Introduction - Alex Moran

About Me

My name is Alex Moran.  I'm interested in sailing, paintball, etc, as well as business, which is why I'm here. If i had to describe myself it would be determined and hardworking, especially in relation to things I am passionate about. I hope to come away from this class with experience in the field that could possibly help me in the future. My family has always taken the business route, and I hope to follow in their footsteps. I'd like to say I'm a pretty good asset when it comes to technological aspects & graphic design, but I'm also very creative if necessary.

About me

I'm passionate about the outdoors, as noted by my picture. I hope to learn more about business management and how to better come up with ideas for small businesses. I look forward to my time in this class.

Business Blog - Michael Brown

My group and I are still in the process of choosing our business. We have not yet decided on a definite idea that we are completely set on. Two of the ideas that we are thinking about doing are the water balloon cannon and the camera that detects movement. I believe both of these ideas have potential, but we are not yet completely set on either of them. I am still going to consider other ideas and try to think of one that we are for sure about. We do not have any failures or success yet, but we will once we decide on an idea.

Everyday is a Challenge in the World of Business

Over the last three weeks the biggest thing I have learned is starting a business is not easy. It takes creativity, passion, hard work, and dedication. Going into this class I was convinced that I'd be able to find an idea that I loved and really wanted to turn into a business I could keep up once the class was over. But after spending weeks going over the challenges of starting a business and countless ideas I am far less confident in my ability to start a successful business and my ability to come up with an idea. That being said I have definitely learned a lot being in this class and am still hopeful and excited for what is to come.  

Risk

In the short amount of time I have been in this class there have not been many opportunities to put my ideas out there. None the less, there was one risk that I had to take when I wrote down my ideas not knowing if they would be successful or not. It was possible my ideas could already have been created or that there would not be a large enough group of people that would buy it. In the future, I think there are going to be many situations where in order to be successful taking a chance will be necessary.

The struggles of choosing a business idea

      This class was a lot harder than I thought I would be. In our daily life, we will always encounter something troublesome or inconvenient, and we might come up with ideas like "Wouldn't it be great if there is something that helps you do this..."; however, having an idea is entirely different from actually making it happen in real life due to various difficulties such as technological incapability and repeating ideas... It is kind of frustrating when you come up with an idea that you personally are confident with, and this idea turned out to be impractical or impossible to design.

      I believe that our next step is to narrow down and come up with several practical and achievable ideas, and progressively increase the possibility to make them happen.

http://www.executivefranchises.com/blog/great-business-ideas/#.V-HcdZMrKqA

Sean Zhou

Business Start Up

My group and I are in the midst of finalizing our idea. Our current business idea is to create a subscription for college students that offers them a box of a variety of snacks and meals. We have not started the research process just yet but once we do, we will have more of an idea of how our business will be run. As long as this business is not already in existence and if all research goes well, we think this idea could be a success. We see the potential in this idea because we have family members and close friends in college who would benefit from a product like this.

Third Time's a Charm

Welcome to the third iteration of Small Business Startup.  I am thrilled to be teaching this class again with a new batch of students--some of whom dream of being entrepreneurs and some who only took the class to fill an elective space in their schedule.  No matter--we will all embark on this "journey" into entrepreneurship with enthusiasm, curiosity, and fearlessness.  Since this is my third time teaching the class, I have a more refined sense of what we can accomplish in a semester.  I have a different sense of where we will end in mid-January.  This year students may NOT propose and start school-based businesses.  They WILL spend most of their time selecting, vetting, refining, and pivoting their ideas. This year, for the first time, my students will pitch real-world business ideas at a real incubator:  Bunker Labs in Old Town, Alexandria.  I am thrilled about this partnership and grateful to Harry Alford for welcoming my students and to Emily McMahan for opening the door in the first place.

Please read along as this new set of students venture into entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation.