REFLECTION – LEARNING LAUNCH     Abdo Cortes 

 January 9 , 2021    UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA – DARDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 

 Challenge : 

 I founded a watch company in the Philippines a few years back with the aim of becoming the first Filipino- owned watch company that assembled its timepieces locally .   Being a physicist and a technical watch   enthusiast , I wanted to plant the seeds on developing watchmaking in the Philippines .   So , without having   any business background , I decided to conduct a Learning Launch to test my idea through an experiment .    With the gap in my business acumen , I was fortunate enough to come across a book called The Physics of   Business Growth which happened to be written by Tom Garza and Rosa Cortes .   By coming   up with an analogy of putting up a business or an idea through the scientific method , I was able to grasp   the process .   The analogy was very helpful . 

 At the very beginning , the main task was to decide on the kind timepiece that will be launched as a test .   The test would be to test the brand ’s name recall and retention , targeted market acceptance , and , of   course , sales . 

 Selection : 

 I gathered three of my friends who were from different industries to join me in developing the initial   model and asked them for their insights .   Apart from this , I also held a separate brainstorming session   with my lead technician .   I believed that through the product ideation , we had a good product to test . 

 Application : 

 During our learning launch , we focused on the creation of the brand and in properly sending out the   message about us and the product that we launched .   Given the limited financial resources we had then ,   we decided to launch a high - quality basic dress timepiece as it aligns with the brand ’s image .   We launched   the timepiece in a boutique hotel ’s restaurant and invited friends from the press and some showbiz   personalities .   We wanted to get feedback through different streams so that we can properly address   possible points for improvement , and as well as build on the things we were doing correctly .   The brand   and the timepiece were accepted well as we had good sales and we were even invited to enter major   online retail channels already . 

 However , although the launch was a success , we did encounter important constructive feedback   afterwards . 

 Insight : 

 Through the application of the tool , we learned what did work and to whom did it work .   Apparently , the   brand was accepted better than the product .   The product that we had initially launched , with its technical   specifications and price point , was not able to hit out intended market .   Rather it hit a different segment   of the market .   However , when word had gone out that there is a Filipino - owned watch company   assembling its watches locally , there was a significant number of requests from the brand ’s followers for 

 REFLECTION – LEARNING LAUNCH     Abdo Cortes 

 January 9 , 2021    UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA – DARDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 

 a mechanical watch release .   Although this was already in the plans down the line , the company decided   to respond to the requests to launch a mechanical watch less than a year later . 

 The learning launch was able to jumpstart the company at the start and it would not have gone far without   it .   We have constantly been doing learning launches succeeding it . And today may be another good   opportunity to use it as the industry had been hit hard by the global health crisis and the market ’s retail   behavior have changed drastically . 

 Approach : 

 This tool had been very helpful to the company as it allowed us to learn more about ourselves and our   market .   We had learned so much doing learning launches .   But as the company grows , we will need to   modify the scale of our learning launches before we go all out into the public .   Entering targeted   communities or clubs , or organizing private events , can be one way to improve learning launches in the   future . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Abdo Cortes, Abdo Cortes
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: REFLECTION – LEARNING LAUNCH     Abdo Cortes 

 January 9 , 2021    UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA – DARDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 

 Challenge : 

 I founded a watch company in the Philippines a few years back with the aim of becoming the first Filipino- owned watch company that assembled its timepieces locally .   Being a physicist and a technical watch   enthusiast , I wanted to plant the seeds on developing watchmaking in the Philippines .   So , without having   any business background , I decided to conduct a Learning Launch to test my idea through an experiment .    With the gap in my business acumen , I was fortunate enough to come across a book called The Physics of   Business Growth which happened to be written by Tom Garza and Rosa Cortes .   By coming   up with an analogy of putting up a business or an idea through the scientific method , I was able to grasp   the process .   The analogy was very helpful . 

 At the very beginning , the main task was to decide on the kind timepiece that will be launched as a test .   The test would be to test the brand ’s name recall and retention , targeted market acceptance , and , of   course , sales . 

 Selection : 

 I gathered three of my friends who were from different industries to join me in developing the initial   model and asked them for their insights .   Apart from this , I also held a separate brainstorming session   with my lead technician .   I believed that through the product ideation , we had a good product to test . 

 Application : 

 During our learning launch , we focused on the creation of the brand and in properly sending out the   message about us and the product that we launched .   Given the limited financial resources we had then ,   we decided to launch a high - quality basic dress timepiece as it aligns with the brand ’s image .   We launched   the timepiece in a boutique hotel ’s restaurant and invited friends from the press and some showbiz   personalities .   We wanted to get feedback through different streams so that we can properly address   possible points for improvement , and as well as build on the things we were doing correctly .   The brand   and the timepiece were accepted well as we had good sales and we were even invited to enter major   online retail channels already . 

 However , although the launch was a success , we did encounter important constructive feedback   afterwards . 

 Insight : 

 Through the application of the tool , we learned what did work and to whom did it work .   Apparently , the   brand was accepted better than the product .   The product that we had initially launched , with its technical   specifications and price point , was not able to hit out intended market .   Rather it hit a different segment   of the market .   However , when word had gone out that there is a Filipino - owned watch company   assembling its watches locally , there was a significant number of requests from the brand ’s followers for 

 REFLECTION – LEARNING LAUNCH     Abdo Cortes 

 January 9 , 2021    UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA – DARDEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 

 a mechanical watch release .   Although this was already in the plans down the line , the company decided   to respond to the requests to launch a mechanical watch less than a year later . 

 The learning launch was able to jumpstart the company at the start and it would not have gone far without   it .   We have constantly been doing learning launches succeeding it . And today may be another good   opportunity to use it as the industry had been hit hard by the global health crisis and the market ’s retail   behavior have changed drastically . 

 Approach : 

 This tool had been very helpful to the company as it allowed us to learn more about ourselves and our   market .   We had learned so much doing learning launches .   But as the company grows , we will need to   modify the scale of our learning launches before we go all out into the public .   Entering targeted   communities or clubs , or organizing private events , can be one way to improve learning launches in the   future .
### Output: 