Final Reflection (30A)

1) Wow. This semester feels as though it has been so long yet so short at the same time. It is crazy to think of how much I have learned and done throughout this semester and I would have never pictured this ending back in January. This class provided me with so many cool and challenging experiences and really pushed me to get out of my comfort zone as much as possible. I did things I never could imagine before, like contacting major business people and asking people for interviews on campus. I am not someone who likes to confront others and this was definitely a challenge but shaped my ideas of interviews completely as I really tried to make sure that I completed each and every interview. There were some not so fun moments as well, such as the dreaded elevator pitches, yet, after watching all three of these I am pretty proud of the obvious progress. 

2) For me personally, the most formative experiences were the ones that required us to reach out and rely on the feedback of others. This was something that terrified me yet throughout this semester I got more and more feedback and practice with this concept to the point where it doesn't even scare me anymore. Feedback is necessary and great especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. Even though I hated them, I will definitely remember the Elevator pitches the most vividly as I would get all dressed up just to stand in front of my dresser and rehearse way too many times, like an embarrassing number of times. The fact that I completed all three of these without trying to skimp out on any is really impressive to me considering I really hate being in front of the camera and it definitely gave me some anxiety but I did it and now feel a lot more comfortable with the process itself. 

3) I definitely see myself in a new light after this course as it really has made me look at the business process entirely different, I am not someone pursuing entrepreneurship which means prior to this I really didn't have a huge concept of all the work that goes into business models and this class really enlightened me. I have definitely improved my overall creativity and learned new skills from within this course, am I an entrepreneur? Who knows, but I am proud of the model I have created and the long process we all endured in order to make everything as precise and thought out as possible. I have definitely developed a more critical thinking mindset and an open one as well due to this class. 

4) I would recommend really thinking out your business idea early on because you are stuck with it for the entire semester, I would've thought a little longer about my initial concept had I known this. Also just encouraging them to put in their best effort and not half ass anything because it is really rewarding in the end rather than just not doing the assignments that are hard or might push you. In order to do your best in this course just complete the assignments and really do what you're told to do because it is the most rewarding way and you will have a completely new mindset by the end of this course if you do actually complete the assignments and think hard about them. This class is only as rewarding as you allow it to be so do your best!

Venture Concept #2 (29A)

GATORNAV

Opportunity: 

Running late for class, check the Rider app which says there will be a bus arriving in 10 minutes so you decide to grab some breakfast before heading out the door yet right as you step outside you hear the bus pull off and realize you should've skipped that breakfast. This is the oh too familiar cycle as the current bus system is so imprecise and tends to be wrong more often than not. With this, an opportunity is created, as there are thousands of students and staff who rely on the RTS system everyday. Geographically this market is pretty specific as it is for those who ride the bus to campus and therefore live within 20 miles of the University of Florida. Demographically they are on the young, poorer side as it is directed towards mostly college students. Currently, students are "satisfying" this need by either leaving their houses at a ridiculously early hour in order to make it on time or some students have given up on the bus systems entirely, relying on the new influx of scooters or taking their chances with UF parking. None of which are real solutions, making their loyalty pretty questionable as the alternatives are just as lacking as the bus system. This opportunity is huge with a pretty open window as there is no real competition in the field currently.

Innovation:

 In order to combat this opportunity, I will be creating a system of products and services. The product being a new navigational system that accounts not only for the route and exact location of each bus, but for traffic as well. This will be sold and implemented into every current RTS bus system and provided as a service for students who will be using the app paired to the navigational system allowing them to get to class on time. Not only will the app provide them with a precise location but it will give them the ability to rank the drivers who will now be held accountable in order to eliminate some of the current mishaps, such as cleanliness, safety, and overall attitude. The main source of income will be from the actual navigational system itself which would be sold for 40 dollars per bus, numbers based off current market, which will include the implementation fee and product itself. 

Venture Concept: 

This product will allow for so many more satisfied customers and ultimately improve the entire RTS system which is so unreliable now. Customers will want to switch to this new product as it is going to bring in better rankings and reviews and provide an overall higher quality service with no real costs to students. However, it might be hard to get the RTS director to want to start using this product but their current product is obviously not working as they are currently just using a paper system relying on where the buses "should" be at a certain time rather than any actual navigational system. With this new system, the company of RTS will be able to step into the future technologically and provide an overall better service. The competitors don't currently exist, even though there are other companies who create GPS systems, they are not currently targeting my exact market. Yet there are problems with RTS current system as the guessing of where a bus might be and then telling that to students as a reliable source is obviously not an ideal way to go about things. Prices are based off current markets and could be adjusted according to demand, however, packaging will play a pretty important role as each system will have to be individually packaged with a lot of caution as they are pieces of technology. The customer experience is what we are all about, however this will more so be a product of the app experience rather than the product itself. The business building itself will be more so like a factory and will not have any customer experience being taken into consideration really as it will be more so for manufacturing. There needs to be a group of IT individuals in order to get the navigational system to function properly, manufactures, app producers, managers, along with people who can pick up the phone and provide details to customers. 

Feedback Summary: 

I got amazing feedback on my last venture concept as everyone seemed to really love my idea and thought that I did a great job pulling everything together, so thank you to the people who left comments! No one really suggested any changes, it was mostly just a bunch of compliments but this can be just as helpful because I can see what people liked and hone in on that in order to improve which is exactly what I ended up doing. I changed my concept in order to add even more scenario-like parts in order to truly describe my customer and what they go through on the daily, along with the fact that I was trying to remain as cohesive as possible. This was not an easy task as it is hard not to try and suggest your solution as soon as possible but I made sure to keep distinct separation while making it flow. 

Exit Strategy (28A)

1) For my business endeavor I have decided to sell it to the University of Florida, hoping to get a pretty large return. 

2) I have selected this exit strategy, as I have no real intentions of running a business and especially not one in Gainesville, Florida considering I don't even plan on staying in Florida long-term. I want to go into the medical field and in order to fulfill that passion I cannot be tied to one spot with a big responsibility of running a business. In order to combat this, I would love to sell to the University of Florida as they are the ones most heavily benefitted and engulfed in the endeavor while being the most-likely people who could afford to buy me out. 

3) My exit strategy has definitely influenced my decision-making up to this point as I am not planning on staying within the company and knew that with certainty the entire time. Limiting my overall desire for growth, yet it didn't limit my plan to acquire resources as I definitely would still need to get the business in motion before selling it to get the biggest profit. 

Reading Reflection No. 3 (27A)

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams:

1) Within this book, Scott Adams introduces the book by saying it is supposed to be about him and his story of success from the point of view of his failures. Basically, how he succeeded through all his defeats and pushed on offering his audience the tips and ideas in order to succeed the same way he did. He uses pretty blunt phrases in order to grab his audiences attention such as his chapter titled, "Passion is Bullshit" in order to truly show how you have to throw out wishful thinking in order to truly succeed.

2) This book was actually perfect for this weeks assignment as we just had our assignment on failure and the need to embrace that failure in order to learn from it. Failure is a key way to success because it gives you opportunity to learn and change in order to eventually succeed. You cannot succeed without failure at some point.

3) This book has many different tips and hints as to why failure is necessary and how to deal with that failure so creating an assignment based on that would be one that asks students to create a list of failures, at least 10, and in response to these failures students would have to right how they overcame each of them along with how that helped them for something in the future, whether it did or didn't help them is okay but what did they learn from that experience. Reinforcing the ideals of the book along with pushing students to accept their failures and look at them in a new light.

4) I was really surprised at his overall bluntness and how frankly he put things, yet it was also really refreshing as it didn't feel like just some other motivational book full of nonsense but a true account from a person who has actually experienced what every entrepreneur will one day experience. It was so nice to hear how even when you feel like everything is going wrong that success could be just around the corner as long as you look for it and try to learn from your surroundings and those failures.

Celebrating Failure (26A)

During this time of quarantine, I have decided to start running. Which if you knew me you would think this was a complete joke considering I am a huge klutz and probably the worst runner you have ever seen. I have been working out my whole life sporadically doing weight training and different strength training, however, I have never really ran, for fun at least, and definitely not outside. However, as I moved back home I decided there was no way I could possible just sit at home all day with my four other siblings because I would literally go insane. So I started running. Tallahassee, Florida, where I am from, is known for its trees and nature so I decided I'd start this running endeavor on one of our many beautiful trails to make it a little more bearable. I ran for two weeks every day for about 3 miles. Now, another detail I forgot to left out, is the fact that I have asthma which paired with running for the first time is not a very good combo. Every single day I felt like I was going to die I felt like a failure every single day. Not to mention my body was definitely not helping as it does not like running whatsoever. I was pretty defeated and embarrassed as I could only make it for about 0.2 miles of straight running before having to stop and walk. I ended up spending majority of the time walking. Then, I got a really bad bruise on my leg and ended up having to go to the clinic in order to get it checked out only to be told that I had tore a muscle from overexertion, can you imagine. So I was off running for at least a week which made it even harder for me to want to push on, yet, I did and yesterday was my first day back running and it actually started to feel, good? I'm not sure where this will go but it definitely feels very rewarding afterwards and pushes me in a new way I never have been pushed before. I learned a lot from this experience as I learned you need to definitely ease into things before going full on as you end up burning out pretty quickly, along with the fact that you can end up injuring yourself. However, if you do it correctly it can be really rewarding.

Failure, is tough. I am someone who doesn't handle failure well. I have to succeed in order to feel satisfied and it is very hard to feel like I can't do something. It is extremely hard, especially when you feel like you are doing all you can in order to succeed. It is definitely embarrassing and can lead to you wanting to take the easy route of giving up, yet, once you finally get it right there is nothing more rewarding. Failure creates a need for change and gets people to start thinking outside of the box in order to succeed, sure it sucks but it is a great tool as well. I think this class has definitely showed us how to welcome failure and to learn from mistakes in order to improve, leading me to definitely have a better understanding of failure itself. I am definitely more likely to take a risk academically and even with my interviewing processes than I was in the beginning of this semester.

What's Next? (25A)

Existing Market

What's Next? My first step is getting approval from the RTS company in order to implement my product into their buses because without this approval the venture is pretty much unfeasible. 

Sadly, this whole social distancing thing doesn't allow for interviews but I believe after explaining my situation and endeavor they would agree that creating that connection would be the most important first step.

After getting this approval, there would be so many more steps that are necessary. I would have to get space in order to start a factory along with a team of employees in order to start the business going, after that I would need to create the first test run of products and produce a test run of the products to make sure it is efficient. There would need to be a team of engineers assembled in order to create the app which would then have to be paired and tested as well. After the testing phase is complete we would need to implement it in every bus and then release the app on the market getting the transportation systems at UF to send out an email about its arrival on the market to get more awareness. 

As we progressed and got approval from the market we would further our endeavor by spreading into different fields of transportation starting with a rental car service in order to help students who don't have cars. Spreading our reach along with providing a new source of revenue as the buses would mostly be a one time fee with the exception of repairs and services needed on the devices. 

New Market

My current market is very poor college students, in the future I would want to reach more into the locals pockets as they are middle class and a completely different market altogether. My venture concept will benefit them as well due to the increased use of RTS systems during all those cherished game days, this service will help them in there time of need as well giving them a opportunity to get those perfect seats at the next gator game. Corona stinks doesn't it, no interviews were taken in the making of this post. However, in order to make adaptations and further reach this new market, I would need to do more advertising than just on campus and pull on their heart strings by using the beloved football team in order to get them to care. 

This market is a tricky one considering they are less affected by the overall need and will be harder to make aware of the need in general. However, Gainesville is a huge college town and there is a high influx of locals on campus during football season which means I would have the perfect opportunity to make them aware of the situation and how necessary the changes I am trying to implement actually are. After getting them to be more aware it should be pretty easy to get them to become invested as there is such a sense of Gator pride within the city of Gainesville and most people have experienced the RTS system at one point or another. 

It is definitely not as attractive as my current market, other than the fact that they have money, because it is hard to sell to people who are unaware of the need. However, it is definitely a surprise that they would still be willing to pay considering usually people are selfish. My main assumption is that they will be willing to pay even though they are not affected on the daily and without those interviews I'm not really sure how this would play out. 

Venture Concept (24A)

GATORNAV
Opportunity

You wake up and are running late for class, check the rider app and see a bus is coming in ten minutes so you have time to grab that quick breakfast and head out the door. Although, as you are walking out the door, you hear the familiar sounds of the RTS bus pulling off from the bus stop, guess you should have skipped breakfast after all. This is an oh too familiar concept, as students are tricked by the lagging app and lack of real tracking devices within the bus system, meaning the estimates are left up to just that, estimates. This unmet need is due to the lack of technology implemented within the buses they are still going off of "how long a route SHOULD take" which leaves too much room for error as it does not take into consideration crashes or general traffic. Both students and staff suffer from this problem as they are left to having to either wake up extremely early in order to have a chance to make it to their destinations, use other modes of transportations, or just rely on the current system in place that is causing all the issues which seems to be the most popular option. The market is young, students who rely on the bus in order to get to and from school, most likely the off-campus students who have their reasons for relying on the RTS system. Geographically they would have to be within twenty miles of campus as that is where most off-campus housing can be found along with the most frequent bus routes, demographically they are broke, young college students who are overworked and stressed as it is. This opportunity is huge as no one is currently doing anything to meet the need even though after doing all my research it is a huge unsatisfied opportunity. The window is pretty open as of now considering there are no current plans in motion and people are just accepting the current solution of having to move around their schedule in order to make it work with the inconvenient bus system.

Innovation

GatorNav is a business created in order to combat this opportunity, I have decided to create a navigational system that would be placed within the RTS systems, upon approval, and ultimately paired with an app designed to push bus drivers who will be criticized based on their performance and give students more control over their transportation. This will need to go through several different people and relies on their approval considering I don't plan on competing against RTS and would like to use their existing resources in order to avoid competition altogether. I would be creating the navigational systems charging roughly 50 dollars per bus, number determined based off current navigational systems used within cars so it could vary. This would then be supported through the app which would bring money back into the company as the bus drivers receive different benefits and rewards for overall cleanliness, timeliness, and safety. I will be selling the navigational systems, however, the RTS would be offering the app in order to help give students a sense of control and bring money back into their company. 

Venture

This innovation will address the current need through multiple different ways, allowing for a better experience for customers, students, staff, and locals, by giving them a more precise measurement and a overall increased sense of control while improving the RTS ratings and giving their workers a new standard for success. Customers would be willing to switch from using apps such as Rider to this new app because of the increase in efficiency without costing them any additional costs. The RTS system is already apart of tuition and would not cause the customers any additional costs. However, it might be difficult to get the RTS to switch to using my navigational system rather than the ancient paper system currently in place, yet with the promise of overall improvement and an increase in funding from UF transportations, already agreed upon after talking to the director, they would have no real reason not to switch. The competitors are not any direct bus system, however, there are lots of alternatives to riding the bus. Such as, driving your car and battling it out for a parking spot, riding a scooter, or even walking to classes. However, the people choosing these alternatives are not within my current market range as they have already determined the buses to be too unreliable and not worth the hassle my current market is all the people still choosing the bus every morning. Packaging plays a role when it comes to the navigation system which will also need to be distributed. This will all need to be manufactured in a factory in order to make sure the products are efficiently being sold. This would need to be organized in a factory type setting with few workers being used to make sure the machines are running smoothly, along with the fact that I will need suppliers in order to construct the device and a team of engineers to create the app and pair each device with the app. 

What's Next?

The most unique thing this business will have is the student support as there is a huge demand for this need and the students are willing to switch with no cost to them along with the various ties I will have to make in order to get the business up and running. With these ties and connections my business will be unmatchable as there will be a sense of customer loyalty along with the fact that no competition in currently in existence. After getting this put in place I would like to use my new connections to start making a rental car service in order to further my reach within the transportation system allowing students to use an app to exchange cars with each other and ultimately give out of state students a chance at liberty. However, this still has lots of kinks and would need to be researched further. If this was launched and successful in five years I would want to be overseeing the venture from a distance as my main goal is not within this venture but within the medical field, I would like to put in place a manager who would relay information to me. This venture would allow me to go through medical school with a sense of peace as I have something to support that goal.