Week 15 Reading Reflection

I was unaware that organizations like this existed. Micro loans sounds like a really cool idea, and a market like India sure would be successful.

I didn't feel confused at all in the article. It was very well written and explained everything well.

Would a system like this work in poverty stricken areas of the US? In the provided examples, people we're making money with farm animals and crops, which isn't possible in urban areas of the US. What would you say a nonprofit is ill-suited for something like this? There are many non profits that deal with lots of money.

I don't disagree with anything that was said. Again, it was all very well written and put in layman's terms.

Final Reflection

Experiences 

Doing the first round of interviews let me really get a good grasp of how people think, at least when it comes to more technical products. Which will certainly be beneficial for future projects. Doing the entrepreneur interviews were the most impactful assignments to me, because it put me into the mindset of what I need to do to get going. I think getting the venture concept written down was the thing that really cemented that I was actually completing the first parts of creating a business.  

Entrepreneur 

Though I feel I have a better idea of what it takes to be an entrepreneur, I don't think I am one because of this class. I didn't take a risk in anything, just completed a bunch of assignments. However, I did take steps outside of this class to be a form of an entrepreneur. I started a club. I've spent a lot of time working on gaining and retaining members as well as helping those members create awesome projects. So in that sense, I do feel I am more of an entrepreneur than I was before this semester. 

Recommendation 

To anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur, do things that are new and scary. Things that put you out of your comfort zone and where you risk a little. Starting your own business is all those things, and if you don't practice that, like with all things, you are going to have a much harder time succeeding. 

Venture Concept No. 2

1. Description 

Opportunity
The WiFi network on the University of Florida campus is often unreliable and restrictive. In our world where the internet is increasingly necessary, it makes it difficult and frustrating for students to complete assignments or do many other tasks. These students and faculty that are affected would be benefited from a more reliable system, that could substitute the current networking solution. The user group would be concentrated to people who work at or live on the University of Florida campus. Currently customers rely on the existing WiFi network or using a data plan. As was mentioned before, the existing solution is causing this problem, while the data plan has a speed limit and cost users money. Similar conditions may exist at other college campuses or neighborhoods, in which this venture could expand too. The window to enter exist as long as the current system is frustrating customers and no other free options present themselves.

Innovation 
This ideas's innovation comes more from technological advances rather than business ideas. The network that would be implemented would take advantage of mesh networking. This means that a devices using the service would also help propagate it. Doing this not only expands the range of the network, but also adds levels of reliability. This also means only a few permanent nodes placed outside campus would be necessary to provide a foundation for a strong and fast connection. Each device would have some additional software to help create the connection and keep it secure. The service would be accessible for no charge to anyone in the area. It would create revenue by showing non invasive ads on startup and periodically throughout the connection. Unfortunately, because ad prices vary vastly based on view count, niche, and time of year, I can't find a good measure for how much would be charged for the ad placements. However, without invasive collecting personal information, we would know that the majority of users are students at the University of Florida. Being able to pinpoint this specific of  a profile would make advertising very valuable for local businesses.

Venture Concept 
People would be motivated to switch to this service, because it is more reliable than the existing one, while staying free for them. To switch, all it would take would be to download the additional software and install it on their device. Competitors would be the Universities existing network, as well as data plan for cellular providers. The problems with the existing network have already been stated. Data plans do offer a more versatile internet connection, but at the cost of being expensive and usually slower than a local wireless connection. The price point and low switching cost make it convenient for customers to try the network and see how it is for them. Many people may find it appealing to use the network, because it is coming from a UF student and would be a local business. Customer experience will also play a vital role, as the user base is relatively close knit and positive or negative experiences with it will quickly be shared with much of the group. The business would require one or two additional developers to help create the system as well as maintain it's speed and security. A financial adviser and marketer would also be useful in getting the venture going.

Resource
The most valuable resource would probably be being the first to market. This would allows the company to capture a large user base, and if the quality of the service is good, maintain that user base while expanding to other areas.

What's Next
After rolling out to the University of Florida, the next step would be to expand to other campuses and neighborhoods. An option to pay to not display ads may also be implemented to appeal to people who don't like the ads, but also want the more reliable network.

Five Years 
In five years, I would want to see the venture expanded to many different areas. Helping to provide a better internet connection for less to people who need it. I personally, would probably want to move to another idea once this one was doing well and placed in responsible hands. This first venture would be stepping stones for me to improve people's lives, which is the main driving force behind my entrepreneurial goals.

2. Feedback The comments I received were overall positive with people enthusiastic about the idea, but there were a few issues people brought up. Many were worried about the security of the system. Which is a valid concern.There was also suggestions to add headers for formatting and readability purposes. The other big question was about how UF and the existing network plays in. Would my system replace their's or would I have to pay them for having equipment on campus.

3. Changed After reviewing the feedback I decided to clarify that the nodes I would need would be outside of campus. This way I would just have to worry about renting a little area from different
business, and not a competitor.  I also aded the headers to the sections, which didn't too much time. I did not add any additional information about the security that would be in place.  I just though that would be too technical for this, where I am already using a bit of jargon.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

1. Pitch

2. Feedback Most the feedback from my previous pitch was very positive. The only suggestion was to announce a little bit better. It's something I know I  struggle with sometimes.

3. Changed I tried slowing down my speech to help with the pronunciation. I think the speech was alright after that.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

I was surprised while reading 3M's policies for being so open to anyone being innovative. Providing grants and organizing teams to support the idea and employee is really awesome.

The section suggested a manger could oversee everything in there operation. If people are being immoral, wouldn't they probably hide it, making it hard for you to know and even try to fix it?

How often do corporations have a good innovation strategy? It seems like many big ones would just not have one. How severe do you need to be when punishing unethical behavior? You don't want to match their wrongdoing with your own.

I don't think I disagree with anything. Intrapreneurship is something that really excites me, and if I don't start my own business, I will certainly try to work with a company that supports that.

Google Gold

1. My approach to SEO: For the most part I only used keywords if they fit well into my writing. I didn't want the quality of the content to be hurt by trying to through in as many keywords as possible. Outside of that, the only thing I did was the required commenting and linking on other peoples blogs. I felt, that since this is a temporary blog, that pushing it really hard was unnecessary.

2. Keywords: I selected keywords based off of my venture idea, my blog title, and entrepreneurship in general. They were, entrepreNerdship, venture, business, entrepreneurship, and mesh networking. After I had my venture idea, I didn't change or add any additional words.

3.  Social Media: I did not use social media to enhance my SEO efforts. Like I said earlier, because this is a temporary blog, I didn't see to much of a point in really pushing it hard.

4. Most "Viral" Post: I really don't know why my "Secret Sauce" post was my most viewed page (29 views). My guess is a lot of people didn't do that assignment, so those people weren't assigned a blog to comment on  and saw my blog's name and checked it out.

5. Google Result: When you search entrepreNerdship I am on the second half of the of first page. Every other keyword by itself doesn't work.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

After reviewing my first interview with Ellery Chan, co-founder of Precision Lightworks (linked here), my impressions were that perseverance and adaptability are two key traits to have. When they were first starting their business they had a good product, but the misjudged who would want it and what they'd pay for it. Lightworks had to rework their entire model to better suit potential customers and has been successful since. It's very important to keep going, even when you hit a wall, because otherwise you'll never reach your goals. 

Interview

1. Have you every felt discouraged with your venture? And how did you deal with it?

Sure, there were many times when I felt discouraged.  The first was soon after we had started, we were writing our software, but had no income for quite a while, and then only had a little income until our sales got going.  I also sometimes feel discouraged that we are not using our talents optimally:  since we do not have a large staff, I end up with many mundane responsibilities that are not what I would consider my most valuable skill set, which would be innovation and new technology development.

I mostly deal with it by persevering.  The long term goal is to grow out of this phase, be able to hire more staff, and delegate some of the responsibilities that keep me from being more effective.

2. What resources did you use to start the business? 

The two original founders (me and my partner, Mark) self-funded the business.  We are probably unusual in this regard when compared with most other startups.  We took a very conservative approach.  We did not want to seek outside funding for a few reasons:  1) we did not want to make the effort to put together a pitch and then make the rounds presenting to venture capitalists; 2) we did not want to give up control of the company; 3) we did not want to have any debt.  We did not follow the explosive growth/fail fast strategy that seems to be popular.  As a result, we are not a billion dollar phenomenon, but we are still in business and profitable, with no debt.

3. What are some difficulties you would recommend entrepreneurs watch out for?

Go into business with people you trust, and who are ethical.  You don't want to put your livelihood into the hands of someone who might put it at risk.  There is already enough risk that is out of your control.  You don't need more.

Know your customers, what they want, and what they are willing to pay for it.  It is difficult to really understand your market well without a big sales force.  Market studies can be performed, but they can be expensive, and you will have to use your own judgement to decide whether the statistics that they provide are a) correct and accurate, and b) applicable to your business.  If what you are developing is a paradigm-shifting product or technology, the market studies could easily be misleading since they would probably miss the shift.

Get good legal advice.  Lawyers are expensive though, so you should learn how to read contracts so that you can at least recognize things that are risky or disadvantageous to your company.  And remember that you don't have to take a contract verbatim.  If there are clauses in it that make you uncomfortable, ask for them to be removed or modified.

Reflection

I felt better talking about entrepreneurship this time around for two reasons. The first is that, because of this class I know a lot about what questions I would need to ask myself before/and while pursing an entrepreneurial venture. More impact-fully though, I started a club this semester, and am going through a lot of the emotional struggle that would happen with starting a business, though to a much lesser degree. 

I don't think that Mr. Chan conveyed a sense that he thought I had progressed in my entrepreneurial journey. Without working with him more closely I don't think he could accurately make a judgment on that. 

Week 13 Reading Reflection

I was surprised that the adjusted tangible book is not as popular as the other methods. It seems the most concrete of the bunch, though I do understand it is somewhat difficult to keep track of everything.

It seems the price earning method is really influenced by the stock market, and could easily reflect poorly on the company when they are doing well. So to me it seems weird to use this method.

What are you actually selling in an acquisition? Is it your stock in the company, giving up your position, etc? How often do people use third parties to evaluate the company?

Again I feel like most of this is over my head and can't say I disagree with anything.

Celebrating Failure

1. A time I failed:  It's not a complete failure, or anything near that, more of a work in progress. I started an Open Source club (Open Source is software that anyone is free to view the source code, modify that, and share their changes with the world) this semester, and though we do have active members, it's still fairly small and I'm having trouble getting people to contribute to the coding projects. I assumed that people would feel comfortable working on it, even if they had little previous experience. So far it seems only people with experience on similar projects have contributed. As part of what we initially planned, we've gone over several tutorials during our meetings to help familiarize people with what we're doing. I thought that would be enough, but it doesn't seem to be the case. So I'm still at it, trying different methods and to be as helpful as possible.

2. What I've learned: I knew that starting a club (kind of like a business) would not be easier, and would require a lot of extra time commitment. The mistake I made, was assuming everyone would feel comfortable after a tutorial or two. I now know I need to hold off on being ambitious until I know how people will react.

3. Failure reflection: It's hard to deal with failure. Especially when it's about something you really care about. But because you care about it, you need to get pass the failure, and learn what you need to fix, in order for it to succeed. I try to do this as much as I can, though that is easier said than done. I know if I want to make what I want to come true I need to push for it, even if it means hurting on the way.

What's Next

Existing Market 

Step 1. My current service is an alternative WiFi network for the University of Florida campus. It would use a mesh network, so the more people who use it, the bigger and more reliable the network becomes. The next step would be to expand to other college campuses where the WiFi is less than exceptional.

Step 2. Interviews

Step 3. Each college campus has customers that relatively quickly move out of the market. This is countered by a regular influx of new customers. So the primary goal in the existing markets is to keep up an advertising effort to keep new people trying the service. Though the service doesn't directly charge users, it does use advertising which means there needs to be a larger user base to be profitable.
     Due to that need for a big audience, expansion to similar markets is a high priority. Fortunately, once the system is up and running there is a low fixed cost. So there will need to be a rapid expansion into other campuses at first to have a feasible user base. After that point is reached, expansion can be a bit more cautious and strategic.

New Market 

Step 1. Following our customers as they move out of college and into cities and suburbs could be a new market to get into. By then, more then likely they would have more of an income, which means we could offer new services that would require a subscription.

Step 2. Some of these subscription services could include cloud file storage or cached videos from Netflix. Because these services would be hosted on a local network, their upload and download speeds would be faster. There could also be an ad free version, that would require a small subscription.

Step 3. Interviews

Step 4. Giving insensitive to the new market, such as providing a premium service to most of one area was something that did not occur to me. Due to the nature of the network, it works best with more people on it. So it would make sense to start with as many people as possible, even initially if it was at a lost.
     The attractive thing about the new market is that the customers would be more willing to pay for services. The issue with going into to neighborhoods is that people will be moving outside the area much more frequently than compared to college campuses and cites. This makes the network, and the other services it provides, less practical for those people. In the end there would need to be some research before the service could go into different areas outside of campuses.

My Exit Strategy

1. My Exit Strategy: Once I find that the venture has become sustainable, and feel that the leadership could keep it successful I would try selling it. If that isn't likely I would keep my stake in the company and move on to other ideas I want to implement.

2. Why: Doing this allows me to try to improve the world in different ways. The thing about entrepreneurship that really excites me is solving problems. If one venture is in a niche, where it doesn't make since for it to try certain things, and endanger itself, it makes since for a new company to be formed in my opinion. I would have some start up capital, contacts,and experience that would starting new business easier and more likely to succeed.

3. How has this influenced the idea: It has made me want to keep the venture concept fairly niche. This way I can focus on one thing at a time, and not cause competition between business I create. After that, I feel most the decisions have been based on making the original idea successful, not really setting myself up for other enterprises.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

I found it surprising that it mentioned allowing for failure. It's really important to do, but not something I was actively thinking about implementing into a company structure.

It's confusing to me that some entrepreneurs would want to stop innovation with in their venture. I find the idea that I facilitated a way for someone else to be innovative to be really rewarding.

From the reading it sounds like business need to regularly redefine themselves, to some degree, in order to not decline. Is this true? I would of also liked to see how company structure and culture are more related. I think both reflect and influences the other, and it's important to craft each in order to positively benefit the other.

I completely agreed with the main points of keeping the company innovative and dynamic at all levels, in order to increase ability to innovate. It seems especially important given the rapid changes in the technology sector now a days.

Venture Concept No. 1

The WiFi network on the University of Florida campus is often unreliable and restrictive. In our world where the internet is increasingly necessary, it makes it difficult and frustrating for students to complete assignments or do many other tasks. These students and faculty that are affected would be benefited from a more reliable system, that could substitute the current networking solution. The user group would be concentrated to people who work at or live on the University of Florida campus. Currently customers rely on the existing WiFi network or using a data plan. As was mentioned before, the existing solution is causing this problem, while the data plan has a speed limit and cost users money. Similar conditions may exist at other college campuses or neighborhoods, in which this venture could expand too. The window to enter exist as long as the current system is frustrating customers and no other free options present themselves.

This ideas's innovation comes more from technological advances rather than business ideas. The network that would be implemented would take advantage of mesh networking. This means that a devices using the service would also help propagate it. Doing this not only expands the range of the network, but also adds levels of reliability. Several nodes would be placed in or around campus that would help provide a foundation for a strong and fast connection. Each device would have some additional software to help create the connection and keep it secure. The service would be accessible for no charge to anyone in the area. It would create revenue by showing non invasive ads on startup and periodically throughout the connection. Unfortunately, because ad prices vary vastly based on view count, niche, and time of year, I can't find a good measure for how much would be charged for the ad placements. However, without invasive collecting personal information, we would know that the majority of users are students at the University of Florida. Being able to pinpoint this specific of  a profile would make advertising very valuable for local businesses.

People would be motivated to switch to this service, because it is more reliable than the existing one, while staying free for them. To switch, all it would take would be to download the additional software and install it on their device. Competitors would be the Universities existing network, as well as data plan for cellular providers. The problems with the existing network have already been stated. Data plans do offer a more versatile internet connection, but at the cost of being expensive and usually slower than a local wireless connection. The price point and low switching cost make it convenient for customers to try the network and see how it is for them. Many people may find it appealing to use the network, because it is coming from a UF student and would be a local business. Customer experience will also play a vital role, as the user base is relatively close knit and positive or negative experiences with it will quickly be shared with much of the group. The business would require one or two additional developers to help create the system as well as maintain it's speed and security. A financial adviser and marketer would also be useful in getting the venture going.

The most valuable resource would probably be being the first to market. This would allows the company to capture a large user base, and if the quality of the service is good, maintain that user base while expanding to other areas.

After rolling out to the University of Florida, the next step would be to expand to other campuses and neighborhoods. An option to pay to not display ads may also be implemented to appeal to people who don't like the ads, but also want the more reliable network.

In five years, I would want to see the venture expanded to many different areas. Helping to provide a better internet connection for less to people who need it. I personally, would probably want to move to another idea once this one was doing well and placed in responsible hands. This first venture would be stepping stones for me to improve people's lives, which is the main driving force behind my entrepreneurial goals.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

I had not considered business innovation as being on the same level of technological innovation. I now completely agree that it is an important factor, and probably plays a more important role for the company than new technology. A falling company could turn things around by reorienting their efforts, with the same sort of expertise and products.

I feel this article made a good amount of sense and didn't find anything confusing.

What would the author think, is the best way to determine what sort of innovation to focus on? If you have company history you can look back at that and see what you've already done, but being a new company, it seems more difficult. To me, it seems many technology oriented firms, would benefit from both iterative and new innovation, so what would be a good strategy to divide those resources?

The article mentions several times how innovative Apple is. Though there is no denying Apple has been successful, I personally feel that, with the exception of the iPhone, they haven't done anything revolutionary with technology. There were existing tablets, smartwatches, and payment services before Apple introduced their own. The difference, was that Apple has marketed their way into becoming a sort of "poster child" for innovation, and many people see them doing that.

Amazon Whisperer

My venture idea is to implement a mesh WiFI network on the UF campus. It would provide a more reliable and less restricted internet connection then the existing system.

The revenue drivers from my business would be largely based on selling advertising. This would be more valuable then regular blanket advertising, because the service's coverage area would be the University. Therefore without having to be invasive, advertisers would know a lot of information about the users.

The next thing the venture could do is expand it's coverage to other Universities or neighborhoods. Expanding the user base as well as building relations with other business to advertise with. Another option, could be to offer a paid tier where users don't see advertisements. This would improve the user experience. Considering most the initial users will be college students, many probably would rather opt for the free version.

My idea is more of a service then a physical product, but I found a T-Mobile Hotspot that could solve a similar problem. The Hotspot creates a wireless network for phones and laptops to access. It requires a T-Mobile data plan and sim card to operate.

The main issues are people wanting to use different types of data plans compared to the one that T-Mobile supports out of the box. Also some people reported T-Mobile is phasing support for the product out, but not informing users till after they bought the product.

Users did like how easy it was to get running if you used the suggested plan, as well as the ease it is to access the internet on the go.

I would change the design to work on multiple carriers bands, as well as support more types of data plans. In addition, I would also add an extend battery pack to allow charging for other devices from the Hotspot.

As I said before, this wouldn't be something my venture would sell, but a form of competition. The Hotspot means the user could get internet connection in most areas, however that connection is less reliable, slower, and cost more than my solution would.

My Unfair Advantage

1. Being a student here, I have a "hometown" advantage, and will appear more appealing to UF students.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: Somewhat 
• Inimitable: Yes
• Non-substitutable: Yes

2. I am not aware of any business doing something like this in America, which gives a brief period of no competition if it was started soon.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: Yes
• Inimitable: Yes 
• Non-substitutable: Yes

3. One of the personal human capital I mentioned before, was that I am passionately analytic. What I means is I am very good at diving in depth into a topic that I care about and learning all I can.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: Somewhat 
• Inimitable: Yes
• Non-substitutable: No

4. Professors are available for me to ask questions and grow my network.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: No 
• Inimitable: No
• Non-substitutable: No

5. Majoring in computer engineering, I do have programming skills and knowledge that can help start the business.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: No 
• Inimitable: No
• Non-substitutable: No

6. Students are willing to work on projects for little or no pay in exchange for experience or future careers.

• Valuable: Somewhat
• Rare: No 
• Inimitable: No
• Non-substitutable: No

7. I have devices to develop and test the network on.

• Valuable: Somewhat
• Rare: No 
• Inimitable: No
• Non-substitutable: No

8. There is some time that I can mess up and not be hurt. I am very fortunate that most my tuition and living expenses are covered with scholarships, so I currently don't rely on a paycheck to get by.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: Somewhat 
• Inimitable: Somewhat
• Non-substitutable: No

9. Another of my personal human capital is my leadership experience. For example, recently I was able to start a club that is currently growing and completing its goals.

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: Somewhat 
• Inimitable: No
• Non-substitutable: Yes

10. This system does have a very dangerous possibility of endangering peoples privacy. I feel that I have the ethics to maintain that privacy, and would be able to find people to work with that would share those beliefs

• Valuable: Yes
• Rare: Possibly? 
• Inimitable: No
• Non-substitutable: Yes

My most valuable resource, according to the VRIN analysis would probably be being the first to market. I realize that this list doesn't put this venture in the best of light. With the help of being the first though, other factors are less important as long as the quality of the product was high and expansion was done appropriately. 

Week 10 Reading Reflection

I was surprised to learn about building and equipment depreciation. I knew their value does degrade over time, but I didn't expect it to follow a formula that the IRS sets out.

I still don't understand how if you are a new firm, or doing a totally new project, how would you possibly be able to estimate future cost or revenue accurately. Which many of these budgeting plans use to some degree.

How often is an accountant used in a small business, compared to doing it yourself? This passage also seems to be focused on the big picture, what about figuring out day to day expenses, which I feel would also be important to know.

I kinda feel a bit over my head with this material. I do feel confident in my mathematical ability, but being able to interpret the information correctly seems difficult. Hopefully after taking the financial accounting course this feeling will be different.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

1. Pitch 

2. Feedback Most the feedback form my previous pitch was positive, with only minor tweaks. They liked the content and the flow, with the exception of my conclusion. I also wore a Star Wars shirt that some people appreciated, but suggested I switch to some more professional attire. They also asked that I explain a little more about the advertisements.

3. Changed I changed my shirt and modified the end of my speech to add a better end and a little more info.

My Secret Sauce

1. Describe in five ways which my human capital is unique.

My time management and organization skills are big assets in my daily life. Beyond my engineering classwork, I am an officer for two different clubs (one that I founded), all of which requires a large amount of time. I plan my schedule factoring in spontaneous meet ups with friends and other unforeseen events, giving me time to complete everything I need.

When I become interested in something, I can spend large portions of my free time just learning about it. This quality of being passionately analytical, means that strive to know as much as I can about every aspect of something. How it works, why it's designed this way, etc. Which can lead to a better understanding of other things as well.

There are not many things that I can just pick up without much effort. This means I've developed a very good work ethic over time. If I want to do well on a class or give a good presentation, I know how hard I need to strive to accomplish the task.

If I feel that myself or someone near me is doing something wrong, I stop it. Though this can cause issues with certain people, overall I think it has a positive impact with myself and the people around me. Adherence to my personal ethics mean that I try to be  the best person I can to make other people's lives better, which I feel is an important endeavor.

Finally, I believe that I have a good leadership style. Most of it was developed during my years of Boy Scouts, where I served several terms in charge of the whole troop as well as worked my way towards Eagle Scout. This is continued today where I am a leader in my student organizations. As a leader, I feel my duty it to raise other people to their potential. It's about getting others to want to accomplish a goal, often by being the example others look towards.

2. Interview five people

My friend thought being analytical was a very strong trait I possess. I tend to dive into things ("nerd stuff" as she calls it) and try to understand everything I can about it.

My mom said I has a strong moral compass, as well as a drive to get stuff done. Particularly breaking a project into parts to make it more manageable. 

My dad also commented on my adherence to rules, though it can be a hindrance at times. Like my mom, he mentioned I do try to work ahead intelligently. He also commented on me diving into things I'm enthusiastic about to understand them, better.

This friend mentioned that I tend to focus more on work and getting it done compared to many others. He also said (alluding to my "obsession" with Star Wars), that I do tend to learn a lot about what interest me. 

They also mention that I tend to have a good work ethic. And like the others before, that I do get visibly passionate about things that interest me. 

3. Reflection

Based of these responses I do think people have similar thought about me. Particularly about being passionate about things (like Star Wars). I agree with what everyone said, even when certain traits, such as being a rule follower, can be bad. I don't think I would change much about my original list except maybe reordering them to more accurately reflect the most common traits people mentioned.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

I was surprised there was a whole section on Internet. I agree that it can be a powerful tool, but didn't think I would see a textbook describe the benefits at any length.

I thought it was kind of confusing that buyers associate premium stuff with evenly priced goods, and common goods with odd prices. Just a somewhat weird physiological thing people have.

I would want to ask the author when it is good to do market research? They discus what types of marketing to do, but not when they are useful. Not marketing per say, I would also want to ask about doing internal research to see employee happiness or efficiency.

There was nothing I saw that I disagreed with, just things I thought could of been fleshed out more. I suppose it's really up to a marketing professional to know a lot of the specifics, but it's always nice to know.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. You. I am studying computer engineering right now. I have experience working on several programming teams and have started my own programming oriented club. Implementing this concept would take a considerable amount of time considering the number of devices it would need to support. After getting it working I would need to focus on popularizing it on different college campuses and other areas with poor WiFi.

2. What are you offering to customers? I would be offering a free secure wireless network for anyone to use without restrictions.

3. Who are you offering it to? The primary demographic would be UF students who are frustrated with the wireless network available. However, the technology could be implemented anywhere were people don't have access to an unrestricted wireless network.

4. Why do they care? Customers would want to use this service because they are frustrated with existing networks not allowing certain programs or websites. Or because they don't have access to a wireless network. Because there would be no cost to the users, customers don't lose anything for trying the service.

5. What are your competencies? Some of the software would be hard to develop so that would add a time barrier for other companies to come in. The other way would be to popularize the network as much as possible, and use brand recognition to keep out competitors. Being a student here may also give me a "hometown" advantage, meaning other students are more likely to support someone here rather than an outside company.

I feel for the most part, that these elements could work together. The weakest link would probably be me. Though I understand on a relatively basic level, how something like this would operate, actually implementing it would be a big challenge, and would require some additional help.

Feedback Memo: The main concerns people mentioned were: Security, how intrusive the ads would be, reliability, set up process, and privacy. Security and privacy would have to be considered in all steps of the design process in order for both to be truly achieved. The ads would take some playing around with to find the best place and time to display them. They would be more valuable from an advertiser perspective, because they would know everyone on the network would be at UF, and could serve more local and/or targeted ads effectively without having to track the users. The reliability and setup process would also need some extensive testing to make sure both were smooth for a wide variety of devices and users.

Week 8 Reading Reflection

I was surprised that banks were less likely to give a startup loans. As with most other things for a normal person, if you need to get a loan, you normally get it from a bank.

The author mentioned that most entrepreneurs don't get venture capital investors. It seems that the common story told is that successful start ups always get money from venture capitalist.

What is the best way to get in touch with venture capital or angel investors? Is there some sort of organization to approach or website to contact? Also how often do investor really understand the technical aspect of a product? Would it be beneficial to go in depth in explaining it to them, or just give a brief introduction to it.

Not necessarily something I disagreed with, but I thought the author should of talked more about getting funding from friends and family. It can be dangerous, but it is often the only source entrepreneurs can take advantage of.

The Twenty Percent

1. I talked to a founder of Study Edge, who was able to give brief responses to my questions.

Who do you think your target customers are? 

UF students. All of them that are taking 1 of our 25 classes.

Where do you find your customers? 

All over campus. mainly word of mouth.

What are your customer's demographics? 

College freshman to juniors.

What kinds of media do your customers consume?

All kinds.

What are your customers' problems? 

Don’t’ like staring at textbooks or getting bad grades.

What are your customers currently doing to fix their problems? 

Studying, cheating (Hopefully not though), going to study edge, paying for private tutors.

How big, on a scale of 1-10, is this problem in your customers' lives? 

7 maybe.

What are some of the bigger problems your customers are dealing with? 

See above.

Do your customers have a budget allocated to fix these problem?

Not exactly. I doubt college students budget for tutoring.

2. Recordings

3. I think the entrepreneur does understand the problems of his customers. All people I interviewed were or had taken classes that study edge was offered. The two who did not use it felt that they didn't need it, were cost sensitive, or that the existing options (TAs and professors) would be fine. For students who feel any of those ways, it would be hard to get them to use any sort of extra tutoring. The person who was using it certainly seemed happy with the product, and said he uses it whenever he can.

Half-way Reflection

1. Tenaciousness is a skill: The behaviors I've used for this course would be time management and planning. Being able to budget your time and workload means that you can make it easier to get through all the work that school can throw at you. Eventually, if you can get a head, you can even budget ahead for out-of-the-blue events, like hanging out with friends, and not have to worry about getting work done. 

2. Tenaciousness is about attitude: I don't have the easiest time talking to people, especially strangers. So doing the interviewing places me out of my comfort zone. I don't like it, but I know they only way to get over that worry and anxiety, is to just get it over with. I did not develop that belief because of this class, but it is presenting more challenges for me to overcome. 

3. Three tips: 
     1) The more you put off anything, the worse it gets. If it's an assignment, the less sleep you get the night before. If it's a fear, the worse it will get in your head. 

     2) Be willing to ask for help. It may feel like your giving up, but you're not. It shows that you care about something, and that you want that to do well. 

     3) Set realistic goals. Don't start off trying to build a car. Break it down to reasonable segments. It's much less overwhelming, and gives you more satisfaction completing each little part, then worrying about not having the whole thing finished. 

Free Money

I want to start off by saying I do not like this assignment. It requires being rude and lying, neither of which I feel okay about.

Before

I chose to find people around my dorm, I figured people would be coming and going and that would be a good spot for this. As the assignment stated, I approached people who were walking with purpose and one individual on the phone.To start the conversation I just asked if they would have a minute for a quick question. The story I chose to go with was that I was doing a social experiment. I just wanted to see if they would like a dollar or not. I figured I would give away most of the dollars. 

Recordings

After 

I was surprised that, like the recordings show, most people didn't take the dollar. They seemed to think it was weird/rude and possibly did not see me as trustworthy, considering one girl asked what I did to it. The second to last person did take the dollar, but he was hesitant about it. I thought I would get that reaction from most people, because I thought people would like to get the dollar. It is clear though, that either my strategy was poor, or that the dollar wasn't worth enough to compensate for the strangeness of the interaction. 

Week 7 Reading Reflection

I was surprised that by the early 1960s consumers were already changing their buying habits to be less on the general functionality, and more about advertising and emotional attachment.

At points the author says segmentation is bad, and at points it's good. I didn't understand when either of those cases become true.

How would a company acquire information about their customers if they do something like retail, where they don't know much aside from that one purchase.

How frequently should a company do research like this? I feel when a change in the market or revealing occurs, it's almost to late.

Some of this I definitely felt a little overwhelmed by, so I can't say whether or not I disagree with anything.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

1. Pitch 

2. Feedback Reflection I thought the feedback I got on the last elevator pitch was mostly accurate. They said I was being a bit to technical.

3. Change I did my best to turn down the amount of technical information, and explain any terms I did use.

Customer Interviews No. 3

1. Interviewing Strategy: I gave each person the short description of the business idea, and answered any clarification questions. I wanted to make sure they understood the idea fully so they could give accurate thoughts on it. I didn't ask any other questions, because their thoughts tended to answer any other questions I would of asked.

2. Interviews:

3. Reflections: Most people seem to like the idea, which is a good thing considering the main market is college students here. The main concerns were speed of the network and the ads that would be displayed. So both of those would probably need to work well for the venture to be successful.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

One of the things that I hadn't though about was the power suppliers could have over different industries. I guess I always assumed the suppliers and buyers would want to closely work together to make an efficient system, but suppliers compete with their own industry so they would be treated similarity.

So buyers have power over industries obviously. However I don't see how consumers can operate just like industry buyers, because they don't have the same organization that companies would.

This section talked a lot about how to tell if an industry is good or bad to get into for a company. I do want to know how much control a businesses has over the industry it exist ion?  I would also ask the author how you effectively gauge an industries viability if that industry doesn't exist yet? 

I feel that even though it is extremely unlikely, a business could come into a "bad" industry with the correct strategy and do really well. 

Interviewing Customers No. 2

1. Fine tune your opportunity. I am focusing on a way to provide a more consistent wireless network on campus. The original idea was to provide a solution's to the struggle of charging laptops and phone, but people didn't seem to have as much an issue with that as they did with the WiFi. 

2. Fine tune the "who". I didn't change too much who I was talking too. My original focus was anyone who uses the UF network, and I still am talking to those people.

3. Tweaking your interview questions. I focused more on the opportunity in particular this time. There experience with the UF network, and if they would want to switch to a better opportunity if it existed.

4. Interviews.

5. Tell us what you learned about the opportunity. People are definitely dissatisfied with the current UF network. They would also be willing to use or at least try another network if available.

6. Tell us what you learned about interviewing customers. I didn't do quiet as well of a job of asking open questions, and because of that I got very short responses.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You. I am studying computer engineering right now. I have experience working on several programming teams and have started my own programming oriented club. Implementing this concept would probably take a considerable amount of time considering the number of devices it would need to support. After getting it working I would need to focus on popularizing it on different college campuses and other areas with poor wifi. 

2. What are you offering to customers? I would be offering a free wireless network for anyone to use without restrictions.

3. Who are you offering it to? The primary demographic would be UF students who are frustrated with the wireless network available. However, the technology could be implemented anywhere were people don't have access to an unrestricted wireless network.

4. Why do they care? Customers would want to use this service because they are frustrated with existing networks not allowing certain programs or websites. Or because they don't have access to a wireless network.

5. What are your competencies? Some of the software would be hard to develop so that would add a time barrier for other companies to come in. The other way would be to popularize the network as much as possible, and use brand recognition to keep out competitors.

I feel that these elements could work together. Though having more experience with network programming and more barriers to entry for possible competition.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

The WiFi on campus can be unreliable, and imposes annoying restrictions. A way to get around that, and create a network that has comparable speed and coverage would be to use a mesh network. This would allow phones and laptops to have access to the internet and spread the network at the sometime. Simul (Latin for together, so fancy) Tech is the name of the venture that plans on implementing this solution.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

I was surprised that venture capitalist not going through on their word was a big enough problem for the book to mention. I suspected there would be a lot of potential problems due to internal factors, but did not think that capitalist (once they said they would invest) could be an issue. 

The different methods to check if the venture was practical seemed to blend together a lot. They almost seemed redundant, which I suppose isn't a bad thing considering that being thorough is a good thing. I just had to check if I accidentally was rereading the same text. 

I do wonder what the author thinks about getting outside advisers to help with getting the businesses started? There seems to be quite a lot to consider, and not all entrepreneurs are qualified to give something like a good market analysis. I would also want to know how to see if someone like an investor or adviser position are qualified. Is there a resource or certain documentation to check? 

The book is getting into a lot of information that I simply have no real first hand experience with to be able to think the author is wrong. Most of what the chapter discusses I feel is logical, but otherwise I really don't know. 

Customer Interviews No. 1

1. Opportunity: I personally care a lot about battery life when it comes to mobile electronics (such as phones and laptops). So I was wanting to see what interest there would be in a product that would help with charging away from an outlet, or assist with some other problem.

2. Market: I guessed that most students here on campus would be heavier phone and laptop users. So they would be a good place to see if there is interest, or other issues with mobile electronics.

3. Questions: The questions I wanted to ask were fairly open. What is the users usual usage for there phone and laptop? What do they like about there phone and laptop? What don't you like about your phone and laptop? What would you look for in a new phone or laptop? And if they mentioned battery life, or another issue, if they would want to have something else with them to help compensate for it?

4. Interviews: I talked to most of these people while at the UVS field, so this may be somewhat skewed. I also found out I have class with the last person interviewed, which was kind of neat. Sorry that the videos are poor quality, I wanted to keep it as out of their face as possible so I was usually holding it off to the side.

5. Opportunity Learned: After doing the interviews it seems that though battery life may of been an issue, most people didn't care a whole lot. However, many of them did say that connectivity on campus was annoying. So it's possible that there is something to explore there.

6. Interviewing Learned: Finding people who were ok being interviewed and being recorded was challenging. A lot of people don't like the video aspect, and said they would be more comfortable if it was just audio. Once getting into the interview, people seemed to be more ok with the questions though.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

The chapter had a couple exercises they mentioned to do. I thought this was kinda cool, because to develop most things, you do need to practice. One asked to come up with some functions for "An egotistical staff member" or "the office gossip". This was different for me because I initially feel that both these things tend to be just negatives. But the point was to try to turn negative things to useful functions.

It mentioned that most adults only use 2 to 10 percent of their creative potential. I don't know how something like creative potential can be quantified. Stating that also somewhat implies that their is a hard limit to how creative someone can be. Which seems very strange considering that creativity, especially in Entrepreneurship, is about ignoring established limits and pushing through with ones own ingenuity.

I'd be curious what the ideas the author came up with for the exercise about the "An egotistical staff member" and "the office gossip". I imagine we may of started with similar ideas, but we each could of gone a different direction after getting into it, which would be cool to see. The chapter also talks about innovations that occurred due to the 9/11 attacks. I would want to ask if they think there may be an ethical line to entrepreneurship when it comes to something like that. Could you take too much of an advantage on peoples fears, or is that just like any other trend to benefit from.

I did not like how the author tried to quantify creativity, like I mentioned in the second paragraph. I understand the want to assign numbers to everything, I am an engineer, but I've always viewed something like creativity to be above being able to quantify. That's just my perspective, and obviously it's open to interpretation, but that's how I feel.

Top 5 World Problems

Last week I discussed what I though were the biggest world problems we face today in this blog post. I'm going to try to rank the worst five of those now.

1. Inability to compromise. If people can't learn to work through their cultural differences, the world will continue to face needless conflict.

2. Environmental danger. We only have one Earth. If it is damaged not only in the short term will we face the consequences, but any future generation of humans will suffer because of the mistakes of the past.

3. Lack of economic mobility. One of the big ideas that people associate with America is the ability for anyone, through hard work, to do well for themselves. Unfortunately that isn't true for a lot of people, here and around the world. If people can't make it out of poverty, then it means their children probably won't either. In addition, that means more resources from the rest of the society must be spent to help them.

4. Inconsistent energy. Without reliable and clean energy in many of the poorer regions of the world, many people just can't move away from subsistence and try other things to develop their community.

5. Discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. It will never fully go away, but if societies at large discriminate it severely restricts and hurts the people affected.

Here are my ranked solution starting with the most feasible.

1. Environmental danger. The first big steps to take would setting stringent world wide environmental quotas on international trade. This would need rules that affect not only the worst offenders of pollution and destroying habitats, but also those who continue to trade with them. This is the most feasible because similar, though weaker, efforts have already been put in place. It is also a world wide issue that everyone, regardless of borders.

2. Lack of economic mobility. Providing better education, that helps give students the knowledge and understanding that they can control their destiny would help. Also making it easier and cheaper to access resources such as higher education would mean more people born into poverty have the option to be in higher paying positions. Lots of resources are already in place. They just need to be expanded and directed better in order to serve people more efficiently.

3. Inconsistent energy. It would be beneficial to establish renewable energy sources, like solar panels and wind turbines, in these areas. They could be independent of an existing, unreliable infrastructure and provide clean power more regularly to the inhabitants. This would require a lot of money and other resources to work. One possibility is to work with corporations who could take advantage of the newly freed workers, though that has it's own danger as well.

4. Discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. These things are baked into cultures, and can only change over long periods of time. The best people can do to quicken these transitions are to learn more about the different groups and having personal interactions with them. It's easy to make something a faceless entity, but actually knowing people, and knowing what they have to go through, certainly can change individual beliefs. It would be hard to do, but overtime things would get better.

5. Inability to compromise. If each party looked that the core of the conflict and considered what they are trying to achieve, without pride or emotion clouding their thoughts, finding a solution for everyone would be much easier. Again, this would be very difficult to stop, because it is so baked into human culture. Like discrimination mentioned above, the most we can hope for is gradual improvement over time.