tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92207902103032671592024-03-13T09:16:58.550-07:00Teen Entrepreneur Boot CampToys by Teens, LLC was formed by the not-for-profit group Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp to create a real-working business model to teach students about entrepreneurship. Dr. Howard Wexler, inventor of the game Connect Four, donated a new invention to the project for the students to launch into the marketplace. The eventual revenue earned from sales will be used to offer this free program to new teams of students.Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-4830797911348162142013-10-12T15:30:00.001-07:002013-10-12T15:30:17.585-07:00Regrouping for Our Focus Group<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We met for the first time today since summer, and also put our games to the test by having our first focus group with elementary school children- our target market! Six new people joined us from Stuyvesant High School as we took a short trip to the Manhattan Youth Community Center in Tribeca. Everyone was quite nervous and antsy as we broke up into groups of two and headed to meet the kids. All of the kids were extremely enthusiastic about our activity book, and some even fought with one another to do them first, which we took as a good sign. As we tested the games, we found common complaints and confusions among the kids that we wrote down, as well as their reactions to each of the puzzles. The kids were very focused on the puzzles, and we got positive feedback from one of the teachers, who said that Flip 'N' Check was a brilliant idea due to its reusability, and that “the game calmed the kids down, even on a Friday, which was amazing.” All of the kids found the artwork to be great, and we even hosted a mini meet and greet to one kid who requested an audience with our graphic designer William Yen. By the end we were exhausted but exuberant that we obtained so much feedback to continue and improve our games.</span>Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-86124123283992295622013-10-12T15:11:00.001-07:002013-10-12T15:31:28.091-07:00Fist Full Of Orders<br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Pam </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">arrives back from Canada with a fist full of orders and no time to waste placing our 1st order with the factory. First, we must make tweaks to our product after discovering a few glitches in the sample. Talking back and forth to China and waiting for a revised sample just added two more weeks to our pre- production schedule- grrr.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">To speed things up we send a purchase order to the factory to begin talks, it’s inevitable they will have changes since we have never worked together before. Next, we rush our sample to a forensic lab in Texas to have the raw materials used in our product tested to make sure they meet US toy safety standards.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phew. We just got word from Armstrong Forensic Laboratory that all the raw materials used to construct our product meet US toy safety standards!<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last piece to this puzzle is to wire transfer money to the factory.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">We are officially in production for our first product, FLIP N’ CHECK!</span></div>
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Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-14272765496337475122013-08-07T12:13:00.001-07:002013-08-08T14:57:18.011-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 14: Start Spreading the NewsToday we set out to spread the word about our upcoming event at the Frying Pan! We're in the process of contacting Stuyvesant's alumni association as well as other organizations in the high school. You can check out our event on Facebook -- and like our page -- at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ToysByTeens" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/ToysByTeens</a>!<br />
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We researched on raffles and silent auctions and brainstormed some ways to get the word out to the public. You can help by sharing this with your family and friends! Thanks!<br />
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<br />Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-30277187580859659732013-08-05T14:39:00.003-07:002013-08-07T11:51:04.444-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 13: Don't Stop Me NowBelieve it or not, the gift show is less than a week away! In just a few days, Ms. Chmiel will be flying off to Toronto, ready to promote Flip 'N' Check to the Canadian world. In the meantime, we had to make some final touches to ensure that her trip will be a success. We began sending out our new press release about World Wonders and the gift show to a line of Canadian and New York press outlets to spread the word. <br />
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Also in preparation for the show, we finished making the appropriate changes to our product demo video to be shown on a loop at Booth #5230. The video was originally made by Stuyvesant's video production class under the guidance of Ms. Elka Gould, but as you know, the name of the product has since been changed to Flip 'N' Check.<br />
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And here's some more exciting news! We're hosting an event on August 20th at the Frying Pan! All are invited to this fundraising and networking event. We are proud to announce that current candidate for Manhattan Borough President (and Stuyvesant alumnus) Jessica Lappin will be in attendance to kick off our elevator pitch open mic. We'll have a raffle and exciting prizes. Please come and join us for food, drinks, networking, and a good cause. We appreciate your support!<br />
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Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-1067516989050053522013-08-01T20:23:00.002-07:002013-08-05T14:51:09.002-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 12: Rain, Rain, Go Away!Happy first day of August! Today saw no time for the stormy weather to put a damper on our moods. With Canada practically a week away, we had to get to work on preparing for our international debut! World Wonders will be setting up a booth at the gift show, so it is only appropriate that we provide them with booth materials to promote our product. We made changes to our product demo video and press release to accommodate for the updated version of Flip 'N' Check. There was also discussion of a possible future fundraising event, and of course, game development and revision are always underway!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's always so nice to see you, Natasha!</td></tr>
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We had a pleasant mini reunion when Natasha stopped by the Frying Pan! Being a Toronto native, she advised Ms. Chmiel on her upcoming trip to the Toronto Gift Show. She also conducted a short interview on the importance of mentorship and our own experiences being mentored. Though we had a little trouble filming outdoors on the barge with the helicopters and rain overhead, we managed to find a quiet spot inside the caboose. There, we reflected on our summer and the many skills we've learned.<br />
<br />Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-43417949329081241862013-07-31T12:01:00.001-07:002013-07-31T12:02:05.618-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 11: No News Is Good NewsBack at the Queens Public Library, we further attempted to research alternative manufacturing options and continue game development. While we currently have a sufficient amount for a full set of Under the Sea activities, it is always good to have options. And options, we have! We're exploring a variety of different exercises in different subjects -- even our fill-in-the-blank activity is turning out better! As we said in a previous post, we are greatly looking forward to the feedback our focus groups will provide. Ms. Chmiel is in the process of organizing our first one with the Manhattan Youth Group.Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-67302313982650955882013-07-30T13:59:00.000-07:002013-07-30T20:23:13.229-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 10: Surprises, Good and BadLet's give you the good news first. Today, we welcomed a new member of the team, back from his trip to Cambodia! The thousands of miles in between and twelve hour time difference meant close to nothing -- it was like he was here from the start. We quickly brought Mark up to date on our project. We now have more than enough activities to fill the Under the Sea version of our book, and after days of trial and error, we are finally satisfied with our fill-in-the-blank activity. With Mark's fresh perspective, we gathered more insight on the possible response we might receive. Of course, we still have to conduct the focus groups for our target audience in the imminent future.<br />
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And now, for the not so good news. We've heard back from our manufacturer. Our sample, unfortunately, is not exactly the way we envisioned it... but fingers crossed that it'll be fixed in time for the Canadian toy fair! Ms. Chmiel is contemplating flying to Toronto herself to meet with our distributor and to help sell our product.<br />
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<br />Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-45903117497348426762013-07-25T13:29:00.001-07:002013-08-02T19:35:26.896-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 9: Cloudy With A Chance of Success<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Back to the Frying Pan. On a cool, cloudy day, we resumed
our activities. Besides the usual
brainstorming and development, we further researched our prospective affair
with World Wonders. They will be present at the Toronto Gift Show, beginning on
August 11<sup>th</sup>, at the International Centre. They will have a sizeable
booth set up, so if you’re in the area, be sure to stop by and check it out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first impromptu focus group! Thanks for the feedback!</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;">Our activities are still in their revision
stage, but today we were lucky enough to entertain an impromptu focus group!
They tested out some activities from both the original Flip ‘N’ Check and our
new Under the Sea version. Though they were not exactly in our target age
range, they provided good insight into how people might approach our product
and offered some suggestions and constructive feedback.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-36285240742752091932013-07-24T18:53:00.002-07:002013-07-25T12:26:59.335-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 8: Glass Half Full<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #666666;">We continued to move forward with our project today at the
Queens Public Library. Our activity count went up several notches as we are slowly,
but surely, reaching our goal. It turns out that writing children’s stories?
More difficult than it seems! Perhaps the hardest thing being keeping it
simple, while keeping it fun. We expect that we will end up with more
activities than we will have room to fit in the actual book! This is a good
thing. Of course, we will remember and try to account for the focus groups that
we have yet to conduct. Reactions from our target audience may vary. Until
then, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing. Stay tuned.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-59528509847987919512013-07-23T14:33:00.002-07:002013-07-25T12:27:07.465-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 7: A Day With Patience and Fortitude<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Patience and fortitude. Two attributes
that are crucial in taking an idea and making it a reality. They’re also the
names of the two majestic marble lions that stand guard in front of the famed
New York Public Library, which is where we continued our work. We attempted to
secure a place in the Children’s Center without success. But that was okay,
since we found an alternative under the high ceilings of the Rose Main Reading
Room on the third floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;">Game development underwent more
progress, and we are close to completing the activities for our Under the Sea version.
We began discussing the possibility of press opportunities, and hope to have a
press release ready in the coming week. We also have some focus groups planned
for once we’ve finished making the activities. We are looking for feedback from
our target audience: kids. Will they find Flip ‘N’ Check too easy? Too hard? Hopefully,
we’ll find out soon enough!</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-7670937819772028312013-07-18T14:08:00.003-07:002013-07-25T12:27:16.384-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 6: Go With the Flow<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #666666;">We began our morning in Battery Park amidst laughing children
playing in the sprinklers as we waited for the local library to open its doors. Finding an empty picnic bench to sit around, we brought everyone up to
date. When we got inside the library, we
found a quiet place to work and split into groups. Half of us continued working on game
development, including an activity about compound words in pictures. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">The rest of us did research on foreign distribution. We referenced Global Toy News and the Harvard
Business Review to learn about deal making with distributors. Elizabeth Carpenter, author of the popular children’s
activity book Dino Mazes, was kind enough to help us evaluate our possible
partnership with World Wonders. Her
experience in the field makes her advice invaluable to us. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-47205480364854151122013-07-17T13:20:00.000-07:002013-07-17T16:21:58.256-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 5: A _____ (Wail/Whale) of a Time<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The _______ (son/sun) continued shining, and we continued _______
(hour/our) brainstorming. At the Queens Public Library, we resumed activity
development for Flip ‘N’ Check’s Under the Sea version. Coming up with and
elaborating on _______ (some/sum) of the ideas for the games proved to be no
easy _______ (feat/feet) – we ourselves learned a thing
or two about sharks! We got our creative juices flowing as we crafted a story
about a young whale on his first day of school. We focused on homophones
(words that sound the same but are spelled differently), like the ones you see
_______ (hear/here)!</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-47709199711599767732013-07-16T19:17:00.001-07:002013-07-18T10:07:40.260-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 4: Full Speed Ahead!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the New York Public Library in Battery Park.</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Today we continued </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">our
project in the cool refuge of the New York Public Library in Battery Park City
(we are in an intense heat wave here on the East Coast). We settled down
amongst the youngsters in the children’s section where we took suggestions from
our target audience. What are kids into these days? Minnows, crabs, whales,
giant squids, blue whales, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>not</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>eels, according to a helpful young
intellectual, his eyes twinkling as he listed these off the top of his head.
With this in mind, we explored and voted on topics to include in our “Under the
Sea” themed version of Flip ‘N’ Check. Soon after, game development was really
in full swing, and we began crafting a list of possible activities.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">Sitting in the children's section for maximum
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<span style="background: white;">to the minds of
young intellectuals...</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We also discussed our manufacturing progress (currently, we are
debating between two manufacturers). There is also the possibility that we will
work with World Wonders, a Canadian distributor. This division of MCM Group Ltd. will be debuting our product as part of their line-up at an upcoming toy show in Canada. Hopefully, we can expect to see our new
samples within the next week to push the process along.</span></div>
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Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-81140354853747195102013-07-15T20:50:00.001-07:002013-07-18T10:00:13.916-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 3: Out in the FieldToday's meeting had a change of scenery: the lovely, air-conditioned (!) Barnes and Noble. We scanned the shelves of the bookstore, looking for inspiration and ideas for our project. We poked around in the section for children's workbooks, where we quickly thumbed through several of the books. They provided good insight into some common and popular themes for kids of our target age. We checked out the games section as well, where we started taking notes on the manufacturers and some of the awards won by the games. We will definitely be working toward that goal ourselves in the future, so that's something to keep on the back burner!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S5tb_1dtB48/UeTZTgHEt3I/AAAAAAAAALs/JHPN55Ww7zM/s1600/Day+3+B&N+(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S5tb_1dtB48/UeTZTgHEt3I/AAAAAAAAALs/JHPN55Ww7zM/s200/Day+3+B&N+(6).jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-39111701167382907532013-07-11T12:01:00.000-07:002013-07-18T09:55:31.767-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 2: Refreshed and Revamped<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-4Zhz21RGI/Ud8ADjZ3X1I/AAAAAAAAALc/dTwTe_iOnio/s1600/Day+2+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-4Zhz21RGI/Ud8ADjZ3X1I/AAAAAAAAALc/dTwTe_iOnio/s320/Day+2+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a>We returned to the Frying Pan to continue our work as stormy
clouds approached on New Jersey's horizon. After everyone had arrived and settled in, we had our daily group
meeting. We discussed how we could
improve our presence in social media and determined that we would use Blogspot
and Facebook to keep everyone updated on our project and to build brand
recognition for Flip 'N' Check. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp had an existing blog before Toys
by Teens was founded. After rummaging
for the login information, we got to work on revamping the blog. We redesigned the look and style and
introduced Flip 'N' Check to our readers.
We also gained access to the Toys by Teens Facebook page, so look
forward to new posts! Like us on Facebook
at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ToysByTeens">www.facebook.com/ToysByTeens</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Meanwhile, the rest of the group continued compiling a
database outlining the appropriate topics of discussion for grade school students. We have three main categories thus far: the
basic curriculum, under the sea and the New-York Historical Society. Soon, we will take a vote as a group on which
topics to include in our product. <o:p></o:p></div>
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-25620180744422547052013-07-10T14:57:00.000-07:002013-07-18T10:19:20.587-07:00Flip 'N' Check Day 1: All Aboard!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
All
aboard the Frying Pan! Our summer apprenticeship with Pam Chmiel and the teen
toy company set sail at the restaurant at Chelsea's Pier 66 on a
bright, sunny Monday. We began our day getting acquainted with the project
begun by Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp. The toy company, Toys By Teens, LLC, is out to
develop and bring the innovative product Flip 'N' Check to market. Created by
the inventor of Connect Four, it is a new approach to the traditional
activity book.<span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K9BxUS-t_8Y/Ud73TwyYWtI/AAAAAAAAALM/UE06fU2XeaY/s1600/Day+1+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K9BxUS-t_8Y/Ud73TwyYWtI/AAAAAAAAALM/UE06fU2XeaY/s400/Day+1+(1).jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The team hard at work at our first meeting.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white;">The first item
on our to-do list was to review the agenda and delegate tasks. We discussed
possible partnerships with experienced entrepreneurs and renowned institutions
across <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:city>,
including the New-York Historical Society. After splitting up into small
groups, we tackled research on the market and on appropriate curriculums in
various subjects for grade schoolers. Research on the NY Aquarium's school
programs gave additional insight into our product development. We made
significant progress, and it was only our first day! Excited for what Day Two
will bring.</span><br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-58604296530121623422013-07-10T14:50:00.001-07:002013-07-16T19:12:05.005-07:00Teen Toy Company presents their first product: Flip 'N' Check<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2011, Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp (TEBC) piloted the teen
toy company program at the acclaimed Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan. The goal is to expose young people to business and to teach them about entrepreneurship by creating a real world business model. Stuyvesant alumnus Ray Lent has a philosophy: do well, while doing good. This
summer, he is sponsoring Stuyvesant students to bring Toys by Teens’s first
product to market. Dr. Howard
Wexler, inventor of the game Connect Four, donated an innovative idea to the project,
a twist to the traditional educational activity book. It is now up to the young entrepreneurs to
develop and spread the new Flip 'N' Check. <br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-5299143091109696582010-08-13T07:50:00.001-07:002010-08-13T07:50:23.648-07:00The Jumping Bean Day 4<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tebc/4885701571/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4885701571_52718bb9a9_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tebc/4885701571/">P1070736</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/tebc/">Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp</a></span></div>Day four of The Jumping Bean mainly focused on the appearance of the store and the press release. To kick off the process, after splitting into groups, students began write paragraphs of the press release. This basically took half of the day, after a delayed start, and much coaxing by Pam and Shireen.<br /> <br />Then, after a short lunch break, some of the teen entrepreneurs started to work off an original equipment list, and comparison-shopped on the web to find what we need and the sizes that the items are going to be. Some other students took another computer and found southern drinks, such as the “Virgin Mint Julep” and <br />“Good Ol’ Alabama Sweet Tea”. The timing was perfect, because just as the equipment list was being printed, the architect was ready to speak. He helped us measure the store, using a long tape measure; essentially supervising the entire planning process. <br /><br />To top off all of the day’s activities, we were able to taste the cakeballs from Sage American Bakery! Most of the students thought they were excellent! In my opinion (Donovan) they were quite good. They will surely be a great success!<br clear="all" />Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-26657158895283307772010-08-12T09:00:00.000-07:002010-08-21T10:27:24.121-07:00Day 3 of The Jumping Bean<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tebc/4885496647/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4885496647_5fa4d0611d_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style=" margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.9em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tebc/4885496647/">P1070668</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/tebc/">Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp</a></span></div>Today’s events of The Jumping Bean saga were particularly special. The students ventured out into the field, uptown to 260 Madison Ave, to sit through a presentation by Julia Gaynor, a publicist for Affect Strategy, a public relations firm. In this hour-and-a-half presentation, she talked about how to make the press interested in a story, in our case, our espresso bar. She clearly conveyed what to include in a press release and informed us about a journalist’s deadlines and other technical terms related to the subject matter. We thank Julia Gaynor very much and hope her advice makes or breaks our experience with the press.<br /><br />P1070668<br /><br />Soon after a short train ride back down to Fulton Street, and a brief lunch break, we practiced an art called “spitballing”, which is a very reliable form of brainstorming. After breaking into groups, we finally met our goal of creating an opening sentence that would hook the mind to our press release. Tomorrow, we are going to write the press release and hopefully send it out in a few days.Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-87153846156024464962010-08-11T10:22:00.000-07:002010-08-11T10:40:16.019-07:00Day Two of "The Jumping Bean"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Lucida Grande', fantasy;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap;font-size:11px;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As the sun rose and business people flooded the streets of lower Manhattan, the planning of “The Jumping Bean” continued with ease. Day two started off with group brainstorming for a main sales product. Soon after some creation of ideas, the group stumbled upon a great new idea: cake balls! As opposed to previous sessions, “The Jumping Bean’s” specialty item will be a baked good instead of a drink. Cake balls are balls made of a variety of cakes combined with frosting and dipped in a candy-like liquid, such as fondue or caramel, which are mere examples of the vast league of baked goods we’ve entered. </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In addition of contacting many vendors of various items, Pam, the Director contacted our baker, Jen from “This Chick Bakes”, to propose the cake ball idea. We sincerely hope that the baker’s plan works out and our cake balls work out well. Pam also took the students out into the South Street Seaport Pier area to cross-market, or collaborate with other vendors to promote our espresso bar. We inquired from a representative from Circle Line and gather brochures from the many NYC tour buses, such as Gray Line or Coach USA. </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The day went on and after splitting into several groups; we started to pull some crucial aspects of our espresso bar together. One group contacted some rubber stamp and paper goods vendors and printers. Another filtered which celebrities we should invite to our opening. Finally, a last group thought of ideas of an apparent theme. We brainstormed those ideas, overlooking many themes of different natures. The theme went from vintage to vintage New York to Mexican to southern to Americana to "South of the Border" to Aztec. After much arguing and suspense the theme of "Jumping Around the World" came to mind, since many people in the area are tourists.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The afternoon flew by and it was 3:30 and "The Jumping Bean" didn't have a tag line. We brainstormed, using the thesaurus and the base word - travel (which is the basis of our theme). After coming up with words such as voyage, globetrotting, and other words not commonly used in everyday speech, the slogan literally floated into the brain of one of the students.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia, -webkit-fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After a long day of work, we are now officially working with "The Jumping Bean - Your destination is just a sip away!"</span></span><!--EndFragment--> </span></span></p></span></span>Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-33699141246399846582010-08-10T11:36:00.000-07:002010-08-10T11:46:39.137-07:00Day 1 of The Jumping Bean<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote></blockquote>Today, Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp kicked off a new session with the start of a new espresso bar/bakery in the South Street Seaport vicinity on the corner of Front and Beekman Streets. Upon piling into the drab-walled building at the early time of 9:00, students were off to a spectacular start. By immediately defining crucial terms, such as networking and marketing, the students formulated a plan for advertising and marketing. <o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After a quick lunch at the South Street Seaport mall, the group welcomed a guest-speaker, Ipshita, who is a professor at Pace University’s Graduate School. With her came one of her former students, whom she spoke and enlightened us with her knowledge. Ipshita’s presentation included a few exercises, which confirmed her explanations about marketing and networking. Then, under Ipshita’s professional supervision, the class broke up into three small groups to brainstorm coffee-related names for the store; all while sampling cookies from a local baker at “This Chick Bakes”. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes">Finally, as the day died down and the students were getting tired, each small group derived three name choices, which were narrowed down by a democratic voting process. The final three names were “The Battle of the Beans”, “Whipped”, and “The Jumping Bean”. Upon the final vote, “The Jumping Bean” was unanimously voted as the name for our new espresso bar.</span></p><blockquote></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-28138011477496422912010-07-28T11:35:00.000-07:002010-07-28T11:39:26.798-07:00Ground Booty: Day 8Today we finished our business plans! Two speakers came to help us today to write our final and complete business plan. We split into four groups and each wrote a business plan. We than picked the best one which we will give to john, the owner of the frying pan, as grounds for our temporary business. After lunch we split into groups. We are coming down to the wire! The business opens tomorrow! How crazy?!?! One group went to put our post cards in the mailboxes of the buildings across the street, one group made buttons as our lowest giveaway prize, one group researched agua fresca recipes, and one group printed out the tickets for the treasure giveaway. Our shirts come tomorrow and we start business! Aparently News 5 is interviewing us! Its so exciting I can' twait! After the groups finished, we learned how to make our espresso drinks. That is the most important part!Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-17721574027820153812010-07-28T11:24:00.000-07:002010-07-28T11:35:13.555-07:00Ground Booty: Day 7Today we started fast and got down to business. We are all tired, but we are motivated to finish what we started. We set up the projector and began plugging in numbers. We started a moch business plan. We had to take into account insurance, taxes, employees, products, and rent. We did what we could saving the rest for tomorrow. After lunch a professional franchiser came to talk to us about what it takes to make a business go from a small corner store to a large franchise. He was an extremely interestng and fun guy. Once more we split into groups. A large group went to harass every day people to give our elevator pitch and hand out flyers. They say that was really great and fun! Another group looked up licenses and permits needed to start a business. They also looked up starbucks and dunkin donuts barista wages. A third group went to martha stewarts office and actually saw her!!! JEALOUSY! The end of the day was the best! Our espresso machine came! We began to set up our bar to figure out where we wanted to put the machine! It was 5:00 so quickly and we had to call it a day.Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-45781052240481654892010-07-28T11:18:00.000-07:002010-07-28T11:24:41.725-07:00Ground Booty: Day 6Over the weekend we had sent out the press release. At the beginning of the day we got out first real taste of the business. We saw the poster!!! The poster looks great! We actually got 2. One big and one small. We hung up the large poaster on the bow of the ship. It took a while, cutting string and attaching it. After the poster was all set we began talking about the menu. We split into groups for the rest of the day to cover more ground. One group contacted news papers, one caontaced radio shows, and television news. We asked for contacts, and sent our press release. Another group spent the rest of the day finishing the flyers which we needed asap to send them out. We got quotes from different printers and decided on the company that gave us the best deal. We got 1,000 post card for $200. This was a long, but eventful day!Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220790210303267159.post-27682394748598536512010-07-26T12:50:00.000-07:002010-07-27T11:57:58.244-07:00Ground Booty: Day 5We began our day by getting right down to business. We worked on our press release for pretty much the whole day. JC came to help us figure out how we want to plan and begin writing the piece. Together we created an outline for which the 5 paragraph press release was to be written from. After getting down the key information about what each paragraph was supposed to say, we split into groups and each began writing. 4 groups worked on the 2nd through 5th paragraphs while JC took our original ideas to concot a new first paragraph. During our lunch break JC worked diligently on editing our paragraphs to read as a coherent piece. After ,uch group discussion, we finally finished our press release!!! Isabella Mia Sullivan called Empire Banners and ordered a huge banner with our logo on it. Shireen was able to have it delivered to her house since the company was already in Astoria :) At the end of the day, we discovered a game room at the bottom of the ship where we played ping pong. Aside from accomplishing our biggest task, the press release, we also enhanced our "ping pong skills." : )Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09673532005925587823noreply@blogger.com0