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!