Entrepreneurialist Culture-
How to Bootstrap Yourself to Success
in the 21st Century
Course Number and Title: ADM3396 Seminar in Administration
Place: TBT325 Campus Map
Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng-Sci., PhD. BlogTwitterCV
Day and Time: Wednesdays 4 pm to 7 pm.
Term: Winter 2010
Course Type: Seminar
Credits: 3
Office Hours: The lecturer will be available for 45 minutes after the conclusion of each lecture for consultation with the students.
We focus on the vast majority of startups that never obtain any VC funding. Why is that? We believe that bootstrapped or self capitalized enterprises that focus on customer acquisition, cash flow and sound business models as well as excellent execution are longer lasting, more sustainable ventures that ultimately create more value for their stakeholders, for society in general and also allow their owners to maintain control over their creation. Here is what Clayton M. Christensen, Mark W. Johnson and Darrell K. Rigby say in the MIT Sloan Management Review (Spring 2002):
"Too much cash allows those running a new venture to follow a flawed strategy for too long. Having barely enough forces the venture's managers to flounder around with actual customers, rather than in the corporate treasury for ways to get money. Tight purse strings force managers to uncover a viable strategy quickly - if one exists." (Page 29)
They also emphasize the need for excellent execution and sound business models-good ideas are not enough:
"Many observers assume that an absence of good ideas is the reason for the fall of once-disruptive companies, and they try to focus their own companies on generating new ideas. But in our interviews with managers of companies that failed to capitalize on disruptive opportunities, not once did anyone say, "We just never thought of it." In fact, the executives had actively considered and usually experimented with the disruptions that eventually displaced them. A lack of good ideas is not the problem. The problem is in the absence of a robust, repeatable process for creating and nurturing new growth businesses. We have suggested how executives might shape and implement a strategy to create a single new disruptive growth business. To establish an organizational capability to do it over and over again, senior executives should build the components that go into an innovation engine.(That is, you need a viable business model, Ed.)" (Page 30)
Mr. Ryan Anderson, Co-Teacher. Public relations and web strategist with a focus on social media. Co-founded a theatre company. Worked as a digital strategist for an independent PR firm. Led communications for one of the largest digital agencies in Canada. Worked with clients ranging from political candidates to some of the largest brands in the world.
Mr. Craig Schoen, TA. Founder, CSEDev.com, Draugh.com, ReadyPromo, GMGoodwrench Internet Marketing Program. Manager, MuralArts.ca. Head Goaltending Coach, Euorcamp International Hockey School. Former top Entrepreneruialist Culture student. Winner of UOttawa Wes Nicol Business Plan Competiton. Outstanding salesperson, Cutuco.
Entrepreneurialist Culture ADM 3396
Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa and Exploriem.org
Professor Bruce M. Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., PhD.
Introduction 2010
Have you ever wondered whether entrepreneurs are born or whether they can be trained? What are the ten key steps in creating and running a successful start-up? What is a Personal Business for Life and how can you get one? How do you start a business without much in the way of your own start-up capital? Can you organize your work life so that if anything goes wrong in your business, you and your family will be OK? If you are successful, can you hold onto your business so that it will sustain you and your family for a long time? What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? Can you be an ethical entrepreneur? Do you want to learn how to create significant value for yourself and your family in a business that you own and control-value that can provide you the freedom and security to realize your lifetime goals?
If you answered 'yes' to any of the above, then join Professor Bruce M. Firestone, Founder of the Ottawa Senators, Executive Director of Not-For-Profit, Exploriem.org, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management and Broker, Partners Advantage GMAC Real Estate, to learn how to 'Bootstrap Yourself to Success in the 21st Century'.
What is the number one reason people decide to become entrepreneurs? A) To make more money? B) To be their own boss? C) Because they can't get any other type of work? D) To work fewer hours or have greater flexibility in their schedule? E) Because they believe they can create more interesting work for themselves than others can create for them? Most often, the answer turns out to be E).
Entrepreneurs believe in themselves; they have confidence that they can create great new products and services and, in the process, create new enterprises that will outlast them. They are driven to put their creative energies to optimal use.
Being a successful entrepreneur allows them to exercise greater control over their own destiny: both professional and financial. Many people think that having a JOB is more secure but entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs think that real security comes from the skills, knowledge, training, creativity and experience you possess and they know that you can be laid off from any JOB at any time.
Entrepreneurialist Culture is not just relevant to business and engineering students and graduates contemplating starting their own businesses. It is just as relevant to people who intend to seek employment within large companies or, indeed, are going to enter public service or, work with NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations), charities, museums, hospitals, universities, public school administration and the like. These people are called intrapreneurs. Great organizations in any field need creative, determined "heroes": self-starters and independent-minded intrapreneurs who think outside the box, who have the courage to pioneer new ways of doing things and start new things. These intrapreneurs are the people who get their new projects green-lighted and they get promoted too. Artists, architects, writers, musicians and other creative persons are also entrepreneurs and they can benefit from studying entrepreneurship so that 'death isn't a career move' for them; that is, they can learn how to 'get rich while they're still alive'.
Learn How To
Select the right idea for your next startup;
Create business models for the 21st Century that produce great results: so that the harder you work, the more money you make;
Add differentiated value and 'pixie dust' to your business model;
Create a compelling value proposition and learn how to clearly demonstrate it to customers and clients.
Self-capitalize (bootstrap) the new enterprise so that you end up owning it and not a VC firm or other investors or partners;
Use smart marketing (guerrilla marketing and earned media) so you can acquire customers and clients cost effectively;
Mass customize products and services using the Internet so that, for the first time in history, you can get custom outputs from standard inputs;
Reverse out some of the work to your clients, customers and suppliers using the Internet so that you create a scalable enterprise that can produce more value than if you had a JOB;
Find pre-launch and launch customers and sell, sell, sell;
Execute expertly;
Innovate and improve constantly;
Make your own rules;
Learn how to use negative cost marketing, co-branding and sponsorship to deliver your message and capture customers by 'intricating' them in the process.
Exercise leadership;
Use social marketing-a new form of reaching world markets effectively and inexpensively, using the blogoshere, social networking, news agglomeration sites and other new Internet tools.
Compete effectively with hard charging entrepreneurs from China, India and other Tigers by having a business model that can not be easily duplicated or dislodged and gives you a lasting, sustainable competitive advantage and concession or franchise.
Study new enterprise formation and analyze case studies to learn what others did right and what they did wrong. Participate in and win cash prizes in our Business Model Competition, the Wes Nicol Business Plan Competition and the Faculty of Engineering's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Endowment Fund Business Plan Competition to win additional cash prizes of $10,000, $7,500, $5,000 or $1,000. Learn entrepreneurial skills like how to create video case studies, make effective presentations including two-minute elevator pitches, market by media release and how to make new enterprises or new initiatives successful. Be in touch with unconventional mentors who really know how to create and run businesses and know how to get and keep clients and boost cashflow.
Remember: "An Entrepreneur is someone who would rather ask for forgiveness than beg for permission," Anon.
Acquire a Key Skill Set
Whether you are going into business for yourself or working in an established organization, you will find that by acquiring the skill set of an entrepreneur, you will achieve greater levels of success and be more satisfied in your work life and career. You will learn to: take initiative, be more innovative, do things in parallel, find launch clients, build cashflow, understand the value of a client and customer, use bootstrap capital, sell/sell/sell, use guerrilla marketing and social marketing to build a brand and capture market share, try new things, build a sustainable business model with a lot of 'pixie dust' in it, set goals and achieve them, not require a lot of direction, be dynamic and have high energy, create a business plan and be ready to change it when the market moves in sudden and unexpected directions.
Find Out More
Study Entrepreneurialist Culture (ADM 3396) at the Telfer School of Business: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/EntrepreneurialistCultureFrontPage.htm
Find out what your Entrepreneurialist Culture Quotient score is using our online ECQ Test. Take five or six minutes to go on a voyage of self discovery: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/ECQTest/ECQ(ns)TestAuto.htm.
Check out our EQ Journal Blog: http://www.eqjournalblog.com/.
Follow Professor Firestone on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ProfBruce
Find out more about Dr. Bruce M. Firestone: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/ShortFormResumeParsed.htm.
Join our new incubator/mini office complex and our networking and mentoring organization, www.Exploriem.org.
For more information, please contact: Professor Bruce M. Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., PhD. Tel.: 613.422.6757 Fax: 613.422.2877 Email: bfirestone@partnersadvantage.ca
Join* Exploriem.org The Professional Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs Networking Organization
* Optional. Membership is free.
"Entrepreneurialist Culture is invaluable to anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur, intrapreneur or wants to create a start-up and reap the benefits. It forces you to think in business models, relationships and ecologies, to take ideas and turn them into strong value propositions for individuals, and to stand alone; looking at a market and measuring yourself in the success you create with your ideas, determination and leadership. You don't only learn how to work hard, but how to reverse out the work as well. It changes the way you think about business and the possibilities beyond just a carrier, but a way of life and thinking."
(* Prepared for: The Small Business Policy Branch (SBPB) of Industry Canada for the Youth Entrepreneurship Forum)
"Bruce, I've wanted to mention this for some time now, but haven't had the chance. Your course was maybe the best course I've taken at University. The concepts I took away from it will be with me forever and I appreciate the Passion with which you teach. I hope the real-estate game is treating you well despite economic setbacks, and I especially hope that your family life is good. Thank you for adding value to my degree. Cheers."
Tyler Steeves, Former Student, Entrepreneurialist Culture
"Professor, I wanted to let you know that the Elevator Pitch in 2007 and your Business Model Competition were a big part of what inspired me to actually go out and start Incogna.com. Otherwise, I'd probably have just "gotten a JOB" when I graduated. But this is way more fun!"
Kris Woodbeck, (Engineering Graduate, U of O), Founder, Incogna.com, December 2008.
Brief Video Introduction by Dr. Bruce M. Firestone:
Assignment Schedule 2009
Attendance (5%)
Bull Durham Bio (5%) Students Submit their Bull Durham Bios* and Student Team Formation for Learn
by Doing Exercise/Business Model Competition and Video Case Study [Second Class]
Reach Out! (5%) Students submit a well-thought out question on entrepreneurship and select which well known and well-qualified person they would like to ask to answer their question. Then students find a way to get in touch with the chosen person and report back on their answer. Marks are allocated this way: 2.5% for a well thought out question and 2.5% for getting an answer. See for example: Sample questions. [Third Class for the question and Last Class for the answer]
Business Model Competition (25%) (two thirds of this grade is based on your Business Model and hand-in and one third for your Presentation), (Your Learn By Doing Practicum is to be done in teams of from two to four students. You should prepare a business model for a business that you could self launch using bootstrap capital and guerrilla marketing. (See for example: http://qwantz.com/ and http://gradeatechs.com/) (Student Case Studies) Students present their Business Models for their Learn By Doing Exercise and
Business Model Competition Entry for comments and suggestions. The top five student teams go on to compete in the University of Ottawa's Nicol Business Plan Competition and the top team may be eligible for the Nicol Competition National Finals. [Fifth Class (Feb. 4, 2009): hand in of one page Business Model Flow Chart (start by using our online Business Model Generator) plus hand in a one page spreadsheet showing how value is created for one individual client or customer. Examples of demonstrating value propositions: Value Proposition of a Residential Realtor, the spreadsheet, Value Proposition for a HR Professional, the spreadsheet. Make sure you also calculate your Cash Conversion Cycle and show that too. Seventh Class: Biz Model Presentations and Competition. Top five compete the following week (Eighth Class) in the University of Ottawa Wes Nicol Business Plan Competition. The winner must submit their Business Plan and video presentation to the Wes Nicol Final judges no later than Friday March 5th, 2010. The Nicol National Finals are currently scheduled to be in Ottawa on Mon/Tues March 29/30, 2010. [To prepare for the Business Model Competition, it is important that you practice your Two Minute Elevator Pitch which should form part of your presentation; it would be a useful introduction. To learn more about how to compete and win an elevator pitch competition, CLICK HERE: ELEVATOR PITCHING! Carefully study the Marking Grid so you know what we are looking for in the Business Model Competition. Some examples from past years: MyPinBoard.ca (http://dramatispersonae.org/BusinessModelCompetition/BusinessModelForMypinboard.doc and http://dramatispersonae.org/BusinessModelCompetition/mypinboard_valueproposition.xls), Gaming Flicks, (Mike Stewart, Osh Mendis and Matt Karam) an online forum where gamers may share tricks, videos, and information. Users post information or videos, and other users rate how useful this information is, flicking it to the top or bottom of the page. (Business Plan, Financials, Slide Presentation, Sample Video.) Image Search, (Kris Woodbeck) a software application that allows searching by image, and grouping like images (Incogna.com). Online Sales Force, (Andrei Z., Adam Moede, Celine Tacniere, Kristaps Kuplais) is a website that allows companies to attract the public to sell their products/inventory online. Individuals sign up to become the selling force and earn a commission from the sales. The companies would earn money from the sales. The website would allow anyone to earn extra income. Boite a Pizza, (Niroshan Rajakone) which introduces advertising capabilities to the inside of the pizza box. Because the boxes are being sold at a cheaper price than the market, the profit made will be double as compared to a usual pizza box retailer. Selling this concept to advertisers and marketing companies greatly increases the profit of this project. (Power Point, Plan D'Affaire, Modele Enterprise, Value Proposition, Spreadsheet.) Ready Rice (David Dao and Billy Santoso) is a food chain which will begin operations in Vietnam selling rice pasta dishes as a street vendor. It will provide a special kind of rice pasta to sell to individuals as a ready made meal. Connections Accounting, (Steve Mitchell, Geoffrey Scoates, Dan Racicot and Mary Ellen Matsui) is a human resource company that connects small businesses with accountants and bookkeepers. It provides the small businesses with professional work at a lower cost than our competitors; while, giving the accountants access steady work and higher pay. Our business will be focused in Ottawa to start, but easily expandable in the future. Innumerous (Jasmine Campbell, Jasmine Sultan, Andrew Colautti and Di Kou) is a website with natural language question and answer capabilities. Vinyl Tees (Draugh.com). Industrial Condos. The Student Management Consulting Clinic. AdventuresforAll .com (co-op sporting equipment). RFID transit passes. Rresidential conversion into a duplex, then renting it and live for positive cash flow. BeWoman.ca. Simpleeplumbing.com.
Perhaps we should be collecting good quality business models that no one has taken advantage of or have been abandoned and then find entrepreneurs who want to undertake them. This is perhaps better than having great students pursuing bad business models and wasting a significant part of their lives on bad ideas... Where does inspiration come from? You can find PB4L ideas in the most unlikely of places, say, for example, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, circa the 1930s. How about the lost art of fine paper making or other craft ideas that are just waiting to be rediscovered from a bit of research in the local library. Or what about perusing the Yellow Pages and looking at industry categories that interest you. Or looking at what industries are growing fastest or are recession-resistant? Today, circa 2009, in the middle of a tough recession, one might look at: health-related services and products, online video, financial planning, used car sales, eco initiatives, infrastructure spending, government requirements, education and training, entertainment, green power, mortgage brokerage, smart phones, software, Internet-based services, music, social marketing, etc.]
Student Blog (5%) Students start and keep their own blog. Students should add three blog entries during the course. Students should read the following blogs: Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, Guy Kawasaki, Ryan Anderson, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Darren Rowse, TechCrunch, Mashable. Your blog articles should add to, comment on, or challenge posts from other sites, linking back to the sources. To get full marks, you need to post at least three times during the semester. We also suggest that you post at least one ' roundup' of links to other sites. Try some guerrilla marketing for your own blog by becoming an active commenter on other sites. [The URL for your blog is due in the third class. Your blogs will be reviewed during the term and marked after the last class. Marks will be assigned based on 75% content, 15% community (comments & traffic), and 10% look & feel. Free blogs are available from, for example, Wordpress. Here are some suggestions from Ryan Anderson about setting up your blog, finding your voice and making it a more ffective tool. Click here.]
Video Case Study of a local business in teams of from two to four students. (30%) Students submit and show their Video Case Study (Case studies should be around 8 minutes of video.) [April 1, 2009] [Video Case Study Marking Grid] [Video Case Studies 2009]
Awards are $5,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place. The winner is eligible to compete against more than 15 other Canadian University teams in the national finals held each year in Ottawa, Canada at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier.
Students are encouraged to submit their business models to the UOttawa SOM Business Model Competition which will serve as an entry into the Wesley Nicol Competition as well. Students are also encouraged to participate in the Elevator Pitch competition hosted by the UOttawa Entrepreneur's Club.
The ultimate goal is to have twenty-four leading universities in Canada that participate in the Competition.
The objective of the Wes Nicol Entrepreneurial Competition is to encourage and stimulate new venture creation in Canada. Consequently, the competition is particularly interested in the submission of plans that have the potential of becoming a commercial reality. Only plans that are in their initial version are eligible for the Wes Nicol Award. There are many other competitions available to the more polished presentations by students experienced in the world of business-plan competitions. While students with experience in this world are welcome, venture-creation plans that have been rehearsed at previous competitions are not.
There is a new timeline for the Wes Nicol Competition. They now need the winning entry not later than 9 pm on THURSDAY MARCH 6TH, 2009!
Here is what you need to do for the Competition on Wed. and then make any revisions before the above deadline:
An electronic copy of the business plan - best is a PDF file.
An electronic copy of the presentation - best is a PPT file
A copy of a video of the winning team making their presentation - best is a DVD.
These can be sent electronically to:
Peter Eddison Eddison@reideddison.com
and copied to:
Carolyn Westall cwestall@tartanhomes.com
And to:
Bruce Firestone bfirestone@partnersadvantage.ca
If you need to hand deliver the DVD, drop it off at:
Nicol and Lazier
237 Somerset Street West
Ottawa, ON K2P 0J3
(613) 232-4241
Attention: Ms. Carolyn Westall
And a copy to Bruce Firestone's office:
Desmarais 5132.
You also need to provide the name and contact information for the leader of the winning team, in case they have to get hold of them in a hurry.
Business Plan Specifications
Business plans must be the original work of the submitting team. It need not be based on an existing business. It will likely be for a new venture. The business plan must be double-spaced, including appendices. The business plans will be considered for originality, viability and completeness.
Best efforts will be made to keep plans confidential; they will remain the intellectual property of the submitting teams.
Plans will be judged on the basis of originality, viability and completeness as well as presentation.
There is no one business plan outline that will be used as the "official one" for the competition. Keep in mind what the business plan is trying to do: to explain to someone who you want to commit to your business opportunity - what the opportunity is, and why it will succeed. Plans should include, however, the following elements:
Summary for Investors or for other stakeholders such as bankers, employers, suppliers, future clients, etc.
Product/Service Offering and Value Proposition
Your Business Model
Market Analysis/Marketing Plan/Guerrilla Marketing and Social Marketing
Company and the Industry
Management Team
Operations Plan
Risks Associated with the Venture including Competitive Analysis
Financial Plan
Summary for Investors and Other Stakeholders
The Summary is difficult to write well. Allow some time at the end of writing your business plan to polish this summary.
The Summary should be a maximum of two pages, double spaced.
The objective of the summary is threefold: 1) to summarize the business opportunity and your plan for exploiting it, 2) to impress the reader as to the attractiveness of your opportunity, and 3) to convince the reader to proceed with reading the plan itself.
Outline what you want from investors or other stakeholders (e.g., you are looking for an equity investment of $1.5M). Note, if you are planning on Angel investing or VC investing, then you should not price the equity that you may be offering to investors. For example, do not say something like "we are prepared to give up 30% of the equity in the new venture for $1.5M." Negotiations over price take place after the presentation of a business plan.
Be sure to emphasize those points that you want the reader to remember about your plan once a couple of weeks have passed.
There are many sources for information on these summaries for business plans - here is one: http://www.inc.com/articles/2000/10/14875.html. The author there argues that "the summary is the business plan in miniature. The summary should stand alone, almost as a kind of business plan within the business plan. It should be logical, clear, interesting -- and exciting. A reader should be able to read through it in four or five minutes and understand what makes your business tick. After reading your summary, a reader should be prompted to say, 'So that's what those people are up to.'"
Product/Service Offering
Describe the product/service that you will offer in more detail.
Specify the value of your product/service to your customers, and how it will help them offer greater value to their customers. This is critical. Provide evidence of this potential value creation for customers to the extent that you can - testimonials from customers, customer survey results, initial orders, etc.
Market Analysis/Marketing Plan
Specify the reachable market for your product/service.
Segment this market and select a target segment. Outline why you have selected this target market. Remember that your target segment should be large enough and growing quickly enough to be a base for success, but also not so large nor growing so quickly that you cannot become a dominant supplier and subsequently protect this position.
Outline how you plan to enter the target market - lead customers (including individual contacts if available), initial pricing strategy, level of customization, advertising and promotion, etc.
Show how you can reduce the 1 to many marketing problem to a one to a few marketing challenge.
Company and the Industry
Describe the company that you plan to create - how large, what competencies, what structure. Remember to focus on your core competency and outsource everything else.
Place your company in its industry context. You might use the kind of factors that Porter uses in his "5-force model" to do this. Do not mention "5 forces" in your plan, however, or slavishly adhere to "5 forces" analysis - it will seem really amateur.
Management Team
The founding team - their experience and strengths, and how they compliment each other's strengths.
Founding team roles and how they will work together.
Founding team weaknesses and how these weaknesses will be addressed through hiring key managers.
Plans for hiring key managers - locating them, timing of hiring, compensation packages, etc.
If the management team is strong, then put this section earlier in the plan. "There are five important aspects of a new venture opportunity: management, management, management, market and product."
Operations Plan
Implementation schedule.
Resource acquisition plan - including personnel to be hired, partnerships, supplier and distributor relationships, manufacturing and outsourcing plans.
Key contacts with a bank manager, accountant and lawyer.
Try to find a mentor that really understands how to run a business.
Risks Associated with the Venture
Outline the important risks that the new venture faces - potentially damaging events, key assumptions about technology, markets and competition.
Plans for addressing these important risks - what will you do if ...
Please don't say that there is no competition. This is not really believable. If you have a good idea, you will have competition. If it is a bad idea, you won't, but so what, it is a bad idea.
Financial Plan
At a minimum, plans must include cash flow projections for 3 years (yearly for all years).
Also useful would be:
- income statements for years 1 through 3
- balance sheets for the start of year 1 and the end of years 1 through 3
Carry out sensitivity analysis on your financial projections and show that you understand the key drivers for financial success (e.g., timing of critical events like product introduction, sales targets, gross margins, input costs). A sensitivity analysis based on break-even analysis may be useful.
There is a wide variety of Web sites and books available to assist the writing of a business plan. There is no one source that will be used as the "official one" for the competition. All business plans submitted must follow the business plan specification outline to qualify. Beyond that, you must keep in mind what the business plan is trying to do: to explain to someone who you want to commit to your business opportunity - what the opportunity is, and why it will succeed. The following Web sites may be helpful:
There is also a "dummies" book that is very good. It is written for business beginners: Tiffany, Paul and Steven D. Peterson (1997) Business Plans for Dummies, IDG Books.
RegisterMe.com Business Plan (pdf), by Julie Budd and Scott Seaby. This plan, written by two undergraduates, won the 2002 Wesley Nicol Business Plan Competition.
As described in the competition guidelines, teams must submit proposals representing original work. If for any reason, the competition organizers believe that this rule is violated, entrants may be disqualified from the challenge. The responsibility of submitting original work rests completely with entering teams.
In respect of maintaining confidentiality of proposal submitted, the competition organizers, sponsors and judges will verbally agree to non-disclosure agreements. While every effort will be made to preserve confidentiality, it is ultimately the responsibility of the teams to protect the most sensitive aspects of their work.
The competition organizers, sponsors and judges recognize and agree that all teams retain their rights to any and all intellectual property described in submissions to the competition.
All volunteer supporters of the competition - competition organizers, sponsors and judges - verbally agree to the following non-disclosure agreement:
As a volunteer supporter of The Nicol Entrepreneurial Awards competition and associated events and activities, I am aware that I may have access to submitted business plans (collectively, "Submissions"). These Submissions may contain the ideas, inventions, and concepts (collectively "Ideas") of competition entrants. I understand that all intellectual and other property rights of all entrants will remain unaltered as a result of entering the competition and related activities. I further understand that some of these Ideas may constitute trade secrets and that entrants may not have taken the necessary steps to patent, copyright, or otherwise protect their Submissions and Ideas.
In consideration of my participation in the competition and associated activities, I agree that only I will review the Submissions and I will take all reasonable steps to hold the Submissions and Ideas which I may receive in the course of the competition in strict confidence and will not copy, reveal or disclose such Submissions and Ideas to others. I further agree not to use any Submissions and Ideas for my own benefit or the benefit of any organization with which I am affiliated.
The above restrictions shall not apply to any Submissions and Ideas which are in the public domain at the time of disclosure or become publicly available through no wrongful act of mine, is known to me at the time of disclosure or is independently developed by me, is used or disclosed with the approval of the entrants involved, is furnished to a third party without similar restrictions on the third party's rights, is received by me from a third party who has a lawful right to disclose it to me, or is disclosed pursuant to the requirement or request of a governmental organization.
The above restriction will apply during the time of the competition and for a period of six (6) months after the winner of the competition is publicly announced.
Waivers and Release
Entrants are further recommended to read the following waiver and release clause in connection with all individuals volunteering to support and implement The Nicol Entrepreneurial Awards competition.
Each entrant understands that the each of the participating sponsors, mentors, speakers, judges and any other individual or organization supporting The Nicol Entrepreneurial Awards competition are volunteers and are under no obligation to render any advice or service to any team. Each entrant also understands and agrees that in spite of the steps taken by competition organizers to protect the confidentiality of submissions, the legal protection of the business plans submitted by teams to the competition is otherwise the sole responsibility of the entrants.
In consideration of the time, expertise and other resources provided by the above-noted individuals, each entrant hereby voluntarily releases each said individual from any further liabilities, responsibilities, and accountabilities relating to or arising out of his/her participation in The Nicol Entrepreneurial Awards competition.
Business plans must be the original work of the submitting team. It need not be based on an existing business. The business plan must be double-spaced, including appendices. The business plans will be considered for originality, viability and completeness.
All plans will be kept confidential and remain the intellectual property of the submitting teams.
Teams must submit one printed copy of the business plan and an electronic PDF copy. Plus they must have a DVD or CD ROM video of their presentation.
Cover Sheets must be completed and returned with each entry to be eligible! An individual cover sheet must be completed by each team member. Team member names must be on the cover sheets only, and not on the cover page of the plan itself.
(Our class will support entries into the Faculty of Engineering's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Endowment Fund Business Plan Competition to win prizes of $10,000, $7,500 and $5,000! (Expressions of interest are due by the third week of January))
Craig Schoen, Telfer School Wes Nicol Finalist Presenting in May 2008
Project Wonderful founded by former student, Ryan North, is establishing a transparent Internet advertising platform. See also
Ryan's award winning online Dinosaur Comic: Qwantz.com, former winner of the Business Model Competition. Qwantz is a daily comic strip that uses the same characters in the same positions in each panel every day. Its uniqueness depends soley on the changing dialogue and the development of the character of each dinosaur. This is an excellent example of a PB4L, a Personal Business for Life.
Week 3: The Social Startup. The internet has drastically changed the world of the entrepreneur. This lecture will examine the evolution of entrepreneurship and our relationship with customers over the past 100 years. Networking & the Social Web. The evolution of Social Media. The tools of social media. (Mr. Ryan Anderson)
Week 6: Public Relations and Guerrilla Marketing. Entrepreneurs can't usually compete with big budget media spends, but they can market smarter through free channels like the web, public relations and guerrilla marketing. Media Relations and the Sales Cycle. Reputation Management. Strategy 101: Using Guerrilla Marketing to create 'Brand You'. Marketing by Media Release. See for example: "CEO Killed in Corporate Mutiny".Networking. (Mr. Ryan Anderson)
Week 8: Creditor Proofing. How to value a personal services business and demonstrate your value proposition as well as add to your PBS (Personal Balance Sheet): Example A) The Starchitect, Gary Smith; Example B) Prince. Followed by instruction to the students on how to create and understand balance sheets and income statements. Students will be exposed to financial statements for a technology startup, a products company plus a services company and will be given the exercise of creating one of their own from the data provided. Students should also create their own Personal Balance Sheets. Students can use this as a tool to track their own personal Asset growth, keep track of liabilities, manage their personal affairs better and they may need it too for bank loans and other types of financing. There will be a discussion about why students should build and maintain their Personal Web Sites over their careers. We will also look at the possiblity that it might also be a wise choice to develop a Personal Business too, one in which we have no partners, no Bank financing and one we can keep for life. Perhaps every man, woman and child on the planet should have a Personal Business for life? See things like: 10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas That Made Someone Rich (e.g. the Million Dollar Homepage/Santa Mail); Startups That Work: Surprising Research on What Makes or Breaks a New Company (Hardcover) by Joel Kurtzman (Author), Glenn Rifkin (Author), 2005: (Have a map/Get great people/Create value/Cash flow is king/Select a fast growing market/Defend your competitive position/Build a great business model). Stages of an Entrepreneur's Life. The Best Partner is no Partner: Blog Entry and Spreadsheet.
"An entrepreneur is someone who can produce two dollars of revenue for every dollar that any fool could generate," Dr. Bruce M. Firestone
Being a successful entrepreneur or intrapreneur (i.e., an entrepreneur inside a larger corporate structure) will allow you greater control over your own destiny - both professional and financial. Do you want to learn how? Join Dr. Bruce M. Firestone to:
1) study entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies, 2) learn to write a business plan, 3) learn bootstrap financing, 4) learn guerilla marketing, 5) learn how to get the business model right for startups so that the harder you work, the more money you make, and 6) master the steps to entrepreneurial success.
Students from Business, Commerce, Finance, Engineering, Architecture, Journalism and other fields can learn the difference between having a j.o.b. and creating significant value in a business- value that can provide you the freedom and security to realize your lifetime goals.
The class focuses on entrepreneurialist culture at the beginning of the 21st Century. The steps to success are explored with examples taken from industry and industry leaders; common traits implicit in their examples are deduced and presented for the edification of students. Business startups that use guerrilla marketing and bootstrap finance techniques are examined.
Unconventional sources of finance including finance from future clients and customers as well as suppliers and sponsors are explored. Guerilla marketing, ambush marketing and other innovative marketing techniques are discussed. Tactics and strategy for negotiating and selling will be discussed. The art of pricing and the confusion over 'marketing' versus 'selling' will be addressed. We will examine the role of markets in business success; irrational markets and imperfect markets will be discussed and methods of coping such as the use of 'fuzzy logic' will be reviewed.
You will hear top business executives describe what they did to achieve success. You will also be expected to contribute to knowledge in the under-researched and under-explored field of entreprepreneurialist culture and success.
Also, a new element of the course is: LearnByDoing.ca. Students will start their own businesses, run them during the course and make real money. To find out more, check out: LearnByDoing. In this part of the course, we will teach you how you can you really learn to be an entrepreneur. And one of the only ways to understand what it takes to run your own business is to 'Learn By Doing'.
Students will be dividing up in teams for the LearnByDoing.ca excercise and to complete their case studies. Our students do a case study of their own startups including developing an 'Instructors' Manual' for the case. (How to win a Case Study Competition).
More About the Course and its Philosophy:
Entrepreneurialist Culture is not just relevant to business and engineering students contemplating starting their own businesses. It is just as relevant to people who intend to seek employment with large companies or, indeed, are going to enter public service, Non Governmental Organizations, charities, museums, hospitals, universities, public school administration and the like. Great organizations in any field have creative, determined "heroes"- self starters and independent minded intrapreneurs who think outside the box, who have the courage to pioneer new ways of doing things. In most bureaucracies, in any sector, it is unusual to find new initiatives coming from the top down. Many organizations are excessively bureaucratic, rule-bound, process driven and frozen in time and place. Instead, instituional entrepreneurs must learn to practice anew, an old art form- guerrilla politics or, as the Japanese call it, the art of nemawashi. How did great institutions, so different from run-of-the-mill programs, like the NYC Juliard School of Music or Ottawa's Canterbury School of the Arts or Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program come into being? Often, it is people in the trenches working "below the waterline" and by stealth that achieve new ways of doing things. All such good-hearted, creative people should find that this course can help them and their respective organizations in their chosen careers.
An entrepreneur is also known as: "a person who will work sixteen hours a day for himself just so he or she doesn't have to work eight hours a day for someone else". This is a useful reminder of the personal sacrifices that entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs must be prepared to make to be successful. These sacrifices should not be underestimated- their impact is significant and take a toll; people should not undertake entrepreneurial activity without giving this due consideration-- the worst situation is to start something and find that you are unable to stay the course because you are not prepared to commit the time and effort or work under those kinds of pressure or cope with the many unknowns and disappointments that you find on the road to success- which takes three times as long and costs twice as much as you expected.)
Hear top business executives describe what they did to achieve succes in our outside lecture series.
Determinants of success will be examined including taking a look at: early adoption of technological and technical advances and changes, tooth to tail ratios, debt to equity ratios, receivables and payables management, sales and distribution muscle, learning behaviour, focus and goal setting, serendipitous events, ability to capitalize, speed of execution, flexibility and coping with failure. The value of creativity and vision will be demonstrated. Human capital is the underpinning for future creation of value.
Deconstructing businesses to determine core competencies will be demonstrated. Maximizing shareholder value by divesting non-core activities and simplifying organizations to form near-virtual corporations will be discussed.
Upon seeing his very first web page, Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM asked: "Where's the 'buy' button?"
The importance of real clients and customers, real cash flow can not be underestimated. Everyone in your business is in sales, from the receptionist to your accounting team to your CEO. Believe it or not, your accounting team can be one of the best lead generators- you can reverse sell to your suppliers. Why should the Ottawa Senators have a plumber or electrician fix something if they aren't a season ticket holder too? Sales is the teeth in your orgnization. Everything else is tail.
"I hate selling," says Serence CEO Allan Wille, "but I love helping people buy." (Read 'Solution Selling' by Michael Bosworth for more on this approach to sales.)
Entrepreneurs are people who generally prefer to build their own businesses rather than buy existing ones. It takes a special talent to do either but these are probably different types of skill sets. Managers and turn around artists are better suited to buy existing businesses. Entrepreneurs want to build something new. As Michael Dell put it (April 2001), entrepreneurs prefer to "buy their competitors, one customer at a time."
We will also look at the opportunities to create 'no money down startups'. We will stress the importance of having real clients and real customers and real cashflow and real profits. If you have cashfow, you will get financed today, not the other way round. Because of the importance of the Internet, we will also be looking at how to incorporate the web into your business model.
"And many of my basic management beliefs- things like competing hard to win, facing reality, motivating people by alternately hugging (not literally, ed.) and kicking them (again, not literally, ed.), setting stretch goals, and relentlessly following up on people to make sure that things get done- can be traced to her (his mother, ed.) ...," Jack Welch, retired CEO of the largest industrial company in the world, 2001.
The course will also explore "Future Vision" with a view to assisting the student in constructing a mental map of the way the world works. The would-be entrepreneur will be encouraged to locate a business in industries where "all boats are rising". New economy sectors will be examined The appropriate role for governments will be reviewed and the politics and conflicts that surround entrepreneurialist culture as it comes into conflict with bureaucracy and other forces opposed to new ideas and concepts will be an underlying theme of the course. Methods for coping with opposition from political cadres, special interest groups, entrenched competitors and the media will be dealt with.
As Jerry McGuire (Tom Cruise) said in the film of the same name: "We live in a world of tough competitors." It's true, entrepreneurship is tough- your competitors want to eat your business by taking your customers away from you, one at a time. And no one will respect you for trying hard; they will only respect you if you succeed. Read what Yoda has to teach entrepreneurs about the difference between trying and succeeding. So a career in entrepeneurship requires that you be able to deal with stress and still be able to perform at a high level every day.
This course is all about bringing together students from many disciplines- we have students from Business, Engineering, Journalism, English, Architecture, Computer Science and Inter-Disciplinary Studies too. We are like the Lunar Society of Birmingham (so called because in the 18th Century, one did not venture out at night unless there was a full moon to light the way). What a Society it was- James Watt (inventor of the steam engine), Josiah Wedgewood (known for his pottery), Charles Darwin's grandfather and many others. They got together to cross-polinate ideas, talk about technical improvements, have philosphical discussions and challenge each other to do more and to do the impossible.
Starting a new business is like that- impossible. As Bob Seager said in one of his great songs: "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." If entrepreneurs knew how difficult it would be to start a business, how long it would really take, how much money would actually get used, how much risk they were actually taking, how much jealousy and envy and bad press they would see along the way and what a huge personal sacrifice it would involve, they would never start up the mountain.
Entrepreneurialist Culture and the Entrepreneurship track have already spawned many successful startups.
The comparison to the esteemed Lunar Society is a bit premature (actually, it is preposterous) but the goals are the same-- support the development of entrepreneurial endeavours by a better understanding of the culture of entrepreneurship, its philosphy and tools. At the end of the course, students will be in a different space where they can see (in the Carlos Casteneda manner of seeing) the possibilities.
The course will also bring forth a number of case studies from certain industries including real estate, e-commerce, e-business as well as the entertainment industry and others.
The web is a very important tool for creating additional value for students. Students will be encouraged to create and maintain their own personal web sites and post their materials there. It is a way for students to collect their IP (Intellectual Property) over their careers and create value over time that is or may become independent of hourly effort.
Q. Did you know that the builders of the Titanic engaged in some great Guerrilla Marketing?
A. The fourth smokestack on the Titanic was a fake; it was designed to make the public think the boat was even faster and larger than she was and, hence, get more Press coverage, attract more paying passengers and at higher prices too.
I spoke a little bit about the blogging assignment in the last class, but I wanted to give you a few more details to make it easier for you to set up your blog for the class.
To set up your blog, I recommend Wordpress.com (it's free), or Blogger.com (also free). It's about the same level of difficulty as setting up a webmail account, so you should have no problems with it. If you do, I encourage you to help one another with the set up. When setting up your blog, give some thought to the name. I can be as simple as "So-and-so's blog," but think a bit about what you're going to write, and give it a name that reflects your content.
If you have not already, I HIGHLY recommend that you register the .com or .ca equivalent of your name. Whether or not you use it for your blog, you can use it for your email address, your CV, or any other personal aggregation over the course of your career. As an entrepreneur, you trade on your name, so you should control your own URL. At about $15 / year, it's a very good investment. With Wordpress.com. you can redirect your URL to your blog. There are instructions on the site as to how to do that.
Once you have things set up, give some thought as to how you want your blog to look. There are a number of templates available, and most allow you to customize the design to some degree. Make it personal, but keep it professional.
Explore all the section of the site - the links, figure out the difference between pages and posts, take a look into comments and trackbacks, and have a look at how your analytics work. This is an important part of the site, as it tells you how big of an impact you're making.
Finally, give some thought to your first post. I want to see a short one on who you are, why you're blogging (not just because it's worth 5% of your mark), and what you hope to learn from the experience. Make it personal, make it real - this isn't an essay.
Once you're done, send me an email with both your blog's URL, and your RSS feed (figure it out) to ryan+adm1@ryananderson.ca. Please use that email for this assignment, simply so I can keep them straight.
You may also elect to submit an example of a "Magic Marketing Button". The MMB is the one thing above all others that appears to drive the marketing program for a company- it must generate real sales leads and must be effective in this regard (i.e., the number of leads generated for dollar invested produces a satisfactory ROR, Rate of Return). For College Pro Painting, for example, its MMB appears to be their lawn signs. For Canadian Tire, it is their Canadian Tire money.
Examples of the above must be submitted by email to the lecturer.
Note your examples must be must be new Pixie Dust, Bootstrap Capital or GM (Guerrilla Marketing). Check out results so far:
Students should be able to master rudimentary web development skills and post their assignments to their personal web sites. Personal web sites are an important tool for career development. Each student is encouraged to prepare their own site; to keep it updated throughout their careers, to keep their cv's current, to post their writings there and to generally use it to further their own personal goals and also to push the frontiers of knowledge and, ultimately, to leave behind, perhaps, something worthwhile for future generations. Students may choose to give their sites a name that conveys meaning to them and reflects their views and outlook. It is strongly suggested that you do not use your personal name for this purpose.
However, students may elect to write an essay on a Personal Business for Life (PB4L). That is students can find, research and write-up a home-based business that meets the following conditions: a) it is successful, b) it can be started for less than $10,000 (although we will look at startups with somewhat more capital requirements), c) it can be run from the home, d) it is legitimate.
More and more, people seem to need to develop a personal businesses for life; something they can fall back on in hard times. My son, Matthew started his own at age 13 (see www.StreetPaddleTennis.com)- it taught him a lot and he makes a few dollars from it too. I told Matthew that he can run this PB forever and, if he sticks with it, it will put him thorugh University and, anyway, it's a great sport.
Case Studies
Your project assignment will include a video case study. Each case study will include comments by the student entrepreneurs on how to improve, change, re-engineer or introduce innovation into their case study with a view to improving their results.
You must demonstrate your ability to solve problems. Your oral presentation must show your ability to think laterally and creatively, see the non-obvious and present your ideas in a convincing manner. Think-on-your-feet presentation of material will be an important output for students.
Case Studies we may look at in class include: GradeAStudent.com, Sci Fi Channel, NHL.com, National Hockey League Television Marketing, webcasting and ottawasenators.com, iFinanSys.com, Arrow Head Springs, Molstar, Amazon.com, Terrace Corporate Centres, Grocery Express, amphitheatre design, Corel Centre, Busnell Communications, Rentalex Tool and Equipment, Ottawa Business Journal, duplex and triplex housing, Friendship Windmill, Dunrobin Lake, Robertson Mews, Disney Paris, Kanata North, Water Safari Park and others.
Check out: the Case Study Annex- Learn how to research and write a case study by answering three main questions: 1. What's the problem? 2. What are the alternatives? 3. What are your recommendations?
Doing a case study is more like short story writing- you want to take the reader 'there'. You need to paint a picture of the cast of characters; it is a style of writing that is more casual, more of a conversation style and, maybe, tougher to write than a more polished, formal style which is required for most business and research applications.
Also, while it is preferrable to conduct your interviews in person, if you need to do some interviews over long distance, you may conduct them by telephone or by using one of the instant messenger services. Interviews conducted using, for example, AOL Instant Messenger have been very successful- there is interaction but at the same time people are forced to write their answers and, voila, you get surprising depth. You can also save the interviews and provide transcripts where appropriate. These can be interesting reading on their own. Telephone and email interviews are the least prefered method of conducting case study interviews.
You should develop a paragraph plan for your case study.
You will also be asked to complete and possibly present a 90 to 120 second 'Bull Durham' bio of yourself defining who you are, where you want to go, what you want to achieve and what your motivations are. This exercise will help you determine whether you are suited to an entrepreneurial career. Try to summarize at the end of your Bull Durham Bio what it is you want from your life and career. Perhaps it is more quality time with your family or more time at the beach that you really want. If so, that might be a perfectly valid lifestyle choice but it might also be quite incompatible with life as an entrepreneur making, as Steve Jobs once put it, "insanely great products", which also usually involves insane working hours too.
This is a lttle bit like the Monty Python Skit about the Black Knight. The Black Knight wanted to keep on fighting his reluctant opponent even after both his arms and legs had been hacked off in 'lucky blows'. "Come back and I'll naw you!" he screamed at the advancing white knight. Entrepreneurs are a lot like this- they find it difficult to give up.
You may also be asked to submit a one page summary of the top three key points for guest speakers in the course.
For the grade in the "A" range, the instructor will have judged the student to have satisfied the stated objectives of the course in an outstanding to excellent manner; for the "B" range, in an above average manner; for the "C" range, in an average manner with C- being the lowest acceptable grade in the Program's Core courses; for the "D" range, in the lowest acceptable manner in non-Core courses, and for "F", not to have satisfied the stated objectives of the course. Grades will be assigned as A+ (90-100%), A (85-89%), A- (80-84%), B+ (77-79%), B (73-76%), B- (70-72%), C+ (67-69%), C (63-66%), C- (60-62%), D+ (57-59%), D (53-56%), D- (50-52%), F (0-49%) and ABS. (Please refer to the Calendar for regulations concerning grades, appeals and other program requirement information.)
Each grade will be based upon a comparison (1) with other students in the course and/or (2) with students who have previously taken the course and/or (3) with the instructor's expectations relative to the stated objectives of the course, based on his/her experience and expertise.
(Please note that plagiarism is not permitted; you may not use of anther's work without acknowledgment. Internet plagiarism is as detectable as other forms. )
Hear what business and engineering students are saying about Entrepreneurialist Culture.
Attendance
Attendance is required for all classes. The Lecturer will be available for office consultations for one hour after each class.
(Students, please note that a recently adopted policy requires any questionnaires that you develop for your case studies or any other purpose related to this course or any other at the University have to be cleared through the Ethics Committee of the Schoo of Businessl. Please forward your request to Shibu Pal and Professor Cray. They make up the committee.)
Students may be introduced to guest lecturers who bring day-to-day experience in industry or in government to the classroom.
Bibliography and Readings: Entrepreneurialist Culture
Against Intellectual Property, N. Stephen Kinsella, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama, U.S.A., 2008.
Art of War- The Oldest Military Treatise in the World, Translated from the Chinese by Lionel Giles, Sun Tzu Wu, The Military Service Publishing Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1944.
Blink, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, 2005.
Blown to Bits, Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2000.
Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, Harvard Business School Press, 2005.
Case Research: The Case Writing Process, Third Edition, Michiel R. Leenders and James A. Erskine, Research and Publications Division, School of Business Administration, The University of Western Ontario, 1989.
Business: The Ultimate Resource, Daniel Goleman et al, Perseus, 2002.
Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers, The Future of Competition, C.K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy, Harvard Business school Press, 2004.
Co-opetition', Brandenburger and Nalebuff, Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management. (See also Co-opetition Interactive).
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, Geoffrey A. Moore, Harper, 1999.
Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Forester Research, Inc., 2008.
Guerrilla Publicity, Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin, Adams Media, 2002.
Inside the Tornado: Marketing Strategies from Silicon Valley's Cutting Edge, Geoffrey A. Moore, HarperCollins, 1999.
International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education (IJEE), Senate Hall Academic Publishing.
Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation, James M. Utterback, Harvard Business School Press, 1994.
Outliers: The Story of Sucess, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape our Decisions, Dan Ariely, Harper-Collins, 2008.
Purple Cow, Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, Seth Godin, Penguin Group, New York, 2002.
'Solution Selling', Michael T. Bosworth.
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson, Bantam Books, New York, 1992.
Struck by Lightning-The Curious World of Probabilities, Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, Harper, Toronto, ON, 2005.
Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Harvey MacKay, Ballantine Books, N.Y., 1988.
Tax Planning for You and Your Family 2008 by KPMG Consulting.
The 10 Immutable Laws of Power selling, the Key to Winning Sales, Wowing Customers, and Driving Your Profits Through the Roof, James A. DeSena, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
The Black Swan, The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Random House, New York, 2007.
The Four Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferris, Random House Inc., 2007.
The Ingenuity Gap: How can we solve the Problems of the Future, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000.
The Lazy Investor by Derek Foster. 2007.
The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar V. Bhide, Oxford University Press, 1999.
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade by Pietra Rivoli, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey, 2005.
The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell, Little Brown and Company, 2000.
Think Better, An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking, Tim Hurson, McGraw Hill, 2007.
Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance, Larry Downes, Chunka Mui, Nicholas Negroponte, Harvard Business School, 1998.
What They Don't Teach You at the Harvard Business School, Mark H. McCormack, Bantam Books, New York, 1984.
What They Don't Still Teach You at the Harvard Business School, Mark H. McCormack, Bantam Books, New York, 1989.
Why Things Bite Back- Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences, Edward Tenner, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1996.
Other Suggested Readings
A Better Place to Live- Reshaping the American Suburb, Philip Langdon, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1994.
A Geography of Time- the temporal misadventures of a social psychologist, Robert Levine, Basic Books, HarperCollins, New York, 1997.
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Penguin Group, New York, 1957.
Boom, Bust & Echo 2000, Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the New Millennium, David K. Foot with Daniel Stoffman, Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, Toronto, 1996 & 1998.
Cities and the Wealth of Nations- Principles of Economic Life, Jane Jacobs, Random House, New York, 1985.
Creating a New Civilization, Alvin and Heidi Toffler, Turner Publishing, Atlanta, 1994.
Energy in a Finite World- A Global Systems Analysis, Report by the Energy Systems Program Group of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Wolf Häfele, Program Leader, Ballinger, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981.
Fixing Broken Windows- Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities, George L. Kelling and Catherine M. Coles, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996.
Getting to Yes- Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher and William Ury, Penguin Books, New York, 1991.
Home from Nowhere- Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century, James Howard Kunstler, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996.
How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie.
Lost Rights- the Destruction of American Liberty, James Bovard, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994.
Managing for the Future, Peter F. Drucker, Penguin Group, New York, 1992.
Ottawa Senators Hockey Club- Official Application, National Hockey League Plan of Sixth Expansion, Terrace Investments Limited, Ottawa, 1990.
Secrets of Power Negotiating, Roger Dawson.
Shifting Gears, Nuala Beck, HarperCollins, Toronto, 1992.
Small is Stupid- Blowing the Whistle on the Greens, Wifred Beckerman, Redwood Books Limited, Trowbridge, 1995.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs, Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1961.
The Diamond Age- or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, Neal Stephenson, Bantam Books, New York, 1995.
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand, Signet Books, New York, 1943.
The Geography of Nowhere- the Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, James Howard, Kunstler, Touchstone, New York, 1993.
The Little Book of Business Wisdom, Peter Krass.
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, Harvill Press, London, 1967.
The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty, Jack Canfield.
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill.
Index
Bankruptcy
Bootstrap Finance
Bootstrap Marketing
Case Studies- how to research and write a case study
Case studies will include: Sci Fi Channel, NHL.com, National Hockey League Television Marketing, webcasting and ottawasenators.com, iFinanSys.com, Arrow Head Springs, Molstar, Amazon.com, Terrace Corporate Centres, Grocery Express, amphitheatre design, Corel Centre, Busnell Communications, Rentalex Tool and Equipment, Ottawa Business Journal, duplex and triplex housing, Friendship Windmill, Dunrobin Lake, Robertson Mews, Disney Paris, Kanata North, Water Safari Park and others
City-states
Competition- niche markets and trends
Corel Centre
Creativity, lateral thinking and value creation
Creativity and creation of value
e-business
e-commerce
Education, Value of
Entertainment Economics
Ethics
Financing and capital markets- bootstrap financing/bootstrap business startup/bootstrap marketing
Future vision
Government subsidies
Intellectual property
Internal rates of return projects
IRR- value of education as an example
IRR Calcs- How to really Measure Rates of Return
Internet is Eating a Hole in the World Economy- deflation because of the net; collpase of currencies and r.e. prices are related to early adopters of tech in USA
Legal Issues
Lenders, financial ratios, access to funds
Lost Rights
Marketing, market share, bootstrap marketing
Metaverse
Negotiating, selling
Option agreements
Politics and entrepreneurialist culture
Pricing, the art of
Revenge effects
25 Steps to Entrepreneurial Success
Tooth to tail ratios
Web Strategies
Networking for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs-find jobs, find launch clients, find contracts and contractors, find help, solve problems, have fun: http://www.exploriem.org.
Great overall web site for business information plus web hosting and domain names: http://www.nobleoak.com.
