30) Final Reflection

1) Throughout all my posts I have seen how my idea has grown over the past four months. Starting off with my high, I would have to say that sitting down and coming up with my ideas for companies was the best part. My lows would have to be all of the interviewing assignments. Sometimes I found it hard to coordinate with people and some interviews were not good so I had to conduct new ones. Lastly, the moments of dread would have to be when I had to complete the bugs list. This was hard and it took much longer than I thought it would.

2) The most formative experience had to be the elevator pitches. Practicing the pitches can prepare you for speeches you may have to give in person. My most joyous experience was trying to figure out my secret sauce. Furthermore, I am proud of myself because I wanted to read more books this semester. For a few assignments, I was able to do that and found great books.

3) Yes, I see myself as more of an entrepreneur. I believe I have what it takes to come up with the ideas that are creative and can solve everyday problems in society. Each assignment challenged my business and forced me to look at it from all perspectives.

4) My biggest recommendation for future students would be to choose a business that has long-term potential and can be expanded and stretched in multiple directions. You will be using this business idea throughout the entire semester. Also, for students to perform the best I recommend starting assignments early. Finish the assignment piece by piece and you will find that to be much easier.

29) Venture Concept No. 2

Summary of Feedback:

For venture concept post I did not get too much feedback; I only had a couple comments but it was good feedback. The first comment said that me having two different types was good because it allows me to have more customers. However, they told me I should do more research on how much hand sanitizer pumps would cost me to make, but this is actually something I will not have to worry about. My hand sanitizer will be hands-free and will release when a hand passes by the sensor. This will save sanitation liquid because it will release a controlled amount and it will not waste any liquid.

My other comment also gave me good feedback. They basically said that my market is defined, I have a well-detailed plan, and it seems like my product will be great for gas stations.

On my what’s next exercise I received one comment. I also received positive feedback from this user. To summarize, the user stated my product will benefit the poor and the wealthy because I am promoting good hygiene. My product will keep the world healthy and help reduce the spread of bacteria.

Overall, I received good positive feedback for my product. I did get as much criticism as I would have liked, but I think it is also good and that means I must be doing something right with this business idea.

Below is my venture concept with minor adjustments based on my feedback. I emphasized how my hand-sanitizer is hands-free so there is no need for making or buying pumps.

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Opportunity

There are two different groups of customers that my company will be selling to. First are the businesses that will help facilitate the use of my product. These will mainly consist of gas stations and I have recently found out that restaurants could be another large consumer group. Gas stations will do this to draw more traffic to their gas station. Also by placing the sanitation near the front of the store will draw customers in to buy other items inside the store. Gas stations will benefit because they will increase their profit. Restaurants will use this to keep their staff and customers hands as clean as possible. Food is the biggest way diseases can enter the human body. If my product can reduce or prevent this then we will be protecting people and benefiting society. The other group of customers includes the people who will actually use my product at the gas stations. People will use my product at the gas stations and can then my pocket size sanitizers for when they need to clean their hands.

1.     What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? People who do not have convenient access to clean their hands after pumping gas or before they eat

2.     How is this market defined geographically and demographically? Geographically, this product will only be near gas stations and inside smaller restaurants. My demographic includes people between the age range of 18-45 because they are the primary users of cars.

3.     How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 

4.     How big is this opportunity? I would say this is a big opportunity because there is not a huge market for sanitation products near gas pumps. Government health organizations could help increase the awareness of the need to stay healthy which could help

5.     How long will the “window of opportunity” be open? I would estimate that this opportunity will be open for a long period of time, about 5-10 years. Sanitation products have been around for decades and the year is 2018 and no company has yet to infiltrate this market.

Innovation

I would say that my product is incrementally innovative. Sanitizer is not something that is new, everyone who cleans their hands knows exactly what it is. My product is innovative in the way that it is conveniently distributed to customers.

What it is: The product is a sanitizer stand that keeps consumers healthy by killing germs. You can stick it to the side of the gas pumps or stand them inside your business

What it does: The sanitation in the product will kill 99.99% of the germs and bacteria off the hands of the consumer in 20 seconds.

How it works: The ethyl alcohol in the sanitizer kills the germs when the consumer rubs their hands together thoroughly. The hand sanitizer is hands-free so it will save customers money on having to constantly refill them.

How will I make money: I will be selling this product to gas stations and restaurants for $30 for a box of 2 sanitizers with that contain 1200 mL. This $20 also contains a dispenser stand and adhesive that allows it to stick to the pumps. For refill sanitizers, the cost will be $15 for a box of 2 sanitizers with that contains 1200 mL.

Venture Concept

From the interviews, I have done many customers will use my product because of the convenience. There are no other products like this on the market that solve a need many customers did not realize they had.

1.     What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?  Customers would not be switching because this is a new product in a new market. The convenience of the product is the best feature.

2.     Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?  I currently do not have any competitors.

3.     What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?  The packaging of my product is very simple and allows customers to easily set it up. My price points are cheap so it makes it easily affordable and we ship the products to the customer so they do not have to worry about distribution. Our customers are the most important part of the business so there will be 24/7 customer support available.

4.     How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?  I would organize them to be simple and efficient. We would need supply chain managers to facilitate distribution. Scientists to make the product and customer support to help our customers.

Minor Elements

First, describe what you think your most important resource will be. You might call this your venture’s “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage? My most important resource is the sanitizer itself. This is how customers will clean their hands.

Second, what’s next for the venture? The next step for the venture is to expand from Gainesville to the entire Florida market. One day I hope that every gas pump has sanitation that my customers can use.

Third, assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? In five years, I hope that my product is available nationwide and globally. I aim to create convenient sanitation products for the whole world.

28) Your Exit Strategy

1) My exit strategy plan for the company is to stay with the business for serval decades and then pass it down to my children. To ensure this strategy can work for the long-term my company will remain innovative and take creative risks.

2) The reason I chose this strategy is because I feel like my company has long-term potential and I do not want to pick a strategy to sell my business early. Furthermore, I believe if I protect the venture and pass it down to my kids they can preserve the mission and values of the company which is to make affordable sanitation products so we can all live in a healthy society.

3) My exit strategy shows that I am willing to take risks with my business to ensure that it remains successful. This has influenced opportunities that I have identified with my business such as scented hand sanitizers for my customers. Since I believe in taking risks it has influenced my growth intentions because and how I plan to acquire and use resources. I want my business to expand so I am planning to acquiring suppliers for ingredients and a small gas station to launch the pilot product.

27) Reading Reflection No. 3

The book that I read was Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

1) The general theme of the book focused on two mindsets; the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. The fixed mindset means that you are concerned about what others think about you and how you are judged. On the other hand, the growth mindset means that are you actively setting goals and are mainly thinking about how to become a better person. I enjoyed this book because I was able to connect with both mindsets. After evaluating myself, I believe the reason I set goals and try to become a better person is so people think positively about me. Ultimately, even though I am trying to become a better person it stems from the fact that I think about how others are judging me.

2) I was able to enhance and connect with ENT 3003 because before reading the book I believed that entrepreneurs were primarily growth mindsets. However, after reading the book I was able to see that entrepreneurs may also have moments when they have a fixed mindset. Especially when they are creating a new business, they hope that people like their business idea. They are focused on what people are thinking and how investors are judging them

3) If I had to design an exercise, I would choose something simple. I would want to know what mindset students most identify with. Then I would want them to pick examples of how they demonstrated the mindset

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? Honestly, after reading the book I did not have an aha moment when reading this book. The book was straightforward and I was not surprised. However, I did find it interesting in the book when they mentioned that fixed-mindset managers are dangerous. This is because they like to be controlling and abusive to feel superior. I found it concerning and I hope I never have a boss like this.

Overall, I found the book very interesting and if you have not read it I would highly recommend it because it can really change how you think.

26) Celebrating Failure

I couldn’t think of a time I failed this semester, but a time that I failed last semester is when I failed my first exam for Business Finance. As many business students know Business Finance is one of the toughest classes in the business school. There are rumors that at least 30% of students drop the class after the first exam. Most of the students who drop are finance students who need a B or higher so they need every single point possible. If they cannot pass the class with a B or higher they must change their major. Luckily for me, I am not a finance major so I only need a C or higher, but I always aim high.

What I learned after failing my exam with a 45 was that you must work hard for the things you want in life. I was told by many people that I need to drop the class including advisors, peers, and Banko himself. However, I was dedicated on passing and proving everyone wrong. By working hard and studying for the next month I was able to get a 95 on the next exam. And by having the same mindset throughout the semester I was able to get a 100 on the final exam. After passing the class with a solid 80% and B, I learned that I knew myself better than anyone else. Even though others told me I would fail I believed in myself and worked hard to pass a very challenging class.

In general, I think failure is the best teacher and it is hard to deal with, but without failure, we cannot grow. It allows you to reflect and think about how you need to change something about yourself to become a better person. When I fail I take time to understand exactly what went wrong. Then I come up with a strategy to do better when I try again. I may make adjustments in my strategy if need to change course. And yes, this class has changed my perspective on failure. After hearing the inspiring stories of entrepreneurs and their journey throughout the business world and life, I am more willing to make risks with my career decisions. I am not afraid of career failures because I know if I stay persistent and work hard I will be just fine.

25) What's Next?

Existing Market

Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.

What’s next for my product is to introduce pocket size sanitation for consumers who are on the go. In addition, I want to create an app that will allow customers to find what gas stations have my product. This will ensure that they are guaranteed to have clean fresh hands after pumping gas.

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas about what customers might want next. 

After interviewing 3 customers I told them about the app so customers can know where the find my products and they were really interested. They also liked my idea of pocket-size sanitizers. On the other hand, they told me they would like fruit smelling sanitizers because the alcohol smell isn’t appealing.

Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growth in your existing market.

For my company, it would make sense to introduce all of the products I have come up within a strategic timeline.

Scented hand sanitizer: I want to first release the product the people want. All three of my interviewers agreed that a scented hand sanitizer would be great. Two of them said they didn't use regular hand sanitizer because of the bad smell.

App: I want to add more convenience to people so they can find where to find my product. The app will allow users to stay engaged with my product and have an overall great customer experience.

Pocket-sized: This adds more convenience for on the go consumers. They can clean their hand at any time and can leave it their pocket.

New Market

Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

I want to target a poor part of society and offer free dispensers in the area.

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

It would create value for society as a whole which is one of the main goals of my company 

Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 

Since my product is targeting poor people my product would not directly benefit the individuals I interviewed. And since my product is fairly simple I do not have to make adaptations for my new market.

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on.

Nothing really surprised me, the poor customers want something cheap and efficient. Many don’t clean their hands and don’t have the resources to clean their hands. This market is as attractive as my existing market. My goal of my company is to help society regardless of whether or not they can afford my product.