Journal on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Venture Funding Issues

This document presents creative journal entries focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation. The first entry discusses the approach to creative thinking and problem-solving, emphasizing the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model, barriers and triggers to creative thinking, and addressing high operating costs through improved departmental coordination. The second entry explores venture funding, expressing interest in acquiring and selling businesses for profit through private equity. It identifies potential issues in the fund-raising process, highlights the importance of planning over implementation, and considers the impact of location on entrepreneurial success. References to Drucker, Osterwalder, and others support the analysis. The assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and resources for students.

Running head: BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR AND INNOVATION
Business Entrepreneur and innovation
Name
Institution

BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR AND INNOVATION 2
Creative Journal Entry 1
1) Describe your approach to creative thinking and problem solving.
I believe that creative thinking is important in improving products and services as well
as solving problems facing my operations. I always rely on a Creative problem solving (CPS)
learner’s model which comprises of Clarify, Ideate, Develop and Implement. Clarification
comprises of exploring the problem, gathering data on the problem, and formulating
questions. The next step is to ideate through creative brainstorming. Developing refers to
formulating solutions, evaluating each proposed solution and determining the best solution
based on strengths. The last step is to implement the best solution. The implementation can
only succeed when supported by appropriate resources and action plan (Piperopoulos, 2016).
2) What factors act as barriers and triggers to your creative thinking process?
I love finding creative solutions to problems. I find the urge to solve problems because
I am afraid of being rejected and failing. I am a person who loves to be desired by helping
other solve the problems facing them. These obstacles frequently affect my ability to think
clearly or develop clear goals for a problem. My resolution has always to write down a plan
which helps in generating creative skills and ideas (Osterwalder, 2010).
3) Select a problem that interests (or bothers) you or the group with which you work:
As a group, we have realized that our operating costs are huge and contribute to a reducing
gross margin per month. The group established that high operating costs might be caused by an
increased number of employees, reduced revenue-generating activities, high innovation
expenses and lack of collaboration between departments which hindered the flow of
information. Some of the proposed solutions included reducing the number of employees by
10%, spreading the innovation expenses in the next five fiscal years, and improving

BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR AND INNOVATION 3
coordination between departments. Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of each option
established that improving the coordination within departments would reduce the operating
cost with the highest percentage (20%). This was the most viable solution and we choose it.
The group followed a formal creative problems model hence there is no difference identified.
Creative Journal Entry 4
1) Have you tried to get a venture (of any sort) funded or backed? If you have not, would you
now?
I have not engaged in the venture in the past because of lacking adequate knowledge of
entrepreneurship and management as well as inadequate funds. I believe that I am now
adequately prepared to be a team player in a venture. In a team of between six and twelve
people, I will be surrounded with necessary skills and expertise to meet the objectives lied out
by the management of a venture capital.
2) Describe and explain the venture and related funding you chose or would choose to
pursue.
I am more interested in acquiring and selling businesses for profits. With other
investors, we will pool resources together and acquire parts of companies that are
underperforming, develop and implement innovative ideas that would make the acquired
business profitable then sell it. I am not interested in owning a business for a long-term
therefore private equity organization is an appropriate investment option (Piperopoulos,
2016).

BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR AND INNOVATION 4
3) What kind of issues might you encounter in an entrepreneurial fund-raising process?
When seeking funds, there are several challenges that I am likely to encounter. First,
financiers like banks are likely to examine the information concerning the financial records,
personnel, market, customers and product or service. The examination process seeks to
establish the strength and potential weaknesses of such an investment. Lastly, financiers want
to ensure that the proposals do not comprise of fraudulent activities. Therefore transparency
and communication are important during the fundraising process (Drucker, 2014).
4) How important is implementation vs planning?
An entrepreneurial idea cannot be implemented before the planning process is
complete. Planning consumes a lot of time because an entrepreneur must put thoughts
together, conduct sufficient feasibility study on the idea and finally test it in the actual
market. An idea should only be implemented after a successful planning process. Therefore, I
believe that the planning process is more important than the implementation of an innovative
idea.
5) Are there any specific issues- i.e. benefits or problems- that may arise from your location?
The location of a business plays a key role in the success or failure of innovative
entrepreneurship. For instance, competition will force companies to be more innovative and
more effective to survive in a harsh environment. On the other hand, a high level of barriers
to market entry is an obstacle to innovative entrepreneurs. Lastly, the closer and easier it is
for a company to access new technology, the easier it is to develop entrepreneurial ideas
internally (Osterwalder, 2010).

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References
Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. London: Routledge.
Gråsjö, U., Karlsson, C., & Bernhard, I. (2018). Geography, Open Innovation and
Entrepreneurship. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Osterwalder, A. (2010). Business Model Generation. A Handbook for Visionaries, Game
Changers, and Challengers. Hoboken, NJ:: John Wiley and Sons.
Piperopoulos, P. G. (2016). Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Business Clusters. London:
Routledge.