Business Question

Dear students,

Here’s the first assignment. We can discuss further in class.

We’ll finish up the other sources of creative new business ideas tomorrow and next Monday.

We’ll also address the First Screen exercise (in the context of the prior discussion about criteria for calling a company good or great).

I. Sources of Business Ideas

PESTEL – for the U.S., the world, or your country or any combination (two of each for a total of 12, two trends for each letter of the acronym PESTEL).

What are the coolest companies started in the last 5-50 years and why (two or three companies)?

What bugs you personally on a daily basis (5 or more)?

1. Where is the money, defined by occupation, industry, location, behavior pattern, product (5 or more)?
2. Whom do you admire most in the world (business, entrepreneurship, invention, sports, politics, etc. (5 or more)?
3. Where are the gaps in currently available products and services (5 or more)?
4. “I always wanted to start a business that did X”, or “when I was a kid I wanted to start a company that did X” – what is X? This question is optional since not all of you may have had early entrepreneurial instincts. An alternative question: what profession did you find appealing when you were a kid (at least one)?
5. What’s wrong with the world (5 or more)?
6. I would like 12 responses for PESTEL and 5 or more responses for the other questions, other than question #2 (two or three) and question #7 (at least one). For brainstorming purposes, more creative insights are better.
7. These are general brainstorming exercises that have nothing to do with your eventual project idea. You are trying to set the stage for selecting your project idea. These exercises precede the project idea. Idea selection and evaluation come later.
8. II. Selection of Business Idea

If you have generated one business idea from each of those 8 exercises, you’ll have at least 8 ideas to select from. Most students will have more. List 5 possible business ideas that have occurred to you from these brainstorming exercises. State each idea in one phrase or sentence.

Choose one idea. Describe that business in a paragraph. This will be your business idea choice for the rest of the semester. You can change the idea for another week. Please note this assignment is due on the last day of week 4; you will have had a month to play with ideas.

Write the statement “I, MY NAME, commit to exploring the feasibility and profitability of ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION OF MY BUSINESS IDEA for the next three months in the Fall of 2024”.

III. First Screen