Halfway Reflection

A class like ENT3003 I believe is easy due to the concrete schedule. I know I will have a cupcake, blog posts and responses each week, due the same day. Having a clear calendar has allowed me to be successful in this course. There have been several moments in my life that I have felt like giving up. One that stands out from the rest comes from competitive sports, during a game when the team and I were trailing by a massive amount of points in a highschool basketball game. Nobody thought we had a chance to win, however after a big halftime speech there was a shred of belief. That is usually all it takes to be successful, an unwavering belief in yourself. As I am getting close to graduation I definitely believe I have become more tenacious over the past 2 months. A lot of that stems from relying on myself. Some tips I would offer to the next students: stay on track, it is easy to get behind and lose your grade. Work ahead! This class allows you to work ahead and get in front of the pack. Make the most of each blog post. In order to breed tenacity you must first believe in yourself.

13- Reading Reflection

Before this assignment I had always been fascinated by Elon Musk.What surprised me the most about Elon is the pure dedication to reach Mars. His sole life goal is to make a colony on Mars. I admire the fact that Elon is spending billions of dollars of his own money in order to make the Earth a cleaner place. The aspect of Elon that I least admire was his reluctance to help the author of this book. Every entrepreneur encounters adversity, in 2008 Elon's auto company Tesla, almost went bankrupt. In order to stay afloat he pumped all the money he had into his own business and created one of the best cars the world has ever seen. It is clear that Elon is the genius of the 21st century. He exhibits character, intelligence, originality and determination like very few. One thing I found confusing was when he talked about the science behind SpaceX and the use of scientific jargon. My 2 questions would be: As the first leader of Mars what type of governmental structure do you wish to have? How do you plan to provide clean energy to the world? This man obviously has a hard stance on hard work as it was one of the main factors that got him to the place where he is today.

12- Figuring out Buyer Behavior

 For this exercise I have chosen the behavioral segmentation for my market in order to learn more about the business and service I am trying to create. Unfortunately, in the first interview I conducted the person did not have the unmet need I was trying to meet. Carrying on, I was able to find 2 millennial individuals and 1 individual who was 56 years old who had the same unmet needs I was trying to solve. These 3 people somehow all did the same thing once they were aware of their unmet need of creating a greener planet, they all wanted to change their diet in some form. The red meat industry is one of the leading contributors of climate change across the globe behind transportation and the burning of fossil fuels. They all searched the internet looking for the best way to make and individual difference. The answer they found was their diet choices. Their search terms were something along the lines of "best way to combat climate change". 2 out of the 3 talked to their friends and family about this crisis and what we can do. While focusing on the behaviors of these people I learned that not everyone is aware or believes in the extent of our climate problem. Because we are not now being immediately affected, people dont seem to care or worry. Based on this segment, I would say that the individuals I interviewed didn't have a high need awareness and were educated by my presentation. After that they displayed a high level of information search and wanting to know more.

11- Idea Napkin

1. I am 4th year student at the University of Florida and my name is Alexander Miguel. For all my life I have always loved to travel, trying new foods, experiencing new cultures. I have been traveling internationally since I was 5 years old granting me a plethora of experiences that I wouldnt be able to have in the states. I would say I am skillful at communicating and reading people. I have always been super drawn to the environment and label myself as an outdoorsman. I see this business playing a role in my life because it incorporates diet, travel and daily consumer decisions.

2. What I am offering customers is a mobile app that allows individuals to track their daily carbon output through transportation, diet, and consumer decisions. This meets the consumers unmet need of helping create a greener planet.

3. The demographic my product is trying to reach is any individual who wants to make a difference in the amount of pollution they are contributing. This doesnt have an age bracket or certain region, it applies to anyone who wants to inspire change.

4. My product is valuable because it is the only product that accurately calculates and displays the amount of carbon each individual is putting into the atmosphere. Climate change is an existential crisis and and this service lessens this crisis.

5. What sets me apart is my passion for the environment and dedication to a cleaner world.

I believe all these points gel well together to make an overall great service. This is something anybody regardless of age, gender, or location can get behind and believe in. We need a culture change to combat this climate change, which I am providing.

10- Elevator Pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZvAJnOOeaM&feature=youtu.be

9- Testing Hypothesis Part 2

After interviewing 5 new people for my future product/service I realized I don’t have as much figured out as I initially believed. For one I have realized that there are several businesses that have the same environmental values and principles, however, still don’t go the extra mile to reduce their carbon footprint. Although they share these principles, they don’t want to spend the extra money to cleanly eliminate their waste. The need I have outlined refers to the need to track and monitors one owns carbon footprint. This is definitely different from making environmentally conscious decisions. They are related but just because you are tracking your footprint, doesn’t mean you are making the right decisions. The underlying cause of the outsiders’ need is the same as those in the boundary they just don’t care as much.

Inside the boundary                                                   

Who is In: those who want to better track their effect on the planet.                                       

What the Need Is: to accurately track individually carbon input to stop climate change                       

Why the Need Exists: Climate change is a serious threat that needs active solutions

Outside the boundary

Who is Not: those who don’t believe or care about climate change

What the Need Is Not: enriching large corporations who don’t care about affecting the environment

Alternative Explanations: many believe climate change wont affect them and is a total hoax.

This is disappointing because this change is serious and will affect everyone.

8- Solving the problem

I have come up with a solution for the rising climate change crisis. In order to personally combat this problem, I have come up with the idea to create an app that personal tracks an individual’s carbon footprint. The app with calculate this based on your diet, mode of transportation, and consumer decisions. With the rise of sea levels, stronger wildfires, and constant deforestation, it is imperative to do the most we can as individuals in our persona; lives to fight this problem. This app will also access your environmental awareness and send you notifications about environmentally friendly products that can be bought at your local supermarket. This idea will be a hybrid, part service part product. Because it is an app it is technically a product however it will also provide services. I full heartedly believe in this idea and have faith it will have multiple applications in the future especially as climate change gets worse.

7- Testing Hypothesis

 An opportunity exists to create a product or service that combats climate change and brings awareness. Citizens in the US are unable to calculate their carbon footprint and understand their consumer decisions and their effects on the environment.

The who: Citizens in US

The what: They are unable to calculate their impact on climate.

The why: Climate change will effect everyone economically

Testing the who: Everyone in my current who shares this need. 

Testing the what: There are no boundaries for the what. Climate change affects everyone

Testing the why: This service/product will hold for everyone because the problem of climate effects everyone regardless of wealth.

After interviewing 5 people I have come to the conclusion that not everyone cares about climate and may not want to use the service even though they need it. Also, there a lot more components of calculating someones carbon footprint than initially thought.

6- Identifying Opportunites

Opportunity 1: Tesla Co. (economic)

(a)   The source of the information that led me to believe that an opportunity existed was the fact that GM and Ford both reported grim Q4 results and decrease in demand in North America for 2020.

(b)  This information leads me to believe an opportunity exists because it is evidence that Tesla is on the rise as a common automobile and they currently control the majority of the EV market.

(c)   I believe the prototypical customer is an individual who wants to be eco friendly and believes in the future of AI technological cars.

(d)  There are multiple opportunities that exist within Tesla including buying their surging stock, investing in one of their cars, or buying one of their home solar battery systems that harvest solar energy. However, these opportunities are difficult to exploit because it is expensive to get involved with Tesla.

(e)   I believed there was an opportunity when another individual did not because I have always believed in solutions that are beneficial to the planet as well as the consumer. Tesla has been able to prove over and over again that EV’s are the future of the automobile industry.

Opportunity 2: Drones (economic)

(a)   The source of the information that led me to believe that an opportunity existed is the increased need for drones. Drones are now used for marketing, photography, alternate to fireworks, and recreational racing.

(b)  This information leads me to believe an opportunity exists because drones are becoming popular as a tool for science and recreation. China now creates drone light shows on NYE as an alternative to fireworks.

(c)   I believe the prototypical customer is an individual who is into photography or likes new technology.

(d)  Becoming apart of a drone company is hard to exploit but there are definitely other smaller opportunities within. Amazon also plans to use drones for same day delivery.

(e)   I believed there was an opportunity when another individual did not because drones have so many applications other than just videos and light shows. Soon drones will deliver food or mail.

Opportunity 3: NJ to Reform Environmental Regulations

(a)   The source of the information that led me to believe that an opportunity existed is the looming threat of global warming.

(b)  This information leads me to believe an opportunity exists because states are reforming their laws to advocate for global warming.

(c)   I believe the prototypical customer is someone who wants to make a positive effect on the environment.

(d)  This is not hard to exploit. Making eco friendly consumer decisions is easy to implement in daily life.

(e)   I believed there was an opportunity when another individual did not because I think in terms of longevity which climate change isn’t.

Opportunity 4: Increase on foreign tariffs, drives jobs in US

(a)   The source of the information that led me to believe that an opportunity existed is that rising tariffs in China will cause in increase in American job creation.

(b)  This information leads me to believe an opportunity exists because companies don’t want to high tariffs on their goods.

(c)   I believe the prototypical customer is someone who is impacted by American job creation.

(d)  This opportunity is hard to exploit because it takes a lot of capital to start a business and create jobs.

(e)   I believed there was an opportunity when another individual did not because I pay close attention to political and economic trends.