1. What can a first-time entrepreneur, who may have a good idea but not much money or business acumen, learn from Mary Lynn Schroeder’s experience?

2. To what degree do you think you’d be capable of building a website on Square space and setting up an online store on Shopify? If you don’t think you’re capable of either of these tasks, what can you do now to obtain the necessary capabilities?

3. To what degree do you believe ready-made platforms like Squarespace, Shopify, and Etsy have contributed to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the United States and abroad? To what degree could you envision using one or more of these platforms if you launched a business of your own?

4. Identify and describe a ready-made platform, like Squarespace or Shopify that is not a direct competitor of either one of these platforms but fills a similar role in that it allows an entrepreneur to perform a vital task with very little capital investment.

5. Why do you think this case was placed in the chapter titled “Assessing a New Venture’s Financial Strength and Viability”?