30A- Final Reflection

The things that stick out to me the most as the most formative experience and things that I will remember years down the line are that I was able to get out of my comfort zone and really establish myself as a young entrepreneur trying to make a dream into a reality. I think doing those elevator pitches really taught me a lot about myself and gave me confidence that I did not think I really had before this course started. I am really proud of myself for getting out my shell and taking chances and really reaching and digging deep to try to come up with a business venture that I saw as a reality. This class taught me a lot about myself and with in regards to what I want to do in the upcoming future of my business career. By completing reading reflections and utilizing that knowledge with a combination of the lectures, I was able to accomplish a lot during this semester.

Yes, I do see myself as more of an entrepreneur after this course and really figuring out new different things about myself. I for sure consider myself to have a entrepreneurial mindset and could see myself years down the line looking at different possible products or services that I could implement in the upcoming future after college.

One recommendation that I would say to students coming into this class is to be open-minded and to really go with a business mindset. You need to be organized in this class to succeed, that is something that I did while partaking in this class. Go in with the mindset that you will succeed and I promise that you will succeed.

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

College students and local Gainesville citizens are involved with the hardship of acquiring transportation to and from home from city to city each semester. This is due a numerous amounts of reasons including financial hardship and not being able to obtain a vehicle, guardians not allowing you bring a car to school, or you just don't have the resources that other students may have to get you to where you need  to go. This is a major opportunity and has potential through the roof. The market and customers of this issue are Gainesville citizens and students throughout the state of Florida. This issue is supposed be solved by the creation of a service application that allows you to talk with the other people in the area that are traveling in the same areas that you are. This issue occurs in many different locations within the state of Florida so I am hoping to turn the issue around and solve this complex conflict. The current solutions of this are utilizing social media to communicate with other people in your local area to travel but that has never been a working solution for this problem. This is a big opportunity with potential through the roof, all it needs is the right guidance and support cast to make sure this communication application works. The window of opportunity is very evident and something that has been waiting to be solved. I think overtime soon this application can be a realistic solution.

Innovation:

My service that I am establishing is a downloadable application that is used as a communication forum for locals around the state of Florida to coordinate rides to and from home and schools, etc. This has been something that i have wanted to plan for months now as I used to be someone who was a main target for this application. This application is simplify and resolve the issue of students having to take long bus rides back home and or riding with complete strangers. My application is supposed to make those issues go away and to come up with a fixed solution. My application allows you to see full reports on the people you are riding with including different features that benefits both you and the driver. Overall, this creative innovation is something that would be very beneficial for managing these rides in any city.



Venture Concept:

My innovation will directly solve this opportunity and unmet need because it serves as a benchmark and a sense of simplicity as this travel application allows students to communicate with other students to coordinate rides home amongst each other. This service solves many financially discrepancies that many students still encounter with today so I believe that this idea will help solve that and I truly believe that there are many features and incentives that this will be a hit on college campuses in the state of Florida and hopefully across the United States. This concept started as an idea as I was a freshman at UF with no car and nobody to ride with, this idea helps a financial burden as it is too expensive and not simple for kids to get rides home from school anymore. Students will adapt to this service and use it as their number one go to when they are in need of a ride whether that be for a break such as winter or spring or just they need to go home for an emergency and they luckily caught a student going home at the same time as them. Overall, this has potential and room to grow, this service will be of usage in the future to many students.

The feedback that I received from my peers was that this was a realistic business venture and something that had a lot of potential. They think I have the tools to succeed and just need the right people to surround my business around to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Ultimately I have taken these notes and realize from all these past assignments and feedback from them that not everything is perfect in the beginning and that people may need a few attempts before being successful. The feedback was crucial and something that I plan on utilizing in the future. I changed my business venture concept by taking the feedback and really taking it to heart so that I was able to take the notes, plan for the future and then implement them in the future with the correct protocols. I will be bringing in new partners and people who are very qualified in many different segments that I am able to fully accomplish my goal of reaching a top utilized in the application. I hope to spread this app across the United States to make this the biggest application I can. 

28A- Your Exit Strategy

The exit strategy that I plan to execute with this communication application platform is for me to build up on service and ultimately sell it after years of success and flourishing. I am not interested in being in my company for the long haul because as I get older and mature I will want to move onto another business venture as I am someone who loves to jump around and live an interesting life. I have selected this exist strategy because since my business idea has a lot to do with college students, I will want to move on and work with older people and ultimately have a new life in regards to businesses. I will move forward and take those skills and lessons that I have learned and implement them into my future business operations. This exit strategy and everything that I have learned has completely influenced my decision making in identifying an opportunity. It has influenced my growth intentions because of my hunger to become successful and be good at what I do. Overall, all of these past assignments and strategies that I have learned have made a huge impact on my future with what I want to do.

27A- Reading Reflection No. 3

The last book that I chose to read from the ENT3003 reading list was Mindset: The New Psychology of Success written by Carol Dweck.

1. The overall theme and summary of this book is the mindset of growth and success that successful people obtain and talks thoroughly about the adversities they encountered with and the overall improvement they were able to accomplish with the right mindset.

2. This book is very closely connected with ENT3003 and the merit of this class due to the adversities and conflicts that entrepreneurs deal with the ability to overcome those issues. As an entrepreneur, you see that you can fail at something numerous times but that doesn't ultimately decide your fate. Having the right mindset and a hard work ethic, you can achieve anything that you put your mind towards.

3. If I had to implement an assignment in class in regards to this book, I would have an exercise where students had to make a script and act as entrepreneurs and have them sell an idea or service but ultimately get rejected to show them failure and how it existed in every single day. The point of this exercise is to teach failure and overcome this adversity by being successful and a hard worker.

4. A surprising part of the novel that brought acknowledgment to me was that they talk about complimenting each other and that it is not suggested amongst peers. Usually you were raised in the world where you thought complimenting one another was good but in this case it is not. Motivating someone is a good push for someone's business mindset. Overall, this was a great novel with interesting lessons that can be utilized moving forward.

26A- Celebrating Failure

A time this past semester that I failed, was when I was working with coding and editing programs with the University of Florida women's basketball team. I was tasked with having to self teach myself and apply my skills to coding service programs that the women's basketball team utilizes to help its highlight reels and film for future opponents. After hours on hours of self-learning, I had to take precut film given to me by the coaching staff and essentially use these programs to get my task completed that was ordered of me. I failed, a lot. That didn't stop me from trying and getting better at it. In the end, after more research and attempts it ultimately clicks together and you achieve success. I learned that success is built on hard work and the right mindset, you can achieve anything when you have your brain in the right spot and you are dedicated to working and getting everything done no matter the adversities in your way. I handle failure by doing what I can control and being better the next time around, it's the way you finish that matters not the way you start. This class has changed my perspective on failure because as an entrepreneur, you will go through hardship and failure but that doesn't mean to give up and give up on your dreams. I truly believe that I would take a risk now than you were just a few months ago by being in this class. Overall, failure is a part of life but anyone can overcome anything in any given situation.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market
My application is obviously dependent on technology as usage of cellphones or other devices in need for this application to be utilized. As technology continues to evolve so will the application including its features and incentives.

1. The first customer that I interviewed stated that I should spread more awareness of the application at each university to really reach the maximum potential on the marketing side of the business. As stated above with technological, maybe buying advertisements or posting more on different media platforms would better increase usage.

2. The second customer that I interviewed mentioned that I need to run out of the box promotions and really increase my incentives and features so there would be no reason that everyone would download the application. They think when there are incentives that it increases the chances people will use the app.

3. The third person I interviewed brought up that I should maybe consider expanding my team and bringing in my workers to help me more creatively innovate more and different ideas that will better the overall flow and infrastructure of my business.

As I reflect on the interviews that I held, it obviously is motivating to hear from people and to hear views that are from outside of your internal team. Speaking with the direct customers provides me with a better way to handling our application and with what I want to do with it moving forward.

I agree that my team and I need to market our brand better and really offer incentives that everybody wants to be included on. If that means partnering with big companies to expand and have growth then that might be something that needs to be done in the coming future.

New Market
In this market, I am targeting the ones who are financially handicapped as compared to the original target of just any college student who needed a ride home from school to home.

1. The first person I interviewed was someone who is not financially in a situation where they can not afford to tip the driver but it worked out due to a segment in the application that offers customers free rides with no tips needed for this ride.

2. The second person thought my service would not work for people that couldn't financially afford this application due to the fees that may be included within the application.

Overall theses interviews were good because they gave me a good overview and different view of people who may not be the target market or demographics. Getting a different outlook provides me a better idea of the people to target and what I ultimately want to accomplish.

I think that my interviews went better in the first round compared to my second interviews even though the second group provided me with more insight. More research and thinking will definitely better my knowledge.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:

This opportunity is one that has a lot of potential is an opportunity for a group of customers and people who have an unmet or under-met need. As a freshman at the University of Florida, I was part of this unmet need as I was from south Florida living in Gainesville, Florida with no car and no real transportation. Finding rides back home were always a pain and something that was such a hassle to deal with at the time. If I couldn't find a ride my options were to take a bus that essentially doubled the travel time or instead pay for a plane ticket that usually more than $500 one way. This seemed like a conflict that needed to be solved and I felt that I was the right person to make sure that this unmet need went met in the coming future. The need of this service is college students all around the state of Florida and the nature of this need was critical as students are constantly traveling back and forth from school to home etc. The forces that helped create this opportunity is the never ending conflict that not every kid at school has a car that they can use to travel from home to school. Geographically most kids from the state of Florida end up going to college in the state Florida that may be as close as minutes away to almost eight hours away, overall this idea has potential based on the fact that the attendance of these schools is through the roof and not decreasing anytime soon. Customers are currently satisfying this need by taking busses and planes which is not convenient nor price friendly to the consumers. This window of opportunity will be open ultimately forever as parents do not allow students to take their cars up to school with them.

Innovation:

My innovative thinking and idea is to establish an application that can be utilized on any mobile device that is used as a communication forum for students at each local university that allows you to communicate and offer students to drive other students back to their home whether that mean dropping them off at a certain location or bringing them straight to their door, ultimately these needs need to be met because consumers are suffering all the time when they are in need of a ride and have nowhere to go for it. My application allows you to do background checks and find out basic information with the person you are driving with as well as allows you to chat and for you to get to know one another. A feature on my application is offering incentives for both the driver and rider based on how many miles you have traveled together which include different restaurant promotions and coupons as well as saving money on gas and car washes as we all know cars get very dirty when traveling long distances. I will make money from this opportunity by students all around the state of Florida by downloading this application that will serve as a convenient service for students that do not want to spend money on airplane or bus rides. I was planning on starting this application for free so that it gains traction and popularity amongst the local schools and then she where I can make extra money buy ultimately I believe the popularity and potential is there for this service.

Venture Concept:

My innovation will directly solve this opportunity and unmet need because it serves as a benchmark and a sense of simplicity as this travel application allows students to communicate with other students to coordinate rides home amongst each other. This service solves many financially discrepancies that many students still encounter with today so I believe that this idea will help solve that and I truly believe that there are many features and incentives that this will be a hit on college campuses in the state of Florida and hopefully across the United States. This concept started as an idea as I was a freshman at UF with no car and nobody to ride with, this idea helps a financial burden as it is too expensive and not simple for kids to get rides home from school anymore. Students will adapt to this service and use it as their number one go to when they are in need of a ride whether that be for a break such as winter or spring or just they need to go home for an emergency and they luckily caught a student going home at the same time as them. Overall, this has potential and room to grow, this service will be of usage in the future to many students.

My most important resource within this service as to serving the consumer is that as of now no other company has come up with such a service and the only existing similar idea is social media pages that are highly unreliable and have many problems attached to them. I believe that these incentives an features based on milage for food and other cool things give me the upper hand in this process and makes my brand and service stick out.

The next thing that is up for my venture is to reach out and really test this application on local gainesville students who are in need of rides for summer break. Clearly kids do need this service as the struggle occurs every semester with kids who need to have their parents drive up here to help them go back home or to buy plane tickets. It is a financial burden and I believe this idea will be successful and just need the right guidance ahead.

The thing that is up for me, assuming I launched this application, is to watch it grow and expand. Hopefully that in the state of Florida it will be very successful in the coming half decade and thats where I will probably attempt to move it and expand past the state of Florida and see if I can test this out in other states. I believe that the unmet need that exists in Floria fully exists in other states so I think that expanding across the United States is where I want to go with this idea.