Sam Walton (founder of wal-mart) Notes

which company would you choose?

between the two companies; the grill charm company and the bobble head company I would choose the grill charm company without a doubt. I not only liked the idea of the grill charm company more but I also liked the entreprenuer more as well. The entrepreneur of the bobble head company was only offering equity for the new un-tested company he was wanting to start, not his main online company that is already greating lots of profit. The entreprenuer wanted the sharks to give him 75'000 dollars for something that had no real proof that it would be succesful and also wouldnt share any of his other company with them for insurance on their money. The man was greedy and also wasnt very professional, when asked by the sharks what his profits were, he couldnt give them a hard answer, only price ranges. First impressions are very important and who you are going into business with is very important as well which is mainly why I would not go into business with the bobble head company entreprenuer. I would have made a deal with the grill charm company because I really liked the idea as well as the entreprenuer. She was very determined and passionate about her idea and didn't ask overvalue her company. You could tell that she wanted to expand and was willing to give up some to gain in terms of her idea growing as a company. Giving what the sharks offered, I would have probably offered about 75'000 dollars for 30% of her company or tried to get in on a deal with one of the sharks because I really believe that the product is a good product and would want to get in on it.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Six key statements:

1. reconstruct market boundries

2. focus on the big picture, not the numbers

3. reach beyond existing demand

4. get the strategic sequence right

5. overcome key organizational hurdles

6. build execution into strategy

Two companies that I would consider to be Blue Ocean companies are

Seth Godin on Sliced Bread

Seth Godin starts of by talking about sliced bread and how it took 15 years to catch on due to bad advertising. The way people use to advertise was known as "the T.V industrail complex". The way this idea worked was that you buy some ads which gets more distribution which sells more products which gets more money. This cycle continues to go in a circle, but in fact was cancelled because it was proven to not be effective. Advertisers usually target the mass majority of average people; the people in the middle of the curve, when in fact they should try and target the curve of people (the fringe) who are obessed with their product or service because they will listen and hopefully tell their freinds thus the word will spread. Another major point Seth Godin made was that Design is free when you get to scale and the people who come up with remarkable things are people who find a way to make design work for them. Also, being safe is risky and being very good is bad because both of these are boring and people don't notice boring things therefore they won't notice you or your business.

Pitching Element Bars

Element Bars is a company that makes personalized energy bars. The entrepreneur - Jonathans -intial offer to the sharks was 150 k for 15% equity. Even after the first Shark is out the entreprenuer doesnt give up and still answers his doubts and questions then he follows with telling the sharks about his features and benefits. Daymond (one of the sharks) makes the comment "the first person to name a price losses" which means basically that you shouldnt put up a number first because you need to see what others are willing to pay for first. Johnathan put up to big of a number for the amount of equity he was asking for, but when Daymond was about to decline he let them know that he was willing to neogatiate which in turn lead to Daymond offering 150 k for 75% equity of his company and Kevin H offering 150 k for 100% equity and a 4 % royalty to Jonathan. Jonathan considered the offer but wasn't willing to give up that much equity and countered to Daymonds offer with 20% equity; Daymond refused and was out. Jonathan was left with one shark (Kevin H) whose offer was still up, Johnathan told him that he was not willing to make the deal because he wasnt able to give up all that equity he told him that he wasnt willing to go over 50%. Kevin H countered with the same offer but for only 35%, Johanthan countered again saying that he was only willing to give up 25%. Kevin H gave him his final offer meeting halfway at 30% equity, Johanthan then accepted the deal.

Some Key Negotiation Skills Johanthan used:

1. Doesn't give up - explain counter offer

2. features/ benefits

3. first person to name a price losses

4. Force others to make offer

5. meet in the middle

Shark Tank Vs.

SHARK TANK VS. MR. TOD'S PIES:

Mr.Tod's Pies was a small business company in the fast food industry that sold a number of different pies. Tod came into the Shark Tank asking for $460'000 for 10% of his company from the Sharks, in the end 3 of the sharks were out but the remaining 2 offered him $230'000 each for 25% each of the company. Tod was faced with a major decision, give up half of his company for $460'000, or walk away from the deal. Tod decided to accept the deal which was a great decision on his part.Tod had over valued his company and his intial offer was unrealistic, but in the end he came to realization and did what he had to do for his company.

SHARK TANK VS. IONIC EAR

After Mr. Tod's Pies had came in next came a Business entreprenuer with the idea of an "ionic ear". His idea was basically a bluetooth technology piece that would be surgically implanted into peoples ears. The Sharks laughed and reduculed his idea, and honestly told him that it was not a good and realisitic idea for the present time. The entrepreneur should have been more realistic and probably should have took feedback from more people before going in front of the sharks because if he would have he would have possibly reconsidered the value of his idea.

SHARK TANK VS. WII SPOT

The next idea was a stand that would go into medical rooms for patients that included a number of different portable screens that would allow the patient to read email, search for information, etc. Basically the idea was a convient portable computer screen for patients. The entrepreneur wanted 1.2 million for only 10% of his company which was way over valuing his company. Saying that he wanted 1.2 million for only 10% means that he valued his company at 12 million dollars which was crazy. Also, his idea had many faults, such as email which every patient already had access to via cell phone, and even laptops which many patients tend to bring and use. Overall his idea just wasnt that good and one major thing I learned was to seek feedback from experienced business people before really putting excessive amounts of money into your business. This man had sacrificed everything (his kids college funds, his houses, etc.) and put everything into his idea which is not right. You need to be realisitic about things and get feed back from experienced people who know what they are talking about and also to never put your family at risk.

What I Learned About Google.

What I learned from Google?
After watching these videos on google I have learned a numurous about of things. One concept that I really liked and enjoyed learning about was about how google was as a company. Google isn't like the traditional company. Google does many things that most companies would not do and thus helps them seperate themself from the competition even more. One well known rule to companies is to stick with a logo and never change it in order to establish their brand while google realizes that they have established their brand and change their logo everyday. Also, they offer many benefits to their employees such as good quality food, laundry machines, and also freedom. The freedom google offers to it's employees is my favourite benefit that they give. Google allows it's employees to work on what they beleive is good for their company, they have a rule in which 20% of their time can be completely devoted to whatever products or projects they wish to do. Allowing freedom to employees hugely contributes to googles success as a company by not only making it convient for people to work for google, but by making people want to work for google.

Greed vs. Giving it up

In this episode of Shark Tank, the founders of College Hunks Hauling Junk and College Foxes Packing Boxes were faced with an offer of 250, 000 for 50% of their new business College Foxes Packing Boxes and 10% of their existing business called College Hunks Hauling Junk. The founders decided to decline the offer, which was a huge mistake. They were greedy, and valued their business and own expertise more then it was actually worth when in fact they should have been realistic and by being realistic I mean they should have realized that if they want to expand their company they are going to have to give something up in order to get something in return.

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of facebook and after watching his interviews I have learned some intresting key points. One of the first things that I learned about Mark Zuckerberg is that he is only 23 years old, which really surprised me. I thought to myself here is this young adult at the age of only 23 years old already running a multi-billion dollar company. This truly shows that success can come at any age and any time. Mark Zuckerberg simply started a small website based out of just his university with no real intent to make his website into a business and it quickly expanded to over 40 unversities and colleges. Facebook has now expanded throughout the whole world and is being compared to major websites such as google. Also, another thing that Mark Zuckerberg does with his company, is that the company office has a dorm-like atmosphere. All of his employees are fed and there clothes are drycleaned; therefore, they have no need to leave and go out for lunch or go home. It is this type of environment that helps employees become closer and more comfortable with eachother which in turn leads to them sharing and dicussing ideas with eachother and being able to give each other feedback to try and improve these ideas.

Steve Jobs "do what you love, don't settle"

The main key point I took from Steve Jobs speech was to do what you love and to never settle for average. Throughout the speech he consistly talked about how he loves what he does, and how people need to follow their heart and find what they love in order to acheive great success because in business you will face hardships. Steve Job faced a major hardship when he was fired from apple after he had already put so much time and effort into making the mac, and you don't love what you do, you won't beable to make it through tough times like these. Steve Jobs loves what he does, and when he got fired from apple, he continued to do what he loved. Steve Job started over what he did, and in fact states now that getting fired was one of the best things to ever happen to him as he later created next, pixar and also met his wife. Overall, the main lesson to take out of Steve jobs speech is to find what you love, and never stop looking until you find it; don't get caught up in others expectations, stick to your own and follow your heart.

Richard Branson

Richard Branson is an extremely succesful entrepreneur, best known for his virgin brand of over 360 companies. After watching his intreview, I have learned three very important lessons:

1. you don't have to be academically smart to succed in business as an entrepreneur. Richard Branson did terribly in his academics at school and in fact left school at the age of 15, and was still a huge success.

2. The stereotype of being a business man and having to do dirty things such as stabbing people in the back in order to succed is not true one bit. Richard Branson has been accused of being one of these types of business men when in fact he is not.

3. You don't always have to just focus on one company, having many companies and always expanding is much more benefical. Look at all of Richard Bransons companies and how much success he has had even though most of his businesses aren't in a sense "huge" businesses.