Week 8 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? 

The biggest surprise during this reading assignment was the amount of ways start up companies can obtain capital. There are so many more ways than just loans and venture capitalists.

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

No part of this section was confusing to me. The author clearly described the content and made it ver understandable.

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

1. Do you believe that who your investors are is more important than how much they give you?
2. Are there certain types of investors that are better for certain types of companies than others?

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

I do not think the author was wrong about any of the material in this reading. I agreed with everything he had to say.

Half-way Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a skill. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I have definitely used my time-management skills more than anything so far to keep up with this class. With so many assignments that are due every couple of days, it takes a lot of time to know what assignments are due next and which ones take more time to complete. I have also been more outgoing since starting this class. For many assignments, I need help volunteers for, so I have gained communication skills asking for help from others.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

I definitely think I have gained some tenaciousness over the paste two months. When I don't want to go on anymore, I tell myself that my grades really do matter and that with every assignment I am bettering myself. I definitely felt like giving up during the customer interview assignment but pushed through and told myself that talking with strangers would help me grow.

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

1. Just trust yourself that you will do a great job on every assignment and that your ideas will eventually work out.
2. Go out on a limb and act outside of your comfort zone. 
3. Talk with people who are tenacious.

The Twenty Percent

I talked with Frank again, the same business owner I spoke with for the "Very Short Interview" blog post. Frank owns and runs a fencing company.

1) Who do they think their target customers are? Where do they find their customers? What are their customer's demographics? What kinds of media do their customers consume? Etc.What are their customers' problems? What are customers currently doing to fix their problems? How big, on a scale of 1-10, is this problem in their customers' lives? What are some of the bigger problems their customers are dealing with? Do their customers have a budget allocated to fix this problem?

Frank believes the company's target customers are private households. They find their customers in many neighborhoods that require fenced in yards or house that has larger back yards. The demographics of the customers varies but they all fall under the category of house owners. Customers of Franks company usually have old, broken, and moldy fences that need to be replaced and since replacing fences is expensive the customers normally wait until they cannot wait any longer, so the problem is severe. Many customers' budgets are enough for the projects but sometimes the projects have to be altered for customer needs.

2) Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described. Ask these 'target customers' the questions in the paragraph directly above.

After asking three customers about the questions mentioned above I got similar answers from each. All three customers said they believe a company set up like Frank's should target customers on a household basis. One customer even mentioned the company reaching out to parks fro larger projects and  agree with this idea. The customers agreed that since replacing a fence is expensive they too normally wait until they absolutely have to replace it to call for service.

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist. 

Believe the owner understands all of his customers needs and has created processes that can solve their problems. Differences in opinion on how many customers the company reaches out to and what customers believe a similar company should do arises from Frank knowing what the company has the capacity to do and customers not understanding the entire business plan.

Week 7 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? 

The most surprising part of this reading to me was the fact at how much time and resources are put into market and demographic segmentation. I knew it was important in advertising but not as much as the book made it out to be.

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

This particular reading did not have any topics that were too confusing to me, however the part where they talk about psychographics could have been expanded because I would like to know more about how they use psychographics.

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

1. What is the best type of segmentation when marketing a product or service for a very young company with little awareness?
• Since the ideas we are working snare for young companies, I would like to hear the authors thoughts on marketing for these types of companies.
2. How would a small company with little cash analyze a market and gain info on demographics.
• A small company doesn't have the resources as larger ones, so howdy they reach the correct markets.

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

I do not disagree with anything the author said. Like last week's reading, I disagreed with a few point after first glance but then after reading more, I agreed with what the author said.

Free Money

This exercise was actually not challenging at all. I knew people I walked up to would be skeptical and ask why I was trying to give them a dollar, but I expected everyone to end up taking the dollar. I decided I would approach people who were by themselves and just walk up to them and tell them they could have this dollar because I was feeling generous. I started the conversation by introducing myself and asking their name, then after that handed them the dollar. Three people I walked up to were just walking down the sidewalk and the other two were sitting down or laying in a hammock as seen in one of my videos. I expected everyone to take the dollar and every person I asked did take it. It was easier than I thought to get them to take it and was actually surprised at how quickly a few people took and how little questions they asked. Here are two videos of my attempts at giving away "free money":

Elevator Pitch No. 2

 I did not upload my original elevator pitch, so I was not able to get feedback but I will mention what I did to make it as best as I could. I recognized quickly after several attempts that being prepared and knowing exactly what you want to say is key. I changed what I said after a few takes and found what sounded most fluid and real. I think I could definitely work more at removing filler words and making my ideas come across clearly in less time and I will work on these things for my next one.

Week 6 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? 

The biggest surprise to me in this reading is the fact that threat of high barriers to entry can affect the profitability of the industry. I figured for profitability to be affected, the barriers would have to have been present already, but just a threat of the barriers is enough to affect it.

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

There was not much in this reading that was confusing to me. He did a good job of explaining the different factors that create a competitive advantage.

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

1. What are the best ways to determine if a company is merging or acquiring a company based on an offensive strategy or a defensive strategy?

- I would ask this because strategy is mentioned a lot and sometimes companies merge or acquire to be on the offensive and sometimes companies do it to protect market share and by knowing which is the reason can lead a competitive advantage.

2. What do you see the profitability of the healthcare industry looking like in 5 or 10 years?

- I would ask this, because there is a lot of M&A activity going on in this industry and with potential changes to the political and economic landscape in the near future?

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

I did not disagree with the author on any subject in this reading. There were a few subjects that I was surprised about, but after reading more, agreed with what the author had to say.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

For this set of interviews, I had my 5 interviewees read a brief description of my business concept before the interview took place.  I then told them a little more about the concept if they wanted to know more. I then started the interview with them giving me their opinion on the business concept and opinion on whether or not they liked it and thought it would work or not. I followed the reaction question three other questions.
 Here is the business concept I had written down that the interviewees reacted to:

"This app/website will connect locals who are looking for fresh produce with other locals who have produce trees and plants on their property that they wish to share. Households with fruit trees and vegetable plants in their backyard or on their property often have dead fruit flying to the ground and rotting which brings bugs and bad scents to peoples yards. This service will allow people looking for fresh produce to see within a certain radius what types of fruit and vegetable plants the people in their community have growing around them. The user will set a radius from his/her phone or computer and be able to see which households are selling which fruits. This service will create less waste and allow for users to make some money and share fresh produce.

These are three questions that followed their reaction to the business concept:

2. Would you personally use this service?
3. Do you know others ( family, friends, neighbors) that would definitely use this service?
4. What features do you think could be added to the app/website to make it more marketable for younger users such as yourself?

From these interviews, I learned that more young college students than I thought would actually consider using a service like this. I learned that younger users definitely notice advertising and that for a service like this, advertising would be key. I expected these interviews to lead to new ideas regarding getting a wider range of people to use the service, and they did.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1.  My name is Thomas Murphy and I am a junior studying finance at the University of Florida.  I have lived in Florida my entire life and like to think of ways of connecting people who may otherwise not be connected. I aspire to be the owner of my own company and help those around me. This lead me to take this business idea into deeper thought. The business idea i am proposing is not an original idea of mine but I have grown on an idea that someone else pitched me that i think can be exploited.

2.  The service that my business would provide is connecting people who grow any type of fruit or vegetable not heir private property to reach customers who are looking for local organic produce.

3.  The demographic of my customers would be anyone who has a need or want for local fresh produce products. Floridians and tropical areas are more easily marketable because of the vast amount of properties with produce. The customers will all be local and near the local sellers.

4.  Customers will use this service because the app/website would allow them to find cleaner and fresher produce at cheaper prices than their local grocery store. If people find out that there neighbor two doors down has lemon trees in his/her back yard they will be more likely to buy lemons from them than the grocery store. This is good for both the buyer and seller. Customers will actually get to see where their produce is coming from the the trees/plants they are growing on. The service would attract sellers because they will be able to make money from the same fruit that they probably just throw away when it falls off the tree.

5.  What sets this business idea apart from others is the easy to use platform that would be available. The app/website would be simple to use and fluent. The accuracy of information and ability for sutlers to grade sellers and their products would provide for a great local marketplace. 

I believe all these elements fit together very well. The business plan has a lot more to it and the many details can definitely come together to make a business that would have incredible reach and local impact. Some parts on the ability to find sellers and verify the sellers would need some work but I believe own future business plans this is a very great opportunity that can work.