Characteristic of successful Entrepreneur

ASSIGNMENT 3 (20%)

Basic Entrepreneurship (MPU 3233)

TERMS and CONDITIONS;

Students are required to complete this assignment individually. All your answers should

be documented well in computer printed formats.

Format: Times New Roman, font size 12, line spacing 1.5

Question

There are 5 main types of Entrepreneurs, which are:

Intrapreneur

Technopreneur

Copreneurs

Social Entrepreneurs

Cyberpreneur

You are required to explain the definition and choose one successful entrepreneur for each

types of entrepreneur (within Malaysia or International) and explain:

Why you said that he/she (the entrepreneur) falls under the chosen type

What makes them to be a successful entrepreneur? (products or services)

What are challenges that they feel to become a successful entrepreneur?

What are the same characteristic between you and that entrepreneur?

How can you develop yourself to be as him/her?

Guidance;

1. Introduction: Definition

2. Content:


What makes them to be a successful entrepreneur? (products or services)




3. Conclusion

4. Recommendation

Introduction

There are five types of Entreprenuer which is Intraprenuer, Technoprenuer,

Coprenuer, Cyberprenuer and lastly Social Entreprenuer. Each of this entrepreneur has their

own definition. Intrapreneur is defined as a practice of entrepreneurship in an established

firm. Intrapreneurs are employees who work within a business in an entrepreneurial capacity,

creating innovative new products and processes for the organization. A Technopreneur on the

other hand is an entrepreneur who is technology savvy, creative, innovative, dynamic, dares

to be different and take the unexplored path, and very passionate about their work.

Copreneurs are defined as husbands and wives who operate together in two domains, both

family and business while a Cyberpreneur is someone starting or running a business in

cyberspace and the Internet. A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social

problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to

make social change (a social venture).Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures

performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur focuses on creating social capital.

In this essay, I would talk about a successful Cyberprenuer named Garret Gee. Garrett

Gee turned a lucky guess into a business opportunity when the iPad 2 was about to come out

and hence created an apps for it that had eventually helped him into becoming a successful

entrepreneur of his generation.


When iPad 2 was about to be launched, Garret Gee guessed that once the iPad 2 came

out, there soon would be a blog post somewhere listing the top 10 apps for the device. After

recognizing there should be easier to use and less clunky QR code software and apps, he

made it his mission to be the first one to offer such a product fit for the iPad 2. He quickly got

the iPad 2 into the hands of his iOS developer, and after spending two sleepless nights, he

had accomplished his goal. His guess about the blog post was also correct. Thanks to his hard

work, he made it onto that list. He recruited two fellow classmates, and they launched Scan in

February 2011. The team raised $1.5 million from venture capitalists, including Google

Ventures, and in the first year Scan earned 10 million downloads. The number of downloads

grew quickly, reaching 21 million by October 2011. Gee's next move is said to be the

development of a monetization plan.

What makes them to be a successful entrepreneur? (Products or services)

Most people's first job is flipping patties or bussing tables after-school—but Garrett

Gee was starting his own company, named Scan, between studying and playing soccer at

Brigham Young University. In one interview, Garret Gee said that “I was basically told by

my family that as long as I was getting good grades and doing well in soccer, I didn’t need to

work. So Scan, more or less, is my first ever job.” After receiving $1.7 million in seed

funding in late February, it seems as if Gee’s foray into the workforce is off to a pretty good

start. Scan, founded in 2011, utilizes and creates technologies like QR codes and NFC image

recognition to connect individuals and businesses in the real world to the digital space. Since

the release of the Scan app less than a year ago, it has received more than 10 million

downloads in the App Store and Android Marketplace and is currently being used in more

than 77 countries.

Like most start-up ideas, Gee says Scan came about when he realized a need in the

industry. “Like with Foursquare and what they’ve done with the check-in space—where geo-

tagging is a really cool technology but it’s only as popular and well used as it is because

Foursquare built a good name and brand around it—that was something the QR codes space

was lacking,” he says. “When I came across smart codes for the first time, I thought, ‘Wow,

this is really cool technology in a really ugly, crowded space. Someone should make a pretty

product for this.’” Employing his web and app design skills, Gee, along with his BYU

buddies turned co-founders Kirk Ouimet and Ben Turley, cranked out version one in about a

month and instantly had not only a successful app, but a touch of clout to shop around for

investors despite being “three young kids from a small town in Utah.”

Scan is up to nine employees and is in the middle of experimenting with new updates

and ways to turn a profit from their free service. Gee feels confident that regardless of such a

crowded app market, Scan will consistently rise above the noise given the momentum they’ve

already gained. “When someone sees our logo they understand it’s associated with quality,

speed, and good user experiences,” he says.


In one interview, Garrett Gee share some of the challenges he had to overcome that

involves competition from other established company. Scan is not built from scratch, it was

actually an existing idea but then tweaked to meet with the current user trend and

requirement. Gee recalls a particular moment when an investor asked him why he should

bother with Scan when he was meeting with people from competitor ScanLife who had far

more business acumen and experience than Gee and his team. “Our answer was because

we’re young and we were raised on the iPhone—we know the ins and outs of it,” he says.

“We were just super open and up front about how rookie we were and they liked it.” Gee

handled the challenge by acknowledging his product strength, he had a clear vision of what

the product will become and also knows how the product is being produced. Therefore, even

with all the competitor out there, he still adamant with his product and always ensure that his

product is distinctively unique from the rest.


The first thing that I can relate myself with Garrett Gee is his idea of “Do what you enjoy

doing”. What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain,

stability and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don't

enjoy what you're doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will be reflected in the

success of your business--or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don't enjoy what

you're doing, chances are you won't succeed.

Garrett also take seriously on the things that he is doing. It does not matter what you are

doing, but if you do it seriously, it will always lead to success. You cannot expect to be

effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods

and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners fail to take their own

businesses seriously enough, getting easily side-tracked and not staying motivated and

keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who don't take them

seriously because they don't work from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory.

Little do these sceptics, who rain on the home business owner's parade, know is that the

number of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by

leaps and bounds in recent years.

The third characteristic is to plan everything. I like to plan everything, systematically and

efficiently. This is another characteristic that I believe Garrett Gee and I share the same.

Planning every aspect of your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that

every home business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. The act of business

planning is so important because it requires you to analyse each business situation, research

and compile data, and make conclusions based mainly on the facts as revealed through the

research. A business plan also serves a second function, which is having your goals and how

you will achieve them, on paper. You can use the plan that you create both as map to take

you from point A to Z and as a yardstick to measure the success of each individual plan or

segment within the plan.


In order for me to develop myself to be as him, I need to take seriously on the things I

am doing, no matter how menial it may seems to be. Anything that is done with resolute and

pure intention will eventually become successful, as the saying goes “you reap what you

sow”. Taking thing seriously is the first thing I have to put into action in order for me to be

successful as Garrett Gee.

Next is putting things into action. I have seen a lot of aspiring entrepreneur who love

to share their idea but never putting them into action. I have seen a lot of people talking about

their one million dollar business idea passionately in coffee shop, but never implement it.

Hence the idea will remain as an idea, it will not become real. Garrett Gee saw the

opportunity being placed in front of him and immediately take action, rather than sitting idly

hoping that the idea will goes into motion miraculously.

Finally, is the commitment to see it through. A lot of entrepreneur who did put into

action fail in the middle of the journey because they are not committed enough to see it

through. In business, the first important thing during start-up is to survive. They will be

numbers of challenges during start up and it is important to resolute yourself and commit

yourself until the end. That is how you become successful in business. Garrett Gee put all his

effort to ensure Scan become something worth doing by the end of the day, planning ahead,

organizing his financial and man power effectively and finally become a successful apps

worth millions of dollars

Conclusion

Garrett Gee is an example of a Cyberprenuer that proved a successful entrepreneur

does not require high amount of capital, or large network, or high skillset. Having them will

be an advantage but not essential. The most important thing that are required by a successful

entrepreneur is a clear vision and firm resolution. Doing something that you enjoy is a great

motivator, Scan was created with that one goal in mind. Once you know what you want, and

you are passionate about it, opportunity will then become something that you create rather

than something that waiting to happen.

Recommendation

Nothing should be used as an excuse for not pursuing your dreams of being an entrepreneur.

From these inspiring young business owners we can see that it doesn't matter how old or how

young you are, nor how big or how small your idea is. Entrepreneurship can be achieved by

many different demographics. All we have to do to get our business ideas to blossom is find

some support and put the work in.

Documents

Characteristic of successful Entrepreneur