Pathetic business plan. A mockery of those who actually bothered to work on their plans. A typical 'entrepreneur' who will never come to anything. Take it from someone who runs their own successful business, if he can't even be arsed to create a proper plan, he will never have enough real drive to be successful.
Claude should have been harsher.
I completely agree. I knew when he said "it was all in his head", that it would be a complete shambles for him. Being a joker is fun and all but he couldn't convey his business plan in a professional manner. So he did not deserve to take up someone's time.
It wasn't anything like a Business Plan. There were no projections, no finance, no marketing in fact nothing at all. Soloman could have got a book from the Library if he didn't know how to write a business plan - it is an elementary part of starting a business
Was a real shame to see it all unfold. I still dont think anyone reslly knew his business plan as he kept it all in his head. May have been really good but we'll never know. Claude could have given Solomon the opportunity to explain it.
No he shouldn't - I couldn't disagree more.
In the real world, there are no second chances.
He messed-up, big-time and it was right that he paid the price for that.
Claude behaved like an arse but he was absolutely right to utterly reject that mess that Soloman had the gall to try and pass off as a Business Plan.
He messed-up, big-time and it was right that he paid the price for that.
Claude behaved like an arse but he was absolutely right to utterly reject that mess that Soloman had the gall to try and pass off as a Business Plan.
Well at the end of the day Claude may have turned away the best business potential that could have made LS the most money. As he didn't give him a chance to talk it through.
What he should have done is discussed it in great detail and pin solomon on all the points that were missing from tje the plan. Particularly the numbers, asking him what research he's done, target market, competition and catch him out that way if solompn wasn't prepared.
Well at the end of the day Claude may have turned away the best business potential that could have made LS the most money. As he didn't give him a chance to talk it through.
What he should have done is discussed it in great detail and pin solomon on all the points that were missing from tje the plan. Particularly the numbers, asking him what research he's done, target market, competition and catch him out that way if solompn wasn't prepared.
Your scenario isn't based in reality.
The reality is that nobody would bother taking the time to discuss 'that' with Solomon as it would have been rejected on sight.
No bank or venture capitalist would be remotely interested - they get thousands of Business Plans that people take a lot of time and sometimes money to prepare.
And don't forget, it wasn't a requirement that Solomon actually made the Business Plan - just that he had one.
Who would want to go into business with someone who thought that that thing was okay??
The reality is that nobody would bother taking the time to discuss 'that' with Solomon as it would have been rejected on sight.
No bank or venture capitalist would be remotely interested - they get thousands of Business Plans that people take a lot of time and sometimes money to prepare.
And don't forget, it wasn't a requirement that Solomon actually made the Business Plan - just that he had one.
Who would want to go into business with someone who thought that that thing was okay??
But this isn't a bank orr venture capalitalist, none of the plans would have been good enough for those. Its an interview where you judge how well the candidate can defend their business plan and deal under pressure.
It was almost as if Solomon wasn't really interested in winning. He was just lazy about it.
Isn't he the one that is supposed to know about the internet and technology. How come it didn't occur to him to Google "business plan" and see what help and advice was out there? They may not have had access to the internet during the process, but they did beforehand, when the initial business ideas and plans would have been drawn up.
I'm not saying that Claude's reaction was in anyway justified but I do get why he was so annoyed - he takes time out to do this (ok he probably gets a nice little packet out of it but that's despite the point I'm getting at is his time is precious) and Solomon, who from his CV and application is clearly a very clever and gifted fellow shows complete immaturity by handing in a business plan that a 4 year old could have done from what I can tell of the actual content (ie excluding the pretty pictures). I'd be pretty annoyed as well not to mention he has to go through 4 others as well that day why should he waste his time if Solomon can't even be bothered to put together a decent plan which is what he should have done. I do agree though Solomon will do well for himself.
Was a real shame to see it all unfold. I still dont think anyone reslly knew his business plan as he kept it all in his head. May have been really good but we'll never know. Claude could have given Solomon the opportunity to explain it.
What was there to explain? Solomon hadn't put any numbers in the plan. It was all about the "idea". If there is no business plan (which must include financial projections) there is no investment.
The business plan was known when Solomon first applied. It looks to me as if the only reason he was made an apprentice in the first place was so that his business plan could be made fun of.
They only know the basic idea. The detailed plan isn't presented until the interview stage. So the full horror of what Solomon was going to present was unknown. Some of the Junior Apprentice candidates were more mature than Solomon. At 23 he really ought to have known a bit more about business. Or maybe researched "business plan" on google at the very least.
To do what Solomon was proposing you need to have a track record to show your business advice and ideas will work. Why would people buy such a service without that information. You won't see how good or bad the service is until you've paid for it. The service could be free and the website paid for by advertising, but unless the advice offered was really valuable no one would bother with it.
May as well just copy and paste what I said on another thread but largely agree with the above...
Solomon's grinning/ tongue lolling, puppy dog to instant hound dog face was the stuff of legend. Claude played the cameras for all they were worth as he built him up just to instantly destroy him and order him from the room. Lovely stuff. Classic Apprentice.
It was definitely a demonstration of his naivete that he thought it appropriate to include multiple logo prototypes in his business plan. A sweet guy with a lot of charm, but he did lack gravitas and I doubt he and LS would work well together.
He didn't produce a business plan so I don't know what he was expecting really. Maybe a bit harsh on Claudes part but he is always a bit harsh.
I think his main problem was that he believed that he didn't have to bother with the work. He spoke of one of the other contestants (was it Bianca?) putting all the work in and saying that their planning would do them no good if the interviewer asked them what they could do with a fish, but he felt confident that his own approach was better because he had the ability to just 'react'.
Then that comment was juxtaposed with a scene of an interviewer forcing Solomon to be creative on the spot, which he failed to do, which Solomon claimed was his strength and his advantage.
So I don't think it was just naivety, I think it was a mixture of laziness, pure folly, and perhaps a touch of arrogance that he believed that his own mindset put himself into the category of special and gave him an advantage over others.
It's a shame for entertainment purposes the person he was most harsh on was Soloman and not Daniel and Mark who really deserved it imo.
But Mark, Daniel, and even Roisin did get one or two pressure comments. It wasn't plain sailing for them. And they at least appeared to have something reasonable to bring to the table.
I think that in hindsight Solomon may be the first to admit that he probably deserved to get a bit of a roasting.
Comments
You could be right. The thing that most sticks in my mind from tonight's episode is Solomans boats.
Brand recognition maybe? Sticking whole pages of boat so the camera couldn't fail to see them even if they weren't used as a talking point.
I completely agree. I knew when he said "it was all in his head", that it would be a complete shambles for him. Being a joker is fun and all but he couldn't convey his business plan in a professional manner. So he did not deserve to take up someone's time.
You can't be much harsher than kicking someone out of the room without actually physically punching them in the face.
It wasn't anything like a Business Plan. There were no projections, no finance, no marketing in fact nothing at all. Soloman could have got a book from the Library if he didn't know how to write a business plan - it is an elementary part of starting a business
In the real world, there are no second chances.
He messed-up, big-time and it was right that he paid the price for that.
Claude behaved like an arse but he was absolutely right to utterly reject that mess that Soloman had the gall to try and pass off as a Business Plan.
Well at the end of the day Claude may have turned away the best business potential that could have made LS the most money. As he didn't give him a chance to talk it through.
What he should have done is discussed it in great detail and pin solomon on all the points that were missing from tje the plan. Particularly the numbers, asking him what research he's done, target market, competition and catch him out that way if solompn wasn't prepared.
The reality is that nobody would bother taking the time to discuss 'that' with Solomon as it would have been rejected on sight.
No bank or venture capitalist would be remotely interested - they get thousands of Business Plans that people take a lot of time and sometimes money to prepare.
And don't forget, it wasn't a requirement that Solomon actually made the Business Plan - just that he had one.
Who would want to go into business with someone who thought that that thing was okay??
But this isn't a bank orr venture capalitalist, none of the plans would have been good enough for those. Its an interview where you judge how well the candidate can defend their business plan and deal under pressure.
It did come over as very theatrical. From Claude I mean, not Solomon.
Isn't he the one that is supposed to know about the internet and technology. How come it didn't occur to him to Google "business plan" and see what help and advice was out there? They may not have had access to the internet during the process, but they did beforehand, when the initial business ideas and plans would have been drawn up.
If you take it in the spirit it's intended you'll just find it amusing. Well, I laughed throughout the whole thing anyway.
To do what Solomon was proposing you need to have a track record to show your business advice and ideas will work. Why would people buy such a service without that information. You won't see how good or bad the service is until you've paid for it. The service could be free and the website paid for by advertising, but unless the advice offered was really valuable no one would bother with it.
I wasn't saying it was either right or wrong, I was just saying how I saw it as the pure theatre it was.
Solomon's grinning/ tongue lolling, puppy dog to instant hound dog face was the stuff of legend. Claude played the cameras for all they were worth as he built him up just to instantly destroy him and order him from the room. Lovely stuff. Classic Apprentice.
Welcome to reality tv Solomon.
It was definitely a demonstration of his naivete that he thought it appropriate to include multiple logo prototypes in his business plan. A sweet guy with a lot of charm, but he did lack gravitas and I doubt he and LS would work well together.
I think his main problem was that he believed that he didn't have to bother with the work. He spoke of one of the other contestants (was it Bianca?) putting all the work in and saying that their planning would do them no good if the interviewer asked them what they could do with a fish, but he felt confident that his own approach was better because he had the ability to just 'react'.
Then that comment was juxtaposed with a scene of an interviewer forcing Solomon to be creative on the spot, which he failed to do, which Solomon claimed was his strength and his advantage.
So I don't think it was just naivety, I think it was a mixture of laziness, pure folly, and perhaps a touch of arrogance that he believed that his own mindset put himself into the category of special and gave him an advantage over others.
It's a shame for entertainment purposes the person he was most harsh on was Soloman and not Daniel and Mark who really deserved it imo.
But Mark, Daniel, and even Roisin did get one or two pressure comments. It wasn't plain sailing for them. And they at least appeared to have something reasonable to bring to the table.
I think that in hindsight Solomon may be the first to admit that he probably deserved to get a bit of a roasting.