Last Thursday, Isaac Budmen, co-founder of Little Tinker and a current SU graduate student, shared his entrepreneurial experience with us in my social media class. His presentation was short but inspiring.
Isaac recalled his experience of how he met with Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare and an SU alumnus. At first, Isaac was unable to set up an appointment with Dennis using his SU connections. Then, he went to Twitter. “Surprisingly,” he received a tweet from Dennis and finally met with him for a conversation. What a great example of using Twitter!
The founding of Little Tinker did not come from a brilliant idea or a 10-billion plan; it was simply triggered by an incident where Isaac and his friends added the hashtag of #Drinkup in their tweets during a happy hour. All of a sudden, #Drinkup became a global phenomenon. Isaac saw that as a great opportunity and “jumped in” to pursue his entrepreneurship ideas --- an entrepreneur may not know everything of starting up a new business and there will be mistakes on the road, but s/he must “jump in” and start working on the “small” ideas.
I believe that great business ideas must root in useful service, but not all ideas need to be “big.” As entrepreneurs “jump in,” they can further twist their ideas for a better business plan.
Do you have the guts to “jump in” and become an entrepreneur? What other lessons do you learn from Isaac’s experience?
After listening to stories like Isaac's you can't help but feel inspired. I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur because I associate that term with "big" ideas. But like you say, and there are endless examples, you do not a "big" idea.. you simply need an idea that you can run with. Isaac's experience is just of many that prove how far an idea could truly get you. Not saying it's easy.. it does take a lot of time, energy and eventually money. But, it really is exciting hearing stories like these because it does show that anyone could do something big. When Isaac explained how he got in touch with Dennis, it was crazy to hear. He tried so hard before to get in contact through Dennis contact information and talked to hundreds of people who did not help him at all.. but just one spontaneous attempt to tweet at Dennis himself worked! If this does not prove how social media can connect people instantly then I don't know what will. Seeing experiences like these change my perspective on who can be an entrepreneur.. who knows maybe one day I will be!
ReplyDeleteI certainly believe that anyone in class can become an entrepreneur. I also have higher expectations for those who are on top of things --- if they can take good care of small things, they will have better chances of taking good care of big things.
DeleteI think being an entrepreneur means being innovative, creative and thinking outside the box. Everyone has the ability to become a great entrepreneur if they have a new and creative idea that they can bring to life. Entrepreneurship has led to multimillion dollar businesses such as Facebook, Twitter and of recent Instagram. Its all about taking chances and building your brand as Isaac did.
ReplyDeleteIssac's presentation was incredibly inspiring. It was amazing to see his desire and love for what he does. He has made something so small into a world wide phenomenon with just the click of a few buttons. Anyone can be an entrepreneur and "jump in" if they have motivation and inspiration to go far. They need to be willing to take big steps and not be scared of the challenges that may get in their way. Everyone can dream big, but it is your motivation that will get you where you want to be. He did what ever he could to get in contact with Dennis Crowley and in the end he was able to. Who new that with twitter you could go this far? This attempt proves that social media can connect people instantly all over the world.
ReplyDeleteHis gum ball machine was what drew me into the presentation the most. I do not understand how a gum ball machine could be generated just by someone checking into a specific building. It is an interesting concept, and not something that anyone has ever thought of doing before. I will be sure to go check it out this week and see what it actually can do. I am sure that Dennis will go far in what ever he sets his mind to. I have the upmost respect for him and I am excited to see what he has in store for us next. HIs inspirational story now gives me the hope that maybe one day I have the ability of becoming an entrepreneur one day.
It is great when ones idea is put into transition into something that becomes a global project. Isaac Budmen was just playing a drinking game he made up with his friends and it was able to become a global company is truly amazing. Isaac was able to use social media and reach out to the co-founder of Foursquare. With Twitter it is extremely easy to contact a famous celebrity and get a quick response. As I have said in the past I have used Twitter in order to contact many different sports people just with simple answers. It does not seem crazy anymore for a small idea to get caught on quickly and expanded via global media
ReplyDeleteI believe that everyone has a potential to become an entrepreneur because every one has a creative mind. However, there are many reasons why people fall back even they have a brilliant idea for a business. A big part of being an entrepreneur is the ability to take risk, to persuade and to make connections. I don’t see these qualities in my personality. If I have more job experience, these characteristics might become part of me.
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