Winter is coming...

Fall is here, and Winter is coming (I am a big fan of Game of Thrones)!  Winter for many means hibernation - and for me, it means focusing on my upcoming business!  


I am a firm believer in setting realistic short and long term goals for everything that I do.  By January 1st my goals are to

  • Run a 10K (November) 
  • Be halfway done with my MBA (December)
  • Finalize a business idea (December)
The big one there is finalizing my business idea.  I have so many, and they range from mobile applications to improve my shopping experience to opening up an event planning company.  Some are better than others - and the reason I want to get this nailed down by the end of the year is so I can focus next year (2013) in getting ready to pitch my idea at the Babson Rocket Pitch!  (For those of you in the Boston area, I encourage you to learn more about this event!)  This gives me 12 months to prepare.  Given I will be working and going to school (and blogging!) for most of that, I think the amount of time I have set is perfect.  I will not be taking classes for the summer, so it should give me some time to focus.  I'm getting excited just thinking about this!


What are some of the steps you take when coming up with your business idea?  How do you choose between ideas?  Entrepreneurs tend to come up with many ideas in their careers, so how do you pick which one you do first?  

I'm really interested in taking some advice, or reading other blogs - if you have suggestions please let me know!


4 comments:

  1. Hi Cait!
    I chose Babson because I knew I wanted to start a business, but had no idea what kind. Now I'm a year into the program and have a very solid idea of what I want to do. The intro to Info Technology class told us to start blogging, so I did, and that led to a love of online wine marketing and sales, so now I am trying to start a business doing that (and pitching in the Rocket Pitch in a few weeks). If you are interested in design, maybe you could start a design/UX/UI club at Babson and get some ideas there. You should also check out a Boston startup school called Intelligent.ly (whose website is http://www.intelligent.ly ). They have great classes on marketing, UX, design, etc. I go any night I don't have class at Babson.
    Cheers!
    Dano

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  2. Thanks so much for checking this out Dano! I'm definitely going to check out some of the stuff you suggested! Good luck at the Rocket Pitch - keep me updated as to how it goes!

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  3. Cait, if you haven't done it yet, you have to try StartupWeekend and Lean Startup Machine! Those are the best places to start to not only formulate your ideas, but also try building a startup in a real world. Good luck!

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  4. Great suggestion Irina! I don't know if I'm ready for the Startup Weekend (It's just a few days away!) this year, but I will for SURE be there next year! Keep the suggestions coming!

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