- What are the connections between the disciplines addressing entrepreneurship at ODU?
Entrepreneurship is extremely interdisciplinary in nature. Entrepreneurship prioritizes ideas and following through on those ideas. With that priority, it is important to take many different perspectives from all of the different disciplines that may come into an idea. For each discipline, there are several other disciplines that will be able to contribute valuable and important insights into each step of an idea process.
- Is entrepreneurship an art or science?
Entrepreneurship is neither an art nor is it a science. Entrepreneurship takes the best of both worlds and uses them to maximize success. Without the methodology and logical thinking of science, entrepreneurs would always struggle to make ends meet and develop structures to build a company off of. Without the creativity and out of the box thinking that art brings to the table, entrepreneurs would struggle to stand out in their sector and their products would suffer. A good entrepreneur takes art and science and uses the strengths from each discipline to succeed.
- How is failure good?
Failure is as much an opportunity as it is a threat in many cases. This all comes down to the way that an entrepreneur handles that failure. Ideas are the primary trade of an entrepreneur and not all ideas are created equally. Sometimes an idea sucks and we realize it, but sometimes we push an idea that might suck too far down the pipeline. The sunk cost fallacy is extremely dangerous for an entrepreneur in particular because failure can be so daunting. Failure does not need to be so scary. It is a necessary part of the entrepreneurial environment and it teaches entrepreneurs a lot. It helps us learn to redirect our efforts. It teaches us to take the things we learned from the last venture and how to apply those lessons to the next venture.
- What have I learned from failing?
The thing that I have learned most from all of my failures is that they are a tool for learning. Every idea and process we embark on is also an opportunity to learn, but not all ideas are opportunities for success. Failure teaches us what ideas are not successful and it teaches us what we can do better next time. Failure is an opportunity to absorb and reapply the knowledge we have gained. Failure can also be an important safety net. Too often we see entrepreneurs become obsessed with ideas. Failure is one of the last resorts for breaking an obsession with an idea that may never pan out.
- What ethical issues might arise related to what I am working on?
The idea for our group project has a transparent approach that values consumer trust. When you build a product that values consumer trust and transparency, it is imperative that the company operates as ethically as possible. One of the primary features of our product is that no customer data is collected whatsoever. This seems easy to do in theory but it will present many ethical and technical issues. From my perspective, it will have to be the primary goal of our product to remain true to our promises to the customers. Without that our company will be breaking any ethical commitments and will be sure to fail.