with this unique internship that lives and breathes entrepreneurial opportunity!

About the Opportunity

Students earn 1-credit for working on a team of three in one of the four subject areas. The experience will be 8 weeks, ending at the beginning of April. BUILD UConn is empowering UConn students, staff, and faculty to create solutions to problems in academia today. The challenge will provide participants with an entrepreneurial “tool belt” and pathway to critically think about and design interventions to improve the education experience. There are five teams each looking for three students.

BUILD the UConn you want to see!

Calendar:

Kickoff Event – 2/9/21
Workshop 1: Customer Discovery – 2/16/21
Workshop 2: Idea Generation & Storyboarding – 3/2/21
Workshop 3: Steps to the Solution – 3/16/21
Final Presentations – 3/26/21

Apply Today!

Visit the BUILD UConn website to apply: https://ccei.uconn.edu/build-hartford/

Post COVID-19 Markets

By Emily Touch

There is a lot of uncertainty in the air these days as no one really knows how the economy will fare here in the United States. We are dealing with the first forced shutdown of whole economies across the globe in order to protect those most at risk from contacting the highly infectious COVID-19 virus. While there are many arguments on the economic shut down with voices for and against, each with their own valid arguments, the reality is that we can’t impact our policy makers until at least November. However, as entrepreneurs we focus on what we can control, and in a wild economy like this it’s not just about surviving, it’s about thriving by identifying opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a black swan occurrence. The term was made famous by author Nassim Nicholas Taleb and is defined as “an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, their severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight.” Unlike the last black swan event, the recession of 2008, we are dealing with both a health crisis and a future economic crisis. Sadly, all the business books and classes in the world can’t help you if you’re in the restaurant or travel business these days. There are, however, some industries that will thrive in the coming months, as well as industries that have yet to be invented that could become a part of our everyday lives overnight.

Zooming 9-5

Video communication tools are the most obvious winner in this emerging coronavirus economy. Zoom has become the go-to tool that people are using daily, but Google and Facebook are working to catch-up before Zoom becomes synonymous with online conference calls. This has fundamentally transformed how we communicate, possibly changing the way global business is conducted in the near term.

Like shared working spaces, this company just executed well; like previous workplace pioneer WeWork, Zoom has not only dominated the market but changed how we do business. It’s probably a bit ironic but that is how innovation works as fewer people are going to utilize working spaces and will acclimate to working from home. Over the past few years people were increasingly working at least a few hours a week from home, and COVID-19 may accelerate the idea of a 4-day work week. A study by Microsoft Japan last year noted the results of a shortened workweek: “working four days a week, enjoying a three-day weekend — and getting their normal, five-day paycheck. The result, the company says, was a productivity boost of 40%.” That means aside from communication platforms profiting we’ll see more industries focused on working from home such as office supplies, furniture that can be easily assembled (and stored), remote childcare, and online education.

Schools go online

It’s not just universities who are putting their courses online for upcoming semesters, but a complete revision of the future of education. The coronavirus has accelerated trends that were already underway; instead of a span of years now things change in a matter of weeks. It’s not just classes for college students but for professionals who want to brush up on their skills, as well as entrepreneurs who are looking for that edge. As this Forbes article covers the current situation: “colleges and universities as well as primary and secondary schools have made an enormous shift toward online and virtual courses. While the ability to do this so quickly is impressive, the effects on teaching and learning has been very mixed. Even schools that had a viable online course system in place before the crisis are struggling to adapt to an entirely virtual program.”

This can range from Zoom classes taught in person to high quality courses where the student completes modules like Foundr’s online syllabus. The question will be what role personalized education will play, as some students with learning disabilities may not learn the most effectively using current online methods. There is a feeling that people want more interactive experiences online, and this could translate to augmented and virtual reality. Despite Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus, and VR being “the future”, these verticals never gained the traction they claimed. Maybe now when people need a new way to engage, we’ll see a widespread adoption of these technologies in new and creative ways.

The doctor makes house calls – online

One of the reasons so many government officials panicked was their concern the healthcare system would be overwhelmed by the influx of patients suffering from COVID-19. Telemedicine has been a good turnkey solution in that people who may be infected are not infecting their health care providers. Additionally, the ease with which one can go online or send a picture to their doctor is simple. Just as we are becoming accustomed to Zoom calls, we will be used to setting up a telemedicine call with our doctor.

Both private money and grants will go towards the research of ways to combat this virus, including coming up with a vaccine. It would be irresponsible on the part of governments not to prepare for the inevitability of another pandemic, but many savvy entrepreneurs will create solutions to help medical workers that will be relevant when a future pandemic occurs.

Wellness tech

Aside from telemedicine, the health and wellness industry were already on the upswing. Data is being researched how preemption can help one fight the symptoms of COVID-19. Lifestyle choices such as being overweight, and smoking put one more at risk of having serious symptoms. Being at home also impacts this industry as corporate wellness programs at the office are moving online to support a remote workforce. The vertical of wellness is broad and encompasses industries such as fitness, meditation, nutrition, mindfulness, mental health, and as this Medium article states that “according to the Global Wellness Institute is valued at $4.2 trillion.”

What is applicable about this vertical is that many of these technologies used are B2C, personalized, and can be accessed from an app on your smartphone. While wellness was already a hot trend, there is more awareness from people who may have neglected their health in the past. Deteriorating mental health has been one of the issues that has impacted people the most as they are sitting at home and dealing with stress of the unknown.

The local grocer online

This is not a surprising one as people have been afraid to leave their house to even buy groceries. Amazon has been at near capacity and struggling to fulfill its orders. While e-commerce has been around since the mid 1990’s never before have such large swaths of the population had to rely on online shopping to get their basic food needs fulfilled.

E-commerce is a saturated market, so new entrepreneurs entering this space won’t change things much, but the addressable market will change. Consumers who were reluctant to purchase products online in the past will have no choice but to do so now. The trust to pay with a credit card online is not going to play a factor as marketplaces such as Amazon, and platforms such as Shopify have gained customer’s trust. If an entrepreneur was considering launching an e-commerce brand online on Shopify now is the time.

The social distancing economy

What will this look like? This could encompass many verticals such as smart cities tech, drones, online events, AI, etc. What products will we use in the social distancing economy, and how will this impact our policy makers’ decisions? Will we have drones like in China hovering over us reminding us to keep our distance? The question is if this will even last; we could have this kind of economy during the winter, but things could revert to ‘normal’ during the summer months. The real gift that entrepreneurs give to the world is the ability to see around corners and come up with ideas and products we don’t even know we need yet.

Entrepreneurship in this space, and innovation in general are going to be messy. What drives innovation and formulating solutions at present is that people are still getting sick, and those solutions need to help save lives. Additionally, in 6 months’ time as things develop additional verticals connected to social distancing may open as well as society’s norms change (ex, online dating now known as Zoom dating.) The challenge is creating solutions that could live past this phase and maintain longevity, as we will eventually settle into a ‘new normal’.

The reality is that all this is new, and things could change as the situation with the virus unfolds. If anything, these changes in how we conduct our lives and do business are opening the eyes of many entrepreneurs who not only want to capitalize on what is happening to build a profitable business but also solve real dilemmas. In the end, entrepreneurship is about creating an impact, and dealing with the most pressing problems at scale.

Students teams that are developing an innovative solution to a social, environmental, or health challenge can take the first step in applying for an E-Team Grant by submitting a brief executive summary for the E-Team Qualification Phase.

Program Information

• Selection for the Qualification Phase will be communicated on a rolling basis to teams who submit an application by the March 24 deadline.
• Stage 1 applications are due on May 5.
• View our FAQ to learn more about the Qualification Phase and how to apply for an E-Team Grant.
• What goes into a winning grant application? E-Team Program Officer David D’Angelo offers great tips to help teams submit a competitive proposal!
• For questions about the E-Team Program, contact David D’Angelo, Program Officer.

Women Entrepreneurs Leading the Way

By Emily Touch

Historically speaking, entrepreneurship has been a male driven enterprise. However, with women empowered to create their own businesses, that is rapidly changing. When looking at overall entrepreneurship in America (small and medium sized businesses) in 2019 “a new report shows that they account for 44 percent of U.S. economic activity”, and women founded ventures played a vital role in that growth. It’s important to note there have been several factors on why women have not been key in driving this important aspect of the economy forward in the past, but that has changed. In 2020 women are playing a larger role, starting more businesses, raising more money, and inspiring their younger counterparts to follow in their footsteps.

When you look at the importance of empowering women to launch their own endeavors it becomes obvious that on the global scale, societies who don’t empower women are falling behind and will not be able to catch up, as we see in parts of the Middle East. Even in modern and developed Western societies we have a long way to go. The same goes for funding, where women are severely underrepresented, particularly in raising venture capital from male VCs. Below we’ll highlight some of the reasons why driving women’s entrepreneurship is so important for the advancement of not just business, but of society as a whole and feature some of the role models in this space moving the needle.

The economy and popular culture

We publish content on this site for everyone, regardless of their gender affiliation. The reason we’re looking at the macro perspective is because rebuilding the US economy after COVID-19’s impact is not just about keeping a standard of living but also because entrepreneurship is an American value. While a glass ceiling does still exist in many industries such as in Big Tech, (which is ironic given the values many of the leaders of the industry endorse) women entrepreneurs can create their own opportunities and cultures, based on their views and skills.

According to this CNBC article, in the United States the number of women entrepreneurs is 11 million and “women are currently majority owners of 38% of U.S. small businesses, up from 29% in 2007, with these businesses employing nearly 9 million people and generating more than $1.6 trillion in revenue each year.” While that number needs to grow it’s much better compared to other countries. This is an interesting area as you see more women in political leadership roles in places like Western Europe. Nonetheless, Europe still lags in general entrepreneurship compared to the United States.

In a nod to popular culture, television shows like Shark Tank showcase the range of ideas (along with many bad ideas that are television worthy as well) of what American entrepreneurs are capable of accomplishing. The show is popular because Americans love and understand the importance of the lone cowboy/cowgirl creating the next big idea that reflects many of the values we live by. Lori Greiner, a serial entrepreneur also known as the “Queen of QVC” and one of the infamous Sharks has made a name for herself as a personality on the show alongside well-known male investors such as Daymond John and Mark Cuban.

Greiner, who built her fortune with retail and direct to consumer businesses, made an investment in Scrub Daddy, one of the show’s most successful ventures. It is a testament to the success of women entrepreneurs (and investors) when women like her and real estate entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran are prominently featured on prime-time television.

Empowering the youth

We need role models that Zoomers (Gen Z) can look up to. Half a generation ago names like Bezos or Musk did not mean anything, but now they are the leaders who have built society- changing companies. The biggest challenge–and this is particularly notable in underprivileged areas–is the lack of role models, or heroes, in order to inspire young people of what is possible. Young people need to see others who are like them overcoming the same odds. This is true for women role models as well; if all that young women see are men entrepreneurs succeeding, they will ask themselves if it is indeed possible for women to succeed at the same level.

When it comes to larger than life personalities, who serve as role models for young women to emulate, Sara Blakely is the leader. Not only is she always showing up in the most authentic way, she is also financially supporting women entrepreneurs, particularly now during the COVID-19 crisis. Young women need someone who is reliable, and who “gets them.” Spanx, the wildly popular line of undergarments that Blakely created, and the story of how she got there are inspiring. In addition, Blakely relates to her audience with her active use of social media to promote a message of resilience with quotes like “ideas, even million-dollar ones, are most vulnerable in their infancy; don’t share them with too many people. However, don’t hide your plan from people who can help you move it forward.”

Taking leadership roles

Women have different perspectives in business and as such their leadership roles steer the ship of major companies. There are examples of women in politics and increasingly in leadership roles at Fortune 500s, but entrepreneurship plays a unique role in the business world. For the fact it is so hard to build and maintain a successful startup turned company, people who have executive roles in these types of organizations must be particularly gritty and versatile.

An example of a woman who is leading one of the most successful tech companies in history is Sheryl Sandberg. Her role at Facebook is not without controversy, particularly regarding Facebook’s role in the 2016 US Presidential elections. That is not necessarily a bad thing as the COO of Facebook is being held to the same high standards which her male counterparts in Silicon Valley are. While there has been a backlash against Sandberg and Facebook in general, it is worth taking a step back to think about the society changing company she built alongside Mark Zuckerberg.

Showing that Millennials and Zoomers can do it

Millennials and now Zoomers (if you’re a student at UConn that’s you) have a bad rap for not taking the initiative and being self-entitled. There are also plenty of bad role models of tech entrepreneurs who exhibit eccentric and wild behavior. A lot of the negativity hurled at the younger generation is typical of how older generations sometimes look at youth. The reality is with the world only getting more unstable, continued ecological and environmental erosion, and the long-term ramifications of the pandemic, Zoomers are inheriting a complex and challenging world.

We like to measure business results, and this may be a controversial and unpopular choice but Kylie Jenner is an example of a Zoomer which parlayed not just fame, but a following on Instagram and Snap to become the youngest self-made billionaire in history. As a society we are living in an era of extreme fame in which we are bombarded every time we scroll through our social media feed. Understanding social, user behavior, and truly knowing your audience, is a key entrepreneurial trait that Jenner exhibited. It’s not about who is the most loathed or revered in the media, but rather using the tools at your disposal.

Diversity

This is a buzzword these days, but there is merit to this idea. It’s shocking how bad we humans are at decision making, and having a different viewpoint is key in helping us make the right decisions. This has become so important for corporate governance that leading investment banks such as Goldman Sachs are mandating diverse boards. The reality is the world has changed and we need to widen the tent to include women (as well as people of color.) When we look at the landscape of entrepreneurship soon it will be led by those from diverse backgrounds and women.

Who is a better example of this than Oprah: not only did she overcome childhood trauma, her early forays into television were not successful. Before she was the iconic brand that she is today she had to build herself up, without help and without any role models to whom she could aspire. Entertainment is one of the most difficult industries to break into, and to consistently succeed at. Oprah has not only maintained longevity, but she pioneered the idea of a personal brand and has been able to reinvent herself and remain relevant year after year.

For the United States economy to get back on track, it’s not enough for some businesses to get stimulus checks. What we need is a focus on engaging and bringing up women entrepreneurs in order to build this decade’s successful businesses. It is important to highlight the accomplishments of successful women who have been trail blazers in order to inspire the next generation of women entrepreneurs who will help rebuild this country.

Entrepreneurs Rise to Challenges

By Emily Touch

Fear and panic are dictating many of the decisions made during these days of the coronavirus. Those feelings of dread are justifiably centered around the concern that you or your loved ones may contact this pathogen and become ill. This double black swan occurrence impacting our public health and economy is causing according to LA Times, skyrocketing levels of anxiety for many in the United States. Even after taking all the steps needed to protect oneself from the virus such as social distancing and washing one’s hands, there are elements out of our control regarding the probability of getting infected.

A possible way to alleviate some of that anxiety, particularly regarding monetary matters, and as a hedge against more layoffs and a further downturn, is taking charge of your financial destiny. It may seem counterintuitive, but the present might not only be a good time to start a business, it may be a necessity given where we may be headed. Never in history has it been easier to plug in a computer, make a call, reach out, write a business plan, and begin executing right now on building a business. Previous limitations such as access to capital, talent, and infrastructure no longer exist. It’s true that it may be more difficult to start that business you’ve been thinking about now than it was six months ago, but without a possible source of income in the near to medium term, or a reduction of your salary, you may have no choice. Starting a business is not an exercise in improving your mental health, but any action is better in empowering you with the feeling you’re moving things forward.

What kind of business

A caveat here; while there are opportunities during this crisis in high-growth areas such as remote working/communications, digital health, and SaaS products many of them will require being backed by angel investors and venture capitalists. If you have an idea in those or related fields and can put together an MVP, (a minimum viable product) and can additionally spend a few months without a salary while you look for capital, then go for it. Otherwise, the possible business ideas we are focusing on look to generate cash from day one.

While there is a lot of “common knowledge” in the entrepreneur space of not “scratching your own itch” as covered in this Harvard Business Review article, many of us don’t have the luxury today to go out and acquire new skills. If you possess such abilities as writing copy or understanding sales it is better to start with what you have, even if that means putting a profile up on a site like Fiverr to start pitching possible clients immediately in the effort to build a business.

In a future article we’ll further cover some business concepts, but some ideas could include launching an e-commerce brand using marketplaces such as Amazon or platforms such as Shopify, personal coaching, or other professional consulting services. Given the quarantine times we are currently experiencing, even services such as digital marketing for brands who need online exposure and tutoring kids stuck at home on Zoom could be a start. If you’re reading this article you most likely have an idea or two regarding the type of business you’d like to build; the common denominator is that all these businesses have close to zero overhead to start.

Control your destiny

We’ll start with the most important and existential reason to start a business (including a side hustle) during this period, and that’s to put food on the table. If you look back only a few generations ago, before the United States’ economic landscape was filled with corporations, many workers made a living owning a store, trading, or even running a farm. They had no choice because there was no one to whom they could submit a resume. It wasn’t called being an ‘entrepreneur’ back then, but simply, ‘making a living’. They were the original entrepreneurs, and this was the way of life for generations stretching back thousands of years. To understand how much being entrepreneurial is in our DNA, the History of Entrepreneurship mentions that “the first known trading between humans took place in New Guinea around 17,000 BCE, where locals would exchange obsidian for other needed goods – like tools, skins, and food.”

Many budding entrepreneurs believe starting their own business will free them from a schedule, answering to a boss, or not having to deal with other people’s problems. This, however, is as far from reality as you can get. There will always be difficulties, often more so, when you start your own business. The difference is that you are executing against what your wishes are, building something of your own which you have equity in, and which could generate for you the biggest financial returns. For some lifelong entrepreneurs building businesses is their destiny.

Seeing opportunity in the bad

AsBaron Rothchild stated when taking advantage of bad times, “buy when there is blood in the streets”. There are always opportunities in economic downturns. Talent and eager money will flow to those who take the lead in creating new opportunities for wealth creation. Some of the world’s most iconic brands, as well as half of Fortune 500s were started during difficult economic periods including Disney, IBM, and Microsoft. Many of these companies’ founders didn’t have the luxury of analyzing a market report of when the ideal time was to open shop, they just needed to make money.

Mark Twain’s famous contrarian view that, “whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect” may apply to today’s current events as whole industries are being upended while new ones are being created. It’s not just the news stories about the travel industry being decimated and Zoom doing extremely well; it’s about savvy entrepreneurs who see around corners and will come up with new products we don’t even know we need yet, such as in the emerging social distancing economy.

Focus on creating a real business

During boom times when money is flowing many ideas that aren’t fully formed often receive funding. People buy non-essential items without a second thought and consumption is rampant as there is a perception that good times will continue indefinitely. Additionally, people who may have started businesses for the wrong reasons such as maintaining an ‘entrepreneur lifestyle’ (on social media) enter the fray. With the downturn many of these people will be out on the street if their company does not offer a real solution to consumers.

Times like this focus the mind and make entrepreneurs think about what product or service is essential, as well as the most cost-effective way for them to get it out there. What product solves people’s problems right now? This is a much more solid foundation when starting a business by knowing it was created to satisfy real market needs, with limited resources, and under difficult conditions. When the economy does improve, (and things will get better) you will have built a business with a strong foundation. Business guru Peter Drucker stated this in the clearest terms: “business, that’s easily defined – it’s other people’s money.”

Where the rubber hits the road

This could be a trial by fire if you choose to build a business today whether by choice or necessity. Many possible competitors may lose their heads, while others will be skittish when they need to be aggressive. Entrepreneurship, and striking out on your own shows a lot of courage and character, both of which are in short supply these days.

Given the risk-averse effects of human nature, many people won’t pull the trigger on starting a business even when they have nothing to lose. While it can seem overwhelming to start, small steps every day and tenacious focus day in, day out, lead to success. It all starts with taking that first step. We don’t suggest starting a business in order to test yourself, or as some personal development experiment. Rather, you should start a business to solve a problem and create value. Making money and getting paid are the by-products of creating value for customers. However, you will learn a lot about yourself, business, and the world around you when embarking on an entrepreneurial journey.

We will look back on these days and remember where we were during the Pandemic of 2020. We will remember our actions, and the time will pass by either way while we sit in quarantine. The choice is either sitting at home anxious and full of despair as our bank accounts deplete or taking the initiative to build something. History may or may not judge you for not acting (you may have the next Facebook within you), but you may look back in regret knowing that you didn’t even try. This does not need to be a highly emotional decision, but if there was ever a time to find a new way to make a living, it is now.

The Most Important Skills

By Emily Touch

Sitting at home under lockdown does not prevent us from thinking about creating a new endeavor or starting a company after this is all over. While this is a challenging period for everyone, we can approach it in two different ways: either waste our precious time watching Netflix and scrolling through Instagram or use it to cultivate new skills. Entrepreneurship can be learned, and at its core it’s divided into two parts. The first is the mindset one needs to embrace to be successful, and the second being the actual skills an entrepreneur needs to execute against.

Learning and education are important, but what is equally important is putting into action all that we have learned. No one was able to build a world class company by willing it into existence or reading a few books. But reading a few books can, in fact, help reduce the number of mistakes (and there will be mistakes, lots of them) when building a company. We’ll cover some of the important skills that are needed when launching your endeavor, as well as the actions steps one can take today in order to build up those skills.

Nothing beats action and the experience of doing something first hand but there is something to be said about taking small steps despite the challenges stacked against us. There are no excuses, as some of these skills can be learned from a remote location on your laptop and are low cost/no cost.

Skill: Productivity

If you can’t sit in front of your computer for a relatively medium period, you probably won’t be able to accomplish much (and that includes writing a term paper.) The good news is that despite all the “hustle porn” out there, your average person cannot do more than 3 or 4 hours of real, focused work in one day. Author, professor, and focused work expert Cal Newport defines deep work as “the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.” As an entrepreneur you’re not going to have the luxury to do shallow or busy work; rather, your time is going to be spent on building your business, and most likely in the early stages that means getting business in the door. The good news is 3-4 hours of meaningful work a day is manageable, leaving you time to do less mentally constraining tasks like checking email or chatting on the phone with potential customers.

What you can do today

It would be easy to state that getting your butt in a chair is simple, but this is a challenge for everyone, including the author of this piece. A productivity hack includes writing down on paper your 3-5 most important tasks every day and sticking with them. Not 10 or 15 tasks, just 3-5, and really focusing on what are the next steps to take your business to the next level. Additionally, when it comes to sitting down and doing actual work, sites like Brain.fm help your concentration, and the famous Pomodoro Method is a game changer in focusing you to do the hard and necessary work.

Skill: Communication

We have mentioned before this skill is vital. You need to be able to sell, and if you’re not able to do so, you won’t have a business. But the reality is that sales can be either in person (ideally) or in written form. Even if you don’t have a good product-market fit, or you’re not there yet when it comes to where you want to be in the business, the ability to sell will generate cash and be “oxygen” as serial entrepreneur and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk states. Though many entrepreneurs believe selling is an icky thing, this is a skill you must learn, and you can learn. No one is a natural-born salesperson, but some people are just more comfortable doing it.

What you can do today

Once we get through this pandemic, we’ll want human contact. Enrolling in a Toastmasters class or similar public speaking course could get you started feeling comfortable speaking (and pitching) in front of an audience. Even if you improve by a little bit, you’ll still be better than most people out there as no one is asking you to give a TED talk, but you’ll need to practice your pitching skills. While you’re at home, looking up a cheap copywriting course is a good way to start, and even giving a piece of content you wrote to a friend who writes well to edit is an action step. You’d be surprised how many people don’t utilize these resources, and how much they can benefit your business.

Skill: Networking

It is not what you know or who you know, but ultimately, it’s who knows you. The ability to parlay your network, and quickly and authentically create new relationships are key in building your business. No one does it on their own, and if you’re well connected, you’ll find things will move easier than if you didn’t know anyone. This has become such an important part of any entrepreneur’s toolkit that there are whole courses and communities about building relationships in order to advance your business. However, all the amazing relationships in the world mean nothing if you sell a product people don’t want to buy, or you don’t work hard. On the flipside, one phone call from the right person can open doors for you which you never imagined.

What you can do today

If you’re in quarantine reaching out to people for phone or Zoom calls is something you can do right now. Even if you’re emailing 5 people a day to catch up, it does not need to be something transactional. You’d be surprised what opportunities you’ll be able to source just by reaching out and making a connection. If you’re still in college, start networking today with your classmates but in a way that you’re looking to offer something. Relationships take time to build but are ultimately worth it. People want to do business with people they like, trust, and with whom they feel comfortable.

Skill: Hiring

This is probably the hardest thing for any founder or small business owner to do. The reality is no one is going to be as invested in your business’s success as you. Hiring is difficult and hiring the wrong people could potentially create a negative culture for your company. This skill is one that you learn with experience; we’ve seen good advice out there stating that just because you need a role filled fast does not mean you should hire the first person who can fill it. “Hire slow, and fire fast.”

What you can do today

Mentorship and speaking with entrepreneurs who have done this before is a good start. If you’re running a solo business or just working with freelancers this is less pressing, but you still need good people to do the work. Have in mind who you’d like to hire, but also remember that working with family and friends can be dangerous, so have those conversations but don’t commit to anything until you’re sure it’s a good fit.

Skill: Hard work

There is a great quote by serial entrepreneur Lori Greiner that states: “entrepreneurs are the only people who will work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.” There are stories about people who built companies while living on an island in Bali but assume that’s not you. When you’re the boss you’re going to have to put in the work, but that does not mean burnout. Instead, remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. The reality is that as you figure things out and make many mistakes (you will, everyone does) hard work and moving forward every day will ultimately compensate for your learning curve.

What you can do today

You need to show up. Every single day. It’s part of the mindset (and there are plenty of good books on that.) Getting organized with a 90-day plan and your daily 3-5 tasks is a good start; just look to win the day. Small wins consistently add up to big successes. Many people get overwhelmed by what they believe it will take to realize their vision, but everything can be broken down into daily actions. It does sound like fluffy self-help advice, but Rome was not built in a day, and it was completed brick by brick. Learn to lean into the process and enjoy the hard work as it will give your life more meaning.

No one ever said this was going to be easy, but if anything, with what the world is going through now is the ideal time to seriously consider launching your new business, even if it is a side hustle. At the very least you’ll start developing skills that could be applicable to both an entrepreneur and someone who works a 9 to 5 job. There is never an excuse not to learn new professional skills starting today.

How to Learn Anything During COVID-19

By Emily Touch

If you’re reading this, you’re most likely stuck at home, or may have just been released for a limited time out into the world. The COVID-19 crisis is not over for the time being, even as the number of those infected with the virus decreases; there is too much uncertainty as we are still learning about this novel coronavirus. We are all aware of the perils of economic doom as our politicians and news channels like to remind us 24/7. This is of general concern, especially for those whose entire livelihoods depend on working for others.

Whether or not you want to be an entrepreneur, you may not have a choice in the coming months, as there are several trades where jobs may not be returning. Examples are the restaurant and travel industries, at least as far as we know them, according to Chris Bryant, Bloomberg Opinion Columnist. However, there is no need to panic; while we are careful about being generally overly optimistic the idea that “life happens for you, not to you” is a powerful statement and puts control of our destiny back in our hands. Entrepreneurship is a combination of skills as much as a mindset so we’ll cover below how to learn any skill so that you can control your destiny. While most things are out of our control, we can take active steps every single day to acquire the skills to thrive in this brave new world.

Break it down to the smallest parts

There is an abundance of fables about this, and whole civilizations have been built on this concept (ex. “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.) Most famous is the quote from Lao Tzu that states “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The reason most people don’t learn a new skill is two-fold: firstly, the idea of learning (and excelling) at a new skill such as public speaking seems so overwhelming, they don’t even start. The second reason is that it sounds boring, as though you’re not making progress when you’re consistently taking small steps. Take public speaking; even if you’re practicing 5 minutes every day in front of a mirror, you’re doing something, moving the ball forward. Better 5 minutes than nothing, because eventually those 5 minutes a day add up!

When legendary investor Warren Buffet was asked by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos why most people don’t utilize his simple 2% growth rule for every day, his answer was “because nobody wants to get rich slow.” The reality is that the time will pass either way, and you’ll wonder where it went. Best to take small measures every single day, even if they’re baby steps on days you feel uninspired, as they will compound. The author James Clear blogs and writes about this concept prolifically, so if you want to learn more about one of the fundamentals of learning anything, you should check out his work as an addition to this article.

Create a plan

What doesn’t get scheduled doesn’t happen. It’s nice to think about learning a new skill, and even visualizing the act. But if you want to do it consistently, it needs to be scheduled in your calendar. The hardest part of learning any new skill or doing anything challenging in general is getting yourself in a chair. Once you master that and get started the task tends to happen on its own as you enter a state of flow.

We are big believers in getting up early and tackling said task first thing in the AM, especially if it’s something that is generally hard for most of us to do, like writing. A way to make your psychology work for you is to gamify this idea or create a system. Jerry Seinfeld, one of the most successful comedians of our time has a system in which he marks an X on a calendar for every day he writes. As he notes on the ‘Seinfeld Strategy’ “after a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

Jump into the pool – but not too deep

Learn by doing. The best way to do something, and part of the entrepreneur’s ethos, is that you learn by diving right in. This is literally the story of every first-time young startup founder who was flush with venture capital money and had to build and scale their enterprise rapidly. We suggest you set expectations with this concept so you don’t take on a task at which you may initially fail, discouraging you from trying again. While failure is part of success, we’re focused on skill acquisition here with a slow and meaningful process.

An example would be if you want to learn a skill like copywriting as a part of the suite of services you offer as a content writer. You could go online to a site like Fiverr or Upwork and bid on smaller and lower compensating offers to start building your skill set with lower expectations. True, you could jump off a cliff and learn to fly on the way down, but you could crash as well. It’s important to understand yourself and know how you deal with failure. Failure is part of life, and a topic we will cover in the future, and it’s important you understand how to deal with it if you want to be very successful. But when you’re just getting started and building your confidence with any skill, winning small victories consistently builds confidence.

Work with a mentor or a coach

A mentor and a coach both play different roles, but each could be helpful and effective in helping you cut the learning time when it comes to acquiring new skills. No matter what, you’re going to make mistakes at the beginning, and even feel stupid at times when you first start out. That’s a normal part of the process, so don’t get discouraged.

What a mentor can do is to help guide you down a path they’ve already been on. For argument’s sake, let’s use writing sales copy as the skill you want to develop. This is a highly sought-after skill that compensates well. A mentor could be a seasoned copywriter, and built a successful career doing this. Finding a mentor can be difficult and is a topic we’ll explore in a future post, but for now if you’re a student we would suggest you start researching and reaching out to alumni for a short phone call.

Coaches are legendary in places like Silicon Valley, as stated by Business Insider, “this is the power of coaching in general: The ability to offer a different perspective, one unaffected by being “in the game.”  A good coach can be a game changer, and while many times you will have to pay one, working with a coach seriously cuts months off your learning curve. Coaches are easy to find, but the challenge is finding the right match. There are operation coaches, and ones who focus on mindset. There are also new categories such as entrepreneurship coaches and mindfulness coaches. A coach can have a powerful influence as they have access to your mind, but we have found them to be a net positive. But like all things, it’s just about speaking with several of them on the phone or in person and getting a sense of who you gel with and is in line with helping you reach your goals.

Start an accountability group

Not enough people do this, and for some people this simple act can be life changing when it comes to learning a new skill. All you need to do is find some like-minded friends who are focused on bettering themselves and set up a group, whether it’s a weekly call or chat group, and just hold each other accountable to your goals. It’s important to find people who are encouraging as part of this group and will do the work. As Thomas Oppong, founder @AllTopStartups, states, “on the power of peer accountability if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed, you will increase your chance of success by up to 95%.” You may feel this tactic won’t work, but once you try it, you’ll realize how much the opinions of your accountability group matter, to your benefit!

The hardest part of doing anything is getting started, but as we’ve outlined above, it’s all achievable. We never said it was easy, but if you want to be successful it takes time to put in the work. However, if you practice and refine your skill day in, day out, you’ll get there much quicker than you would have believed. The most important thing is just to focus on the target in front of you and not concern yourself with anything else but completing that task.

Michael Aisevbonayea
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Graduation Year: 2022

Jessica Daley
Major: Human Development and Family Studies | Nursing
Graduation Year: 2022

Aditya Dubey
Major: Computer Science & Engineering
Graduation Year: 2022

Sabaa Fayazi
Major: Physiology & Neurobiology
Graduation Year: 2022

Kevin Fiddler
Major: Economics
Graduation Year: 2021

Mitchell Hornak
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Graduation Year: 2022

Sana Kasmani
Major: Physiology & Neurobiology
Graduation Year: 2022

Jody Kung
Major: Management Information Systems
Graduation Year: 2022

Natalie Lacroix
Major: Digital Media and Design
Graduation Year: 2022

Devin McNamara
Major: Economics
Graduation Year: 2021

Sarah Nedwick
Major: Exploratory
Graduation Year: 2022

Eva Quigley
Major: Animal Science
Graduation Year: 2022

Faith Sporbert
Major: Digital Arts | Computer Science | French
Graduation Year: 2022

Olivia Tirelli
Major: Spanish | Physiology & Neurobiology
Graduation Year: 2022

Raisa Vasquez
Major: Undecided
Graduation Year: 2022

Jake Winter
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Graduation Year: 2022

Innovation isn’t the goal of your business, it’s a side effect. Stop innovating and start talking to customers.

By Scott Case, CEO Upside Business Travel & Founding CTO Priceline.com

The one word you should remove from your vocabulary immediately is innovation.

Yeah, that’s right. I said it.

Why?

Innovation is overused. Nobody knows what it means anymore, yet everybody’s after it. Innovation has become a facade for, frankly, pretending to make change.

Therefore, I declare that innovation is BS.

Now, before you get all twisted up with my stance, know this—I’m not against inventing new solutions to solve problems or exploit opportunities. Far from it. I’ve spent a career sparking change and turning convention on its head by any means necessary to make this world a better place. I just don’t think most people are talking about innovation in the right way. I’m here to set the record straight.

The conventional idea of ‘innovation’ isn’t working. You can’t just make an incremental change to an existing product and call it innovation. That is not a path to real progress. You can’t reliably or consistently develop new services from scratch without having a basis for the ideas in the first place. If you feel like it’s time to do something different but you don’t know where to start, here’s how to think differently, and truly innovate.

Customer or Die

Day-to-day use of digital technologies and smart software have led to a profound power shift from the companies that sell products and services to the customers that buy them. If your company’s strategy isn’t centered around the customer, your company will eventually fail or be absorbed.

Companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Baidu, Alibaba, and others keep raising the bar for customer expectations – even if you don’t directly compete with those companies. In the end, customer experience is the hill that companies will live or die on. This shift is shaking up every industry, producing a new and different set of winners and losers. Longtime incumbents will be knocked from leadership positions, and new companies will emerge with modern tech stacks and new business models that can quickly adapt to changing customer expectations.

No matter your industry, I believe that shifting the customer to the center of everything you do is what it means to truly innovate.

Further, for those of you thinking, “but what about creating something that is entirely new that the customer doesn’t know they want/need?” I am skeptical of this possibility. It is nearly impossible to invent something truly and completely novel that isn’t built on some category of challenge customers have. Almost everything is either an extension or expansion of some job the customer already needs or wants done. .

I challenge you to comment below with any example you believe is truly a new product that didn’t have a customer problem behind it.

Ask the Right Question

What problem are you solving for your customer?

Not what solutions do you have that you can try to market to them.

It’s remarkable how many CEOs and leaders of organizations have no idea what customer problem they are solving for. This should be the first and easiest question for them to answer. However, I’ve learned it’s not only universally the hardest—it’s also the most important.

My challenge to you: take out a piece of paper and write down what problem you are solving for your customer. If you can’t do that in 60 seconds with real clarity, go back and do your homework on the “who” and “why” behind your business.

Make it a Habit

Whether you sell directly to consumers or to enterprises, 100% of these “users” have new and changing expectations for how the products they use should work.

Embrace that reality.

At Upside, we’ve built our company around a constant customer “curiousness.” Here are some of the tactics we use:

In-Depth Interviews

Every quarter we speak with a handful of prospects and customers about who they are, what business they’re in, and why they do what they do. This helps us keep a regular pulse on who our clients are individually and the context that they operate in. We’re intentional about focusing exclusively on understanding the individual and their expectations, leaving Upside out of the conversation as much as possible as to not bias our takeaways and stick to our goal: understand the customer.

Feedback Loops

Every few weeks, we send prototypes of our newest features to customers. Things they’ve never heard of or experienced. We get direct feedback from the people who use our products, and we improve before we roll out changes to the masses. We also have a team whose entire job is to make sure our clients are more successful as a result of using our services. Upside’s Client Success Managers regularly check-in with clients, and serve as advocates to our product teams as well as amplifiers to our clients.

Future is at a desk near you

We know the future is iminent, so we place value on the trends and insights unearthed by team members earlier in their careers. They have grown up with more seamless technology than we have. They are the future generation of decision makers for all products, and are being influenced by the trends we are unaware of and expectations we can’t even begin to fathom. Frequent communication with the next generations within and outside of our organization helps us future-proof the customer expectations of tomorrow.

It’s impossible to drive innovation if you don’t know who your customer is or what the future holds for them. Period. Here’s how your organization—no matter the size or industry—can get after it.

Advice for Startup Executives

Feedback loops should be a founding principle of every business. They exist to organically feed “innovation.” With an ever-changing landscape, it is time to adapt by building an organizational culture around customer expectations. Here are some ways you can do it and be successful:

1. Get out of the building. Talk to prospects and customers as often as you can and at least once a quarter.
2. Pay attention to the “dog that didn’t bark.” Focus on your detractors, not just your promoters. Try to understand the context of their struggle by getting to know who they are and what they’re trying to achieve.
3. Become your own customer. Eat your own dog food, then eat your competitors’ dog food, too. In other words: be a customer of your service and your competitors to experience the “value” for yourself.

Advice for Executives at Larger Companies

Revisit your own expectations. Your $1,000 phone updates itself and gets better over time. You tap a button to hail a ride. Your car breaks for you when it senses danger. Robotic vacuums clean your floors. Next-day delivery of everything from diapers to diamonds is the status quo. Your customers have the same “on-demand” expectations when it comes to you.
Take a look inside your own enterprise. The SaaS tools your employees use aim to gain efficiency and leverage over the parts of your organization that aren’t strategic. Those SaaS tools are changing the expectations of your employees, too. If you’re not adopting new technologies internally to reduce risk and complexity, how can you lead the charge externally to your own customer base?

“Interview” your current employees. Understand how they are engaging with Amazon, Apple, Google and others that are setting the bar. Learn from them on how to apply those expectations to your company.

The Bottom Line

Getting closer to your customers will change the culture of your organization. And, as a result, spur real innovation.

“Good leaders organize and align people around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why they’re doing it. That’s purpose. And that’s the key to achieving something truly transformational.” Marilyn Hewson, CEO Lockheed Martin

I believe the “why” for any team should be centered around the customer. So, you tell me — what do your customers want and what are you doing about it?