Often, you will overhear a group of Sauder students discussing their future partnership plans together.  Whether it’s starting up a clothing company, or a phone application, the idea will always be circulating around the room.

However, after visiting Michael Fertik’s blog, I was intrigued by his opinion regarding a start up businesses and university friends.  In his opinion, co-founding a company with your business school friends is a very big mistake. He claims that until you start a business with your peers, you are unaware of their work habits and values, and as a result students should avoid starting up a business with their peers at all costs. Although there may be some truth behind his reasoning’s, past history has demonstrated that co-founded corporations can be successful; therefore, I disagree with his argument.

Given the success of Cathy Han’s company, 42, and the success of Eugene Dong’s company, Procurify, it has been proven that student co-founded company’s can be successful.  As said in COMM101, anyone or group of people with a great start up idea can become a successful entrepreneur; therefore, students should not be discouraged when it comes to starting a business with their peers.

References:

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/dont-start-a-company-with-your-business-school-pals/

Given Abercrombie and Fitch’s reputation after the CEO, Mike Jeffries, made an obscene comment regarding some of their customers, you would think Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon, would learn from Jeffries mistakes. Lululemon is known for creating high quality athletic garments; however, after a recent interview regarding the company’s recall on their “see through pants”, Wilson has damaged the company’s relationship with some of their customers.  Wilson damaged the company’s image by suggesting that their pants are not made for woman of all body types.

When considering a SWOT analysis for the company, it has become apparent that the issue regarding Wilson’s comments has become an internal weakness for the company.  Although there is no bylaw stating that a clothing company is required to produce products that will fit all body types, Wilson’s comment has negatively affected the company’s brand name.  Because of his comment, people are now associating the brand as being an unaccepting company against heavier set woman; therefore, this may result in a decrease of sales.

Because Wilson has tattered the company’s brand image, I am looking forward to learning how he is going to regain the strong relationship his company and customers once had.

References:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/lululemon-founder-chip-wilson-says-pants-don-t-work-for-some-bodies-1.2417980

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/abercrombie-reputation-ceo-comments_n_3288836.html

Based on the success rate of Facebook’s initial public offering, IPO, many presumed Twitter’s IPO would also fail; however, they were proven wrong. Twitter, also known as TWTR on the New York Stock Exchange, initially offered their shares at $26. It shot up to $50.09, and closed at $44.90, thus the price of the shares had a 72% increase within a day. In COMM101, we discussed the various factors that would result in a good IPO, such as the economy, the time of the year, and the exchange, of which was proven during the success of Twitter’s IPO.

The time of a company’s IPO is a very important factor. Luckily for Twitter, November is known for being one of the best months for market gains in a year, and the stock market during the time was at an all time high of 25%. The exchange is also a very important factor. During the sales of Twitters stocks, not only did the New York Stock Exchange “get the stock open, [but it also had it] trading in under 90 minutes”.

There are numerous factors that affect the success of an IPO, of which many private companies should consider when going public, of which contributed to Twitters opening success.

References:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/10/twitters-ipo

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/4-reasons-twitter-ipo-rocked-where-facebook-rolled-192651553.html

Every Monday, my favourite Youtube artist, Connor Franta, will post a video on his channel. Admittedly, because his videos are very entertaining, I look forward to his new video postings each week.  Recently, Youtube incorporated 30-second ads between videos. With this change, I am beginning to lose interest in watching videos.  I find it irritating that I have to wait through the ads, and in addition, I find that the videos load slower.

After visiting Safira Nabila’s blog, I was fascinated by her post on the possibility of Instagram joining the advertising train.   In her opinion, Instagram is an inelastic product; therefore, they will not lose their customers after the addition of ads.  Despite there may be some truth to this statement, given my annoyance with Youtube, I anticipate a decline in users for the application; therefore, Instagram should use this as an opportunity to create an ad free app.

The development of this application will allow their customers to purchase an ad free application or, continue to use the free app with the incorporation of ads.  Having this option available to me, allows myself and other users to continue using the application in an ad free environment.

As said in COMM101, anyone with a great start up idea can become a successful entrepreneur.  However, due to the numerous complications that are directly related to the start of a business, an entrepreneur should also take into consideration various strategies to overcome these issues in the future.  Eugene Dong, the co-founder and CTO of Procurify, is an excellent example of a young entrepreneur from Vancouver who carried out his dream, and has become very successful.

In 2011, Dong and his colleagues realized the annoyance of using an “outdated paper process to make reports, requisitions, approvals, and purchase orders”; therefore, they saw the potential in starting an online management program that would allow businessmen to control their company’s spending online.

The success of the business has been a result of their willingness to pursue their dreams, even though it involved a lot of risks. Not only did they see how their business would assist people’s needs at the time, but they also considered how the company would assist people in the future.

Given Dong’s situation, it is apparent that anyone can become an entrepreneur, as long as they have a dream and are willing to carry out their plan.

References:

http://www.procurify.com/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/in-pictures-introducing-vancouvers-most-promising-young-entrepreneurs/article14104025/