Week 4 Reading Reflection

     In chapter 5 of Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice, I was surprised to learn all of the different types of innovation as well as everything that goes into the creative process. I always had an idea of what the creative process encompassed but seeing it divided into clear categories made me see how involved the process really is. I thought it was interesting to learn that only “2 to 10 percent [of people] use their creative potential” (Kuratko 139) because even though I assumed the number would be low, I didn’t expect it to be that low.

     I didn’t find any particular part to be confusing. This chapter seemed to be straightforward and mostly informative. Some parts were a little unclear in the beginning of the chapter but I think Kuratko cleared them up as the chapter progressed.

     I would be interested in knowing which hemisphere of the brain the author would consider to be more significant. I know from psychology classes that right side dominant people are generally considered more creative because they are good with the arts and languages; while, left side dominate people are more logical because they are stronger in math and decision making scenarios. Something else I would be interested in knowing is why is it so important to speed up the idea experience. Kuratko mentions, on page 132, six ways to speed of the idea experience but never goes into detail as to what the advantages are. I wonder if speeding up the experience compromises the idea itself because it isn’t allowed the time to form and undergo slow revisions.

     In the discussion about the creative process, I disagree with a couple of points. From above it should be clear that I disagree with the concept of speeding up the idea experience, mentioned in phase 3. Currently I don’t see what an individual would achieve from this; I can only see negatives. I also disagree with the suggestion of “[thinking] about the idea or project before falling asleep” (Kuratko 132). Many times I have great ideas before I fall asleep, which supports Kuratko’s suggestion; however, I almost always forget my idea by the time I wake up. This may be something that only happens to me though.

Customer Interviews No. 1

     I’ve always had a love for mugs and since I don’t like tea or coffee I have often found myself eating food out of mugs, similar to a bowl; as I’m typing this I’m eating mac n’ cheese out of a Peach Valley mug. For me, I love that mugs have handles and that mugs/bowls keep the contents hotter longer since the food isn’t spread out, as it would be on a plate. I always had the idea that if I was to open a restaurant/café I would serve everything in mugs to add an interesting trait, in an effort to stand out among other places.

     My target age group for my costumer interviews was 13-30 year olds because I see this type of business thriving in a college town environment.

     I started by asking everyone what their age was, how often they eat out, what their favorite place was, a why they liked to eat there. This series of questions gave me a sense of what they look for in a place to eat. Next, I explained what Satchels was to those not familiar with it and proposed a scenario about having a Satchels next to a chain pizza restaurant and asked which they were more likely to visit and why. For my last question I was interested in learning where each person would take someone that they haven’t seen in a long time for a casual lunch or coffee and why. This question was targeted at identifying what type of places each person saw has having casual environments.

     Inserted below is one video of all the audio clips from each interview. I sought out people between 13 and 30 that had an opinion of restaurants.

     I think that there is an opportunity for my idea to be successful. From the interviews, I’ve found that most people would prefer a place with a good atmosphere, food, and service. For those who weren’t familiar with Satchels, they said that they would be interested in trying it because it was something different and that they were open to new experiences. Overall, I found that people prefer unique places to chain restaurants when given the choice. After the interviews some of the people asked me to explain my idea and seemed interested in visiting a place like it. In general, I think that as long as I adapted certain aspects of my idea to fit was the costumers’ want; I can see this being successful.

     I learned that interviewing costumers isn’t that hard. I targeted people that were eating, that way I knew they didn’t have to be anywhere soon. Everyone I asked were super nice about the whole thing. I had one girl that didn’t really provide any helpful answers to my questions but it was easy to find someone else that did. I found that interviewing in groups could be a good thing and a bad thing. My first group interview was very positive but the second wasn’t, I think because the first was a group of two and the second was a group of four. For my next round of interviews I think I’m going to target groups of two because I think it makes the interviewees feel less put on the spot.