Purpose
Over the next eight units, you will be creating and evaluating a business plan for your own new venture. Each unit, you will be addressing various aspects of your new entrepreneurial venture.
To get the best responses to the assignments, you will have help from your classmates. They can help with brainstorming ideas and will help with elaborating on your plans to give constructive feedback based on the class material and suggestions to make things better. This brainstorming session is designed to help you create the best final business concept possible. It is essential that you involve yourself in this process to help others as they help you. The faculty member will act as resource and facilitator to the discussion, but the work is about you communicating with your classmates and pooling information to create the best business plan possible. You may just find by the end of the class that you are inspired to go into business for yourself!
Entrepreneurship, at its heart, is creating something new that solves an existing problem. For this course, each of you will be creating a unique business plan that responds to such a problem. In preparation, it will be useful to identify potential real-life problems that could be solved with a new solution. From an entrepreneurial perspective, it is best to think of problems as challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurship! Every problem has the potential for a solution—and a business!
Participating in this discussion will allow you to demonstrate Critical Thinking, Ethical Standards and Conduct, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategic Planning skills.
Task
For this discussion board, you will be brainstorming problems and solutions with the end goal of each student having a unique problem and solution to work toward in his/her business plan. For this dialogue, you may use the UMGC Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guide with options such as CoPilot, ChatGPT, and others to help with finding current problems and potential solutions. Remember that at this point you do not need to create an action plan; you need to simply propose possible business solutions (i.e., new ventures) as solutions. This is also not an analytical assignment—the purpose of this unit is to brainstorm. If desired, you may present multiple problems and solutions.
Review some of the ways to find ideas in the class material and online to help you select a problem and some possible solutions. You may already have a great idea of your own but be careful to look at its commercial viability and your ability to make it happen. There are already some ideas in this unit’s readings, but more new ideas are always preferred. Select a problem and solution idea that you personally believe could be part of a business you could start and could participate in developing. In making your choice, pay close attention to whether you have an idea that people will benefit from and therefore buy what you are selling. NO business is too small as long as you make money.
In 350–500 words, by Saturday, June 13th, at 11:59 p.m., address the following prompts:
- Describe a problem and explain why it is a problem.
- Discuss why entrepreneurship is the best course to address the problem. Use course resources to support your reasoning.
- What are some possible solutions?
- What opportunities does this problem create?
You can use online resources such as ChatGPT for assistance. Be sure to note when AI has provided some input.
By Tuesday at June 16th, 11:59 p.m., respond to at least 2 of your classmates. In your response, offer other possible solutions or different perspectives on the problem/opportunity itself. As the focus is creativity and brainstorming, the point is not to analyze but to deepen the ideation of elements of the problem and of possible solutions.