Creative Commons License - An Example of a Simple Idea

A few days ago I came across the Creative Commons License and I was amazed at the simplicity of the representation of the license.

Following the post on Simple Ideas I wanted to share this example of how to take a very long and dry idea, in this case the legal agreement, into something very simple, memorable, and easy to understand.

Hopefully we are able to present our business ideas with such simplicity, they will go a much longer way when reduced to the core concept.

Simple Ideas

An entrepreneur needs to be effective when pitching a business idea. With a 'sticky' idea, you can utilize your network to help you find potential business partners, investors, suppliers, clients, and key contacts. After all, they will remember and be able to tell your idea to others.

In their book Made to Stick the Heath brothers present six elements that will make your idea understandable,
memorable, and easy to propagate or in their terms, 'sticky'. The elements are: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and with Stories.

A Simple idea has or can be achieved by:

• The "Commander's Intent":Comes from the military in which a commander tells his soldiers what to accomplish, if nothing else, during the mission. It defines the single most important thing that you want to accomplish.
  
  What is the single most important thing that you want to convey with your pitch?
  
  
• "Unburying the Lead": Is a journalism term indicating that a news story needs to start with the lead, or the most important element of the story. Sometimes the lead is buried in the middle of the story and people don't even get to read it.
  
  Identify the single thing you want people to remember and start your pitch with it.
  
  
• Core and Compact:Your message should be very compact in a single phrase and contain the core of your idea.  
  
  Define a single phrase that represents the core element of your idea.
  
  
• Use known concepts to present new ones:You are more effective if you present your idea as a comparison with other but highlighting the difference: Our software product is a scaled down Microsoft Office Suite but online.
  
  Describe your idea in terms of a well known concept and highlight the key difference.
  

When planning a pitch of your idea make it simple so it is memorable and can be spread easily through your network. What a better advertisement to your idea than someone else promoting it on your behalf.

On Networking

Effective networking is an essential tool for any professional, in particular entrepreneurs. The 7515 Entrepreneurs Lounge is a lot about finding other people with the same aspirations, about sharing resources, and about developing our entrepreneurial spirit.  In other words, the Lounge is a lot about effective networking. 


An excellent resource on this topic is the podcast by the startuplounge.com cofounder Michael Blake. Next I summarize some of the ideas Michael discusses in his website.

• Networking is a critical business skill regardless of what you do.
  
• It is about building human resources that don't belong to your company
• You build Social Capital for yourself and your company.
  
• You can make resources available to you at little or no cost.
• It allows you to find capital, customers, managers, help or advice.   These resources can be bought, but through networking they can be available at the expense of time rather than cash.
• Make a commitment to networking.
  
• Don't be a 'social panhandler' where you expect to get things and benefits from others; think instead how you can offer something to others and make it your initial investment.
• Take a genuine interest in other people. 
  
• What if you are shy? - You need to grow beyond your perceived limitations.  
  
• Get into the habit of small talking with other people for practice.
  
• Prepare your elevator pitch.
• Network with other entrepreneurs.  They share the same interests, needs, and challenges.
  

Some recommended resources mentioned in the podcast:

Book: Professional Networking for Dummies

Book: The Heart of Networking by Ricky Steele

Share your thoughts and other resources about Networking that you find valuable.

- AG

Notes on the December Meeting

Another great meeting of the Entrepreneurs Lounge.  13 people attended this time with a wide range of experience in entrepreneurship and with varied backgrounds.  

Who we are:

We started the meeting by introducing ourselves and stating our interest in entrepreneurship.

• B. is a first year MBA and entrepreneurship is why he joined the program.
  
• J. finished his MBA in 07, is a Medical Director, runs his own company, and has a few ideas in the pipeline in the healthcare area.
  
• R. is in graduating in May 09, comes from a family of entrepreneurs but worked for the last 20 years in corporate.  Now looking to work with a startup of 9 people.
  
• T. is in the health management arena as a consultant, and entrepreneurship is why he started his MBA.
  
• L. is in his first year and his background is in engineering and works in the design of power plants.  He has a few ideas that is trying to develop.
  
• R. has an IT background and works with CRM systems.  Has an idea that wants to develop further and wants the input from this group.  Graduating in May 09.
  
• M. is very motivated and has driven the creation of this group.  She is working on an online store and a virtual call center.  
  
• S. is also working very hard in making this group a success.  He is already working in a Gang of 5 developing some ideas.  Interested in the health care arena and with a background in IT.
  
• M. is an Electrical Engineer with experience in the Wireless area.  From Sierra Leon, wants to develop some ventures there as he sees great opportunities to develop the communications backbone in his country and in Africa.
  
• M. was part of a startup in college which survived for 2 years and got bought out.  He is a part time consultant and is interested in PDAs and Mobile Devices.
  
• A. helped his boss create a company in 2004; a few months ago he became the president of a spin-off of the original venture. Graduating in May 09 has a lot of experience in entrepreneurship.
• K. is graduating in May 09 as well.  He has an IT background and is very motivated to develop himself as an entrepreneur.  
• A. is in his last year and graduating in May 09.  With an IT background wants to explore the Entrepreneurship world and is very excited and motivated about this group.
  

Structuring our Meetings:

We proposed a few components that should be part of the monthly meetings:

• Motivational:  this segment includes sharing ideas that some in the group are developing, how to develop new ideas, and how to keep the motivation high.
• Tactical: we will discuss things that are important to an entrepreneur from a practical point of view, from talking about office space, to how to network better with online tools.
• Subject Matter Experts:  Have subject matter experts give a short talk about topics in Entrepreneurship; this includes guest speakers or people from the group that can share their expertise in certain areas.
• Networking:  We identified the need to have certain time allocated to allow us to network with the people in the group.

Our Reach:

We expressed interest in reaching over in the Atlanta area to other groups or organizations that might have common interests.  We will discuss this idea at a later meeting when the group is more formally established.

We will continue to pursue the creation of this group as an UGA group, and we will extend the invitation to the Executive MBA and to the UGA MBA Alumni.

You can 'sponsor' your friends to come to this meeting if they are not UGA.  This meeting is to be open to non-UGA students and alumni.

Individual Goals:

Each one of us committed to individual goals, whether short term (for the next meeting) to mid or long term (6-months to 1 year).  We will support each other in the accomplishment of these.

We are all invited to post to this blog.

Next Meeting:

• For our next meeting on the second Saturday of January, we will have a few speakers from the group that will share some ideas they are currently working on.
  
• We will check on the progress of some of our goals.
  
• And we will have time for networking.
  

Please add your comments to this post in case there is something missing.

To see the notes from our previous meeting go here.

December Meeting

Time and Date: December 13th, 10:00am - 12:00n
Location: UGA Gwinnett Campus - Room 119


We will discuss the objectives of the Entrepreneurs Lounge, talk about your expectations and interests regarding Entrepreneurship, and will have the chance to meet other [aspiring] entrepreneurs.

If you cannot make it to this meeting, please check back on this blog for updates; we will publish all the information from the meeting here.

A Great Start

We had a great start yesterday during the first meeting of the '7515 Entrepreneurs Lounge'.  9 very motivated people showed up and we even had a few from outside class. 

For those of you who could not attend, or are not sure about attending, please keep following this blog as we will be posting updates and information here; you will surprised of the talent and opportunities that will converge to the group.

Some of the things we discussed:

• Each one of us shared our background, interest in entrepreneurship, and what kind of help we can offer.   (We have background in many different areas: libraries / business research, IT, sales, marketing, engineering, HR, consulting, etc.)
  
  
• Everyone is invited to post their profiles in this blog so we all can have access to them any time.  
  
  
• We will be leveraging this blog as a communication and divulgation tool for the group, as well as posting articles, references, links, etc.  All of us are invited to write our own pieces to publish here.  Some people didn't take the class and want some guidance and reference material. 
  
  
• Most of us are interested in start-ups with a wide range of time frames (from a few months to undefined).  There was much more interest in bootstrapping than in obtaining capital via VCs or Angel investors.
  
  
• Good news: Professor Christopher Hanks, the Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at UGA's Terry College of Business, has offered his support to this initiative and we are very glad to have him involved with the 7515 Entrepreneurs Lounge.  We will be working with him in formalizing a collaboration approach.
  
  
• We proposed meeting every second Saturday of the month, from 10:00am to 12:00n.
  
  
• We still have to organize the structure of our meetings, find a few officers that will act as moderators, note takers, etc. and clearly define the purpose of the meetings. This is still an open item.
  
  
• While a major meeting is planned for every month, it is encouraged to form smaller groups that meet more often to discuss and work on your interests.  You are encouraged to form your Gang of 5.
  
  
• We want to extend an invitation to other UGA students to join this group, including undergrads, the Buckhead team and all Gwinnett.
  
  
• Non-UGA students and friends are also welcome to join.
  
  
• We will be creating a survey to learn more about the interests of the group.

Action items:

• Send me your blogger account so I can add you as an author.
  
• Create your profile with the information you want to share with others (i.e. background, interests, etc.)
• Register to this blog as follower so you get notifications with the updates.
• Write your first post about entrepreneurship.  Any topic is welcome.
• Post your suggestions about how to better organize our monthly meetings.

Post your comments anytime.

Next meeting is Saturday, December 13, 2008.   Location TBD.

See you soon.

- AG

Our First Meeting

As of Thursday Nov 10/08 I have received confirmation from 17 people interested in participating in the first meeting. The definite winner is Monday Nov 24th @ 6:00pm at the UGA campus Room 109.

I hope most of you can attend even if you didn't select Monday as one of your options. 17 people is a great start (a third of the class and I know of some others that haven't responded yet that are interested). Please invite others in the MBA program as the value of this group comes from its members.

FIRST MEETING:

When: Monday November 24th, at 6:00pm

Where: UGA Gwinnett Campus

Purpose: Establish a networking group whose main interest is Entrepreneurship.

Think about the following questions suggested by Michelle.

1. What is our entrepreneurship goal and timeframe?
   
2. What is the area of expertise we can best offer to our fellow lounge members?
   
3. What is the area we need the most help with?
   

See you all on Monday, and let's extend the invitation to our friends in the program.

Why Joining a Networking Group in Entrepreneurship

Many people probably don't need convincing why they need to be part of a networking group, yet many of us don't exercise what we know or even what we preach and become part of one. This blog and the 7515 Entrepreneurs Lounge networking group is all about making that good advise a reality - Becoming part of a networking group to grow in the exciting world of Entrepreneurship. So, why joining a networking group in Entrepreneurship? Let me give you a few reasons based on the little experience I've had as an aspiring Entrepreneur.

• Collaboration: In the past few weeks I have been exploring many different ideas for creating a new venture; I have tried doing it alone, with some friends, with family, etc. but whether you do it alone (hopefully not) or with a few more people, you still need a great deal of help and support from other like-minded people to run your ideas by, to get ideas from, or to collaborate. I have spent many hours doing research, that would only take a few minutes or 1-2 hours to discuss with someone that has the expertise I lack and that is willing to share the information with me. Most of the times they will give me an answer that is better than my half-baked research. Now, multiply that the number of different disciplines you will need when developing your venture, and this is a huge time saver. Think that you will be doing the same for them, so everybody wins here.
  


• Expand your reach:  Who doesn't have an account in linkedin or facebook, or any other social networking sites.  Have you noticed the number of second and third level contacts you have?  It takes you to hundreds or thousands.  Well, that tells you a lot about the power of virtual networking; but why not becoming part of a 'real', or in-person network that gives you similar potential (perhaps not at the same scale) but definitely more tangible and effective.  If you are looking to learn or to do a new venture, what can be better than a group that can give you immediate access to dozens of real contacts that can do something for you; again, chances are you can do something for them anyway.
  
  
• A good use of your time:  I have heard from some of my classmates that among the many changes graduation will bring to their lives, is the fact that they will have a lot of free time that was occupied by school work and classes. Why not spending the time in a constructive activity with the same level of intellectual challenge.  Spend the time identifying and idea for a venture and building on it; then join a networking group to make your endeavour more effective and successful. If you don't have an idea, join the networking group so you can develop one with the help of other aspiring entrepreneurs. 

In actuallity there are many reasons why you can benefit from a networking group like this; all you need to do is join one and discover them for yourself.

You can post comments about your expectations, what you like or not, ideas to improve the group or this site.  Anything (appropriate) goes.

In the Beginning

The 7515 Entrepreneurs Lounge is a simple idea generated from the '7515 Management - Entrepreneurship' class in the Evening MBA program in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.  Its main purpose is to serve as a medium to support a network of people interested in Entrepreneurship at any level, from those of us who want to become Entrepreneurs, to those who are experienced Entrepreneurs and are kind enough to share their vast experience, knowledge, and time with us, the aspiring ones.

If you are reading this entry, chances are you are in my Entrepreneurship class in which case I am inviting you to join and contribute your talents to this network, to continue learning, and why not to be serious about entrepreneurship.

There is a lot to gain, and little to lose. I believe there is a great chance that your talents can be matched with someone else's to be able to create something.

If you find this posting because someone passed it on to you, or simply found it on the web, chances are you are interested in this topic anyway.  You are also welcome to join us; there is much to be learned and shared.

I hope to hear from many of you.  We will be meeting regularly in a place to be determined in the Atlanta metro area.  If you can't make it, just keep in touch and contribute through this blog.