. Such a product would, ideally, save lives and also be easy to market and sell.
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