Exit Strategy

1)    My end goal for this venture is to sell the company for a large sum and, if possible, receive a perpetuity.  

2)    I have selected this as my goal because I would like to start other businesses. I plan to use the money I get from selling this business to start a new one in a different field and use the perpetuity to live off of until my next venture starts to earn a profit.

3)    I think that my exit strategy has influenced my decisions by making me much more aggressive than I normally would be. Because I want to grow this company as quickly and efficiently as possible, I have taken what some may call, risky chances. However, everything has been a calculated risk, not a gamble. I believe that I will continue to have a the same mindset until I start a company that I think I can run very effectively until I am ready to retire.

Celebrating Failure

1)    For this semester, I made it my goal to perfect my golf swing to the point where my drives go straight. Make the ball go straight, seems rather simple, right? Well I have been finding out the hard way that the task is far more difficult than it sounds. I have gone to the driving range and golf course for hours at a time only to see the golf ball go virtually any direction other than where I want. Although, I have noticed a significant improvement and can tell that I will one day get the ball to travel its intended path. (Hopefully)

2)    I have played sports my entire life and golf has supported what I have learned from the other sports in that it takes time to develop skill. I started playing baseball when I was 4 and for 2 years I could only hit the ball when it was resting idly on a batting tee. Similarly, I started playing football when I was 12 years old and it took almost a full season to earn a starting spot. Learning the sport of golf has reinforced what I have previously learned: to become successful at something one must dedicate sufficient time and effort in order to reach their goal.

3)    I think that failure is something that can be embarrassing and difficult to deal with, however, it is necessary to succeed. I firmly believe that, had Michael Jordan not been kicked off of his high school basketball team, he would not have had the chip on his should that drove him to be such an amazing basketball player. When I fail at something, I often view it similarly to Thomas Edison. I believe that if one can get over the feeling of discouragement, they can learn and improve. This class has only reinforced my perspective that failure leads one to grow and better themselves.

What's next?

For my existing market, it was pointed out that, since I may run into ethical boundaries, I may also run into legal obstacles. Two of the people that I interviewed said that it would not be a bad idea for me to seek out pre-emptive legal counsel and clarify what I am doing to make sure everything is within the legal boundary. This could save my company a lot of money in the future.

Another thing that was pointed out was that customers may not approve of the online examples such as Facebook or Amazon as proof of concepts so I should seek out other opportunities to prove my product. Perhaps running my own commercial and using the evidence of companies seeking me out would sufficient to my potential customers. Another route would be to offer my product free to a local company and use them as a proof of concept.

As for my new market, it was pointed out that non-profit companies like the Red Heart Association or the Wounded Warrior Project could use my product to target affluent viewers. This market is one that I had not thought of targeting before but it could easily be enhanced through the use of my product. Not only would this be accessing an untapped market for my product but also would create positive PR.

I could possibly work out a deal with the Non-Profits to use my product at a discounted price as long as they featured my company in the commercial. Not only is this free advertising for my company, but it also associates it with fighting for a good cause. I believe that this is the way to go and I will be asking many more people what untapped markets they think my product would be applicable in.