Blog #3
CMU (Cycling Me and U)
On November 23, 2022 was the first day of the Lecture Series. The first resource speaker was Engr. Bronson G. Mabulay and he talks about the overview of start-up businesses and the opportunities to make profit with start-up ideas. The essence of the talk was about problem-solution. Problem-solving is not difficult. Startups embody and embrace the problem-solving mindset more than their archaic corporate counterparts—or at least they want to. Entrepreneurs are good at identifying a problem in their market and ideating a potential solution. He talks about the danger for startups lies in getting too caught up in product development, team building, fundraising, product launching, and the many other things that take startups off the ground. In all the chaos, it can be easy to lose sight of the problem they wanted to solve in the first place. Absorbing customer feedback and re-strategizing for a solution can be the difference between success and failure.
The next resource speaker was Mr. Arnel Arreglado. What I learned about him is that in start-up businesses, there will always be a mindset that mostly successful business people have in common.
Resiliency. How do you react to setbacks? A start-up business is full of ups and downs, quite often how you deal with the downs will dictate your success. When you get knocked down, be prepared to pick up yourself up.
Risk Taking. You don't have to be a gambler, but you need to be able to take risks. Are you willing to put your neck out there when the outcome is uncertain.
Persistence. A start-up business is nor the faint of heart. there are few shortcuts. You are going to have to work very hard for a very long time.
Initiative. You can't let life happen to you. Sometimes, you have to act. When you have a problem, you don't sit back and fret - you attack it.
Vision. You must have a clear vision for your business. What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish?
Leader. There is a good leader behind every good start-up business. You need to be able to lead people and keep them motivated.
Always Learning. You can never know enough. In these facts changing times this is more true than ever before. You need to dedicate yourself to always learning so you can assure you never lose touch.
Creativity. Can you look the box? You will need to look at problems and situations from a variety of perspectives. Instead of just doing the same old routine - look to innovate!
Decisive. Fence-sitters need to apply. When the time calls for it - you will need to make some big decisions. Successful start-up business leaders make decisions confidently and in a timely manner.
On November 25, 2022, the last resource speaker was introduced and she talks about the intellectual property that anyone must know especially those who wants to start business. Whether you’re a start-up or a family business that’s been trading for generations, recognizing and protecting your intellectual property (IP) is critical to growth, protecting what’s yours and maintaining a good reputation.
IP is about protecting the time, money and effort you put into your business. By taking even some basic steps you can:
• protect what’s yours
• translate your hard work and ingenuity into profitable returns
• set yourself up for growth or market expansion
• keep competitors away
• ensure you’re not infringing on others’ rights
• prevent employees from helping your competitors
• attract investors
• promote your business to investors, licensees or potential buyers.
[The presentation of our Business Model Canvas (BMC) was a very successful one as we got quite a lot of positive comments coming from the panel and especially on how to improve our start-up business.]
In our entrepreneurial journey, we are already in the part of figuring out how to strategically show our start-up business to our investors and potential buyers/customers, through our venture pitching video. We are introducing our product to the market by showing what was the problem all along and the solution concerning transportation. Being able to solve the problem in the area of transportation, our bicycle can easily help you go to destinations or places inside the campus, the Central Mindanao University, without hassle. We showed in the video the uniqueness of our bicycle as it can also produce electrical energy through cycling. You can use electricity to charge your phone. We also showed our investors and potential buyers how to book a bicycle whenever they needed a ride through our application.
Our start-up business was chosen to represent the entire class for the demo pitching. I am so grateful to my classmates, most especially to my team (Cath, Natyana, Xyla, Hayana, and Trisha) that we come up with a great idea for solving the problem in the field of transportation. To have a successful team you will need in place of an effective group. The main ingredients for an organization is to have a successful team. To accomplish a successful team it comes with a lot of planning, innovating and having a positive attitude. Building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of professional skills.

















