Course

EDTEC 700: Learning, Technology, and Business

Project Name

Home Away from Home

Picture of Home Away From Home Presentation Title Slide

Files

Home Away from Home Business Plan
Email to Investor

Project Description

The objective of this project was to create an educational business proposal and convince others to invest in the idea. My partner (Floyd Won) and I began this project by deciding on a business topic. We chose to take a problem of which Floyd had first-hand knowledge. Floyd moved here from Korea and faced the dilemma of finding a place to live and roommates to live with, while never having visited this area. Because of his experience, we created a website that international students could use to find a place to live and roommates. Our next step involved gathering research on international student enrollment, as well as conducting a survey involving international students’ experiences with moving from a different country. Each of these pieces showed the basis for our business and the reasons to support this venture. Based on the information from our survey and Floyd’s own personal experience, we derived a list of features that our website would offer and created a prototype of the site. In addition, we investigated our competitors and determined a list of benefits our service offered over the competition. Also, since the web services we would offer were free, we developed an advertisement sales plan that we would use to make a profit for our business. Lastly, we presented our project plan to our “investors” alongside other groups with different investment opportunities and the attendees decided how much money to put into each company.

EDTEC Standard

Our main goal through this project was to convince a set of investors to give money to a start-up business. We had to clearly communicate the goals of our business, support our business with statistics and data, and present a clear plan for how our business would make money. Each piece of the project gave us an opportunity to showcase our ideas with various visual aids, as well as, our own presentation skills. Not only did the information we present determine whether these “investors” would support our company, but also the way we interacted with the audience, our demeanor, our attitude, and our excitement about the project all played into whether they would invest in our idea. Also, after presenting the business plan to these investors, we wrote a follow-up email to one of the attendees about why they should support our project. So, again we needed to clearly communicate, this time in writing, the benefits of our business over the other business opportunities presented.

Problems and Opportunities

One of the problems we faced within this project was the short timeframe in which to complete it. Not only did we have to invent a new business, but we also had to research that type of business, create a prototype of the web site, and conduct a presentation on our business plan. In a real-world situation, all of these tasks could take months to develop, but we had only two weeks. So, Floyd and I broke up the project into pieces and developed a project plan that would put us finishing a few days before the due date. Unfortunately, unexpected things happen with any project, and ours was no exception. We ended up having to readjust our plan based on the progress we had made and what still needed to be accomplished. We showed a true sense of flexibility within this project and eventually we finished all of the work before the presentation day.

My Capabilities

This project shows my ability to solve a problem of which I have no first-hand knowledge. With many projects in the world of training, we develop materials for a topic about which we know nothing. This project gave me a good experience in that situation. Floyd and other international students were my subject-matter experts and I relied on them for the content of the project, while I focused on how to most effectively deliver that information. The end result shows the accomplishments of my ability to work with these content experts and put their ideas into a viable solution.

Lessons Learned

One major lesson I learned while working on this project was how much time, energy, and effort it takes to create even the simplest of businesses. I see new businesses all the time, but I never really understood the nature of planning for that business. I now realize that if anything goes wrong at any step in the process, you must start the process over again with a new idea. Also, I appreciate the importance of having data to support the need for the business. To get someone to invest in my company over another meant that I had to have answers for all of their questions and a feasible plan for making money. I think the most difficult part of this process was coming up with an idea on how to make money with this business. Even with a great idea, a business will fold if it has no profit. This project gave me the opportunity to really see how businesses come to life and how much time and effort someone had to give to make that happen.

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