30A - Final Reflection

I think the most fun I had during this class was thinking about a business idea and putting all the parts together.  Obviously, there is much more than just what we did, but this class got us all thinking about how to determine why, what and who.  These are necessary so we don't spend time one something that may not be marketable.

I believe that the mindset is there.  Opportunities are everywhere and there are a lot of problems that need to be fixed in the world.   Why not find a way to do that and make some money too.

My recommendations for the course specifically would be to work ahead as much as you can, line up the people that need for interviews and make sure to have access to the necessary readying ahead of time.  Preparation is key.  As for the mindset, I would force yourself to mind two, possibly fixable problems and document them in a journal a week.  This will create a habit of looking for problems and possible solutions all the time.

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Quarantine Zone

Opportunity: 

The people that have the need for my service will be anyone that is looking for a good place to be entertained.  They may also be looking for something more immersive than their usual spots.  Currently this need is satisfied by various other means; going to the movies, going to other escape room locations, and other various entertainment establishments. 

I believe that this opportunity is a big one because it is a bit different than the other options out there.  You get to be a part of the action and excitement.  It combines three different entertainment experiences and ties them all together or you can enjoy them separately. 

It is hard to determine how long this opportunity will be there but I can absolutely see it still being around as long as I am looking toward the future.  Based off of discussions the augmented reality option for this is probably closer than I previously thought.

Innovation:

In my opinion, innovations can be large or small.  I consider mine to be small since I am tying a few ideas that currently exist separately together as a cohesive experience.  I believe that innovations like this have a higher chance of success since they are smaller and easier to keep simple and execute.

My innovation is to bring the world of Zombie apocalypse to life.  It combines laser tag, escape rooms and a restaurant with beer and wine available together in one location.  This will be great for groups of friends, team building for corporations or even groups of kids from college looking to have some fun after exams. 

Venture Concept:

I don't believe that my services will pull people away from other forms of entertainment permanently.  People are not going to stop going to the movies or other escape rooms necessarily; but they will repeatedly come back to my offering for the experience I will create.  The moment you enter the facility you will be fully immersed in the illusion.  So deeply, my goal will be some people to start doubting their true existence outside the world I create for them.

I don't really see packaging to be a problem but other normal business hurdles like employee turnover, suppliers for the restaurant and other tools that I will need for the business.  I plan to at least start with a pretty flat structure.  I will not need many mid-level managers.  I anticipate one to manage the laser tag/escape room side and one to manage the restaurant.  These are two very different businesses I am combining and require different mindsets.

At some point I would require a controller and see myself outsourcing HR and IT needs to help keep costs on the lower side.  I would rather pay employees better and create a better environment for them.  They in turn will ensure that our customers have the best experience possible.

Three minor elements:

I plan to create an exceptional work environment and my people will be my advantage.  There are many case studies that support this idea and I have seen it in action.

After getting this venture up and running the next step would be to start looking at how technology can improve the experience for people.

I would set a goal of actually making money from this venture after the second to third year in business.  So, by year five I would have it running smoothly and have a steady 20%-25% net profit margin.  This would allow me to continue building this or branch out to other concepts of this idea to reach other customers and their interests.

The only real change to this was to point out that the augmented reality may be sooner rather than later.  I imagine the up front development costs would be high but may show that it gets paid back fairly quickly with the ability to keep my labor costs down.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

Book: The new Psychology of Success

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of this book was about the mindset of people.  That they are broken down into a fix or growth mindset.  These two mindsets tie back to how they see failure and allow it to affect their ability to either learn from their failures and grow or allow it to stagnate their growth.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

Entrepreneurship is not for people with the fixed mindset unless their business is very specific and myopic.  There are all types of ways to fail and learn when building and/or running a business.  I think it is extremely important to study a failure and use it to learn what not to do.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

Actually, I think we just did an exercise that had us talk about a failure and what we learned.  I think that one applies perfectly to this book.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

It was interesting to read in the book that this isn't just an issue for new or lower level managers.  This was a problem all the way up to CEO.  In fact, they called it CEO disease.  They lose touch and aren't able to continue growing and changing and then the company does not either.

28A - Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

To think about this situation I have to setup a few assumptions. 

1. The business has grown to at least 21 mil in revenue and about 24% EBITDA
2. I have kept my depreciation low at this point and retain a high net profit at about 18-20%
3. I can strike a deal for a about 6x multiple of EBITDA

Those are pretty high goals and would warrant the 6x multiple.  Especially to someone or group that is able to grow it further by something like franchise or some other expansion.  I would sell it as soon as the right buyer came along.  This would allow me to focus on my family and possibly start another venture.  I get bored.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

There are other options here.  I could sell it back to the employees through and ESOP or some other vehicle but I would have to ensure that some new leadership was groomed and ready to lead it properly as to not endanger the other employees jobs by driving the company into the ground. 

I chose this because mainly I am happy to grind hard for a number of years building something of great value and sell it off to then spend the rest of my years with my family and only doing the things that interest me in business.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I don't think that the exit strategy had come into mind really.  I don't normally think about how I am going to exit the thing that I have just started to build.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

The failure that I want to talk about was earlier on in my career when I took my first step into a management role.  I was a technical team lead over a group of engineers that supported about 20 different companies.  What I failed at here was expecting management to be just telling people what to do and they do it.  That could not be further from the truth. 

With that mind set, I was failing my team and not bringing them together as a cohesive unit.  I failed continually for a while and mine and their frustrations increased.  Initially, this lead me to think about to my previous bosses that I loved to work for.  They did not have the same mindset that I did.  I could remember them finding ways to motivate that me that were not a "carrot and stick" mentality.

I started to reflect more on that and changed some of my thought process towards what management should be and simply tried to imitate what I remember about the leadership I flourished under.  That started to turn me and my team around.

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

I really learned a few things for going through that process.

1. Your team will reflect the thoughts and emotions of its leader so be mindful of your actions, words and body language
2. Find ways to motivate positively instead of trying to force your will.  Guide and coach them to the right answer.  You will find that they are much more willing to follow you as a leader if they believe and buy into the path you are taking them
3. Hold yourself accountable as the leader just as much as your employees.  You have to lead by example.

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were just a few months ago?

Failure is very hard and especially if you take a lot of pride in your work.  We are breed to not accept failure and that is probably the exact opposite of what we should do.  Being able to learn from your failure means you have to be able to look in word, be self-aware and willing to accept that you are not perfect and require improvement.

Truthfully, this class did not really change my perspective on failure.  That is only because I have had a career now for the last 20 years.  I have had the benefit of time and experience to know, if utilized properly, failure can be a great tool in life. 

25A - What's Next?

We've been talking about growth. Growth in new markets, growth in existing markets. For this experience exercise, you'll need to set a course for growth for your business and develop plans for how you will grow in both a new market as well as in the market you have already identified. 

What you need to do. Again, you'll need to hit the pavement and talk to potential customers. This time, you'll be armed with your "venture concept" description. Break your post into two pieces:

• Existing Market 
• Unfortunately, the three people that I was able to interview for this didn't give me much to go on.  I spoke to people that really enjoy escape rooms.  They all really liked the idea I have but couldn't give me too much on things that I was not already planning to do.  One item that I did get from them is to find a way to make the puzzles change more often and provide a variety so that they get a different experience each time they come back.
• This item was pretty good actually.  I can plan on a way to have each room change and have about 3-5 things that change in each room providing a pool of differences that are available.
• New Market
• For this I interviewed two business people who manage people for a living.  They expressed that we could also focus on team building and corporate events.  We change it up a bit during the day since it will probably be quite not much traffic in the day time.  We could have a team building expert come in for events and bring them through the  rooms as a way to help them work better together.

24A – "Quarantine Zone" Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity: 

The people that have the need for my service will be anyone that is looking for a good place to be entertained.  They may also be looking for something more immersive than their usual spots.  Currently this need is satisfied by various other means; going to the movies, going to other escape room locations, and other various entertainment establishments. 

I believe that this opportunity is a big one because it is a bit different than the other options out there.  You get to be a part of the action and excitement.  It combines three different entertainment experiences and ties them all together or you can enjoy them separately. 

It is hard to determine how long this opportunity will be there, but I can absolutely see it still being around as long as I am looking toward the future.  There is a place for VR in my idea and even augmented reality.  These technologies need to mature a bit more, but it is on the horizon.

Innovation:

In my opinion, innovations can be large or small.  I consider mine to be small since I am tying a few ideas that currently exist separately together as a cohesive experience.  I believe that innovations like this have a higher chance of success since they are smaller and easier to keep simple and execute.

My innovation is to bring the world of Zombie apocalypse to life.  It combines laser tag, escape rooms and a restaurant with beer and wine available together in one location.  This will be great for groups of friends, team building for corporations or even groups of kids from college looking to have some fun after exams. 

Venture Concept:

I don't believe that my services will pull people away from other forms of entertainment permanently.  People are not going to stop going to the movies or other escape rooms necessarily; but they will repeatedly come back to my offering for the experience I will create.  The moment you enter the facility you will be fully immersed in the illusion.  So deeply, my goal will be some people to start doubting their true existence outside the world I create for them.

I don't really see packaging to be a problem but other normal business hurdles like employee turnover, suppliers for the restaurant and other tools that I will need for the business.  I plan to at least start with a pretty flat structure.  I will not need many mid-level managers.  I anticipate one to manage the laser tag/escape room side and one to manage the restaurant.  These are two very different businesses I am combining and require different mindsets.

At some point I would require a controller and see myself outsourcing HR and IT needs to help keep costs on the lower side.  I would rather pay employees better and create a better environment for them.  They in turn will ensure that our customers have the best experience possible.

Three minor elements:

I plan to create an exceptional work environment and my people will be my advantage.  There are many case studies that support this idea and I have seen it in action.  To me this would be a large part of my “secret sauce”.  It is very hard to replicate this because most companies are less concerned with their employees.  This trend is changing a bit, but it is not quite there, and most business leaders still have not figure this out. 

After getting this venture up and running the next step would be to start looking at how technology can improve the experience for people.  Like I said earlier, I see a place for virtual reality or augmented reality in this industry.  This is how we can truly create a new experience.  I can see the entire experience being delivered via virtual reality.  That would make most of my costs be infrastructure and development.  Most of those items can be wrapped up in operational costs with cloud infrastructure preventing me from having to have a large capital outlay to accomplish it.

I would set a goal of actually making money from this venture after the second to third year in business.  So, by year five I would have it running smoothly and have a steady 20%-25% net profit margin.  This would allow me to continue building this or branch out to other concepts of this idea to reach other customers and their interests.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Below is my list of resources that I believe I already possess.

1. Love for the genre
2. Creative thinking and puzzle making
3. Understanding of business financials
4. Experience in the restaurant business
5. Diligence and perseverance
6. Employee based culture
7. Experienced in team building
8. Experienced in coaching and mentoring
9. Leadership
10. Connections available for funding capital

I believe that my top resource would be my team building and leadership skills.  In my current occupation I have built teams and have about 80 employees that report to managers under me.  My experience in this area would come in handy because my business idea requires a good amount of people and I think they would work best in teams.