TX MBA Capstone Project

[Tony Nguyen]

Hey guys,

I know we still have one last final left for the semester but we should probably start thinking about what organization we can work on for Capstone.  Maybe we can brainstorm in the next week or so and have a quick meeting (either google video or we can meet up for dinner) when everyone is free.  Let me know if you guys have any suggestions for the project and when a good time to meet would be.  Good luck on Finance! 

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

A few suggestions:

http://www.turningpointcenter.org/ - this is a small local organization that I think would be cool to work with.

http://www.snapus.org/site/PageServer - because I love dogs

http://www.sohmission.org/NetCommunity// - seems to be a larger houston organization

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[Lavan Reddy]

I was also thinking of dog shelters

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Alexander Petrovic]

We can have up to 6 team members...y'all want to look at bringing on anyone else? It looks like a lot of people don't have teams yet. Just a thought. 

[Linda Ly]

One of the people on the Board of this organization that provides healthcare to low income minorities works at one of my banks, if we are interested in it.

http://hopechc.org 

I don’t think we can really go wrong with any organization. 

[Tony Nguyen]

Hey guys,

We should probably lock down our choice of organization.  Maybe we should just all rank our preferences and take the one that has the highest preference (similar to what Trey and I did with our MBA+ group).

http://www.turningpointcenter.org/

http://www.snapus.org/site/PageServer

http://www.sohmission.org/NetCommunity/

http://hopechc.org 

Are there any other organizations that we should consider?

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

My vote:

1. Snap
2. SOH
3. Hope
4. TP

[Linda Ly]

I like snap too. 

1. Snap

2. Hope

3. SOH

4. TP

[Lavan Reddy]

My vote:

1. Snap
2. SOH
3. Hope
4. TP

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Trey Watkins]

1. Hope

2. TP

3. SOH

4. Snap

[Alexander Petrovic]

what's your vote Tony the Tiger?

[Tony Nguyen]

1. SOH

2. Snap

3. Hope

4. TP

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Tony Nguyen]

Looks like Snap wins:

	Sasha	Linda	Lavan	Trey	Tony	Average
Snap	1	1	1	4	2	1.8
SOH	2	3	2	3	1	2.2
Hope	3	2	3	1	3	2.4
TP	4	4	4	2	4	3.6

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

Now that we've decided on an organization what are the next steps? Do we let Martins know? We we contact SNAP?

[Lavan Reddy]

Lets gettogether this class weekend and chalk out an action plan

Lavan

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Linda Ly]

Has anyone reached out to Snap yet to see if they are even willing to have us “help” them?  I think that should be our first plan of action. 

[Alexander Petrovic]

I called SNAP and ended up emailing the Operations Manger about the opportunity at hand. Hopefully I will hear back today or tomorrow.

[Alexander Petrovic]

The SNAP Operations Manager passed along my info to the Director of SNAP. I sent him an email requesting a 15 minute meeting. Hopefully we can lock down SNAP soon!

[Lavan Reddy]

Cool

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Alexander Petrovic]

I finally got through to the Director of SNAP, David, and it looks like we found our organization! SNAP did a capstone project last year with UT so they probably know more about what we need to do then we do. I think this is good because they can help us understand what worked well and what they would like to improve on from their last years experience. 

I suggested a kick-off meeting for next Thu or Fri (waiting on a response). Are you guys available for a face-to-face meeting on Thu or Fri? David might want to do the kick-off via conference call so lets wait and see what his response is. We should carve out some time this weekend to plan out what we want to cover in the kick-off meeting so the session will be productive. Once David confirms the kick-off meeting I will let Professor Martins know that we have selected our organization. 

[Linda Ly]

That’s awesome! I’m traveling next week and won’t be back until late Thursday. Friday is good for me if you guys can swing it. 

[Alexander Petrovic]

SNAP is good to go!

There are the two topics they want to discuss (I really like both):

Talked to staff – there are two topics that are development related that we’d like some help on:

-          We want to do a bit of re-branding

-          Strategy on fundraising, ensuring sustainability, proper mix of funding sources, etc.

I'm working on getting a meeting set up for next Friday afternoon (in person so free up your calendar!)

Lets get started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Alexander Petrovic]

What time next Friday, February 7th work? Can you guys make it at 4pm? 5pm? I'm not sure how late they are open. What about lunch time? I can make it there at 4pm.

Address:

7155 Old Katy Rd., Suite N290
Houston, Texas 77024

[Trey Watkins]

We have class that day, don't know how everyone feels about that.

[Lavan Reddy]

Next friday we have a class. 

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Alexander Petrovic]

My bad...I forgot we are doing back-to-back weekends. 

[Alexander Petrovic]

Can anyone do a weekday? Lunch time? 5pm? Suggestions? We need to get a face-to-face kick off so we can plan out the approach.

[Tony Nguyen]

I can do a weekday lunch time meeting next week.  What's the latest that we can meet since and is this where we would meet?

7155 Old Katy Rd., Suite N290
Houston, Texas 77024

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Linda Ly]

I’m traveling all week next week unless you guys want to do a Friday lunch before we go to class. 

[Trey Watkins]

I can't do a lunch during the week.

[Alexander Petrovic]

Well this is going to be a fun activity to manage while everyone is working :-) 

Lets get a count on who can do what next week:

• Friday the 7th 11:30 to 12:30 (lunch session)
• Sasha, Linda
• Next week lunch time on Monday, Tue, Wed or Thu
• Sasha, Tony
• Next week at 5pm on Monday, Tue, Wed or Thu
• Sasha
• Friday at 4pm on February 14th
• This might be the best option...can everyone make this?

[Trey Watkins]

I can do next week at 5 pm.

[Trey Watkins]

Sorry, except for Thursday

[Linda Ly]

I’m in town the following week (week of Feb 10) so I can do lunch, 5pm any day or any time after lunch on 2/14.

[Lavan Reddy]

I'm ok with lunch or after 5. 

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Tony Nguyen]

I can work with the 5 pm time.  I'll be in San Diego Feb 14th.

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

I sent him the 5pm option for next week (mon, tue or wed) and friday the 14th option at 4pm. Let's see what works with SNAP. 

Some more notes they sent over:

On the fundraising topic, some thoughts:

 

-          Optimal mix of individual, corporate, grant/foundation and events for funding

-          Balancing off program restricted funding vs. unrestricted funding (like to cover ‘overhead’)

-          Ensuring sustainability – including retention of donors

-          Increasing amount given/donor

[Lavan Reddy]

Any news from Snap?

Btw info for future, I'll be travelling to India from April 27-May 17th and ideally would not like to carry any homeworks/assignments during that time but would help out in any way I can. 

Lavan

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Alexander Petrovic]

I'm still trying to schedule our kick-off meeting with the Director (he was out of town all week). We can get started with the project as we know what they want to focus on.Based on this feedback lets start putting something together that will help us in the kick-off session. 

Talked to staff – there are two topics that are development related that we’d like some help on:

-          We want to do a bit of re-branding

-          Strategy on fundraising, ensuring sustainability, proper mix of funding sources, etc

They also gave us some thoughts on fundraising. 

On the fundraising topic, some thoughts:

 -          Optimal mix of individual, corporate, grant/foundation and events for funding

-          Balancing off program restricted funding vs. unrestricted funding (like to cover ‘overhead’)

-          Ensuring sustainability – including retention of donors

-          Increasing amount given/donor

[Alexander Petrovic]

Already...attempt #91 to kick-off SNAP. Who can make Friday, February 28th at 5pm?

[Tony Nguyen]

I'm good with that. 

On Monday, February 17, 2014, Alexander Petrovic <alexande...@gmail.com> wrote:

Already...attempt #91 to kick-off SNAP. Who can make Friday, February 28th at 5pm?

On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 9:56 AM, Alexander Petrovic <alexande...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm still trying to schedule our kick-off meeting with the Director (he was out of town all week). We can get started with the project as we know what they want to focus on.Based on this feedback lets start putting something together that will help us in the kick-off session. 

Talked to staff – there are two topics that are development related that we’d like some help on:

-          We want to do a bit of re-branding

-          Strategy on fundraising, ensuring sustainability, proper mix of funding sources, etc

They also gave us some thoughts on fundraising. 

On the fundraising topic, some thoughts:

 -          Optimal mix of individual, corporate, grant/foundation and events for funding

-          Balancing off program restricted funding vs. unrestricted funding (like to cover ‘overhead’)

-          Ensuring sustainability – including retention of donors

-          Increasing amount given/donor

On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 9:50 AM, Lavan Reddy <lavan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Any news from Snap?

Btw info for future, I'll be travelling to India from April 27-May 17th and ideally would not like to carry any homeworks/assignments during that time but would help out in any way I can. 

Lavan

Sent by Lavan Reddy

On Jan 2

--

[Trey Watkins]

I think that works for me too

--

[Lavan Reddy]

Works for me

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Linda Ly]

Works for me too!

Sent from my iPhone

[Alexander Petrovic]

We are in the books for next Friday. After our midterms let's pull together an agenda so we have a solid kick-off meeting. We have the topics they want to discuss so we can even start to brainstrom. 

[Lavan Reddy]

Thanks Sasha for arranging everything. 

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Tony Nguyen]

I started an agenda (SNAP Meeting Agenda 2/28/2014) for the meeting this Friday.  Feel free to edit as necessary.  Everyone should have received an email but here is the link to the folder where we can put all our of Capstone documents.  Let me know if you can't access it.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B79oRnvc8afeNXpFbVhuaWpELTQ&usp=sharing

Do you guys want to do dinner after our meeting on Friday since I am guessing we will be done around 6-7?  Thanks!

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

Tony, thanks for getting this started! I'm down for dinner after our meeting. 

[Linda Ly]

Thanks Tony!

Yes, I’m up for dinner too!

[Trey Watkins]

Sounds good.

[Trey Watkins]

Where for dinner?

[Lavan Reddy]

And drinks??

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Linda Ly]

Crawfish?

[Trey Watkins]

Yes.

[Alexander Petrovic]

We can hit up a restaurant in the Washington area. We can do Canyon Creek, Cyclone Anaya's, Lupe's, Benjys?

[Linda Ly]

How do you guys want to dress for the meeting? Suit up or business casual? 

[Tony Nguyen]

I will already be in business casual but I'm up for suiting up if everyone else wants to do that.

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

Business casual for sure...no way SNAP folks are wearing suits on a Friday (or any day of the week)!

[Lavan Reddy]

Ditto

Sent by Lavan Reddy

[Alexander Petrovic]

Team,

I printed 8 copies of the agenda that Tony created and will bring them to the meeting. The guy we are meeting with is David Smith and he is the Director of SNAP. I'm not sure who else he will pull into the meeting, if anyone. I can open up the meeting with team introductions and then we can dive into the meeting. Does anyone want to facilitate? We should have a point person that will drive the meeting. Any volunteers? Also, we need someone to take down detailed meeting minutes. I'm assuming everyone will take their own personal notes but someone should act as the official scribe who will type up the meeting minutes to the group. Meeting minutes need to include topics discussed, outcome of discussion, action items with owners, and next steps. Any takers on a scribe?

Anything else we need to bring or prepare for?

-ASP

[Trey Watkins]

I'll be the scribe and bring my laptop.

[Tony Nguyen]

I'm ok with running the meeting since I created the agenda.  Then everyone else can focus on taking notes and jumping in as necessary.  I think we should make it a point for everyone to contribute something to the meeting so they can see that we are all capable and willing of helping them out.  Hopefully by having a structured meeting, we can start off on a good note with these guys and set our goals for the next few months.  Let me know if you guys are cool with that or if you have any other suggestions for the meeting.  Thanks.

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

Sounds good Tony. I emailed Professor Martins our company and he offered to meet with us to "debrief" sometime next week. I think a 30 minute meeting with Professor Martins, after our kick-off, will help us map out the next steps. Plus, we have to put Lavan to work before he escapes to India!

[Tony Nguyen]

Any recs on dinner?  I just ate lunch and I'm already hungry.

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Trey Watkins]

Cyclone's, TQLA, El Tiempo, Benjy's unless we want crawfish...

[Alexander Petrovic]

Also, Canyon Creek. We can make the call after the meeting.

sent from a mobile device

[Tony Nguyen]

I think we should look through their website to see if there is anything that we'd like to point out.  We might not need to ask certain questions that we can figure out from their "about us" section.

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Tony Nguyen]

They have audited financial statements!  Latest one is from 2012. A lot of good stuff in there =p.

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

Can you download them and add it to Drive?

[Tony Nguyen]

already there - "2012_SNAP_Audit.pdf"

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Alexander Petrovic]

Team,

Do we want to have a 30 minute call with Professor Martins next week (or the week after)? Might be a good idea to walk him through our approach. (kickoff meeting --> brainstorming --> idea generation --> present idea dump to SNAP --> pick what approach they like best --> build out that capability in detail). What do y'all think?

Regards,

-ASP

[Tony Nguyen]

Sounds good to me.  Afternoons generally work better for me if you guys want to do it during work hours but I would prefer to do it after the work day if possible.  I think we can request that?

Tony Nguyen
tonylt...@gmail.com
(713) 208-7497

[Linda Ly]

I'm free any night but Monday. 

Sent from my iPhone

[Lavan Reddy]

Yeah great idea. Anytime after work (6:00 pm).

Lavan