Final Reflection

I really enjoyed this class and thought from the beginning that this blog concept was going to be really interesting.  I enjoyed being assigned other students blogs and reading about their business ideas.  The only assignment I thought wasn't productive at all was the free money assignment.  I think that the class could be a little bit more differentiated the second half of the semester because some of the assignments were duplicates of the previous ones and I wasn't able to learn much past doing them three times. 

The experience I was most surprised about and ended up enjoying the most was the customer interviews.  I was very proud that I accomplished them but they also broke down a lot of barriers that I thought stood between a potential product and the market.  When you are hearing first-hand constructive criticism on your product, it can be very inspiring to think that you could potentially be selling this product to someone.

I don't necessarily consider myself an entrepreneur just yet because I haven't officially created the product.  I moved forward with an idea but until that idea becomes a reality, I still consider it to just be an idea.  I definitely feel like I have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset, I plan to continue looking for problems that I can think of a solution for that I might be able to sell to someone in the future.

I would recommend doing all of the assignments even if you don't see the benefits of doing them. You might find from doing some of the assignments that you thought would be unproductive that you actually ended up learning a lot from.  In order to succeed in this class the best advice I can give is to do all of the assignments and really try to help others excel by giving quality constructive criticism.

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 really enjoyed this reading as it was very understandable and very inspiring.  What surprised me the most was that SKS only gave microloans to women and not men.  I find it hard to believe that men would be less likely to reinvest in the household and I'd be interested to see those studies.

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

I thought it was a little confusing that they only gave loans to women, but they said there were studies the showed men wouldn't reinvest it.  The story was very easy to read and nothing about it was that confusing.

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

There are a lot of things I would like to ask this author and I feel like he would have been a great entrepreneur to interview for the assignments in this class.  I would ask the other how he managed to deal with the risks early on in the business when he was making loans.  I would also ask the author if he started the business with plans to only lend to women and if that was something he learned as a loan officer in his first job.

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 know if he was wrong about the fact that men are less likely to reinvest in the household or not.  I would definitely like to see these studies which I will try to google to find more information about.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

            The unmet customer need exists in apartment complexes and condos where there are very few dumpsters or the dumpsters are located a short driving distance from the tenants.  These potential customers don’t want to take the time to walk the trash to the dumpster because it is so far away.  These customers may also be unable to walk that far or they may not be able to while holding the heavy trash bags.

            These potential customers often drive their trash to the dumpster by putting the trash inside their car.  Many of these customers dislike doing this because it makes their car smell like trash.  They also may not like to do this because the bag may be leaking and they don’t want the bag to leak in their car.  Some of these potential customers that dislike putting the trash in their car end up putting the trash on top of the hood or the trunk then drive to the dumpster.  This leads to potential hazards as many condos and apartments have speed bumps which can knock the trash off of the car which almost always breaks the bag and spills the garbage everywhere.

            The market size of this product is always increasing as the population grows and more people rent apartments or buy townhouse style houses without trash pick-up services.  This product could serve any age range low enough to own a car and high enough to assist the older population in taking out the trash.  This opportunity has some risks but the profit of a successful product could do very well. 

More market research should be done to determine the amount that a customer would pay for such a product.  There is no similar product available so there would be no switching costs to the customer.  Many of the potential customers I interviewed expressed discontent with the traditional ways of putting the trash on top or in the car, so it would be easy to convince the customer to change their habits.

There might be laws regarding the type of attachments that can be put on a car which this device would have to comply with.  This product has a very large window of opportunity because the problem has persisted and will continue to persist until another alternative is achieved. 

Innovation

            The product that this venture relies on is called the Trashport Pro.  This device would consists of essentially two half spheres.  The lower sphere would act as a suction cup to attach to the vehicle’s roof or trunk, the main function of the lower half is to hold the device to the car while the trash is being transported to the dumpster.  The upper half sphere would be deep enough to hold a large trash bag full of garbage without it being able to fall out of the device.  The main function of the upper half is to prevent the garbage bag from falling off of the vehicle while moving.

            The device would be made of a rubber polymer that would not scratch the paint of the car while being suctioned to the car.  This rubber polymer would also need to be non-porous so that it cannot absorb any of the odor if liquid is spilled on it from the trash bag.

            More research on the market would need to be done to accurately put a price on the product.  The device should be able to be mass produced and shipped at a rate that would be less than the price consumers would pay for it in order for it to be profitable.  The only source of income from the venture would be the profit from the initial sale of the device.  It has no enhancements, but different sizes could be an option if there is a large enough market for them.

Venture Concept

            The innovation addresses the opportunity in that consumers would purchase a product that would prevent them from having to put the garbage bag in their car while significantly lowering the risk of the garbage bag falling off of their car.  The only thing stopping a consumer from switching to this method would be the initial cost of the device itself.  If the benefits of the product outweighed the initial investment in the product then there is a potential for profit.

            If the demand was high it would be very easy for competitors to enter the market and make a similar product.  The device would most likely only be profitable while the patent was active, but once the patent expired, many substitutes would start to appear.  The only resistance to the substitutes would be brand image that formed during the initial stages of product introduction.  This brand image may continue to stay strong for a short time until reviews of the other products deemed them equivalent and possibly cheaper.

            For the reasons listed above it would be important to have packaging that was cost effective but memorable to the customer.  The name “Trashport Pro” implies a superiority to alternatives and is also a pun to the word “Transport Pro.”  There would be limited customer support as the device would be fairly simple to use.  The purpose of customer support would be to address the customer issues while also looking for opportunities to improve the product.

            There would be a very limited number of employees to reduce overhead costs and to keep the product in an affordable range for the potential customers.  The product would be made by an outsourced company and potentially packaged by that same company before being shipped to a warehouse that would ship to the stores for sale.

Three Elements

            The secret sauce of this product would initially lie within the patent that would create the lasting brand for the consumer.  The brand itself would then become the secret sauce that consumers could rely on.  It would be hard to target the existing customers with another product due to the product not having any enhancements or updates.  It would most likely serve the company best to sell the rights to the product and start on another opportunity with the profit from this one.  If I were to create this product I would do exactly that, and continue to look for problems that average people have that I could create a solution for.

I didn't receive any negative or constructive feedback on things I could change. This should look pretty similar to my original venture concept,

Elevator Pitch No. 4

I looked at some other Elevator pitches and changed mine a little bit to emulate the ones I liked. The feedback I received didn't change much but I changed some things to answer some questions about the product.

Google Gold

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

I could have done a better job at SEO, but I wasn't really thinking about it while I was doing each blog post.  I tried to say "Trashport Pro" as my keyword as many times as I could.

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

The name of my product was "Trashport Pro" which I tried to use often when trying to pitch my product.  I used Trashport Pro 2.0 at one point to distinguish the differences between the product that I pitched initially, and the one I was pitching after adapting the product to the feedback I received.

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 messaged a few friends about my blog but did not post it on my wall, which would have probably generated more traffic.  The people that I messaged viewed several of the blog posts but didn't continue viewing the blog for updates.

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

"My Entrepreneurship Story" was my most viral post, most likely due to the fact that it was the very first post, so people had the most time to view it.  It also had a funny picture of my grandpa, which may have caught some interest. 

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?

Due to Google's autocorrect software, if you type in "Trashport Pro" (without the quotes), Google will show you search results from "Transport Pro," thinking that's what you meant.  But if you search for "Trashport Pro" with the quotes, one of my posts does show up on the first search results page.

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? 

I read these chapters early in the semester accidentally, but I looked through them again and recalled the thing that surprised me most.  The author said that 3M once had an idea to replace men's face razors with sandpaper, which sounded like the worst idea I've ever heard.  It goes on to say that the idea failed in the men's shaving industry, but was a success in the auto industry as it was sold as waterproof sandpaper, which I thought was really neat.

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

I thought the purpose of the diaspora network was confusing to understand.  It's supposed to be a relationship that exists between cultures, but I'm not really sure how they affect anything if a person can learn the customs and laws of the other country without the relationship.

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

I would ask the author to give an example of a diaspora network and how it is used in a company.  I would also ask the author if they thought numerous small ventures were better than one big venture, if their answer was numerous small ventures, I would ask them if the pharmaceutical industry should rethink the way they research and develop new medications.

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

I didn't find anything that I disagreed with or that I thought was wrong.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

For this exercise, I would like you to revisit that first conversation you had with an entrepreneur. In that initial interview, you asked an entrepreneur three questions. Now, revisit this interview and think about the questions you asked and the answers they provided you. From where you stand now, what is your impression of that initial interview?

I have a good impression from the first interview, it went well and made a friend and potential employer if I ever decide to get into car sales.  I enjoyed learning about his experiences from being loaned money from family and how that affected his business and relationships.

Second, visit the entrepreneur again. Record the interview if possible. The three questions you ask this time are entirely up to you. Let your experiences in this course drive what questions you ask -- and that will be very different for each of you! 

I could not record the interview as I called him and asked him how his business was going.  He told me that he leaves most of the work to his son but he gives input on growing the business all the time.  They have recently been spending more on advertising on television and have been considering doing more online marketing also.  I told him about my product and he wasn't too impressed, he questioned me on who I thought would buy such a product and I explained to him that it would be mostly apartment tenants.  He conceded that he didn't know much about renting since he had been in a house since he was young.  Lastly, I asked what would be a good business to get into now and he said that it should deal heavily with computers, as most cars today are becoming less engine, more computer.

Third, after the interview, try to gather some sense of how far you have come in this class. In your post, discuss your comfort level in talking about entrepreneurship in this interview now, compared to three months ago. Did the entrepreneur convey a sense that they thought you had progressed in your journey?

I didn't specifically ask if he thought I had progressed, but he did congratulate me on graduating this month.  The most important thing I learned in this class was the ability to find marketable solutions to people's problems.  I think this skill will benefit me throughout life in whatever career I get into.  I feel very comfortable speaking about entrepreneurship because I learned a lot about surveying customers about potential products, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

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. 

While I was talking to customers at Publix I met a woman that seemed interested in getting me a job out of college.  I sent her an e-mail of the type of job I was looking for because she told me she was a headhunter that found people jobs.  She forwarded my information to someone that I assumed was going to talk to me about potential jobs I would be interested in.  

I set up a date to talk to her and waiting patiently thinking about all the jobs she would tell me about.  When she called, she immediately started talking about what the type of job she did and the type of pay and then proceeded to ask me several interview type questions.  I thought it was strange but I went along with it because I figured she needed to know more about me before she could tell me some jobs she thought I might be interested in.  

About three-fourths of the way through the conversation I realized I was being interviewed for the job of a recruiter.  I had already said that I wasn't really interested in being a recruiter early on in our "interview" but as she talked about the position, she did a very good job at making it sound appealing.

She asked if I wanted to continue with the application process and I said yes because it sounded somewhat interesting.  Well needless to say, I failed the interview and she sent me a "Thank you for your interest," e-mail a week later.

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

I learned that recruiters seem to be very secretive about what they do.  I also learned that I do not want to be a recruiter.  The real lesson I learned was that I need to prepare a lot for the interview of the job that I do want because I didn't like getting the rejection letter even though I didn't want the job, but I would have felt pretty bad if I actually wanted a job that didn't think I was a good fit.

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? 

I really enjoyed the first sentence in this assignment about how Edison didn't fail 1,000 times at making a light bulb, he just discovered 1,000 ways that didn't work.  I take failure pretty hard emotionally and it puts me in a pretty bad mood for a short while.  This class hasn't changed my perspective that much on failure, I've always tried to see the silver lining on failure because otherwise I would get stuck thinking about it.  I would say I am a little more likely to take a risk now than I was four months ago due to my excitement about graduation.

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? 

I thought the most interesting part of this chapter was the different valuation methods.  I really enjoyed reading the key points as it pointed out the weaknesses to certain valuation methods compared to others and when each of them are used.  The topic that most surprised me was the amount of research that must be done in order to properly value a company when it is looking to be purchased, such as the condition of the equipment that a company owns.  I feel like this would be rather tricky when dealing with the purchase of a failing residential solar company as most of their assets are on top of a lot of houses.

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

I didn't quite understand the difference between the adjusted tangible and the liquidation value method of venture valuation.  Both seem to subtract liabilities from assets.

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

I would ask the author about the difference between adjusted tangible venture valuation and liquidation venture valuation as they both seem the same to me.  I would also ask the author what type of valuation would be best when trying to determine what a company's private stock price should be.

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

I didn't disagree with anything in this chapter, much of it was defining words on a spreadsheet.

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 plan to sell the rights to the business within the next five years for a large return to work on other potential business ideas.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I chose this business strategy because once the patent for the product runs out there is not much else to do with the company name.  It could continue to make products but it would be hard to link them with the original product idea.

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?

The exit strategy has definitely influenced the other decisions I made in the concept.  I had plans from the beginning to work with a solar idea, which required a high initial investment.  To lower the debt ratio of that investment I needed an idea that could be sold with lower risk.  With initial funds in place I will stay with my future business and plan to grow upon it with a plan of looking for ways to improve current conditions to create marketable products.

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 thought that it was really interesting that a major reason for lack of strategic planning by the entrepreneur is the lack of trust that the entrepreneur has towards employees and consultants.  The entrepreneur doesn't want to let their secrets go to a person that may go behind their back and use them or sell them to someone else.  I was also really surprised the Facebook was initially named Facemash and was used to rate the attractiveness of females at Harvard.

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

I didn't really quite understand the entrepreneurial strategy matrix.  I think the author could have used specific examples relating to the graphs instead of generalities. 

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

I would ask the author if they could give specific examples of the entrepreneurial strategy matrix in action, such as when a company has decided to perform one of the functions due to circumstances.  I would also ask the author about the best methods to transition from a entrepreneurial role to a managerial role to grow the company, as they said it was very difficult.

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 necessarily disagree with anything the author said, most of it seemed like factual information that I had general knowledge of from other business classes.  This question is pretty strange when reading a textbook because I think there would be some pretty serious issues if I disagreed a lot with the author.