CSUF Entrepreneurial Matters

The semester has already started and we still need some mentors. Mentors are the type of people you consult with to find out the right way to do things. For most of our classes this means the mentor will be helping out his or her team tackle business issues for a local company. For a couple of the classes the mentors will be helping student teams develop business plans or even launch a business.

We currently need mentors for these subjects: Operations, Accounting, Leadership, New Venture Creation and New Venture Launch.

If you think that you would be a good mentor to a group of CSUF students or even if you know of someone who would be could you please contact me at tlindsay@fullerton.edu so that I can take down contact information and put you in a class. You better hurry though because the mentors are going to meet for the first time next week!

Need help with creating financial controls and better accounting practices?

Have CSUF student consulting help — they can do the things that you have wanted to do but have not had the time to do.

Student Consultants are standing by.

Contact Cymedina@fullerton.edu

Travis Lindsay
Center for Entrepreneurship

Are you looking at your spring schedule and realizing that it is pretty sparse? Or maybe you are one of those overachievers who take six classes and goes to an internship. Either way there is an exciting new marketing and public relations internship available at Scooter’s Jungle.

The intern will assist with local store marketing, community relations and localized public relations, conducting customer research and competitive analysis. The intern will have a seat at the table where their ideas, contributions and work product will be immediately used to grow Scooter’s Jungle’s multi-location business. In 2012, Scooter’s Jungle is planning on adding two additional Southern California franchises as well as two out of state locations, which means there is a lot of meaningful work that needs to be done over the next few months.

If, however, that internship doesn’t sound like something you want to do Scooter’s Jungle is also offering a $12/hr short term position to someone who knows how to publish operations manuals using Microsoft Word. Scooter’s Jungle has the content but they need help reformatting and updating the documents.

For those of you who have any interest in either of these opportunities please contact Scott Diener at (949) 349-9559 or via email to scott@scootersjungle.com.

Travis Lindsay
Center for Entrepreneurship

If you are a business major, especially if you are one majoring in entrepreneurship, you should seriously consider an internship with one of the most highly regarded Small Business Development Centers in the state. TriTech has been helping businesses grow for nearly a decade now and they have had an amazingly positive impact on the local economy.

Here is their Mission Statement: The Orange County/Inland Empire Regional SBDC Network stimulates economic growth in Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties by providing small businesses and entrepreneurs with expert consulting, effective training and access to resources.

Here is what they are looking for in an intern: Paid and unpaid internships are available for approximately 20 to 40 hours each month to conduct market research. Experience is required in the areas of: market research, database mining and the ability to intelligently analyze this information from a report. The locations for these internships will be at the Small Business Development Centers in Irvine, Riverside and Corona.

Another internship is available to those who are experienced paralegals or for pre-law students. The purpose of this internship is to conduct preliminary patent searches. Familiarity with the USPTO database and Lexus/Nexus are good skills to have if you want to be seriously considered for this internship. The location will be in Irvine. Internships open to MBAs, computer science, law, engineering and pre-med, biology or chemistry graduate students.

If you are interested in either opportunity, please send your electronic resumes to: Marquise Jackson at marquise.jackson@rccd.edu

Whether you decide to pursue these internships or not have a wonderful break and a productive 2012!

Travis Lindsay
Center for Entrepreneurship

Every semester, students taking entrepreneurship courses at Cal State Fullerton present their business plans to a group of (mock) investors. These investor panels are comprised of members of the local business community who have extensive experience in a variety of different disciplines and industries. Many of the panelists have also been involved with a number of start-ups. The diversity of the investor panel allows the students to get a wide variety of perspectives. For example, my panel this semester consisted of top-level executives from the entertainment, media, consulting, technology, and automobile industries. These executives had extensive experience in the areas of marketing, finance, sales, and management.

Despite the knowledge that nobody on the panel will cut a check, the stakes are still quite high for the students. They have spent much of the past three months investigating, researching and refining their initial ideas and turning them into viable businesses. They have narrowed their focus to a target market, determined how to best market their product/service to this target market and created detailed financial statements to support the potential of their business.

This is the third time that I have been a part of this process. I feel a bit like an elementary school teacher watching his students perform in a holiday recital. I’ve taught them everything I know and now I can only stand back and hope that they shine. I’m proud to report that the students shined very brightly. Their business plans definitely had holes in them. Nevertheless, they took their feedback well and handled all of the panel’s questions with poise, confidence and intelligence.

In the process, I also learned a few things:
· The primary concern investors have is whether they will get their money back (and then some). They want to see that everything the team is saying results in the business having enough cash to give the investors their promised return on investment. One way to achieve this objective is to show the projected ending cash balances of the business.
· Customer surveys are good, but they have a big problem. Many customers will say great things about a product/service in a survey or focus group. Many will even indicate that they are likely to purchase it. But when asked to actually do so, many will not follow through. One way to see if this is actually the case is to ask potential customers to “reserve” a product/service. It does not have to require any money to be transferred, but it signals a much stronger commitment to purchase as compared to a response on a survey or focus group.
· There is nothing wrong with starting small. Selling goods at a swap meet or county fair is an excellent way to test the waters and see if there is sufficient demand to justify putting your life savings (along with the hard-earned money of others) into the business.
· Present with confidence. Investors sense this confidence, and it gives them confidence that the team can execute. It was no coincidence that the business idea that received the most praise was the one where all the team members had internalized the material they were to present and looked very comfortable in front of the audience. In fact, the team looked like they were having fun. Although some have a natural ability to captivate an audience, more often than not, this is something that comes with lots of practice. (I know for a fact that the aforementioned team practiced extensively.)

Dr. Atul Teckchandani
CSUF Entrepreneurship Professor

Choosing to enter the CSUF Entrepreneurship program was the best choice I have ever made. I was able to gain insight into how businesses work in the real world; this has proven invaluable in my pursuit of running a successful business of my own.

I graduated from Cal State University, Fullerton in 2010. Since graduating I have been pursuing a career in photography specializing in portraiture and lifestyle; my company is called Brian Evans Photography. Though I currently reside in Orange County, I have traveled throughout the United States capturing images for editorial and commercial clients. In addition to commercial and editorial work I also photograph weddings. My wedding photography has become an increasingly important aspect of my business.

In addition to paid assignments I have been working on a personal project called Thee Beer Book with my girlfriend and CSUF alumna, Jessica Cartie. Currently the project documents the home and microbrew scene in southern California. Our ultimate goal is to expand the project to include home and microbrewers around the United States and the world.

I have worked in photography since my senior year of high school, but it wasn’t until after completing the entrepreneurship program that I had the proper tools to really pursue a career in the business. Since earning my degree, I returned to my high school in Cathedral City to speak to students of the DATA Program. I focused my presentation on the importance of developing a solid base of business skills.

CSUF Entrepreneurship helped me understand what it takes to create and launch a new venture. While I have only begun this process, I am confident that I am prepared (thanks to CSUF Entrepreneurship).

Brian Evans
CSUF Entrepreneurship Graduate 2010

If you have some time on November 18-20, consider attending the Startup Weekend at Chapman University.

It is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different skill sets – primarily software developers, graphics designers and business people – to build applications and develop a commercial case around them.

For more details visit http://orangecounty.startupweekend.org/

John Bradley Jackson
Director
Center for Entrepreneurship
CSUF

As a leader, the reality is that most of the other people in your organization will not get to know you very well. This is likely to be true even in smaller organizations. Most of your employees will not be directly reporting to you or be able to have lengthy one-on-one meetings with you. Instead, they will learn about you based on what they hear from others or base it on a single and very brief exchange they had with you as you walked down the hall. Regardless of how they go about formulating their opinion of you, it is important that they see that you are acting in a way that is consistent with the values and norms of the organization.

This begs the question: how do you generally treat people? Or, more specifically: how do you treat the people you rarely see or come into contact to, but who help keep your organization running smoothly? I once read that the best way to judge a person is to see how he or she treats the wait staff at a restaurant. Is he or she bossy? Demanding? Friendly? Compassionate? How does he or she react when the food comes out late, or their order is incorrect, or the food is not cooked well? How does he or she get the wait staff’s attention? If you are authentic and consistent, how you treat someone outside your organization (e.g., a waiter or waitress) should be very similar to how you treat an employee.

As a leader, your every action (or inaction) has consequences. This is especially true in smaller organizations, where the leaders’ actions directly contribute to the company culture (in academia, this is known as “imprinting”). Moreover, every person in your organization affects its overall performance. An engineer helps to build the next generation of products that will generate revenue for the firm. A manufacturing technician helps to build those products. A salesperson helps keep relationships with customers strong and works to bring in new customers. A financial analyst makes sure that money is being allocated in the most efficient way possible within the firm. An administrative assistant keeps things running smoothly at all levels of the organization. A janitor keeps the office clean and stocked with important supplies – like hand soap and toilet paper. Everyone plays a part in the organization’s effectiveness and everyone should be valued as an important part of the organization.

Dr. Atul Teckchandani
CSUF Entrepreneurship Professor

CSUF Entrepreneurship Board Member Ron Stein was interviewed by Ric Franzi of OC Talk Radio on October 18, 2011 about the California economy. The interview included comments about the “new normal business environment.”

The interview is about 25 minutes in length and can be heard at http://ceopeergroups.podbean.com/2011/10/28/critical-mass-october-18-2011/

John Bradley Jackson
Director
Center for Entrepreneurship
CSUF

I recently participated in a global entrepreneurship conference attended by entrepreneurship academicians, entrepreneur “wannabees”, and a few “real” entrepreneurs. A vigorous discussion emerged about the value of business plans at the university versus the usage of business plans in the “real” world.

The general consensus was that angel investors (i.e. angel networks), private equity investors, and venture capitalists seldom, if ever, read business plans. Most investors are buried in unsolicited business plans and most never get read. End of story.

It is true that executive summaries (one to two page overviews) may get read, but only if genuine interest is expressed by the investor. Rather, PowerPoint presentations (ten pages with 30 point font including photos and video) are the most common tool in the fund raising process. This plays to the funder’s “Twitter-like” preference for brevity and the need for compliance with the typical investor’s review process.

In a soft market like today, this review process entails a seemingly endless review by the investors resulting in endless action items for the entrepreneur. These homework assignments result in even more presentations and, ultimately, no funding. Sorry, this is the current sad state of affairs in the start-up financing community. The only deals getting funding today have rock solid proof of concepts, strong cash flow, and a back log of orders. Risk is just not in the equation for the new ultra conservative investor.

Yet, at the university, lengthy business plans thrive as a teaching tool. The typical business plan with 30 or more pages challenges the students to define the business from concept to funding to exit strategy. The academic typically challenges the student answer questions like:

1. Does the plan describe the offering and how it solves the customer problem?
2. Does the plan describe the target market and the unique value proposition?
3. Does the plan describe a sustainable competitive advantage and the offering’s intellectual property?
4. Does the plan describe the pricing strategy and the competitive environment?
5. Does the plan describe the channel of distribution and sales strategy?
6. Does the plan include operational plans detailing business operations with logical milestones and actions steps?
7. Does the plan describe the management team and their fit with the business?
8. Does the plan provide for reasonable use of resources (staffing, facilities, and equipment)?
9. Does the plan include how technology will be manufactured (with process flow charts)?
10. Does the plan describe the technology development, testing, trial, and approval process?
11. Does the plan include pro-forma profit and loss statements for the first three years?
12. Do the pro-forma statements tie to the plans for operations and marketing?
13. Does the plan specify the assumptions made in the financial statements and are the assumptions reasonable?
14. Does the plan include a capitalization table?
15. Does the plan identify a road-map of the capital needs, timing, ROI and exit?

In my opinion, these are very reasonable and very important questions. If an entrepreneur (student or otherwise) cannot answer them, they don’t deserve to get funding. If the investor is uninterested in the answers to these questions, I wouldn’t want their advice or their money.

Long live the business plan. Make them lengthy, detailed, and complete.

John Bradley Jackson
Director, Center for Entrepreneurship
jjackson@fulleton.edu