Itunes U, Post three

Yale Entrepreneurial Institute

First off, this Picture sums up how I felt listening to these lectures brilliantly...

The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) was formed to help undergraduate and graduate Yale students start scalable new ventures.  The YEI podcast series features talks given at the summer institute's leadership lecture series.  The Itune's U course can be found Here.  So far, my two favourite lectures are "How to write a business plan" lectured by Maureen Burke, and "starting a startup" lectured by Chris Penner.

Lectures

How To Write A Business Plan

Laureen Burke, of the Yale School of Management, and the Yale School of forestry environmental science lectures aspiring entrepreneurs about the importance of a business plan.

After listening to this lecture I have learned that as an entrepreneur, a good, well written business plan is essential if one is expecting to get funding for a project.  According to Laureen Burke, seventy-five percent of business plans she's received lack one or more of the essential qualities of a good business plan.  5-7 minute's in the audio,  Laureen state's that a well written business plan must be exciting, entertaining, knowledgable and, have proper format.  Plans should include a market: a market section, management section, sources section, a detailed description of the production of your product, and most importantly an executive summary.  Laureen describes how to make each of these sections good at twenty-one to twenty-eight minutes in.  


Maureen closes her lecture stating that a good business plan should be totally realistic.  Investors are not going to believe hyped up projected stats, and this will definitely not help a business plan get picked in fact the unrealistic plan may actually even decrease the chances of getting selected.   Finally, it is stressed that a good plan will not be subjective in the sense of saying, it's products will be "better".  It must be stressed how the product will be better, it is simply not enough to state that it is better just because.  


If one wishes to find this lecture it is the first clip in the series, found Here

Starting a Startup

Chris Penner, president and CEO of RemoTV, discusses how to start a startup. 

In this lecture, Chris Penner describes both the positive's and negatives about the entrepreneurial lifestyle.  Being a CEO and owner of many various company's, Chris speaks from personal experience.  When starting a business, there are three main parts which must be reviewed  at startup to ensure success: the team, the market and, the technology.

1.  The team

As an entrepreneur you must make sure that you have a team that is knowledgeable, and devoted.  It takes a lot of commitment for a business to explode, so a genuine team is a necessity.

2. The Market

An entrepreneur must check that there is a market for his business before the business goes public.  It is stated that, the only way sale's are going to happen is if there is a demand.

3. The Technology

In chris' case he had various digital businesses.  In his businesses he had to make sure that the newest technologies were acquired.  This is because people hate change and he had to give them reason to.  Although not all businesses will require the newest tech,  the idea of a quality product is a universal necessity among successful businesses.

Chris describe's how an idea can explode into a thriving business that reaches millions and I thought the above picture was fitting.

Reflection

Next year I will hopefully be attending Western University for their business program for two years.  Following that hopefully I will be accepted into Richard Ivey's School of Business to get an HBA.  I have always considered the possibility of starting a business and I thought this program would enlighten in the idea.