At Kopi Commerce, we are passionate about learning the entrepreneurship journey and are consistently on the look out for a variety of up and coming SMEs that inspire us. We hope to draw lessons through interviews that may be applicable to those who are interested in taking the entrepreneurial route.The eventual goal of this website is to share knowledge, opinions and experiences with readers, inculcating a sense of entrepreneurship in them.
We contact these firms with our proposal to interview them for the purpose of spreading entrepreneurial wisdom and are usually met with great enthusiasm! After they provide us with basic information on their company, we then proceed to conduct a thorough research on the company and the domestic market that it operates in. Although the pre-interview research is a tedious task, it is essential. By doing so, we tailor our questions according to the founder, his or her company, and the market itself, adding a sense of uniqueness to each interview. This adds personality to the interviews, setting each one apart.
One problem we face is scheduling the interviews. This happens upon getting approval from the SME owners for a meet up. Coming to a consensus on a good timing is tricky due to the fact that these SME owners tend to have busy schedules. We try our best to accommodate and find the best possible time for the interviews as it is important to us that we learn from these SME owners without being an inconvenience to them. It is always fulfilling to finally find a suitable time. Once a date is set, the process of preparing for the interview begins such that we are as prepared as possible to put our best effort into the interview.
On the day of the interview, we like to go early so that we can settle down and get mentally prepared. As the interview starts, we introduce ourselves to the founder(s), talk about the Kopi Commerce platform and finally take permission for recording the interview through a voice recorder. Next, we go through our ‘base’ questions, which we hope would facilitate the interview. Our base questions usually cover fundamental aspects of the business that we wish to know more of. According to how the questions are answered, we may ask relevant follow up questions that can add to the depth of our interview. Coming up with good follow up questions on the spot can be challenging as it is crucial that they add substance to the interview while not taking the interview off course. We also enjoy asking questions that may add a personal touch to the interview, perhaps a question that seeks an opinion. Furthermore, the base questions act like a framework to our interview such that it does not deviate too far from entrepreneurship, essentially. At the end of the interview, we stop the audio recording and host a short feedback session with the founder(s). We believe that feedback is important as it helps us with the conduct of future interviews. Thus far, the feedback we have received have been positive, encouraging and constructive. Finally, we wrap up the interview with a photo taking session.
The next step would be listening to the audio recording once again and transcripting it in a coherent manner. At the same time, we consolidate the notes that we have taken during the interview and add that where relevant to our transcription. Following which, we go through the transcripted interview several times to ensure that it flows before sending the final draft to the people whom we had interviewed. They usually are happy with the transcription and only make minor amendments to it before sending it back to us. Upon this exchange of final edits, we post the transcription as an article accompanied with photographs.
We hope you enjoyed this little insight on our interviewing process! Stay tuned for more insights and interviews :)