Week 15 Reading Reflection

I was surprised by the depth of poverty in some of these countries.

I was confused by how some of these poverty programs are supposed to function.

I would ask the author what their personal experience in some of these poor countries has been. I would also ask some of the more effective poverty policies that are used around the world.

I did not disagree with anything in the reading.

Final Reflection

The most formative experience was the free money exercise. I definitely looked like I was trying to hit on people. I think it was a really informative experience and taught me a lot about how different approaches can determine the outcome of a scenario. I really enjoyed my last explanation of my project. I thought it was awesome because I really became more comfortable on the camera and was able to explain my big idea much more clearly. I am most proud of all the random interviews that I completed successfully. It was such a fun way to get myself acclimated to the class.

I think I definitely am more of an entrepreneur now. I think that I certainly have more confidence and feel like I have some of the more essential tools to put together a business venture.

I would suggest that the future students of this class don't procrastinate. Most of these assignments you can do late at night. It's hard to walk around and do random interviews super late at night. You look pretty scary approaching people in the dark.

Elevator Pitch 4

Some of my feedback was to make my video a bit more interesting.  I think my humanity really showed well in such an enthusiastic way in this video. It made me so relatable. This was quite a bit more fun and interactive.

I altered my video this time by making it a bit more interactive. I think my movement really draws the viewer in, and drives the focus to my face because it keeps disappearing when I turn around. We want what we can't have. I think this video was a lot of fun and

Venture concept 2

I have seen a trend that as people continue to pack areas close to campus, it is becoming harder and harder to find a way to travel around campus. Students are moving into campus areas as the young population grows and the typical student is living further and further from campus. It's difficult to get anywhere unless you are riding a bike or riding a scooter with a decal. There is a need for students who are unable to make their way to campus. They need to get to campus for things like studying. I think that as more and more students are getting further and further from campus the student needs a better way to get to campus. This opportunity will last for awhile into the future until for some reason fewer people start going to college. Students are satisfying this need by biking to campus and taking the bus. This will not be satisfactory for long.

It's difficult to find a way to travel on campus and I have a solution. My product is a service to drive college students onto campus and nearby campus for a monthly fee at their beck and call. People get tired of paying per use through various taxi services. I think the typical fee will be up to $40, and will change the way students get to and from campus. They won't have to ride on a bus, and they will just hit a button on an app that gets them to where they are going. I think this will create a market for people who are willing to pay for a taxi service but don't want to pay every time.  I think this will meet peoples need for a way to get around often. We all need a way to get around near campus.

I have innovated a way for students to get to campus by way of a monthly fee that will be much less frustrating than finding parking on campus. I think that no one else will be using this service because it will be so difficult to break into the market once someone has the entirety of the market share. No one else will be offering this service and I think there is an adequate opportunity that will meet my need.

Last time I posted the thoughts were overwhelmingly to offer rides to places close to campus. I think this is a great idea and definitely will be doing that. We would be able to add so much value for so little there. I think the other point was the $40 was a bit expensive, but my suggestion would be to allow the price to remain at $40.  I think it's fair and for people willing to pay for a cab, I think they would be willing to pay $40 for the entirety of the month.

I made several edits to my idea to reflect the fact that I was going to offer services close to campus and on campus. I added that the typical fee will be "up to" $40.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) I was surprised what really comprises the particular types of innovation. I had no idea the intricacies or the passion required.
2) I was confused by some of the specific differences between the two types of innovation. It seemed like it could all really fall into a grey area somewhere between the two.
3) Which type of innovation tends to be most successful in what environment?
4) There was nothing I disagreed with.

Google Gold

1) By titling everything specifically what the post was supposed to be called, I thought I would be able to drive traffic because people in my class would make the page more popular by reading it easily.

2) The titles for each post were my keyword, I thought that was really a great way to get people to view it. By using common titles, I thought more people would click on it because it was familiar. 

3) I did not use social media to enhance my post. I should have posted my blog on different forms of social media to reach more of an audience. I don't think it was a good idea to just keep it to myself, I should have not trusted that people would just get on my blog because they would see it on google. 

4) My most viral post with 15 views was the elevator pitch number one. I thought it was because it was the first one of me behind the camera. 

5) I did not make it on the first page of google, but I should have. I don't understand why I didn't. I could not find my blog anywhere in the google results no matter what I googled.

Very short interview part 2

I remember being distinctly scared that he would think I didn't know what I was doing. There was something so humbling about being such an obvious underdog in that interview. I'm realizing how I came into the interview thinking that creating a business or idea was such an abstract thing, but in reality it's all very tangible and realistic. Doing what you love and being paid to do it is such an obvious reason to start a business. I'm wondering why I spent so much time in this class thinking up businesses that I didn't enjoy in the least. I should have decided to only consider things I'm passionate about.

How did you fall in love with woodworking?
Family reasons. When I was younger my family always made things together. That was our thing. We were a do it yourself family.

Why did you end your business?
Because sometimes when you feel like your business has reached maximum capacity and you can't go any further you have to let it go. At the end of the day you have to make enough money.

What was the biggest change in direction for your business?
The way we marketed. Eventually I had to expose myself to more people and then I was accustomed. Sometimes the people that are already around you won't be enough to keep your business afloat or growing.


Like I said earlier, I never thought up venture ideas about things I loved. I really think I held myself back from progressing a measurable amount due to that. I think Danny approached me as a more experienced entrepreneur, but I still believe there is a lot to learn from him.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1) I was surprised by the emotional bias that sellers tend to have when they have nurtured and raised a company. I would think they would be more inclined to sell their business.

2) I didn't understand the big layout of expenses in buying a company. Was that just to budget? How do living expenses factor in to budgeting for buying a business?

3) What are the most common divergent goals in the business world? Are intangible book values often different from normal values?

4) There was nothing I didn't agree with.

Celebrating Failure

During the giving out a dollar exercise in this class, I failed to give out any money. People said it looked like a weird pick up line, which is totally true. It was so bizarre. I think the actual assignment was difficult, and for some reason I was not very well equipped for it. I tried several times to give out the dollar, and failed to do so. Every time.
I learned that you can't just walk up to people on the street and try to give them money. It's strange, but people don't want handouts really. Not nearly as much as you would think they do.
I learned that failure is hard, but I disagree with the idea that I need to change something about myself. Why, because I can't accomplish something, do I need to change? If I were failing something that was important, then yes, I would need to change; however, this isn't the case with giving out money on the street. Giving out money is, in my opinion, a mix of generous and unethical. So to say I have much to change because I was unable to give someone a dollar doesn't seem apt.

My Exit Strategy

My exit strategy is to sell this business to earn a large profit early on.  I don't think there are enough barriers to entry to keep it sustainable, and I also don't think there is enough of a nice market to keep it running indefinitely into the future unless some serious changes are made. Because I'm so unsure of ways to expand into the future, it leaves me with a lot of signs pointing to a sale.
I think that my plan to exit in a timely manner has not influenced me largely. The biggest effect that knowing I would leave early may have would be spiking downwards the profitability of my company through gimmicks. Since this is a college town, I think there is a real temptation to lower prices significantly and to let the buyer handle the profit loss.

What's Next?

Existing market:
1) I think what is next is some sort of way that people could drive and get discounts on their services or perhaps traveling to and from places on campus other than library. Perhaps different pricing models where you can be guaranteed pickup in a certain timeframe.

2)

 3) I think based on my existing market, the next move for me is going to be to learn how to further capitalize on the market I already have. I need to create different price points for people who are trying to work with different time frames concerning arrival or departure times.
I think this will allow me to grow my existing market into more of a luxury product. I don't necessarily believe that the service I have will create great avenues of growth. The growth may be in building a scope of services that can cater to any individuals needs.

New market:
1) I think a new realm of the industry could be offering bulk contracts to employees at universities. In this way, we could offer regular scheduled shuttle services to and from congested areas on campus and we could help universities get their important employees to work in a timely and convenient manner. The big sell here would be that this daily transport would be an expensive luxury service for this who were higher up at the university. This future target audience would be small, but we would be able to charge a large fee which would allow us to risk reaching only a handful of individuals.

2) People in this market would be able o offer their employees an incredibly convenient service to make the university or position a more appealing idea.

3)

4) This does not sound as appealing as one would think because the truth is that the market is so small that it appears it would be difficult to get someone to and from the university at a decent price point every day. I wonder how practical this would be on a bulk scale for a university.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1) It surprised me that a lot of entrepreneurs don't partake in strategic planning due to lack of time and effort. It seems as if this would be the most important stage, so I was very surprised that they would take on a greater risk by not putting a lot of thought into the planning.
2) The reading this week was very straight forward and educational and I felt I understood everything in the text. I was not confused about a certain topic but I would of loved even more elaboration and real life examples in some parts of the text.
3) How can you better help entrepreneurs with the strategic planning step? How would you advise companies to sustain themselves instead of naturally declining?
4) I did not find anything I disagreed with in the text.