The end.

Today was our last NVP lecture. That postponed lecture that was postponed was postponed for today so we had it today. Today we learnt that engineers do actually come up with some good ideas every now and again, ah who am I kidding, I’m just jelly. The idea of the lean start up is what we dun dealt with today. That and the inherent success in failure, well when failure isn’t treated with too much respect that is.

The idea of the lean start up is pretty simple and name is pretty well suited. Keep things moving and keep them as barebones as possible and you have a better chance of success. Yeah I’m more interested in the successful failure part too.

My last post was about how certain I was that entrepreneurial ventures were to fail and how this was off putting to me. Well, turns out err’ybody fails at this game in the beginning and these failures only serve to teach you what it is that will work and what it is you should be doing. Failure in this game, and I am enjoying calling it a game (watching The Wire these days so excuse me), serves you better than an initial “sort of” success. It is likely that after failing a couple times your next effort(s) are going more well-rounded and likely to succeed. Succeed in large ways. 

Tony.

NVP was postponed today. To my surprise I was dismayed on hearing this was the case, well just a little bit anyway. I found myself wondering at what it would have been that would have been covered in the lecture that would have been. Would that the word would had fewer uses I would surely use “would” less. When, and brace yourself for some introspective rambling to come, we started this course I was convinced that entrepreneurship was definitely not for me. My vision of entrepreneurship was that of high risk, high labour, low enjoyment, low reward, no sleep and then failure. Turns out, that only happens 70% of the time, and usually you just lose other peoples cash. So, things aren’t so bad.

In all seriousness I have a new view on entrepreneurship, if you’re smart about the venture and you go in with dedication and looking to win you may just come out with something that was worth the while. The comfort of a secure job still beckons but where will all of that lead?  Entrepreneurship has its risks but luckily like all things risky and shiny, it has its rewards too. Or so we are to believe.  

Oh and The Sopranos, watch this show at some point if you haven’t already. It’s meticulously written, not a scene or sentence wasted, everything adds to the giant machine of glory that is the Anthony Soprano story. TV just isn’t even nearly as good as it used to be, sure AMC and HBO still bring out some good stuff every now and again but the shows of today just lack commitment. Commitment and balls. If I was more eloquent I would definitely be able to use this as beautiful analogy for those ventures that succeed and those that fail. But lyk wat eva. 

Gimme yo shares!

Today in NVP we focused on risks.  Risks being evil creatures that can be expected to arise and that, unless proper action is taken, can be expected to run riot and wreak havoc.  However as we can expect them we can look for ways to avoid them and mitigate their effects. Also we can make plans of action to be executed when the wily buggers do arise.

We then covered how companies go public and put their shares up for sale. This is a topic I know barely anything about so it was interesting to hear about how it all works. The subject of hostile takeovers was also discussed and given the nature of the deed, it was a highlight. Turns out the corporate world isn't as boring as it looks.

Next was some accounting, unfortunately. As dire as the situation looked we were not dragged too deep into the financial pit.

I’ve been watching the Sopranos, damn good show.  

Seconds.

We are covering a wide range of topics in NVP from gorilla marketing (which is an awesome topic) to milkshake marketing (which is food for thought, pun … intended). Due to how long the lectures are (very long, and twice a day! sho) there is a lot of time for a lot of discussion. This of course has it’s pros and cons, while the discussions we have are really interesting (and really, they are) they do however result in frayed concentration and heavy heads which means that some of the new material does not find its self the focus and is not so easily retained. All in all though I’d take the discussions over a more classic “academic” style that would result in shorter lectures.

The earlier wakeups and training sessions are taking their toll at this stage though, coffee is a man’s best friend. Not the dog, when did the dog ever help out on meeting a deadline or with paying attention. Pah I say, pah to you canines. 

Bang.

Today we started on our two compulsory courses, NVP and PCU. Of the two 3 hour lecture periods everyday the former takes the latter and latter the former. How was that for a pretentious sentence? Anywho NVP is here to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in the lot of us while PCU is there to teach the lot of us how to express, professionally, just how inspired we are. All glibness aside, two important modules that most of us would never have taken of our own volition.

We broke the ice in PCU by being put into groups and being told to create a group presentation that would serve to introduce us all to the each other and to the rest of the class. This was followed by some other group activities and an introduction to the module.

In NVP we were given an introduction to the module and then told to write business cards for ourselves that, from how I understood it, had to be just one word that would show customers what value we would bring to them. Mine was tenacity, something I think is very important. Something too that I would display in the next activity.

Our next activity was a sales activity in which we had to sell a device that looked like a handless watch. We were to sell the device as anything as long as we did not add hands to it. Second time around we had the same task with the added constraint being that we could not add anything mechanical, electrical or anything else of that nature. Our team decided that a powder shaker would be the best item to sell and even in the face of doubt we sold the, um, we sold the, the, we sold it well.