This study guide is intended to underscore key points from your readings & class sessions. This guide will assist you with studying for the upcoming exam. You may create a 50 page cheat sheet for the exam.
Course Foundations
What are Alan’s five sacred elements? Describe his concept of a business model? What does he mean by business technicians vs. business professionals? How does he liken business models to a cake?
Outline the case: how are the same skills and attitudes associated with an entrepreneur also the same for someone who wants to rise up the corporate ladder?
Why does Alan emphasize simplicity in this course? What does he mean? Is it about creating documents for simpletons?
How does Alan define an entrepreneur? Why?
What is the spark? Define and describe! (tough task, but you can cheat and check the class text)
How pervasive is the spark on your startup?
Is it a mere tagline? Why not? How does it resemble a tagline?
Why do you suppose Alan (& this course) is focused on simplicity?
Why and when does Alan say that you should not overuse the “stinking SWOT”?
What powers does an elevator pitch give you?
What does Alan mean by “make mantra”?
What does Alan mean by “make story”?
What does Alan mean by “make memorable”?
What suggestions does he have for talking to customers? Why does he caution against talking only to friends?
What does he mean by “seeking wisdom”?
What is the “greatest question”?
Why does Alan (& George for that matter) favor the team as being more important than the idea?
What’s the difference between writing an executive summary versus a business plan?
Specify and describe George’s Four startup team roles? What are some other characters?
How do you make best use of Advisers?
What is a fishbowl? Why does Alan want you to thoroughly prepare all 5 elements but still be ready to be cut off and do Q&A after a pitch?
What is the role of financials in your plan or running a business?
David Law’s lecture
1. According to David Law, what type of business is easiest to start? What are some of the drawbacks that he mentioned in class?
2. Why did David advocate “finding the right trade show” as a marketing method?
3. According to David, what is a “brand”? David also characterized it as a “central nugget”. How else did he characterize “brand”?
4. What was David’s recommendation regarding target market selection? Can you list his rationale for it?
Larry Nakata
Why do you suppose Larry gave us such a detailed family history? What was he teaching us? (think of the context of his entire talk)
What is the point of the Martin Luther King Quote?
Describe Larry’s 3 special words to describe the company DNA? (Kaizen, Gaman, Ama-me)
Larry described 6 values for the company (e.g. service, authenticity, environmental stewardship). How did the management implement some of these values?
Kirk Davis
What were a few of Kirk’s reasons for advocating Social Media Marketing? What lessons did you learn from his youtube videos?
Can you describe the overall method for deploying social media marketing? (partly described in the handout)
What are some additional tips that he gave?
Karen Bailey
What does Karen say about the relationship of Value to the Flow of money? What points was she trying to make?
What is the difference between benefits versus value? Between features versus benefits?
Kyle Flindt
What makes for a strong trademark?
What are the differences between a copyright versus a patent?
Why would you do a trade secret rather than a patent?
Rodger Kohn
According to Rodger, who needs a license?
As Rodger started his talk, what did he state was his top advice for a startup?
What is a “pass through” entity? Does it have to do with something you ate? Give an example of such an entity?
What is Phantom Income?
Why does Rodger call the sole proprietorship “very simple but risky”?
Before you consummate a partnership, what does Rodger say must be done first? (Hint: it’s not pre-partnering counseling, it’s more akin to a pre-nuptial)
What are the key differences between as S-Corp vs. C-Corp
What do you need to do to keep the corporate veil from being pierced?
What is the difference between a tradename vs. a trademark?
Dan Voetmann
Who is Dan Voetmann? Where does he work? What position does he hold?
Which language can Dan speak? Italian? French? Swahili? If you listened carefully to his background, y9u will know.
How does he define and/or describe “brand” and “marketing”?
What did Dan say was fundamental to building a brand (or a company for that matter)?
What were the steps for building a brand?
What does Dan mean by “a bed of nails”?
How did Dan use the Olympics to get his point across?
What did Dan have to say about brand positioning?
What does Dan list as his success factors? Explain his 3-legged stool.
Can you explain the enlightened self-interest in community service?
Martin Simonetti & Rob Hershberg
What did Marty say was the essential thing to have for an entrepreneur? What further description did he add to it? What did Rob say was the essential thing?
When you’ve raised money, who is the startup really about? How do you align with this person?
What’s the difference between being passionate versus a “nutcase”?
What were Marty’s comments regarding success versus failure?