Reflection on topics in the course:

While many individuals focus on the solution when brainstorming business ideas, the far better approach is based in focusing on the problem. In creating a consumer base, businesses must meet an unmet need in a specific market. What the founder perceives as value with respect to creating a solution for this unmet need is irrelevant; rather, the customer’s perception of value and how a solution will help him/her is the ultimate factor in whether a venture can build a base and succeed. Ensuring that one’s company can meet the needs of its consumers is traced back to the segmenting-targeting-positioning approach in which one can segment the market into groups of consumers sharing similar needs, determine which of these segments should be pursued, and establish what value is actually being provided to these targeted market segments. Overall, this boils down to creating a customer value proposition (CVP), in which a company can validate that their product or service effectively solves a customer problem. One example of a company that demonstrates this concept is Rent the Runway. While they didn’t see immediate success, the founders’ ability to change their business model over time in response to feedback from consumers, designers, and VC’s enabled them to eventually see massive profits. Specifically, their CVP allowed them to capture a large market of women; tuning their business model to what best met the needs of the women, Rent the Runway provided a means for women to rent high-end designer dresses, thus providing their consumers with the flexibility of avoiding having to pay for a dress that would normally garner extremely high retail marks. Also, Rent the Runway helped establish an emotional experience for their consumers, allowing a woman to feel special and good about her appearance at different events. The way in which the company created this value for their consumers was telling in that they didn’t provide this same value when they first started their venture; their decision to listen to their customers and others within the industry when revising their business model and website paid huge dividends for their success in the long-term, and it is thus clear that the perspective of the customers and the market is far more important than the perspective of the founders with respect to what problem is being solved. This concept applies to ventures in general, where constantly iterating one’s business model and customer value proposition based on frequent and transparent customer feedback enables a venture to guarantee that they are providing the most value possible to their customers. Furthermore, creating a venture on the basis of a problem rather than a solution further allows the venture to validate that they are in fact meeting customer needs; while this may seem trivial, having this perspective ultimately can be the difference between having a strong customer base and failing quickly after launch. Launching a venture on the basis of a solution essentially means that the company’s success assumes that the overall base shares the same perspective as the founder, and this is often times not the case. A venture based on providing value for a problem shared by many consumers ensures that there is a group of individuals willing to purchase the good or service, therefore making the viability of the company far more likely.

While providing value to a consumer is a key factor in a company’s success, the internal relationships shared within a venture’s team can make everything else obsolete if the team cannot work effectively. The most significant idea I learned working in teams over the course of the semester was the ability to listen to others. Despite the fact that having a leader capable of directing a group towards a desired goal is important, it is even more necessary that each group member is able and willing to listen to the opinions and thoughts of the other members. In my group that I frequently worked with in I&E 352, we did this quite well. Specifically, we quickly learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses and made sure we were always on the same page. This transparency was key to our success as a group. One example of our success as a group as a result of our ability to communicate and be transparent with one another was our performance in the simulation game in the final class of the course. We all shared our input on what we thought the best course of action was, and we weren’t afraid to share each other’s opinions with one another with respect to how we felt about what the other’s perceived to be the correct course of action in the simulation. While just a simulation, it demonstrated our ability as a team to work be completely truthful with one another about our thoughts and ideas. This relationship was clear throughout the semester and showed how a groups of students willing to sacrifice for the unit can make all the difference for a project or venture.

While creating a product or service that solves a problem and satisfies what the customer actually wants is necessary to achieve sustainable success as an entrepreneur, establishing an ethical culture with clear morals is likely even more important when building one’s company. Navigating these potential issues can be relatively difficult for newer companies because many fail to weigh all of the possible scenarios in which their go-to-market strategy may ultimately be viewed as unethical and/or essentially just exploitative. While in reality a company hoped to just solve a problem they saw within society, outsiders looking in might view the company’s attempt at selling their product or service as unethical and an example of taking advantage of a group of individuals. This scenario can be seen through Envirofit International’s attempt at entering the cookstove market in India. Envirofit experienced several ups and downs prior to ultimately becoming successful, and they show how a company attempting to take advantage of an untapped market in a developing and relatively impoverished region can garner negative attention, potentially drawing accusations of attempting to exploit a poorer population of individuals and families. In other words, marketing high-end stoves to families earning $2-$7 per day with little room to spend on newer and more innovative technologies could be viewed as an inherently immoral decision taken by Envirofit. While Envirofit was able to successfully come out without their reputation tarnished, it is probable that other companies attempting to sell to similar types of markets and demographics would not be as lucky. In order to either avoid establishing this unethical culture or improve on one’s already existing negative culture as it relates to morals and ethical actions, ventures must make sure they fully understand the market and type of individuals they are trying to sell their product or service to. One way Envirofit was able to survive the potential dangers of being perceived as creating a negative and unethical culture was by focusing their customer value proposition on saving their consumers money on fuel costs. Explicitly recognizing that the stove alone (without the added value of reducing long-term fuel costs) wouldn’t provide the value needed for their buyers to make a jump from a normal stove to their respective stove helped establish transparency between Envirofit and their consumers. As such, transparency is a necessary aspect of a company creating a morally righteous and ethical culture, specifically in situations where outsiders may perceive that the company is attempting to take advantage of their consumer base.

My expanded knowledge base with respect to concepts such as establishing a positive and ethical culture within a venture or providing value to one’s consumers will provide me with many benefits in and the near and far-away future. I hope to eventually launch my own venture, yet I understand it will not necessarily be in the near future. After learning such ideas and the experiences of various founders and whatnot, I feel that going to graduate school could be an excellent option for finishing off my education. Gaining an even further increase knowledge base (specifically relating to startups and entrepreneurship and how it relates to engineering and technology) will enable me to have a head start when applying for jobs. In this sense, I also hope to work for a bigger company after attending graduate school. Discussing this topic with my I&E 352 mentor, Tamara Free, I gained a new perspective on the benefits of working for a bigger company right out of college. The mentorship and networking opportunities in a big company are far greater than those found in smaller ventures and startups. Also, working for a bigger company out of college will allow me to work my up and build a team within the company itself, and eventually, I can leave with my team to pursue my own venture. Concerning my personal life, the ideas I learned relating to innovation and entrepreneurship culminate in a broader idea characterized by attention to detail. While this is something I have heard all my life, the idea of paying attention to details seems to be extremely significant in the realm of startups, where every decision big or small can affect the future outlook of the company. Overall, I hope to take many of the concepts learned within the course and utilize them in all of my future endeavors, both professionally and in my everyday life.

I was able to take one of the electives, called EGR 121: Engineering Innovation, during my freshman Spring semester. My experience in this course was likely my first truly in-depth course into the intersection between fundamental engineering concepts and innovation. This course effectively provided me with knowledge and information on design and engineering concepts that will allow me to better innovate products and solutions while pursuing the certificate. One noteworthy skill I gained within the class that will serve me well in future classes/experiences associated with the I&E certificate is the ability to use SolidWorks, an advanced Computer-aided design (CAD) software frequently employed by professionals. SolidWorks and CAD programs overall are invaluable tools for designers and innovators alike, as it provides far greater flexibility and efficiency in the spaces of designing, prototyping, testing, refining, and manufacturing. Therefore, my experience using this software for the first time in EGR 121 has significant implications with respect to my desire to create new design solutions while pursuing the certificate. Similarly, learning the basic steps of 3D printing different CAD designs within the course has allowed me to learn how individuals can very quickly construct physical products and devices without the use of large, industrial manufacturing equipment. I then realized that eventually taking on an independent project during my time at Duke was very possible with the wide array of available equipment and 3D printers, which thus relates to fulfilling a requirement for the I&E certificate. 

Beyond this, the focus on Design Challenges within EGR 121, which was predicated on working in teams to complete projects that address very specific requirements, was one of the more memorable aspects of the course for myself.  One of the Design Challenges had a surprisingly profound impact on how I viewed the effect of communication on innovation; it involved constructing a machine that would be able to successfully launch a ball to a target a specified distance away as many times as possible within a given time period. This Design Challenge in particular best helped me develop many of the skills necessary to work in a team and communicate ideas between group members. This can be seen from the fact that we had some difficulties with consistently getting our device to produce the desired results, which thereby forced our group to think critically as a team rather than as individuals. I realized that to be successful within this task, it would take the collective knowledge base of everyone to finalize a launcher that eventually performed very well, consistently delivering the ball to the target with speed and accuracy. Both failing and succeeding as a team has provided me with crucial experience that will be useful in my entrepreneurial ventures.

For my second elective to fulfill the certificate, I decided to take an I&E290 special topics course taught by Jed Simmons that was focused on media, entertainment, and tech. In each class session, we discussed a different case, and we frequently heard from speakers from the relevant companies. 

I truly learned a lot from each of the speakers, but something that stood out was how each speaker had a unique entrepreneurial journey that took frequent and unexpected turns. It was thus clear to me that career paths pursuing entrepreneurship likely won't go exactly as planned, especially out of college, and understanding this and preparing for it is necessary and important.

I also was able to determine how some spaces are on the cusp of major growth, and it is inherently significant that entrepreneurs can determine which spaces to pursue ventures in. For example, the session with Matthew Ball showed me how the applications within the metaverse and widespread, and I hope to do further research into this space.  Jed Simmons' own experiences as an entrepreneur proved to have invaluable lessons as well. He always recalled his successes and failures in the entrepreneurial world, and I made sure to note how he learned from all his experiences and constantly reflected on them.