1.     What are the connections between the disciplines addressing entrepreneurship at ODU?

Entrepreneurship is an inherently interdisciplinary pursuit requiring skills in multiple avenues that come together to create something more than the sum of their parts.  A wide skillset in many disciplines allows entrepreneurs to both discover new problems and opportunities, as well as pull from a rich knowledge base to develop new solutions and technologies to solve those problems.  At ODU some of the disciplines addressed in our entrepreneur class have been accounting, psychology, marketing, law, social sciences, ethics, and design thinking.

2.     Is entrepreneurship an art or science?

Entrepreneurship is both an art and a science.  It is in art in the sense that entrepreneurs must be creative and imaginative to develop solutions to problems that others have not already recognized or ways to perform tasks in a more cost-effective manner.  Entrepreneurship is a science in that founders must be analytical and experimental in their approach to discovering and critiquing their solutions and attempts.  Continually applying your knowledge and discovering what components can and should be changed about your approach result in a new and better solution to market problems.

3.     How is failure good?

Failure is good because it is a phenomenal teacher.  Through analyzing failures, we can see where we made errors or where our performance was lacking and begin to improve or fix things.  Often people view failure as the end point or the result, but successful entrepreneurs and people view failure as part of the learning process.  Failure becomes a basis for learning, and as we learn we grow and become better versions of ourselves.  This translates directly to entrepreneurship where we can fail, learn, and repeat in a better smarter more informed way as we strive for success.

4.     What have I learned from failing?

Failures have had a big impact on my life and often offered me key insights into how I can do things better or improve.  Failures teach me what ways I am not doing well, or where I am lacking.  After applying that knowledge of my deficits, I can directly work on the skills or areas that need improvement.  This process of failure and then reflection enables growth that leads to successes.  Personally form my failures I have learned the value of being detail oriented, and of knowing when details or speed matter for a task.

5.     What ethical issues might arise related to what I am working on?

Ethical issues that may arise from my group’s proposal for a cybersecurity consultancy firm could include conflicts of interest, responsible vulnerability disclosure, and confidentiality concerns.   My firm will have to navigate conflicts of interests such as providing only the levels of services a client needs or requests rather than the services that make our firm the most financial rewards.  A cyber consultancy will also run into ethical concerns about when a vulnerability discovered on a client’s systems is disclosed to the clients and potential regulatory authorities.  Some vulnerabilities may need to be reported to authorities faster than clients wish to have them publicly disclosed.  A final ethical concern could be the confidentiality of our client’s information.  Ethical concerns can stem from misuse of data, or unauthorized disclosure of information.