30A – Final Reflection

Final Reflection

1. Reflecting on this past semester in ENT3003, I can definitely see how much I have learned and grown as a student. Coming into this class, I was nervous about the workload and all the different assignments we had to do. Now, I am so happy to have done every assignment and gotten through it all. I would say the most formative experience was the elevator pitches. When I first saw that that was an assignment, I dreaded doing it. I have always been horrible at elevator pitches and hated filming myself. However, I saw the improvement after doing it three times and practicing often. I would now say I am comfortable doing an elevator pitch and am very thankful for all the practice this class gave me.

2. I definitely think I have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Coming into this class, I did not know much of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Now, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the many things to consider and the planning it takes to start a business. Although I am sure I have much more to learn, I definitely think I am closer to thinking like an entrepreneur.

3. One recommendation I have for future students is to plan ahead, and to invest in every assignment, Every assignment, lecture, book you have to read is practical to life whether or not you want to be an entrepreneur. Therefore, I would recommend to future students to take the time to truly invest in every assignment rather than rushing through the work.

4. 

29A – Venture Concept No. 2: Gatorganize

Venture Concept No. 1: Gatorganize

 

Opportunity:

As college students, we balance a rigorous course load, involvement, and employment along with our own personal activities (working out, studying, hobbies, etc.). Often times, the amount of work that needs to be done in a day can be daunting; if you are not organized you can miss an assignment that affects your grade tremendously. I think we have all been there before, where if we were just a little bit more organized we wouldn't have missed a deadline that hurt our grade. College students without a organizational platform that works for them have my need. This need is created by the lack of organizational platforms that combine all types of involvement into one platform, and the unreliability of Canvas in posting accurate deadlines. My market is specific to the University of Florida, and can apply to students in any stage of their education (undergraduate, graduate, etc.). My customers are currently satisfying this need with Canvas, a planner, an app on their phones, etc. They may be loyal to their platforms, but I believe when they see how cohesive and all-inclusive my platform is they will be convinced to switch how they stay organized. This opportunity is large, and will remain open for a long time as this opportunity has been an issue for students for years. I would like to extend my opportunity to middle and high schools in Alachua County as well, who have a large need for help staying organized as they grow independent.

 

Innovation: 

My innovation is an online platform that organizes student assignments, deadlines, and events into one cohesive site. The platform will be both online and a phone application. The class assignments, exam dates, etc. will be provided by each professor individually and updated by them as well to ensure they are absolutely accurate. Additionally, student organizations will be given the opportunity to add their own date events to the platform.  My customers will simply have to log into my platform and subscribe to the classes and student organizations they are a part of; these dates will automatically auto-populate both a calendar and to-do list. The dates will be presented in two separate formats to accommodate to the different ways students may prefer to view their schedule. On top of all this, students will also have the ability to add in their own personal events so they can individualize the platform to include their work schedule/hobbies. I will sell my platform for a yearly subscription price of $10, a more affordable alternative to a planner. This will be made available to not only college students, but also to middle and high schools in Alachua County to help their students transition to a digital platform for independent organization.

 

Venture Concept: 

My innovation will solve the opportunity I have identified because it organizes all aspects of a student's schedule into one platform. No longer will students have to cross check their Canvas calendar to their individual class announcements, to Facebook pages for involvement, to work schedules, etc. Everything will be synced onto one platform with dates added in by the people assigning them to you. Students will want to buy my innovation because it is guaranteed be accurate, as your dates are given by the university/student organization. Additionally, it is very affordable and flexible in its display and accessibility. My competitors are Canvas, physical planners, and online agendas such as Google Calendar. Their weakness lies in that users have to manually add in their deadlines and/or not all deadlines display or are accurate (Canvas). Since my product is digital, no physical characteristics will affect the success of my product besides app design.

 

Feedback:

I did not receive much feed back on my lasts Venture Concept. Everything was positive, and the most feedback I did great was to definitely market to students in high school and middle schools. Additionally, I did get feedback telling me to charge for a subscription service rather than an app on the App Store to get more profit.

Changes:

I changed my Venture Concept to be reflective of the change to provide my service for middle and high schools, and also made sure to include a subscription price in my Venture Concept.

Picture:

 

28A – Your Exit Strategy

Your Exit Strategy

1. I do not plan on actually pursuing this opportunity.

2. Although it would be great to start a business, in this time in my life I do not think it is a practical venture for me to pursue as I am still a full-time student with many time obligations. Additionally, this is not the career path I am preparing myself for. In the future I would absolutely consider starting a business, but right now I will not be pursuing this opportunity.

3. I knew as soon as I picked this opportunity that I was not actually going to pursue this venture; this was always going to be my exit strategy. However, I do believe I made all my decisions based on if I was actually going to pursue this opportunity. I wanted to see if this opportunity was actually viable, and I wanted the experience of figuring out the details of starting a business. I do not think it has influenced my decisions in past assignments. If I had the time and this was my passion, I think I would have pursed this venture; however, as of now this will just remain an idea.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Reading Reflection No. 3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

I chose to read The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki. In this book, Kawasaki focused on how to use social media effectively to target your audience and engage with them successfully. Thousands of people use social media, but do not use it effectively; this book delves into practical practices that can help you improve our social media presence.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

One theme the book emphasized often is to treat social media like a business. Kawasaki explained you need to be competitive, take risks, and invest time into your social media to be successful in engaging with your market. Just like a business, you need to be creative and take risks to try and take your social media to the next level. i think this connects well with ENT 3003, as we have learned the entrepreneurs need to be able to take risks and be creative in their businesses just like Kawasaki says you need to have successful social media platforms.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I had to design an exercise for this class based on this book, I would have the class analyze their social media presence and see if it lines up with what Kawasaki recommends. For example, I would have them count how many platforms they are registered for and see if they are having an equally strong presence on each platform. Kawasaki recommends a maximum of 3 platforms rather than the 10 we often sign up for but only engage with once a year. I would then have the class choose three platforms and see how much stronger of a social media presence they can have with less platforms but more targeted content.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

My biggest surprise when reading this book was when Kawasaki said to give fans the content they want to see, not just what you want to create. I think this was a very interesting point, because I think often times we want to post what we like but that may not be what our audience wants to see. I never thought about this before, but it is very true. In the end, we are working to please a consumer, and that should be the primary focus when deciding what to post.

26A – Celebrating Failure

Celebrating Failure

1. One time this past semester where I failed is in trying to get an internship at the Career Showcase. I knew I needed a summer internship but I was not proactive in preparing for the Career Showcase. In fact, I forgot it was even happening until my friend in the business school reminded me the day of. I ended up printing out my resume and rushing to the career fair and networking with dozens of employees. I thought I did a great job, but when I got home and emailed the recruiters I met I got zero emails back. Even with repeated communication I had 0 luck. Ultimately, I failed at finding a summer internship from the career fair, but was able to motivate myself to find a different internship from a different information session.

2. I learned from this experience that if you truly want something, you need to work hard for it. Even if I tried my best and did not get an internship, I would have been much happier with myself if I gave my absolute best. I also learned not to let failure define me; if I let all those denials define me, I would have never pushed to find the great internship I have now.

3. Failure is without a doubt hard. I think a lot of us have the mentality that failure is embarrassing and we need to avoid it at all costs. However, I think that failure is only negative if you do not learn from it. When you learn from a failure, it ultimately becomes a success because you have learned and grown from it. I used to handle failure poorly, but after being in college for a few years and making a lot of mistakes, I have learned to use failure to grow and not get caught up in the disappointment, but rather turn it into a positive. I think I am more likely to take a risk now rather than before this class. I see now how vital it is to be willing to take risks in order to create something successful, and therefore believe that I would be more willing to take a risk now after everything I have learned in ENT3003.

25A – What’s Next?

What's Next?

Existing Market

Step 1: In terms of next steps, I think my next step would be to garner support and awareness of my product on campus. Additionally, I would work with student organizations to get every student organization at UF subscribed to my service.

Step 2: Interviews cancelled.

Step 3: Over the next few months, I would first start by meeting with a software developer and creating my product. I would be sure to include all the services I have described in my last post to ensure that my product is unique among competition. Additionally, we would have to work out the many expected bugs that will come with building the app and website. 

I will also work to meet with the university to gain the support of all professors in using my platform. Their compliance is vital, so offering a partnership and convincing of them my opportunity and how it will help their students succeed will be my priority. I also will work to meet with as many student organizations as possible and work closely with the Student Activities and Involvement office to get them subscribed to my platform.

New Market

Step 1: A radically different platform for me would be a platform for organization for middle schoolers, rather than college students.

Step 2: My venture concept could potentially create value for middle schoolers as they are starting to  become independent and are learning how to be organized. An all-inclusive platform of their school work along with any extra-curricular activities may be beneficial to many of them.

Step 3: Interviews cancelled.

Step 4: After contemplating this opportunity, I am actually very interested in pursuing it. Middle schoolers are in need of organization more than college students, as they are just learning how to stay organized. Additionally, to my understanding very few middle schools utilize platforms such as Canvas, so my product would be extremely unique for them.

This opportunity almost seems more attractive then my existing venture, as college students have a much greater amount of options to choose from for organization. There is much more competition in my existing market than my new market. Additionally, I would be working more so with parents wanting success for their children with higher budgets rather than college students on budgets, so I may be able to make more profit in my new market. I do believe my current venue is feasible, but I am very surprised after exploring this market how feasible it could be to pursue this opportunity.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1: Gatorganize

Venture Concept No. 1: Gatorganize

Opportunity:

As college students, we balance a rigorous course load, involvement, and employment along with our own personal activities (working out, studying, hobbies, etc.). Often times, the amount of work that needs to be done in a day can be daunting; if you are not organized you can miss an assignment that affects your grade tremendously. I think we have all been there before, where if we were just a little bit more organized we wouldn't have missed a deadline that hurt our grade. College students without a organizational platform that works for them have my need. This need is created by the lack of organizational platforms that combine all types of involvement into one platform, and the unreliability of Canvas in posting accurate deadlines. My market is specific to the University of Florida, and can apply to students in any stage of their education (undergraduate, graduate, etc.). My customers are currently satisfying this need with Canvas, a planner, an app on their phones, etc. They may be loyal to their platforms, but I believe when they see how cohesive and all-inclusive my platform is they will be convinced to switch how they stay organized. This opportunity is large, and will remain open for a long time as this opportunity has been an issue for students for years.

Innovation: 

My innovation is an online platform that organizes student assignments, deadlines, and events into one cohesive site. The platform will be both online and a phone application. The class assignments, exam dates, etc. will be provided by each professor individually and updated by them as well to ensure they are absolutely accurate. Additionally, student organizations will be given the opportunity to add their own date events to the platform.  My customers will simply have to log into my platform and subscribe to the classes and student organizations they are a part of; these dates will automatically auto-populate both a calendar and to-do list. The dates will be presented in two separate formats to accommodate to the different ways students may prefer to view their schedule. On top of all this, students will also have the ability to add in their own personal events so they can individualize the platform to include their work schedule/hobbies. I will sell my platform for a yearly subscription price of $10, a more affordable alternative to a planner.

Venture Concept: 

My innovation will solve the opportunity I have identified because it organizes all aspects of a student's schedule into one platform. No longer will students have to cross check their Canvas calendar to their individual class announcements, to Facebook pages for involvement, to work schedules, etc. Everything will be synced onto one platform with dates added in by the people assigning them to you. Students will want to buy my innovation because it is guaranteed be accurate, as your dates are given by the university/student organization. Additionally, it is very affordable and flexible in its display and accessibility. My competitors are Canvas, physical planners, and online agendas such as Google Calendar. Their weakness lies in that users have to manually add in their deadlines and/or not all deadlines display or are accurate (Canvas). Since my product is digital, no physical characteristics will affect the success of my product besides app design.

My most important resource: My team of college students working to make this product a success.

What’s next for the venture: Having full involvement of all student organizations registered for my service.

What’s next for me: I will not be pursing this venture, but if I did I hope it would open doors to more opportunities in this industry and serving students academically.