No Thanks

By -

I had my last class for the term today it was New Products & Services Development (NPSD) under Prof. Jay Bernardo and we concluded the class with a very interesting activity: Elevator pitches to "potential venture capitalists." (Well, not really VC's but folks from the Philippine Business for Social Progress and a couple of entrepreneurs :P)

How things went was everyone in the class was given two minutes to pitch a new business idea and five judges will either say "Yes" or "No" to your business idea a la American Idol, i.e.the judges will be very upfront with you and tell you in your face why your idea will either succeed or suck. Judges will also ask questions and give their critiques in an objective, but frank manner. So you could imagine how I had to condition myself for the activity because for sure the judges will not mince words and will not pull their punches in giving their comments.

When my name was called, I stepped up to the plate and gave my business idea (a student center that generates revenue from advertising) and after my two minutes were up, the judges pounced on my idea like a jaguar on a hapless deer. In the end all the judges gave a resounding "No" to my idea.

I have to admit, it initially bruised my ego because I really think my idea is good, but it just needs some little tweaking. You really have to have a positive outlook about things in order to get past the stinging comments and see the wisdom in their feedback. With the knowledge of what's weak about my business idea, I now know what to do in order to come up with a better proposal when I craft my business plan.

Class ended with pizza treat from me because my mobile phone rang and it was not in silent mode. Tip: if you are taking Prof. Bernardo's class, that's one of his house rules-- if your phone makes a sound, you will have to treat the class. Prof. Bernardo also practices what he preaches because one time he treated the class to Starbucks because own phone rang.

So it was a good class to cap off my first elective term in the Asian Institute of Management. :)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Regnard,
That would have been probably interesting to watch. It's nice to know that the AIM encourages new business ideas and helps to fine tune those ideas. By the way, the professor treating everyone with pizza is funny.
September 6, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Unknown said…
Hi Rizza!

Yeah it was encouraging and humbling at the same time. :P

Prof. Jay Bernardo is cool. :D
September 7, 2008 at 8:19 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Admitted to the MBA Program

By -
Let backtrack a bit: How was I able to get admitted to the Asian Institute of Management (AIM)? The admission process is a relatively brief process, but rigorous nonetheless. The AIM Website outlines the procedure on how to apply and the requirements as well. However, I found some old content at the AIM site that might get some users confused. But in spite of that, my experience in applying was a very smooth and hassle-free one. I made sure that I had the following accomplished: Application Form - This can be downloaded online . The application form is very long and has 14 essay questions! It is better to answer the essay questions briefly and direct to the point. Official Transcripts - This is my undergraduate transcript from the University of the Philippines - Diliman . Academic Recommendation Letter - I had a former professor of mine from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business accomplish this one. Professional Recommendation Letter - I asked a former superior make a recommenda...
Read more

My Experience with the Embassy of India in Manila

By -
Image
Are you a Filipino going to India? Be warned. You may be in for a great deal of frustration. I've been spending the past week arranging my visa for my Action Consultancy (AC) in India. (The AC is equivalent to AIM's industry internship for its MBA students; I'll blog more about this in future posts). The frustration has really been mounting because of the very confusing and Byzantine system of the Indian embassy here in the Philippines. First point of frustration: the customer service. I initially called the embassy to clarify the requirements and procedures. The embassy has an automated answering system that has a selection where a caller can get an itemized list of requirements. That's all. No information of procedures, steps or guidelines. I selected the option to talk to a staff member and when I asked my query, she told me I'll find everything I need at the Indian Embassy website . If you look at the site, there are some information, but not the ones I'm lo...
Read more

Asian Institute of Management in India?

By -
I've been following the "new campus" moves of the Asian Institute of Management as of late and while I said my piece a while back, there was some development that reached the media last week. I've speculated that AIM's new campus may be outside of the Metro Manila. But how about a new campus outside of the Philippines? President Francis Estrada said in an interview with Business Standard : AIM is an Asian Institute and is not just for the Philippines. We are thinking of creating campuses beyond the capital Manila and are looking at proposals to establish presence in India. My take on this is that from a strategic point of view, it's pretty sound.The Indian graduate education student market is very huge and talented and AIM had seen a big growth of Indian students since the start of the 2000's. Here's a fact: For the MBA program, the Indian population in AIM has steadily grown and if you compare the 2001 class to our class, the Indian percentage o...
Read more