BUSI 2800 Entrepreneurship 1 of 9 (c) Tom Duxbury Entrep.docx

BUSI 2800 Entrepreneurship 1 of 9 (c) Tom Duxbury
Entrepreneur Learning Project
Objectives
• Gain direct learning from engaging with real world
entrepreneurs
• Gather insights from individual examples of entrepreneurship
• Develop teamwork and project management skills
Undertaking an Entrepreneur Learning Project
This project is a descriptive type of case study, which
documents the startup conditions
and experiences of an entrepreneur. Case studies provide an
essential opportunity for
connecting directly with the world of entrepreneurship; for this
reason it is mandatory for
students registered in the Entrepreneurship Minor or
Concentration program at Sprott. Other
students may elect to undertake this project at their discretion.
Students who do not submit

this project will have 15% of their grades reallocated to the
final exam.
Deliverable Options
You may choose between two subject options for your
Entrepreneur Case Study:
either another entrepreneur (Option A), or yourself (Option B).
Option A - Research and present another entrepreneur's new
venture experience.
- Select an entrepreneur willing to discuss various aspects of
their new venture
experience to construct a case study.
- Find background information on the company, industry,
competitors, and overall
business environment.
- Design and conduct an interview to draw as much useful
information for future
entrepreneurs as possible
- This option may be done as a solo project, or paired with a
classmate of your own
choosing.
Your case study should include the following sections:

1) introduction,
2) background of the entrepreneur,
3) industry environment upon starting,
4) early successes and challenges encountered,
5) key learnings/advice for entrepreneurs,
6) outlook for the future and conclusions.
Your group has two choices of format: a) written report or b)
video.
a) Written Report. If you choose to submit a written report, it
should be
maximum 10 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font text. Be
sure to use
proper APA style referencing in your report - any text that is
not your own should
be clearly identified and properly referenced. Including
direct quotations
from your entrepreneur is an effective way to validate your
points and make

your study an interesting read. The report should be uploaded
to cuLearn by the
due date.
b) Video. If you elect to make a video interview of the
entrepreneur, it should
be edited to 6-8 minutes in length and include the same
information as the written
report option. Do not go overtime, there is no need. Keep in
mind that video
submissions are held to the same content and quality
expectations as written
reports, and should 'flow' in a logical order. Submission of a
video case should not
be viewed as a 'shortcut' alternative; the format will require
considerable effort to
present the same depth of information as that possible with a
written report. A
video which is difficult to watch for technical reasons (e.g. poor
sound) defeats the
purpose of the project.
Note: a video submission is a media choice only; those that
have done them report
it's much harder to convey required information in this format

than written work.
You should plan to include extra background information of
your own (e.g. industry
size upon startup) in the video. Do not forget to conclude with
a clip of yourself
summarizing key learnings from the video. A simple "talking
head" interview -
without any further contribution from the author- will achieve a
much worse than
average grade.
Submission: You should upload your video to YouTube with
"BUSI 2800" assigned as
a tag, and submit a web URL link to it on cuLearn. Include all
team member names.
All material must be submitted online by the due date on the
course outline. For
written reports, a hard copy should be provided to the TA. Be
sure to include a cover
page with the names of participants listed. For videos, the
participants should appear

either at the beginning or end for credit. No credit is given for
a late submission.
Option B - Report on your own, personal entrepreneurial case
progress throughout the
course. There is an opportunity to receive regular personal
mentorship advice from the
instructor with this option, and it should be considered by
anyone currently starting
their own new business.
- This is a solo project. You must obtain permission to
undertake this option with the
course instructor.
- You, the entrepreneur, must be actively engaged in starting a
new business, or a
recently formed one, throughout the course
- Your own personal case must describe a bona fide
entrepreneurial business in its
formation. The true test of a real business is customers;
therefore you must
achieve revenues and paying customers before the end of the
term.

- The due date for all submissions is extended to immediately
before the last lecture
in this option, in order to allow for weekly updates.
- Further information on commitments are attached to
Appendix C at the end of this
note.
Grading
This exercise is worth 18% of the final grade to team members.
Grading is based upon
content quality, added value to learning, and overall
presentation style. Your case study should
be an interesting and factual read/watch, and primarily illustrate
to others what was learned in
the process of starting a new business.
Steps (Option A)
1. Select an entrepreneur to base your case study upon. Use
your imagination and your
team's network of resources to find candidates. Entrepreneurs
by definition must have founded
and personally invested resources in a new venture. They must
also be engaged in running the

income-generating business now. Student entrepreneurs may be
used as interviewees;
however they must meet the test of being legitimate, current
entrepreneurs who have
achieved customer revenues. A summer painting franchisee
would not qualify, for example. In
case of doubt consult your instructor. If you are at a loss for an
entrepreneur to interview,
contact your instructor for assistance, at least two weeks before
the due date.
Contact your selected entrepreneur and set a time for the
interview. Let them know it will take
10-30 minutes, and that they will need to sign a waiver
(Appendix B) for class use. The
interview is an essential part of this assignment; you cannot
submit a case study without having
conducted one.
2. Organize your questions. Use open-ended questions to
generate as much insightful
conversation about the business as possible. All interviews

should include answers to these
specific questions:
- where did the idea for your new business come from?
- how did you determine how feasible it was, initially?
- how did you finance your new business?
- what was your biggest surprise?
- what advice do you have for someone starting a new business
today?
Consider sending questions in advance, so your interviewee can
prepare his/her answers.
3. Conduct the interview by arriving on time, and starting with
signing the waiver
(Appendix B). You might find it helpful to record the interview
if possible. During the interview,
try to draw out conversation by asking for examples, or
prompting for more information about
the entrepreneurial experience.
4. Review and reflect upon your interview; what is the story
being told? Do extra
research as appropriate– eg., the internal and external
environment, product, competition,
strategies. Feel free to include pictures, exhibits or other

reference material. Include
quotations as appropriate, but do not submit a word-for-word
transcript of the interview. If
your report is nothing more than a "talking head" interview you
can expect a minimal grade.
5. Send a thank you note (right away) and a copy of your final
case study (when ready)
to your interviewee.
6. Submit signed waiver (Appendix B) to the course instructor
with the materials on the
due date.
APPENDIX A – Sample Suggestions for Interview Questions
(do not ask all of the questions

below)
A. How did you start your venture?
• How did you spot the opportunity? How did it come about
and/or develop?
• What were your goals when you started? What were you
lifestyle need or other
personal requirements? Was there a good fit?
• How did you evaluate the opportunity in terms of the critical
elements for success?
• The technical requirements of the business? The market? The
financial requirements of
the business and income potential? The people necessary to
make it all work?
• Did you find or have partners? What kind of planning did you
do? What kind of financing
did you have?
• Did you have a start-up business plan of any kind? Please tell
me about it.
• How much time did it take from the idea to the first day of
business? How many hours a
day did you spend working on it?
• How much capital did it take? How long did it take to reach
positive cash flow and break
even sales volume? How did you finance the business? Your
own savings, family &
friends, angels, banks, bootstrapping? Tell me about the

pressures and crises during that
early survival period.
• What outside help did you receive? Did you have experienced
advisors? Lawyers?
• Accountants? Tax experts? Patent Experts, How did you
develop these contacts and how
long did it take? How did they make a difference to your
company
• What was your family situation at the time?
• What did you perceive to be your own strengths? Weaknesses?
What did you perceive
to be the strengths of the venture? Weaknesses?
• What was your most triumphant or exciting moment? Your
worst moment?
B. Once your business got underway
• What were the most difficult gaps to fill and problems to solve
as you began to grow?
• When you looked for key people for partners, advisors,
managers, or employees, were
there any personal attributes of attitudes you were especially
seeking because you
knew they would fit with you and were important to success?
How did you find them?
• Are there any attributes among partners and advisors that you

would definitely try to
avoid?
• Have things become more predictable or less and how?
• How does the time you spend with your business compare with
when you first started?
• What are your plans for the future? Expand, Maintain,
Harvest?
• Have your goals for the business changed? How? Have your
personal goals in life
changed? How?
C. Concluding Questions
• What do you consider your most valuable asset(s) – the
thing(s) that enabled you to
succeed?
• If you had it to do over again, would you do it again, in the
same way?
• As you look back, what do you feel are the most critical
concepts, skills, attitudes, and
know-how you needed to get your company started and grow to
where it is today?
What will be needed in the next five years? To what extent can

any of these be learned?
• Some people say there is a lot of stress being an entrepreneur.
What have you
experienced?
• What things do you find personally rewarding and satisfying
as an entrepreneur?
• What have been the rewards, risks, and tradeoffs?
• Who should try to be an entrepreneur? And who should not?
• What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur? Could
you suggest the three
most important lessons you have learned? How can I learn them
while minimizing the
tuition?
(Appendix A credit: V. Gough – adapted with permission)
APPENDIX B – ENTREPRENEUR WAIVER
Know All by these present that
______________________________________ (printed name[s]
of entrepreneur) of the City of

_________________ in the Province of _____________, for no
consideration paid by the
Sprott School of Business of Carleton University at Ottawa
Ontario, was hereby remised,
released and forever discharged, and by these presents do for
ourselves, our heirs, executors,
administrators and assigns, remise, release and forever
discharge the Sprott School of Business
of Business at Ottawa, Ontario, their employees, students,
administrators and assigns, of and
from any and all manner of action and actions, cause and causes
of action, sits, debts, dues,
sums of money, claims and demands whatsoever at law or in
equity which we now have or may
have in the future, regarding all matters related to the creation
and subsequent use of a
interview which I have agreed to give to a team of Sprott
School of Business students from
Carleton University on ____________________________. (date
of interview)
It is agreed and acknowledged that Sprott School of Business of
Carleton University shall be the
sole owner of the said interview contents and it is further agreed

and acknowledged that the
contents may be used in wide variety of educational purposes in
diverse settings before diverse
audiences.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF we have hereunto set our hand and
seal this ______ day of _________,
20____.
SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED
______________________________________
Signature of Entrepreneur(s) named above
In the presence of
___________________________________
WITNESS NAME (Printed)
____________________________________
Signature of Witness

APPENDIX C
Supplementary info for those doing case studies on their own
entrepreneurial development (Option B)
If you have been approved for this option, congratulations! You
will be taking us through your
own personal development and progress in the world of
entrepreneurship. Note, this option is
for entrepreneurs in the actual process of starting a new
business (not a theoretical one),
therefore the context should be in terms of early development,
prototypes, gaining customer
traction, and making sales. You are informing us about the
progress in the formation of a real
business.
Objectives:

- Give the entrepreneur an experiential opportunity to apply
course learnings directly to
themselves, get feedback from classmates, and further their
own objectives
- Reward (with grades) entrepreneurial outcomes and hands-on
knowledge application,
rather than more traditional grading methods (e.g. exams)
- Give entrepreneurs more direct access to mentorship from
course instructors and
other students
- Provide future student entrepreneurs with valuable advice and
observations.
Commitments:
1. Blogs
- Every week before class student entrepreneurs will submit at
least one blog entry of 2-
3 paragraphs. The first blog should include introductory
information about the entrepreneur,
their intended business objectives, their goals and motivation
for starting the business, the
industry environment, and anything else needed to bring readers
"up to speed". A typical

blog would include commentary on what the learnings were
from recent lectures, how they
might be applied to their situation (or not), what new challenges
they are dealing with, how
they are customer testing their business model (or should be),
what might be next on their
priority "to-do" list, etc. etc. It should be of interest to fellow
students, and provide enough
lessons learned that it would inform future entrepreneurs of
what's working (or not). The last
one is due the last class in the term. Post your blogs on the
cuLearn site under 'Class
Discussion Forum'; 'Personal Case Study Blogs' before class.
Give it a meaningful title that will
attract readership.
2. Social Engagement
- You should have a company-in-progress website (even a
simple one) we can all see
- You should be a group member of Busi2800 on Linkedin.com
and be available for

networking
- You should have a Twitter account and regularly tweet
#busi2800 with your
commentary onprogress and learnings (these can be extracted
from your weekly
blog if you wish). Ideally you would tweet at least twice per
week. Inform the
instructor of your Twitter ID so they may follow you.
3. Hand in report
- An abbreviated version of the one described on cuLearn for
those interviewing other
entrepreneurs. Five pages should be sufficient to describe the
rationale behind the
new business and how it's progressing. This is due before the
last class in the term.
4. Optional extra
- You should be considering grooming your business
proposition for presentation to the
Carleton Entrepreneurs panel. Feel free to include your blog
comments on how that
experience is progressing; if you wish assistance with the

presentation preparation, just
ask.
Running Head: ENTREPRENEUR CASE STUDY 1
ENTREEPRENEUR CASE STUDY 2
ENTREPRENEUR CASE STUDY 3
Entrepreneur Case Study
OMAR ALABDULHAI
CARLETON UNIVERSITY
BUSI2800
07/12/2015

Entrepreneur Case Study
Entrepreneurs design and implement a practical business plan to
start and establish a venture (Drucker, 2014). Entrepreneurship
can be considered as an art in which a businessperson conceives
a new business idea and perceives its probable outcome
(Kuratko, 2013). During the process, the entrepreneur seeks for
viable opportunities that can be exploited, and then design the
business plan based on the available viable opportunities before
acquiring the financial, human, logistics and other resources
needed; and subsequently implementing the business plan
(Minniti, 2013). The entrepreneurial ecosystem is one of the
most critical determinants of the probabilities that an infant
venture start-up would either succeed or fail (Szirmai, Naudé,
& Goedhuys, 2011). A business start-up, which adapts to the
entrepreneurial ecosystem, is more likely to succeed as
compared to non-conformist and rigid business ventures
(Drucker, 2014). For one to qualify as entrepreneur, he or she
must fulfill the following conditions:
· Must have started a viable venture
· Must have invested resources into the venture
· Must be presently engaged in operating the income-generating
venture
· Must operate a legitimate business
The following entrepreneur case study will focus on Jerome
Pinto Sports File, an online entertainment portal that focuses on
sports and online betting.
Jerome Pinto SportsFile
Jerome Pinto SportsFile is a private members-only portal, which
provides real-time sports updates to its clients thereby
providing them with updated information, which they can
leverage during bets. The portal can be accessed behind a
subscription firewall. The firm also has an online betting portal

where clients can place bets on upcoming games. The firm also
sources its revenue from integrated and customized banner
advertisements.
The firm is a viable and legitimate venture, which has accrued
customer revenues. The background information about the firm
is provided below along with its history.
Background
Jerome Pinto Sports File was established in June 2013 by
Jerome Pinto, a graduate computer programmer, and certified
web designer. Initially, Pinto conceived the firm as an online
sports news aggregator, which would aggregate sports updates
mirrored from sport news agencies. In 2012, he started
programming the aggregation engine, which he hoped to build
his website. However, the aggregation engine performed poorly
during a test run, and its core heuristics was not parsed properly
and this created problems with search indexing and data
retrieval. It was at this point that Pinto started to study the
operations of online betting engines and virtual sports
simulators.
After two months of research and intense study of various
source codes, which were used in online betting networks, he
decided to build an online betting engine, which could be
integrated into websites. In late 2012, he had built the engine,
and he successfully tested it. It was at this time that he
conceived the plan to build an online betting platform using his
betting engine. Nonetheless, he decided to do a market survey
in order to gauge the feasibility of an online betting business.
It was during this survey that he noted that the market was
saturated with online betting businesses, but there was a glaring
absence of a firm that provided real-time sports news. At this
point, Pinto identified a viable market opportunity that could be
exploited. He thereafter decided to assess and analyze the
feasibility of operating an online sports platform, which would
provide real-time sports update.
After the assessment and analysis, he decided to build a trial
website, which would relay real-time sports updates, which

were obtained from an array of sources including the official
websites of sports teams, individual players, sports news and
sports pundits. The need to aggregate sports information obliged
him to repurpose the aggregator engine he had earlier built in
order to harvest real-time news related to sports that was online
and whose copyright notice permitted one to share its sports
news. The aggregator performed fairly well when it was
integrated into the trial website and it was able to collect an
average of 67% of all breaking news stories which contained the
tag “breaking news” within their content. Pinto conceded that
he was amazed by the market reception of its trial website, with
the website registering over 1,200,000 page views in its first
two weeks with an average of 5,000 unique visitors viewing the
page daily. Apart from amazing him, the scale of market
reception also convinced Pinto that creating an online real-time
sports news platform would be a viable business idea and this is
what he had to say about the business idea:
“The trial website provided insights into the dynamics of the
sports world. Here was a website which used both copyrighted
and non-copyrighted news as the core of its content, and it
registered more than a million page views in a week. If one
considers this concerning advertisement monetization, it quite
apparent that the page views could be converted into a revenue
stream. However, most advertisement firms have very low pay
rates for page views, with some paying as low as $1 for every
100,000 page views. That translates to a weekly outcome of
only $12. It was at this point that I disregarded advertisement
monetization as a revenue and then chose affiliate marketing
and subscription as the two most viable options.”
After that, Pinto designed a business plan for the new venture
and he chose to name the firm, Jerome Pinto Sports File.
Afterwards, he was faced with the challenge of acquiring the
financial, human, logistics and other resources needed for
successful implementation of the business plan. It was during
this time that he started to look for the required capital.
Initial Capitalization

During the interview, Pinto stated that he sourced his start-up
capital from the following sources:
1. Personal savings
2. Loan from friends and relatives
3. Proceeds from sale of assets
It is therefore quite evident that the firm was started on a very
narrow capital base, and this obliged the Pinto to purchase only
standard-quality materials for the start-up. Since, the founder of
the firm was an accomplished computer programmer and a
certified web designer; he did not need the services of computer
and web specialists thereby eliminating labor costs.
Nonetheless, he needed to purchase four computers, two heavy
duty UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), a server and a router.
Moreover, he needed to purchase a top-level domain name, anti-
DDOS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) services from Cloud
Flare and virtual data storage facilities.
During the interview, Pinto conceded that the total sum of
initial capital was an approximate of $100, 000 which he
described as “more than enough” since he needed to purchase
standard-quality assets. The only high-quality virtual asset
which he purchased was the top-level domain name, which he
bought from a well-known vendor, Go Daddy. Since his firm
featured two distinct but interrelated business lines, he
purchased a top-level domain name, which would allow him to
create up to seven sub domains. Also, the online platform
required considerable data capacities, and this obliged him to
purchase approximately 75 Terabytes of virtual storage space at
a cost of $700 per annum.
Start-up
Acquisition of the necessary assets allowed Pinto to build and
design the website, which would operate as the front end of the
firm. He also did all the initial back-office duties, including
setting up the database. He also applied for the necessary
operating licenses as well as sought accreditation from the
relevant organization, including those which monitor and
regulate the online betting market. He acquired the necessary

licenses as well as obtained the appropriate accreditation. All of
these happened as he was in the terminal phase of testing the
website before he could declare it to be a complete website.
After the website was completed, he assigned it the domain
name and within a period of a week, all the components for the
online portal were in place and the business was launched on
June 2013.
Pinto advertised the launch through Google adverts and also
using both his personal social media accounts and the social
media accounts he had created for the firm. On 3rd June 2013,
the online portal was indexed by all the major search engines
including Google and Yahoo. That is what he had to say about
the indexing:
“Do you know the value of search engine indexing? It enables
people to find the business when they search for either online
betting or sports news. That saved the business a lot of cash
which would need to have been used in advertisement
campaigns, especially considering that it was operating on a
lean capital base. Nothing gives a business owner who operates
an online business more pleasure than seeing that his business
has been ranked high in search results, as this means more
exposure for the business and this translates to increased
revenue. For the firm, it ranked in the first page results for
online betting or sports news five days after the business had
started. That exposed the firm to a wider audience, and this
translated to increased page views for the website”
One week after being launched, the firm had registered more
than 200 members with each member paying a subscription fee
of $150 and an annual membership fee of $50. No advertisement
revenue was obtained during the first week. Therefore, one
week into its operation, Jerome Pinto Sports File had registered
revenue of $40,000, thus, proving to Pinto that his firm was a
viable business.
Milestones
The firm has recorded some major successes and achievements
to date, and they are described hereafter. At the end of June

2013, the firm had registered revenue approximating $180,000
with advertisements accounting for only 5% of the total
revenue. Nevertheless, Pinto concedes that the firm registered a
healthy profit margin during its first month of operation.
At the end of 2013, the firm registered a profit of $400,000
thus, allowing Pinto to expand the operations of the company by
hiring workers and creating a support team, which was available
24 hours a day to respond to the queries of the customers.
Presently, advertisements account for 27% of the revenue
generated by the firm. Late last year, the firm had a workforce
of 20 and also registered an annual revenue turnover of
$1,300,000.
Nonetheless, the firm has encountered difficulties including
poor services from its ISP providers which resulted in service
blackouts. Also, in March 2014, the firm faced a sustained
DDOS attack from criminal elements who attempted to
blackmail the firm. Furthermore, in December, 2014, one of the
sub domains (which dealt with advertisements) of the website
was hacked by criminals out to perpetrate acts of cyber
vandalism.
Objectives
Pinto stated that the objectives of Jerome Pinto SportsFile can
be categorized into short-term and long-term objectives.
Short-term Objectives
Jerome Pinto SportsFile plans to achieve the following
objectives in the next 12 months:
1. Utilization of a more power online betting engine, which
would enable the firm to handle all the needs of its present
client base.
2. Build an online betting platform that is compatible with all
major Operating Systems used in Mobile phones to expand the
market reach of the firm.
3. Launch an affiliate sports news website.
Long-term Objectives
Jerome Pinto SportsFile plans to become the largest online
betting platform in the world, whose services can be assessed

across all networked devices.
Business Environment
Presently, there are no direct competitors but the firm is
vulnerable to market changes and uncertainty in the Forex
sector. If the local and regional economies experience a
slowdown, the firm would also experience a slowdown because
most of its clients would have reduced disposable income,
which they could spend.
Advice to Upcoming Startups
Pinto had the following piece of advice for upcoming start-ups
in the sports and technology world:
1. Choose the most appropriate market for the products and
services offered.
2. Study the market well and understand the dynamics operating
in that market.
3. Adhere to all the relevant legislations.
4. Build brand loyalty by offering quality goods and services.
5. Create a practical financial plan, which would guide the
expansion of the company
Conclusion
Entrepreneurship is an art of business in which a businessperson
conceives a new business idea and perceives its probable
outcome. During the process, the entrepreneur seeks for viable
opportunities that can be exploited, and then design the business
plan based on the available viable opportunities before
acquiring the financial, human, logistics and other resources
needed; and subsequently implementing the business plan. The
success of a start-up would be determined by its understanding
of the market forces at play within its particular segment of the
market.

References
Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Kuratko, D. (2013). Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and
practice. Cengage Learning.
Minniti, M. (2013). The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship:
Evidence from Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor Data. Oxford University Press.
Szirmai, A., Naudé, W., & Goedhuys, M. (2011).
Entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic
development. Oxford University Press.

BUSI 2800 Entrepreneurship 1 of 9 (c) Tom Duxbury Entrep.docx

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