Week 13
The entrepreneurial journey this semester has been quite a ride so far. At the beginning of the semester, we started out by focusing on the CRISPR patent before jumping towards wearables, which we have been working on for quite some time now.
Before taking this class, I had liked to believe that the journey of building a startup might have been quite formulaic: you have an idea, you get funding, you build your company, you succeed. After the last few months, it's quite obvious that there is in fact no formula for success. The only thing that is constant in the startup process is the human factor - you. As long as you keep working as hard as possible, you may or may not get funding, your product could be a success or a flop, your company may fail or live, but you will unequivocally be more equipped for the future. Though your company may not survive every hurdle you put yourselves through, you will, and I think that's what people mean when they say that startup founders must be resilient.
As our startup is one confined to the classroom for now, we have not necessarily come across the same hurdles as real startup founders. If I were taking this class again, it would be very beneficial to in fact have conversations with VCs as part of the class, even if these were mock conversations. Though we have met VCs before in the class, I think it would be a different experience to truly understand what the professors have meant by their statistics of how few people in fact get funding.
Though the course is almost over, before it ends, one of the things I still want to understand is: how do you know when the startup is right for you? Throughout the course, we have learned how to convince others that your startup is right for them: through pitchdecks, through P&Ls, through proper explanation of IP. However, when one is creating a startup in the real world, how do you know when it is the right moment to 'startup'. After all, creating a startup is a massive investment of time and money that should not be an easy decision. In the past, Professor Rick has mentioned how many people start start-ups when they have been laid off, or when they encounter an amazing value proposition, but when do you know that you are ready to dedicate yourself to a company, and not just that you have found a decent business idea?
Before taking this class, I had liked to believe that the journey of building a startup might have been quite formulaic: you have an idea, you get funding, you build your company, you succeed. After the last few months, it's quite obvious that there is in fact no formula for success. The only thing that is constant in the startup process is the human factor - you. As long as you keep working as hard as possible, you may or may not get funding, your product could be a success or a flop, your company may fail or live, but you will unequivocally be more equipped for the future. Though your company may not survive every hurdle you put yourselves through, you will, and I think that's what people mean when they say that startup founders must be resilient.
As our startup is one confined to the classroom for now, we have not necessarily come across the same hurdles as real startup founders. If I were taking this class again, it would be very beneficial to in fact have conversations with VCs as part of the class, even if these were mock conversations. Though we have met VCs before in the class, I think it would be a different experience to truly understand what the professors have meant by their statistics of how few people in fact get funding.
Though the course is almost over, before it ends, one of the things I still want to understand is: how do you know when the startup is right for you? Throughout the course, we have learned how to convince others that your startup is right for them: through pitchdecks, through P&Ls, through proper explanation of IP. However, when one is creating a startup in the real world, how do you know when it is the right moment to 'startup'. After all, creating a startup is a massive investment of time and money that should not be an easy decision. In the past, Professor Rick has mentioned how many people start start-ups when they have been laid off, or when they encounter an amazing value proposition, but when do you know that you are ready to dedicate yourself to a company, and not just that you have found a decent business idea?
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