Okay, we're going to give this another shot. I am starting a company, and have been working hard on it for over eight months. We've hit some bumps, had some revelations, made a few pivots, and are driving towards an impending product launch. And throughout, though I promised myself I would, I have done a terrible job in documenting it.
This is about to change.
I will use this blog to document what has been happening, my thought process around decisions, and my struggles and successes in entrepreneurship. I hope to be able to read over all of this in a years time, and see how far we've come. I will be as honest as I can, to allow anyone reading (and my future self) transparent insight into what it takes to start a company.
Like I mentioned, I've been working on this for a while. So the first few posts are going to be about catching up. A lot will be from memory, but I will draw on the two notebooks full of notes that I have made over this time, and will relate it all as best I can. Hopefully, it won't take long to catch up.
Here it goes.
In August 2014, GLOBE sat down for our first class with Ted Zoller and Chris Mumford: Global Entrepreneurship. GLOBE, a program I will be sure to dedicate a few future posts to, is a tri-continental exchange program, uniting students from three of the world's top business schools: Kenan-Flagler, Copenhagen Business School, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong. These are some of the most interesting, passionate, brilliant individuals I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and I am honored to call them my best friends.
That said, as most driven driven business students head in the direction of financial, consulting, and corporate powerhouses, entrepreneurship is not really on anyone's mind as a viable, or even a relevant, career option. That makes for a very interesting dynamic in a six credit course dedicated to the subject.
Our big project of the semester was to identify a problem, devise a solution, and do all the work involved to "start the company." I put that in quotations because in the context of a class, as any college student would tell you, the potential for real-world tangible results usually ends up quenched by the disappointing emphasis on a grade-centered educational experience and the unfortunate schism between class and the real world.
We were divided into teams, and put to work. I have to take a moment and say very honestly that if it wasn't for the engaged and awesome team I was lucky enough to be put with, I may never have gone further than the standard toe-dip into the entrepreneurship pool. Our team of five was so dedicated, so excited to work together, that we really turned this from a class-project into a reality, and I am so grateful to my four team members.
From CBS, the ever-smiley Victoria Berg and the brilliantly objective Oliver Soe. From CUHK, the utility player of the decade, Annie Ma. And from UNC, my partner for the last eight months, May Chang.
We'll stop here for now. In the next post, I'll talk about our first idea, where it came from, and our excitement around what may have been the worst business idea ever. See you soon!
Much love,
A
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