Guest Speaker Post - Derek Young

       Derek Young was our guest speaker on Thursday. He talked a great deal about his entrepreneurial and work experience. After college Derek Young found a job, like a great deal of the rest of us, but still found a way to keep side projects going. This is definitely something that I thought over in the past few months - balancing a financially stable but time consuming 40 hour job with time to pursue ideas.

        Derek talked about having knowledge in IT, marketing, and finance. In my mind, I believe diversifying in general is a strength - whether its in the stock market, or basketball/football. Coaches value player's versatility in that they can play more than one position. Working in information technology, if you develop yourself in finance, you may find solutions that people in finance wouldn't(they don't have your perspective)

       I was the most interested when Derek spoke of the apps/businesses he created. One that accord struck with me is the website he was involved that helped organize workplace sports. I love watching/playing sports. This was definitely something that I want to do in the future - combining my passion for software development and sports(wish I was professional at this). Derek even mentioned a time when the site was down and their got paid $15,000 for fixing the issue. This helped resonate the opinion that if I combine my passions, I could a product that would have financial success.

      Derek also gave valuable advice on being an entrepreneur in general. One was that even if an idea wets the bed or isn't a hit, you can still learn from that experience and apply those lessons toward future ideas. Another one was coming up with a name for a business. Derek talked about he would create a mind map on a whiteboard of things that have to do with the business and start connecting words until he found something he liked.

     Derek also mentioned that some of the companies/ideas he pursued started off as problems he solved in everyday life. He didn't have the a goal of a business in the end.  He thought that people would find these tools helpful and would use them. This reminded me of Andrew Sutherland, Quizlet founder. Andrew created Quizlet initially as a way of studying for a French test. He later realized that Quizlet would be a tool/service that many people would use.

      Thanks Derek for coming and sharing your wisdom/experiences.