Customer Interviews No. 1

1) Find an opportunity. 

I chose solar power as my opportunity as it was listed as a growth sector in an earlier chapter.

2) Figure out who might have the unmet need.

I went to several houses that looked like they could be equipped with solar panels and spoke to the residents about what they knew about solar.

3) Come up with a list of questions.

I chose to ask questions relating to how much they are currently paying for electricity to see how much these similar houses were paying.  I also asked what they knew about solar and if they ever considered it as an option.

4) Go talk to customers!

This gentleman didn't want his face to appear on camera. (as did many of the people that declined to be interviewed for that reason.)

5) Tell us what you learned about the opportunity. 

We can gather from the sample that there is a market for residential solar panels.  The company that capitalizes on this market will have to ensure that the concerns listed by the residents are addressed before finalizing production.  It seemed many of the people I spoke with were positive about the future prospects of solar power but thought they could not afford it at this time.  Due to Florida not allowing special financing of solar panels, it makes sense that consumers wouldn't know much about the product.

6) Tell us what you learned about interviewing customers.

I learned that many people are willing to do an interview unless they are being recorded on video.  I also learned that marketing will be important for the future of solar sales as many people are not familiar with the product.  A successful company in this field will offer some type of warranty for the roof for the duration of the life of the panels.

Week 4 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 list of idea killers listed after the example of Fedex was given.  I've heard many of the "idea killers" told to me and I am guilty of telling people the same thing.  When the idea of overnight shipping was given and a person responded by saying that if it was profitable, the post office would have done it.  I thought this was interesting as Uber is a new ride share idea that I'm sure received a lot of negative criticism before being implemented.

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

The four types of innovation include, invention, extension, duplication, and synthesis.  I found it hard to think of the differences between extension and synthesis as they both use existing ideas to create a new formulation.  At what point does an extension of a product turn into synthesis of a new product?

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

I would ask the author to give better examples explaining the differences between extension and synthesis.  I would also ask the author to better explain the potential answers to the appositional relationship exercises that I completed.  After completing the exercises, I wasn't sure if my answers were what the author was looking for or not.

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

After reading this chapter I have to wonder if really anyone can be the innovator/entrepreneur that is described by the author or if these traits are reserved for certain personality types.  Being an ENTJ, I often find myself agreeing with most of the statements regarding entrepreneurs, but I know many other personality types that are opposite and don't fit the entrepreneur description because of their personality type.  I agree with the author that anyone can be an entrepreneur and problem-solver with practice, but there are others that are better suited for the task.

Top 5 World Problems

Top 5 Problems (Most serious to least serious)

1. Religious extremism is a serious threat to the globe as extremely ill-minded individuals get their hands on dangerous weapons.  These groups also recruit weak-minded individuals to join them to increase their numbers.

2. Global warming is a serious issue that threatens all of our planet's inhabitants. If steps are not taken to curb carbon emissions, we could deplete our limited resources and pollute our planet to an uninhabitable state.

3. Political and social instability is a factor influencing most of the world to some degree.  This varies from location to location but is a threat as people become discontent with their political or social situation.

4. Each healthcare system in every part of the world has its own problems.  Many people around the world have no access to healthcare due to location or income level.

5. As the entire world's economy becomes interdependent and individuals begin to lose faith in their fiat currency, a cascade event might occur that creates a global economic crisis.

Reasoning:  I chose religious extremism as the most serious threat to humanity because it could potentially destroy the world at a faster rate than the others in my list.  Global warming is a slow process that we might be able to find solutions for.  Political and social instability could provoke civil wars unless global relations become strained in which case a third World War could break out.  The other two would take complex financial policies to fix.

Top 5 Solutions (Most-possible to implement to least-possible to implement)

1.  We can slow the rate by improving wildlife conservation efforts and putting higher restrictions on harmful business practices.

2.  Implement proper birth control education and per child policies if necessary.

3.  Reward environmentally friendly business practices and consumer habits.  Give incentives for people to recycle instead of throwing everything away.

4.  To lessen the impact of the collapse, the government should implement programs to soften the blow to those hardest hit.  The economy is cyclical and will bounce back.

5.  A gradual reduction in carbon dioxide emissions with the introduction of a combination of different alternative energy sources.  Government incentives should be put in place to motivate the transition to sustainable sources of energy.

Reasoning:  I put them in the order that I think the government would have the easiest time creating policies for and fixing.  In Florida, whenever there is an environmental amendment on the ballet to conserve wildlife, it easily passes.  For this reason I think the next generation may be even more prone to pass wildlife conservation initiatives.  The others on the list may receive more resistance as they would potentially cost more money to implement.

Identifying Local Opportunities

Five Opportunities

1) Title: Florida gunman distracted by no-firing gun scared off by armed victim who took own shot
Link: Click here
Description of story: A man demanded that another man be quiet and go inside a house.  The man did not comply and the assailant attempted to shoot him. His gun malfunctioned and the victim pulled out his own gun and fired a warning shot that scared the attacker away.
Description of problem: The attacker had a malfunctioning weapon.
Who has the problem: The attacker.

2) Title: 15-year-old girl accused of bomb threats at Keys schools
Link: Click here
Description of story: A 15-year old girl and a male were accused on several charges of bomb threats directed at two different high schools. Thankfully, they were both false alarms and no bombs were at the schools.
Description of problem: The two people responsible are going to face criminal charges.
Who has the problem: The 15-year old girl and a male accomplice.

3) Title: Weather alert: 40s in South Florida, with a warming trend this week
Link: Click here
Description of story: A snowstorm is hitting the east coast and affecting many people.
Description of problem: Cold weather is causing more than 20 flight cancellations at Miami International Airport.
Who has the problem: Miami International Airport

4) Title: Andrés Oppenheimer: The future of our jobs
Link: Click here
Description of story: The World Economic Forum had a meeting and made a forecast that robots will destroy more than five million jobs over the next five years.
Description of problem: Many people are going to lose their job to automation.
Who has the problem: Although automation will affect many different industries, the article states it will have the highest impact on sales people, cashiers, administrative clerks, assembly line workers and taxi drivers.

5) Title: BankUnited reports 2015 earnings results
Link: Click here
Description of story: BankUnited reported their income results for the year and decided that retail residential mortgages were hurting their bottom line.
Description of problem: The retail residential mortgage business requires a lot of scale and is not suited for BankUnited's strategic mission.  They have decided to exit the business.
Who has the problem: BankUnited's retail residential mortgage business.

Week 3 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 reading "Entrepreneurial Fear 101" in chapter 2.  In this passage it talks about Wilson Harrell, an entrepreneur in Jacksonville, Florida. I particularly liked this because I am currently living there also.  The passage described how Wilson had to deal with the fear of losing his entire business.  Entrepreneurial fear is a fear of never succeeding and fading into oblivion having never to have left your mark.  He ended up succeeding and making a deal with his biggest client to remain partners.

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

The figures used to explain flow chart information in chapter 2 were quite confusing.  I tried to follow them but couldn't apply any real world situations to what they were describing.

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

I would ask the author if he thought a specific Myers and Briggs personality type was specific to entrepreneurs.  I would ask this because I am an ENTJ and I possess many of the qualities of an entrepreneur.

I would also ask the author if he thinks there is a correlation between the failure rates of businesses and the owner's personality type.  I would ask this because I would be interested in seeing the different percentages.

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

I disagree with the author when he said that entrepreneurs needed to empathize with their clients, I believe entrepreneurs can suffice with sympathizing.

Very Short Interview No. 1

For my short interview, I interviewed John King, owner of Beach Blvd Automotive.  Mr. King opened Beach Blvd Automotive in 1967 after receiving financing from his brothers.  He passed on the business to his son, John King Jr, who continues running the business today.  He qualifies as an entrepreneur as he started his business believing he could provide better service to the community than the competition.

Q1)  How old were you when you started your business, and how long has the business been operating?

A1)  I opened the business when I was 21 years old.  Over the 49 years of service, I've turned it from just a couple of guys working on used cars into the largest used car dealership in Jacksonville.

Q2)  Is there anything you wish you had been told before you started your business?

A2)  Keep family out.  I don't mean that like it sounds, my business is family owned and operated and I am very proud of that.  But when I wanted to open up shop, I didn't have enough money for the land so my brothers invested in me but it ended up causing a lot trouble between us.

Q3)  What advice would you give someone looking to start their own business?

A3)  Learn everything you possibly can about the product you want to sell, and figure out how financing works.  You need to be able to buy the components for the product you are trying to sell, and if you can't figure out the financing, you may find yourself losing money even after you sell your product.

I initially didn't think that a used car dealer qualified as an entrepreneur according to this class, but after speaking to him about the innovative techniques he used to stay in business, I definitely consider him an entrepreneur.  It surprised me that he immediately said to keep family out of business but I can understand how money comes between friends and families.  I enjoyed interviewing Mr. King and look forward to asking him some new questions in the future.

World's Biggest Problems

1. Religious extremism is a serious threat to the globe as extremely ill-minded individuals get their hands on dangerous weapons.  These groups also recruit weak-minded individuals to join them to increase their numbers.
The most practical implementable solution would be to reinforce the importance of education worldwide.  This should decrease the amount of people susceptible to these extreme actions.

2. The exponentially rising population is a concern to our limited resources and waste management capabilities.
Implement proper birth control education and per child policies if necessary.

3. Each healthcare system in every part of the world has its own problems.  Many people around the world have no access to healthcare due to location or income level.
A solution could be to combine the best parts of the universal and private healthcare systems to create a system better for everyone.

4. Global warming is a serious issue that threatens all of our planet's inhabitants. If steps are not taken to curb carbon emissions, we could deplete our limited resources and pollute our planet to an uninhabitable state.
A gradual reduction in carbon dioxide emissions with the introduction of a combination of different alternative energy sources.  Government incentives should be put in place to motivate the transition to sustainable sources of energy.

5. As the entire world's economy becomes interdependent and individuals begin to lose faith in their fiat currency, a cascade event might occur that creates a global economic crisis.
To lessen the impact of the collapse, the government should implement programs to soften the blow to those hardest hit.  The economy is cyclical and will bounce back.

6. As humans consume more and more of earth's resources, species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.  Habitat destruction can destroy species that we are not even aware of yet.
We can slow the rate by improving wildlife conservation efforts and putting higher restrictions on harmful business practices.

7. Despite our planet being three-fourths water, less than one percent of that water is potable.  This means people still drink water that makes them sick or die from dehydration.
The most likely solution will come from a scientific think tank on the issue to come up with sustainable desalination technology.

8. Our planet is our home but also our waste basket, and pollution is a serious problem. Potentially harmful chemicals can leak into the ground and destroy surrounding environments.  Not only is putting all of the trash underground dangerous but it is also wasteful of the materials that could have been recycled.
Reward environmentally friendly business practices and consumer habits.  Give incentives for people to recycle instead of throwing everything away.

9. As robots begin to replace most of the low level workforce, poverty is going to become a serious issue for the newly unemployed.  This problem is escalated by a limited food supply and growing population.
A restructured government assistance program that does more than hand out money should be put into place.  Safe sustainable farming practices should be incorporated and research should be done on safely genetically modifying crops for higher productivity.

10. Political and social instability is a factor influencing most of the world to some degree.  This varies from location to location but is a threat as people become discontent with their political or social situation.
Re-instill trust in the government with social programs aimed at easing areas of instability such as income inequality and healthcare reform.