30A - Final Reflection

1. It was nice to be able to go to one consolidated blog to see all the work I have done this semester. It was definitely a lot of work but it didn't seem too bad doing a little bit every week.

2. My most formative experience was taking the time towards the end of the semester for Venture Concept 1. I was able to take all of the work this semester and actually put together a mini business plan. I think I had a lot of good ideas such as licensing overseas, partnering with a brand manufacturer and creating a hand sunshade for $50. My most joyous occasion was interviewing a stranger in the industry and getting really good feedback. I am most proud of myself for sticking with it and working to develop the idea.

3. I would love to say I am an entrepreneur but without any experience I am probably just moving towards an entrepreneurial mindset. I would love to continue thinking of ways to innovate and coming up with ideas. This semester I have noticed myself thinking of different ideas and thinking if they would be viable ideas. These assignments allow you to shoot ideas down that don't work early or continue to think of innovations.

4. I would recommend students to spend the first part of the class really thinking about things they are passionate about and make a list of those. Then think of your favorite and least favorite things about those passions and try to come up with how you could improve. This will allow you to perform your best because you will care about the idea. Also, set alarms on Monday's and Friday's to remember assignments. To foster the right mindset always be thinking about ideas to improve your daily life and talk to friends.



I am passionate about flying airplanes and my product revolved around cars so maybe there will be a flying car in the future!

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

1. Venture Concept revised 

My company is called EasyShade and our mission is to provide used and new cars with the most high tech and easy to use sunshades in the world. Our products include an automatic sunshade, a fixed sunshade that would be pulled down with your hands, and an app that would allow pre-timed heating and cooling of your vehicle. 

The Opportunity:
Market Size 

There is almost one car for every person in the United States! That is about 300 million vehicles driving around the US. Everyone knows what a sunshade is but the age old problem is that people are too lazy to use them. Sunshades allow for a cooler car and protect the interior of your car. Our product is high tech and actually works, plus it is automatic! Our target market is 30-50 year old males and females with cars worth more than $25,000 new or used. A conservative estimate puts this at about 25 million vehicles. I would sell the non-automatic sunshade at $50 and the automatic sunshades for $200-500. At an average price of $200 this puts the total market size at $5 billion. Assuming we are unique and could obtain 50% of the market share this could be a huge opportunity. 

The Need

The nature of the need is that people like their vehicles and like being comfortable, therefore, they will pay for this. One negative force in the environment is that there is more public transport, however, I would sell shades to buses/trains as well. I am defining the market in the US but would like to license the idea overseas. This would allow me to save money on marketing but collect royalties while focusing on the US. I am going off the premise that people are not loyal to their current sunshades. However, I am also assuming most people see the value in a sunshade which may or may not be true. The window of opportunity should stay open if I can get a patent and partner with new cars being manufactured.

Innovation:
I am taking an existing product and reinventing the wheel so to say. I have a group of products with the main one being sunshades. The automatic sunshade could be sold in the aftermarket or in new car manufacturers. It would be sold for $200. I would also sell a sunshade that would attach to your windshield permanently and could be pulled out by hand for $50. This would appeal to a wide array of the market as well. The automatic sunshade would be installed at a shop or by yourself and would automatically go down when you lock your car. It would rely on a sensor in your car that knows when your car locks and would trigger the sunshade. My sunshades also come with an app that I will build out. This app would allow you to login and remotely turn on heating and cooling before getting in. This product duo is my version of innovation. 

Venture Concept:
Marketing

My desire is to bring my sunshade and app innovation to the market to help people improve their cars and feel more comfortable. I think it will be decently easy to get people to switch because they can buy the hand one for $50 or the automatic for $200, both of which are way easier than taking one on and off that may not even fit the windshield. A possible weakness is having enough capital to fund inventory and figure out the distribution strategy. One of the things I thought of from feedback was having a better marketing plan. Maybe I could partner with Subaru for their outdoor commercials and new line of cars and give them an exclusive deal or contract. 

Competition/Team

Competitors include current options, car manufacturers, and other auto aftermarket suppliers. The packaging will have to be superb and display the product well. Distribution online will be the most profitable but might require online marketing. I would possibly create some funny videos and try to go viral. My desire is to create a luxury brand and get people talking about the product. I would hope to have around 15-20 employees in marketing, finance, social media, engineering, and operations. Another idea I have is to enter the UF Gator Plan lab and partner with the engineering team including UF engineering students to see if they can help my actually develop the product. I would also recruit my friend who does film/social media to start working on videos. 

Other: 

My most important resource will be my ability to network with others and see the whole process come together. My secret sauce will be my ability to combine the automatic sunshade/ hand sunshade with the app. The ability to integrate these two will be hard to imitate. What's next is to try and get a MVP by talking to engineering students here at UF and possibly try to enter the UF business plan competition. Assuming I launch I would want to grow the business internationally and sell in 5 years to pursue other investment ideas for the remaining decades. This helps my company achieve profitability early because I am planning sell. 

2. Summary of feedback from previous description. 

I received one comment from on my Venture Concept No. 1 that talked about a couple of main points. First, the cheaper hand pulled sunshade ($50) that stays on your windshield is a good idea. Second, the products will be somewhat easy to market but marketing is definitely important. Lastly, a good mechanical engineer is a must so I will comment on finding one. 

3. I changed my venture concept from the feedback by bolstering my marketing plan to make sure I can create a big market and grow as fast as possible. I also talked about how I would find engineers and others to create a good team. I also tried to break it up in more categories. 

4. Picture:

I decided to include this picture going back to the second point of feedback about the importance of marketing. I would probably try to partner with an outdoor type car company like Subaru in their commercials because as you can tell this car is in the sun and could use my product. It would be awesome for the commercial to say "now in our new line an automatic sunshade." 

28A - Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I would love to work hard on my business for a few years and eventually sell it. There are a few reasons for this: I am young and I don't think I would be intellectually stimulated by it for the rest of my life. While I love cars, this is ultimately a product line of automatic sunshades. I would love to sell for a profit and look for other companies to start or invest in. Elon Musk could have stayed with PayPal but he wanted to look for opportunities because it was more exciting to do so, and he would have lots of money!

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I chose this exit strategy because it best aligns with my goals of becoming financially independent early on in life and being able to use my capital to invest in good business ideas or ventures going forward. I think this is the most exciting and the best use of my social capital. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

This is a tough question to figure out but I would say these things are somewhat related: I plan to grow fast, I plan to borrow money from venture capital, I plan to license the product overseas (give up possible runway), and possibly sell to a large auto supply company down the road. This will allow me to gain experience creating a company while setting my up for a large exit down the road. 

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

I chose to read Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky who is a professor at NYU whose work surrounds the internet and its effects on the population. 

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

Cognitive surplus is a phrase coined by the author. It is essentially people's extra time and creativity that leads to productivity and sharing online. People have lots of time on their hands and are spending more and more time on the internet, therefore, there is increased creation. He explains there are four types of sharing: personal, communal, public and civil. Personal sharing is your typical selfie post on instagram to your friend group. Communal sharing would be buying and selling furniture in the Facebook marketplace in Gainesville, and only benefits the local area. 

The next two he says are really valuable. Public sharing is when people go on Wikipedia and spend their valuable time creating content for other people to use. Civic sharing would be people using their online resources to crowdfund resources and share safety areas during a hurricane. He focuses on the benefit that civic sharing can have, or actually making society a better place. The general theme of the book is cognitive surplus can be a powerful thing and will continue to have impacts going forward as it increases. From another angle, people should spend less time watching TV and exercise cognitive surplus to make the world a better place. 

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

I think cognitive surplus related to ENT because there is a new concept in business that companies should be aware of their environmental, societal and governmental impacts. Simply making a profit for personal or communal (employees) reasons is not enough. Understanding the public and civic impacts is what will set apart a venture for long term success. 

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

I would have the students explain the 4 sharing aspects with regard to their business. 1. What are the personal benefits that you are getting from starting this business (financial, behavioral, mental). 2. How would your business change your friends, family, local area? 3. How would you make a public impact across the state/country. 4. How are you changing society? (are you giving back in any ways?). I believe this exercise will help create an even stronger venture idea by examining all areas of impact. 

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 favorite part of the book was thinking about how social media and the internet could be a good thing for my life AND society. I was at a point where I was deleting social media every other week to give myself a break. Maybe I could start writing blogs or looking for ways to help society (ie. volunteering to help an online charity with something). The author quotes that Americans watch 2 billion hours of TV or over 5 hours a day. I want to make an effort to make my screen time valuable towards my personal benefits (ie. career enhancement) but also civic value (raising money for a cause on Facebook). 

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. A time that comes to mind when I failed this semester is trying to qualify for the club golf tournament. I was too focused on other things (schoolwork, friends, going out) that I put my golf game on the back burner. When it came time to qualify I fell way short of the needed score. My game was all over the place, I had been missing classes, and I was angry because it was too late to get better.

2. I learned that it is important to balance everything in your life. It is easy to forget about certain things and put them on the back burner. While golf is just a hobby it is an important way for me to release my stress and relax. I am constantly learning to find ways that will make me happy and healthy in the long term.

3. I think in general that I do not like failure. Overtime that dislike has shifted from being embarrassed to not liking to lose. When I fail at something it makes me want to try harder next time and be successful. Not being able to play golf well because I didn't practice was emotionally straining but I changed my behavior by starting to practice more immediately after. This class has forced us to talk about creating an entire business and reflect on those decisions over time. In this "simulation" I have made many mistakes and realized my business would have failed on certain ideas. I am more likely to take a risk now but even more likely to think about how I can try my best during the task.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

My company is called EasyShade and our mission is to provide used and new cars with the most high tech and easy to use sunshades in the world. Our product includes an automatic sunshade, a fixed sunshade that would be pulled down with your hands, and an app that would allow pre timed heating and cooling of your vehicle. Let me get into a little more detail.

The Opportunity:
There is almost one car for every person in the United States! That is about 300 million vehicles driving around the US. Everyone knows what a sunshade is but the age old problem is that people are too lazy to use them. Sunshades allow for a cooler car and protect the interior of your car. Our product is high tech and actually works, plus it is automatic! Our target market is 30-50 year old males and females with cars worth more than $25,000 new or used. A conservative estimate puts this at about 25 million vehicles. I would sell the non-automatic sunshade at $50 and the automatic sunshades from $200-500. At an average price of $200 this puts the total market size at $5 billion. Assuming we are unique and could obtain 50% of the market share this could be a huge opportunity. The nature of the need is that people like their vehicles and like being comfortable therefore they will pay for this. One negative force in the environment is that there is more public transport however I would sell shades to buses/trains as well. I am defining the market in the US but would like to license the idea overseas. This would allow me to save money on marketing but collect royalties while focusing on the US. I am going off the premise that people are not loyal to their current sunshades. However, I am also assuming most people see the value in a sunshade which may or may not be true. The window of opportunity should stay open if I can get a patent and partner with new cars being manufactured.

Innovation:
I am taking an existing product and reinventing the wheel so to say. I have a group of products with the main one being sunshades. The automatic sunshade could be sold in the aftermarket or in new car manufacturers. It would be sold for $200. I would also sell a sunshade that would attach to your windshield permanently and could be pulled out by hand for $50. This would appeal to a wide array of the market as well. The automatic sunshade would be installed at a shop or by yourself and would automatically go down when you lock your car. It would rely on a sensor in your car that knows when your car locks and would trigger the sunshade. My sunshades also come with an app that I will build out. This app would allow you to login and remotely turn on heating and cooling before getting in. This product duo is my version of innovation.

Venture Concept:
My desire is to bring my sunshade and app innovation to the market opportunity of helping people improve their cars and feel more comfortable. I think it will be decently easy to get people to switch because they can buy the hand one for $50 or the automatic for $200, both of which are way easier than taking one on and off that may not even fit the windshield. A possible weakness is having enough capital to fund inventory and figure out the distribution strategy. Competitors include current options, car manufacturers, and other auto aftermarket suppliers. The packaging will have to be superb and display the product well. Distribution online will be the most profitable but might require online marketing. I would possible create some funny videos and try to go viral. My desire is to create a luxury brand and get people talking about the product. I would hope to have around 15-20 employees in marketing, finance, social media, engineering, and operations.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

VRIN, valuable , rare, inimitable, non-substitutable

1. My first resource is my background in finance. I had an internship with JP Morgan working with Middle Market companies with all types of credit aspects. I am also in a graduate finance program that gives me exposure to analyzing companies. My unique experience is valuable and somewhat rare. No one can imitate my exact experiences and a substitute would have to be someone else with similar experience.

2. One of my best human capital connections is Thomas who is a supplier at AutoNation. He is in the aftermarket supply industry and would allow me to sell my product around the United States. My unique connection with him is valuable and somewhat rare. While other people know him, I have made connections that what be hard to copy by others and there are few resources that would be as as good as knowing him.

3. One of the best capabilities of the product is the ability to reach old or new cars and help people in hot or cold weather. If I can sell a product that can immediately start helping someone with their daily routines and that people haven't thought of before then that is valuable and rare. I am worried about companies imitating me which is why I would need a patent. The substitute is a hand held sunshade but I believe my product is superior.

4. Speaking of financial capital I know of a variety of people that have invested in businesses and could give me startup money. This includes my immediate family and friends. This is valuable because I would be able to get off the ground and run my business. It is somewhat rare to have family with capital to do this. This seems to be inimitable and substitutable because it is unique to me.

5. One of my social capabilities is to talk to anyone and ask good questions. I have already interviewed complete strangers on this idea who at first did not agree with the idea. However, I was able to communicate with them about the benefits and sway them over. I believe my communication skills are valuable and decently rare. Many people can try to imitate this but there is no substitute for knowing how to communicate properly.

6. Another good human capital resource is Chuck from the BMW dealership. He has worked there for decades and could connect me with upper leadership. If I can pitch this for new and old BMW's that would be a great business. My connection with him is valuable and unique to me.

7. Another capability of my company is the ability to branch into other products including the app or anything that would improve the comfortability of cars. My goal is to help every car become even better. The mission of my company is unique and can be valuable if I work hard.

8. Another good thing about my product is it can be used around the world. I could possible use my social and network to license the product overseas while I focus on domestic markets. My ability to become an international company is valuable and somewhat rare.

9. Another financial resource I have is money in the bank. When an entrepreneur has saved up money in the past this allows for financial flexibility. I would not have to take a salary starting off which would allow the business to grow. This is valuable and I am not sure how rare. This can be substituted by other means but is not the same.

10. Lastly, I would say my love of cars and passion for business would allow me to succeed. I would be happy to work hard for my dream and to well along the way. It is valuable to do work that you love and somewhat rare.