In the reading you did for Monday and in class we talked about "The Pitch." Guy Kawasaki, the author of those handouts, suggests it takes 25 practice pitches to get it down. It was suggested in class that too much practice might lead to a wooden performance, like the first guy on "Shark Tank." Good point. Obviously, you are not going to practice 25 times. But a few wouldn't hurt. "All of these pitches don't have to be to your intended audiences," he writes. "Your co-founders, employees, relatives, friends, and even your dog are fine auditors." And your classmates are too. I'm not a big Powerpointer, but it can be a powerful tool in certain circumstances and remains ubiquitous in the business world.
So, using the suggestions the Kawasaki handout, combined with the thought you have given to the new company you want to start, prepare a 10- or 15-slide slide Powerpoint pitch presentation with voiceover that you can post to your blogs (we have guests for the next three weeks, so we'll have no time to view these in class.) You can pretend that you would be sending these to potential investors. The presentations should be three to five minutes long and can be as wild and creative as you'd like. If you prefer you can do your pitch in a video, or combine video and stills. Title your presentation with a clever three- or four-word mantra. These should be posted by Monday, Oct. 21, at noon at the latest. Otherwise, there are no particular guidelines -- it's your show.
If you don't have the Kawasaki handouts, there are still a few on my office door. See the handouts for more information on mantras if you weren't in class Monday.
(Powerpoint is one of the products in the Microsoft Office software suite. It is available pretty much everywhere if you don't already have it on your own computer. It is very easy to use, and there are plenty of tutorials online. Here is a tutorial on how to do voiceover or narration. Here is another one on embedding the show in your blog posting.)
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Our guest next week
Our guest next week will be Meg Heckman. She plans to talk about her recent trip to Chicago to attend the Local Independent Online News Publishers Association summit. She is riding the crest of the wave into the new world of digital reporting and publishing. Meg will join the UNH Journalism Program faculty as a lecturer in January. Here is her bio:
I’m a post-platform journalist with more than a decade of experience covering communities both big and small. I attended the University of New Hampshire and completed fellowships with the Poynter Institute and the New York Times Foundation. I'm currently a graduate student at Northeastern University where I'm researching women's roles in emerging digital news organizations. My recent work has been published by Poynter.org, Editor & Publisher, NetNewsCheck.com, the Columbia Journalism Review and the Center for Digital Ethics & Policy at Loyola University.
Meg asks that you read this piece that she wrote recently for NetNewsCheck.com before Monday's class.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
What to do for next week, Oct. 7
I have never met anyone like John Herman. I trust you enjoyed his visit as much as I did. He is an excellent resource and contact for all of you.
Next week we will start talking about basic business arithmetic. It's not as sexy as Monday's topic, for sure, but it's necessary for anyone who wants to start a business or even to understand how a business works. Every journalist should know this stuff, if only so he or she can report knowledgeably on the business world.
Our guest will be Joe Burke, thefool guy who bought my magazine a few years ago. We were delighted to sell Points East to Joe and his wife, Joanne (who teaches nutrition at UNH), because we knew that with 30 years in the high-tech industry he would run it as a disciplined business rather than a seat-of-the-pants hobby/excuse to spend lots of time on boats. The added bonus is that Joe and Joanne are super-nice people. Bio: Joe worked in operations and marketing capacities for several high tech companies for 30 years before finding his true calling as the publisher of Points East. B.A and M.A. from Boston College, M.B.A. from Babson.
To prepare you for Joe's visit, I have assembled a reading and study list for you. This is the simplest, kindest explanation of business accounting principles I could find. Please go through each one carefully and stick with it until you understand the concepts. If you don't, it will be very hard to follow Joe's presentation. This all comes from the Web site "Understanding accounting."
Feel free to read all the sections on this site, but again be sure to read and understand the following sections. We'll do a very quick quiz on some of the key concepts and terminology on Monday.
Glossary
Balance Sheets
Revenue and Expense
Bases of Accounting
Receivables and Payables
Fixed assets and depreciation
Statement Preparation
Goodwill
And don't forget your blog postings. The frustrations and challenges of understanding business accounting may provide some inspiration. You could also write about your reactions to John's visit.
Next week we will start talking about basic business arithmetic. It's not as sexy as Monday's topic, for sure, but it's necessary for anyone who wants to start a business or even to understand how a business works. Every journalist should know this stuff, if only so he or she can report knowledgeably on the business world.
Our guest will be Joe Burke, the
To prepare you for Joe's visit, I have assembled a reading and study list for you. This is the simplest, kindest explanation of business accounting principles I could find. Please go through each one carefully and stick with it until you understand the concepts. If you don't, it will be very hard to follow Joe's presentation. This all comes from the Web site "Understanding accounting."
Feel free to read all the sections on this site, but again be sure to read and understand the following sections. We'll do a very quick quiz on some of the key concepts and terminology on Monday.
Glossary
Balance Sheets
Revenue and Expense
Bases of Accounting
Receivables and Payables
Fixed assets and depreciation
Statement Preparation
Goodwill
And don't forget your blog postings. The frustrations and challenges of understanding business accounting may provide some inspiration. You could also write about your reactions to John's visit.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Meet our Monday guest
Our class guest Monday is John Herman. You may have met him during one of his visits to UNH. John is a very interesting character, to say the least. He does many things and he does them all well. "Artist, teacher, writer, web adventurer," he calls himself on his website. Oh, and actor. And director. And producer. And very good friend of the UNH Journalism Program.
But one of his most remarkable qualities has been his ability to brand himself through intensive use of social media. As an entrepreneur, that is exactly what you need to do and what you need to be thinking of all the time -- every time you tweet, every time you post on Facebook, every blog you create. It is a constant process that requires constant attention, and that's what John is going to help us with.
I'm looking forward to it. I know you will enjoy it.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
What to do for next week, Class #5, Sept. 30
Next week is class #5. That puts us one-third of the way through the course. Yesterday we discussed -- or attempted to discuss -- ideas for the new ventures you will be creating this semester. Clearly some of you have thought a lot about this and are energized. Others appear not to have found a focus yet. We need to all get on the same page before any more time goes by. This is idea week. Through your reading and blogging, we will firm up your idea. Please remember that your idea/project/product must have some connection to journalism.
For next week, before doing anything, read chapters 9-12 in Newsonomics (you should already have read Chapter 11, actually) and Chapter 8 in Entrepreneurial Journalism.
You should also have already read Chapter 5 of the Briggs book. Review it if you need to. In it, Briggs says, "...the idea alone is never enough. Ideas become sustainable only when they are transformed into a product or business -- and that's a constant process of development, marketing and improvement." So let's begin that process. Here's what to do:
1. State your project idea as concisely and precisely as possible. Keep it very focused. A sentence or two should do. Post this to your blog.
2. Socialize your idea. Run it by three people who are not hotshot business people -- just regular people who might someday become your customers. Friends, strangers, parents, uncles, aunts, neighbors -- doesn't matter as long as they will give you honest answers. Take notes on their responses so that you can quote them exactly later on. You could also record their responses or even videotape them. Add these responses in any creative way to your blog. Identify the three people by name, age, gender, and profession. For those of you who know multimedia, it might be fun to do it in a video or slide show that you can upload to your blog.
3. Copy and paste the following Q & A to your blog and answer the questions as thoroughly as you can:
Question: I have read your idea and I would like to understand a little more about it. What need does this idea fill? Is this a need that you have yourself? Who would share this need?
Answer:
Q: At this point you should have some idea of who the average user of your product will be. What is the profile of that person?
A:
Q: Who wants this product that you intend to develop?
A:
Q: What problem or need are you satisfying for your customers? (Remember, the customers aren't necessarily the people who will be using your product. For example, television audiences aren't customers unless they pay for the product, as in HBO. The customers are advertisers.)
A:
Q: Who wants this product?
A:
Q: We all have to live. Where is the money in this product?
A:
Q: You are a journalist. Where is the journalism in this product?
A:
Q: We've read that passion is key to success of a new venture. Money alone will not sustain it. So where is the passion in your product?
This should all be done by class time next week so that we can look at them on the big screen.
For next week, before doing anything, read chapters 9-12 in Newsonomics (you should already have read Chapter 11, actually) and Chapter 8 in Entrepreneurial Journalism.
You should also have already read Chapter 5 of the Briggs book. Review it if you need to. In it, Briggs says, "...the idea alone is never enough. Ideas become sustainable only when they are transformed into a product or business -- and that's a constant process of development, marketing and improvement." So let's begin that process. Here's what to do:
1. State your project idea as concisely and precisely as possible. Keep it very focused. A sentence or two should do. Post this to your blog.
2. Socialize your idea. Run it by three people who are not hotshot business people -- just regular people who might someday become your customers. Friends, strangers, parents, uncles, aunts, neighbors -- doesn't matter as long as they will give you honest answers. Take notes on their responses so that you can quote them exactly later on. You could also record their responses or even videotape them. Add these responses in any creative way to your blog. Identify the three people by name, age, gender, and profession. For those of you who know multimedia, it might be fun to do it in a video or slide show that you can upload to your blog.
3. Copy and paste the following Q & A to your blog and answer the questions as thoroughly as you can:
Question: I have read your idea and I would like to understand a little more about it. What need does this idea fill? Is this a need that you have yourself? Who would share this need?
Answer:
Q: At this point you should have some idea of who the average user of your product will be. What is the profile of that person?
A:
Q: Who wants this product that you intend to develop?
A:
Q: What problem or need are you satisfying for your customers? (Remember, the customers aren't necessarily the people who will be using your product. For example, television audiences aren't customers unless they pay for the product, as in HBO. The customers are advertisers.)
A:
Q: Who wants this product?
A:
Q: We all have to live. Where is the money in this product?
A:
Q: You are a journalist. Where is the journalism in this product?
A:
Q: We've read that passion is key to success of a new venture. Money alone will not sustain it. So where is the passion in your product?
This should all be done by class time next week so that we can look at them on the big screen.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Assignment for next week, Class #4, Sept. 23
1. Reading: Chapters 4 and 5 in Entrepreneurial Journalism; Chapter 11 in Newsonomics; and Ken Doctor's story on the runway that Jeff Bezos and other dot.commers are building for legacy media. As I mentioned in class, the future of journalism is kind of splitting into two tiers: existing media companies re-thinking their strategies, and individual journalist entrepreneurs trying to find a niche for themselves. The reading this week is more about the existing media reinventing themselves. These should give you fodder for some blogging. Remember, four blogs a week.
2. Most of you have identified a non-journalism (or could be a journalist) entrepreneur you would like to profile. Most of them are accessible, but one or two of you chose big shots who probably won't give you the time of day unless you have some inside connection. Those people will have to come up with someone new or pull off a miracle. I would like you to do a 600-word Q & A (question and answer) with this person or with another entrepreneur. This should be an in-person or over-the-phone interview. Obviously you are the Questioner and your entrepreneur is the Answerer and it's set up like this:
Question: What has been the most difficult part of becoming an entrepreneur?
Answer: Eating. Or not eating. It never seems there is enough money around and what does come in goes right back into the business. But as my appetite grows, so does the business, so I think we will reach a point where I'm gaining weight and the company is gaining customers and everyone is happy. But I must admit I have a lot of sleepless nights thinking about how far off that time is.
Question: What's your worst nightmare? etc.
The technique is to ask short, snappy, concrete, open-ended questions that elicit long answers. You can then edit those answers as you like as long as you do not change the meaning. Most of your questions should somehow involve this person's experience as an entrepreneur. They should be probing and insightful. Usually you will make up most of the questions beforehand, but it should read like a conversation. These are extended versions of the Q & A interviews in Ken Doctor's book. These should be on your blogs by class time Monday.
3. Start thinking about what you would like to do for a project this semester. This should be some kind of journalism-related venture, as we discussed in class. In one of your blogs, explain what it is you would like to do.
2. Most of you have identified a non-journalism (or could be a journalist) entrepreneur you would like to profile. Most of them are accessible, but one or two of you chose big shots who probably won't give you the time of day unless you have some inside connection. Those people will have to come up with someone new or pull off a miracle. I would like you to do a 600-word Q & A (question and answer) with this person or with another entrepreneur. This should be an in-person or over-the-phone interview. Obviously you are the Questioner and your entrepreneur is the Answerer and it's set up like this:
Question: What has been the most difficult part of becoming an entrepreneur?
Answer: Eating. Or not eating. It never seems there is enough money around and what does come in goes right back into the business. But as my appetite grows, so does the business, so I think we will reach a point where I'm gaining weight and the company is gaining customers and everyone is happy. But I must admit I have a lot of sleepless nights thinking about how far off that time is.
Question: What's your worst nightmare? etc.
The technique is to ask short, snappy, concrete, open-ended questions that elicit long answers. You can then edit those answers as you like as long as you do not change the meaning. Most of your questions should somehow involve this person's experience as an entrepreneur. They should be probing and insightful. Usually you will make up most of the questions beforehand, but it should read like a conversation. These are extended versions of the Q & A interviews in Ken Doctor's book. These should be on your blogs by class time Monday.
3. Start thinking about what you would like to do for a project this semester. This should be some kind of journalism-related venture, as we discussed in class. In one of your blogs, explain what it is you would like to do.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
To do for next week, Sept. 16, Class #3
1. Read Chapter 4 of Entrepreneurial Journalism.
You will see on the class schedule that you are also to identify two entrepreneurs. We're not there yet, so ignore that. But I would like you to identify and briefly profile for one of your blog entries an entrepreneur from any field. Just remember this needs to be an entrepreneur -- not someone who has signed on to an existing company, and not someone who has bought a business, and not someone who is opening a plumbing business or a used car lot. That's not entrepreneurship because the venture is not unique or original of necessarily risky or innovative. It will be someone like the razor blade guy, or whoever set up Zipcar, or something smaller, like a homemade cupcake van, or an app, or a website that sells beer glasses from every college in the world. There are several student entrepreneurs on campus. Ask around. Ask your parents. Ask your parents to ask their friends. Look in Linkedin. When you have found someone, which will be before the next class, contact the person and post a 100-word profile of this person on your blog. If you're not sure the person is appropriate, shoot me an email and I'll let you know.
3. You should do three other blog entries prior to class on whatever you choose, for a total of four for the week. Those should be 150 words or so. Ideas: the use of social networking to cover the situation in Syria; some cool websites you have found relating to entrepreneurial journalism; your thoughts about the complexity of opening something as simple as a lemonade stand; how your news habits are changing; an idea blog.
4. Wrap up the lemonade stand project. To do so, you and your team need to come up with the following.
Assume the lemonade stand will be open for 6 hours a day for 5 days. Figure out how many cups of lemonade you think you can sell in that amount of time and how much each cup will cost.
Based on the previous calculation, create a detailed list of all your expenses -- lemons, cups, sugar, straws, electricity, equipment such as heating pots, cart, etc.
Finally make a simple profit and loss statement. Here's an example.
Print this and your detailed expense list and bring to class.
You will see on the class schedule that you are also to identify two entrepreneurs. We're not there yet, so ignore that. But I would like you to identify and briefly profile for one of your blog entries an entrepreneur from any field. Just remember this needs to be an entrepreneur -- not someone who has signed on to an existing company, and not someone who has bought a business, and not someone who is opening a plumbing business or a used car lot. That's not entrepreneurship because the venture is not unique or original of necessarily risky or innovative. It will be someone like the razor blade guy, or whoever set up Zipcar, or something smaller, like a homemade cupcake van, or an app, or a website that sells beer glasses from every college in the world. There are several student entrepreneurs on campus. Ask around. Ask your parents. Ask your parents to ask their friends. Look in Linkedin. When you have found someone, which will be before the next class, contact the person and post a 100-word profile of this person on your blog. If you're not sure the person is appropriate, shoot me an email and I'll let you know.
3. You should do three other blog entries prior to class on whatever you choose, for a total of four for the week. Those should be 150 words or so. Ideas: the use of social networking to cover the situation in Syria; some cool websites you have found relating to entrepreneurial journalism; your thoughts about the complexity of opening something as simple as a lemonade stand; how your news habits are changing; an idea blog.
4. Wrap up the lemonade stand project. To do so, you and your team need to come up with the following.
Assume the lemonade stand will be open for 6 hours a day for 5 days. Figure out how many cups of lemonade you think you can sell in that amount of time and how much each cup will cost.
Based on the previous calculation, create a detailed list of all your expenses -- lemons, cups, sugar, straws, electricity, equipment such as heating pots, cart, etc.
Finally make a simple profit and loss statement. Here's an example.
Our lemonade stand
A simple profit and
loss statement
Revenues (money
coming in)
Net
sales: $100 (total of all cups sold at your price)
Other:
Total revenue: $100
Expenses (money going
out, from your detailed list)
Salaries $10
Utilities $2
Supplies $50
Debt
paydown $10 (you borrowed $500 from me)
Total operating
Expenses: $72
Net Income/loss: $28
(if this is a loss, put it in parentheses)
Print this and your detailed expense list and bring to class.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)