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[nmojello260cmu]

Blog #4

12/9/2022

Hello Reader!

This blog will probably be the last one for this semester, as we are finally nearing the end of it. We were finally going to have our final pitching for our last activity. With so many presentations, proposals, and defense cases we were having the past few weeks, we were a wreck. Sleepless nights were every night and this particular pitch snuck up on us real good. It was a good thing that we had already prepared our test product and PowerPoint weeks prior. We took the commentaries and critiques from the panelist before and applied them to improve our presentation. For our test product, it was Rachael who found a tailor to sew Hawid for us at a very cheap price. Remember when I said that nursing students had a very annoying problem with flyaway hair? The video below is proof of our daily struggles.

Above is one of my groupmates, Angela, while riding the motorrela for our classes. She seemed to have mistaken the amount of gel she put on her hair and put too little. Hence, little strands of baby hair escaped and ruined her neat look. I often have this problem too, but I usually mitigate it by reapplying more gel or wax by the hour. Which was really inconvenient and time-wasting. Rachael showed us the test product the tailor made with our designs and a reference from Google in mind. (The blue one is from Google and the green one is our test product.)

It turned out pretty well, all things considered. We just had to convince the panelists of that as well.

We were nervous but we had to do what we had to do. So in we went.

... It went really well. We only had about 5 minutes to briefly explain the product, show the panelists what it's about, how it attracts the market, and how much it costs...and we did it! With 2 minutes to spare! Our instructor was pleased and complimented us for being thorough in our PowerPoint (which was primarily created by Paula and the rest of us making small edits). I couldn't be prouder of our team. In that final pitching, I learned and realized a lot of things. Making a product, selling it, and actually making a profit off of it is no easy task. What is more, attracting investors to actually believe in the potential of your idea. And we actually did all that! It was a very surreal feeling. Before, I wouldn't know the word "start-up", now, I understand what it means to put your idea and your ambition into the eyes of the public. I know how to "sell" my idea to our market and make it enticing for our investors. I know a bit about how to calculate costs and budget so that we won't go into debt. I know what factors to think about in order to make my start-up journey smoother. I know now the importance of choosing your teammates right, of them having the same vision and drive and willingness to cooperate to see our idea to reality. Of each one being able to contribute meaningfully every step of the way. Before, I wouldn't have spared a single glance towards Entrepreneurship, because I really didn't understand it. Now, I am curious and got to experience a little taste of the exhausting but fun journey that it could be. It's truly an honor to have learned this subject.

(Here's a picture of our group, after our final pitch.)

[nmojello260cmu]

Blog #3

12/3/2022

So many things happened in the past few weeks reader. SO.MANY.

To start, on September 27 we had this activity called the "Spaghetti Tower Challenge". The objective of the lab is simple.  Each group is given 20 pieces of spaghetti sticks, 1 meter of tape, and 1 large marshmallow. The groups will need to construct a tower supporting one large marshmallow at the top within 15-20 minutes.  The group that builds the highest free-standing tower wins the competition. Not gonna lie, the challenge was very enjoyable. It showed interesting dynamics of our group I hadn't really noticed before. So did we win? Well...

You can see for yourself the results.

This challenge was supposed to be a way to test the group's design process: thinking, doing, prototyping, and iteration. It also encourages the design mindset of the team and supports basic engineering principles. Knowing that and comparing our results, well, it's telling. From my perspective, there were a lot of factors that influenced this outcome:

1) We didn't really establish a leader. It's not that everyone wants to be, it's that no one did.

2) We spent too much time planning. We kept changing and changing our ideas and we didn't realize we had little time left.

3) I kept breaking the spaghetti sticks in half, so we wasted more tape. (I cannot be trusted with fragile things.) ...and a lot more, but these are the top 3. We did laugh off and joke about our sad, wobbly tower but I felt like we could've done better. This challenge really made me learn the importance of model assumptions, experimentation, and iteration. This also taught me a lesson about failure. The ingenuity behind it, and the drive to turn a bug into a feature. Another thing that this lesson made me realize is the reason why business experiments replace business plans. To explain this, our instructor showed us how to make a Business Model Canvas.

When I was in 11th grade, we had a project where we had to create our own business plan. I was inept with it. It was too confusing and as someone not really that into the Business World, the unfamiliar terms hurt my head. The BMC though was far simpler to follow. It made sense as the Business Model Canvas helps us, the founder, to figure out the business model and design it accordingly. A business plan, on the other hand, is more for an external stakeholder to analyze the business. In a sense, the Business Model Canvas functions as a guide and helps in quick communication between the owners of the business and its stakeholders.

Here's our BMC for our product:

Upon finishing the Business Model Canvas, the next thing we had to do was create an Empathy Map. From what I've learned, an Empathy Map is a simple, easy-to-digest visual that captures knowledge about a user's behaviors and attitudes. In other words, it is a guide to get into the mind of the market of your product. It is an ingenious way to make sure we actually know the target well. For one to create an effective solution, one must require a good understanding of the true problems and the people experiencing it. After all that, once again, we were getting ready for another pitch. This time, we had to propose our idea to potential investors that our instructor brought in. So we got to work and we divided the tasks evenly between us.

Alexa and I were in charge of reconfirming our market's problem with Rachael in charge of finding a tailor to make a prototype and Angela and Paula in charge of calculating the costs. Me and Alexa went around to every level of the College of Nursing and chatted up any female student nurse we could to get their opinion. We asked them to name their top hassles of being a nursing student, and most agreed that having a neat bun all the time was one of the biggest hassles (but necessary) to maintain. Gel was sometimes a good solution, but it was not permanent and hair would still get messy halfway through the day, they said. They were thrilled we were working on a solution and were excited about it. Meanwhile, Rachael was having good success with finding a tailor, seeing as she had already known someone (a neighbor) who was willing to negotiate a reasonable price for their services with us. Angela and Paula were having slight problems with the calculation of the costs and adjusting to the budget we were trying to not go over the line with. It took a few hours and Alexa also joined in. Math isn't really my expertise, so I went and helped Rachael with finding a good cloth store that would donate their used clothes to us. Prep was hectic and we were all slightly (majorly) nervous because we didn't know if what we were doing was right. But we went and did it anyway.

This picture was taken on October 11, after our pitching. We weren't expecting anything, but the receptive comments from our panelists were very much welcome and it helped us think that our preparation was worth it. There were some critiques and corrections on how we should place our data but overall, I think we did well.

Our Lecture Series came after our final pitching and when I listened to the speakers, there were doors that were suddenly opened when I didn't even know they existed. They shared tips on starting startups, how to make your market be interested in your product, ways to improve your product based on what it is (e.g. food, clothing), experiences with their successes, experiences with their setbacks, etc. I may not be interested in going deep into the world of entrepreneurs and business, but it is wonderful to know that I have this type of knowledge ready for use when I need it to in the future.

[nmojello260cmu]

Blog #2

9/25/2022

A lot has happened these past few weeks. To begin, our professor assigned us a task in which we had to propose an original product that could benefit the market that we chose. In addition, it had to be within our budget, creative, yet readily accessible to our target mass.

For this, our group met up and brainstormed throughout the afternoon. First thing that we did was to choose our target market, and this was one thing that we unanimously agreed on. It had to be people that were easily reachable to us. Most importantly: it had to be people that we could relate to. And so we chose the students of our university.

We had thought of it as a daunting task and truly, it was. Not because of the lack of ideas, there were a few that we had initially thought of; a few problems that stood out to us and our peers.

Bike for rent - Allows for easy access to transpo inside the campus aside from riding motorela; rejected because of high costs.

Scooter for rent - Same reasons as the above.

Hulog-hulog na water (Water Refilling Machine) - Allows for students to be able to drink mineral water in specific location; rejected because of inability to program the machine or know someone to do so.

Vendo Cafe - Vending Machine But With School Supplies; rejected for high costs.

Paypay na payong or Paypayong - A 2-in-1 combo of an umbrella with a fan attached to its handle, allows for bringing wind whike holding the umbrella; rejected because of complications of creating the product. Our TOTGA.

(Paypayong sketch by Angela)

Ikaw na mag print - some sort of printing vendo machine; scrapped for the same reasons as vendo cafe

Durag - Our last idea, but not original enough.

All our ideas had potential, yet there were several factors holding us back. Few of which are: accessibility to the materials, the (in)ability to make the product or find someone in time to do so which would mean more costs which would mean it'd be more expensive, and money. We didn't have much of it.

Dreaming big was too costly, so we had to think small first---nearer and more reasonable. Something a little closer to home.

It was another brainstorming session later, and our group mate Angela had the idea of taking inspiration from Durags, which was a close-fitting headscarf, worn especially by African-American men. As a nursing student, she explained that she has always experienced the inconvenience with keeping her hair in the proper way it's supposed to be arranged, that is, with not a single strand astray. Travelling by jeep or rela was especially difficult since her baby hairs would start rebelling with the wind even after being gelled thoroughly.

So what was the solution for this? She had expressed how good it would be if there was something that could keep her hair in place yet not violate the dress code of our college.

The remaining four of us, as fellow students of the same course, had agreed with her sentiments. But we had to make sure it wasn't just the five of us who had this issue. So we conducted an online survey through Google Forms to see what other nursing students might think.

How convenient would it be to have something like that?

And there, the barebones of our product begun to form.

(Screenshots of Medical Caps for reference.)

Angela was tasked with the designs so she made the tentative design for our product.

All was looking good so far and as we straightened out the details, we decided to name our product 'Hawid', a Bisaya word meaning 'to hold' which make sense since it was supposed to hold hair neatly.

(Initial sketches of Hawid)

Venture Proposal Day had come.

Our professor had a lot of questions for us, but ultimately, she instructed us on where to improve and how to improve it. How to market it properly, and making sure target mass was really interested in our product.

Thankfully, our proposal was accepted. Shortly after that, we had a meeting online in order to discuss the improvements we had to make.

(Photo below of the tasks assigned.)

This proposal has been fun and nerve-racking at the same time, with creative groupmates all tossing their lot and brainstorming for ideas. I hope we all get to see the fruit of our hard work soon!

[nmojello260cmu]

Blog #1

9/3/2023, Saturday

Studying entrepreneurship wasn't really on the list of subjects I wanted to enroll myself in. In hindsight, it probably had something to do with my mistaking it for business, and I have never really been keen on anything concerning that topic. Fortunately, my professor had been very clear on the distinction between the two.

So what is Entrepreneurship? Why is it so different from Business? And why does a student need to be trained in this?

From what I learned, entrepreneurship in a sense, is a thing that was meant to disrupt. To change order. A rejection of the inadequacy. Its difference with business is that it doesn't put its focus on profit but more on innovation. Which means generating new value, whether that value be financial, aesthetic, social, or emotional.

But, disrupt what exactly?

Incovenience.

Problems in daily life, little things that I thought were easily done (banking, shopping, storing, delivery—) could be made even easier or convenient through the innovation of entrepreneurship.

Honestly, most of my day-to-day life in modern society has long been influenced by entrepreneurship. Particularly when the pandemic hit, more than ever people with ideas began to make it bloom and flourish. Even until now, the effects of those ideas have yet to wane. I certainly don't want it to.

So, why do I have to learn it?

The 'convenient' thing about entrepreneurship is that—ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. It's not like business where you have to have a certain keen sense in order to keep the profit coming in. A spark of an idea, a seed of ingenuity is all it takes to start the journey to entrepreneurship.

To keep moving forward with it though, my professor iterated more qualities. Though the one that stuck with me most were,

You must risk being wrong.

You must know when & how to ask for help.

You must learn that good enough is enough.

It was almost ironic how these were the qualities I had trouble emulating the most.

I cannot risk being wrong because being wrong usually has consequences, severe consequences. Asking for help is just asking for people to mess up your work. And lastly, to be good enough, one just has to achieve perfection.

As I am beginning my entrepreneurial journey, I realize that the mindset above is not one that I can afford to continue. And so, I look forward to seeing how I change as a person because of this. And I look forward to seeing what ideas I can bring to bloom because of this topic.