Question 1 (your answer should be max. 2 pages)
Watch the video presentations from Yves Potvin and Jack Newton Both are successful entrepreneurs in very different industries, yet their stories reveal common traits.
Identify and discuss three lessons common to both Yves and Jack that do you think led to their success? (6 marks)
Question 2 (max 1 page):
Bootstrapping vs. fueling up with outside investment:
2.1: What type of businesses do not tend to be attractive to equity investors and will therefore need to be boostrapped? Describe the characteristics of these businesses and explain why they do not appeal to investors. (2 marks)
2.2: What type of businesses tend to attract equity investment (describe the characteristics of such businesses)? When is the right time in such a business to fuel up with significant investment? (2 marks)
Question 3 (Max 2 pages)
It may be several years before you find yourself working on a new venture either as a startup or inside an established organization. Write a memo to your future self which will serve as a reminder of what you need to do. This should contain the key lessons from the course, bullet points with a brief explanation are fine and max. limit of 2 pages for this question (10 marks).
About Yves Potvin:
Yves Potvin first arrived in Vancouver on a $200 bicycle, having pedalled 5,500 kilometres from Montreal to the Pacific Ocean.
Three decades and two highly successful food companies later, he and his wife Sylvia are the majority owners and operators of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
Yves introduced veggie dogs to North America. First experimenting in his Vancouver kitchen, he had found a way to make meatless “meats” much more appealing to cook and eat. Soon, his products were commandeering the vegetarian section in grocery store coolers.
In 2001, he sold what’s now called Yves Veggie Cuisine but he didn’t stop tinkering with ways to feed the growing appetite for vegetarian food. He launched his second business — Gardein — in Richmond in 2003.
In 2014, he sold Garden Protein International to Pinnacle Foods. He stayed on for a year and then decided that while he was far from wanting to retire, he was ready for something new.
About Jack Newton:
Jack Newton is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Clio. An experienced business leader, software developer, and entrepreneur, Jack began his career with a snow-shoveling business and a foray into the life sciences industry before focusing his strategic vision on making Clio the leader in legal cloud computing.
Jack has spearheaded efforts to educate the legal community on the security-, ethics- and privacy-related issues surrounding cloud computing and has become a nationally recognized writer and speaker on these topics.
Clio recently announced a US$250m equity financing – see here (Links to an external site.) for details. In the release Jack said “Over three-quarters of legal problems don’t receive legal assistance, yet lawyers are struggling to find new clients—it’s clear that something in the system is broken,” said Jack Newton, CEO and Co-founder of Clio. “Clio is committed to building the essential operating system for lawyers, one that focuses relentlessly on unlocking new efficiencies and entry points to legal services. This will allow legal professionals to easily deliver exceptional client experiences, increase their productivity, grow their firms, and make legal services more accessible. This investment from experienced growth software investors will accelerate our ability to realize this vision.”
Please refer to chapters 1-7(https://smallpdf.com/shared#st=82a11926-b724-4a61-b6a0-777969bf6692&fn=The+Startup+Owner%27s+Manual_+The+Step-by-Step+Guide+for+Building+a+Great+Com-compressed.pdf&ct=1593635838676&tl=result&rf=link) and topics such as business canvas model and intrapreneurship as well
