Following is a short quiz, which does provide some review.
You may take it if you wish.
Caution:
• There may be more than 1 correct answer, and
• The same answer may be correct more than once
1. The single most important thing for a new business’s success is:
a. The product
b. The market
c. The team and the leader
d. The money available
e. The competition
2. A successful person is most easily recognized by:
a. The amount of money in his bank account
b. His ability to solve a differential equation
c. His behaviors and attitudes
d. The size of his factory
e. The type of car he drives
3. “To hammer a nail is always the right solution” means:
a. Carpentry is the best profession
b. You have to hit the nail on the head
c. Engineers will always try to solve a problem with more engineering
d. Hire on ability to learn
e. It doesn’t mean anything
4. The 2 characteristics that are usually judged in the first 2 minutes after meeting someone are:
a. Height and weight
b. Intelligence and confidence
c. Competence and trust
d. Organization and diligence
e. Leadership and shrewdness
5. To succeed in a venture, you need
a. A Goal
b. An Opportunity
c. A Plan
d. A skill set to succeed
e. To be independently wealthy
6. The skill that makes the difference between a “Promoter” and an “intre/entrepreneur” is:
a. Sales skills
b. Creativity
c. Relationship skills
d. Make it happen skills
e. None. They are the same
7. The fatal flaws that “kill’ entrepreneurs include
a. Too short
b. Doesn’t listen
c. Can’t make decisions
d. Lacks motivation
e. Wears glasses
8. No pain, no gain, means
a. Try to avoid painful situations
b. One learns most from struggle
c. Take aspirin to stay poor
d. Welcome potentially painful situations
e. It only applies to football
9. The purpose of a good up-front contract is to determine a
a. what will happen next
b. how you will get paid
c. how you will address unexpected problems
d. how you will be measured
e. all of the above
10. Insanity is:
a. Going to work every day
b. Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result
c. Getting married
d. Taking this test
e. Getting an engineering degree
11. The primary problems of a new venture or business are:
a. Not enough money
b. Lack of a clear strategy
c. Tendency of the team to continue with the technical work
d. Lack of documentation on procedures
e. Working with your wife
12. When you communicate, the words you say contribute roughly__% of the message
a. 100%
b. 50%
c. 25%
d. 14%
e. 7%
13. The messages from successful people include:
a. Listen
b. Learn people skills
c. Be honest
d. Lead a balanced life
e. Focus
14. Your “comfort zone” is:
a. Approximately 70 F
b. Highest with people like yourself
c. The personality type that you relate to the best
d. Affected by your emotions
e. I don’t have one
15. Your #1 job as a leader is to make people feel:
a. Driven
b. Safe
c. Insecure
d. Anxious
e. Happy
16. When you hire someone, you also hire their
a. Brother
b. Spouse
c. Family destiny
d. Motivation
e. Emotional baggage
17. You can use knowledge of Family Destiny in
a. Hiring
b. Motivation
c. Predicting disaster
d. Negotiation
e. Mentoring
18. Characteristics that you want in an employee include
a. Common Sense
b. Fear
c. Competence
d. Low salary demands
e. Productiveness
19. When you are hiring, you can assume a college degree means
a. The person is qualified
b. The grades received are a good indication of his abilities
c. The person will make a good manager
d. His father is rich
e. Diddlysquat
20. Your most expensive employee is
a. The highest paid
b. Any salesman
c. Mediocre
d. Unmotivated
e. The CEO
21. An Opportunity is:
a. An idea
b. A product or service which adds value
c. Something that no one has done before
d. A job at a different company
e. They don’t exist
22. An Opportunity is “good” when it is consistent with:
a. The market
b. What the investors want
c. The resources
d. The team
e. The latest fad
23. An opportunity can be caused by;
a. New technology
b. New Markets
c. Change in the laws
d. CNN
e. Your boss
24. Never underestimate the tendency for people to resist:
a. Paul Newman
b. Dessert
c. Change
d. California
e. Sleeping in class
25. The characteristics of a “Product” company include:
a. Proprietary Technology
b. Constant innovation
c. Large investment in R&D
d. “A” level people
e. Quick response to market change
26. To start or grow a business, you need:
a. A loving partner
b. A market for your product
c. Reachable Customers
d. Barriers to competition
e. A Lobotomy
27. Standard Risks include:
a. Finding enough money
b. Attracting a strong team
c. Meeting development schedules
d. Dying of a heart attack
e. Getting gray hair
28. Strong forces to counter risks include
a. Proprietary technology
b. Excellent track record
c. Billion $ potential
d. Mandated usage
e. Grecian Formula
29. When you “Assess a Market”, you are trying to understand
a. The product
b. The customer
c. How to raise money
d. The team strengths
e. The competition
30. To assess a market you can;
a. Talk to your friends
b. Call possible customers
c. Ask your mom
d. Call competitors directly
e. Conduct focus groups
31. Successful ventures are
a. a product which adds value
b. based on opportunities
c. respond to a customer need
d. mostly internet companies
e. started by engineers
32. Your product or service is
a. the most important factor for success
b. assumed
c. obsolete as soon as it makes money
d. lowest cost, or it won’t sell
e. the least important factor for success
33. A top quality team, in a high growth industry, has:
a. A lot of work to do
b. A high chance of success
c. Ulcers
d. Nothing
e. No problem raising money
34. Patents protect you from
a. The legal process
b. Competitors
c. Your employees
d. Honest people
e. The Japanese
35. When starting a business, your initial competition is for:
a. Resources
b. Money
c. The pennant race
d. People
e. Customers
36. The three most important things for a new business startup are:
a. the team
b. A good lawyer
c. Having enough money
d. Knowing the customers
e. A charged battery
37. An opportunity has to:
a. Be right for you
b. Have compelling reasons
c. Appear better than other opportunities
d. Feel comfortable to you
e. Be approved by your mother
38. Benchmarking is:
a. carving your initials on your desk
b. comparing one opportunity to others
c. comparing the performance of any product to other similar products
d. Comparing the beer you drink to other beers
e. only practiced by the Japanese
39. An Attribute Assessment Analysis is:
a. Looking at someone who is attractive
b. A tool to communicate decision making
c. A way to document “your gut”
d. A way to determine how an opportunity would have to change to make it attractive
e. A MBA term with no real-life use.
40. Transactional analysis is:
a. A way to meditate
b. The science of how people interact
c. Fundamental to the understanding of sales
d. Taught by Ghandi
e. Useful for handling your parents
41. The “ego states” that we operate in include:
a. Critical Parent
b. Nurturing parent
c. Adult
d. Adaptive Child
e. MI, OH and IN.
42. In sales, you should always
a. Talk
b. Nurture
c. Be enthusiastic
d. Ask questions
e. Show how smart you are
43. All decisions are made
a. in a vacuum
b. by your boss
c. emotionally
d. by MBA’s
e. by the customer
44. Examples of decisions where MAAA can be effective include:
a. What school will I attend
b. Which Job will I take
c. Which Investment will I make
d. Which partner will I pick
e. Which beer will I drink
45. “Harvest issues” in a business mean:
a. How are we going to pick all those melons
b. How does an investor get his money out
c. How do I get out
d. What price might the business worth
e. Who would buy the business
46. Don’t do anything without knowing:
a. A Venture Capitalist
b. What will happen next
c. The answer
d. Yourself
e. Ghandi
47. Most projects fail for lack of:
a. Funding
b. a clear up-front contract
c. defined deliverables
d. a good team
e. a boss
48. An up-front contract answers the questions:
a. What are we doing
b. Why are we doing it
c. Could we maybe not do this at all
d. What will we do if problems arise
e. All of the above
49. A “Customer” is:
a. A pain in the neck
b. The recipient of your product or service
c. Always right
d. Usually on your side
e. Necessary to a business
50. “Sales” is :
a. A disgusting occupation
b. The skill that most engineers lack
c. Getting an order for your product
d. Making sure the customer is happy
e. A means of propulsion for a boat
51. Marketing is:
a. Shopping for groceries
b. Making your product known
c. Creating an urge to buy
d. Presenting a product to a customer
e. Determining what your customers want
52. When “making a Sale”, you should:
a. Hire a salesman to do it
b. Look for an emotional need
c. Explain all about your product, and why the customer should buy it
d. Clarify how you get paid
e. Take time to bond with the customer
53. Customers usually buy:
a. For their own reasons
b. For pleasure
c. To get rid of pain
d. From Paul Newman
e. From someone else
54. When you are in a “sales situation”, you should:
a. Explain why the customer should buy
b. Listen
c. Lie like a rug
d. Expect to lose
e. Be yourself
55. Engineers, in a sales situation, often:
a. Talk too much
b. Assume they know what is best for the customer
c. Won’t talk about money
d. Get emotionally involved
e. Forget to nurture
56. An up-front contract;
a. Must have mutual consent
b. Defines deliverables
c. Is a waste of time
d. Pays Movie Stars
e. Clarifies timing
57. Most Customer Unhappiness comes from
a. Poor product or services
b. Poor communication
c. Late deliveries
d. Paying too much
e. Not getting what they expected
58. Good measurements are:
a. Simple
b. Relevant
c. Easy to understand
d. Clearly communicated
e. A way to communicate
59. Signs of a healthy company include:
a. A high stock price
b. A nice article in “Business Week”
c. Measurements on the walls
d. Products proudly displayed
e. Advertising during the Superbowl
60. The objectives of a business plan are to:
a. Get money
b. Provide a baseline for measurement of progress
c. Communicate your vision
d. Identify resources required
e. Show you have all the answers
61. Most projects are screwed up by:
a. The salesmen
b. Inappropriate innovation
c. Poor communication
d. The engineers
e. Upper management
62. A project history is usually defined by
a. Water cooler gossip
b. The person who writes it up
c. The best presentation
d. The salesmen
e. Upper management
63. A “Risk Analysis” helps one determine
a. The chance of a project’s success
b. How and who to ask for help
c. Whether to wear a seatbelt
d. When to bail out
e. Whether to do a project
64. A Leader without a vision is:
a. Employable
b. A bureaucrat
c. In Washington d) Rare
d. Blind
65. As a Leader, you cannot fraternize with underlings because:
a. Monica ruined it for everyone
b. You may destroy your power
c. They are rivals for you job
d. You must remain a symbol of authority
e. They will tell you what you want to hear
66. When raising money, always
a. Ask for more than you need
b. Spend according to your plan
c. Use a broker
d. Ask your friends and family to invest
e. Take it and run
67. Communication can be improved by
a. Procedures
b. Standards
c. A PR firm
d. Shouting
e. Constant diligence
68. A good leader
a. Takes the bullets for his people
b. Has empathy
c. Is ruthless
d. Is Monica-less
e. Has courage
69. The top reasons why businesses fail include:
a. Lack of vision
b. Poor political connections
c. Lack of money
d. Lousy products
e. Insufficient engineering
70. Good ideas are
a. What makes or breaks a business
b. A dime a dozen
c. Irrelevant
d. Always difficult
e. Only proposed by engineers
71. The primary goal of a business is
a. To make money
b. To provide jobs for the founders
c. Make the investors rich
d. Satisfy the ego needs of the guys in charge
e. Do good.
72. An investor in your business is concerned about
a. the risk to his money
b. his returns
c. competing opportunities
d. feeling needed and appreciated
e. your success
73. Problems with communication include
a. Assuming everyone knows what is going on
b. Editing and distortion at each transfer of info
c. Your TV not working properly
d. Anything to do with your “relationship”
e. Fear of looking bad to recipient
74. Responsibility can be successfully delegated when:
a. The delegator checks compliance on a daily basis
b. Authority to act is delegated with the responsibility
c. There are rules and procedures in place
d. The recipient is willing to accept the responsibility
e. Any Member of the BOD says to do it.
75. Most people look to a leader to provide
a. safety
b. ownership in the company
c. vision
d. a sense of moral purpose
e. a presence
76. Sources of money include
a. Angels
b. Private qualified investors
c. Venture Capital
d. Banks
e. Widows and orphans
77. Your business ethics should be
a. the same as Bill Gates’
b. able to handle any opportunity
c. impeccable
d. the same as your competitors
e. adjusted for local customs
78. Leadership is
a. Profitable
b. lonely
c. tough
d. being responsible
e. fun
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