Skip to main content

Sacrificial Stepping Stone

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?
Once the ZipStrip makes it big and the concept starts being copied by others, I plan to just sell what I have and move on instead of trying to keep a patent or fight for market control. This has been a great experience, but I am not passionate about making clothing accessories and plan to focus on other projects.
2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?
I have a lot of interests that I feel strongly about and a lot of opportunities that I want to pursue before I would invest in the ZipStrip. I think that working until my idea is taken up by others is a victory on its own because even as I work on other things I will be able to see the ZipStrip thrive and do a bit of bragging if it ends up being a popular thing.
3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?
I think I always had this basic plan for the work in this class, and it changed how I did several of the assignments. Because of this I was able to stay flexible and not get too invested in any specific aspect of my idea as I got feedback in interviews, pitches, or my own experience. Without a looser commitment to this as a business plan, I don't know if I would have been as willing to change my target audience three times, add new functions to my product, or swap how and where I wanted to sell. I think by staying flexible this has ultimately really helped me plan a great opportunity and use this to gain experience for more serious projects I want to make in the future.

Comments

  1. Barfield Swamp SpotApril 15, 2019 at 6:20 PM

    I thought you did a great job this semester presenting your ZipStrip business idea. I really thought you were passionate about seeing this through. I never would have guessed you would pass on bringing this idea to life. I would have been your first customer. I wish you the best throughout this journey with any business idea you decide to pursue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Larry HurstApril 15, 2019 at 10:53 PM

    Hey Paul-
    Your exit strategy for your entrepreneurship opportunity you have been exploring this semester is certainly very detail oriented and forthcoming. Obviously, this idea of a ZipStrip is incredibly unique; however, I think your decision to move on rather than fighting for market control from other companies is a good decision; especially considering that you aren’t that passionate about clothing accessories. Great job on this!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zipping into Youtube fame

Introducing the Zip Strip! *Only one jacket was harmed in the making of this video* 10A – Elevator Pitch No. 1 I only counted 11 "uh"s in this, which seems to be my filler word. Please give me feedback on any other improvements I could make or comments on the product.
3 comments
Read more

Zip it Up

7A – Testing the Hypothesis This is an idea I had last year while working in AmeiCorps when one of my co-workers couldn't close his jacket. The zipper didn't quite reach because he was heavier with a shorter frame. If he had gone up a size the sleeves and torso would be too long, but with the current size he would have to hold his breath to use the zipper. To solve this I came up with the idea of a special strip of jacket with zippers on both sides that you could use to extend the waist by zipping it into the jacket on either side. Adding what is basically a extension to the torso width of the jacket this way would be cheaper and easier than getting a custom fitted jacket. If that was hard to visualize, below is the poor drawing I did during one of my interviews to explain it visually.   Some larger people have trouble finding jackets that fit their waistline without being too large for their proportions. The who: Heavier people The what: Have trouble find...
2 comments
Read more

Finding expert advice

20A – Growing Your Social Capital For this assignment I emailed three people who could help me understand how to sell my ZipStrip. Because I have three different groups of customers I want to market to for this assignment I focused on only  the "Fan" group.  Supply Expert: Pamela Braseth Dragon Sports founder Pam is an family friend and gave me my two first jobs, so I have a lot of experience asking her for favors. She also was the owner of a triathlon store and sold the team caps, suits, jackets, and shirts to all the local swim teams in my area which makes her the only person I know with experience acting as a supplier for sports teams. My favor to her was a list of questions about how, when, and who buys these team merch items. Is it just for the swimmers? Do the parents and family members want their own shirts?  How were the items branded to the teams (team colors, logos, mascots, slogans...)? In asking for this information I promised to make a set ...
2 comments
Read more