Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity that I am pursuing is to satisfy the needs of those who forget their headphones when going to the gym or library.  Many students today like to go to the gym on a regular basis in order to stay fit and relieve themselves of the stresses of school.  Many students also visit the library on a regular basis to do homework and watch on line lectures, which many classes here at UF provide. What these two places have in common is that students using headphones commonly inhabit them both.  The majority of people use headphones at the gym to listen to music when they work out, as it makes the tedious task of exercising slightly less mundane.  Students in the library commonly use headphones to watch lessons, tutoring videos, or listen to music when they do homework.  Often, students will make plans to go to one of these sights, and upon arrival realize that they have forgotten their headphones.  The forces of the environment that create this opportunity is the natural forgetfulness of human beings, as well as the fast paced schedule of a college student which may lead to forgetting minor details such as picking up your ear buds. This market’s demographic is college students, and more specifically for the gym college students who are into fitness.  Geographically, this market pertains to anywhere on a college campus there is a gym or classroom.  This is a need that really has not been satisfied yet, as it is an opportunity that no one has realized or pursued.  This opportunity has potential to be big, but also has a chance for failure if it doesn’t catch on.  A major factor is the tendencies of those at the university and how often regular attendees of the primary locations forget their belongings.  This window of opportunity will be open as long as humans remain forgetful, or until headphones become obsolete, which is a long way from happening. 

The type of Innovation is would be incremental innovation.  I am bettering the service offered by gym’s and libraries, by providing vending machines filled with reasonably priced temporary use ear buds.   The vending machine would provide customers with the ability to still have access to headphones if they forgot them or decided not to use their personal pair.  The prices of the headphones range from $1-3 dollars and would be based on the quality of the headphone.  There will be multiple options within the machines to choose from, so that the customer gets to pick a product within their budget and standard of living. I will make money off this service because this a very convenient price to pay for the use of headphones. The headphones would be intended to be disposable, meaning they are not meant to last for that many uses.  There has currently never been a product of this nature, as most headphones are marketed as long lasting. 

My innovation will solve the opportunity I identified by providing a back up plan for when you forget your headphones at these locations.  Currently, there Is no product of this nature, so there is will really not much “switching” going on in this scenario.  I also do not have any competitors, as the service I have provided is unique and has yet to be done by anyone.  The only competition I would have is that of potential future competitors trying to create a better version of my product.  The two main defining roles of my business concept would be the price points and location.  The main focus of my concept is that the price is cheap, making it a very practical alternative solution that people are willing to spend money on.  The location is another key component because my product and service would be limited to only two types of locations, at least to start out.  If I were to organize a business to support the on going production of this product and service, I would organize it to where there would be main offices and manufacturing factories in specific locations by nearby universities where the service would be in use.  There would be a team of sales representatives, as well as factory workers that manufacture the product.  The amount of employees would determine very much on how large the business were to get.  The sales representatives would be responsible for universities in certain regions.  For example, one region would be the area from Tampa all the way to Tallahassee.

            What would make it hard for competitors to copy my success is that I am already making this product as cheap as possible.  In order for someone else to better this plan, they would have to make higher quality headphones for the same price, or make the same quality ones for a very cheaper price. However, the minimum price of $1 would be very hard to beat. 

            My next plan for this venture would be to implement a similar system in libraries with electronic chargers.  This could be implemented in two ways. The first would be the same concept of the headphones where they are low quality chargers meant for a few uses and would be very low priced.  The second option would be a charger rental service in the libraries, that would charge students a flat all day rate of somewhere between 10-15 dollars, or an hourly rate of $2 an hour.  I believe the second option could be more implementable, and would result in less business expenses because there would be a lower frequency of renewing inventory.

            In the next 5 years I would like to see this product and service take off at the University of Florida, and possibly one or two nearby schools.  Within the next decade, I would like to have a minimum of 3 separate product or service ideas already taken off and in motion. I also would like to continue coming up with more ideas to further broaden my streams of income and variety of products.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

The thing that surprised me the most in this article was how innovation creates value for customers.  I had never previously realize how this was used to create value for customers on products, and now that I have read this, I see many examples in products today that have used innovation to get an upper hand on competitors.

The thing that confused me the most was Disruptive innovation.  I see the point of it, but am not sure how it really makes sense in the situation of android operating system disrupting other companies, because other companies don’t wish to use other operating systems, which is why they have their own.

The first question I would have is for the author to elaborate more on disruptive innovation. 

The second question I would have is if the author learned any of this in a specific college program, or learned this through experience.  I am currently in the Innovation Academy at UF, and am hoping to learn all the points he touched on in greater detail. 

I did not have any disagreements with the author, other than the one I discussed in the topic of what confused me.

Amazon Whisperer

My first revenue driver is the convenience of my product.  My product, which is disposable headphones that are about $1-$3 in price depending on location and demand.  These headphones are to be strategically placed in gym’s and libraries in college campus, which are places people genuinely need headphones, and often forget them.  The next driver is how cheap my product is.  College kids are very stingy with their money, and much prefer a product that gets the job done for a low price, compared to a quality long term product, especially in this scenario when these headphones are just to be used a substitute when your personal pair has been forgotten.

The next thing I believe my customers would like to see would be a vending machine with reasonably priced chargers for various brands of laptops and phones.  This would mainly apply to libraries, because no one pulls up to the gym trying to charge their laptop. 

This would enhance my current service by providing more products.  People always forget chargers for their devices when they go to the library, and do not wish to walk all the way back to their dorm, apartment, house, or whatever they live in to go get their charger and go all the way back to the library.  This product would also be disposable and very cheap, probably around $5.  This would allow people to charge their device for their study session.  Another alternative to this would be a rental service for chargers that would be returned.  This works for chargers because chargers aren’t worn on the skin and don’t touch any extremities like headphones do.

I went on amazon and found an off brand macbook charger for 12 dollars.  This would be a little high for someone to purchase just for forgetting theirs.  Chargers could be made less quality and priced lower for this product, so that it meets the financial requirement for the situation.

The reviews of this product said that it did not last long and was not a high quality.  But in my case that’s the goal. The product I am offering is not meant for long term use it is meant to be cheap so people will feel inclined to buy it and use it once or twice.

I would make this product less quality so that it would be cheaper.  When you forget a charger, your whole life can fall apart if your computer dies when your about to turn in an assignment due in 30 minutes.  Paying just a few bucks for a charger that would charge up your device and have  a very short life span is the perfect product for this scenario because everyone wins. 

This would make a good addition to the product I currently have because they both would help out students for a low cost. 

Week 10 Reading Reflection

The thing that surprised me the most was how much investors know about your business plan and can predict certain things that will happen.

The thing that confused me the most was the cash-flow budget. I found this pretty confusing and would need it to be explained in more detail.

My first question would be for the author to go in more detail of the cash flow budget.

My second question would be if the author took a financial class or gained this information through other means.

I have no disagreements with the author.

Growing My Social Capital

The first person I networked with is Mr. Sean Martin.  Mr. Martin is in charge of vending machine distribution for Nabisco in Florida. This person is an expert in the domain that correlates with my product. While the product he is in charge of is different than mine, the service he provides relates to my product, as my product will be placed strictly in vending machines. I found this person by emailing my old boss from my job back home, and asked him how we got the vending machine for our store, as well as who he contacted and or who contacted him to get the vending machine. He explained that the vending machine was separate than the distributor, and that the distributor actually contacted him to get Nabisco snacks in the vending machine, as opposed to others. My old boss gave me his email and said he would let him know I would be contacting him in regards to an assignment I have for my entrepreneurship in college. I emailed him and explained to him the assignment, and my product. The favor he did for me was giving me some good advice and knowledge about how to get your company’s product in vending machines. His advice he gave me when it comes to getting your product in vending machines is that you have to give good reasoning and evidence that your product will produce a positive benefit by being in the vending machine, and that the profits will benefit which ever company you are trying to land a contract with to keep your products in their vending machines at their organization.  Including this person in my networking enhances my opportunity by having a contact that has access to contacts of organizations that have vending machine products.

The second person I networked is my cousin Jon’s coworker, Bradley Ogden.  I actually got the chance to talk to him in person earlier this week when I went home Bradley is a graduate of Duke University, where he majored in marketing, which is the “slot” he fills for this assignment. He currently has a job with a small electronic company back in Clearwater called Loft technology, where he markets their computer and other electronic products. He targets a similar audience and age group mine does, which is why I used him as a contact. The favor he did for me was give me advice on marketing a product, as well as saying that if I select marketing as my career path when I declare a major in the business school, that I have the possibility of an internship, pending my grades and involvement during school.  His return expectation is that I do well in school and actually try and take my product to market.  This contact has enhanced my opportunity by the possibility of an internship as well as marketing information and lessons.

The final person I networked with was one of my fraternity brothers parents, Gerard Zubka. Mr. Zubka works for Bose, and serves as the supplier of their headphones and other products to stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and smaller electronic organizations.   This contact was by far the best one I networked with because he is working the exact same product that I plan on putting in my vending machines.  I was able to talk to Mr. Zubka on the phone and we had a pretty solid discussion. He told me that if my product ever took off and branched into other gym’s and areas where higher quality headphones have the potential to be purchased, he would get Bose headphones in the machines.  This would most likely take many years to achieve however, but this possibility gave me a very big drive to pursue my product.   This contact enhances my opportunity by having someone familiar with my product and is interested in potentially working together.

This experience showed me that there are many people out there that you can network with, all you have to do is reach out and give yourself the chance to find the opportunity.  All these people I found were through people I already knew, and I had no idea that any of them existed before this other than my friend’s father. There is a chance that I could just be lucky and happen to know the right people with the right connections, but I personally believe anyone has the same access to people to network with that can benefit them, all you have to do is reach out and make that initial contact with someone.

Elevator Pitch 3

From the feedback I received last time, I learned that my pitch needed to sell my product more.  I also learned I needed to sell the product more, and talk about it more in detail.  No feedback surprised me, and I respected all of my peers opinions, and did not find anything silly.

I changed the length, and delivery of my pitch. I also discussed my product more, and really got into the pitch this time.  I also changed the contact to match my altered product idea, and believe I did a better job of selling it to customers.

My Secret Sauce

1.     The first and biggest way I believe I have human capital is that I am very good at multitasking.  I have ADHD, which most people consider a disadvantage when it comes to academics.  However, having this allows me to focus on me different things at once.  For example, I am doing web assign while writing this assignment. 

2.     Another thing that makes me unique is my sleep schedule.  A typical day for me starts at 7am-8am, and ends anywhere from 2 am to 5 am. In order to do this, I will take a few short naps throughout the day if needed. I always want to be doing something, and being awake extra time allows me to get my academics done while still maintaining friendships and focusing on my personal passions.

3.     The third thing I believe makes me unique is that I have a photographic memory.  This helps me learn a lot of stuff in a short amount of time, but I have to learn things through watching them be performed as opposed to listening or reading instructions on how to complete a certain task. 

4.     Something else that separates me from most people is my organization. To most, I appear disorganized.  In reality, I appear disorganized but through all the disorganization in my room and backpack, I know where all my stuff is, I just have a different way of keeping track of my things than most people.

5.     The last thing that makes me unique is my personality.  My personality allows me to make friends quickly with people and maintain good relationships with the majority of people I meet.  I make a strong effort to keep good connections with people I meet and know, and believe this networking skill could benefit me in the future.

What I got out of my first interview is that I am a pretty outgoing person and a hardworking individual.  This goes along with my last point I wrote about myself, and made me realize that I am more hard working than I thought.

My second interview showed me that I am more organized than I thought.  This is a great confidence boost knowing I am not as messy as I previously thought I was.

My third interview showed me that I am helpful and always there for others.  I did not realize this about myself at all until it was told to me during this interview.

The fourth interview also made me realize that others see me as hardworking and always on top of my work.  I previously was under the impression people thought that I was lazy and not hard working.

The final interview I did made me realize that I have leveled out personality, which most people see as a good trait.  I am glad that I have this and think it can take me along way in the future.

My reflection from this is that people see me a little more positively than I previously saw myself, but also that a lot of the things I said about myself are accurate.  I don’t think I would really change anything after the interviews, but would probably add more things like hardworking, and that I am level headed.