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Blog #3

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND DISCUSSION

“A major reason why startup fail is because they design their initial product based on assumptions. They assume that people care enough about the problem to pay for a solution.” – Laura Holton

                It’s been a while since we have our discussion on our Entrepreneurial class. One of some worth recalling information during our classroom discussion was when our instructor, Ma’am Rhea, introduced to us the term MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT (MVP). Basically, it is a beginning form of product in which Entrepreneurs furthermore develop and assess its potential by using their customers or users’ feedback. I was also amazed how some begin from a simple step which includes the Zappos in which Nick Swinmurn created a web site that offered the absolute best selection in shoes in terms of brands, styles, colors, sizes, and widths after recognizing the point of pain on not being able to find shoes on store you wanted. Ma’am Rhea gave us a simple example to visualize how it works. She presented to us how one should begin from a simple skateboard until it gradually develop into a car rather than slowly purchasing or acquiring some parts of the car. This simple explanation helped me understand that MVP launches a product with significant use in the early phases of a startup and then expanding functionality.

THE LECTURE SERIES

Last April 19, 2023, I attended the lecture series program facilitated by the Business Administration Department faculty at our University Convention Center which aims to give us, the students, an opportunity to hear insights and viewpoints from the invited lecture speaker from their various experiences on industry and academe.

LECTURE SERIES # 1: Intellectual Property Rights & Technology Transfer

Dr. Gamaleila A. Dumangcas

“Intellectual Property is the oil of the 21st Century. All the richest men have made their money out of intellectual property.” – Mark Getty

                Intellectual Property is the creation of our mind. This includes invention, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images, and designs. Thus, it’s essential to secure protection on the intellectual property to be able to transform it into a more tangible product and to secure the ”first to file” basis. Its need for protection requires an attentive measure since having it was like also owning a land property, which demands a regulation, valuation, taking ownership, and monetizing transfer. Thereby, its vital to register first your intellectual property before disclosing it to prevent any competitors from copying your trademark, technology or product; and avid wasteful investment in research. That’s the reason why acquiring intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret, an important move since it’s protected in law that provides the creators a protection on their original works, inventions, or ideas. Furthermore, technology transfer is also an essential process which allow the knowledge developed at one organization to another, with a purpose of commercializing it to be able to manage distribution channels and identify potential markets.

LECTURE SERIES #2: Incubating Innovation: Exploring Start-Up Opportunities in the Philippines

                Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to listen throughout the said lecture since I had to process my clearance. However, my short participation in the lecture gained me a little background on how it works. This Business incubators provides a support  and resources on start-ups and someone who’s starting their business. I believe this program really help some start-ups at least good starting point of foundation, its like a toddler being assisted by their parent to their following steps in their early-stage.

LECTURE SERIES #3: RAISE

Ma'am Keren

                More than a lecture, the speaker had shown to us videos related to some start-up programs and seminars that occur in the Philippines, as well as her various experiences and seminars she attended. I was really eager to take some of notes on some of her videos she presented because I planned to watch and search on my way home.

                Start-up is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious, and success is not guaranteed. She also shared her experience on how one of her business idea, Alima Home Healthcare for Every Juan − a booking app for nursing which aims to provide healthcare for rural area, had failed because of the pandemic. I was really amazed on her dedication and her ability to cope-up with the failure. I also love how she also said that “it all starts with the IDEA”. I wasn’t really fond on at least considering to be an entrepreneur in the future since my heart already settled for being a Nephrologist, however, learning that her course was actually BS Nursing, I was really amazed on this discovery. In which I realized that anyone could really become an entrepreneur and it will all start with the idea. Especially now where there are a lot programs that would support a new start-ups which includes the start-up grant fund, step up program, Philippine start-up challenge, and etc.

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Blog #2: A Deeper Engagement and Understanding on our Target Customer's Needs, Problem, and Opinion

Engaging through interviews help people to discover more perspective. It also helps them to manage their effort and time especially if they wanted to validate if their ideas are worth pursuing. I’ll never forget my first interview with some random strangers which I’ve mentioned before on my previous blog. It took a lot of manifestation and persuasion before I completed the said activity. Definitely, it really helps me to confidently engage strangers again. And recently, we were tasked to complete the empathy map canvas. We brainstormed as a group to complete the empathy map given to us and did an interview afterward. If before, it would take a lot of courage and comfort to relieve my anxiety, the second time around makes my interview much easier than before.

Following our second interview, I collected two interviews from students who actually had a 7 am schedule class which is somewhat correlated to our proposal idea in our Entrepreneurial Mind subject. Breakfast should be the priority when starting our day, yet for most students who have early schedules, it has been normalized as a second option. Some of their answers were almost the same as if skipping and lack of proper nutrient intake during breakfast has always been a problem for some students who are always in a situation dilemma between breakfast and their classes. Sometimes, they consider alternative foods instead of a healthy breakfast in aiming for satisfaction for their stomachs instead of gaining proper nutrients that’ll help them have more energy.

Therefore, the said activity allows me to be immersed in the actual experiences of our target user’s needs. It became a helpful tool to aid us in discovering what’s more about every student’s needs, problems, and opinions.

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A Guide to My Last Two Weeks Journey of Our Entrepreneurial Mind Subject Activities: Everything You Need to Know About

DAY 1: SELF-AWARENESS

Every good entrepreneur started on knowing who they are. The awareness and discovery they took to know their strength, weaknesses, and passion helps them become better and survive on the world of innovation and businesses. And with that I can’t help but also wonder, “What are my strength and passion that makes me unique despite of the weaknesses?” I hate change. One of the things I couldn’t cope up with is change. This little child inside me wants comfort and advanced spoilers in life. The unbearably torturing sensation I must endure to succeed and become better. But that’s not how real-world works. This might be the reason why reading books has become my hobby and my lifetime passion. When I read, it gives me a timeless portal to a wide range of possibilities. It made me associate and interact to other people’s life and gain plenty of inspirations just by reading. Reading books connects me to different perspective in life. It somehow gives me idea and preparation on a variety of situations and circumstances more than my experiences. It develops my ability of imagination that helps me become creative on different situations. Furthermore, my unrecognizable strength and capacity to withstand difficulties that life has thrown – Resilience.  Most of us believe that to achieve greatness and improvement, one must go outside their comfort zone and learn from their failure and I did. Out of nowhere, my super strength of flexibility and endurance then soon to be developed. I actually believe these are my entrepreneurial skills and capabilities that I can confidently contribute to my team.

DAY 2: ENGAGEMENT AND DISCUSSION AS A TEAM

Our Entrepreneurial Mind subject made us engaged on different things for the last two weeks. Our first interaction as a group was a discussion of our hobbies and the current problems we encountered as a college student. Thus, we come up with three problems and specifically they are:

The methods of collection of garbage inside the campus.

 The students who might need protection when they’re going home at night.

 The students who skip their breakfast for their 7AM class.

We actually ended up agreeing on the third option since we also shared the same problem of somehow skipping our breakfast for our 5 days, 7AM classes. That’s when we come up with our partial proposal of KamungGo. Subsequently, I did an onlineinterview to some strangers and people I know inside the campus if somehow, they agree with the idea of proposal and if they’re also experiencing the said problem. Fortunately, most of them answer our interview with honesty and the pictures below was the evidence of their response and feedback. Lastly, we defended our proposal days later our entrepreneurial class.

DAY 3 and DAY 4: INTERACTION TO STRANGERS

Aside from letting us do a proposal from our subject, we are also challenged of interacting random strangers inside the campus, the so-called “The Social Experiment” or “The Rejection Therapy Activity”. We were tasked to ask them a question that’s answerable by no. And I can’t deny that it caused me anxiety on my first try because it would be my first attempt of having a random conversation of stranger and not because I know I’m going to be rejected of my question and favor. It took me a day to finally recover from the embarrassment and somehow made me more confident the next day. My ability to endure and cope up with different situation made me thank my 19-year-old self for building up my coping up skills. Despite of the slightly hatred on the subject from the beginning of my engagement on a stranger made me also appreciate the result it help me to go out my comfort zone. In fact, the day I was coping up from the embarrassment was also the day I did practice my way of conversation and did a little bit of research on proper words to approach a stranger by convincing them. In addition, it made me appreciate some entrepreneurs, saleslady, businessmen/businesswomen, and etc. because it’s really hard interacting or convincing strangers or people.

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Did an interview, and guess what? I wasn't the only person who skip his/her breakfast before going to class.

We can't deny that the majority of us skip the most important meal of the day in order to manage our time and arrive class on time. The majority of their responses to the question, "What are your reasons for skipping breakfast before class?" were time-consuming, lack of appetite, tardiness, and a lack of access to buy ready-made breakfast. As a result, the majority of my friends I interviewed agreed with the idea of having a food stall that served healthy, filling, easy-to-eat, and budget-friendly meals stationed in a location where students frequently gather. Thus, our group are trying to come up a product or service that might able to address this issue.