30A – Final Reflection

Its been fun reading through my posts and I actually laughed at some of the earlier concepts, not because they were necessarily bad but because I could see the growth in the business idea. Its evident that in the early stages my product really didn't have a base or any starting point, I honestly had no direction and I remember being really concerned with how this plan would turn out. I dreaded the posts where I had to interview a lot of people because it was difficult to find people who fit what I needed and were ok with being interviewed. A lot of the individuals I interviewed either were members of my gym or fellow classmates so in the end it worked out. For me, I'll remember the experience where I had to reach out to companies that were already a part of my market. This was not only the hardest assignment for me, it was also a complete failure on my part. I only had one business respond and give me really good advice. Another company responded but didn't really provide a lot of helpful insight, I was just happy to hear back I suppose. 

The "what's next" assignment was one of my favorites because it forced me to evaluate my goals and future plans for the business. It might sound silly but I really had no idea where I was going to take my business until I had to do this assignment and the napkin idea pt. 2. I'm really proud of myself for accomplishing all of the assignments but most of all I think I am proud of my second elevator pitch because it showed a lot of growth and development. I didn't need to record the pitch over and over and I felt really confident about the pitch. Aside from that assignment I'd have to say I really enjoyed creating the customer avatar, it was a really creative way to look at the customer base. I defiantly struggled to see myself as an entrepreneur in the beginning and sometimes I still do but for the most part I feel like It's possible for me to be an entrepreneur and I feel more connected with the idea now then I had before. Sometimes I doubt my abilities but that just forces me to focus more on the plan and determine what the source of my doubts. 

for this course Id have to say my biggest advice is to take the assignments seriously so that you can get the most out of each one. This course is exactly what you put into it and there is a lot of opportunities to network and really explore your different venture options. The best advice for performance would be to keep a calendar and get every done on a set schedule. If you know you have an assignment due Friday that requires 5 interviews, set up a calendar where you have each interview completed three days before the assignment is due. This provides some room for error and issues and it also gives you an opportunity to reflect on the interviews. These interviews were one of the most important parts of this class so take it seriously.