Half-way Reflection

Tenacity is extremely important in entrepreneurship, as it keeps you going even when times get tough.

One of the behaviors I've developed for this course is being consistent and constantly checking and planning my days. One week I wasn't being consistent and I fell behind. This course has a lot of assignments and its easy to miss deadlines, so it's very important to keep up with Canvas and various due dates in order to not fall behind.

Most of the times when I've felt like giving up have centered around assignments that require videos, especially if they're only worth one point. It just seems like more trouble than it's worth. Things that keep me going include that the class is only 100 points, so even that one point assignment can make a huge impact. Additionally, this is my last business course I have to take, so knowing that once I'm done with the class I can really concentrate on my major gives me a lot of motivation. I don't think any specific experiences have made me more tenacious in the past 2 months, my attitude has always been if it needs to be done, then get it done.

My first tip would to be to buy a planner and actually use it so that you don't  miss any assignments. It's easy to get discouraged in a class when you feel like you've lot a lot of points unnecessarily.

My second tip would be to be realistic about how much of these assignments you can get done in one day. Many of them require some planning and interaction with other people, so they take at least two days. Plan ahead.

My final tip is to make use of YellowDig. It's easy to get points and not too difficult to tailor it so that the articles are things you're interested in but are also relevant to the class. It also helps to fall back on YellowDig if you've lost points so that you don't give up on the class as a whole!

Free Money

I went to Larry's Subs and my apartment complex to hand out the money. I will approach people who are around my my own age. I will introduce myself and explain to them that the money is part of a "pay it forward" program. My plan is to offer them the money after I say that. I was able to give away 4 out of the 5 dollars.

Giving a dollar away was easier than I anticipated. Maybe it was because I approached college students who may be tight on their money, but most people accepted it. I think more people accepted the money than I had planned because I said it was part of a pay it forward program, which many people seemed to favor and respond to.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was that segmentations need to be so focused and need to be changed so often. I had always thought of segmentation as very broad and very brand specific. I wouldn’t really expect the customer segment of companies to change that often, but I can see now that they are something that constantly needs to be reevaluated for effectiveness.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was “The Way Back” section. It seemed like the author kept listing more and more questions companies needed to consider, which made me overwhelmed when reading. I felt like this section made segmentation seem like more trouble than it was worth because there were so many factors to consider.

One question I would ask the author is, what is the most important question to focus on when deciding between two different segments? Another question I would ask the author is, how should customers be segmented? Is the segmentation specific to the business or are there general categories that can be applied?

There wasn’t anything in the article that I really disagreed with, I thought he did a good job of explaining his points.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

The feedback I got from my last video was all positive, so I asked my friends what I could improve on, and they said that the beginning wasn't captivating or interesting enough. I decided that was the part of my pitch to improve on.

Based on this feedback, I changed the beginning of my pitch to try to grab more of the attention of the person listening. I also tried to make the overall pitch flow better, which resulted in it being about 10 seconds shorter than my previous pitch. I think this makes the pitch stronger and easier to understand.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise from this week’s reading from Harvard Business Review was that “industry structure drives competition and profitability” as opposed to other factors. I never really thought about business and profitability in this way, but seeing it explained thoroughly in the article, it makes sense. It’s something I will now think about when choosing to start a new business.

One thing that was confusing in the article was the author’s stance on positioning and competition. In one part of the article, he seems to imply that having rivals/competitors is healthy for the market and industry, then in another part of the article he praises Paccar for choosing an industry with weak competitive forces and little price-based rivalry. These two points seem to contradict each other, which confused me while reading the article.

One question for the author is, what would be an advantageous industry to enter in today’s market? Another would be, how exactly does one expand the profit pool? Is it specific to each industry or is there a method that applies to all of them?

I guess what I disagree with the author about relates to my earlier point about contradictory statements. He seemed to take both sides throughout much of the article, and to be quite honest I felt like a good amount of the article focused on things that seemed like common sense. While he definitely made some great points, the article could’ve been much shorter and better to read it he had cut out the common sense points.

Idea Napkin No. 1

I am currently a junior undergraduate at the University of Florida. My experience includes interning at Cornerstone Community Bank where I learned how to interact with clients as well as conduct industry research. Currently, I am a Campus Representative for Study Edge where I am learning how to effectively market a product to millennials, specifically college students, and how to effectively position a product and company competitively against a competitor. If I were to start this business, it would have to come second to my education because that is the most important thing in my life right now.

The product I am offering to customers is called Amico, the Italian word for friend. It would work as a “Tinder for friends,” in which users can see other user profiles in their area to meet new people. Users can swipe up if they’d like to talk to the profile, or down if they would not like to. If both users swipe up, they will be “matched” and can message each other to see if they’d like to meet. This product will make money through advertising through targeted ads based on shared user interests. For instance, it both matched users have an interest in shopping, an ad for a local boutique could show. This would provide a talking point for the users as well as advertising for businesses. The app would be free to download for users.

The main demographic for this app would be 18-35 year olds. The app would also mainly be geared towards women, though it would be available to both genders. College students and young professionals in large cities are the main target audience. All the customers have a desire to connect with new people in their area and form new friendships.

Although customers would not be paying to use the app, companies would pay to advertise their business. Users would find this app valuable because it allows them to meet new people outside of their social circle that they know have similar interests and are in their area. Businesses will appreciate the targeted approach of the advertising and therefore will pay to advertise on the app.

Something that sets this app apart is that there is no other app that allows users to meet others with similar interests in their own area without any prior connections (such as mutual friends on Facebook).

I believe these elements fit well together. This app represents a new way of meeting and making friends, which is perfect for the demographic I am targeting. I think this app will be difficult to get off of the ground initially, because it will have to be spread mainly through word of mouth. The weakest aspect of my business would be that I would not be able to devote very much time to the app until I have graduated from graduate school. Additionally, I have little knowledge of creating and maintaining apps. 

Week 5 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise for me from this reading was the definition of trade secrets. I always thought that trade secrets meant something like how to conduct business. I didn’t know it was something so specific and thought there was a law that addressed this concept specifically.

            

Something that was confusing for me was the bankruptcy section. Some of the specifications that made each type of bankruptcy different, such as liquidation, reorganization, or adjustment didn’t really make sense to me.

            

One question I have for the author is, how difficult do they consider it to obtain a patent for the average person? Another is, for a entrepreneur starting a business for the first time, what structure would be best, sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation?

            

There wasn’t really anything I disagreed with the author about, since most of the chapter was explaining legal processes instead of opinions. 

Elevator Pitch No. 1

The idea for an app is called Amico (the Italian word for friend). This app would function similar to a Tinder for friends. The opportunity I saw was that there are no app services for people who want to make friends with those who have similar interests in their area. It can be hard to make friends, especially when moving to a new city. The solution to this problem is an easy matching service where users share a short paragraph and a few main interests and then "match" with other users in their area.