Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I thought it was a very interesting read. I was surprised that his business was able to stand up to thugs and still manage to operate despite the negative rumors they had spread.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

There were not any parts of the reading that were confusing to me.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

You mention the importance of extreme focus on the consumer... is there such thing as too much focus on the consumer?

How do you go about building a strong brand with loyal customers?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

No there wasn't anything I thought the offer was wrong about. I enjoyed this read and I enjoyed learning about his story. It was very inspiring how he overcame all of the obstacles in his way.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

Reflection from last pitch:
Some of the feedback I received included positive comments about my idea and the successful changes from my 2nd to my 3rd pitch. I also received a suggestion to not make edits or cuts in my video.

Changes in this pitch:
I changed this pitch from the last one by adjusting to the feedback I received. I did not make edits in this video, I did it all in one take as suggested. I also actually had a name for my product now, unlike last time when I was asking for name suggestions.

Final Reflection

1) Read through your blog from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

I read through my blog and recalled some of the experiences I've had along the way. There were some fun moments and some not so fun moments.

2) 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?

The most formative experience for me would just be the general time commitment and determination required to complete the assignments. The experience I will remember years later would probably be the "Free Money" assignment just because of how unique it is. It really stands out from the other assignments I've had to complete, not just in this class but in any of my classes. 

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And we repeated the mantra -- I am an entrepreneur. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

Yes I see myself as an entrepreneur, but I also saw myself as an entrepreneur before this class. Before this class started I was already working on my own venture.

4) 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?

Stay committed and determined. Make sure you check the assignments everyday so that you don't fall behind because it can be overwhelming at times.

Venture Concept No. 2

Venture Concept No 1.

SafeRate API

Summary:

My product is called the SafeRate API. It would be a piece of software that would gather data about a location and rate the area’s safety in several categories.  It can be thought of as a location based safety metric or rating system.  My system would rate the safety of an area (based on three categories crime, vehicle accidents, and weather damage.) and combine that to create a general safety score of the area.  I would access local police records, accident records, and weather damage records (similar to what insurance companies look into when evaluating risk).  I would take these metrics and use them to produce scores in an area in all three categories.  Then these categories could be combined to create a general safety score.  This software will serve as an API.  As an API, other companies would be able to use this technology in their own applications.  For example, Google Maps could incorporate this technology to help users determine the safest route.

Opportunity:

I believe that there is a massive opportunity for this API. My group of customers would be businesses that specialize in software. Some software companies would have the need for my product, as my product could help make their related products better. Not every software company could realistically incorporate my API into their product. Only software companies that provide services related to location could incorporate this API. Some examples of well-known companies/software platforms that could use my service include Air BnB, Uber, Lyft, Yelp, Google Maps, Apple Maps, and really any other mapping software. The main force or change in the environment creating this opportunity would be the development of this technology. It is hard to differentiate businesses geographically and demographically. The beauty of software is that it is very easy to distribute at very low costs. Therefore differentiating potential business customers by geography would be pointless. I could differentiate potential business customers demographically by only targeting software companies that distribute software that would benefit from my API. Next I will address how customers are currently satisfying this need, and how loyal they are to using it now. Currently my customers, business, are unable to receive this service unless they create this technology on their own. I think that this need is not currently being satisfied due to its reliance on technology that has not been developed yet. This seems like a pretty large opportunity. This opportunity is open because of the lack of technology. There is currently no other product that gathers real time information about crime, accidents, and weather and results in a safety score for the area. This window of opportunity will only be open as long as this technology has not been developed. Once someone else develops this technology, the opportunity will no longer exist.

Innovation:

As I described before, my API will work by accessing police records, accident records, and current weather reports for an area.  These measurements would be stored in a database that will be accessed by the SafeRate API. The SafeRate API will use these measurements to provide a safety rating for a specific area. As far as I am aware, this technology does not currently exist. Therefore it would fall under the category of radically innovative technology. My API would use specific algorithms to develop a score for each category (crime, weather, accident) and then use another algorithm to combine these scores into one central score.  I plan on making money by selling an API Key. This API key will give the developers an easy way to incorporate my API technology into their own applications. This is how most APIs are sold and I think mine would fair well in the marketplace. One of the beauties of manufacturing software is how easily distributable this technology is. In theory, every developer could have access to my API in an instant. This gives software companies a massive advantage over other startup companies that say have to manufacture a new product each time one is sold. 

Venture Concept:

The SafeRate API will directly address the opportunity I described above. It will allow developers and business to access my API and directly incorporate my technology into their applications. Customers would use my API because there is currently nothing out there like it right now. This is new technology and there would be no competitor that they could switch to. Other potential competitors would be anyone who develops a similar API and, as far as I know, there are currently no competitors in the marketplace. Packaging plays a very small role in my venture. The way I would distribute my API would be by setting up a website in which potential customers (either businesses or developers) could learn about the technology and purchase/download the API and framework. Customer support would have to be provided to some extent. It may also be helpful for my website to include a forum in which customers can ask and have their questions answered by my company or the community. Thankfully our business would not need a consumer facing location. I would organize my API as an ongoing business by hiring developers to continue and strengthen support for the API and to answer customer questions on the forum. My API would have to be constantly updated due to the ever-changing landscape of the tech industry. I cannot say how many employees I would need, as it would depend entirely on the success of the API.

Answering other questions:

-I think that our most important resource would be our human capital. Excellent software requires excellent developers and our company would not survive or even get off the ground without strong developers.

-The next steps for the venture, after obviously creating and effectively selling our product, would be to expand support for our current users. The easier we make it for users to incorporate our technology into their applications the more users we will have and the happier our users will actually be.

-In 5 years our company will have had to adapt to the changing technology landscape. Assuming that we successfully adapt and do not sink, we will explore other products and innovations.

Summary of feedback:

I didn’t really receive any constructive feedback. Most (pretty much all) of the feedback I received was complimentary, which made it difficult to make changes to my venture concept idea. One of the comments said this was a genius idea and could be a big hit if implemented properly. Another comment said I did a great job on this assignment and that they could tell I was passionate about this idea. The last comment reassured the reasons my idea would be helpful and suggested I create a database with all the information I required too.

Changes:

It was kind of implied in my initial venture concept idea that I would need to store this information in a database for it to be accessed by the API. To address this change I put an emphasis on how I would store the information in my venture concept idea 2. Other than that single change, my venture concept idea received really positive feedback so I was hesitant to change it too much.

Google Gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimization (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

Mostly I just focused on including several key words throughout my blog post to ensure that it would come up.

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

I used the keywords API, innovation, businesses, Parker Fields, and so on. When I first started making blog posts I wasn't focused on using keywords. As the semester continued I started using more and more keywords in my blog posts.

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

I didn't really use social media to enhance my SEO efforts. I could have posted the link to my blog on my various social media accounts but I decided not to.

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

My most "viral" post was my elevator pitch #2. It was probably the most viral because it had a video and that video was posted on youtube. This probably led to more traffic.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

Unfortunately I did not make it to the first page of Google results. In the future I would have to focus on more specific keywords to have better results.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

While there wasn't anything really surprising about this reading, I did find it very interesting. Ethical issues occur very often in businesses and it is important as entrepreneurs that we learn how to make proper ethical decisions.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

There were not any confusing parts in the reading.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

What are examples of ethical problems that accountants may face?

What are examples of ethical problems that software companies may face?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

No there was nothing the author said that I thought was wrong. Ethics are very important in business.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

Here are the questions and responses I had in the first video with the entrepreneur.

What traits do successful entrepreneurs need to posses?

“When it comes to entrepreneurship it’s all about taking a risk. It’s the ability to step into the unknown. The most successful entrepreneurs have grit, that drive, to not let anything keep them from achieving their dream.”

What made you want to become an entrepreneur?

“I was that kid who couldn’t get on the bus to get to school. I would sit and wait at the stop and the bus would drive by me with the words ‘Full Bus’ at the top.  This was me realizing an opportunity and deciding to solve a problem.  I realized the opportunity and I decided to go after it."

What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

“Similar to the first question, you have to go out and accomplish this mission, this vision.”

What do you wish you‘d taught in school before going out on your own path as an entrepreneur?

“One thing I think they should teach you in entrepreneurship is how to get over the fear of failure and rejection.  So many people don’t start business because they are afraid that they are going to fail.  If you can get over that fear of failure then you are well on your way to becoming an entrepreneur.  I also think the University needs to teach you how to start a business physically, like where to acquire licenses and the tools like QuickBooks that can help you run your business.  I think entrepreneurship classes need to teach how you actually physically start a business."

Advice for new entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs?

“  Biggest advice is to execute. Too many people have ideas, ideas are great.  You and I could sit here and come up with a list of ideas and that’s all they’re going to be unless someone actually decides to execute. When it comes to leadership and entrepreneurship it’s all about serving others.  The whole reason I got into this business was to help students, to help serve students.  Always having that mindset of serving is huge and make sure that’s why you’re getting into it.”

 From where I stand now, my perception of these questions and responses hasn't really changed at all. My impression of the first interview is that the questions were pretty broad and generalized. Unfortunately I was unable to meet up with the entrepreneur again to ask more questions. I've listed the questions that I would ask below.

 

Here are the questions:

How do you effectively capture your target market?

How do track and measure revenue and expenses?

Have you encountered any legal issues thus far? 

I think throughout this course I have grown and developed as an entrepreneur. I am much more comfortable talking about entrepreneurship than I was before. I also noticed my questions dive more into the nitty gritty of entrepreneurship whereas my previous questions were very broad and generalized. I think this class has helped me grow my understanding of entrepreneurship and has helped me become a better entrepreneur.

"Week 13 Reading Reflection"

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

While I didn't find anything inherently surprising about the reading, I did find this chapter to be very valuable in understanding how to value entrepreneurial ventures.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

There weren't any confusing parts in the reading.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

How would valuations of companies with multiple service lines work?

How would non-profit organizations be valued? (would they be?)

I would ask these questions to expand my knowledge on the subject.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I don't think that there was anything the author was wrong about. I don't disagree with any of the points in this chapter.

"Celebrating Failure"

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

I failed one time this semester when I was giving an elevator pitch to an entrepreneur in Gainesville. I wasn’t able to accurately articulate my business and the opportunity associated with it.

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

I learned that it is very important to have an elevator pitch ready (or at least the main points you want to cover), that way you can articulate your business idea and the opportunity effectively.

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were four months ago? 

Failure is hard and embarrassing. I handle failure by adapting to it and growing from it. Failure is oftentimes necessary for growth. I don’t think this class has really changed my perspective on failure because I understood the importance of failure prior to this class.

 

My Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I would plan on selling my API business in a few years. The changing tides of technology would make it become obsolete without someone to adapt with it. I'm not that invested in this idea and I think someone else would be better equipped to devote more time to this project.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I don't want it to a business that I pass down to my children. I'd rather sell it off and make some money to start something that I enjoy more.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I don't know if it has influenced anything else. My enthusiasm for this venture has definitely declined and that has led to me being less likely to devote time and resources to it. 

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I was surprised by the lack of planning that seems to take place in most startups. Although it makes sense, because many people that work in startups supposedly dislike the rigidness of corporations.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I did not find any of the reading to be confusing. I did think that the SWOT Analysis is an interesting way to analyze decisions. It is similar to a pros and cons list but appears to be superior.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

I would ask the author:

1. Is there such thing as too much planning?
2. How costly can planning be?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

No I don't think the author was wrong about anything. I did enjoy this chapter and I found it to be very interesting. Prior to reading this, I probably would've underestimated the importance of planning.