30A-Final Reflection

1.) I have had a lot of interesting times in this course throughout the semester. Some assignments were fun to do. I really enjoyed creating the customer avatar. It was fun to create their background story and it actually helped me a lot when thinking about my potential customers. I was able to get a feel for somebody who I would target my product too and understand what they may want or need. Some assignments were long and tedious such as the idea napkins and the venture concepts. However, I understand why. These are outlines out our entire plan and ideas for our business. They have to be thorough and comprehensive to get all of the information across. Some assignments were difficult at first (like the Bug List) but once they were done, it was clear to see how useful the exercise was. I probably dreaded the elevator pitches the most in this course. I do not like being filmed and have a hard time memorizing and remembering speeches. In the end though, they turned out to be not as bad as I expected.

2.)The most formative experience for me, was building my social capital. Contacting people who could potentially help me in my future was a very eye opening experience. I also thought that I got good experience at talking to professionals, a skill that I will need going forward. Even though the people I contacted knew that I was not actually selling this product, I felt like a real entrepreneur. I felt joy in this too. I am most proud of myself for finishing the elevator pitches. I have always watched in awe as people have given elevator pitches and been thankful that I never had to do one. When I learned we had to do them here, I was nervous. However with some practice I was able to finally memorize my pitch and give it with only a few minor errors.

3.) I do think that I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset. When I hear people speak or complain about issues I think of them as opportunities. I can now see the opportunity in many aspects of my life. I also think of failure in a different way. I know that failure can be hard but I have learned through this class that it needs to be used as a learning factor. Failure can be taken with a grain of salt and then used to better the future. I feel more like an entrepreneur after taking this class because I now know all of the effort that they have to put in, in order to get their desired results.

4.) I would recommend students to stay organized in this course. It can be stressful to keep tract of all of the dates and assignments. When it comes to assignments I would recommend them to keep an open mindset. If you do not think too hard and simply let your ideas flow you may end up coming up with a brilliant idea! I also encourage students to not get frustrated early on when trying to figure out an opportunity and later a product or service. It is okay to have a few different ideas before you find one that sticks! This is all a part of the entrepreneurial mindset.

29A-Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

When dinner is over and people get up from the table, their chairs often get left out. The same thing occurs in the library when people get up from the desk. Think about it. It happens every single day. It happens at every type of setting where chairs and tables are involved. How annoying is it to have to stop what you are doing in order to push in the chair. This is a large “pet peeve” or “bug” of many people. They are irritated by these chairs being left out and about and in the way. This opportunity is created by our society’s decrease in simple care. It is a product of laziness. This market is pretty broad. It can stretch from the restaurant industry to a simple home setting. The customers who have this need can include restaurant owners and managers and the hardworking parent in a house. Geographically, it is targeted for urban areas where tables are used. Customers are not currently satisfying this need. They have to go around and push in chairs that are left out. They take away their own time and effort to push in chairs left out by others. There however, is not a specific solution to this problem that takes away some of the effort. This opportunity is very big because there is no product in existence to help it. As I stated before this opportunity also solves a problem that is a bother to many. The “window of opportunity” will be open for a while. Although, since this issue is such a widespread bother I am sure that people are brainstorming ways to solve it. The window many close soon as people gain ideas to a solution. However, the issue itself will not just simply go away or be fixed on its own. 

Innovation:

My innovation solves this issue by using magnets. It utilizes the strongest magnets, neodymium magnets. They have an attractive force of up to 200 kg. We attach the magnets both to the chair and the table. When a person sits in the chair they block the force so the chair doesn’t pull in. This product is unlike any other on the market. There are chairs that are physically attached to a table by a swinging or rotating arm. This would also solve my problem and fill my opportunity. These are typically found in restaurants or bars, not fine establishments such as sit down restaurants. This product would not be able to be seen. It looks elegant and normal. This product is a real normal chair with magnets installed. The swinging arm could also cause problems of hitting people as a customer gets up or swinging back and hitting them in the chair. My product does not have that issue since it will be treated by customers as they are simply getting into and out of a regular chair. I am selling the kit of the magnets and the service of installing them. I would sell this product for $150 per set. Most restaurants will need to buy many so I will make a large profit. I expect the profit margin to be descent as I begin and grow to higher standards as I continue to grow. Obviously the magnets are expensive and will be costly. This will have to be reflected in the price of my product. I will need to ensure though that I am still able to make a large profit and not charge a price that will scare away buyers. 

Venture Concept:

This product will solve the unmet need by helping push chairs in without having to do any work. This takes the effort out of trying to push in all of the chairs that are usually left out. Customers want to buy this product because they will no longer have to expend extra effort trying to push in chairs. The reason chairs get left out is because people simply forget to push them back in. This product takes the struggle out of having to remember. It takes the stress out of dinner time. It will not be hard to have customers switch to my product due to the fact that there are no products currently available that solve this unmet need. The only solution to this is having to waste time and effort pushing in chairs. The competitors do not pose a threat because again, there is simply just not really another product that competes in this market. My product will need to come in a packaging that is vibrant and eye popping. It will have to make the buyer excited and want to purchase the product. The price point will also be important because if I make the price too high, people will not want to purchase it. I will need to ensure that buyers really know how valuable of a resource this product will be and know that it is worth the money. Distribution will be a big and also important feat. I will need to sell my product to large scale distributors of restaurant supplies. Then the distributors will make it easier to get my product to as many restaurants as possible in the simplest way. The experience of installing the magnets will play a role too. I want to hire individuals that have a respectful attitude and create a good experience for the buyer. I would organize the business to have many employees. A big part of our business for now is marketing our product to show people how valuable it really is. I would have a marketing team of 7 individuals who are researching the customers and the market and figuring out how to represent the product in the best way! I would also have to hire around 10 employees to be the people who actually install the product. They will need to have skill when it comes to hardware and also fully understand how the magnets work. My role would be overseeing the whole process.

My most important resource

-Leadership Ability

I have a lot of experience with leadership. This is the most important resource I possess because I know what it takes and how to be a good leader. This is a hard skill to learn without experience and new businesses do not have the time or funds to have somebody waste time figuring it out. I think that through this class I have also learned many of the skills that entrepreneurs use when beginning a venture. This is another aspect to leadership.

What’s Next?

The next step in this venture will be to get out name out there. We need to prove to customers that our product will really enhance their lives. The next opportunity is to expand the venture to all chairs not just those in restaurants.

The Future…

In five years I hope for this product to begin showing up in quite a few restaurants. I know the progress will be slow but I hope to have more experience on how to sell my product better by this point. As an entrepreneur, I hope to gain skills and knowledge on how to tackle all steps of the business process from start to finish. Maybe I will begin developing another product too!

Feedback:

I received positive feedback on my original venture concept post. I was told that this seemed like a good way to let businesses know about my product and made it seem appealing. I did get a question asking how I would think the profit margins would be. I also got a suggestion for a possible different concept design that involves using a swinging arm instead of magnets. While I think that this is a good idea, it is not the one that I am going for. Chairs with a swinging arm attached to the table already exist and are often found in diners and bars. This is a product that has already made success on the market so maybe I can use its business strategies as a guide for my future. 

What I changed based on feedback:

In my innovation section on my original post, I had mentioned the price for my product but did not go into a lot of detail about profit. So, in response I added more about how I think the profits will be in the beginning and as it grows. I also addressed concern of pricing the item either too high or too low. I hope that this will give a reader a better idea of the profitable nature of this product and why they should want to purchase. I also added a small portion in the innovation section as well about how this product differs from the "swinging arm" chair that was brought up in my feedback. 

This is a photo of what my product would look like when there are no people sitting in it!

28A-My Exit Strategy

1.) I probably would not sell my business for a few years. I would definitely not sell it until it took off more and was stable enough to be sold for a large profit. This business will likely take a while for it to  grow into something that is worth selling. I expect this to be within the next 7 years. I do not think that staying with this business long term is a good decision because once I get my product out, I will need help to distribute and get it all over the world. Since I am not a big company I think that I will need to sell this to a larger company and let them do the distribution.

2.)I have selected this strategy because it would be very difficult for me to get to many restaurants by myself. Most restaurants buy their supplies and furniture from large scale distributors. They are not thinking of small businesses when they are purchasing equipment because it just takes too much effort. They likely would not even find my business or would not even give it a second thought. I could go in and try to sell this product to many restaurants but in the end to be able to reach a wide spread group of restaurants this is not possible. So, I will need the help of a distribution company. This is who I would sell my business too.

3.)I think that this exit strategy has had no influence on the opportunity itself. I have proclaimed that this opportunity is one that exists and is awaiting a solution. I do however think that this strategy has influenced how I have thought about the growth of this business. I have always known that a small business will not work for getting this product out to a large audience. It just takes too much time and there are many restaurants that do not have the time to deal with small businesses. While some small family owned restaurants may want to work with me, they are not all. This is what I would start out my business with and use to help it grow.  I would also like this product to be present in many chain restaurants. For this, I will need to become apart of a larger company. In terms of acquiring resources I do not think that this exit strategy has influenced that. I know that in the beginning I will have to acquire resources by myself. This could prove a little bit of a challenge. When I do sell this business though the large company will have an easier time getting the resources the business needs to be successful.

27A-Reading reflection No. 3

 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

by Carol Dweck

1)The general theme is this book is that people with a fixed mindset and a growth mindset are inherently different but a growth mindset is the one that everybody should adopt. This mindset will help you lead a life where one can get the most out of our experiences. 

2) This book connects right along to what we have learned in this class. Entrepreneurs are very hard working individuals who experience much failure along their journeys. This book discusses a growth mindset. Entrepreneurs in my opinion have to have a growth mindset or they will simply not succeed. They must be dedicated and willing to work hard. We have had many assignments where we analyze how we have worked and what we need to do to better our ventures. I believe that we have adopted a growth mindset in this class.

3) If I had to design an exercise I would have it be to write about a time where the student pushed themselves. This would be a reflection exercise and ask students to discuss in detail what they were feeling at the time. I believe that this exercise would be beneficial because it would show students that they probably have had a growth mindset at some point in their lives. By having them think about it deeper, perhaps they will have an easier time adopting and applying it to their current entrepreneurial ventures.

4) When I chose this book based off of the title, I thought it would be mundane and repetitive on things I have been hearing my whole life. I was expecting it to say that positive mindsets are the key to success. This book however took quite the opposite stance. I was most shocked to read about examples where failure actually lead to success! Most people do not like talking about their failures so it was surprising to read a book where they valued them. This is what a growth mindset is all about. Learning from failures and pushing yourself to do better! 

26A-Celebrating Failure

1.) This semester I failed my very first biochemistry exam. It  was not pretty. I was supposed to be studying during the time of Hurricane Irma and unfortunately did not. I hoped that they would push my exam back but alas they did not. As a result, I was not accurately prepared for this exam and I did not get a good grade.

2.) From this experience, I learned quite a bit actually. First off, I learned to not procrastinate. I know that I need to make sure I have adequate time to get all of my work done on time and still study for exams. I also need to be on top of studying ahead of time just in case an emergency does occur. I also learned how hard I needed to study for this class and how many hours of studying I needed to put in in order to do well. Although I did not study as hard as I needed to for the first exam, I still did study a good amount. But after taking the exam I knew that, that amount just was not enough.

3.) I think that failure is a way of life. It is really difficult to accept failure at the time when it happens but after the fact, you realize that it is actually more helpful than harmful. Failure helps us for our future. It helps us own up to our mistakes and teaches us how to not make them later on. I unfortunately do not handle failure very well. I have a tendency to get very emotionally upset and overwhelmed when I fail. It often takes me a while to accept my failure before I am able to move on. However, I am always able to move on. This class has opened my eyes to failure. I have learned that entrepreneurs have to go through a good amount of failure before they reach their end goals. I have also learned, though, that it is almost impossible for entrepreneurs to succeed if they do not fail. This is how they better their ventures and get them to be a reality. I think that I have learned a lot about failure from this course. I now see that all failure is not a bad thing. I am more inclined to take a risk to see how the result could better.

24A-Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:

When dinner is over and people get up from the table, their chairs often get left out. The same thing occurs in the library when people get up from the desk. Think about it. It happens every single day. It happens at every type of setting where chairs and tables are involved. How annoying is it to have to stop what you are doing in order to push in the chair. This is a large “pet peeve” or “bug” of many people. They are irritated by these chairs being left out and about and in the way. This opportunity is created by our society’s decrease in simple care. It is a product of laziness. This market is pretty broad. It can stretch from the restaurant industry to a simple home setting. The customers who have this need can include restaurant owners and managers and the hardworking parent in a house. Geographically, it is targeted for urban areas where tables are used. Customers are not currently satisfying this need. They have to go around and push in chairs that are left out. They take away their own time and effort to push in chairs left out by others. There however, is not a specific solution to this problem that takes away some of the effort. This opportunity is very big because there is no product in existence to help it. As I stated before this opportunity also solves a problem that is a bother to many. The “window of opportunity” will be open for a while. Although, since this issue is such a widespread bother I am sure that people are brainstorming ways to solve it. The window many close soon as people gain ideas to a solution. However, the issue itself will not just simply go away or be fixed on its own.

Innovation:

My innovation solves this issue by using magnets. It utilizes the strongest magnets, neodymium magnets. They have an attractive force of up to 200 kg. We attach the magnets both to the chair and the table. When a person sits in the chair they block the force so the chair doesn’t pull in. I am selling the kit of the magnets and the service of installing them. I would sell this product for $150 per set. Most restaurants will need to buy many so I will make a large profit.

Venture Concept:

This product will solve the unmet need by helping push chairs in without having to do any work. This takes the effort out of trying to push in all of the chairs that are usually left out. Customers want to buy this product because they will no longer have to expend extra effort trying to push in chairs. The reason chairs get left out is because people simply forget to push them back in. This product takes the struggle out of having to remember. It takes the stress out of dinner time. It will not be hard to have customers switch to my product due to the fact that there are no products currently available that solve this unmet need. The only solution to this is having to waste time and effort pushing in chairs. The competitors do not pose a threat because again, there is simply just not really another product that competes in this market. My product will need to come in a packaging that is vibrant and eye popping. It will have to make the buyer excited and want to purchase the product. The price point will also be important because if I make the price too high, people will not want to purchase it. I will need to ensure that buyers really know how valuable of a resource this product will be and know that it is worth the money. Distribution will be a big and also important feat. I will need to sell my product to large scale distributors of restaurant supplies. Then the distributors will make it easier to get my product to as many restaurants as possible in the simplest way. The experience of installing the magnets will play a role too. I want to hire individuals that have a respectful attitude and create a good experience for the buyer. I would organize the business to have many employees. A big part of our business for now is marketing our product to show people how valuable it really is. I would have a marketing team of 7 individuals who are researching the customers and the market and figuring out how to represent the product in the best way! I would also have to hire around 10 employees to be the people who actually install the product. They will need to have skill when it comes to hardware and also fully understand how the magnets work. My role would be overseeing the whole process.

My most important resource

-Leadership Ability

I have a lot of experience with leadership. This is the most important resource I possess because I know what it takes and how to be a good leader. This is a hard skill to learn without experience and new businesses do not have the time or funds to have somebody waste time figuring it out.

What’s Next?

The next step in this venture will be to get out name out there. We need to prove to customers that our product will really enhance their lives. The next opportunity is to expand the venture to all chairs not just those in restaurants.

The Future…

In five years I hope for this product to begin showing up in quite a few restaurants. I know the progress will be slow but I hope to have more experience on how to sell my product better by this point. As an entrepreneur, I hope to gain skills and knowledge on how to tackle all steps of the business process from start to finish. Maybe I will begin developing another product too!

22-Elavator Post 3

https://youtu.be/Nad6Qu7d7pE

This post I tried to focus on eye contact. My reviews from the previous pitch said that I did a good job when it came to being engaging however I looked down at my computer too much. I did not do a good job at keeping eye contact. I also paused a few times and said the word "um" a few times. This does not look good in an elevator pitch.

When I came back to do this new pitch I took all of this in to account. I read my pitch over many times and did a better job of committing it to memory. I made sure to keep eye contact with the camera. I even did a few takes to ensure that I did a good job at this. I also changed a few of my wording to make it sound more professional.