30A - Final Reflection

1. While going back through my posts from the semester, I remembered thinking how much work and how stressful I thought this class would be. But now, looking back on all of it, I realize that it was extremely helpful and has taught me many life lessons that I will continue to use. Even though I was very uncomfortable interviewing people in the beginning, by the end I was much more comfortable and the questions and conversations came much more naturally than they initially did. I think the assignment that was the most fun was creating the customer avatar because I loved creating a whole story for my customer. I think that the elevator pitches were my least favorite because there was so many things going on all at once. You had to write the pitch, memorize it, dress up, and then record yourself and make sure it looked good enough to post before your peers.
2. Although the elevator pitches were my least favorite assignment, I do believe that they are the assignment that will stay with me the longest. By doing it over and over again and constantly modifying it to be better and better based on the comments I received, I was able to see what an elevator pitch truly entailed and how to do one even better in the future. I think that the elevator pitches would be my answer to all 4 of the questions for this sections. By doing them multiple times and rewatching them now, I can see my confidence in front of the camera improve a little more each time and the pitch become more dynamic.
3. I do not know if I see myself as an entrepreneur, but I do have more of an entrepreneurial mindset for sure.
4. My one recommendation for incoming students of this class would be to work ahead, work ahead, work ahead! Even though there are no tests and you do not need to study, 3 assignments a week quickly piles up! I did most of the assignments within the first month of the class and had the assignments drafted on my blog. In doing so, each Monday all I had to do was click post and check one more assignment off my list for the week. 

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

My idea is tailored to fit the needs of UF students and could later be adopted by other universities for their students as well. The market is defined demographically as students ages 17-24 who pay tuition. Gender, ethnicity, and marital status are not determining factors in the demographics of my target market.

The nature of the need has to do with convenience, entertainment, and money. The forces in the environment that are creating this opportunity are the high tuition costs, high living expenses, food expenses, and accumulation of monthly subscription fees for other streaming services. Currently, customers are satisfying their need of entertainment with Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, and many more. I believe that customers are very loyal to Netflix, but the other platforms are easier to sway people away from. 

I believe there is a big opportunity for this. I have never heard of a streaming service like this that the university itself would be in charge of or offer through the college, and I think it would be extremely successful and bring in extra money for the school as well as new opportunities for the students to interact with the university. I believe the window of opportunity will be open for a long time because new students come in each year to subscribe which will offset the seniors that have graduated and unsubscribe. It would be a cyclical flow of money.

Innovation

My idea is to create a streaming platform that partners with the University of Florida for their students. This platform would include movies and tv shows as well as Gator sports. This new platform would allow students to save money on entertainment by combining all of their subscriptions into just one monthly subscription. The ultimate goal is that students will change their current subscriptions to my new platform and will save money that they can turn around and use for other things they need as a college student. 

So, what I am selling is subscriptions to a new streaming service. Right now, I am thinking that the subscription fee could be around $12 a month. If customers cancelled their other services and switched to this one only, this should save them at least $5 a month. I do not know how much my fixed or variable costs will be yet, so this is only an estimate of what the price could be.

Venture Concept

The reasons I think customers will switch to this new service is money savings, variety, and UF sports. The price of just one streaming service compared to the 4 that the average American has, will greatly reduce the monthly cost that customers are paying each month for television entertainment. This new service will also provide a large variety of tv shows and movies and will have monthly surveys to see what movies people want added each month. And lastly, UF sports will be a large influencer because no other service provides access to all of the Gator sports for this low of a price. I think it might be a little hard for customers to switch in the beginning, but if the service is successful its reputation should speak for itself and convince people to switch over.

The competitors would be other streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Showtime, etc. Their possible weaknesses would be their high prices and inability to satisfy the need for variety of tv shows and movies for their customers. 

Customer experience and price points play a large role in this business concept because customers need to be satisfied to create positive word of mouth about the service. If the price point is too high, nobody will give the service a chance in the first place. Packaging, distribution, and customer support do not need to be defined at this point.

To support the ongoing production of this new service, I would have multiple employees who can be reachable 24/7, for customers to show how much we care about each individual. These employees would be able to answer any and all questions that are asked about the platform and would be able to recommend things to watch to indecisive customers.

The Three Minor Elements

The most important resource will be our monthly surveys that take each of our customer's opinions into account. By conducting these surveys, our customers are given a voice and they can help us choose which new movies and tv shows will be added to the platform each month.

Next for the venture would be expanding into other universities in Florida and ultimately throughout the country.

Next for me would be to become financially stable from this venture, sell the company to the individual universities or another company, and be able to invest money into other opportunities that I believe will be successful in the future.

Summary of Feedback

The feedback I received on my first post was all very positive. Many of the people who commented said that this is a great and affordable alternative to the streaming services that they have now. They also were very surprised that this opportunity had not already been exploited at the university level. 

How I Changed My Venture Concept

I did not have any suggestions for changes to my overall venture concept, so I made some changes myself as I read through it. In the beginning I originally had that my service would be offered directly through the university, and I modified it to now say "partners with" the university in order to allow my company to make some money while running this new venture. I also fixed a lot of grammatical errors because it was like a word vomit the first time I wrote this venture concept.

This is the logo that I created for my new company!

28A - Your Exit Strategy

1. For my own exit strategy, I plan to sell my business in 5 years, hopefully to the university itself, for a large return.
2. I selected this strategy because I do not think this is the business I would want to be in forever and I think the stress would ultimately take a toll on my happiness and well-being. I would rather have the money so that I can invest in other ideas (mine or other peoples) and keep taking advantage of opportunities in the market. I think there are so many different opportunities that have not been taking advantage of and I want to be a part of more than just one thing.
3. I do not believe that my exit strategy has influenced the decisions that I have made regarding the creation of my business. If anything, I believe that it has driven me to be more successful and profitable because I would want the company to look good on paper in order for investors to want to come in and purchase it. 

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

I read "Miracles Happen" by Mary Kay Ash

1. The thing that surprised me the most was how hard it was for a woman to be taken seriously in a professional setting. The amount of time and effort that a woman had to put into her look to be garnered as respectable and approachable in a position was very overwhelming for me since I do not wear makeup and basically live in nike shorts and t-shirts right now. The thing I admired most about Mary Kay Ash was that she put her faith above everything else. I loved her philosophy of "God first, family second, and career third." I really didn't have anything that I don't admire about her. She was a very reputable person in her profession and I admire her as a role model for never giving up on her dream and working hard each and everyday. Mary Kay faced adversity daily in the workplace simply for being a woman. This was seen as a disadvantage in the business world and was something that she had to fight to disprove everyday. She also faced much failure before starting her company, but she was a firm believer in failing forward. This was a philosophy that meant that the failure you encounter will only bring you closer to your goal.
   
   
2. Mary Kay was a very competitive woman. She never let anyone tell her that she couldn't do something and she strived each and everyday to be better. Not better than the people around her, but better than she was the day before. She was her own best competition. She was also a very hard worker. She used to get up at 5am each day because those 3 extra hours she had before her family woke up times 6 days a week amounted to an extra 18 hours a week, which was about 2 extra work days. And when she woke up this early, she would create a list of the top 6 things she needed to get done each day. By doing this, it allowed her to focus on the most necessary things and not stray too far from the course of action that she needed to take to be successful. 
   
   
3. I thought that the set up of the book was quite confusing since it was not written chronologically. The book was written more like specific things that she wanted to teach the audience and while doing so she told stories about her personal encounters. So, it was kind of hard to figure out where she was talking about in the timeline of her life when she told specific stories. Other than that, it was a very entertaining and enjoyable book with a lot of great advice.
   
   
4. I would ask Mary Kay:
1. What is one thing you wish that your husband could have been alive to see in the growth of the company?
2. Do you regret any of the early decisions that you made for the company?
   
   
5. Mary Kay's opinion of hard work is that it is absolutely necessary and will allow you to compete with yourself on a daily basis. She was a single mother of three children and she also had to work. She was constantly working hard at her job and in her home. I agree that hard work is extremely important. I think you need to apply yourself each day to reach the goals that you have set for yourself.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. During this past semester, I feel as though I failed at giving 100% in the things that I was doing. Since I am taking classes this summer, working 20-25 hours a week, and trying to get ready to move into my new apartment, I feel as though I did not give any of these my full attention. In doing so, did not perform to the best of my abilities.  
2. As a perfectionist, I know I am really hard on myself to do the best I can do in every circumstance that presents itself to me. Whenever I got a grade that was not an A, I felt defeated and like I failed because I knew I could have done better.  I learned that I can't stretch myself too thin and that there needs to be a time where I say "no." Another good lesson I learned is that even if I don't do as well as I hoped, there is another assignment coming up which means another opportunity to prove myself.
3. Failure is extremely crushing for me. I am the oldest of four kids in my family and failure is not an option because all of my siblings look up to me as a role model. I do not like when others see me fail because I see it as a sign of weakness and I like to be viewed as strong at all times. I shut down and separate myself from everything that is going on. However, I am working hard to be better at accepting and learning from my failure to make me stronger in the future. This class has taught me that failure is just another step in the creative process and can ultimately lead to greater success.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market

Step 1: With the plan that I have currently, the next step would be building my streaming service and marketing it to the students on campus. If it is as successful as I hope it will be, I am hoping to expand it to other schools in Florida and hopefully throughout the country later on.

Step 2: I interviewed three potential customers that I have already talked to earlier in the summer and they had the same idea that I had. They believe that creating the streaming service is definitely the next step because without it, the company is nothing and that advertising in the beginning will be very very important to get the word out. They also all agreed that it could be expanded way further than just UF and Gainesville.

Step 3: Based on my own expectations and the feedback I received from customers, this opportunity seems to be much larger than just the University of Florida and it's students. I see my venture to be one that will continue to grow and expand as time goes on and more people hear about it. By this, I mean that it could expand from Gainesville to the entire country and potentially even further. 

My interviewees all talked about how important advertising would be and the many different ways I could do so. One of the customers talked about setting up social media pages on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even TikTok. With these, the customer base would be able to see the new service from the very beginning and would be able to direct message questions to us that we can answer and hopefully convince them to switch to the new service.

New Market

Step 1: A radically different market that I could target is the professors at the University of Florida. This would be a whole different segment of people and would have to be advertised to in a completely different manner.

Step 2: Professors are usually older and have more life experience than students do, so they would be more financially smart. Part of being financially smart is choosing things that are cheaper in order to stretch the value of a dollar. I think that because of this, the professors would get use out of my product as well.

Step 3: I interviewed two people from this new market. One was an older professor around the age of 60 who said that there would have to be classic movies and tv shows as well as documentaries. The other was a newer professor who said that it would have to be ad-free because they do not have time to waste on watching advertisements.

Step 4: From interviewing people in this new market, I learned that if I made a few modifications to the original platform, it could be applied to another market. I think it would be beneficial and would allow there to be different levels of this platform that could encapsulate different markets.

After interviewing this new market, I still believe that my original market of college students is more attractive and that my service would be more attractive to them as well. The need for college students to save money is higher on their priority list than that of professors because they have a steady income.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

My idea is tailored to fit the needs of UF students and could later be adopted by other universities for their students as well. The market is defined demographically as students ages 17-24 and who pay tuition. Gender, ethnicity, and marital status are not determining factors in the demographics of my target market.

The nature of the need has to do with convenience, entertainment, and money. The forces in the environment that are creating this opportunity are the high tuition costs, high living expenses, food expenses, and accumulation of monthly subscription prices to other streaming services. Currently, customers are satisfying their need of entertainment with Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, and many more. I believe that customers are very loyal to Netflix but the other platforms are easier to sway people away from. 

I believe there is a big opportunity for this. I have never heard of a streaming service like this that the university itself would be in charge of, and I think it would be extremely successful and bring in extra money for the school. I believe the window of opportunity will be open for a long time because new students come in each year to subscribe which will offset the seniors that have graduated and unsubscribe. It would be a cyclic flow of money.

Innovation

My idea is to create a streaming platform that is offered directly through the University of Florida for their students. This platform would includes movies and tv shows as well as Gator sports. This new platform would allow students to save money on entertainment by combining all of their subscriptions into just one monthly subscription. The ultimate goal is that students will change their current subscriptions to my new platform and will save money that they can turn around and use for other things they need as a college student. 

So, what I am selling is subscriptions to a new streaming service. Right now, I am thinking that the subscription fee could be around $12 a month. If customers cancelled their other services and switched to this one only, this should save them at least $5 a month. I do not know how much my fixed or variable costs will be yet, so this is only an estimate of what the price could be.

Venture Concept

The reasons I think customers will switch to this new service is money savings, variety, and UF sports. The price of just one streaming service compared to the 4 that the average American has, will greatly reduce the monthly cost that customers are paying each month for television entertainment. This new service will also provide a great variety of tv shows and movies and will have monthly surveys to see what movies people want added and which ones they do not need on the service. And lastly, UF sports will be a large influencer because no other service provides access to all of the Gator sports for this low of a price. I think it might be a little hard for customers to switch in the beginning, but if the service is successful its reputation should speak for it and convince people to switch over.

The competitors would be other streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Showtime, etc. Their possible weaknesses would be their high prices and inability to satisfy the need for variety of tv shows and movies for their customers. 

Customer experience and price points play a large role in this business concept because customers need to be satisfied to tell other people about the service and if the price point is too high, they will not give the service a chance in the first place. Packaging, distribution, and customer support do not need to be defined at this point.

To support the ongoing production of this new service, I would have multiple employees who can be reachable 24/7 for customers to show how much we care about each individual. These employees would be able to answer any and all questions that are asked about the platform and would be able to recommend things to watch to indecisive customers.

The Three Minor Elements

The most important resource will be our monthly surveys that take each of our customer's opinions into account. By conducting these surveys, our customers are given a voice and they can help us choose which new movies and tv shows will be added to the platform each month.

Next for the venture would be expanding into other universities in Florida and ultimately throughout the country.

Next for me would be to become financially stable from this venture and be able to invest money into other opportunities that I believe will be successful in the future.