Wednesday, November 27, 2019
30A Final Reflection
Personally I think the most formative experience was either networking or my first elevator pitch. I had never done anything life that before. I realized how non intimidating and easy both of those were in comparison to how I thought they would be. From both of those exercises I feel incredibly more comfortable pitching ideas and forming new connections. Evaluating my mindset from the start of the semester to now I believe I've formed a much more entrepreneurial mindset. At the beginning of the semester I thought an entrepreneurial mindset involved complex ideas and strategic thinking far greater than common knowledge. Now I'm aware an entrepreneurial mindset is being able to take initiative to conquer your goals now. Problem solving, simplistic innovations; I can now look at things and think, what can I do right now? I recommend for incoming students to really just be proactive and keep up with your responsibilities. It is easy to succeed in this class if you literally just do the work.
29A Venture Concept No. 2
1) For my venture concept, an opportunity exists within students here at the University of Florida. Coming to college whether the school is within your state, hometown, or out of state, the transition is scary. It is the first time kids are on their own taking care of themselves and being on top of their own responsibilities. Although many students have friends from their high school go to the same University as them, many do not. Making friends is difficult and at such a large school with such an immense campus initiating the new relationship is intimidating. I believe formulating a service here on campus connecting students with similar interests for incoming students with no other affiliation to campus organizations would benefit a wide range of people. The market is defined geographically within the 6 mile radius of campus. It is also defined demographically through similarities between peers. Customers are currently satisfying this need by going to class, if they can, or joining campus clubs and greek life. This opportunity is fairly big and has a long life since the University recruits new students every semester.
My innovation would be the buddy system. Through surveys and interest categories students could relate to and form connections with other students based on their similar personalities. Every student willing to participate would receive a buddy for a certain interest category and would go on to pursue the activity with. The buddies are constantly changing for each category so everyone would be able to meet tons of new friends. The service will constant of both a membership option or individual fee option. Members would pay a monthly amount like $15 that would grant access to participate in the activities offered for that month. Customers who do not want to commit to a membership price would pay individual fees for each activity they are interested in.
My innovation would solve the problem of not meeting or making new friends. It is a cheaper way to connect and get involved with the school than greek life but would still present many social opportunities. People would be willing to buy my service because it is a unique way to affiliate themselves with people similar to them. With over 50,000 students at UF, this service makes the campus feel much smaller. The competitors would be different clubs and organizations on campus. My service is vulnerable because it is not free and there are free opportunities on campus. Also it requires my customers to initiate business so if no one is interested then I could not succeed.
Really what sets this business apart from others is that I want it to help the students on campus. I'm not solely focusing on generating money. I know for myself the transition to UF was difficult because the people I was closest with went to a separate school from me. I was also online and lived far from campus my first year making it tedious to come to campus. If this only benefits PaCE students I think it would still have a huge opportunity of succeeding because there are so many students in that program. Eventually once this service generates more attention I could extend it to other schools across Florida, or even to everyone in the community of Gainesville rather than just the students. This would benefit far more people on a much larger scale.
2) The only aspect of feedback that I received was that my my philosophy of not focusing on revenue is not the driving factor of my business. I agree, that is not what differentiates me from others but it does give me more leeway to perfect any kinks within the business
3) I didn't really change my venture concept because I didn't receive any feedback that required me to.
4)
My innovation would be the buddy system. Through surveys and interest categories students could relate to and form connections with other students based on their similar personalities. Every student willing to participate would receive a buddy for a certain interest category and would go on to pursue the activity with. The buddies are constantly changing for each category so everyone would be able to meet tons of new friends. The service will constant of both a membership option or individual fee option. Members would pay a monthly amount like $15 that would grant access to participate in the activities offered for that month. Customers who do not want to commit to a membership price would pay individual fees for each activity they are interested in.
My innovation would solve the problem of not meeting or making new friends. It is a cheaper way to connect and get involved with the school than greek life but would still present many social opportunities. People would be willing to buy my service because it is a unique way to affiliate themselves with people similar to them. With over 50,000 students at UF, this service makes the campus feel much smaller. The competitors would be different clubs and organizations on campus. My service is vulnerable because it is not free and there are free opportunities on campus. Also it requires my customers to initiate business so if no one is interested then I could not succeed.
Really what sets this business apart from others is that I want it to help the students on campus. I'm not solely focusing on generating money. I know for myself the transition to UF was difficult because the people I was closest with went to a separate school from me. I was also online and lived far from campus my first year making it tedious to come to campus. If this only benefits PaCE students I think it would still have a huge opportunity of succeeding because there are so many students in that program. Eventually once this service generates more attention I could extend it to other schools across Florida, or even to everyone in the community of Gainesville rather than just the students. This would benefit far more people on a much larger scale.
2) The only aspect of feedback that I received was that my my philosophy of not focusing on revenue is not the driving factor of my business. I agree, that is not what differentiates me from others but it does give me more leeway to perfect any kinks within the business
3) I didn't really change my venture concept because I didn't receive any feedback that required me to.
4)
Thursday, November 21, 2019
27A Reading Reflection No. 3
1) The general theme of the book, Cognitive Surplus, raises awareness to the immense time consumption television and interactive media have on people.
2) Within this class there is an emphasis on taking action on things you can pursue today. The book focuses on how social media and TV's distract their users from doing productive activities and wasting large amounts on time on something that produces little to no benefits. Connecting both ideas creates benefits for both things. Instead of spending countless hours with no productivity, social media can be used as a platform to promote new ideas and actually make a difference.
3) An exercise would be to create a social media platform that can be interactive with the users and be the sole generator of advertising and revenue for your product.
4) My biggest aha moment was when Shirky was expanding on the different collaborative was we could change social media. I thought it was really cool to create interactive ways to turn just anyone into an active producer.
2) Within this class there is an emphasis on taking action on things you can pursue today. The book focuses on how social media and TV's distract their users from doing productive activities and wasting large amounts on time on something that produces little to no benefits. Connecting both ideas creates benefits for both things. Instead of spending countless hours with no productivity, social media can be used as a platform to promote new ideas and actually make a difference.
3) An exercise would be to create a social media platform that can be interactive with the users and be the sole generator of advertising and revenue for your product.
4) My biggest aha moment was when Shirky was expanding on the different collaborative was we could change social media. I thought it was really cool to create interactive ways to turn just anyone into an active producer.
28A Your Exit Strategy
1) Five years from now I do intend to sell my business not necessarily for a large return. I don't see my business generating large sums of revenue rather I see it generating meaning to my customers. Im hoping to pass down my business to a fellow student after I graduate who is sees the bigger picture of the help this can bring to people and wants to continue it within their time at University.
2) I have selected this particular exit strategy because I think it should be run by a student who is on campus rather than an adult who is starting a family and isn't prioritizing that. I don't see this becoming my career because I would like to pursue different things but I definitely want it to continue running and benefiting kid's duration at college.
3) I think it has influenced other decisions I've made throughout my venture. Since I never saw this growing to a much larger scale I didn't put the effort into making bigger connections. I feel like the resources I've acquired are nothing out of the ordinary or too complicated because I wanted it to be small and genuine. Its a business that can be run by anyone.
2) I have selected this particular exit strategy because I think it should be run by a student who is on campus rather than an adult who is starting a family and isn't prioritizing that. I don't see this becoming my career because I would like to pursue different things but I definitely want it to continue running and benefiting kid's duration at college.
3) I think it has influenced other decisions I've made throughout my venture. Since I never saw this growing to a much larger scale I didn't put the effort into making bigger connections. I feel like the resources I've acquired are nothing out of the ordinary or too complicated because I wanted it to be small and genuine. Its a business that can be run by anyone.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
26A Celebrating Failure
1) This past semester I was determined to get more involved on campus. Although I did join a greek chapter this semester I haven't really put in any initiative to be that involved in it or in other things on campus. I tend to do this a lot when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone and it causes me to miss out on potential new growth for myself.
2) I learned that the only way I can grow more as a person and enhance my happiness within college is trying new things and stepping out of my comfort zone. I noticed that when I fail to pursue new things I end up more frustrated within myself than I was when I wasn't affiliated with anything on campus.
3) Failure is a common fear holding people back from a lot of things. No one likes it, its discouraging, and it's embarrassing. But, failure is one of the most important takeaways from any challenge. It challenges you to view things from another angle and to improve. I've had a lot of failures within life and once I overcome them they turn out to be my favorite things. Failure is essential for improvement and although it's unpleasant and scary it adds so much more to you. In this class it was hard for me to come up with a business idea because I doubted how successful or feasible they could be. Now, I've learned to just go for it. Your first try or idea doesn't have to be perfect you just have to start and in time you will get better. I feel like I am more likely to take risks now than I was a couple months ago. I tend to overthink and now when I do I just think, what's the worst that could happen? Usually it's pretty minuscule.
2) I learned that the only way I can grow more as a person and enhance my happiness within college is trying new things and stepping out of my comfort zone. I noticed that when I fail to pursue new things I end up more frustrated within myself than I was when I wasn't affiliated with anything on campus.
3) Failure is a common fear holding people back from a lot of things. No one likes it, its discouraging, and it's embarrassing. But, failure is one of the most important takeaways from any challenge. It challenges you to view things from another angle and to improve. I've had a lot of failures within life and once I overcome them they turn out to be my favorite things. Failure is essential for improvement and although it's unpleasant and scary it adds so much more to you. In this class it was hard for me to come up with a business idea because I doubted how successful or feasible they could be. Now, I've learned to just go for it. Your first try or idea doesn't have to be perfect you just have to start and in time you will get better. I feel like I am more likely to take risks now than I was a couple months ago. I tend to overthink and now when I do I just think, what's the worst that could happen? Usually it's pretty minuscule.
Friday, November 15, 2019
24A Venture Concept No. 1
For my venture concept, an opportunity exists within students here at the University of Florida. Coming to college whether the school is within your state, hometown, or out of state, the transition is scary. It is the first time kids are on their own taking care of themselves and being on top of their own responsibilities. Although many students have friends from their high school go to the same University as them, many do not. Making friends is difficult and at such a large school with such an immense campus initiating the new relationship is intimidating. I believe formulating a service here on campus connecting students with similar interests for incoming students with no other affiliation to campus organizations would benefit a wide range of people. The market is defined geographically within the 6 mile radius of campus. It is also defined demographically through similarities between peers. Customers are currently satisfying this need by going to class, if they can, or joining campus clubs and greek life. This opportunity is fairly big and has a long life since the University recruits new students every semester.
My innovation would be the buddy system. Through surveys and interest categories students could relate to and form connections with other students based on their similar personalities. Every student willing to participate would receive a buddy for a certain interest category and would go on to pursue the activity with. The buddies are constantly changing for each category so everyone would be able to meet tons of new friends. The service will constant of both a membership option or individual fee option. Members would pay a monthly amount like $15 that would grant access to participate in the activities offered for that month. Customers who do not want to commit to a membership price would pay individual fees for each activity they are interested in.
My innovation would solve the problem of not meeting or making new friends. It is a cheaper way to connect and get involved with the school than greek life but would still present many social opportunities. People would be willing to buy my service because it is a unique way to affiliate themselves with people similar to them. With over 50,000 students at UF, this service makes the campus feel much smaller. The competitors would be different clubs and organizations on campus. My service is vulnerable because it is not free and there are free opportunities on campus. Also it requires my customers to initiate business so if no one is interested then I could not succeed.
Really what sets this business apart from others is that I want it to help the students on campus. I'm not solely focusing on generating money. I know for myself the transition to UF was difficult because the people I was closest with went to a separate school from me. I was also online and lived far from campus my first year making it tedious to come to campus. If this only benefits PaCE students I think it would still have a huge opportunity of succeeding because there are so many students in that program. Eventually once this service generates more attention I could extend it to other schools across Florida, or even to everyone in the community of Gainesville rather than just the students. This would benefit far more people on a much larger scale.
My innovation would be the buddy system. Through surveys and interest categories students could relate to and form connections with other students based on their similar personalities. Every student willing to participate would receive a buddy for a certain interest category and would go on to pursue the activity with. The buddies are constantly changing for each category so everyone would be able to meet tons of new friends. The service will constant of both a membership option or individual fee option. Members would pay a monthly amount like $15 that would grant access to participate in the activities offered for that month. Customers who do not want to commit to a membership price would pay individual fees for each activity they are interested in.
My innovation would solve the problem of not meeting or making new friends. It is a cheaper way to connect and get involved with the school than greek life but would still present many social opportunities. People would be willing to buy my service because it is a unique way to affiliate themselves with people similar to them. With over 50,000 students at UF, this service makes the campus feel much smaller. The competitors would be different clubs and organizations on campus. My service is vulnerable because it is not free and there are free opportunities on campus. Also it requires my customers to initiate business so if no one is interested then I could not succeed.
Really what sets this business apart from others is that I want it to help the students on campus. I'm not solely focusing on generating money. I know for myself the transition to UF was difficult because the people I was closest with went to a separate school from me. I was also online and lived far from campus my first year making it tedious to come to campus. If this only benefits PaCE students I think it would still have a huge opportunity of succeeding because there are so many students in that program. Eventually once this service generates more attention I could extend it to other schools across Florida, or even to everyone in the community of Gainesville rather than just the students. This would benefit far more people on a much larger scale.
25A What's Next?
Existing Market
Step 1: In terms of what's next for new growth I need to start taking action with forming connections with activity based companies. I need to promote my business and start creating small events to test out how efficient my business has the potential to be.
Step 2:
#1
I interviewed my friend in PaCE. She believed organizing a discussion forum for anyone interested would be the next move to see what starting activities I could begin with. She thought it would be important to hear what areas are lacking within the University. She also said I should extend the market beyond incoming freshman to all grades in the University.
#2
I interviewed a student transferring into UF from Santa Fe. He said I should reach out to rec sports and see what things they can aid my service with. He also said aside from thinking big, what I can do right now is round up about 20 people who would be interested to just meet each other and just hangout somewhere. He also thought I should try to organize my service into a club here at UF.
#3
I interviewed a senior graduating this fall. She advised me to promote my service on all social media platforms like, instagram, facebook, twitter etc.
Step 3: In terms of growing my venture I think I just need to start forming connections within the University and see what I can get done right now to start my business. Create the survey, website, etc, and promote it on facebook class pages affiliated within UF. Also I thought it was a cool idea to create an instagram page for my business which is something I never thought of doing. Also, I can begin organizing events without the help of larger companies by starting things at my apartment or even at public places like parks. Within growing my existing market I think its important that I promote my business further than just incoming student but extending it to all students here at UF. Even adjusted student may want to meet new people in a new way and extend their connections throughout other peers.
New Market
Step 1: A radically new market would be older people. Instead of targeting UF students for my market I would focus on adults around Gainesville. Stay at home mothers, retired couples, etc. Once you are no longer in a confined environment like work, or school, its hard to meet people so this could benefit my new market.
Step 2: I think this could really benefit my new market because I know it is difficult for adults to meet new people after they have a set day to day life. Adults have families, companions, responsibilities, usually making their social life not one of their biggest priorities. My business gives them flexibility to choose and activity that they are interested in and to meet new people based off of it.
Step 3:
#1
I interviewed my mom for this. She is a stay at home mother who often wants to try new things like dance and art classes but finds it more fun when she has someone to go with. She said my business could greatly benefit her because then she would be able to meet someone new while also trying something new. She said my interest categories should meet the older age group and be personalized for my new market in order to really catch their eyes. Also, instead of promoting through the internet I should put up flyers and physical ads since she doesn't really go on her phone that often.
#2
I interviewed my uncle. He also thought this would be really beneficial to the market. Before my grandma passed his life was focused on taking care of her needs and spending time with her. Now, he has so much free time that he doesn't really know what to do with. Also since he isn't married he said its hard to find someone at his age. He thinks this service could benefit him both socially and romantically.
Step 4: When I originally started this venture, I had considered focusing on this market because my mother has always told me how she wanted someone to come try a ballroom dance class with. After speaking to other people within the market I definitely think there would be success and possibly more for this new market. Younger kids are hesitant to reach out for help especially socially and sometimes there can be a negative stigma around it. For older people, those hesitations are really non existant. I did expect my interviews to go the way the went because I had thought about this new market initially but I definitely think it is something to focus more on. The only thing is the promotional aspect would be harder to voice. Without the internet being the center hub for spreading the word I would have to get more creative with how I promote my service.
Step 1: In terms of what's next for new growth I need to start taking action with forming connections with activity based companies. I need to promote my business and start creating small events to test out how efficient my business has the potential to be.
Step 2:
#1
I interviewed my friend in PaCE. She believed organizing a discussion forum for anyone interested would be the next move to see what starting activities I could begin with. She thought it would be important to hear what areas are lacking within the University. She also said I should extend the market beyond incoming freshman to all grades in the University.
#2
I interviewed a student transferring into UF from Santa Fe. He said I should reach out to rec sports and see what things they can aid my service with. He also said aside from thinking big, what I can do right now is round up about 20 people who would be interested to just meet each other and just hangout somewhere. He also thought I should try to organize my service into a club here at UF.
#3
I interviewed a senior graduating this fall. She advised me to promote my service on all social media platforms like, instagram, facebook, twitter etc.
Step 3: In terms of growing my venture I think I just need to start forming connections within the University and see what I can get done right now to start my business. Create the survey, website, etc, and promote it on facebook class pages affiliated within UF. Also I thought it was a cool idea to create an instagram page for my business which is something I never thought of doing. Also, I can begin organizing events without the help of larger companies by starting things at my apartment or even at public places like parks. Within growing my existing market I think its important that I promote my business further than just incoming student but extending it to all students here at UF. Even adjusted student may want to meet new people in a new way and extend their connections throughout other peers.
New Market
Step 1: A radically new market would be older people. Instead of targeting UF students for my market I would focus on adults around Gainesville. Stay at home mothers, retired couples, etc. Once you are no longer in a confined environment like work, or school, its hard to meet people so this could benefit my new market.
Step 2: I think this could really benefit my new market because I know it is difficult for adults to meet new people after they have a set day to day life. Adults have families, companions, responsibilities, usually making their social life not one of their biggest priorities. My business gives them flexibility to choose and activity that they are interested in and to meet new people based off of it.
Step 3:
#1
I interviewed my mom for this. She is a stay at home mother who often wants to try new things like dance and art classes but finds it more fun when she has someone to go with. She said my business could greatly benefit her because then she would be able to meet someone new while also trying something new. She said my interest categories should meet the older age group and be personalized for my new market in order to really catch their eyes. Also, instead of promoting through the internet I should put up flyers and physical ads since she doesn't really go on her phone that often.
#2
I interviewed my uncle. He also thought this would be really beneficial to the market. Before my grandma passed his life was focused on taking care of her needs and spending time with her. Now, he has so much free time that he doesn't really know what to do with. Also since he isn't married he said its hard to find someone at his age. He thinks this service could benefit him both socially and romantically.
Step 4: When I originally started this venture, I had considered focusing on this market because my mother has always told me how she wanted someone to come try a ballroom dance class with. After speaking to other people within the market I definitely think there would be success and possibly more for this new market. Younger kids are hesitant to reach out for help especially socially and sometimes there can be a negative stigma around it. For older people, those hesitations are really non existant. I did expect my interviews to go the way the went because I had thought about this new market initially but I definitely think it is something to focus more on. The only thing is the promotional aspect would be harder to voice. Without the internet being the center hub for spreading the word I would have to get more creative with how I promote my service.
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