30 - final reflection

The past semester has been nothing short of irregular. As my time at this great university is coming to end it is a great time to look back and reflect. Nobody could have predicted that a deadly virus was going to spread across the globe, yet it did. I am proud to be graduating and my most joyful experience was being with my friends. I have always seen myself as an entrepreneur and this course only boasted this ego. All in fall I believe I have moved towards being a more successful and knowledgeable entrepreneur. For those taking this course in the future I would recommend to plan ahead and work ahead, that way you aren’t always playing catch up. In order to perform your best, make sure to watch the lectures and take notes while also asking questions. I believe anyone can be successful if they put enough hard work in.

27 - Reading Reflection 3

I decided to read about the Wright brothers by David McCullough. After reading what surprised me the most was how similar both brothers were to each other. The thing I admire most about them is their dedication to their craft and ambitions. They really wanted to make something for people to fly and would stop at nothing to build it.Something I didn’t admire about them is selling their ideas to France. The Wright brothers failed multiples times when their inventions wouldn't work and they had to constantly improvise and adapt. The Wright brothers cared deeply about their machines and were competent in this manner. It is comical that the US government wasn’t interested in the Wright brothers and highly doubted them. If I had the chance I would ask them what their biggest regrets were in life. I am fascinated about knowing more about people than just their face value.

28 - Exit strategy

If my business idea were to come to fruition, I would plan on keeping the business as a long term investment. Making the world a cleaner place for all of its inhabitants is something I am passionate about. Having the ability to have a business that not only gives back to the planet but turns a profit would be great. I would choose to hold on to the business in the next 5 years rather than selling it for a huge pay day because this is something I care about and would want to pursue for the rest of my life. My exit strategy has influenced my other business decisions because I have emotions tied up in the business model rather than only profits. I believe the business would bring me a larger investment if I kept it as an asset and branched out into other markets and product segments.

26- Celebrating Failure

In the past year I have failed numerous times in business, school, and in pretty much every other aspect in my life. The best example I can think of is competing in a start up contest last Fall with one of my best friends for the chance to win $10,000. We had been working effortlessly on our business the plan and execution and performed at the Cade museum in front of an audience of about 150 people. Unfortunately, we did not win but the biggest thing I learned from this was that in order to succeed you cant be afraid to fail. Succeeding does not exist without failing, they are yin and yang. At times failing can be harder than others, especially when emotions are attached. This class has taught me to not be afraid of failing, but to welcome it. Ive learned that welcoming failure breeds success and builds character.

25- Whats Next

After my new interviews it was clear that they believed that the next step for my venture would to be to add some sort of reward system to the app that persuades users to use it. In terms of growing in the existing market, I need to continue to appeal to vegans, vegetarians, electric car owners, and anyone else who cares deeply about the current state of the planets environment. Creating a green community that backs my company and product will allow me to control the existing market and make way to new markets while mitigating my risk. Currently I am targeting a B2C market.

In order to gain value from a new market I am going to explore a B2B model that helps me build relationships with other businesses whereas companies build goodwill with their customers by going more green. After interviewing 2 new people I realize I need to adapt my product to serve businesses rather than only individuals. In order to do this I must expand the app to analyze the carbon footprint of a whole business rather than an individual. 

After these interviews what surprised me the most is how compatible the B2B market is for my product. It is definitely important to research this further and possibly create 2 sides for the app, one for individuals, one for businesses. Many of my assumptions or expectations were actually false; this market is viable and definitely has the chance of being profitable.  

23- Ventures Unfair Advantage

1. Personal capital ($), It is very valuable and rare for an individual to have personal capital. This resource is hard to imitate and has very few substitutes.
2. Friends and family, It is valuable to have friends and family that support you but it is not rare. Close friends are hard to imitate and there are no substitutes to trust.
3. Social relationships on campus, These relationships are very valuable giving you insight to life on campus but they are not rare. These can be imitates at clubs or social gatherings and have several substitutes.
4. Personal experiences, Everyones experiences are rare and valuable because they are personal. These can not be imitated or substituted, they make up or thoughts.
5. Possible investor capital, this is very rare and valuable as many ideas can not be easily funded. This can be imitated by others with connection or substituted by a loan
6. Connections with app developers, this is very rare and valuable in our technological world. These can not be imitated or substituted because they are relationships.
7. Ambition,  this is valuable but not rare. Ambition is a personal trait that is hard to imitate or substitute
8. Campus resources, These are valuable at a University like UF and rare. They are hard to substitute and imitate because this is such a prestigious university.
9. Environmental knowledge, this is valuable for my idea but not rare. This can be found online. It can not be imitated because it is personal and there is no substitute to knowledge.
10. Desire for a cleaner earth. This isnt valuable nor earth but essential to my idea. This can not be imitated or substituted because it is a personal belief.

I believe the most valuable resource out of my list is my own personal capital that could be invested. Very few people have extra capital which would give me a huge advantage.

22- Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/WI_IrzhAQJo

Based off of my last pitches I did not get any feedback. However, I worked on body language and clearly getting my message across.

21 - Reading reflection No. 2

1. The general theme of the book "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams is that there is not a concrete way to become successful. There isnt a template that everyone uses to become wealthy or have a successful business. Scott talks about happiness and self growing as the major keys to measuring success. 
2. While reading this book it was clear that I could take several lessons from this course as well as this book and make major changes to the way I live my life. One thing that coincides with this course, is surrounding yourself with people that want you to succeed and make yourself want to be and do better. 
3. My exercise would involve students realizing that success and wealth is not equivalent to happiness. Scott makes it clear that growth and happiness are major factors for measuring personal and entrepreneurial growth.
4. The biggest "ahah" moment I had was one Scott deliberately focused on how important it is too be happy. Nowadays success is measured by wealth and in many cases these people arent happy. I enjoyed how Scott brought up this point.