50/50 is a social entrepreneurship experiment we began for our Management 372 Entrepreneurship class at James Madison University. For each pair of sunglasses we sell we will donate 50% of the profits to a non-profit charity or foundation. We are trying to partner with a non-profit program that supports cancer research. We are also looking into other organizations and causes to support. As well as looking at different types of products to sell to support the 50/50 movement at JMU.
Wednesday, September, 26. We had our first board meeting with the class on. We posted our feedback in an earlier blog. The feedback was discouraging and contradicted a lot of information we had gathered from 20 prior customer interviews. The board meeting almost made us decide to pivot and do something completely new.
Friday, September 28. We decided to continue with our original plans to order sunglasses to sell before the football game on family weekend October 6th. If this is successful and validates our customer interviews than we plan to continue pursuing our current business model. However, if the sunglasses launch flops and validates the concerns that were brought up by the investors in the board meeting, then we will be willing to pivot.
Monday, October 1. After class, Bill and Ethan, went on an adventure to the RMH cancer center to meet about using them as the cancer organization we donate 50% of our profits to. Neither one of us drove to class that day so we had to walk back to Ethan's apartment to get his car. So our first official obstacle we had to overcome was climbing up the massive Port Republic hill together! We were given the contact information of the general manager of the cancer center and we tried to get in touch with her.
Wednesday, October 3. We had yet to hear back from the cancer center. A little disheartened we began looking into other non-profit organizations, charities, or foundations we could partner with to donate our 50% of our profits to. After class, Bill and Ethan went on another adventure around campus in order to get us approved to sell on campus. This adventure was a 100% success and we are now able to officially sell on Saturday at the football game. Rachel went home and finished the data collection spreadsheet of our board meeting results. The results of the board meeting are still disappointing but after more customer discovery interviews giving us positive feedback we feel like our company is moving in the right direction. However, we still have a lot to do, discover, measure, and learn from.
Friday, October 5. Our first order of sunglasses arrived! Now we have our actual product ready to sell tomorrow. Get excited!
Wednesday, September, 26. We had our first board meeting with the class on. We posted our feedback in an earlier blog. The feedback was discouraging and contradicted a lot of information we had gathered from 20 prior customer interviews. The board meeting almost made us decide to pivot and do something completely new.
Friday, September 28. We decided to continue with our original plans to order sunglasses to sell before the football game on family weekend October 6th. If this is successful and validates our customer interviews than we plan to continue pursuing our current business model. However, if the sunglasses launch flops and validates the concerns that were brought up by the investors in the board meeting, then we will be willing to pivot.
Monday, October 1. After class, Bill and Ethan, went on an adventure to the RMH cancer center to meet about using them as the cancer organization we donate 50% of our profits to. Neither one of us drove to class that day so we had to walk back to Ethan's apartment to get his car. So our first official obstacle we had to overcome was climbing up the massive Port Republic hill together! We were given the contact information of the general manager of the cancer center and we tried to get in touch with her.
Wednesday, October 3. We had yet to hear back from the cancer center. A little disheartened we began looking into other non-profit organizations, charities, or foundations we could partner with to donate our 50% of our profits to. After class, Bill and Ethan went on another adventure around campus in order to get us approved to sell on campus. This adventure was a 100% success and we are now able to officially sell on Saturday at the football game. Rachel went home and finished the data collection spreadsheet of our board meeting results. The results of the board meeting are still disappointing but after more customer discovery interviews giving us positive feedback we feel like our company is moving in the right direction. However, we still have a lot to do, discover, measure, and learn from.
Friday, October 5. Our first order of sunglasses arrived! Now we have our actual product ready to sell tomorrow. Get excited!
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