1. I really enjoyed a lot of the assignments for this class. Especially the simple ones like the bug list as I had never thought about how the things that "bug" me every day can be a great source of business ideas.
2. I think all of the assignments relating to developing our own business are what will stick with me for years. All the aspects that we looked at and thinking about everything about the business was a really formative experience. I really enjoyed the reading reflections as I learned a lot about some of the most successful entrepreneurs. But not only did I learn about their successes but more importantly all of the setbacks that they had at the beginning.
3. I think I definitely developed a more entrepreneurial mindset. I find myself thinking about problems that I or the people around me have and ways to solve these problems in an innovative way.
4. I would recommend that they apply everything they learn to their business idea as that is the best way to succeed and actually benefit from the class. To do well in the class I would suggest they watch the lectures, take notes and do all of the assigned blogs in a timely fashion.
Friday, April 24, 2020
29A - Venture Concept No. 2
Opportunity
This opportunity exists because of the amount of textbooks students have to buy each semester. Students could be saving a lot of money of they were able to find used cheap textbooks from others that need to sell their old textbook. My market audience is UF students and because of the feature that lets you buy and sell old textbooks my business will most likely be limited geographically to the students living in business. I could later expand it to online students and include shipping on the app but for now, that is not the case. Customers now are going through endless amounts of Facebook pages and group me to satisfy this need or they are paying a lot more than they need to with buying new textbooks. This is a huge opportunity as many students would be benefitted from this idea. I think the window of opportunity is small as it easy for someone else to have the same idea and develop the same app.
Innovation
Although this idea is not complicated or creative it can be considered innovative as nothing like this app exists at UF right now. Having an app solely for UF students where they can find the cheapest textbooks to buy and are able to sell and buy used textbooks would be a game-changer for the student body. The app would include a page where you can post about textbooks that you are looking to sell and buy. For safety reasons you would need to use your gator link to log in on the app so students feel safe and it is only used by UF students. There would also be another page where you could search for the textbooks that you need for classes and it would tell you where the cheapest place to get it from. Many times there are multiple bookstores and websites selling the same exact textbook but with different prices and students do not have time to go looking for the best price. This app would do that for them. This business will bring in revenue by both a small subscription fee that students will have to pay and also placing advertisements for publishing companies.
Venture Concept
I think students will start using this app because it is safe, easy to use and it would save them a lot of money. I think the hardest part would be getting students to know about this product as it would only be successful if a lot of students are using it. It would need to be established as the best place to go to buy and sell textbooks.
I have not really gotten any critiquing feedback. However, many of my classmates said that I should think about expanding my business eventually to include other universities which I am thinking about doing.
This opportunity exists because of the amount of textbooks students have to buy each semester. Students could be saving a lot of money of they were able to find used cheap textbooks from others that need to sell their old textbook. My market audience is UF students and because of the feature that lets you buy and sell old textbooks my business will most likely be limited geographically to the students living in business. I could later expand it to online students and include shipping on the app but for now, that is not the case. Customers now are going through endless amounts of Facebook pages and group me to satisfy this need or they are paying a lot more than they need to with buying new textbooks. This is a huge opportunity as many students would be benefitted from this idea. I think the window of opportunity is small as it easy for someone else to have the same idea and develop the same app.
Innovation
Although this idea is not complicated or creative it can be considered innovative as nothing like this app exists at UF right now. Having an app solely for UF students where they can find the cheapest textbooks to buy and are able to sell and buy used textbooks would be a game-changer for the student body. The app would include a page where you can post about textbooks that you are looking to sell and buy. For safety reasons you would need to use your gator link to log in on the app so students feel safe and it is only used by UF students. There would also be another page where you could search for the textbooks that you need for classes and it would tell you where the cheapest place to get it from. Many times there are multiple bookstores and websites selling the same exact textbook but with different prices and students do not have time to go looking for the best price. This app would do that for them. This business will bring in revenue by both a small subscription fee that students will have to pay and also placing advertisements for publishing companies.
Venture Concept
I think students will start using this app because it is safe, easy to use and it would save them a lot of money. I think the hardest part would be getting students to know about this product as it would only be successful if a lot of students are using it. It would need to be established as the best place to go to buy and sell textbooks.
I have not really gotten any critiquing feedback. However, many of my classmates said that I should think about expanding my business eventually to include other universities which I am thinking about doing.
Friday, April 17, 2020
28A - Your Exit Strategy
1. I think if my business is successful I would probably try to sell it in 2 or 3 years.
2. I chose this exit strategy as my business is for UF undergrad students, which means that after I graduate I would probably want to sell it as I plan on going to grad school. I also think it would be better if it were run by people who are still students at the University of Florida as they would have a better idea of any changes in the market or their needs.
3. I do not think my exit strategy has really influenced my decisions as I had not really thought about it until this assignment. I do see why the exit strategy might affect how I would have made decisions though. Someone who is thinking about selling their business might think more in short term profits instead of growing their business.
2. I chose this exit strategy as my business is for UF undergrad students, which means that after I graduate I would probably want to sell it as I plan on going to grad school. I also think it would be better if it were run by people who are still students at the University of Florida as they would have a better idea of any changes in the market or their needs.
3. I do not think my exit strategy has really influenced my decisions as I had not really thought about it until this assignment. I do see why the exit strategy might affect how I would have made decisions though. Someone who is thinking about selling their business might think more in short term profits instead of growing their business.
27A - Reading Reflection No. 3
The book that I read is "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck
1. The book talked about how there are two different mindsets. A fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A growth mindset is when you believe that you can always change and better yourself. A fixed mindset is when you do not believe that you can change and so you always try to seek validation and to prove yourself to others.
2. I think in the class we touched on a lot of the concepts discussed in the book. We always talk about how we can always improve not just our businesses but ourselves. The whole point of the blogs that we do is to get feedback from our classmates so we can do better. We also always talk about how our mindsets can really affect our business and the "cultures" we are trying to build in our companies.
3. I actually think the blogs are the perfect exercise for this class that is based on the book. We do things like the elevator pitch more than once because we have a growth mindset we know that we can always improve and learn more. Feedbacks are another way that the blogs really help us grow and learn from our mistakes. We are always improving and hopefully never feel stuck or in a "fixed mindset".
4. I found myself reflecting a lot about things in my life while reading this book. Although I do have a growth mindset for most things in my life, I found that I also have a fixed mindset in some aspects of my life that I do not really like. I found myself realizing that I am not trying to fix these aspects and that a simple mindset change can be really helpful.
1. The book talked about how there are two different mindsets. A fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A growth mindset is when you believe that you can always change and better yourself. A fixed mindset is when you do not believe that you can change and so you always try to seek validation and to prove yourself to others.
2. I think in the class we touched on a lot of the concepts discussed in the book. We always talk about how we can always improve not just our businesses but ourselves. The whole point of the blogs that we do is to get feedback from our classmates so we can do better. We also always talk about how our mindsets can really affect our business and the "cultures" we are trying to build in our companies.
3. I actually think the blogs are the perfect exercise for this class that is based on the book. We do things like the elevator pitch more than once because we have a growth mindset we know that we can always improve and learn more. Feedbacks are another way that the blogs really help us grow and learn from our mistakes. We are always improving and hopefully never feel stuck or in a "fixed mindset".
4. I found myself reflecting a lot about things in my life while reading this book. Although I do have a growth mindset for most things in my life, I found that I also have a fixed mindset in some aspects of my life that I do not really like. I found myself realizing that I am not trying to fix these aspects and that a simple mindset change can be really helpful.
26A - Celebrating Failure
This was actually from the last fall semester. I was taking a really hard class and I was not doing well in it. I kept getting really bad grades in the exams. Every time I would study for so long and I would try different ways of studying and nothing helped. I could not really understand the material and I hated the class as I found it very boring. I ended up passing but it was the lowest grade I have ever gotten in a class and it was a really bad experience for me. However, I learned a lot from this experience. Before this class, I was very confused about what I want to do as a career and it was really stressful. After the class, I realized that that was not what I wanted to pursue and not only but I was just simply not interested in it at all. This semester, I decided to take a Criminal Justice class as an elective as I suddenly had a lot of "free credits" and I absolutely loved it. Without going through that "failure" I probably would have never found what I am really passionate about and would still be stuck doing something I hated. It also taught me a lot about myself and how to handle hardships better in the future. I also learned better ways to study and push myself.
I think failure is a natural part of life and it is really sad that many people are embarrassed by their failures. Everyone fails multiple times in their lives regardless of how successful they are. I think over the years I have gotten better at dealing with failure but of course, it is still really hard. A little trick that I sometimes use on myself when I feel bad about my failures is thinking about what I would tell my closest friends if they are feeling that way. Sometimes it is so much easier for us to give really good advice to people around us but when we are put in the same situation we feel clueless. I think this class teaches us that nothing is ever perfect you could always improve yourself and do the same thing more than once and learn and grow from criticism.
I think failure is a natural part of life and it is really sad that many people are embarrassed by their failures. Everyone fails multiple times in their lives regardless of how successful they are. I think over the years I have gotten better at dealing with failure but of course, it is still really hard. A little trick that I sometimes use on myself when I feel bad about my failures is thinking about what I would tell my closest friends if they are feeling that way. Sometimes it is so much easier for us to give really good advice to people around us but when we are put in the same situation we feel clueless. I think this class teaches us that nothing is ever perfect you could always improve yourself and do the same thing more than once and learn and grow from criticism.
Friday, April 10, 2020
25A - What's Next
I think the next part would be starting to actually write the code for this app and develop it. This will take time as there would be a lot of bugs and problems to sort out at first. During this time we should also start telling people about this app and getting them excited about its launch. We could tell professors about so they can tell their students and we could also talk about it in preview where all the new incoming class of students at UF can know more about and spread the word even more.
Of course, without being able to do the interviews there is not much feedback that I could work with. But hopefully, in the near future, I would be able to talk to people from the existing and new markets to help me with my business.
Of course, without being able to do the interviews there is not much feedback that I could work with. But hopefully, in the near future, I would be able to talk to people from the existing and new markets to help me with my business.
24A - Venture Concept No. 1
Opportunity
This opportunity exists because of the amount of textbooks students have to buy each semester. Students could be saving a lot of money of they were able to find used cheap textbooks from others that need to sell their old textbook. My market audience is UF students and because of the feature that lets you buy and sell old textbooks my business will most likely be limited geographically to the students living in business. I could later expand it to online students and include shipping on the app but for now, that is not the case. Customers now are going through endless amounts of Facebook pages and group me to satisfy this need or they are paying a lot more than they need to with buying new textbooks. This is a huge opportunity as many students would be benefitted from this idea. I think the window of opportunity is small as it easy for someone else to have the same idea and develop the same app.
Innovation
Although this idea is not complicated or creative it can be considered innovative as nothing like this app exists at UF right now. Having an app solely for UF students where they can find the cheapest textbooks to buy and are able to sell and buy used textbooks would be a game-changer for the student body. The app would include a page where you can post about textbooks that you are looking to sell and buy. For safety reasons you would need to use your gator link to log in on the app so students feel safe and it is only used by UF students. There would also be another page where you could search for the textbooks that you need for classes and it would tell you where the cheapest place to get it from. Many times there are multiple bookstores and websites selling the same exact textbook but with different prices and students do not have time to go looking for the best price. This app would do that for them. This business will bring in revenue by both a small subscription fee that students will have to pay and also placing advertisements for publishing companies.
Venture Concept
I think students will start using this app because it is safe, easy to use and it would save them a lot of money. I think the hardest part would be getting students to know about this product as it would only be successful if a lot of students are using it. It would need to be established as the best place to go to buy and sell textbooks.
This opportunity exists because of the amount of textbooks students have to buy each semester. Students could be saving a lot of money of they were able to find used cheap textbooks from others that need to sell their old textbook. My market audience is UF students and because of the feature that lets you buy and sell old textbooks my business will most likely be limited geographically to the students living in business. I could later expand it to online students and include shipping on the app but for now, that is not the case. Customers now are going through endless amounts of Facebook pages and group me to satisfy this need or they are paying a lot more than they need to with buying new textbooks. This is a huge opportunity as many students would be benefitted from this idea. I think the window of opportunity is small as it easy for someone else to have the same idea and develop the same app.
Innovation
Although this idea is not complicated or creative it can be considered innovative as nothing like this app exists at UF right now. Having an app solely for UF students where they can find the cheapest textbooks to buy and are able to sell and buy used textbooks would be a game-changer for the student body. The app would include a page where you can post about textbooks that you are looking to sell and buy. For safety reasons you would need to use your gator link to log in on the app so students feel safe and it is only used by UF students. There would also be another page where you could search for the textbooks that you need for classes and it would tell you where the cheapest place to get it from. Many times there are multiple bookstores and websites selling the same exact textbook but with different prices and students do not have time to go looking for the best price. This app would do that for them. This business will bring in revenue by both a small subscription fee that students will have to pay and also placing advertisements for publishing companies.
Venture Concept
I think students will start using this app because it is safe, easy to use and it would save them a lot of money. I think the hardest part would be getting students to know about this product as it would only be successful if a lot of students are using it. It would need to be established as the best place to go to buy and sell textbooks.
23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage
1. Human Capital: I am a psych student
V: This helps me understand a lot about marketing.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
2. Social Capital: I know someone that can do the coding for the app
V: this is valuable as it could help lower the cost of the business and I will not have to go looking for someone who would be interesting in writing the code for the app.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
3. My product is new no one is doing something similar. no competition
V: There are not many platforms that are providing this service the way I am planning on doing it so there would not be competition
R: That is rare as most businesses have competition
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
4. Money
V: Although I do not have that much money saved up to start my business, I do not actually need that much.
R: Money is not a rare resource
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
5. Involvement Team
V: Being on the I-Team would be a great platform to get my business out there and to tell students about it
R: It is rare as there are only about 30 of us on that team
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
6. graphic design experience
V: This is valuable as it could help with designs on the app and other marketing strategies.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
7. sales experience
V: This is valuable because it would help me get businesses to advertise on the app would bring the business money.
R: It is not rare
I: It is inimitable as it has to do with my experience and although many can have experience in sales they will not have the same relationships with small local businesses that I have built in the last couple of years
N: it is not non-substitutable
8. I am TA
V: This is valuable because I have a strong relationship with a professor who could help me talk to publishing companies about putting their textbooks on my app.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
9. I have talked to my intended target and got a lot of feedback and opinions
V: This is valuable because I know that I do have support for my idea and I have also adjusted it a lot to the feedback I got from my market audience
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is nonsubstitutable as there is no other way to know what your market wants
10. job experience
V: This is valuable because my job experience will help me a lot with calling publishers on the phone and just knowing how to interact with strangers in general
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
I think my top 2 resources are my sales experience and just my idea in general. Having a business that is new with no competition definitely gives me a huge advantage and with sales experience and relationships with other small business owners, hopefully, would give my business a leg up.
V: This helps me understand a lot about marketing.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
2. Social Capital: I know someone that can do the coding for the app
V: this is valuable as it could help lower the cost of the business and I will not have to go looking for someone who would be interesting in writing the code for the app.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
3. My product is new no one is doing something similar. no competition
V: There are not many platforms that are providing this service the way I am planning on doing it so there would not be competition
R: That is rare as most businesses have competition
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
4. Money
V: Although I do not have that much money saved up to start my business, I do not actually need that much.
R: Money is not a rare resource
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
5. Involvement Team
V: Being on the I-Team would be a great platform to get my business out there and to tell students about it
R: It is rare as there are only about 30 of us on that team
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
6. graphic design experience
V: This is valuable as it could help with designs on the app and other marketing strategies.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
7. sales experience
V: This is valuable because it would help me get businesses to advertise on the app would bring the business money.
R: It is not rare
I: It is inimitable as it has to do with my experience and although many can have experience in sales they will not have the same relationships with small local businesses that I have built in the last couple of years
N: it is not non-substitutable
8. I am TA
V: This is valuable because I have a strong relationship with a professor who could help me talk to publishing companies about putting their textbooks on my app.
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
9. I have talked to my intended target and got a lot of feedback and opinions
V: This is valuable because I know that I do have support for my idea and I have also adjusted it a lot to the feedback I got from my market audience
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is nonsubstitutable as there is no other way to know what your market wants
10. job experience
V: This is valuable because my job experience will help me a lot with calling publishers on the phone and just knowing how to interact with strangers in general
R: It is not rare
I: It is not inimitable
N: it is not non-substitutable
I think my top 2 resources are my sales experience and just my idea in general. Having a business that is new with no competition definitely gives me a huge advantage and with sales experience and relationships with other small business owners, hopefully, would give my business a leg up.
Friday, April 3, 2020
22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3
I did not really have a lot of feedback on my last elevator pitch. People liked that I wore a UF jersey since my target audience is UF students. So I did the same thing again.
Thursday, April 2, 2020
21A - Reading Reflection No 2
The book I decided to read is "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman.
1. The main argument of the book is that the brain has two systems, one that is conscience and one is automatic. Kahneman advises that when you make any decisions regarding money or your business you should not make the decision based on your emotions.
2. The book talks about decision making and how our brain handles problems that we might face in our business. It definitely enhanced what we are taught in class as we learn how to make smart profitable decisions. We also learn what goes into making a business and all the different aspects of it. Understanding, all the different things that go into making a decision, would help us base our decisions on rational thought instead of emotions.
3. The exercise would consist of asking trick questions and riddles that students will underestimate and answer quickly without putting much thought into it.
4. My biggest "aha" moment was how easy it is for our brains to be tricked when presented with easy problems just because we underestimate them.
1. The main argument of the book is that the brain has two systems, one that is conscience and one is automatic. Kahneman advises that when you make any decisions regarding money or your business you should not make the decision based on your emotions.
2. The book talks about decision making and how our brain handles problems that we might face in our business. It definitely enhanced what we are taught in class as we learn how to make smart profitable decisions. We also learn what goes into making a business and all the different aspects of it. Understanding, all the different things that go into making a decision, would help us base our decisions on rational thought instead of emotions.
3. The exercise would consist of asking trick questions and riddles that students will underestimate and answer quickly without putting much thought into it.
4. My biggest "aha" moment was how easy it is for our brains to be tricked when presented with easy problems just because we underestimate them.
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