29A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity
Our potential customers for this wireless charging service around campus would be current full-time students aged 18-22 years old. These students would have the need because they are the main consumers of the UF libraries and would stay there for many hours throughout the day and night. These students would be the ones who have this need when their phone or computers dies but they don’t want to move to find a charger or outlet. This market of customers would be defined geographically since the chargers would only be placed in libraries around UF. Customers are currently satisfying their need by asking others for chargers or carrying around their own and searching the walls for an open outlet. They are loyal to their solution now out of necessity but would be open to a better solution. This is a big opportunity to be exploited as more freshmen get admitted to the university. The University can also use this product to describe how technologically advanced they are. Therefore, this would be mutually beneficial for both the students and the school.

Innovation
My product would be a wireless charging platform built into the center of tables around UF libraries that would be compatible with all types of computers and phones. We plan to make money by hour usage of the platform for $3 per hour of standard charging or $5 per hour of fast charging. Specifically, we are selling the per hour rate of some technological device being placed on a charging platform. To receive the most money, we would highlight the fast charging service as the service time can be cut in half for only $2 more. This would encourage students to spend more money if they don’t want to wait up to an hour for a full charge.

Venture Concept
Customers would use this product because it is a simpler solution to their current problem. Students need to have their technology charged at all times in order to continue working on their projects and exams. It would not be very difficult for them to switch if they are already in the library or surrounding areas because all you have to do is place your phone on the table to start charging. Our competitors would be the wired charging cords that students would bring around campus. With that option, they could charge their device anywhere they go by being portable. Customer experience would be the top priority because they need to provide a much more sufficient charge to be seen as worth its price.

The three minor elements

1) What we have that no one else could copy is the ease and convenience of this product. There is nothing students have to do to get an adequate charge on their device other than just placing it on the charger. Therefore, this gives us the unfair advantage.

2) The next opportunity we want to tackle with this innovation is expanding the service to many restaurants and coffee shops. If we get a deal with a major restaurant chain, then these built-in charges can be used around the nation.

3) In five years with this venture, I would like to see a major technology company arise starting with this product. To see it expand to other products and developing a full-blown company would be most ideal.

Summary: I received positive feedback from my first venture concept report. They ensured me that I am on the right track with the details of my business and thought the upcharge for the fast charging model. The creativity sets me apart from other businesses giving me a strong competitive advantage. Similarly, in the “What’s Next” post, my plan to work on other businesses after this one. This is so I can showcase what I learned from this company and expand it more with the next. Creativity and innovation are key!

Changes: I changed my venture concept based on my feedback by expanding on the different models within my business. The standard and fast changing models can be exploited to encourage people to spend more money overall. By pushing the difference of taking 1 hour versus 30 minutes to charge your technology for only $2 more. The cut in half of service time, people are more likely to spend more money. The only negative recommendation I included in my second venture concept is to keep everything practical in terms of usage, models, and implementation.

30A – Final Reflection

1) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
- I enjoyed the elevator pitch experience the best! It was very surprising to see how I can come up with a compelling speech for a product that does not even exist. It was also great receiving positive feedback and constructive criticism to improve on my future elevator pitches. I am most proud of coming up with a product and a business plan in general. It’s tough to carry projects through to the end and it is really interesting to see how much everything has changed. 

2) Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
- I definitely see myself as an entrepreneur! I saw the formation of my own product from a very simplistic terms in the first weeks to the very detailed and developed plan of that product and many more products into a whole business plan. If I were to actually to create a business, I would know the steps, ups and downs, and how to move forward in any situation.

3) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
- My main recommendation is to have great time management for this class. By completing assignments, a little every day, it will all add up at the end of the week when everything is due. I suggest reading them on Monday to start thinking about what you are going to write and then actually start writing on Wednesday. You get out what you put into this course, therefore the more the better.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Book: Miracles Happen by Mary Kay Ash

1) You read about an entrepreneur: 

What surprised you the most?
- I am most surprised by the way May Kay Ash encouraged her employees. Most CEOs wouldn’t lead meetings and speeches by encourage, but yet only to reflect on their last quarters findings and financials. Instead, she “imagined everyone wearing a sign that says “Make me feel important” when speaking to them. This empowers them to sell and spread her brand in the best way possible.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
- I admired May Kay’s ambition and willingness to never give up. She shaped her entire life on a single phrase, “You can do it.” Through repetition of this phrase, she was able to accomplish so much in her childhood to career. She was a very inspirational person empowering other women to take control of their life.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
- I least admire her mindset of women need makeup, an expensive purse, and a wig to be beautiful. I admire boosting their confidence, but it should not be based on how they look.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
- “When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” This quote from the book shows exactly her mindset when she approaches a roadblock. Instead of facing it and deciding the best decision, she makes an alternative path and almost moves around it. Its best to avoid it and find a different path.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
- Mary Kay Ash quoted, “There are four kids of people in the world: Those who make things happen; Those who watch things happen; Those who wonder what happened; Those who don’t know anything happened. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be first on that list.” Through this philosophy she has shown competencies of strong leadership and communication skills while maintaining very results oriented.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
- I never found anything confusing about this book. I thought it was very insight about her life and portrayed the storytelling of from her childhood to career very well.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
- I would ask, “what kept you so motivated in hard times?” Inspirational quotes can only take a mindset so far and entrepreneurs go through a lot of up and down times. I would also ask, “Do you regret anything from the start to end off your career?” She seems to always stay positive and look towards the future, without reflecting much on the past.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
- Through Mary Kay Ash’s perception, she views hard work as ensuring everyone else’s happiness and encouraging them to do the most they can do without overwhelming them. I definitely share this opinion of hard work because I am a strong believer in building others up. She stated, “the greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity.” This is completely true as more people in this world spread negativity rather than positivity.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) My exit strategy is to sell my company in 10 years after it expands to many products and many states around the country. I would get much more money out of selling the company then when it is at its peak then waiting it out when it starts to decline. I would not want to retire after this company because there are much more things to be invented, changed, and redesigned out there to only stick in one place for your whole life. Especially passing it down to my children would be a bad idea because they will never learn the skills you gain from starting a business.

2) I selected this exit strategy because you can gain a lot of skills from many different places rather than staying in one place. If I want to get have a stable job and income, then I might consider keeping the company and not selling it.

3) My exit strategy influenced my decision in my concept by encouraging me to take more risks with the company. Since I know I am not going to keep it forever, I am more willing to be riskier in situations. This way, I am more likely to identify and take any opportunity. I plan to acquire resources for the short term payoffs rather than the long term.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1) I failed at a bet I made with my friends, which was to watch 10 Leonardo DiCaprio movies this semester. I has a reputation to not know or understand any movie quotes because I haven’t seen that many movies. Instead, I have only watch 3 movies because I never found the time for more.

2) I learned that it’s hard to stay consistent and passionate about something, even as simple as watching a movie. It takes real dedication and passion to carrying anything through.

3) Failure is hard, and we experience it every week in many different ways. Aside from this simple promise, I’ve handled failure by recognizing where I went wrong, facing it, and then correcting it. By not getting caught up in the logistics and taking everything one day at a time, you are much more likely to be successful. This class changed my perspective on failure by showing us how many little steps we can take to achieve our ultimate goal of a successful product/business. I am definitely more likely to take a risk now than a new months ago.

25A – What’s next?

Existing market
Step 1: Next, I would like to expand this business to be included in many chain restaurants around the United States. This service doesn’t have to be only on UF’s campus.
Step 2: My interviewees all stated that starting to expand on college campuses before chain restaurants to stay more in our market of students. In terms of more products to expand to, I thought about selling installs that people can buy from stores like Best Buy to install into their furniture at home.
Step 3: To grow, it makes most sense to start this business off small with libraries around the UF campus. This targets students solely because they would be most likely to use the service. We would then expand it locally to big classrooms, coffee shops, and local restaurants around campus. Once we have proof of a market, we can expand to other universities who have this similar need. To continue targeting students, we would use the same strategy.
Once this service is well known on many student university campuses, we can expand it to chain restaurants and rest stops along the major highways. This would also expand our target market to anyone who has a smartphone that needs to be charged.

New Market
Step 1: The radically different market than the one I am targeting would be children, the elderly, and homeless. These groups of people would normally not have a smartphone and would not have a need to use the wireless charging service.
Step 2: My venture concept might be able to create value to this radically different market by offering a service to renting out phones at certain platforms in case they need to get ahold of someone. This would be the best case for any type of emergency as well.
Step 3: My grandparents said that my product should offer wired chargers as well for older phones to expand my market and the rent a phone service should be a very simplistic type of phone that everyone can figure out how to use.
Step 4: I learned a lot from this new market. Children, the elderly, and homeless have used and seen technology before that they would know how to use the product if expanded to them. On second thought, this market would seem attractive but not enough to start expanding to them until we have proof of concept and our initial expansion first.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity
Our potential customers for this wireless charging service around campus would be current full-time students aged 18-22 years old. These students would have the need because they are the main visitors of the UF libraries and would stay there for many hours. They would be the ones who would have this need when their phone or computers die but they don’t want to move to find a charger. This market of customers would be defined geographically since the chargers would only be placed in libraries around UF. Customers are currently satisfying their need by asking others for chargers or carrying around their own and searching the walls for an open outlet. They are loyal to their solution now out of necessity but would be open to a better solution. This is a big opportunity to be exploited as more freshmen get admitted to the university.

Innovation
My produce would be a wireless charging platform built into the center of tables around UF libraries that would be compatible with all types of computers and phones. We plan to make money by hour usage of the platform for $3 per hour of standard charging or $5 per hour of fast charging. Exactly, we are selling the per hours rate of some technological device being placed on a charging platform.

Venture Concept
Customers would use this product because it is a simpler solution to their current problem. Students need to have their technology charged at all times in order to continue working on their projects and exams. It would not be very difficult for them to switch if they are already in the library or surrounding areas because all you have to do is place your phone on the table to start charging. Our competitors would be the wired charging cords that students would bring around campus. With that option, they could charge their device anywhere they go by being portable. Customer experience would be the top priority because they need to provide a much more sufficient charge to be seen as worth its price.

The three minor elements
1) What we have that no one else could copy is the ease to this product. There is nothing students have to do to get an adequate charge on their device other than just placing it on the charger. The convenience and ease of this product gives us the unfair advantage.
2) The next opportunity we want to tackle with this innovation is expanding the service to many restaurants and coffee shops. If we get a deal with a major restaurant chain then these built-in charges can be used around the nation.
3) In five years with this venture, I would like to see a major technology company arise starting with this product. To see it expand to other products and developing a full blown company would be most ideal.