Background     The company is an investment firm based in Europe .   They focus on commercial real   estate investments , as the company believes that client demand for such   investments is high .   The company ’s clients are high net worth individuals and   institutions based in the Middle East .   They have three European - based employees ,   all senior executives who had previously worked together at a successful Middle   East - based investment bank .   The executives bring varied expertise to the company ,   a plethora of contacts across the Middle East , Europe and the US , and many years of   experience among them . The executives believe the company has excellent access to   deal flow .      Challenge   After one year in business , the company had not completed any investments .    Management thought this was due to number of reasons , and noted that they had   obtained multiple client mandates to bid on several opportunities .   The executive   team described their frustration and asked for assistance in identifying insights and   possible solutions to complete investments with their client base .         Selection   For this assignment I selected the Learning Launch Tool .   This tool allows the user to   test ideas in the marketplace , preferably in a fast and inexpensive way .   I selected   this tool as a means to help the executives test a new business idea ; this tool allows   them to test their hypothesis and assumptions around key customer needs .   I   understood that this tool would help the company validate certain beliefs about   investor demands .   Additionally , it would allow the company to uncover any unmet   or unarticulated customer needs , which they had not previously explored .     Application   I reviewed material gathered in interviews with the executive team .   According to   the team , one reason they had not completed any real estate investments was ,   “ Current real estate prices are high in the locations where our clients want to invest .    Our clients , especially certain institutional clients , seek cost generative , high   yielding investments , which are very difficult to source in an expensive market . ”   I   proposed that the company test the hypothesis : “ Clients only want deals that meet   specific , measurable outcomes ; customer needs are only return driven and they do   not appreciate other benefits apart from measurable outcomes . ”     To test this assumption , informed by the Learning Launch Tool , I asked the   executives if they had considered investments that would bring great publicity and   goodwill to their clients , even if it did not match their return requirements .   Further ,   I advised the company to pursue a small investment using non - traditional financial   technology ( “ fintech ” ) solutions during the investment process .   During the   interview process , management noted that one of their key clients was based in a   country that was pushing its financial sector to innovate in the fintech space .   The   rational for this test was that executing such an investment would generate a very   positive response from government and local press for their client .   Therefore , the 

 hypothesis about whether or not the client would modify their investment criteria   for the intangible benefits could be tested .   The executives at the company   responded positively to approach I suggested .   They presented the idea to their   client , who was also very interested in exploring it .   They are scheduled to discuss   the idea further with the client and explore a potential pilot program .      Insight and Approach   It will take more time to fully understand if the solution presented for this particular   challenge will be effective .   Evidence that the company and their client want to   pursue the solution reflects positively on the tool .   However , to gain an even better   understanding of why the company has not executed other investments would   require further identification , unpacking and testing of assumptions .     This tool is very powerful and effective for this challenge .   I can see how it could be   applied to many types of difficult business problems .   However , I believe there are at   least two key areas to ensure success with the tool .   The first , as Professor Ed Hess   discussed , is confirmation bias .   The desire to see one ’s hypothesis proven correct is   high .   To mitigate this risk , the professor suggested a multi - functional team inclusive   of a skeptic to work on the challenge .    This is something I would like to incorporate   into the process next time .    The second way to gain a better outcome is a well- designed , systemic approach to ensure that an exhaustive list of assumptions is   challenged .      From this assignment and the application of the Learning Launch tool , I have   learned that one must quickly test and critique apparent observations and industry   norms to get new answers .   Applying this tool to a specific challenge allows one to   continually peel back the layers and test assumptions to arrive at more meaningful   solutions in a quick , efficient and often low cost manner . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Background     The company is an investment firm based in Europe .   They focus on commercial real   estate investments , as the company believes that client demand for such   investments is high .   The company ’s clients are high net worth individuals and   institutions based in the Middle East .   They have three European - based employees ,   all senior executives who had previously worked together at a successful Middle   East - based investment bank .   The executives bring varied expertise to the company ,   a plethora of contacts across the Middle East , Europe and the US , and many years of   experience among them . The executives believe the company has excellent access to   deal flow .      Challenge   After one year in business , the company had not completed any investments .    Management thought this was due to number of reasons , and noted that they had   obtained multiple client mandates to bid on several opportunities .   The executive   team described their frustration and asked for assistance in identifying insights and   possible solutions to complete investments with their client base .         Selection   For this assignment I selected the Learning Launch Tool .   This tool allows the user to   test ideas in the marketplace , preferably in a fast and inexpensive way .   I selected   this tool as a means to help the executives test a new business idea ; this tool allows   them to test their hypothesis and assumptions around key customer needs .   I   understood that this tool would help the company validate certain beliefs about   investor demands .   Additionally , it would allow the company to uncover any unmet   or unarticulated customer needs , which they had not previously explored .     Application   I reviewed material gathered in interviews with the executive team .   According to   the team , one reason they had not completed any real estate investments was ,   “ Current real estate prices are high in the locations where our clients want to invest .    Our clients , especially certain institutional clients , seek cost generative , high   yielding investments , which are very difficult to source in an expensive market . ”   I   proposed that the company test the hypothesis : “ Clients only want deals that meet   specific , measurable outcomes ; customer needs are only return driven and they do   not appreciate other benefits apart from measurable outcomes . ”     To test this assumption , informed by the Learning Launch Tool , I asked the   executives if they had considered investments that would bring great publicity and   goodwill to their clients , even if it did not match their return requirements .   Further ,   I advised the company to pursue a small investment using non - traditional financial   technology ( “ fintech ” ) solutions during the investment process .   During the   interview process , management noted that one of their key clients was based in a   country that was pushing its financial sector to innovate in the fintech space .   The   rational for this test was that executing such an investment would generate a very   positive response from government and local press for their client .   Therefore , the 

 hypothesis about whether or not the client would modify their investment criteria   for the intangible benefits could be tested .   The executives at the company   responded positively to approach I suggested .   They presented the idea to their   client , who was also very interested in exploring it .   They are scheduled to discuss   the idea further with the client and explore a potential pilot program .      Insight and Approach   It will take more time to fully understand if the solution presented for this particular   challenge will be effective .   Evidence that the company and their client want to   pursue the solution reflects positively on the tool .   However , to gain an even better   understanding of why the company has not executed other investments would   require further identification , unpacking and testing of assumptions .     This tool is very powerful and effective for this challenge .   I can see how it could be   applied to many types of difficult business problems .   However , I believe there are at   least two key areas to ensure success with the tool .   The first , as Professor Ed Hess   discussed , is confirmation bias .   The desire to see one ’s hypothesis proven correct is   high .   To mitigate this risk , the professor suggested a multi - functional team inclusive   of a skeptic to work on the challenge .    This is something I would like to incorporate   into the process next time .    The second way to gain a better outcome is a well- designed , systemic approach to ensure that an exhaustive list of assumptions is   challenged .      From this assignment and the application of the Learning Launch tool , I have   learned that one must quickly test and critique apparent observations and industry   norms to get new answers .   Applying this tool to a specific challenge allows one to   continually peel back the layers and test assumptions to arrive at more meaningful   solutions in a quick , efficient and often low cost manner .
### Output: 