UWB CSE

Business Ownership Project - 2008

March 20th, 2008

Due Monday, June 9 (Finals Week) at my office in room 336 in UW1
You are to describe and contrast two different businesses. You will interview the owners of each company.

Requirements

1. Each must represent a different business model. For example, you may not use two brick-and-mortar retail stores (e.g. Wine Store and Bookstore).

2. You must describe the two models (e.g. Basics of Hazel’s Model) . You might even do a quick comparison of both businesses in a single table. The model must run through the 5 sacred elements. You may wish to also have a table(s) that contain further descriptions of each business.

3. You must have a single sentence or two sentences that describe each business (e.g. “They aim to be the Nordstroms of Casual Cafes - casual atmosphere coupled with very good food and outstanding service”)

4. You should then include a narrative about each business. You should still contrast each business. Typical questions that are asked should include:

a) When did you know that you wanted to start your own business? What was the inspiration for starting this business?

b) Was your initial idea the same as your current business? How did you change directions?

c) How did you obtain your starting capital?

d) What were some especially difficult obstacles? Did you ever have any difficulty with having enough cash?

e) What type of qualifications must an owner have? What type of qualifications are needed in the employees? How easy is it to find the right employees?

f) If the person sold or shut down his/her business, you may ask: when did you realize it was time to get out of the business? What were some lessons learned for closing your business?

5. You should include a cover page and executive summary (no more than 1 paragraph).

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The Learning Portfolio - 2008

March 10th, 2008

Due Monday, June 9 (Finals Week) at my office

Portfolio Requirements

A learning portfolio is a:

Series of artifacts that demonstrates the progression of knowledge, skills and wisdom.

Structured collection of student work created across time, framed by reflection and enriched through collaboration, … (from Wolf, 2000)

The freshman learning portfolio is your “memory scrapbook”. It tells the story of your first year in school, from high school grad to the end of your freshman year. It is also more than a story. It contains your after thoughts, your meditations or reflections about your learning experience.

This memo details what should be contained in your portfolio for this class.

1. Welcome Page - You may be be sharing your portfolio with someone you trust. Many of you will be allowing your portfolio to be displayed. You’re welcoming the reader as well as making a short statement. You should provide a mission statement.

e.g. “My mission is to become an excellent instructor and advisor such that my students can (and will) surpass me in many different ways”

2. Story - This details your past 12+ months. I won’t tell you how to label your sections, because you should have free rein about how to tell your story. Nevertheless, it should progress like a story rather than every item being an isolated bit. You should consider three areas of your development: academic, personal, and professional. It should contain key artifacts (or xerox copies) and your accompanying reflections. You shouldn’t feel forced to write a reflection for every small artifact. You should, however, detail your most significant reflection. You may wish to group items into themes.

You may review the lecture slides on “Portfolios 101″

3. For the Future - This details your current educational / professional and personal interests. You should write about how you’ll pursue this. You may wish to consult your advisors or instructor(s) for ideas.

You’ll be graded on:

1) Organization and Coherence (Does it tell a clear story?)

2) Reflection (Are there connections between some of the artifacts? Is this a portfolio that is arid - devoid of personal meaning, or is it rich with your articulated thoughts and meditations? Does the portfolio contain at least 1 or 2 themes?

3) Was the mission statement clear and concise? Did the opening provide a “welcome mat” that invites the reader?

4) Did the last section, “For the Future”, include some useful info from written materials or someone helpful (e.g. advisor, friend)?

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Hell Night Guidelines

March 7th, 2008

These are team guidelines for presenting on Hell Night:

1. No more than 4 people per team are allowed to interact directly with investors. The others can interact with presenting team members (e.g. fetch water, handouts), but cannot talk to investors nor to hand material directly to investors.

2. You can bring in one outside person as a presenter when the outsider is your business co-owner. One of the other co-owners must be on the student team. Lastly, 1-person teams can invoke a special exception: bring a single helper that can also interact with the investors.

3. Presenters are not allowed to stray from the area in front of their booth unless to get water, grab food, or use the restroom.

4. All visitors are eligible to be “investors” and are given an envelope with play money. A few visitors are designated as “super-investors”. Super-investors are given larger envelopes, containing much more play money. The super-investor envelopes are tagged with color dots. On Thursday, there will only be a handful of super-investors, but as a group, the super-investors may carry about as much money as the regular investors combined.
5. When you finish, label an envelope with your team name and stick your earned play money into it. Give the envelope to Miller or Thomson.

6. Your team members should ask for feedback from key members of the crowd.

7. The first place team will be expected to make a presentation. The presentation should not last longer than 12 minutes. On Thursday night, we’ll limit the audience to a handful of questions.