Category: Traction Journal Spring 2022

1. Overall, how was this quarter for you?

• Outside of E&I it was one of my busiest quarters at western. The minor felt a lot more relaxed this quarter because I have a venture in place and I was just working on it as I normally do regardless of the minor.

1. How did you develop as an entrepreneur through out the quarter?

• Working on the Pixie venture teaches me a lot of valuable lessons. I learned many more things quarter on how to be an effective leader opposed to entrepreneur.

1. What are you hoping to carry forward from this quarter?

• Nothing new, I cannot say I learned anything new this quarter from the minor. I will carry my venture forward after the minor.

1. What are you hoping to leave behind from this quarter?

• College! I am glad to be done and can dedicate all my time towards the Pixies. I will most likely be taking a full time job at the end of the summer, but will still be working on the Pixies then as well.

1. What was your highlight from E&I this Spring?

• The E6 send off, I was not expecting much but some of my classmates had some nice things to say.

Outside of E&I this week

• I am just wrapping up school. I just turned in my VP2 and I have one more assignment to do tomorrow and then I will be done. I have lived in the same house for 3 years now, so my roommates and I have spent a lot of time this past week cleaning up and getting things ready to move out.

1. How was the pitching experience for you this week?

• Bit of a bummer. Very unfortunate that we could not all pitch in the big room with the coaches, I didn’t really get much of an experience out of my E6 pitch.

1. What resonated with you from pitch day?

• The event team put a lot of effort into their event, glad to see them do good. Karl and Kaelyn had a creative pitch. Oliver and Brian are doing a great job with Echo. Samuel and Maddie both did great with their respective E3 prompt.

1. What did you think of the E&I event this week? Were you able to network and connect with others at the event? Why or why not?

• I was not able to attend.

1. How are you feeling coming near the end of VP2? What are there areas that you are in need of support?

• I am feeling good, just wrapping everything up to graduate.

Outside of E&I this week

• I have a lot of big assignments due in all of my classes. I spent most of the week working on getting everything done early.

1. How did the technology prototyping workshop go for you?

• I thought it was good, Adam knows what he is talking about when it comes to that stuff. He has done a great job building software for our NFT project. I feel fairly confident in prototyping, but as far as building I am no programmer, I leave that to Adam.

1. How did the interviewing workshop go for you?

• I thought it was good. I feel fairly confident in my interviewing skills so far, it was a lot of the same that I have learned so far in the program.

1. Dress Rehearsals! How did this go for you and your team? What traction do you guys need to make before pitch day?

• I think it went okay, I honestly am not really that proud of my pitch for E&I. I have a go to pitch that I use in the NFT community when I am talking in twitter spaces, but that does not translate over to class. Because people in class do not really understand NFTs. This means I have to change a lot, and I can’t really say the things I want which is kind of a bummer. I do not need any other traction before pitching tomorrow.

Outside of E&I

• I spent this past week doing a ton of school work, this coming up week going into the three day weekend is very busy for me. This coming week may have the most deadlines out of any week during my time at Western. I have been getting a lot of work done in advance, so I can have time to work on the Pixies. Adam and I finally got a spot on the “Sovana Shark Tank” which is one of the biggest twitter spaces hosted weekly in the NFT community. We pitched against 3 other projects and won. The judges really liked our project, and they all started buying our NFTs and then tweeting about it. Which was a great feeling.

1. What are you going to take away from Sawyer’s presentation on budgeting? What resonated with you?

• I thought she did a presentation about legal entities. I thought her presentation was good, Adam and I just recently talked with a lawyer and accountant to figure everything out, and recently filed for an LLC.

1. What was your favorite part of E4 shift and share? What do you think you will carry along with you from these presentations?

• I liked Karl and Megs shift and share. I will carry with me the importance of relaxing and taking a break.

1. How are you feeling wrapping up Change Leadership? Any new sparks or ideas?

• Feeling good, I got my change leadership turned in last week. I did not find any new sparks.

Outside of E&I

• I did a lot of school work this past week, I have a bunch of different projects due within in the same week. I am trying to get some of them done in advance to make things a little bit easier.

1. How did the Jobs to be Done workshop go for you? Do you still have questions? How do you feel about the JTBD statement for your venture

• No questions for me, I created a JTBD for my venture last quarter and modified it a little bit this quarter.

1. What resonated with you from Ugly But Tasty? 

• Not much, Its really hard to get feedback from the class on the NFT project. Mostly because NFTs are a pretty complicated subject, and not a lot of people really know much about NFTs in general, so it is hard to get valuable advice/feedback.

1. How did “Got Your Back Consulting” go for you? How did you feel sharing ideas and feedback on others ventures?

• For my own project, it was not very valuable, but I do enjoy doing this to give feedback to others. I try my best to give some valuable feedback to the people in my group, I find it fun to try and problem solve a bunch of different projects in class. Overall it went great.

1. How is VP2 going as a whole? Are there any areas of confusion or need for support?

• Going great! No confusion, this quarter is getting very chaotic, just need to finish strong.

1. We launched Change Leadership this week! How was this experience for you? How are you doing heading into this project?

• Doing great! I have an interview scheduled with Morgan this week for the project.

Outside of E&I this week?

• I have been extremely busy with my school work this quarter, so I spent most of the week working and then working on my venture project. Adam and I talked with a lawyer and accountant this past week to figure everything out regarding the NFT project, so that we can operate legally and follow proper tax laws.

1. What was the process you took creating your Plan of Action? 

• I followed the same setup that I started as an E4. I keep my true north statement there that we did a long time ago. I create a timeline that is sectioned off into the 3 months, within each month I say what I want done that month. Then I include just a general summary for this quarter and what I plan to do.

1. What is your plan for sticking to the Plan of Action and holding one another accountable through out the quarter? 

• Sticking to my plan will be pretty easy. Regardless of this class I am already extremely motivated to create a successful business out of this venture. I have been sticking to a plan of action since November of 2021 and I don’t plan on stopping soon.

1. How are you feeling about Venture Project Two? What areas do you feel good? What areas do you need more clarity?

• I feel great, no need for clarity. This is my final quarter and I am excited to wrap it up and bring everything together.

1. We went downtown this week! What sparked interest for you in the downtown tour?

• Unfortunately I was not able to attend! Some of you may remember me saying this when I did the kombucha venture, but I have a rare stomach problem, and it takes months to get in and see a specialist doctor, so I had to skip the class for my doctor, sorry!

What did I do outside of E&I this week?

• Lots of work on my venture project. We sold a lot more NFTs this week than we do on average which was awesome. We also just got a partnered website live that has a very large community, which gave our project a lot of attention.

1. Introduce yourself! Who are you? What are you majoring in/hoping to major in? What are your hobbies?

• Hello! My name is John McCullugh, I am 22 years old, a senior, and originally from Redmond Washington. I am currently majoring in Business management and enjoying it a lot. I enjoy hiking, video games, hanging out with family/friends/girlfriend, and creating/trading NFTs!

1. Why did you join Entrepreneurship or why are you in the Entrepreneurship minor?

• I went to my advisor as a freshmen in college, when she asked what I wanted to do I said, I want to be my own boss. She pointed me in the direction of the E&I minor and I jumped right in!

1. How did the first day of class go for you? What stuck out to you? What areas do you need more clarity? 

• Class was great! Nothing new stuck out to me and I do not need any clarity.

1. How are you preparing for success this quarter?

• This is my last quarter at western, I am currently just staying on top of my work so I can finish strong!

1. After to reading the syllabus, what do you expect for your E-level  journey this quarter? (eg- first quarter, second quarter, etc.

• I expect to come out of this quarter with my entrepreneurship skills mastered. I really hope by the end of the quarter I can turn my venture into the successful business I have planned on creating!

1. Outside of E&I this week

• I have been working a lot on my venture project, and hanging out with my friends and girlfriend. Didn’t do anything too much fun! Just hanging out and went out on Friday night.