Papers and Presentations

Much of what I learned through MFP was through the projects we had. Through the projects, I got a chance to get to know my teammates: Clarence, Xiling, Avid, and Meghann. I would have loved the chance to work with everyone, and perhaps in the future, I will be able to. Here is a compilation of the papers and presentations I did over the course of E140. I threw in my opportunity analysis paper and project from E145 for good measure.

Project	Takeaways
Zaplet Case Study on Organization	Zaplet went through a number of organizational changes. I set out to determine why Zaplet had made these decisions and whether they were good ones. I came to the following conclusions: Due to sensitive information, I cannot put up this information on a public site.
Jim Collins Presentation Jim Collins Paper	Working with Avid on our presentation/paper on Jim Collins was one of the most memorable and valuable experiences I have had over the 9 months as a Mayfield Fellow. Going in, I was expecting to learn about Jim's strategies in how he became a successful "entrepreneurial professor" and how he affected corporations. What I left with was a much more personal experience. It was working on this project that I first really started looking internally, and asking myself: What are my genetic strengths? What do I love doing? What is going to satisfy me in work and life? I finished the project with a profound respect for Jim and an envy of what he has. Jim is truly happy. He has found what he is great at and what he loves doing while being able to have a profound effect on the world around him.
Remedy Presentation	I really don't remember so much about this case, but I think that Remedy was having an organizational crisis. We suggested that the executive team implement mechanisms to realign the company with the original tenets created by the founders.
Drugstore-Amazon Partnership	Looking back at this case now (post market correction), the question is raised: was this a good thing for either company? Drugstore.com's stock is now at 1¾, basically worth nothing for Amazon.com. However, Drugstore.com is the premier online drugstore. Whether that is a decent market to be in will become more clear in the next few years. Putting ourselves in the position of the companies gave us a different perspective on negotiation. Should Drugstore.com give away 1/3 of the company based on a promise from Amazon? Perhaps they should have forced Amazon to make some promises. But in a time when market share was king, Drugstore.com couldn't afford not to have Amazon.com as a key partner and investor.
Rematerial.com Presentation Rematerial.com Paper	As our opportunity analysis project for E145, our team (Elephant Ink) chose to create a plan for Rematerial.com, a portal that brings buyers, sellers, and sources of raw engineering materials together in an organized, centralized, and efficient online location. This was my first exposure to the business side of engineering. We went through the process of talking with potential customers and suppliers, learning about competitors, running the numbers, and then we ultimately decided that the market (even if we were optimistic) was not big enough to support us. We went through a similar process (but for real) at Zaplet over the summer in deciding upon a focus for the company. It was empowering to see that the process we went through was the same a lushly funded Silicon Valley corporation went through as well. Someone did think this opportunity was worthwhile though - check out http://www.scrapsite.net.