Business @ UCSD
An introduction to the VF Quarterly

It's a People Thang, Baby!
Spotlight on Southwest Airlines Founder Herb Kelleher

Investing 101
An intro to investing for students

Show ‘em What You’ve Got!
Visual Arts and the Business World

The New Delta Sigma Pi
A spotlight on a business fraternity

Time Management
Importance of a Week | The Four Quadrants | Of Rocks, Sand, and Water

iPod: Big Return on a…err, Medium Investment
At least, if you can’t read (like me)

AHA!
(A Helpful Acronym)

Napkin or Not, The Key Business Plan Questions
What to make sure to cover in a plan of any form.

Introduction to the Software Industry
A few things students should know if they're going to get development jobs.

SPOTLIGHT ON Websense
Among the Top 25 Forbes’ Fast and Furious Tech Companies

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Purchasing a Home
For the first-time home buyers!

UCSD Establishes New Rady School of Management
An update on the Rady School

Like most of us you've come to this school without a definite plan for your future. If you grew up watching the Fresh Prince of Bel Air you might remember an episode where Carlton Banks unveils his career "master plan" and charts his entire life on one giant piece of paper. While there are plenty of bean counting Carltons on campus - you know who you are - the rest of us probably have more in common with Will, Hillary, or even Uncle Phil. We're not sure what we really want to do in life or how we would accomplish it even if we did! (Did you know James Avery, ie. big Uncle Phil, is UCSD alumni?).

So let's get take a look into your future. Let's break out the Tom Jones and do a little of our own "master plan". Let's get a few things out of the way: Do you plan on going to medical school? Getting a doctorate? Do you want to spend your life in conducting research or living life as an academic?

No?

Do you like the idea of spending eighty thousand dollars and four years of your life just to end up working the same entry level positions as your friends from community college?

Not interested?

Maybe it's time to start thinking. You could be a liberal arts, engineering, or science major. Maybe you’re one of the many “business” majors at UCSD, choosing to study Economics or Management Science at the nation's finest public research institution.

And why not study business here? With two Noble prize winners, a renowned research faculty and solid national rankings, why wouldn't you be proud to study at UCSD?

Let’s ignore the fact that you’ve chosen a college that doesn’t actually offer a formal business degree, and the two closest things we have to it are shackled with departmental disclaimers of a “theoretical” and “broad” curriculum (read: useless).

Let’s completely overlook the fact that UCSD lacks the industry recognition and public image needed to compete in an exceedingly superficial and pedigree oriented business environment.

Let’s forget the idea that even if you weren’t isolated in the American southwest, far from the financial hubs of the east coast, your university would still

lack the ability to provide you with the appropriate accreditation in accounting or finance.

But surely, you reason, even if my degree doesn’t allow for a lucrative position right out of the gate, won't it at least enable me to get my foot in the door at a respectable firm? Won't I be on the fast track to success in an expandable capacity?

Survey says “no”.

Take a look at some of the data provided by the UCSD Career Services Center. In their recent survey of 2003 graduates they list the major, position, and salary of many new alumni. A few notable responses to the “Business” section included an Economics major serving as a management trainee for Enterprise Rent-a-Car ($34,900), an Anthropology major working as a receptionist, and a Visual Arts major hustling as a food server for $25,000.

Does working the lunchtime crowd at TGI Friday’s sound like a good return on your college investment? Even choosing Management Science and Economics over art and communications isn’t effective insurance against a future at Hooters. It's cliche, but in this day and age it's not so much what you know, but who you know.
So – what’s the solution? How can a motivated undergrad get the edge to overcome UCSD’s notorious academic apathy and get a leg up on those UCLA and UCB grads with a “real” degree?

It’s simple. Your future is determined by three things:

• Networking
• Experience
• Education

Whether you’re a first year or fourth, there’s always time to improve your appeal and look attractive to future employers.

Now is the time to establish good academic habits. Your parents said it, your professors said it, I'm saying it: You're in college to learn. Make the most of it! College is costing you around 5 cents a minute! That's about $2.50 a lecture MWF and $6.00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's cheaper to go to the movies! The UC system is a multibillion dollar machine, and every hour you spend NOT stripping this school of it's every educational resource is money in the Regent's pockets. It is your right, nay,

your capitalist duty to exploit the UC monopoly at every turn and get revenge on the Regents for their tuition hiking, price gouging policies. Make them earn every penny of their annual $300,000 salaries.

Get a feel for what you want to do. You don’t have to decide now – but you will in two years. Nobody likes discovering they want to switch majors but can’t afford to take the classes and still graduate in four years. Use the Career Center, WetFeet.com, and Vault.com to get a good idea.

Meet people! You may not have the required skills to start a formal internship, but you can definitely get out in the world and start networking. Volunteer or apply for an entry level position at a local firm. Many just require time and effort and will provide you with contact points, letters of reference, and hopefully a good picture of what your future career could look like.

Join clubs! Try a club related to your major, or join a business-oriented org like VentureForth or even a co-ed business fraternity like Delta Kappa Psi.

The business possibilities are endless, and the VentureForth Quarterly will give you a look at the skills you need to start your own business, get a foothold in the industry, or get into business school.

VentureForth Quarterly Staff:
Editors: John Zacharia,
Alberto Cueto, Neha Patadia
Art Director: Lindsay Wong
Contributing Writers:
Matthew Moore, Andrew Chang, Ryan Jolicoeur, Ramesses Surban

I have always believed that developing and empowering others in an organization should be a central goal of an organization. Some people say that one of the most effective organizations in the world – General Electric – has its main concept set as training the best mid-level managers in the world. I think the best example, though, is Southwest Airlines which most of us know and love. Southwest Airline’s founding CEO and current Chairman, Herb Kelleher, has a lot of insight about how to treat employees and build a team in his writings and interviews.

In the article, A Culture of Commitment, in Leader to Leader’s Spring 1997 issue1, Kelleher writes: “if you take an ongoing, genuine interest in the well-being of your people, outside as well as inside the workplace, you eventually create trust.”

This facilitates the group to buy into the concept of the company, share feelings and attitudes, and identify with the company, to a point where people devote themselves to nearly voluntarily.

Of course, I don’t think anyone pretends this is easy, but it’s a great place to focus a lot of your time. And as Kelleher said in an interview with BusinessWeek, December 222, “your [employees] come first, and if you treat them

right, and the customers will come back, and that’ll make the shareholders happy.”

Southwest Airlines also has a strong employee partnership. One way they accomplish this is to pay officers 30% less than in most other airlines, and employees above average.

Even more, Southwest Airlines has a profit sharing program for every single employee – I think it goes without saying how much that can affect employee interest in the company when they share directly in its financial successes.

In fact, in San Diego we have the Beyster Institute, which focuses on helping companies with employee ownership programs (www.fed.org).

So here’s the lesson I think we can all take from Herb Kelleher. Spend a great deal of time hiring the people with the right attitude in your organization, and realize that if they’re inspired, they will take the time to learn the required skills. Setting up a culture where everyone cares for one another just as much as they care about the company and its principles is also key. And make sure to have a leadership-training program central to your organization for all employees to ensure company success long after you are gone.

And maybe this is just me, but I highly recommend making it as humorous, light-hearted, and exciting as Kelleher has made Southwest Airlines. Life and businesses are just too important to take seriously!

I now leave you with an advertisement that showed up in 1996 in USA Today, paid for by the employees of Southwest Airlines.

Thanks Herb
For remembering every one of our names.
For supporting the Ronald McDonald House.
For helping load baggage on Thanksgiving.
For giving everyone a kiss (and we mean everyone).
For listening.
For running the only profitable major airline.
For singing at our holiday party.
For singing only once a year.
For letting us wear shorts and sneakers to work.
For golfing at the LUV Classic with only one club.
For outtalking Sam Donaldson
For riding your Harley Davidson into Southwest Headquarters.
For being a friend, not just a boss.
Happy Boss’s Day from Each One of Your 16,000 Employees.

But then again, what would you expect from the company with the stock-ticker symbol LUV?

Kelleher, Herb “A Culture of Commitment” Leader to Leader. 4 (Spring 1997): 20-24.

2 Morrison, Mark. “Herb Kelleher on the Record, Part 1”
BusinessWeek Online (December 22, 2003).

First off, you might be asking yourself: why do I need to invest? You might be saying: “I am a college student; I don’t have many fiscal responsibilities; why do I need to worry about investing”?

To begin with, I am going to take a leap of faith and say you probably like money.

I highly doubt you are in the rare predicament that you have too much money and that you don’t know what to do with you all the money that you have. So, since we have concluded that you probably wouldn’t complain about having more cash flow, let's talk about generating more capital to begin with.

Lets be honest, life is very expensive and that extra money that can usually be saved. However, have you ever wondered what it would take to become a millionaire? Well, first off, let’s say you are 21 years old and have no money invested. You then decided to downgrade your diet from Chili’s to eating home with the occasional Top Ramen nights to insure that you are saving extra cash. Now, let us say that by doing this you are able to put $200 a month aside for investments and are expecting an 8% return on your investments per year. You then take into account an inflation rate that hovers around 3%. By the time you are 66 years old, you could be a millionaire. That might sound like a long time, but if you are smart with your money, you can put even more money aside than that per month. You then can invest more and diversify you money more, meaning that you have a greater probability of achieving higher rates of return.

It is hard sometimes to get involved in investing because there are so many different options out there. It is hard to cut through the financial jargon so you can achieve your goal: making your money work for you! My advice would be to open up a Roth IRA to begin with. A Roth IRA is otherwise known as a Roth Individual Retirement account. This account gives great flexibility to save for your retirement without locking up your cash flow like a traditional IRA. You can contribute up to $3000 dollars into a Roth IRA, tax deferred, i.e. that money is not taxable by the government. Also, with a Roth IRA you can take money out in order to make special purchases, i.e. to put a down payment of $10,000 on a house, etc…

With a traditional IRA, you don’t have this luxury, since withdrawals that occur before age 59 ½th aren’t tax-deferred. A Roth IRA is a very good start if you’re thinking about beginning to plan for your retirement.

However, what if you want to generate income now, how do you do it? The longer you keep your money in the stock market, for the most part, the better you are going to do with your investments.

While it is extremely important to monitor your investments, it is also imperative to not directly respond to every market fluctuation because you are going to lose out in the end. What I mean is this: pay close to attention to the companies you are investing in, if they are performing well as a whole, most likely their stocks are going to go up. Buy them when they are low so you can sell them later on when they are high. If a company is performing poorly, and doesn’t show signs for future growth, sell before you take hard losses later on down the road. Let’s take a basic look at two different options for directly investing in the stock market.

When you think of the stock market, what words come to mind? To begin with, how about the word “stocks”? If you don’t currently own stocks, your family probably owns them or you know someone who does. The problem with stocks for most people our age is having cash on hand. What I mean by that is this, with stocks you always want to be able to diversify, spread your money around so that you reduce your total risk. At best, you might be able to invest in a couple stocks, which only gives you a small taste of the market, and reduces your ability to invest with confidence. Maybe you might get lucky and pick one or two really successful stocks, however, there is also a chance that you could pick not so great stocks and lose a lot of money. Let me suggest another option for the novice investor.

Mutual Funds are a great way in my opinion to be able to reduce your risks and still be able to make some money off of them. While it is true that you could probably make more off stocks than mutual funds, mutual funds give you the ability to diversify your funds. This is accomplished by a group of investors with similar goals putting their money together to buy stock in several different companies, securities and other forms of exchange (i.e. mutual). The mutual

fund is then usually managed by a brokerage firm, which takes in mind the goals of the investors and tries to maximize their reward

The amount that you invest is the percentage of the total amount put into a mutual fund. I am not going into further details on the specifics of mutual funds, but this is the groundwork for them.

Investing is one of the most difficult things an individual will ever undertake. How do I save enough for the future while generating enough income to live on today? What does everything mean? The three most important things in investing areeducation, education, and education. If you know about investing, you will be able to better understand market trends, know how to invest and know where to invest. Investing is composed of uncertainties, but the more you spread out your risk, the more likely you will get a positive reward. There are some of the basics to help you start an exciting and rewarding adventure into the world of investment.

A few weeks ago, I declared myself to be in a state of serious magazine addiction. Not only do I find myself picking up the latest titles with help on fashion trends and eye shadow, I love anything related to computers and art. A girl’s got to get an education somewhere. Let’s face it—as a Visual Arts (Computing) major at UCSD, I haven’t learned much about business or promoting our work to companies. I’ve learned more from wired.com than I have in most upper-division courses.

I’ve noticed the amazing talent of many fellow artists around me that are doing close to nothing to get their name known. Motivate yourselves! Resist the life of the starving artist! With primarily Vis Arts Media majors in mind, I have written a few tips that are essential to artists trying to make it in the big, bad business world:

1) Make an online portfolio.

Sure, everyone’s got a website nowadays, but it is truly the best and most affordable way to showcase your work. Stray away from domain names that are complicated and difficult to spell, and please, PLEASE don’t build your entire site in Flash. What used to be a multimedia wonder is now a very cumbersome way to present your portfolio (unless you’re a multimedia artist), so stick to basic HTML pages, Javascript, and a few Flash elements. Keep in mind you should have pieces that represent your style and capabilities. If a flyer for your neighborhood summer barbeque was a winner, feel free to post that online too.

Studio majors—if you don’t feel comfortable with your amount of web knowledge, there are many students that

would love to help design a site for you. You can contact the Visual Arts Department, and they can send an email to all majors with your information. Your work deserves promotion too!

2) Freelance work.

I’m sure working at Coldstone was an excellent way to save up for that new stereo, but you need real experience. Networking is key, so once you get your website up, tell everyone (friends, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe’s friends) to check it out. Someone you know is bound to know someone else that needs a webpage. They might not pay you a $100/hour, but you’ll be adding more work to your portfolio, and getting experience with clients.

Most importantly, always have a written contract. Make sure your client understands just how much work you’ll be putting in, so there won’t be any confusion later. If your business takes off, you’ll go from design space in your living room to your own design firm!

3) Dazzle companies with your resume.

First things first, make a list of all your skills, including all the software you know. Companies want to know what you can do by skimming your resume, so make it concise and easy to read. Don’t hesitate to put more basic things on there (like knowing HTML), because chances are, they are looking for employees with a very specific set of skills. Remember, they don’t always have the upper hand at this job search business—we are all looking for the position that will challenge us, and use all the knowledge we’ve got.

4) Know your resources.

If your roommate is a web whiz and you have never talked to him/her about design help, now is the time. While talking to fellow artists can be inspiring and helpful, talking to students with business-related majors will be equally rewarding. You know your talents already, but learning to market yourself in a business world is the key issue.

There are many great magazines out there with tips on a variety of things: Computer Arts, which is published in the UK is quite expensive ($13.99/issue), but comes with a CD of plug-ins, and is loaded with great material. Wired magazine is great for the more technical information, but is still perfect for anyone interested in the arts. Subscriptions are the way to go with this one at about $10/year.

Even though competition is fierce out there, there’s always room for more talent. Good luck!

Delta Sigma Pi is a co-ed professional business fraternity established to help develop a higher understanding of commerce, and a greater awareness of professionalism for students. The chapter at UCSD, which was recently established on May 22, 2004, is one of the youngest student organizations on campus. Throughout the year, Delta Sigma Pi has introduced aspects of the business world to its academic community. The chapter, despite its yearling status, has undertaken eight service events, six professional events such as company tours, and numerous social events.

At UCSD, Delta Sigma Pi has contributed towards advancing relations with faculty and staff.  The fraternity also serves as a liaison between the students, and representatives from various businesses; professions in which the students seek to be part of in their business careers.  In these efforts, Delta Sigma Pi has held events that introduce the occupational lives and aspirations of professionals from a variety of careers.  Such vocations include finance, investments, accounting, retail, and marketing. Additionally, the fraternity has presented expert speakers in these professions, as well as in

subjects such as organizational behavior, communication, business abroad, academia, etiquette, and worker rights in a professional environment. Delta Sigma Pi hopes to direct several other events in order to broaden the spectrum of business topics offered to the UCSD student, well beyond the University’s established curriculum of its Economics and Management Science programs.

Off campus, Delta Sigma Pi has taken an active role toward improving the welfare of the community. Service events by Deltasigs includehelping impoverished families, beautifying San Diego, visiting friendship homes, sending care packages to children’s hospitals, and the caring of victims of domestic abuse.  Such efforts help create a positive, beneficial impact on the community.
Within the fraternity, the Omicron Sigma Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi has matured into one of the fastest formed chapters nationwide. Its members swiftly met fraternity requirements and efficiently executed its programs, all in under the course of a year. 

They have represented themselves firmly in their region and province, and they have promoted unity with other chapters through support at their events and meetings. The chapter has also brought a tremendous amount of focus toward establishing profes

sional and social relations with Delta Sigma Pi alumni; affirming its dedication to professionalism and furthering a higher standard of commercial culture.

Within the Omicron Sigma chapter at UCSD, the members of the Delta Sigma Pi have developed into a brotherhood based around the pursuit of learning.

Through months of delivering events to the public, streamlining its operations, and contributing to the civic welfare of the community, Delta Sigma Pi has become an organization where an observer does not have look far to find close bonds of brotherhood; its members are quickly becoming a successful generation of business professionals.

Importance of a Week

After reading First Things First, by Steven Covey, there was one element that I found that could help a lot of developing leaders, very much including myself. This little tidbit is the importance of a week in people’s lives. In many cultures, the significance of a week is quite strong in people’s lives.

It’s a time frame that's just large enough to be able to focus on the big picture of what’s going on in your life, and just small enough to be able to focus on the details of execution without being caught up in moment to moment detail. There are two things that are revealed from this thought: first that you can plan the accomplishment of your goals effectively on a week-by-week basis, and second, that you should expect that other people are probably doing the same.

Covey recommends that to make sure that during some set time at the beginning of the week, we take a look at what our various roles in our life are (student, manager, CEO, parent, etc.) and remind ourselves what the mission of each role is. After that, identify the goals that support each of these missions, and organize the events and schedule of each day in the week to accomplish these goals. This schedule for the week of course would allow for daily leeway on execution, and allow for moment-by-moment flexibility. Most importantly, during the next week’s planning time, review and evaluate the previous week.

Many people who I have seen are quite good at planning out their week, however, can forget that other people are doing the same (consciously or unconsciously). If you are ever in the position to assign a task to someone, or schedule a meeting with others, it is always necessary to give a week’s notice and leeway in scheduling.

Unless this event will take less than five or ten minutes, others can become resentful if you make them change their current week’s schedule that they have already planned out. I think you’ll find that everyone will be much more at ease and efficient if we all mind the importance of a week!

The Four Quadrants

One of the most important tips for time management I picked up from reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey, is how to categorize tasks. Covey presents the idea that there is a two-axis scale for this categorization: that of importance, and that of urgency. In Quadrant I (upper left), you have things that are both important and urgent. In Quadrant II (upper right) lie the tasks that are important but not urgent. Quadrant III (bottom left), is then urgent but unimportant, and Quadrant IV, both not urgent and unimportant.

I urge you to start out by trying to classify your tasks mentally (or on your list) into one of these four quadrants, and build up the habit. What is often difficult is distinguishing importance from urgency, because often, urgent matters appear to be important because of their urgency. To give some examples, important and urgent matters include crises, deadlines, and some meetings. Important and not urgent tasks include preparation and planning, relationship building, re-examining values, and empowerment. Unimportant but urgent things are often interruptions, like phone calls, some mail, and some meetings. And finally, trivia, junk mail, and time wasters are examples of what is not important and not urgent.

Covey says that “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” and it is easy to lose site of this on a daily basis. While I do still find myself occasionally wasting time – in fact, I think it’s necessary sometimes to clear the brain – what I do like about this approach is that it makes it really easy to keep track of what’s important but not urgent. Many times, these items end up at the bottom of the to-do list when they should be at the top – just in a slightly different context!

Of Rocks, Sand, and Water

There is an old story about a teacher who stands in front of his class with an empty jar on the table, and proceeds to fill it with five to ten large rocks, and asks the students if the jar is full. While you probably have heard the story before, I have found that it is quite useful to visit it from time to time amidst the craziness that is our college lives.

The students respond, “yes, it’s completely full.” The teacher then grabs a bag of pebbles hidden under the table, and pours it in the jar, shaking the pebbles down into every crack. “What about now?” asks the teacher. “No, you can still fill it in with sand,” replies an apt student. And of course, the teacher pulls out a bag of sand and fills in the cracks between the pebbles. “And now?” the teacher inquires again. The students agree that more water would fit. The teacher pulled out a pitcher of water and filled the jar to the brim.

So, how is this a metaphor for life?

While people first think that the moral of the story is that you can always fit more and more things into your life, the key is that you can only put the big (read: important) things in first, and the little, unimportant things will find their way into any cracks. If you make time for the little things first, on the other hand, you will not be able to make time for what’s truly important.

As our lives get busier and busier, I have seen many students (especially in computer science!) get taken over by things that are urgent and relatively important, and not have any time for what is probably ultimately more important to them—having fun with friends, talking with their family, exercising, etc. There’s always going to be more tidbits of work I can do for a club, more studying here and there I can do for a midterm, etc. It’s quite difficult to make sure you have time for what’s important unless you make a point of it, and reanalyze how you’re doing on a monthly basis.

I have never been able to truly enjoy reading a book. There is just something about my desire to be getting something done that keeps me from reading past page 50. I always want to go and make something that other people can use, or at the very least, hang out with a group of friends. The only problem is, I grew up in a well-read family, and I know how much return on investment you can get out of reading a book. Or at the very least, how embarrassing it is to have a shelf full of books I have yet to read. “Hey, how was such-and-such book?!”

Hell if I know, want it?

So, I have found the next best solution. I learned about Audible.com, which supplies audio books in a protected MP3 format that you can carry around with you on, well, an iPod among other portable devices. Now, on any long drive I can enjoy “reading” a book by bringing along the iPod in the car—at least, when I’m not ‘rapping.’ (just picture Michael Bolton in Office Space. Yeah, that’s me.). Now all I have to do is listen to all the books on my shelf.

Three suggested “reads:” Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey.

When setting goals for any group you are involved with, make sure that they are smart goals! If you follow this little tidbit of knowledge, you should find it will be much easier to get others to understand, be passionate about, and help complete them.

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound & Track-able

That is to say, each goal should be specific enough that it defines what is to be accomplished, who’s involved, and how it’s going to be done. A goal should also be measurable in terms of some numbers or success or failure, and these must be reasonably achievable for those who are involved. It is also important to make sure that the goal is relevant to the bigger picture, or mission statement of the group. And finally, set reasonable time frames and milestone dates to make sure that the goal is completed!

The most effective leaders always plan ahead when making decisions that affect a group of people working with them. John C. Maxwell, an entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker, and pastor, described the following method of planning ahead in his book, the “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.” Whenever you find yourself in a leadership position, it may help to take these steps!

Predetermine a Course of Action
Layout Your Goals
Adjust your Priorities
Notify the Key Personnel

Allow Time for Acceptance
Head into Action
Expect Problems
Always Point to the Successes
Daily Review Your Plan

Scott Texeira, the senior product manager of Mohomine (now owned by Kofax) came to UCSD to give guidance to students about marketing and writing a winning business plan. He gave the classic example of someone writing a business plan on the napkin and then trying to get funding for it. It's easy to think back to the days when getting funding for a venture was a piece of cake, but we’re stuck in the real world. And when you approach writing a business plan, you may look to software and other examples of business plans to give you a template of what the document should look like. Beware, however, that this can often lead to a lot of fluff and unreasonable assumptions.

What is important to realize is that even the business plan on a napkin probably covered some critical points that all business plans must—although it probably spoken rather than written. This is true no matter what format you use, whether a formal document for a competition, a presentation for funding, or an easily digestible outline for a team in a company. Scott presented us with the following questions, which every incarnation of your plan should answer.

1. What business are you in?
2. What are your short-term goals? Long-term goals? Where do you want to be in 12 months? Two years from now? Ten years from now?
3. What are the key factors for achieving your goals?
4. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
5. What problem in the marketplace are you solving? What market opportunity are you taking advantage of?
6. Who is the target user? Who is the buyer (and are they even the same)? How much is the buyer willing to pay for the product?
7. What value are you creating for the customer? What is the return on investment for the customer? How does the customer measure it? How does the business measure it?
8. What is your distribution strategy? Who makes the key purchasing decision? What makes or breaks a sale?
9. Describe the nature of your partnership/alliance strategy? What leverage do these relationships give you? With whom? How?
10. Who is the competition? What are the alternates/substitutes? Today? 12 months from now? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
11. What are your competitive/comparative advantages? What differentiates your company and its product from the competition? What is your ‘special sauce?’
12. What are the key barriers to entry in your market?
13. Who/what are the biggest influencers in your market?
14. What externalities will have the greatest impact on your market?
15. What is your exit strategy?

Answering these questions is not easy. Doing so, however, will make it quite easy to reformat the information into winning presentations, company strategies, and formal plans. Scott also stressed some important tips to keep in mind when answering the questions. First, be sure to use credible language that reflects your competence in the business area you focus in. Many plans also use unreasonable, generic numbers that reflect only a basic amount of research into a market, and do not keep in mind the physical limits of the company.

For example, take a product that cures snoring. Saying that there are 293 million people in the United States, and 5% of them snore making for a 14 million person market is not a reasonable assumption about the size of your market. Instead, take the approach of how many sales people you can hire, how many sales each can make—that will be much closer to the size of your market.

Along these lines, take the “beachhead” approach. When writing your plan, do not focus your strategies on tackling the big picture all at once. Address what the big picture is, and then narrow down to the specific pockets of the market that your business can handle. In the case of snoring, the pocket may be college students who snore. But even more specific than that, it may be female college students whose boyfriends snore and keep them up at night. Taking this beachhead approach will make for a much more credible plan—and successful business.

Be sure to have and communicate your business’s “special sauce.” This special sauce refers to what competitive advantages your business has over the competition, especially a hypothetical competitor who would try to run the exact same business. This is not your company’s product, and probably not your company’s management team in itself. An example special sauce could be, again with the case of snoring, ‘my father is the Vice President at Pfizer, will partner with us and manufacture our product, keeping other companies manufacturing a similar drug from doing the same thing.’

Finally, it is important to remember, that a business plan is a living document, and you will have to reaffirm and update the answers every few months!

1 For a discussion of barriers to entry, competition, and bargaining power on a business, please see a discussion of Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter’s Five Forces Affective Competitive Strategy

VentureForth @ UCSD, the Computer Science & Engineering Society, and the .NET Developers group held a joint roundtable discussion on May 5, 2004 to help answer common questions among students interested in going into the software industry. To answer these questions were panelists Harold Kester, the CTO of WebSense, Chuck Han, a Software Group Director of Qualcomm, and Paul Kedrosky, Distinguished Fellow of the UCSD von Liebig Center.

Question: Where is the software industry going? What are the major trends such as outsourcing and how will they affect us as future software industry professionals?

Answer: We students are competing with people in Bulgaria, Poland, not to mention India, etc. The reason companies do this is because it has been found to save the company about 15% the first year of outsourcing, 30% the second year, and 40% the third year on development and support costs. However, there are very few companies who outsource development on their core intellectual property. For example, Qualcomm opened a location in India, but it is mostly work that well-trained software developers out of college wouldn’t want to do here. Nearly all research and development is still here. Kester, Han and Kedrosky all agreed that outsourcing of jobs really will have very little impact on college students trying to find jobs. And with the economy continuing to grow in the immediate years, there are more jobs being created than being outsourced.

Question: How do you go from software student to software engineer? How is programming in industry different than in school, and what skills are needed?

Answer: The general consensus that three of the most important skills to have are effective communication, accurate estimating, and teamwork. Effective software engineers must be able to speak in ways that co-workers and especially managers can understand, especially in writing emails.

Emails should be short and to the point, with a specific next action to take for the sender or the receiver at the end. And when talking with anyone in the company, do not ‘complain or explain’.

Kester said that a golden employee is one who says “I can do this by then,” and delivers it when he or she says they will, with no errors. It is therefore critical to be able to gauge how long something will take, acknowledging the fact that you don’t have an accurate list of requirements. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there are any good processes for this. Just know yourself and know the environment you’re in well.

It is also good to be mindful that you are no longer doing programs for your own good; the real owners of the company are the stock holders, and that the result of not performing is losing your job.

Question: How do you go from entry-level software engineer to your (panelist’s) position?

Answer: It depends which path is right for you. Kedrosky decided that he did not like programming early in his career, and so he went into technical sales, where he could use his knowledge of the engineering but wouldn’t have to sit in front of a computer all day. Kester programmed for seven years, but realized that he wanted more influence so turned his sights to management. He made sure to stay with companies for a long time and work his way up to senior positions. Han said that commitment and trustworthiness played a large role in working his way up to where he is now.

On the topic of switching jobs, the three stressed longevity in positions. A resume showing a change of jobs every 2 years is almost always a kiss of death, and a sign that something is wrong.

And finally, never burn bridges with people; if you feel your temper rising, just swallow it. You don’t have to burn any bridges. Instead, build your network!

Question: Is there anything you wish you would have known when you were a university student?

Answer: Han noted that he wished he had taken the opportunity to take a variety of courses instead of focusing solely on getting two majors. He feels like he would know people other than computer engineers. The three panelists also stressed the importance of building a network, by going to conferences and keeping in contact with people via email. And be natural when you’re meeting people, instead of just going around trying to swap cards with as many people as possible. You can even send them a small gift if it’s relevant, like a good book.

Question: Are you glad you started life as a code-monkey?

Answer: All of our panelists stressed the fact that a software background at the very least has been incredibly helpful in their lives.

Question: How do you balance work and family/social life?

Answer: Each of the panelists found that in some part of their career they were working far too many hours and not spending enough time at home. You can’t be happy at work if you’re not happy at home, and visa versa. You must find a company whose culture you get along with, and make sure that they expect hours that you find reasonable for your life. Make time for your family (like no work on weekends), and cultivate a lot of other interests besides work. There’ll always be more work that will arise, so make time for what’s important!

Out of the discussion also came some recommended books:
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and What Color Is Your Parachute?, 2004: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters & Career-Changers, by Richard Nelson Bolles.

In March, Forbes Magazine named Websense one of the top 25 fastest-growing technology companies in existence1. existence1.
And we’re lucky to have them, right here next to UCSD; just a hop and a skip up the 805 to Sorrento Valley Road. As luck would have it, I had the privilege of meeting with Douglas Wride, the CFO, and Harold Kester, the CTO in partnering with Websense for VentureForth.

Websense was founded in 1994 as a small consulting firm and value-added reseller of firewalls and Internet equipment. By 1996, it had become apparent that there was a market for web filtering products that analyzed and managed the usage over a network. In 1999, venture capitalists that were working with Websense, decided to call upon the experience of John Carrington, Curt Stalker, Douglas Wride, and Harold Kester to see if the company interested them. By March of 2000, Websense held it’s initial public offering (IPO) on the stock market and raised more than $72 million. Since then, Websense has been winning awards in San Diego and beyond, and has served more than 20,000 companies as customers - representing more than 16 million seats.

They function on a subscription model, with contract lengths of one to three years and customer companies ranging from 50 to 200,000 employees.

Websense products focus on analyzing, managing, and reporting how employees use the Internet, a critical function in a day and age where a computer at work can become much like a home-entertainment center. With Websense, a company can optimize productivity and employee resources while limiting their legal liability and increasing security. By using their software a company can configure employee usage rules like limiting streaming media, detecting spyware, hacking, peer-to-peer file sharing, setting specific times employees can view shopping and other leisure web sites, which departments can use instant messaging and for how long, and what sites are unacceptable any time, such as pornography and hate sites.

Websense accomplishes all of this by maintaining a categorized database of more than 1 billion web pages (yes, billion with a b). An average of 25,000 sites are classifiedevery week, many by interns from UCSD. In fact, many Websense employees

are hired straight out of UCSD, from interns that categorize to computer science undergrads and PhDs that help to write the software. Paul Kube and Professor Rik Belew, for example, have graduate students that now work at Websense.

Keep an eye out for Websense in the next few years. They have amazing technology, a solid business model and management team, and hope to form a stronger relationship with UCSD!

If you have any questions about Websense, please contact VentureForth, info@ventureforth.org
1. Forbes

As a former college student just a few months ago, I remember what it was like — finals, labs, midterms, work, sections, papers, blah blah blah… With all that’s going on, it’s hard to even think about making a move in today’s real estate market. As an Urban Planning/Econ major I was always hearing bits and pieces here and there about real estate being a great investment; I just didn’t know where to go to find out more. My objective with this and any future articles are to provide some insight about the home-buying process in general and San Diego’s housing market in particular with the aim that readers gain useful and practical knowledge. Ultimately, I hope to empower you to be more confident and less intimidated when you (or your parents) decide to make a purchase. That being said, what follows is the Top Ten Most Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make:

1. Looking for a home without being pre-approved. As a potential buyer competing for a property, you’ll have a better chance of getting your offer accepted by being as prepared as possible. Consider this hierarchy of preparedness:

• Neither pre-qualified nor pre-approved
• Pre-qualified
• Pre-approved

The benefits available at each level can be easily understood when viewed from the seller’s perspective. Imagine you’re a seller in receipt of multiple offers to purchase your property.

A complete stranger (buyer) is asking you to take your property off the market for at least the next two to three weeks while they apply for a loan. As the seller, let’s consider the type of buyer you’d prefer to deal with.

Neither pre-qualified nor pre-approved
This buyer provides no evidence that they can afford to purchase your property. You may wonder how serious they are since they’re not at least pre-qualified.

Pre-qualified
This buyer has met with a mortgage broker (or lender) and discussed their situation. The buyer has informed the broker regarding their income, expenses, assets and liabilities. The broker may also have seen their credit report. The buyer provided you with a letter from the broker stating an opinion of what the buyer can afford.

Pre-approved
This buyer has provided a broker written evidence of income, expenses, assets, liabilities and credit. In other words, all information has been verified by a lender. As a result, much of the paperwork for this buyer’s loan has been completed. This buyer will probably be able to close quickly. They provide you with a letter (pre-approval certificate) from the lender. You’re as certain as possible that this buyer can close.

As a potential buyer, you can see that being pre-approved will give you the best chance of getting your offer accepted. This is critical in a competitive situation.

2. Making verbal agreements. If you’re asked to sign a document containing instructions contrary to your verbal agreements—don’t! For example, the seller verbally agrees to include the washing machine in the sale, but the written purchase contract excludes it. The written contract will override the verbal contract. More importantly, your state may require that contracts for the sale of real property be in writing. Do not expect oral agreements to be enforceable.

3. Choosing a lender just because they have the lowest rate. While the rate is important, consider the total cost of your loan including the APR , loan fees, discount and origination points. When receiving a quote from a lender or broker, insist that the discount points (charged by the lender to reduce the interest rate) be distinguished from origination points (charged for services rendered in originating the loan).

The cost of the mortgage, however, shouldn’t be your only criterion. Have confidence that the company you select is reputable and will deliver the loan with the terms and costs they promised. If in the final hours of the transaction you determine that the lender has suddenly increased their profit margin at your expense, you won’t have time to start again with a different lender. Ask family and friends for referrals. Interview prospective mortgage companies.

4. Not receiving a Good Faith Estimate. Within three business days after the broker or lender receives your loan application, you must receive a written statement of fees associated with the transaction. This is both the law

and the best way to determine what you’ll pay for your loan. Bring the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) with you when you sign loan documents. You should not be expected to pay fees which are substantially different from those contained in your GFE.

5. Not getting a rate lock in writing.  When a mortgage company tells you they have locked your rate, get a written statement detailing the interest rate, the length of the rate lock, and program details.

6. Using a dual agent—i.e., an agent who represents the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. Buyers and sellers have opposing interests. Sellers want to receive the highest price, buyers want to pay the lowest price. In the standard real estate transaction, the seller pays the real estate commission. When an agent represents both buyer and seller, the agent can tend to negotiate more vigorously on behalf of the seller. As a buyer, you’re better off having an agent representing you exclusively. The only time you should consider a dual agent is when you get a price break. In that case, proceed cautiously and do your homework!

7. Buying a home without professional inspections. Unless you’re buying a new home with warranties on most equipment, it’s highly recommended that you get property, roof and termite inspections. This way you’ll know what you are buying. Inspection reports are great negotiating tools when asking the seller to make needed repairs. When a professional inspector recommends that certain repairs be done, the seller is more likely to agree to do them.

If the seller agrees to make repairs, have your inspector verify that they are done prior to close of escrow. Do not assume

that everything was done as promised.

8. Not shopping for home insurance until you are ready to close. Start shopping for insurance as soon as you have an accepted offer. Many buyers wait until the last minute to get insurance and do not have time to shop around.

9. Signing documents without reading them. Whenever possible, review in advance the documents you’ll be signing. (Even though some specifics of your transaction may not be known early in the transaction, the documents you’ll sign are standard forms and are available for review.)  It’s unlikely that you’ll have sufficient time to read all the documents during the closing appointment.

10. Not allowing for delays in the transaction.  In a perfect world, all real estate transactions close on time. In the world we live in, transactions are often delayed a week or more. Suppose you asked your landlord to terminate your lease the day your purchase transaction was scheduled to close. A day or two before your scheduled closing date, you discover your transaction is delayed a week. In a perfect world, no one is inconvenienced and your landlord is willing to work with you. More likely, however, your landlord is inconvenienced and angry. Will you be thrown out? Will you have to find interim housing for a week or more? The eviction process takes a little time, so the Sheriff won’t immediately remove you, but this type of stress-producing episode can be avoided. How? Terminate your lease one week after your real estate transaction is scheduled to close. That way, if there is a delay in closing your transaction, you have some leeway. This approach might cost a little more, then again, it might not.

About the author:

Ramesses S. Surban graduated from Marshall College last fall with a degree in Urban Planning and has over 2 and a half years of experience in the field of real estate development. After completing his internship for the City of San Diego’s Development Services and Planning Departments, he now works at IMS Lending, an established real estate firm of 16 years. IMS Lending is a full-spectrum nationwide broker, offering financing for purchases and refinances of land, residential, and commercial real property. He would be happy to address any questions or concerns and may be reached at:
r s u r b a n (at) i m s l e n d i n g . c o m

UCSD will be home to one of the newest business schools to be established at a big American university since the late 1940s. The School of Management at UCSD was established in 2001, and later named the Rady School of Management, in honor of Ernest Rady and the Rady Family Foundation, who donated $30 million to the school. The new school will be run by Dr. Robert Sullivan, the former dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, and former dean of the graduate school of industrial administration at Carnegie Mellon University.

The school will begin to offer an executive MBA program to working professionals in fall 2004, and will begin to admit full-time MBA students starting in fall 2005. The full-time Ph.D. program will admit its first class in fall 2006. One of the main philosophies of the school is to take advantage of the other campus facilities and resources. To accomplish this, the school will offer joint degree programs with the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering, the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, and other academic divisions on campus.

The current location of the Rady School of Management is at University Center, in the former home of the Eleanor Roosevelt College Administration. A new facility, to be located in north campus, north of the new Eleanor Roosevelt College, is currently in the designing stage. Full occupancy for the facility is expected to be in fall 2006.

The peak enrollment goal, of 600 full-time students, 510 part-time students, and 50 Ph.D. students, should be reached by the 2011-12 academic school year. UCSD’s program will target students who come from diverse cultural backgrounds, are early in their careers, and who have an understanding and appreciation of science and technology.

One of the main features of the Rady School of Management will be its technology focus. It will strive to teach geeks how to lead by focusing on educating managers who can launch and run science and technology firms. This goes hand-in-hand with many of the companies

that have spun off from ideas of UCSD’s engineering and science departments. Founding Dean Sullivan hopes that the school will be able to provide and teach the skills needed for successful lab-rats to be successful in the boardroom as well.

UCSD’s success as a research institution, coupled with its outstanding programs in science, engineering, medicine, economics, and international relations, will provide a powerful backbone for the school to prosper. Will UCSD’s program be successful in teaching geeks how to run a business? Only time will tell. However, given UCSD’s rise in the last forty years or so to become one of the nation’s foremost academic and research universities, as well as the strength of its academic programs, the future looks very bright for the Rady School of Management.

On the Web:
http://management.ucsd.edu