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. 

Create a Customer Avatar

My customer avatar is teenage men and women who typically spend too much of their free time on their phones. As seen in the images above, the age can range from as young as 12 or 13 years old to 19 or 20 years old.  Many teenage girls are so concerned with how they are perceived by others, that they try and make themselves as flashy and as cool as possible on a screen.  While many girls spend time on their phones, guys spend just as much of their time and my customer avatar includes men as well.  

Teenage guys are just as guilty for being on their phones at all times. It is something that has overtaken younger generations.  I myself have several things in common with my customer avatar. I am 20 years old and spent a vast amount of free time and even study time on my phone, as depicted in the image above.  I believe it is no coincidence that I share several qualities with my customers because I based my product off of things I experience. Therefore, the target audience will be people that share traits that I have. 

Elevator Pitch No. 2

Elevator Pitch:
https://youtu.be/XKCK1uqS2Fk

Reflection on Feedback:
I received mostly constructive feedback for my product thus far in the course.  The most influential feedback I have received is through my interviews for assignments. In one interview, the woman I interviewed said that she thinks I should have a feature on my app that allows you to go in and unlock the restriction on the social media apps through either a puzzle or equation. I think this is a good idea so when you first download the app, you have to specify your age. Then when you try and unlock the restriction later on, you receive equations and puzzles at you age level.  Overall, the feedback I have received has aided in developing my app to meet the needs and desires of the target audience.

16A What's Your Secret Sauce?

I believe there are several characteristics that I hold that separate me from others. I feel that I am a selfless individual, looking to put other’s needs above my own.  I am a sociable person with an outgoing personality that allows me to connect with almost anyone that I meet. I also believe that my experience in many different organizations gives me a competitive advantage to many other students my age.  As a captain for Dance Marathon, Small Group Leader for the Young leader’s Conference, Counselor for Camp Kesem, and Social Chair for my fraternity, I have gained valuable experience in working with others and developed strong organizational and time management skills. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-293592551/aldens-interview  My first interview is with a good friend of mine whose name is Alden.  We met at the beginning of our college experience, and the most important thing I can take away from his response is that I am a driven individual and work hard to accomplish tasks that come my way. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-293592551/bretts-interview  My second interview is with my brother.  After speaking with him, a great point that he touched on was my social skills and how I am easy to talk to and work with. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-293592551/nates-interview  My third interview was with another good friend of mine, Nate McDonnell.  His main point of emphasis in his interview was that I am a selfless and caring individual.

https://soundcloud.com/user-293592551/sigmans-interview  My fourth interview included a close friend of mine, Adam Sigman.  He touched on the fact that I am a very driven person who likes to see things through from start to finish.  He emphasized how I do not like to see projects float on for too long without progress. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-293592551/yuris-interview  My fifth and final interview was with my roommate, Adam Yurigan.  He spoke about my organization and neatness, which carries over to the business world in being professional and keeping projects and tasks organized. 

After interviewing these five people, I have assured myself of the skills and experiences in my first self-evaluation. One thing I was surprised to hear many people include in their interview was that I am a very caring and selfless individual, which I find very encouraging to see that other people view me as a loving person.