30A Final Reflection

            After looking over all of the assignments from this course, I believe the most informative experience I had was during the “What’s Your Secret Sauce?” assignment. I enjoyed interviewing my peers and discovering how they truly felt about me.  I found it interesting to hear verbally what my friends actually thought of me, as my friends and I usually don’t tell each other how much we really mean to one another.  The task I am most proud of completing is actually coming up with a product that serves the general population a good purpose.  I was able to conceive an idea, with the help of others, that I believe could truly benefit society. 

            At the end of this course, I believe I have developed a true entrepreneurial mindset.  Instead of looking at problems as actual problems, I see them as opportunities and think of ways in which I can exploit that opportunity.  This course has altered my thought process to look at our environment with the intent of fixing it, not just pointing out the flaws.

            For future students of this class, I recommend having an open mindset with the desire to learn more and shift your outlook on situations.  You will not be able to take anything away from this course if you do not give the opportunity for growth. I also recommend that students make a schedule and stick to it in order to stay on top of the assignments. Do not wait until the last minute to open canvas and look at the assignments because many times they take much longer than expected. 

29A Venture Concept No. 2

1.         The opportunity that I am seeking is to reduce the overuse of social media by teenagers and young adults.  Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are consuming the lives of this generation, leading to wasted time and negative health effects.  Too often I see people studying in the library get sidetracked by going on their phone and scrolling through different social media apps, wasting precious time in which they could be studying.  This opportunity is fairly new, as it is directly related to the rise of social media and its popularity.  Not only is this a problem with young adults and teenagers in my area, but this is a nationwide and even global problem – mainly in developed countries where young people have access to their own personal smartphones. 

            Customers are currently satisfying their need through the use of the new iOS update on the iPhone that allows you to set an alert on your phone when you have spent an allotted time on a specific app.  This notification allows you to get a feel for how long you have spent on a specific app in a given day.  The one restriction to this is that this is only available on the iPhone because the iOS software does not apply to Androids.  People who are using Androids are currently not tracking their use of social media and need a service that can do so. 

            I believe this opportunity will only be open for a short period of time. Many researchers are discovering the negative health effects that social media has on people and how much time is actually wasted on these platforms.  Once the right person gets their hands on this information and has the resources to exploit the opportunity, they will be able to thrive in this market because of the few competitors. 

            I intend on seizing this opportunity by creating an app that allows you to set a time limit on how long you want to go on social media per day. The app then locks you out of the social media platform for the rest of the day after you have reached this time limit.  My app is more sufficient then the iPhone setting because this setting is merely a notification and allows you to continue using the social media app, while my app actually locks you out of the social media platform for the rest of the day. My app will also offer the feature in which you can turn off all social media notifications. I understand that current phone settings also have this feature, but when I turn my notifications off through my phone, I still receive them periodically.  My app will prevent any glitches that might occur from phone settings. 

            I plan on setting the original price for the app to be 99 cents.  This will allow for revenue through direct purchases of the app instead of incorporating advertisements in my app because according to the interviews I have conducted, people would rather pay a price upfront than deal with advertisements throughout the use of the app.  I understand people might be hesitant to purchase an app that prohibits them from performing an activity they enjoy, but I plan on getting to these people through word of mouth from their peers.  Those that are willing to take a chance and purchase my app will find that being restricted from wasting their time on social media will allow them to be much more productive. Once their friends see this and hear how productive and free their friend feels after downloading my app, they will be encouraged to buy my app. 

            My innovation will help solve this problem of overusing social media by limiting the amount of time people spend on these platforms. Customers will try this product out because most people are understanding that they spend too much time on social media, but they do not have the self-control to put their phone down on their own.  Most people do not realize that they spend so much of their time on social media until they are explicitly told to evaluate how much time they spend on their phones in a given day. Once they see my app on the app store, they will become aware that they do in fact need to reduce their usage of social media, so they will purchase my app to accomplish this. 

            

            The organizational aspect of my business would be quite small.  I would be the owner of the company and I would attain a few investors, have a programmer to develop the app, and have a few advisors to help give me guidance on how I should proceed with business decisions.  I would not have many employees, if any. The only job I would need is for people to manage the updating of the app and run maintenance on the app.  

            If I were to actually launch this service and create a company for my opportunity, I would begin here in Gainesville and promote my app on and off campus. I would hire my friend Jackson Rossi to be one of my advisors, as he is currently managing his company here in Gainesville.  I would also advertise at various locations on and off campus that see heavy foot traffic to get my app clout. In five years, I could see myself taking on this venture as a side job to my real profession and treating it like a hobby.  With the help of my advisors, if we are successful with this service, we could even develop new apps to meet the needs of the similar target audience. 

2. I did not receive any feedback on my initial venture concept. 

3. I added my own changes based on rereading my first venture concept. I added how I would advertise primarily here in Gainesville and if my company succeeded over the first few years, I would consider expanding it. 

4. 

28A Exit Strategy

1.    My exit strategy for my company is to sell my app that I created for a small return. My idea is not extraordinary, it is simply to improve society and promote production through limiting people’s use of social media. I plan on this being the first of my ideas and this course has taught me valuable skills on how to exploit my opportunity and use resources efficiently.

2.    I chose this exit strategy because I do not plan on taking my company any further as I have a lot to accomplish already with school and extracurricular involvement. Adding another task to my list would be very difficult and I believe making a small profit off of my company is better than the stress that would come in keeping it. 

3.    This exit strategy has influenced me by teaching me how to negotiate and sell an opportunity. I can take this information and use it in future dealings whether it involves me selling a company or buying one. I believe gaining the experience in selling a company is very valuable and will be beneficial for future business relations I encounter. 

27A Reading Reflection No. 3

For this reading reflection assignment, I read the book, “Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s.”  I found this book very interesting and that the hardship Ray Kroc endured to become the successful businessman he was molded him into the entrepreneur he is.  

1.    What surprised me the most was that McDonald’s was not expanded by the McDonald brothers, rather an outside source – in this case Ray Kroc – pushed for the restaurant to become a franchise.  I admired most about Ray Kroc his persistence in the food industry and how he continued to try and improve the market.  I least admired the fact that Ray Kroc began to make decisions regarding the business that the McDonald brothers did not want him to make. He held the brothers to the contract they signed and continued to expand the franchise for profit rather than for quality.  Ray Kroc experienced a lot of hardship, specifically when he was trying to sell cups to fast food joints.  Selling these cups was not producing enough money for him to live off of, so he took up several jobs at once to sustain his living. 

2.    Ray Kroc exhibited tenacity that gave him the upper hand and desire to be successful.  When he first opened a new McDonald’s and the fries were not like the original ones he tasted at the brothers’ store, he stopped everything else to focus on this one aspect to make sure the fries were perfect.  This showed that Kroc was willing to put forth the effort to be successful and that he truly had the passion to see this restaurant excel.  

3.    The book was fairly straight forward so I was not confused by much of the reading at all. 

4.    If I could ask Ray Kroc two questions, they would be: 1) How did you feel after pushing the franchise to be profit driven instead of what the McDonald brothers wanted in their original store?  2) If you could go back and do anything different, what would it be?  I would ask the first question because I am a sympathetic person and going against the desires of others is difficult to me. I would ask the second question because everyone has ideas they realize they should have seized after the fact and I am curious as to what those ideas are for Kroc. 

5.    I believe Ray Kroc’s idea of hard work is continually giving maximum effort and to look towards the desirable outcome whenever things get difficult.  I believe we share a similar outlook on hard work, as I feel you always need to have your end goal in mind as you work hard during the middle phase to achieve that goal. 

26A Celebrating Failure

During this semester there have been plenty of times in which I have failed at a task.  One that rings louder than the others in my ear was losing in the intramural semifinal basketball game last week and I had played pretty poorly during the game.  It’s not the end of the world that I lost an intramural game, and I play in them because they are fun; however, I am a very competitive person and losing never rests easy with me.

One takeaway I have from it is that I need to get better at basketball.  I’ve grown up playing the game all throughout middle school and high school, but since getting to college I only play every so often.  I have lost certain skills because I’m not avidly practicing.  That being said, I should play more often to continue to develop my skills so I perform better in games. 

In general, I believe failure is a healthy component that pushes people to work harder.  Experiencing failure gives people the motivation necessary for them to be successful in the end.  When I typically fail, I tend to work harder to achieve my goal.  I believe that people need to feel failure in order to gain compassion towards their goal and give them a sense of what they need to change or improve to succeed.  I believe this course is an advocate for failure in terms of failing to succeed.  Through failure, one can learn how to improve upon his or her weaknesses and which strengths to keep. 

24A Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity that I am seeking is to reduce the overuse of social media by teenagers and young adults. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are consuming the lives of this generation, leading to wasted time and negative health effects.  Too often I see people studying in the library get sidetracked by going on their phone and scrolling through different social media apps, wasting precious time in which they could be studying.  This opportunity is fairly new, as it is directly related to the rise of social media and its popularity.  Not only is this a problem with young adults and teenagers in my area, but this is a nationwide and even global problem – mainly in developed countries where young people have access to their own personal smartphones. 

            Customers are currently satisfying their need through the use of the new iOS update on the iPhone that allows you to set an alert on your phone when you have spent an allotted time on a specific app.  This notification allows you to get a feel for how long you have spent on a specific app in a given day.  The one restriction to this is that this is only available on the iPhone because the iOS software does not apply to Androids.  People who are using Androids are currently not tracking their use of social media and need a service that can do so. 

            I believe this opportunity will only be open for a short period of time. Many researchers are discovering the negative health effects that social media has on people and how much time is actually wasted on these platforms.  Once the right person gets their hands on this information and has the resources to exploit the opportunity, they will be able to thrive in this market because of the few competitors. 

            I intend on seizing this opportunity by creating an app that allows you to set a time limit on how long you want to go on social media per day. The app then locks you out of the social media platform for the rest of the day after you have reached this time limit.  My app is more sufficient then the iPhone setting because this setting is merely a notification and allows you to continue using the social media app, while my app actually locks you out of the social media platform for the rest of the day. My app will also offer the feature in which you can turn off all social media notifications. I understand that current phone settings also have this feature, but when I turn my notifications off through my phone, I still receive them periodically.  My app will prevent any glitches that might occur from phone settings. 

            I plan on setting the original price for the app to be 99 cents.  This will allow for revenue through direct purchases of the app instead of incorporating advertisements in my app because according to the interviews I have conducted, people would rather pay a price upfront than deal with advertisements throughout the use of the app.  I understand people might be hesitant to purchase an app that prohibits them from performing an activity they enjoy, but I plan on getting to these people through word of mouth from their peers.  Those that are willing to take a chance and purchase my app will find that being restricted from wasting their time on social media will allow them to be much more productive. Once their friends see this and hear how productive and free their friend feels after downloading my app, they will be encouraged to buy my app. 

            My innovation will help solve this problem of overusing social media by limiting the amount of time people spend on these platforms. Customers will try this product out because most people are understanding that they spend too much time on social media, but they do not have the self-control to put their phone down on their own.  Most people do not realize that they spend so much of their time on social media until they are explicitly told to evaluate how much time they spend on their phones in a given day. Once they see my app on the app store, they will become aware that they do in fact need to reduce their usage of social media, so they will purchase my app to accomplish this. 

            

            The organizational aspect of my business would be quite small. I would be the owner of the company and I would attain a few investors, have a programmer to develop the app, and have a few advisors to help give me guidance on how I should proceed with business decisions.  I would not have many employees, if any. The only job I would need is for people to manage the updating of the app and run maintenance on the app.  

            If I were to actually launch this service and create a company for my opportunity, I would begin here in Gainesville and promote my app on and off campus. I would hire my friend Jackson Rossi to be one of my advisors, as he is currently managing his company here in Gainesville. In five years, I could see myself taking on this venture as a side job to my real profession and treating it like a hobby.  With the help of my advisors, if we are successful with this service, we could even develop new apps to meet the needs of the similar target audience. 

23A Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.    Human Capital: I have developed relationships with friends that are very valuable to my app. 

a.    Valuable: My friend who created his own app can give me insight on how to appeal to my target audience

b.    Rare: Not many people are close friends with an entrepreneur like I am 

c.    Inimitable: It is not hard to meet people, but meeting the right people is difficult to come by

d.    Non-substitutable: I cannot replace my friendship with this entrepreneur because our relationship goes beyond that of a mere resource 

2.    Social Skills: I am a very social and personable person who has great social skills.  

a.    Valuable: My ability to communicate well with others and keep conversations going allows me to develop personal relationships with others

b.    Rare: Not everyone has the ability to talk to anyone they come across

c.    Inimitable: People can develop this skill, but it requires them to come out of their comfort zone

d.    Non-substitutable: There are not many other skills you can substitute to obtain a social skill

3.    Financial Capital: I am by no means a rich individual, but I have worked since I was in middle school, allowing me to have a nice cushion of cash to get by. 

a.    Valuable: I need funds in order to create this app 

b.    Rare: people can earn money through hard work, so it is not rare

c.    Inimitable: Everyone has money to a certain degree, and many people can possess the same amount of money

d.    Non-substitutable: I could use other items to barter with, but most of the time money is the common currency used for trade

4.    UF Community: The University of Florida offers several opportunities and resources to create a business venture. 

a.    Valuable: The career resource center here at UF is one of the best in nation and offers great resources

b.    Rare: Only the students attending the university have access to such a resource

c.    Inimitable: Trying to copy the UF resource center is very difficult

d.    Non-substitutable: The only thing that comes close to this resource is google, but google is all online-based and does not connect you with real people 

5.    Greek Life: Being a part of a fraternity offers very valuable networking opportunities. 

a.    Valuable:  The opportunities that arise from meeting guys from all over the nation and even world opens up so many opportunities one could not find elsewhere 

b.    Rare: This networking system cannot be found anywhere else

c.    Inimitable: You cannot imitate the bond one forms through the brotherhood of a fraternity 

d.    Non-substitutable:  Friendships are not substitutable

6.    Organizational Skills:  I am a very organized individual who is always put together. 

a.    Valuable: Being organized and in order allows me to quickly and efficiently complete tasks 

b.    Rare: Many people are unorganized and converting them takes a lot of time

c.    Inimitable: Anyone can become organized

d.    Non-substitutable:  Being organized is hard to substitute because not many other skills will allow one to keep all of their tasks in check 

7.    Support from Friends:  Receiving support from your friends gives you confidence and offers another networking opportunity. 

a.    Valuable: Friendship is very valuable and being able to rely on your friends cannot be seen through a price tag

b.    Rare: Most people – or I would like to assume – have friends, therefore not making this a rare resource 

c.    Inimitable: Friendship is imitable, however, the level of friendship might not be

d.    Non-substitutable: It is very difficult to replace someone’s friendship, as most people are unique, and you will not find another person like friend 

8.    Family Resource: Having a strong family background with loved ones that will support you is very important.

a.    Valuable: Family is something that should be held as one of the most valuable parts in one’s life

b.    Rare:  Most people have at least some sort of family that they can rely on, it just depends how close they are to them

c.    Inimitable: It is very difficult to imitate a family role, but it is possible

d.    Non-substitutable:  You cannot substitute someone as a family member. In other words, no one could substitute for my mom. 

9.    Software developer: Finding the right person or persons to develop the software for my app is very important. 

a.    Valuable: Who I chose to program my app matters because every programmer could have a different picture in their head of what I want, so I must find the one that thinks like me 

b.    Rare: With the growing market of apps, programmers are not hard to come by

c.    Inimitable: Because there are so many programmers available, they are usually imitable 

d.    Non-substitutable:  Replacing the right programmer is difficult, especially after you develop a personal relationship with them

10.  Punctuality:  I am a very punctual person, meaning I am typically always early to meetings and prefer to accomplish tasks far in advance. 

a.    Valuable: This is a skill that holds value because many people procrastinate, which is a very unhealthy way of accomplishing things 

b.    Rare: Many people are punctual, so it is not necessarily rare

c.    Inimitable: If one does not practice punctuality, they can typically gain the skill with repetition 

d.    Non-substitutable:  You can substitute this skill with other skills, such as organization 

Out of all of these resources, I would say the most important one is the Greek life resource with networking. Being a part of an organization with so many other college students that have the same aspirations as me but are from all across the map is amazing.  Through my fraternity I have met so many ambitious men who are achieving so many great tasks and having them as a resource is very hard to come by.