Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur today is not unheard of. Succeeding is. Only 45% of businesses survive beyond their first five years. And those are just the numbers for survival. There’s nothing that states those businesses are in good shape. You need to use every possible tool at your disposal.

Nish Patel, the founder of ClutchPoints, a company that allows you to follow your favorite sports team’s games as a social stream intertwined with stats, play-by-play and real-time chat while you are on the go. During his time studying at UCLA as a double-major in Biology and Economics, he experienced firsthand how difficult a lack of entrepreneurial support can be to initiating a startup.

This guide is going to introduce you to the importance of immersing yourself in an entrepreneurship community.

No Background No Support

During his sophomore year living in the UCLA dorms, Patel came across the origins of ClutchPoints by bridging the gap between his passion and love to build. However, in 2012 there was no real place for the entrepreneurial student community at UCLA. Patel was thinking there must be like-minded students on campus with a similar passion. Therefore he went about looking to enhance UCLA’s entrepreneurship community by co-founding Bruin Entrepreneurs. Since a UCLA entrepreneurship community didn’t exist for undergrads, Patel was forced to go about things on his own.

This is a difficult position for entrepreneurs to be in. They can only learn by making mistakes, and these mistakes could be costly enough to put an end to any hope of success.  Having a well-established entrepreneurship community is advantageous because you can  and those who came before, which is exactly what Patel did and was able to do for numerous others on campus.

An Appetite for Help

As the co-founder of Bruin Entrepreneurs, Patel quickly saw that entrepreneurs at UCLA needed guidance. Especially students that had no technical background. Therefore Patel directed a program at LA Hacks called , a non-traditional program where 50 students with a non-technical background had the ability to learn how to code within a 36-hour bootcamp enforced schedule. , one of those 50 students chimed in on what HackCamp accomplished for his future career:

“The 36 hours I spent at HackCamp provided me a solid intro to technology. Although I didn’t major in CS, I was encouraged to learn, pursue creative projects, and explore careers in the industry.”

Patel’s entrepreneurial efforts at UCLA earned him a student honor in entrepreneurship in May of 2015 by UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.

There are growing entrepreneurship communities all over the country. Entrepreneurs are crying out for help in an attempt to reverse the dismal startup failure rates rampant in virtually every industry today. Students need help finding more non-traditional career options and they want it now.

So where can entrepreneurs find help with their latest ventures?

There are now startup support groups everywhere. Students can take advantage of co-working spaces, casual meet and greet affairs, and seminars specifically aimed at local startup communities.

How Could a Startup Group Indicate that You Have a Great Idea?

Patel’s latest venture is ClutchPoints, an app that allows people to experience real-life moments they want from their chosen NBA, MLB, & NFL games. They can do this on the go and take in the emotion of the event as if they were actually there. It’s a bold new concept that goes beyond the 24-hour sports coverage available today. They’re on the brink of developing the world’s largest sports social network.

There was no guarantee that people would respond to this idea. It’s the same issue all entrepreneurs have. They don’t know whether their idea is going to get off the ground. They have to  and find someone impartial to test it. That’s where startup groups come in.

Patel values the LA startup community greatly for helping him launch ClutchPoints. He was able to use real people to test his new idea. In his case, he found it to be a resounding success. But without testing your product, you never know whether it’s going to get off the ground.

There is a major benefit to taking a lean approach to creating a start-up and definite importance behind market testing to iterate features quickly and cost-efficiently.

A Team to Share the Load

Entrepreneurs like to think they can do it all at once. Sometimes there’s nothing better than having a team by your side. The best way to compensate for your lack of skills in certain areas is to work with a skilled set of teammates who can complement you. This is what Patel discovered in co-founding Bruin Entrepreneurs.

The synergy of a group together meant Patel could bounce ideas back and forth with other like-minded individuals. Finding a team without an established community in place isn’t easy, though. The problem a lot of people have is they don’t know anyone outside of their own friend circles.

This is why immersing yourself in the entrepreneurship community both online and offline can bring so many great benefits. You could find that next partner, or at the very least, someone to share your next idea with.

Last Word – Community is Strength

Patel has embodied the power of community in all of his ventures. His latest startup ClutchPoints is all about connecting sports-savvy people socially and building a unique community to engage with sports in a way that has never been done before.

Join your local entrepreneurship community and see what they have to offer you today. It’s key to network with alumni that have ‘been there, done that’ and to connect further with professors and individuals high up in the university ecosystem. You never know who anyone knows until you ask.

7 Proven Pieces of Entrepreneurship Advice For Students and Interns

Right now there are millions of college students sitting in a college class or a dorm room. They are not even realizing that the cost of the school they are at is going to eat away at their budget for years to come. As the student debt and tuition continue to mount, students also have a great deal of benefits that many others didn’t, and therefore these Millennials may be the world’s next biggest entrepreneurs. That’s where the following 7 pieces of entrepreneurship advice come into play.

In a world where money makes the world go round, the reason why they are ripe for jumping into these grounds is that they end up working for or interning at tech companies. Many are interested in high tech jobs, but even larger numbers want to do something on their own, and be independent. Not everyone in college today wants that 9 to 5 job after they graduate.

These millennials have some incredible ideas, that only get bigger as they go through their college life and gain experience thru internships. There is a lot of advice out there for the Millennials, but honestly, only a few things resonate with some proving grounds.

Here are the 7 proven elements that students may want to learn right now which would help them with their entrepreneurship career.

Meet New People and Network

School is a proving ground where you can meet other people. Don’t let yourself stay in one place and not meet others. Network, talk to others, befriend people and get a mentor. You may find that the people you meet in college are going to stay with you for years, and could help you succeed down the line.

The more you can communicate and stay in touch, the better your chances are for getting success after you graduate, as the real world is full of people that “know someone”, etc.

The Opportunity Or The Degree

Take a note from big time basketball players, jump at the chances of a lifetime, don’t stay in school. This may not make your parents happy, but it’s something that you have to think about in the long term. Yes, you could fail in the big leagues, but what if you don’t?

You can use your financial status to go back to school and get that degree later. You have an option to get a degree in your lifetime, but you don’t always have a chance at the majors, in tech, or in sports. If you get a once in a lifetime opportunity, take it, don’t sit in school.

Degrees don’t mean success, they only prove to an employer that you can learn a particular subject and therefore, it helps, but you can get them when the time is right. Just remember that as entrepreneurship Advice.

Eat With Others When You Can

Building relationships is tough when you are not around people. Just like the tip above, take time to sit with others including your supervisor and talk to people.

If you see someone sitting alone, go talk to them. Ask to sit with them, and just spark a conversation. This is going to be uncomfortable at first glance, but if you keep doing this, you’ll eventually talk to more and more people and you’ll build relationships and network far easier over time just like big companies.

Don’t Fear Failure

You’re going to need to take a few risks in your life. That includes college etc. You don’t necessarily need to skip school and risk your life, but there are times when a questionable option could lead you down some great experiences.

You may find that if you push the limits a little, you may very well see a great option moving forward for your career path.

Look Around and Explore Your Area

Do not stay in one place. Travel as much as you can. If you don’t have a lot of money, that’s ok, travel around your campus, see every part of it, explore and keep going forward.

Do not let yourself be isolated and stuck in one area. Learn to walk, learn to talk, and start to explore every nook and cranny of the buildings and offices that are around you.

Your actions and attitude including nonverbal communication can have a great influence over your social environment, so be mindful.

Also, be aware of your learning style, you will find that this can help you with dating, and networking alike.

You will also find niches and hidden areas that you would otherwise not see.

Ask Many Questions

The biggest thing that entrepreneurs do that others don’t is that they ask questions. You need to ask questions all the time. Whether you’re in class, or you’re in a meeting, if there is an option to ask questions ask them. Even if you know the answer, ask. This helps in two ways.

The first is simple, you are going to be remembered. When your professor and those lecturing know your name, they are going to show you favor and will help you out more often than not.

The second thing is that you’re going to be able to get clarification and even explore new avenues that others won’t. The more questions you ask, the better you are going to do in school, and in life.

Ask questions that others don’t, and you’re going to find that you’ll get valuable answers, every single time.

Become The Most Valuable Person (MVP)

Whether you’re in an office setting, working with a team, or just trying to get through another class, become helpful. To become an entrepreneur means is to become a servant and understand how to cope with cultural challenges, for example understand British vs. US culture, if you are an international student.

As an Entrepreneurship advice, look for ways to help your teacher, students, and even your school. The more you can help, the more you are going to be thought about, and that could lead to offers that others don’t get.

Some individuals, for instance, may get called back from an internship to work full time. Others may get work study programs, or offered premium housing because they are helping with certain events, cleaning, and so much more. Your goal is to always be a valuable asset to anyone that is around you, so start in college and you’ll garner a great deal of attention down the line.

As you can see, there are 7 major things that you can do as an intern or a student. These will help you gain the upper hand in whatever it is you want to pursue, and will help you succeed in life. Just don’t be stagnant, that’s the worst thing you can end up being whether you’re a student or chasing a career.

Are you an entrepreneur at heart and need some inspiration, go ahead and read our site story?

If you are worried that you need to survive the University, head over to our site and let our expert writers help you write a top class essay, on time and to the highest possible quality.

Ten years ago, if someone in Detroit said he or she was an entrepreneur, a listener’s first thought might have been, “This person is out of a job” — and with good reason: From 2000 to 2010, Michigan lost over 850,000 jobs — more than all other states .

Related: 

Even before Detroit entered bankruptcy, it was clearly time to rethink “business as usual.” The region could no longer rely on just one industry (read: “automotive”) and a handful of companies as the source of its wealth and prosperity.

In this regard, Detroit was not alone, of course. Around the nation, theories abound on the best approaches to revitalize Rust Belt economies. Many of these debates — the proper role of government, how to build a 21st century workforce and more — continue today.

It was against this backdrop that many in Southeast Michigan in recent years coalesced around an economic development strategy that has been, in fact, part of Detroit’s DNA: entrepreneurship. To regain its position as a global leader, businesspeople said, Detroit needed to diversify its economy through innovation, small business growth and culture change.

But, absent a well-functioning private market, it was the third sector, philanthropy, which stepped in. Ten foundations, both local and national, came together to commit $100 million to a new fund. And so the was born in 2007, with the ambitious goal of transforming an economy that had left too many residents behind into a diversified engine of opportunity through entrepreneurship.

Related:

Today, nearly 10 years later, it’s worth asking: Has this model of entrepreneurship-centered economic development worked? And what lessons, good or bad, can be learned from the experiment?

The first answer is clear: Yes. Entrepreneurship is beginning to transform metro-Detroit’s economy. Since 2009, NEI’s investments in organizations supporting entrepreneurs have helped launch 1,700 companies (40 percent of which are minority-owned, twice the national average) and create 17,500 jobs (many in high-tech sectors), according to new This, in turn, has boosted output in the regional economy by nearly $3 billion.

Perhaps more importantly, there is a change in culture happening in Southeast Michigan. We’re no longer skeptical of entrepreneurs here; in fact, entrepreneurship is both encouraged and celebrated.

In a recent survey, . The percentage who felt there was sufficient financial and technical support for businesses like theirs increased three-fold over that same period.

Since 2007,

A truly robust network of support has been built — and Detroit entrepreneurs can feel it. As Justine Sheu, the founder of two local tech startups, recently put it: “Three millennials with zero business backgrounds were able to build and grow two companies because of the ecosystem here … The entrepreneurial energy is palpable.”

So, should other U.S. cities replicate this entrepreneur-first model? While every region is unique, there are universally applicable lessons to be drawn from Detroit and NEI’s experience:

1. Investing in inclusion is critical.

Historically underrepresented groups — women, people of color, immigrants — must be central to economic development efforts. Cities cannot afford to apply a neighborhood or urban core strategy alone; they must take a regional approach. Inclusiveness extends to the type and size of businesses, as well. We must support the barbershop and biomedical research center, the tamale-makers and tech companies, alike.

2. We need to define cities by their assets, not deficits.

When people used to talk about Detroit, they were fixated on the city’s shortcomings. Yet the region has the largest concentration of engineers in the world, a wellspring of creatives and three top-tier universities. Investment decisions should be directed toward areas where value already exists, not toward simply solving for the deficiencies.

3. Collaboration should be celebrated.

Building something as complex as an economic ecosystem requires the private, public and nonprofit sectors to work together. Financial resources are important, but so too is leadership, vision and connections. As NEI has learned, to foster innovation, you must first embody it.

There is no question that much work remains in metro Detroit. Entrepreneurship has not and cannot cure every ill afflicting the city. Solutions to issues like education, public safety and housing are desperately needed.

Related: 

But there is no question that entrepreneurship has led to remarkable economic and social progress in the last decade. Our collective task now — in Southeast Michigan and across the nation — is to ensure that this progress is felt by each and every person who calls Detroit home.

Think outside the box. Take risks. Turn obstacles into success. We’ve all heard these motivational platitudes before. So, why do so many of us struggle to actually apply them to our daily business lives?

Related: 

Our mindset dictates what we believe to be possible both in life and business. Yet the way we think can either be our greatest asset or our biggest detriment. It’s easy to read or hear “think outside the box,” but it can be much more difficult to put this advice into action!

Successful entrepreneurs understand that is a lifelong process. They make it a priority to have the right mindset for expansive thinking and explosive business growth. They objectively evaluate mistakes and apply lessons learned to future projects.

Most importantly, they value their own time above all else, treating it as a valuable commodity that should be spent investing in themselves and their business.

Entrepreneurs versus corporate executives: How does mindset differ?

Recently, I read about a fascinating study by Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Sarasvathy wanted to dig deeper into what made successful entrepreneurs so different. Through rigorous interviews and research, she concluded that successful entrepreneurs rely on what she calls “effectual reasoning.”

Successful people like these don’t start out with concrete goals and let themselves become disheartened if they fail to meet these achievement marks, Sarasvathy concluded; instead, they continually assess how they can best leverage their strengths to utilize available opportunities.

Looking at Sarasvathy’s study, an observer might recognize this approach as being different from that of most executives. Corporate executives, after all, follow causal reasoning. They set a singular goal and focus on identifying and implementing the best ways to achieve this goal. 

Yet both approaches are valid in their respective settings: In a corporate structure, it makes sense to set specific, achievable goals and to work toward these goals. But when you’re starting a company, your ability to pivot quickly with market direction will be critical to your success.

Maintaining a blind focus on specific goals could keep you from seeing other opportunities. In essence, you’d be missing the forest for the trees.

Four entrepreneurs share their advice for success.

Want to think more like an entrepreneur and adopt an “effectual reasoning” approach to your thinking? Here’s a peek inside the restless, creative minds of today’s top entrepreneurs:

“Always think ahead and never stop dreaming,” Chris Clifton, the president of , told me. He said that he urges his fellow entrepreneurs to always stay one step ahead of the competition by staying in touch with their customer base at all times. Entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of testing endless product features and iterations with every market segment.

Instead, to gain an intimate understanding of a customer’s needs — and ultimately out-innovate the competition — Clifton recommends developing a close relationship with key customers. “Your customers are your best brand ambassadors,” Clifton said. “Ask them what they need your product to do differently, and make that happen,” he said. “Never stop dreaming of ways to innovate.”

Related: 

“Failure is only failure if you don’t learn a lesson,”  Emanuel Kronitz, the founder of , said to me. He pointed out how fear of failure is commonly cited as the reason people choose not to start their own companies or invent new products.

There’s a negative social stigma attached to failure, Kronitz, says, not to mention very real financial consequences if a company collapses and takes the founder’s savings with it.

While entrepreneurs are aware of these risks, they choose to take them anyway. That’s because they view failure differently than we do, Kronitz says. “Failure is only failure if you don’t learn a lesson,” he says. “Founding a business is extremely risky, and you will make mistakes along the way. As long as you can learn from these mistakes, you are not failing. You’re growing.”

“Keep a childlike wonderment alive,” Leslie Bradshaw, a managing partner for , said. She added that she prefers an entrepreneurial approach to life that keeps her “childlike wonderment alive.” As we mature into adults, she says, many of us lose our curiosity, our willingness to take risks (and to not worry about what others think) and our passion for exploration.

Bradshaw says that successful entrepreneurs keep these traits alive. She told me: “The more traditional companies I worked for out of college not only didn’t foster these traits, they flat-out discouraged them.” Well, those traditional companies clearly missed out: Bradshaw helped Guide close a $1 million seed round in February 2013 and secure a demonstration spot at SXSW.

“Never stop improving,” was advice that came from Jeremy Johnson, co-founder of . He said that this advice goes for personal growth and for improving the world around you. Every product or service you use today was invented by someone no smarter than you. So why not continue inventing and improving upon it? he points out. “We believe almost everything can be improved upon in some way. We start to imagine what could be instead of what is . . . [but] the world is malleable and many of the rules that exist are more like guidelines.”

Related: 

A travelling entrepreneur is a happy entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship does come with a hectic schedule but it also brings along opportunities to travel to news places. Taking you business to a new country, going to a different state just to meet an investor or just taking time off after months of working, travelling in any form is both fun and a learning experience.

Getting to know new cultures and learning to adapt to new circumstances are some of the many by products of travelling that can be very useful in business. Also, travelling experience changes you as a person and broadens your mind. Each experience is different and can teach you something new.

We asked entrepreneurs and some of their memorable travelling experiences and places they wish they can go back to.

The Argentinean cough that took us from drug store to drug store 

 Kanika Tekriwal, Founder, JetSetGo – South America is my absolute favourite. I would give an arm and a leg to visit the continent every chance I got.  The thing I enjoyed most is to go out there and talk to strangers. I’ve made some of my closest friends travelling and talking to absolute strangers in restaurants, clubs and trains. I am also a big endorser of trying all food local.

A funny incident that happened on the trip, well I can laugh about it now, is that I managed to get the Argentinean cough. It was a horrible cough, which barely allowed me to speak two words without coughing spread over a p of some 8-9 days. We struggled from drug store to drug store trying to explain to chemists what it was we were in need of.  Post which we had to board our flight to Peru where I had the entire aircraft awake simply because I was coughing.  I learnt my lesson and never left the country after that without my big bag of local drugs.

Good people, good food, weird people and weird food 

Ashwini Ashokan, CEO and Co-founder, Mad Street Den – California is my meditation, the place that brings me so much peace and freedom to me. When I get off the flight – I can’t explain the joy I feel. Good people, good food, weird people and weird food. It feels so right, helps me think out of the box all the time. I’ve been on ethnographic trips doing field work, design research and attending conferences and they’re some of the best places to talk to people. People therapy I call it. And it worked out well because that was work for me at one point in my life. Not to mention the beauty and history in these places.

Chennai, where I’m from, is also among my favourites. You can’t take Madras out of me. I have a love hate relationship with her.

We did’t know if we’ll survive the ride or not

Amit Koshal, Founder ; CEO, Fashalot – Sikkim. It’s a beautiful destination with serenity and amazing people everywhere. We went to Nathula Pass. The drive is crazy, every single minute in probably a 2 hrs ride, you don’t know if you will survive the ride or not. But the journey gave me enough courage to sail through in difficult times.

I became Ms. Rugs and Beyond

Sakshi Talwar, Founder, Rugs ; Beyond – The most interesting was last summer on a Mediterranean cruise.  Every day during noon when most of the people were by the deck, I would wear my company T-shirt which boldly said “Keep Calm and shop Rugs and Beyond”. Sure, it’s a great way to promote your brand while cruising with 3000 plus passengers; however by the end of the trip people knew me as Ms. Rugs and Beyond to the extent that even the cruise staff addressed me calling that. It was so much fun interacting with all those people and of course generated business later on.

The Khmer regime changed my perspective towards life completely

Likitha Bhanu, CEO and Founder, Terra Greens – I recently visited Cambodia which was great and I learnt a lot, especially about the Cambodian genocide which happened in the 70s. I think knowing about what the Cambodian people went through and the extent of damage that happened during the Khmer regime changed my perspective towards life completely. Compared to the problems Cambodia faces every day, my problems felt so insignificant and for once, I felt really grateful for living in a country which values freedom and protects us from harm. Cambodia definitely holds a special place in my heart and I feel that more people should educate themselves about the Cambodian genocide and definitely visit!

What are some of your favourite travelling destinations? Share with us on our Facebook Page .

Kate Dobie wants to create a hub for letter-writers. Can it work? We asked her … by letter, of course.

Hey Kate!

I happened upon your , in which you’re launching a business based on connecting pen pals with each other, and was personally hooked: I’ve had pen pals my whole life! As a ’90s kid, I used various magazines’ pen pal-connection services. Some led to friendships around the country. One led to a man in Ghana mistaking me for an older woman, and proposing marriage. (I let him down gently.) But as someone who covers entrepreneurs for a living, I admit skepticism: Is there a market for this? I can’t think of another friend of mine who has a pen pal.

So I’m eager to hear: Are there enough people out there like me, who still love writing letters to strangers? And will they pay for the pleasure?

Your pen pal,

Jason

Related:

Jason,

I’m glad we both morphed from letter-loving tweens of the mid-’90s into adults with a passion for this vital but undervalued communication form. I shared similar experiences growing up, with the glaring omission of any marriage proposals. I’d spend hours crafting the perfect letters to my new friends from exotic places like Akron and Lubbock. Anything in comparison to my hometown of 500 people seemed positively cosmopolitan.

But you raise valid questions around what potential exists for critical mass of users. I may be able to address your skepticism by having you supply the answers: Why do you, in your third decade, continue to collect pen pals? My gut tells me (because the feeling is mutual) that there’s something about the authenticity and the legacy of a letter that makes for a drastically different experience and connection. People like you and I refuse to believe that it’s social media’s world and we’re just living in it.

There’s a market for any business assembling like-minded people and creating a mechanism for them to share what they love about their involvement to their friends, multiplying the fun and evolving the community. In the case of Pens Plus Pals, we’re using some of the planet’s oldest tools and communication methods and somehow still managing to be “disruptive” about it. “SMH,” as the kids say.

My hunch, and please hit me back with your impression and instincts, is that in our over-digitized world, more and more people find themselves disenchanted or left behind.

Your pen pal,

Kate

P.S. What is the weather like where you are?

P.P.S. Do you have any pets?

Hey Kate,

Your question is a good one: Why do you, in your third decade, continue to collect pen pals? My answer: because I’m fascinated by how other people live. But I’m not attached to the medium. I wrote letters in the ’90s because, uh, it was easier than Morse code? But today, I have a pen pal in an East Asian country. Through a private, digital channel, she tells me about her customs and traditions and the super insane ways that arranged marriages go wrong. I couldn’t send her a letter if I wanted to — it’d get intercepted by her family. The medium, to me, only serves its role.

I’m about to test our fledging pen pal relationship, so hang on to your keyboard: You just dissed social media, but then said that you believe there’s “a market for any business assembling like-minded people and creating a mechanism for them to share what they love” — which sure does sound like social media to me! Is Pens Plus Pals basically (gasp!) a social media company? And if so, are the likes of Snapchat and Twitter and Facebook just updated versions of our tween-age pen pal networks, but made more accessible to all? Are we all, every one of us, already basically pen pals?

Given that we live in a far more interconnected world than we did in the ’90s, how can Pens Plus Pals offer something that people don’t basically already have?

Your pen pal,

Jason

P.S. I wore rain boots and shorts today.

P.P.S. Does a 15-month-old boy count?

Pen pal Jason,

The gloves are off! I love it.

Pens Plus Pals is 100 percent a social media network — the same as my mom’s quilting group or my dad’s bowling league. But we’d never consider comparing them to the Social Media juggernauts and I hope Pens Plus Pals can avoid that classification, too. We use our brains differently when we can’t rely on the backspace button and have to write something down. So now, the $10,000 question (literally): If you build it, will they buy?

I could go to a bar and meet a suitable man or woman but that doesn’t stop people from using matching services for ease and comfort. People will pay for things that they perceive as valuable, have a clearly defined set of what they consider “perks”, and have amazing support and engagement. That’s #goals. So being a Pen-Member means more than the initial match (or unlimited matches), it offers Pen Perks along the way including replenishing stationery and gifts every quarter, a T-shirt, invites to community events and prompts from a dedicated Pen-Mentor to keep the creative juices flowing.

Long term, I’d love all members to be able to send me a forward-dated letter (for themselves, for a friend, anyone) and we will send it to them on the date of their choosing. I’d also love to introduce a corporate-social-responsibility component where every membership means we match someone in a nursing home or homeless shelter. We can all feel good that marginalized populations still receive vital correspondence and connection.

Part of the fun is the anticipation, the absence of immediate gratification. I’ve spent eight and a half of the past 10 years overseas (China and Australia) and, sure, received emails and was so unbelievable grateful to have these modern tools to stay in touch. But when someone took the time to send a letter, man, that’s something special. I mean, I still have them. I don’t have the Snapchats or the emails.

Your dear pen pal,

Kate

Related:

Hey Kate,

Oh boy, we’ve gone and done what pen pals do: We’ve started two separate conversations inside the same letters. In this case, the impact of a digitized world and the business of pen pals. They’re more related in your mind, I suspect, than they are in mine. Because here’s what I always think when people romanticize the old against the new: What’s more important: to do the thing, or to maintain its form? To read beautiful works of literature and ambitious non-fiction, or to only consume it on paper? To correspond with people in an intimate and enriching way, or to only send those letters via the postal service? People may prefer a certain form; I’m glad we have options! But in an age of email and social media, more people write each other than ever before. So what’s more important — for people to connect, or for them to do it in a certain way?

Your system of membership perks makes me think about what I call The Handy Problem. My wife and I used Handy to find a cleaner. A woman arrived at our apartment, we liked her and then we started paying her directly and quit Handy. There was no incentive for either party to keep using Handy, which is pretty bad for Handy’s business model. So many connection-based startups face the same problem.

Your plan addresses that. And yet! What happens once someone finds a pen pal they’re happy with and has all the pens and prompts they can handle? Online dating sites face that challenge: A happy customer is a customer no more. So I’m curious: How have you wrestled with that?

Your pen pal,

Jason

Jason,

Some things are resilient and, while being easily identifiable with a specific zeitgeist, also break beyond that to establish a firm place in our culture. We have streaming music but people love vinyl for no rational reason. (I think these are my people.) Treadmills exist and yet some people are convinced that a run in the park is preferable. So doing the thing — listening to music, running — can be heavily impacted by the form.

Discovering a letter my mom had written to me the day after her funeral — to see her handwriting and hold in my hand this tangible thread between us. That’s the significance of form.

As to the Handy Problem: On one hand, (pardon the pun) we hope to address stickiness with well-crafted membership tiers. For example, the lowest tier is a one-off match and Welcome Pack. Let’s say (worst case scenario) that match fizzles or (best case scenario) they love the service and want to take on another pen pal: They can either slide up the sales escalator to a yearly membership of unlimited matches, or just purchase another one-off match outright.

Some people will also just desire anonymity and our top-tier membership will provide that by using P+P as the go-between. Mark Zuckerberg himself can write a letter and, using us as middlemen, will ensure that his identity is safe. In this case, P+P plays an important role and we give ourselves one more safeguard from being eliminated.

With the rest of the perks, discounts, community involvement and new products that we’ll develop through a rich and ongoing dialogue with our users, we’ll hope to keep diversifying our model and give people a compelling reason to stay.

Your pen pal,

Kate

Hey Kate,

Those membership benefits are intriguing. But I started thinking: What if I don’t want a random pen pal? Then I had to pause and consider what “random” even means here. It’s not like someone can have a pen pal “type,” in the same way they might have a type of person they like to date. Compatibility means something different in pen pals. It isn’t about attractiveness or shared interests or whatever. It’s about, I suppose, whether two people fulfill a mutual curiosity — something far harder to control for. How do we know what we’re curious about, until our curiosity is piqued?

So my question for you is: How do you give people some sense of control, even as you provide them with the surprise they really want?

Your pen pal,

Jason

P.S. Here’s a question I have to wrestle with: How many more of our letters do Entrepreneur readers want? I’m going to take a guess and say … one more. Which means it’s yours to write.

Related:

Pen pal Jason,

How I can help people “look good on paper”? That is the question I’ll being asking myself ad nauseam throughout the Pens Plus Pals journey. And, to your point, I think one of the ways we can assist our community is through tailored matches that give pen pals a great foundation from which they kick off their correspondence.

Not everyone will know what they’re seeking (much like the dating parallel that you drew) but a registering pen pal will provide us some information upfront about what they want to get out of this activity and select from a drop-down of “themes” including Inspiration, Mentorship, Kids Stuff, New Perspectives, Amor or (for the most intrepid of pen pals) Roulette.

And if the P+P community enjoys the repartee they share as much as I’ve enjoyed this exchange, then I think we might be onto something.

Your pen pal,

Kate

It has been one of the biggest stories of our age.

Our polluting technologies have been a key factor behind climate change, pumping excessive carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as we burn fossil fuels like oil and gas to get the necessary energy for our daily living needs. Meanwhile, our very reliance on these fossil fuels has meant they have become harder and more expensive to source. So we know we need energy to keep the lights on and we also know oil, gas and coal are finite resources that are causing a great deal of damage.

It’s for these reasons that the UAE has led the way in becoming an early adopter and leading country for .

The UAE’s clean energy initiatives

While the UAE is a country that initially built its fortune largely on oil, it has notably recognized the importance of renewables for the future of energy and has acted by making massive investments into a whole range of clean energy initiatives. These in turn go on to become economic drivers, creating jobs, innovation and new efficiencies. Indeed, one of the reasons that energy is a major focus in the UAE is because the country is expanding so rapidly– with exponential growth, development and population. Demand is huge and in the last ten years domestic energy consumption has more than doubled.

For entrepreneurs, the renewables sector in the UAE is . Clean energy is going to play a central role in the UAE’s economic growth. The plans are to increase power generation for clean energy in the country by 30% by 2030. That’s a pretty bold goal for the country as a whole.

So let’s focus in on Dubai and Abu Dhabi individually and see what each emirate is currently doing. For Dubai, the aim is to dial down its carbon emissions on a massive scale. The hope is for the city to have the lowest carbon footprint in the world, with staggered goals over the next few decades culminating in 2050 with 75% of its energy being generated from renewables. Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi the state-owned company Masdar has invested $1.7bn USD into clean energy initiatives to benefit the UAE and is building Masdar City in Abu Dhabi itself – a vast showcase of a city powered by renewables, functioning on a policy of zero waste. It is to be the hub for companies specializing in clean technologies and will be complete in just over a decade from now. It could well provide a template for designing all cities in the future.

So can all these efforts really change the future and stop pollution? Will they ultimately make the difference to our world? One study earlier this year at Stanford University states that not only are renewables the right direction but it is feasible for 139 countries to run on 100% renewable energy as soon as 2050. There would be a net gain in jobs (those lost in fossil fuels against those gained in construction and operations) and thanks to cleaner air the saving of around 4 million people from premature death.

It’s a wonderful vision and one in which innovative business people can play a part. As well as doing the world an enormous favor, the clean energy sector is big business and there’s nowhere better to be involved than in the UAE.

Related: 

Breaking down green energy sectors in the UAE

Renewable energy is a wide umbrella term encompassing several industries from hydroelectricity and nuclear to wind and wave energy. For the purposes of this article we are talking specifically about the industries that look particularly promising in the UAE. So while nuclear fission plays a part in a cleaner form of energy generation in the region, it does involve non-renewable aspects such as uranium and plutonium. Here, what we are concerned with are those sub-sectors that are really clean and green and are showing .

So let’s look at some key UAE renewable markets that are ready to expand:

Solar In the UAE, daily sunshine is a given. In fact, solar energy has the potential to supply most of the country’s energy. It can be harnessed from photovoltaic cells, which directly convert sunlight to electricity, or alternatively by directing sunshine via mirrors or lenses to concentrate the thermal energy in one small spot, known as Concentrated Solar Power.

The UAE is home to the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, one of the biggest renewable projects in the world. The first phase of the solar farm is up and running. It uses photovoltaic technology and is the size of 33 football fields. The plant will generate approximately 24 million kilowatt hours of clean solar electricity per year, while displacing approximately 15,000 metric tons of CO2. That equates to taking about 2,000 cars off the road. The ultimate goal is to generate one gigawatt of Dubai’s electricity from sun power, but it’s also a strong statement to the world about the UAE’s ambitions and capabilities in the energy sector.

Solar panels will be made a mandatory requirement for all buildings in the UAE by 2030. Solar panel installations and solutions for buildings will therefore be in great demand in the coming years and opportunities will no doubt be there for businesses quick to get in on development plans.

Wind Together with solar, wind energy is the cheapest source of renewable energy in the UAE, making it a very attractive proposition. While sun is in plentiful supply and the UAE does not get the same level of wind as many other countries, new wind power technology is starting to change things. While some wind turbines can be impressive looking machines, there are now smaller units that can generate energy for domestic use and building complexes. So even though wind has not always been an obvious choice for our region, the demand is high for alternative energy and newer turbines that work on lower wind speeds. There is already an increase in interest in the Northern Emirates and islands.

Waste-to-energy This is a process of treating waste to turn it into energy, usually electricity. This is a big research area and labs around the world are finding they can generate power from all kinds of waste– from animal dung to discarded food. There are a number of initiatives being planned in the UAE which correlate with the government’s Vision 2021 aims, and a goal to divert waste from landfill sites by 75% by 2021.

Contractors have been asked to provide proposals for waste to energy projects in Dubai and it is expected that around 2,000 tons each day of landfill waste will be shifted via this innovative concept of turning what is essentially rubbish into an energy supply. With this in mind, any solution that both reduces waste and also supplies renewable energy is going to look attractive for investment.

Electric cars Electric cars are still not that common in the UAE but they do exist and there is a noticeable effort to build charging stations, with Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) installing nine of them in Dubai. Since the luxury Tesla electric car range has become one of the new symbols of the successful business person in the US and Europe, it’s only a matter of time until we see this industry take hold in the UAE. It just needs a nudge on infrastructure, a reminder of the benefits, and a few shiny electric cars to impress onlookers and the sector will fall into place.

The fact this is a young, future-looking industry should fit in nicely with the go-getting entrepreneurial attitude of Dubai.

Green buildings This is not exactly clean energy but rather a promotion of green values and as a business concept it has real potential for UAE companies. Cutting back on energy waste is big business, worth an estimated $310bn USD worldwide according to the International Energy Agency. Smart energy technology, retrofitting buildings– these are ways working environments can limit wasting energy and significantly reduce carbon footprints and operational costs for businesses. , is thriving by retrofitting buildings to increase energy savings. They believe green initiatives can potentially reduce the UAE’s energy consumption by as much as 30% in the future.

Change is coming: be a part of it

With any growth industry there is always the infrastructure needed to support it and the professional services required to rally around it. Engineers, analysts, IT support– just how to ‘plug in’ to this highly attractive sector is something many firms will be considering. Renewable energy is a huge market: The wider MENA region will be looking at energy investments of around US$35 billion per year by 2020, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

We can see that while the UAE has one of the best domestic markets in the world for renewables, it’s also true that green energy innovation, design and manufacture is a highly exportable business– especially as technology and the energy itself gets cheaper to produce. The UAE is already selling its expertise and solutions to surrounding countries and beyond.

This is one indicator of why now is a great time to be involved in renewables. They are the future, but what needs to be understood is that this is a sector that is about to take off in such a way that it means some companies could make a lot of money in a fairly short amount of time.

The icing on the cake is that it is making our shared environment more sustainable.

Related: