Very Short Interview, Part 2

In my first interview with Mr. Tobin, I asked him basic questions about entrepreneurship, like what does it mean to be an entrepreneur, what does he wish he knew before he started, and what I should try to get out of this course. In retrospect a lot of his answers, like the importance of networking, seem almost obvious in hindsight. However I can remember being surprised at the time. I guess this just shows what I've managed to learn over the following months since the interview.

I set up a chat with Mr. Tobin over the phone to ask him three new questions now that I have new found perspective thanks to this course.

1. How much of your entrepreneur mindset is unique to your field, and how much is universal?

He told me that he believes a great deal of entrepreneurial skill is universal. Things like market research, interviewing potential customers, and managing your business transfer between almost every field. There are specific tricks to every trade of course, but a great deal is universal.

2. What do you think is the major point of failure for fresh entrepreneurs?

He said that is absolutely would have to be lack of understanding of the market. Many entrepreneurs have what seem like amazing ideas, but totally mismanage it when it comes to finding a receptive demographic or delivering in a way that is attractive to customers.

3. What do you think the single most important skill as an entrepreneur is?

Lack of a fear of failure. There is almost no such thing as a sure bet, and risk is proportionate to reward. Don't be afraid to fail! (But make sure potential failure won't ruin you.)


I felt a lot more comfortable conducting this interview the second time around. Partly because I had already interviewed Mr. Tobin before, but also because I have done so much interacting and interviewing throughout this course that I was used to it. He was also impressed on the quality of my questions, he thought they were very direct and no-nonsense. I attribute this to my experience in this course.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1krOhMdJtU

Last time I learned that the biggest problems people have with advising tends not to be lack of knowledge, but wait times. This is a problem pretty exclusive to college students, so I interviewed college students. I asked questions more specific to potential problems in the advising system. I learned that the primary problem people have with advising is wait times and odd hours. To future students taking this class, I would recommend taking the time to really think through your questions, not being afraid to approach random people, and making sure to keep track of deadlines!