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.