Co-Founder and CEO of SCOUT Military Discounts, Rob Coons, was the guest speaker for today's class. I have never in my life seen a service like his. SCOUT Military Discounts, based on his description, is basically Groupon but for military and ex-military. I think it is a genius idea, and to hear that it was well received in Oregon, it makes me think that they'll do exceptionally well here in Washington (specifically in the city of Tacoma). With four hundred thousand discounts and sixty eight million service members thus far, I do not have any doubt.
My first thought during his talk was "wow, I'm looking at a CEO". Actually no that was my second thought. My real honest first thought was that he looked similar to a character named Lewis Wilson from The Punisher Netflix series, played by Daniel Webber, who just happens to be ex-military in the show (random thought, not important). But anyway, I felt I was in the presence of a guy who could potentially be a guy who can say "hello, I'm the CEO of SCOUT Military Discounts" and make anyone who hears it be like "whoa". He started the talk with advantages of being what he is now and what it takes to get there. One thing that I noticed showing up in multiple slides was to "listen to your users and customer", and I noted it to be very important. I also liked a quote from Charles Kettering that he provided: "A problem well stated is a problem half solved". The stories of his experiences with investors and customers were quite interesting as well. An investor trying to cheat you out; a customer giving the worst review possible; I always thought those things only happen in movies. His talk has definitely exposed more of business in real life.
Another thing that stood out was a list of four steps in starting a business (I do not have it word for word):
1. Decide what you want
2. Find your business at the intersection of skill, experience, and opportunity
3. Determine a plan
4. Execute
To me, it sounds reasonable. Do I think I can take all of this and go out a start a company right now? Nope. But after Rob's talk, I feel like I am a step higher to reaching that point.
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