Guest Speaker Shadrach White

                Airlift reminds me of govWorks. I know it isn’t the same, but the premise of contracting with the government and providing automated online services made me think of the movie. Although Shadrach seems like a much nicer person than Kaleil. 

                I agree with him that development is an art. It’s not an easy thing to do, and when you see well written code that has great functionality and high-scalability, it’s a beautiful thing. He strikes me as a philosophical person. It’s great that he just lets his developers do their own thing. I’d love to have a manager like that. It’s important for me to be able to experiment with new technologies and try different techniques, and it’s good to hear that there are business owners in the world that are open that idea. 

                Pivoting back to the topic of starting a business, I think it’s important to talk about a topic he kept referring back to in is talk. He told us the story of getting a contract with a cannabis company for them to use Airlift. It sounded like a great opportunity and it’s a no-brainer that he would take it. However, the question his adviser asked him was even more important: “Do you want to tie your brand to marijuana?” What makes this such an interesting question is that it’s kind of one of those questions that will define what your business is. I don’t think that question was meant to deter him from going forward with the deal, but to help him cement what his business was setting out to do. 

It’s a question anyone can ask themselves when starting a new organization. Maybe not specifically in relation to marijuana, but just in general. Do you want to tie your brand to sports? Do you want to tie your brand to politics? Do you want to tie your brand to cars? Do you want to tie your brand to coffee? Do you want to tie your brand to *insert noun here*? 

Again, these aren’t meant to change anyone’s mind, the exact opposite actually. When answering a question like that, you are essentially making a statement as to what your business will be about. When labeling yourself as a cat food company, you will have greater brand identity, but you could be limiting yourself to what you could do in the future.

Startup.com Documentary

                Startup.com was a weird documentary. It was easy to tell what it was about from the beginning and what it would eventually lead to. To start this off, I never liked Kaleil. He had his moments, but he just seemed like the kind of guy that would throw anyone under the bus in order to save his own skin. I didn’t feel like Tom was that sort of person, though I disliked him for a different reason. Tom struck me as a guy way in over his head. We don’t really have a lot of background on how the two of them came to start govWorks, but somehow I think it was Tom’s idea. The problem is that Tom doesn’t really seem like he knows what he’s doing. I’m not surprised at all that he was ousted from the company (a YEAR later). He acted like a child when things weren’t going his way. It didn’t make it any better that Kaleil fired him and had Tom escorted out of the building. It seemed like reality show to me. 

                Switching topics now, I did like what the movie was trying to represent and why we were asked to watch the film. It was essentially a candid showing of the life span of a tech business. The rapid rise of govWorks, followed by its inevitable crash is analogous to tech businesses today and stands as a reminder of what could happen.

                Also, I think it’s hilarious that Kaleil was arrested for fraud. Watching this movie, it doesn’t surprise me at all. The ending seemed to unbelievable for his behavior shown throughout the film. How can it just end with him at his house with a dog in the backyard? If only there was a second documentary.

Guest Speaker John Dimmer

I'm going to be completely honest. While this was probably the most relevant guest speaker in terms of discussion topics and our business plan, this was the most boring. Not to disrespect Mr. Dimmer, but financials are not my strong suit, and I couldn't help but get distracted during the talk.

When I was paying attention however, I was able to get a few of my questions answered, as well as gather some important on tips to build my financial and funding plans for my business plan.

I was really glad he told us about the P & L (Profit and Loss) documents. The funding requirements section of the business plan has been my least favorite part to write, and knowing that I can pull similar information from big companies that give me an example of rates and percentages will be a big help in completing that portion.

Along with that, I'm glad he went over the timeline of investing. I didn't know what Angel investors or mezzanine was, and that part really helped me understand how they worked and at what point I would need to go after them. I think I'm the same boat as Mr. Fry however, Friends and Family aren't really a funding source I'd want to take advantage of. There's just something about asking my grandparents for money that feels worrisome to me. Mostly because I don't want to take the risk of my business failing and losing their investment capital. That sounds like a terrible situation to be in.

Mission and Vision Statement

Because of CarTalk's unique position in the world of wireless communication specifically while operating vehicles, it goes without saying that the biggest worry would be safety. Not only is the purpose of CarTalk to make roads safer by keeping drivers accountable for themselves, it adds another layer to the distracted driving conversation. Although it will be fully hands-free, will it help or hinder the movement to end phone use behind the wheel? Obviously being the company's creator I'm going with the former. It's not as simple as that however.

That's why our mission and vision statements need to reflect not only our business goals, but also to address our number one priority: safety. With that in mind, our vision statement would be something like "To make the roads safer for everyone". This doesn't just apply to drivers. It accounts for every human across the globe. It's a general enough statement without being too overreaching.

The mission statement is bit more business oriented though. "To create a product that would affect 80% of drivers in the world by implementing a hands-free Bluetooth application that lets' them communicate with each other in an effort to eliminate road rage and reckless driving." The point of this is to not only address our safety goals, but to also let potential investors know right away what our projected market share will be.

How will you protect your intellectual property?

When CarTalk eventually goes public (wink, wink) I want that name to be mine. The first thing I'd do is to trademark and copyright everything. It'll start with the name and logo, but over time it'll be other icons and designs like the color scheme. I wouldn't want any cheap knock-off to market themselves as my product because I was too lazy to file my copyrights.

While I'm doing that, I'll have to patent my Bluetooth algorithms. Because what CarTalk is going to do is so outside the realm of what's going in the Bluetooth world right now, the safest thing to do would be to talk to a patent attorney asap and file as quickly as possible. Considering it's a new market, I'll have competitors as soon as I start seeing growth. Having a patent for my system will make it so no other competitors can build theirs' like mine. That'll be a major advantage since they will be forced to adopt a new approach just to have a product in the market. This will take time and money, during which CarTalk will continue to expand into new regions of the country.

Lastly, I'll have to keep said algorithms secret. While having the patent will be a huge advantage, the problem with code is that it doesn't take much effort to change up an algorithm and label it as "new". In order for the patent to be as effective as it can in protecting my IP, I'll have to keep my code base and techniques as guarded as I can. That means only hiring engineers dedicated to the mission.

How will I price my product and why?

For my business idea, I'm going with CarTalk. The mobile app that leverages LTE, Bluetooth, and hands-free personal assistants to send short commands to nearby accepting drivers in order to alert them of functional issues related to their vehicle that they may not have seen.

It's a risky idea. People don't like to be micromanaged (see back-seat drivers) so making a product like this popular will be the biggest struggle. It'll be hard to get customers to adopt CarTalk. That's why the pricing for my product will be free.

As with any big name utility or social media app, they're listed as "free" on the market. This is to draw consumers in and get them using the product first. There are more times than I can count where I was scrolling through the App Store for a new game to download and chose to pass on the higher-quality ones because they were 0.99 cents.

To get users on my app, it will need to be free. Especially at first, my biggest priority will be building a user-base. Now you may be asking yourself, "Connor, how will you make money then? If CarTalk doesn't cost anything then what's the point?" I'm glad you asked, my thoughtful and caring reader. How do the Facebooks, Twitters, and Wazes of the world make their money? Hidden costs!

Although the face price will be $0, my profits will come from various channels. "Plus" versions that allow for more options of communication. Pairing deals with insurance companies that lower your rates the safer you make the road. Stickers and magnets to show your support and use of CarTalk. The biggest money maker though will be the price in which CarTalk sells the data collected. After a grace period in the beginning to allow the accruement of information, that database will be highly valuable.

Guest Speaker Brian Forth

This has been my favorite speaker so far. Mostly because it feels very relevant to me and the goals I have. I've been having a hard time finding a short-term job in the area after I graduate, so I've decided that the next best thing would be try my luck at freelance web development. Since I started going down that route, I've been learning a bunch of technologies that I didn't know before, the most important being WordPress. I started my own website (connorlundberg.com) using WordPress, but I'm having trouble knowing where my next steps should be in really starting my freelance practice.

That's what made Brian's talk so great for me. Here's a guy that saw a need in his community and went out and made it happen. Not only that, but it was awesome to hear about the different kinds of products and services his company offers. I've been having a tough time figuring out pricing not only for my freelance service, but for my Business Plan product. I think the resources-based billing is a good idea that I will definitely look into.

I also enjoyed learning more about the culture he’s fostered within his business. While having 9 people reporting directly to him sounds like a lot to handle, I can tell he’s got it under control. And while I hate to admit it, he’s right when he says not to dismiss anyone. It goes along with a point Rob Coons made in his talk that the customers are the most important part of a business. I’ll need to bare that in mind as I move forward.

Cheers,
Connor Lundberg