Lows- recording the elevator pitch and having 30 failed attempts before you recorded a decent one.
Highs- when people would say your venture was a good idea or receiving good, helpful feedback on your venture.
2.
- What sticks out to you as the most formative experience?
- The most formative experiences were when we dissected our ventures and found their flaws. Although it was somewhat discouraging to find the huge flaws of our venture we really never thought of, I think it taught us an important lesson: not everything is perfect and if we want to be smart, we would fix the flaws before the fact, rather than after the fact.
- The experience that you'll remember years later?
- I will remember the bug list years down the line because it was such a simple task that required so much thinking and attention to detail. Most of the time we go about our day to day lives with a dozen or so bugs that irk us and we'll take a few seconds or maybe more to express our annoyance, but not to the point of us compiling a list. I never knew there were this many bugs that I never really noted before.
- What was your most joyous experience?
- The most joyous moment I associate with this class were those moments where we could express the venture we had in our head, in all it's glory Before we got into the details and financial capital or who to interview to expand our human capital, we each had an idea we wanted to create, a business we wanted to bring to life. That was the most enjoyable because we were idealistic about our ventures and put it on a high horse.
- What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
- Personally I'm the most proud of the countless interviews we had to conduct because I was pushed out of my comfort zone to reach out to people I would not have otherwise. It forced me to build connections and ask people questions and listen to answers, sometimes I did not want to hear. Though it was bitter sweet to hear it coming from other people, it reinforced the idea that my venture has room to grow.
3.
- Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur?
- Not by a long stretch. I believe it takes more than a course and technically hypothetical situation to truly be an entrepreneur. We never truly experienced failure first hand where our venture was released into the real world and it tanked or we had to ask VC's or Angels for financial capital. We never failed and failed and failed and failed, just to have that one success. Though I may have interviewed people and thought of a market, I don't consider it enough.
- Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
- I am closer to developing a true entrepreneurial mindset because I do think the assignments made us think in a different way, consider different factors and break our venture down.
- What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future?
- Be realistic with your venture truly delve into its flaws in order to understand where you can improve.
- What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course?
- Listen to the lectures, not just for the cupcakes, but because some of the random tidbits of information that Dr. Pryor said were actually really interesting. Also, manage our time and do not wait until the night the assignments are due to start on your posts. Spread them out throughout the week.
- What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
- Accept failure. Fail fast. Learn from it and move on.
