Week 8 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise for me found in thew reading was the plethora of ways one can fund their business. Traditional methods like banking are always open, yet, I was intrigued to learn about Venture capitalists and more about those crowdfunding sites. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the idea of risk with all the different sort of situations surrounding a company and how much is needed to invest in the various aspects of each company's developmental stages.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

If I were able to ask the author two questions they would be, if all options are closed to one should they think of self-founding their company?

Reason: If you believe in something and yet, no one is willing to invest in it does that mean that it is so revolutionary that no one understands it or that it is a failure.

Are venture capitalists only used in the late stages of a company's development?

Reason: In the big idea contest, there was a case where students that had no prototype managed to get $177,000.00 investment by a venture capitalist after the competition.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I think the author was wrong about banks shying away from loans at the moment as that is their primary method of making money. Banks make very little money holding money for people and just service as lenders in their primary function. Thus, a bank without lending capability or willingness is not a very good bank.

Half-way Reflection

Now as a student that has taken ENT3003 last semester, I can tell you that it is important to keep ahead of deadlines and do your work beforehand. No matter how outlandish or inane it might seem. If you mess up on one assignment, just keeping working your hardest on others and in the end, it won't effect your grade all that much. 

I felt like giving up in the class when we had to interview people about our product as well as the fact that we had to give out free money. What pulled me through was the realization this is a class and has an actual grade as well as being required for my minor anyway. I don't feel that this class developed a tenacious attitude in me as I have always had one and this is a mere exercise of it. Tenaciousness comes naturally to me and going ahead through working on issues despite having little to no experience in them certainly helps develop that trait. I never give up or quit and try to innovate a solution out of a problem that I am facing at a time.

Three tips I will give you are as follows: Never wait until the last minute to do an assignment, have an open mind and actually learn some real life lessons from the class in terms of idea creation and business development. 

Source: Noisey/Vice Corporation

PS: This is a bit of a joke image as this shows tenaciousness in two ways: A boxer getting up to fight again and also the members of the band Tenacious D.

Free Money

I decided to interview people around midtown to see if they wanted free money. All of the people I asked were students at the University of Florida. All my encounters started with, "Hi, can I ask you for a minute of your time?" Then I would proceed to explain about my assignment for the next minute or two and asked for permission to video tape them. Then, they would answer yes or no. I predicted that all five would have accepted the free money, yet, only two accepted it. The reason is because of skepticism of a stranger offering free money. 

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5pKQLn3yMg

In the second video, I forgot to activate the light on my phone and that is why it is dark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=925q0SKqTCQ

My reflection on the exercise was that it was pretty easy to give away money, yet, it was hard for people to accept it. Prediction of 5/5 was incorrect because of this factor and as a result, I was eyed with suspension and distrust because of the oddness of my request. 

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

The biggest surprise in the reading was how ineffective market segmentation was portrayed as it is still a major part of many industries’ marketing stratagems. It is a special kind of backward thought to hold onto something that is well-known to be ineffective.   

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was why do companies hold onto antiquated beliefs and not accept the new solution of reworking segmentation for the new nebulized marketplace that so accurately describes an inaccurate market.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Why do companies refuse to change their ways, in their marketing departments since the 1960s, if they knew segmentation didn’t work? As touched on beforehand, it must be expressed that companies cannot be lazy nor set-in-their-ways as they innovate in almost every other capacity. There must be some sort of extraordinary reason or else, why a handful of companies haven’t change their ways and dominate their competitors in this field.

Is there an alternative to segmentation? There is always an additional way to do things, and in these circumstances, research could be done in a way to find a more effective means of resonating with customers

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

The author was wrong about reworking an idea that doesn’t work. Segmentation should be abandoned in favor of a more modern approach towards marketing and directly addressing customers is a much better way to have an idea of the market as opposed to splitting it up as it could isolate possible consumers.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

Pitch: https://youtu.be/eAmW0dT57ZI

Reflection: I heard from all the reviewers that my pitch was good yet, they had problems understanding the technical side of my product. That in mind, I decided to create a simple proposal for a simple product.

Changes: Instead of an illusion box, I decided to create a product that mints coins and morphs them via pressure and heat to any design they want. This idea is already done, yet not in the personal level that I am envisioning as someone can order their own pressure stamp to mint their own unique coin.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

What surprised me the most in the reading was the fact that the five forces mentioned were entirely market-based as opposed to being based on internal (market) as well as external forces (regulation, shortages). Yet, regulation was mentioned later on in the paper but not listed as critically as the others.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading that was confusing for me was the roundabout fashion that much of the paper had as in the beginning it had a diagram showing each of these factors correlated with one another. What made it confusing was the lack of definition on these terms until later causing the reader (me) to look back constantly to understand the whole of the paper.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Question One: What is the greatest threat to a market in terms of which force is actually the most vital in terms of real world application? If not, then what connects all five to be of equal value?

Question Two: Do knock-offs count as substitutes or is it just products outside the industry?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I think the author was wrong about niche companies having the same capacity in marketing to the larger corporations that spend millions on each other and combine at times to get rid of any possible rivals.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

My strategy has not changed dramatically since I have begun doing interviews as I am still interviewing the same demographic. The demographic in question, is of course, college students who are not exposed to a myriad of different flavors aside from stale pizza and the stereotypical ramen.

The questions I will ask is what do you think of my business idea of creating an Argentine restaurant in Gainesville and gauge their reactions to it. Any additional commentary or questions will be on a case by case basis.

Interviews:

https://youtu.be/_bcj0MKLgFA

https://youtu.be/2AO0ZnOVXnA

https://youtu.be/WiknDga9qBo

https://youtu.be/dU2f8_R2HHQ

Interview 5 had technical difficulties will repost at time of earliest convenience.

I learned from the interviews that people would be open to the concept of an Argentine restaurant in Gainesville yet, they are also concerned with where to go for it as midtown doesn't seem like a good place to put it. Downtown as a suitable location surprised me as people were willing to go an extra mile or two for an exclusive good. I expect that the restaurant would do well with all of these interviews finished and behind me.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I am a political science major at the University of Florida and my skills lie in understanding politics. My experiences have been primarily in the realm of academia since I have not had a proper job in this current point in my life. My business concept I see it as a good way to educate people and get them more involved in politics thus involving myself more in this field that I love.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).  

I am offering customers the opportunity to see candidates for what they really are instead, of the hype or defamation expressed by a clearly biased mainstream media. This will be conducted through an application that will put facts about candidates, their voting history, and where they truly lie on the political spectrum. People are woefully uninformed about the going-ons of politics and find themselves trusting a clearly biased source.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

I am offering this product to the general populace since they are quite frankly upset with their current lot and are expressing it by going to candidates offering radical versions of reform. Demographic much of the populace expressing this sentiment is young and have no actual idea of how politics works. All my customers in general know how to use an application on a smartphone and have a basic idea of how elections work.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

They care because this app will help choose the government that they have placed over themselves. Value cannot be of the higher quality except of that of the necessary items for survival. Customers will pay for my product via a subscription on my application of a single dollar a year. Another avenue of profit is through ads that will be placed in the app, non-political of course.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

My core competencies are working hard, slightly underestimating how things will turn out and being stubborn. What sets me apart from everyone else is the fact that I will not give up even if I have failed, I will analyze and reform my process until success is reached. I also am skilled in analyzing politics as well as lacking any noticeable bias as I distance myself from politics.

In conclusion, all of the factors I have listed align themselves quite well. This has the end result of making it much easier to have a successful idea with every aspect in sync. To be perfectly honest, the only area of concern for me is the profit mechanism as I am still undecided on how to charge for the app and which would be the most efficient way to gain revenue.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

My opportunity definitely is accurate from what I can gather from my various interviews with all the subjects from the last assignment. After looking back at the first set of interviews that I have done, I found that many of my questions were quite narrow and seemed sort of pointless with a Greek-life population. I changed my focus to mostly non-Greek focused people with the notable exception to one as an outlier.

The questions I decided to tweak and ask were as follows: What places do you eat?, Do you eat a lot on campus or off campus?, Would you eat at a cheap steakhouse with good quality and why do you eat at the places that you do?

Interviews:

https://youtu.be/kuBH6UvoeJY

https://youtu.be/ZOT9wKdTpLg

https://youtu.be/ZSvT0m90PQY

https://youtu.be/UbQ9JZGMJwM

https://youtu.be/pfrhcWu7aV0

Looking back at the ten interviews that I have done, I must say that overall I feel more confident in the possibility of a possible venture succeeding. There is an obvious demand for it as well as interest to fill a void in the local dining market. When I started I felt that everything was not up to snuff in terms of my idea but seeing how people reacted, I feel it has a fair shot.

Three tips I would share with my fellow students for doing interviews is as follows: Listen to criticism, be kind to your interviewees and change your idea according to feedback.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise for me was the lack of discussion about foreign knock-offs being a major loss of profit for a domestic operation. I expected it being talked about because the prevalence of Chinese products of a lesser quality at a lower cost flooding the global market.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of the reading which gave me confusion was the fact that there were so many different tax structures for every corporation and partnership type. Adding to the confusion was the talk about S and B corporations and how each differed in how they operated.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

I would ask the author of how it would be possible to better protect one’s trade secret in today’s day and age as corporations are hacked on a daily basis making many of these secrets difficult to protect. The second thing I would ask would be why certain companies cannot be allowed to be liquated because every other company is eligible to.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

The author was wrong about being about to bring legal disputes in all cases of a patent or trademark as other countries may not give one iota of attention towards such a case. International business laws are quite enforceable outside of a certain number of countries allowing competitors in legally-weak nations to rip off your design with no legal recourse. 

Elevator Pitch No. 1

The idea that I am proposing for this elevator pitch is for a portable Pepper's illusion box. Familiarity with Pepper's illusion is quite prevalent in today's society with incidents like the Tupac appearance at Coachella Music Festival and the Haunted Mansion in Disney World. I strive to bring these interesting effects to the masses through a box containing rudimentary projector projecting onto a glass capsule at the top of the box. The end result will be a hologram-like projection of a recording.
Thank you for hearing me out and hopefully together, we will be able to make the "Phantom Box Corporation" a reality.

https://youtu.be/RAZ88xwd2F4