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.  

22A Elevator Pitch No. 3

Elevator Pitch:

https://youtu.be/Kzl2dsihEEQ

I did not receive much feedback on my previous elevator pitch, but I noticed several things on my own that I improved upon. I recognized that I was not speaking loudly, and I was speaking way too fast to be properly understood. I also realized that I was not explaining my product enough in detail for most people to comprehend its functionality.

After assessing these criteria that I came up with, I took these issues and fixed my presentation to create a better elevator pitch. I spoke louder and slower to pronounce my words. I also went more in depth on how my product worked and what purpose it served.  After incorporating these changes to my elevator pitch, I can confidently say this has been my best one yet.  You have to become comfortable behind a camera before you can be great at it, and doing this assignment for the third time now I feel I have improved my pitch tremendously.

21A Reading Reflection No. 2

            I decided to read the book Mindset: The Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck.  This was a very interesting read which discussed the topic of how you view situations to be the main determining factor of the outcomes.  If you have the fixed mindset, achieving anything other than what you perceive as predetermined is very difficult.  On the other hand, if you have the growth mindset you are more likely to develop your traits and change as you experience new situations. Dweck went into detail as to how these mindsets affect different areas of your life, including sports, relationships, parenting, and your professional life. 

            This book connected with the topics from this course through the growth mindset. This course has encouraged me to think differently and look at challenges as opportunities for growth.  This is how the book describes a healthy style of growing and incorporating a mindset that will allow you to reach your full potential.  Reading Dweck’s book on how to properly develop as an individual and achieve success has given me the desire to follow this course more intently and really grasp the concepts that it is teaching me. This will allow me to grow as an individual and adapt to new situations. 

            An exercise I would design for this class based on the book Mindset: The Psychology of Success, would be to have two groups be given the same task, but different instructions and guidelines.  These guidelines would allow for either the entire group to participate and develop common ideas and goals, or only have the smartest people do the talking while those that did poor on the most recent cupcake have to remain quiet.  I would then compare ideas from both groups and the group in which everyone could share their thoughts would typically end up with the more creative idea. 

            Going in to this reading I was not very excited about the book itself. The genre of business and philosophy was not the most appealing to my eye.  However, I ended up gaining very valuable information. I gained knowledge on how to properly approach a situation with the right attitude in mind to make sure I optimize my growth.  The book opened up new perspectives for me in ways I did not imagine.  I am a big competitor and the mindset the book said to have during sports is very accurate if you want to win.  I will apply what I learned from this book to my mindset next time I participate in a sport and see if the approach gives me an advantage. 

20A Growing Your Social Capital

1.    Jackson Rossi

a.    Jackson Rossi is one of my good friends here at the University of Florida. He is from New Port Richie, a town north of Tampa.  He grew up in a private Catholic school where his entrepreneurship class gave him the resources to develop his own company. 

b.    Jackson fits in the domain expert slot because he created the company called “Brij” which is an app that uses social media for advertising. 

c.    I met Jackson freshman year here in college and we ended up both pledging the same fraternity together.  We now live together in the same house so finding and contacting him was not an issue. 

d.    There was no exchange because we are good friends and he enjoys talking about his company with others. 

e.    Having Jackson as a resource is perfect because we share the same target audience; however, the main difference in our companies is that his app promotes the use of social media while my app looks to diminish people’s use of it. 

2.    Joseph Kersanac 

a.    Joseph Kersanac is another one of my close friends here at the University of Florida. He is from Destin, Florida and is very active and involved on and off campus. 

b.    Joseph fits the slot of market expert because he works for congressman Ted Yoho at his office here in Gainesville.  Joseph is part of Yoho’s marketing team and is charge of reaching college-aged students to get them informed on politics and Yoho’s values.  Joseph’s experience in researching and understanding the market of college students coincides with my market. 

c.    I met Joseph freshman year when we both pledged the same fraternity. I had seen him around on campus but never met him personally until we were both joined under the same organization. 

d.    As with Jackson, Joseph enjoys speaking about his experiences and knowledge in working for Ted Yoho; therefore, there was no formal exchange of services. 

e.    Including Joseph in my network for my company will be beneficial because he will be able to give me guidance on how to target these college students that he has researched on. 

3.    Gabriel Guzman

a.    Gabriel is a senior here at the University of Florida and is from Gainesville, Florida. 

b.    Gabriel fits the slot of supplier because he is a program developer for apps.  He creates and designs apps for companies who do not have the ability or knowledge on how to create their own apps. 

c.    I found Gabriel through Jackson Rossi, as Gabriel is the developer for Jackson’s app. 

d.    The exchange with Gabriel was contingent upon the fact that if I ever took my company to the next level and actually went through with my business idea, I would use him as my program developer. 

e.    Including Gabriel into my network will be very beneficial as I have no knowledge on software development or how to create an app. 

This experience was very informative because it was much more formal than my previous interviews and interactions with others concerning my company.  While Jackson and Joseph are close friends of mine and their networking interactions were informal, my interaction with Gabriel Guzman was very formal. I gained experience in conducting myself on a business professional level.  

19A Idea Napkin No. 2

1.    I am a sophomore studying Construction Management here at the University of Florida.  I have experience working in the construction field through summer jobs and I have developed many skills while here in college, such as time management.  If I were to take my opportunity further, I could see it being a side job that I manage during lunchtime or on breaks from my real job.  Most of my time commitment for my app would occur on the weekends because my full-time job would be my priority during the week. 

2.    The app I am offering to customers is one that restricts people’s use of social media by putting a lock on these social media apps after spending a certain amount of time on them.  This will prevent people from wasting their time on social media and free up more of their day for productive activities.  

3.    My target audiences are teenagers and college students.  Young adults who have assignments due or extracurricular activities to plan/attend but find difficulty in accomplishing all of their tasks. 

4.    My app is valuable to those in need of finding ways to free up time.  Many students complain how they do not have enough hours in a day to finish everything they need to yet go on social media and waste a large portion of their free time on these platforms.  People will purchase my app because they are aware of their habits and wish to get rid of them but do not have the self-control to do it themselves. 

5.    What sets my app apart from phone settings that can notify you have long you’ve been on an app is that my app will actually restrict further use of the specific app. 

After evaluating my second idea napkin, these elements discussed fit well together with my app. I believe there are a few missing pieces to my app, such as the ability to go back on the social media apps for necessary reasons after being locked out.  I am still unsure how to incorporate this feature into my app but otherwise, my idea is coming along nicely. 

I have received great feedback concerning my app and its services.  Many people have told me that they recognize their habitual overuse of social media but find it very difficult to restrict their usage of these apps.  I also received feedback that as a project manager, I can even apply my app to my own life because this job requires all of my attention and being distracted by notifications from apps like Twitter or Snapchat is only restricting.