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The
   Entrepreneur Files

​A UARF weekly blog series featuring articles written from the UARF team members.

Learn about new ideas, business tips, and hear our personal stories about 
the things we learned from you, the entrepreneurs!
Scroll down for the latest article!

Let’s Resolve To Set Smarter Goals

1/6/2022

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By Elyse Ball
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This time of year, we’re all thinking about new year’s resolutions. In fact, I’ve already been asked about my new year’s resolutions – or lack thereof – three times in the last three days.

Rather than making up a few vague vanilla resolutions that we’ll forget by March, like “exercise more” or “drink less caffeine,” let’s make 2022 a year for great goals! These are goals that are specific, quantitative, and challenging, so they drive us to learn and accomplish more.

What makes a goal great?

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What’s your angle?

8/5/2021

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By Faye Nicholson
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Many people think just because they have written a news release it will automatically be picked up by a media outlet. Well, here’s a news alert: That could not be farther from the truth. In fact, studies have revealed that between 55 and 97 percent of all news releases sent to media are never picked up. 


So, the next time you announce a new product or feature, win an award, host a technology seminar, acquire or merge with another company or share survey results, know that you are competing with the masses for media attention. A study conducted by Greentarget found that 69 percent of journalist spend less than a minute reading a release, even after they have made the decision to open it. The study went on to report that all other releases are dealt with in less than a second.

Here are a few tips to consider preventing a reporter or editor from discarding your next news release and instead, ensuring that it gets noticed, read and followed-up upon. You can start by determining your story’s best news angle and applying one of the news pegs below to promote your startup:


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My Take on the fisherman’s parable

7/15/2021

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By Nick Glavan
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In my early days as an intern at UARF, one of the mentors who regularly checked in with me before or after he visited the office’s conference room for his startup’s meetings, once handed me a page containing the follow story [The Fisherman’s Parable]:


A successful businessman on vacation was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tunas. The businessman complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
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The fisherman proudly replied, “Every morning, I go out in my boat for 30 minutes to fish. I’m the best fisherman in the village.”
The businessman, perplexed, then asks the fisherman “If you’re the best, why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish? What do you do the rest of the day?”


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Taking Your Customer Discovery to the Next Level

7/7/2021

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By Elyse Ball
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This past month has been a series of weird watershed moments for me. For the first time in 15 months, I went out to eat at a restaurant, attended a large group gathering, spent time indoors with people who aren’t immediate family members, and stayed overnight at a hotel. 

Two years ago, it would have been inconceivable that we would spend so much of our lives maintaining physical distance from other human beings. Today, it has become commonplace. 
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For me, I-Corps has been a fascinating case study in how we can build community and customer relationships even in remote settings. I-Corps is all about customer discovery: the practice of interacting directly with prospective customers to answer important questions about a business, product or technology idea.


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Okay, now I get it!

6/16/2021

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By Faye Nicholson
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So what? Who cares? Why does it matter? These are all great questions you should ask yourself when explaining or describing your new technology or innovation. Whether a 90-second pitch, a 30-minute presentation or trying to get media attention, remember creating understanding matters.  

If you want to make your message clear and understandable to the non-scientist and non-engineer, here are a few tips I recommend:  


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Want  people  to  listen  to  you?

2/26/2020

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One of the most common questions I get from young professionals, introverts (and really a diversity of people) is how do I get people to listen to me? 
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And in today’s email, I’m going to give you the answer. And it doesn’t involve any of the over-complicated persuasion tactics you see on the internet…

In fact, what you’re about to learn is valuable for…

  • Negotiating better deals for your business, your coworkers, and your clients.
  • Getting other people to listen to your ideas. 
  • Snagging more sales in your business or career. 
  • Having your boss or investors buying into and actually feeling excited about your crazy ideas. 

...plus tons of other applications. There are far too many to list here. 

Now, the advice I’m about to give you is simple. There’s only one principle for you to follow… 

And it’s called: Reason-Why Persuasion

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Customer Discovery: Building Entrepreneurs from the Customer Up

10/4/2017

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​By Jessica Sublett, Akron Global Business Accelerator
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Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. And to make it even better, besides my obligatory female love of all things fall and pumpkin spice, it means the kick off of one of my favorite entrepreneurial support programs. Yes, it is I-Corps Sites time!! (Is my start-up nerd showing?) This is the time when our partner, The University of Akron Research Foundation (UARF), selects about 90 participants for the I-Corps Sites program per cycle and I am always happy and excited to assist them.
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If you’re new to the startup scene, or if you’ve been living under the proverbial rock for the past few years, I’m going to share the five “Ws” of I-Corps so that, in the future, you, too, can take full advantage and better understand all of the fantastic programming the Akron entrepreneurial community has to offer. Read more.

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