image from https://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/librarywest/Index.aspx
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Final Reflection
This has definitely been a weird semester, with the entire COVID situation. Despite taking this class online initially I had set up a system of going to Lib West during the afternoons after I had class and working on all of my homework for this class there. Once I had to make the move back home to be with my family I lost my system of keeping up with school work, and I started to fall behind on everything. In the library, I would study with friends and doing homework was no longer a chore, we found a way to make it fun most of the time. Being home I no longer had a way to make homework fun, I thought. My friends and I, about two weeks into quarantine, decided to try various video calling apps to find one that we could use as we did homework together. My big thing for this class that I will recommend to future students, finds a group of friends who are also in this class or other online classes so you guys can suffer together and make the work a fun hang out time where you can be productive. My entrepreneurship mindset has definitely gotten more skilled through this class, and my brother and I have been looking for problems in the current market environment that we could find an answer to.
image from https://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/librarywest/Index.aspx
image from https://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/librarywest/Index.aspx
Venture Concept No. 2
Opportunity:
Students at the collegiate level need a program that can upload every syllabus they receive throughout their college career onto on calendar. This program will be useful for the duration of their undergrad studies. While over time more classes are getting put online, and those students do not share this need to the same level of traditional students, as long as there are college campuses there will be students who have a need for this program, but no good alternatives. My market is defined demographically, looking at college students directly, but anywhere across the globe. Currently, the only alternatives to my program include: using the three different college provided resources to keep on track for your course and assignment, but keep another calendar for things outside of immediate classwork, or writing all of the information given by the college resources onto a physical planner and then having to refer to this planner every time an outside event comes up or flying by the seat of your pants when you go to class hear what assignment comes next and do it the night before it is due, this way you can have the freedom to do all of the club activities without worry but being constantly behind on course work and class materials. Having a product that could help them cut confusion, time, effort, and chaos would be enough encouragement for students to try this program. This window is open as long as colleges are still accepting traditional students and classes are still giving out syllabuses.
Innovation:
I am offering students a web app that takes the information from their class syllabuses and uploads them all onto one calendar. It will give alerts for all assignment due and exam times. Students will also be able to upload other events onto this calendar and add custom alerts. I would want to make the web app free to use at the base form with advertisements, but with a purchase of $10 you could permanently remove ads.
Venture:
Students will want to use my program because it will save them a lot of time and worry throughout the semester. The other options for scheduling or not scheduling your semester cause a lot of stress either upfront or throughout you semester, but with this program, all you need to do to be set up for success is upload all of your syllabuses at the start of your semester and then you will have a calendar that you can refer back to and will send you reminders about assignment, class topics, and other items that you choose to upload. Currently, the only competitors are regular calendar apps that do not offer the same resource that mine does. ON these other programs the student will have to upload all of the assignments individually instead of a mass upload via the syllabus reading process I have created. Money is not my main goal with this concept, I want a product that will actually help students and will be available to a large number of students, so if I sell a small amount of ad space on the program then give it to the students for free, while offering a permanent purchase of ad free form. This would help me to feel proud of my venture and give me a small return on my product. My business would stay small no matter how large the program got. I would want only a small team to help assist me with all of the incoming ideas, legal information, and technology updates. Between a few college students who are all looking for a project to showcase their skills, I think we would be able to keep this program running at peak efficiency.
The reason I doubt other companies will be able to replicate me is that I am a college student and I will be able to understand the issue with the program at the same time my customers do, and any improvements or new ideas also benefit me on my daily life and not just via revenue. I would then want to expand to help clubs create a platform to organize their events so that way their members and potential members could see all of the events on the club's page or even upload the information to their personal calendar. The next step for my venture would be for it to be able to read emails and upload tasks, meetings, and other more work field type events to a calendar. However, this end of the venture would require a lot of privacy and would be difficult to implement and there are many safety concerns with customer privacy that would need to be brought up.
Looking back at all of the feedback I've received I realized that having a team of skilled students to help me in this venture would be able to help me improve my business. Between that, and bringing up privacy concerns when it comes to email readings I feel I have covered the feedback I have received quite well.
image from http://clipart-library.com/free-calendar-clipart.html
Students at the collegiate level need a program that can upload every syllabus they receive throughout their college career onto on calendar. This program will be useful for the duration of their undergrad studies. While over time more classes are getting put online, and those students do not share this need to the same level of traditional students, as long as there are college campuses there will be students who have a need for this program, but no good alternatives. My market is defined demographically, looking at college students directly, but anywhere across the globe. Currently, the only alternatives to my program include: using the three different college provided resources to keep on track for your course and assignment, but keep another calendar for things outside of immediate classwork, or writing all of the information given by the college resources onto a physical planner and then having to refer to this planner every time an outside event comes up or flying by the seat of your pants when you go to class hear what assignment comes next and do it the night before it is due, this way you can have the freedom to do all of the club activities without worry but being constantly behind on course work and class materials. Having a product that could help them cut confusion, time, effort, and chaos would be enough encouragement for students to try this program. This window is open as long as colleges are still accepting traditional students and classes are still giving out syllabuses.
Innovation:
I am offering students a web app that takes the information from their class syllabuses and uploads them all onto one calendar. It will give alerts for all assignment due and exam times. Students will also be able to upload other events onto this calendar and add custom alerts. I would want to make the web app free to use at the base form with advertisements, but with a purchase of $10 you could permanently remove ads.
Venture:
Students will want to use my program because it will save them a lot of time and worry throughout the semester. The other options for scheduling or not scheduling your semester cause a lot of stress either upfront or throughout you semester, but with this program, all you need to do to be set up for success is upload all of your syllabuses at the start of your semester and then you will have a calendar that you can refer back to and will send you reminders about assignment, class topics, and other items that you choose to upload. Currently, the only competitors are regular calendar apps that do not offer the same resource that mine does. ON these other programs the student will have to upload all of the assignments individually instead of a mass upload via the syllabus reading process I have created. Money is not my main goal with this concept, I want a product that will actually help students and will be available to a large number of students, so if I sell a small amount of ad space on the program then give it to the students for free, while offering a permanent purchase of ad free form. This would help me to feel proud of my venture and give me a small return on my product. My business would stay small no matter how large the program got. I would want only a small team to help assist me with all of the incoming ideas, legal information, and technology updates. Between a few college students who are all looking for a project to showcase their skills, I think we would be able to keep this program running at peak efficiency.
The reason I doubt other companies will be able to replicate me is that I am a college student and I will be able to understand the issue with the program at the same time my customers do, and any improvements or new ideas also benefit me on my daily life and not just via revenue. I would then want to expand to help clubs create a platform to organize their events so that way their members and potential members could see all of the events on the club's page or even upload the information to their personal calendar. The next step for my venture would be for it to be able to read emails and upload tasks, meetings, and other more work field type events to a calendar. However, this end of the venture would require a lot of privacy and would be difficult to implement and there are many safety concerns with customer privacy that would need to be brought up.
Looking back at all of the feedback I've received I realized that having a team of skilled students to help me in this venture would be able to help me improve my business. Between that, and bringing up privacy concerns when it comes to email readings I feel I have covered the feedback I have received quite well.
image from http://clipart-library.com/free-calendar-clipart.html
Your Exit Strategy
While the prospect of owning this business is one that excites me, I do not want to hold onto it for very long. I understand that once I am not a college student then I will lose my biggest asset I have going into it. I will no longer be able to see my product on both ends, as a tool and business. Once I am no longer a student, I will want my product to still be impactful to the next generation of students. For me, the best way out would be to either sell the program to another student or group of students who hold similar values and would want to continue to improve upon my program or I would simply make my program free across the board, I would upload all of my codes online for others to try and replicate my program so they could alter the program in the way that they would need, and others could use my version at no cost to themselves. This exit strategy is really how I want to be remembered through this program, I want to be able to provide a resource that I did not have that I wish I did and I want it to be the best possible.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Celebrating Failure
26A:
Heres the story of how I failed at my job and it ended up changing the company regulations for the entire state of Florida. Over this past semester, I started a new project with my work. I was installing phone mounts onto the new trucks so that drivers could have hands free navigation and calls. On the new model trucks, the mount frames need to be attached to a plastic wall on the dashboard. I am the only technician for the company in the state of Florida who works inside the trucks like this, and with the new trucks, we were just installing mounts from the old trucks. The old trucks were metal-framed dashboards and the phone mounts had no problem being drilled onto the frames. With the new trucks, however, the phone mounts were too heavy to simply be screwed into the plastic wall in the new trucks. After going throughout the state of Florida installing the phone mounts into the plastic with only screws, they started to fall out when the drivers were on their routes. The drivers were inconvenienced, and I had to engineer a new way for the mounts to be installed. My boss and I decided that I should place a metal bracket on the backside of the plastic wall. After this, I know now that I need to think long term about how my projects will stand, I know when I began that the plastic wall would not be as firm as the metal frame and ended up making another run throughout the state to fix a mistake that could have been prevented had I run some trials before installing all of the new truck in the incorrect manner.
Heres the story of how I failed at my job and it ended up changing the company regulations for the entire state of Florida. Over this past semester, I started a new project with my work. I was installing phone mounts onto the new trucks so that drivers could have hands free navigation and calls. On the new model trucks, the mount frames need to be attached to a plastic wall on the dashboard. I am the only technician for the company in the state of Florida who works inside the trucks like this, and with the new trucks, we were just installing mounts from the old trucks. The old trucks were metal-framed dashboards and the phone mounts had no problem being drilled onto the frames. With the new trucks, however, the phone mounts were too heavy to simply be screwed into the plastic wall in the new trucks. After going throughout the state of Florida installing the phone mounts into the plastic with only screws, they started to fall out when the drivers were on their routes. The drivers were inconvenienced, and I had to engineer a new way for the mounts to be installed. My boss and I decided that I should place a metal bracket on the backside of the plastic wall. After this, I know now that I need to think long term about how my projects will stand, I know when I began that the plastic wall would not be as firm as the metal frame and ended up making another run throughout the state to fix a mistake that could have been prevented had I run some trials before installing all of the new truck in the incorrect manner.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Venture Concept No. 1
Opportunity:
Students at the collegiate level need a program that can upload every syllabus they receive throughout their college career onto on calendar. This program will be useful for the duration of their undergrad studies. While over time more classes are getting put online, and those students do not share this need to the same level of traditional students, as long as there are college campuses there will be students who have a need for this program, but no good alternatives. My market is defined demographically, looking at college students directly, but anywhere across the globe. Currently, the only alternatives to my program include: using the three different college provided resources to keep on track for your course and assignment, but keep another calendar for things outside of immediate classwork, or writing all of the information given by the college resources onto a physical planner and then having to refer to this planner every time an outside event comes up, or flying by the seat of your pants when you go to class hear what assignment comes next and do it the night before it is due, this way you can have the freedom to do all of the club activities without worry but being constantly behind on course work and class materials. Having a product that could help them cut confusion, time, effort, and chaos would be enough encouragement for students to try this program. This window is open as long as colleges are still accepting traditional students and classes are still giving out syllabuses.
Innovation:
I am offering students a web app that takes the information from their class syllabuses and uploads them all onto one calendar. It will give alerts for all assignment due and exam times. Students will also be able to upload other events onto this calendar and add custom alerts. I would want to make the web app free to use at the base form with advertisements, but with a purchase of $10 you could permanently remove ads.
Venture:
Students will want to use my program because it will save them a lot of time and worry throughout the semester. The other options for scheduling or not scheduling your semester cause a lot of stress either upfront or throughout you semester, but with this program, all you need to do to be set up for success is upload all of your syllabuses at the start of your semester and then you will have a calendar that you can refer back to and will send you reminders about assignment, class topics, and other items that you choose to upload. Currently, the only competitors are regular calendar apps that do not offer the same resource that mine does. ON these other programs the student will have to upload all of the assignments individually instead of a mass upload via the syllabus reading process I have created. Money is not my main goal with this concept, I want a product that will actually help students and will be available to a large number of students, so if I sell a small amount of ad space on the program then give it to the students for free, while offering a permanent purchase of ad free form. This would help me to feel proud of my venture and give me a small return on my product. My business would stay small no matter how large the program got. It is a relatively simple concept, I foresee myself and maybe one other person being able to keep up with updates and dealing with advertisers once the program is live.
The reason I doubt other companies will be able to replicate me is that I am a college student and I will be able to understand the issue with the program at the same time my customers do, and any improvements or new ideas also benefit me on my daily life and not just via revenue. I would then want to expand to help clubs create a platform to organize their events so that way their members and potential members could see all of the events on the club's page or even upload the information to their personal calendar. The next step for my venture would be for it to be able to read emails and upload tasks, meetings, and other more work field type events to a calendar.
Students at the collegiate level need a program that can upload every syllabus they receive throughout their college career onto on calendar. This program will be useful for the duration of their undergrad studies. While over time more classes are getting put online, and those students do not share this need to the same level of traditional students, as long as there are college campuses there will be students who have a need for this program, but no good alternatives. My market is defined demographically, looking at college students directly, but anywhere across the globe. Currently, the only alternatives to my program include: using the three different college provided resources to keep on track for your course and assignment, but keep another calendar for things outside of immediate classwork, or writing all of the information given by the college resources onto a physical planner and then having to refer to this planner every time an outside event comes up, or flying by the seat of your pants when you go to class hear what assignment comes next and do it the night before it is due, this way you can have the freedom to do all of the club activities without worry but being constantly behind on course work and class materials. Having a product that could help them cut confusion, time, effort, and chaos would be enough encouragement for students to try this program. This window is open as long as colleges are still accepting traditional students and classes are still giving out syllabuses.
Innovation:
I am offering students a web app that takes the information from their class syllabuses and uploads them all onto one calendar. It will give alerts for all assignment due and exam times. Students will also be able to upload other events onto this calendar and add custom alerts. I would want to make the web app free to use at the base form with advertisements, but with a purchase of $10 you could permanently remove ads.
Venture:
Students will want to use my program because it will save them a lot of time and worry throughout the semester. The other options for scheduling or not scheduling your semester cause a lot of stress either upfront or throughout you semester, but with this program, all you need to do to be set up for success is upload all of your syllabuses at the start of your semester and then you will have a calendar that you can refer back to and will send you reminders about assignment, class topics, and other items that you choose to upload. Currently, the only competitors are regular calendar apps that do not offer the same resource that mine does. ON these other programs the student will have to upload all of the assignments individually instead of a mass upload via the syllabus reading process I have created. Money is not my main goal with this concept, I want a product that will actually help students and will be available to a large number of students, so if I sell a small amount of ad space on the program then give it to the students for free, while offering a permanent purchase of ad free form. This would help me to feel proud of my venture and give me a small return on my product. My business would stay small no matter how large the program got. It is a relatively simple concept, I foresee myself and maybe one other person being able to keep up with updates and dealing with advertisers once the program is live.
The reason I doubt other companies will be able to replicate me is that I am a college student and I will be able to understand the issue with the program at the same time my customers do, and any improvements or new ideas also benefit me on my daily life and not just via revenue. I would then want to expand to help clubs create a platform to organize their events so that way their members and potential members could see all of the events on the club's page or even upload the information to their personal calendar. The next step for my venture would be for it to be able to read emails and upload tasks, meetings, and other more work field type events to a calendar.
What's Next?
Existing market:
After interviewing three more students about how I should expand upon my company, the feedback that I got was valuable. After describing how my program would work, and the business plan for it, all three were pretty impressed with the idea. The feedback that I got when asking about my next venture went along the lines of creating a platform that had various club meetings and activities. The three students enjoy clubs and think more people would be involved if there was a website they could go to and find a list of clubs and meeting times and places.
New market:
For my new market, instead of looking at college students, I chose to look at the working-class. They said they don't need a program that uploads syllabuses and only followed their work schedules, but once I started to ask about work deadlines I found that all of the three people I interviewed admitted to not keeping a list of work deadlines, and had on occasion been late on a project or task. If I could alter my program to be able to upload emailed deadlines onto the calendar than this product would work to help this group as well.
After interviewing three more students about how I should expand upon my company, the feedback that I got was valuable. After describing how my program would work, and the business plan for it, all three were pretty impressed with the idea. The feedback that I got when asking about my next venture went along the lines of creating a platform that had various club meetings and activities. The three students enjoy clubs and think more people would be involved if there was a website they could go to and find a list of clubs and meeting times and places.
New market:
For my new market, instead of looking at college students, I chose to look at the working-class. They said they don't need a program that uploads syllabuses and only followed their work schedules, but once I started to ask about work deadlines I found that all of the three people I interviewed admitted to not keeping a list of work deadlines, and had on occasion been late on a project or task. If I could alter my program to be able to upload emailed deadlines onto the calendar than this product would work to help this group as well.
Your Venture's Unfair Advantage
My resource list:
UF affiliate
Innovations student
Programming experience
Connection to student advising
Connection to advertisers
Connection to customers
Ability to take out student loans
Advertising experience
Ability to understand the human aspect of my product in real-time
Gator pride
I believe that my top resource, aside from gator pride obviously, is the fact that I will be using the product alongside all of my customers in my daily life, any issues that they notice will also be present to me, and any ideas to improve the program would directly benefit me two-fold. Having my customers know that I can personally understand their complaints, and want to improve my product upon their suggestions, would help make the process of finding bugs and glitches or ways to improve the program a more human experience. In building this trust with my customers, I would be building a community that would be more likely to support any future products as well.
UF affiliate
Innovations student
Programming experience
Connection to student advising
Connection to advertisers
Connection to customers
Ability to take out student loans
Advertising experience
Ability to understand the human aspect of my product in real-time
Gator pride
I believe that my top resource, aside from gator pride obviously, is the fact that I will be using the product alongside all of my customers in my daily life, any issues that they notice will also be present to me, and any ideas to improve the program would directly benefit me two-fold. Having my customers know that I can personally understand their complaints, and want to improve my product upon their suggestions, would help make the process of finding bugs and glitches or ways to improve the program a more human experience. In building this trust with my customers, I would be building a community that would be more likely to support any future products as well.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Growing Your Social Capital
For my domain expert, I reached out to UF Advising. The advisors spend a lot of time helping students to set up schedules and plan out there semesters. In this area, they know how to read syllabuses and have plenty of experience planning out student semesters to help give the best possibility of success to students. I have gone to the advisors every semester to have them help me set up my semester plan, so I was able to discuss informally with my advisor about her opinions on my product. The nature of our favor was pretty much if I produce this product I need to have a discount or demo version that an advisor could use to show and help students.
Next, I reached out to my boss at the UF bookstore as my expert on the market. I gave him a call and talked over my idea, once again we talked super casually, but he was also in favor of promoting my product so long as I used the bookstore as a place to purchase access codes for it. He works with lots of students and is selling school supplies and resources to students.
To cap it off, I found a programmer who works at my other job to be my supplier. I sent him over an email containing my business plan. He explained to me the magnitude of what a project like this would be, and how much a project like this would cost timewise. He thought it was really cool to have someone interested in his work so he was happy to explain all of the various aspects that go into creating programs and the job he does on a daily basis and wants me to keep him informed on what happens if I produce this product. By knowing someone in this field, he can help me to identify good traits to look for in potential partners or show me how to get started on my own.
Doing this project has helped me to feel more comfortable reaching out to people. I will continue to reach out to people whenever I have a project that I am passionate about to find the best team I can to help me achieve my goals.
Next, I reached out to my boss at the UF bookstore as my expert on the market. I gave him a call and talked over my idea, once again we talked super casually, but he was also in favor of promoting my product so long as I used the bookstore as a place to purchase access codes for it. He works with lots of students and is selling school supplies and resources to students.
To cap it off, I found a programmer who works at my other job to be my supplier. I sent him over an email containing my business plan. He explained to me the magnitude of what a project like this would be, and how much a project like this would cost timewise. He thought it was really cool to have someone interested in his work so he was happy to explain all of the various aspects that go into creating programs and the job he does on a daily basis and wants me to keep him informed on what happens if I produce this product. By knowing someone in this field, he can help me to identify good traits to look for in potential partners or show me how to get started on my own.
Doing this project has helped me to feel more comfortable reaching out to people. I will continue to reach out to people whenever I have a project that I am passionate about to find the best team I can to help me achieve my goals.
Monday, March 23, 2020
Idea Napkin No.2
Since the last Idea Napkin, I feel a lot has changed. I switched my major from mathematics to anthropology, I found out that I much prefer to study how people live and work and their interest versus numbers. I have not given up on numbers, but I want to be able to do something with my life that will help people and I feel that through my product I can take steps towards that goal. I am offering a program where you upload your class syllabus for each class you are taking and it will create a calendar for you that alerts when due dates and lectures are coming up. You will also be able to upload events or other programs into this student assistant app. This would be a tool for students to use to help them make the transition to college, and managing their college lives easier. Targeting students early on to get them set up for success in their early years of college while not being exclusive to them, I would target anyone who is trying to improve how they manage their time and wants to do so as efficiently as possible. Students go through a lot of stress as they explore their college careers and meeting deadlines for classes is a big part of this stress, so having a system that helps them stay on top of this stress would make students' life easier. My product would have all of the capacities of a normal calendar, with the ability to mass upload items. It is on this ability that I will be able to beat all the individual resources that UF offers, and other calendar programs out. This will be like having a personal assistant in your pocket.
Looking back I think that my future interests do not reflect what this business would be. For me this would be a project to help myself to finish college strong, so once it stopped affecting me immediately I would not continue to pursue this path. Looking back at the feedback, it seems like my target demographic would also eventually outgrow this app and without constantly throwing this idea to new generations of students it would die out rather quickly.
Looking back I think that my future interests do not reflect what this business would be. For me this would be a project to help myself to finish college strong, so once it stopped affecting me immediately I would not continue to pursue this path. Looking back at the feedback, it seems like my target demographic would also eventually outgrow this app and without constantly throwing this idea to new generations of students it would die out rather quickly.
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Create a Customer Avatar
My customer avatar would look just like any other focused and driven college student. They wear nice jeans or slacks to class with a polo or button-up shirt. Nice stylish shoes with fun socks, and plenty of college memorabilia. They would be trying to get there degree on time while exploring their interests, but get overwhelmed once in a while. They would spend 5 days a week, Sunday through Thursday studying or going to club activities, Fridays and Saturdays would be spent partying and relaxing. Some of the clubs would be athletic, others academic, and of course they would be representing a fraternity too. He's busy, she's busy, all of us in our own way are busy, no matter part of campus life we engage in I haven't met a single college student who was complaining about being bored with too much time on their hands. I feel like I live a similar life to those that I am trying to reach with my Student Assistant Calendar. After all, I am a student too.
Image from floridagators.com
Image from floridagators.com
Friday, March 13, 2020
What's Your Secrete Sauce
Looking at myself, I think the five qualities that set me apart the most from others include; being able to separate myself from a situation and look at things objectively, listening but also encouraging others to talk, learning from what others have to say, applying new strategies or technologies, and a great dedication to complete tasks as efficiently as possible while maintaining a high level of quality.
The first person I interviewed was a friend from high school that I still keep up with. She said that I have this ability to remove myself from a situation and see things from other people's perspectives.
My father was more along the line that I am a hard worker, and whenever there is a task that needs to get done I have this ability to put all of my focus into it and create the best possible outcome.
My mother said she sees me as a multi-tool type of person. If she needs a job done, someone to talk to, someone to go to for advice, or someone to have fun with, she thinks I can fit into all of those categories.
My younger brother mentioned that I am a patient tutor, I am willing to sit and understand where people are having difficultly and then try and find a way to help them understand their problems.
A friend that I made in my first year of university described me as a ducktape type of person. I am useful in any situation, adaptable and willing to do the work needed of me.
I noticed that people think of me as a hard-working, patient person, which is what I have always tried to be. There are many facets to growing your business and being well rounded seems to help relieve some of that stress, but also makes you a better partner for your customers.
The first person I interviewed was a friend from high school that I still keep up with. She said that I have this ability to remove myself from a situation and see things from other people's perspectives.
My father was more along the line that I am a hard worker, and whenever there is a task that needs to get done I have this ability to put all of my focus into it and create the best possible outcome.
My mother said she sees me as a multi-tool type of person. If she needs a job done, someone to talk to, someone to go to for advice, or someone to have fun with, she thinks I can fit into all of those categories.
My younger brother mentioned that I am a patient tutor, I am willing to sit and understand where people are having difficultly and then try and find a way to help them understand their problems.
A friend that I made in my first year of university described me as a ducktape type of person. I am useful in any situation, adaptable and willing to do the work needed of me.
I noticed that people think of me as a hard-working, patient person, which is what I have always tried to be. There are many facets to growing your business and being well rounded seems to help relieve some of that stress, but also makes you a better partner for your customers.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Figuring Out Buyer Behavior
Talking with three more students on campus I was able to identify trends in their buying behavior. All three of them said that they typically searched for apps that would have a free version, and use that until they made their decision on whether or not to purchase the full version. For all, it was important the free product worked and was a finished product on its own so they could make an informed decision, otherwise they would just uninstall the app and look for something else. As far as purchasing the product goes it would be online through an app store or website, but two of the students mentioned that they read the signs in checkout lines from time to time and seeing an interesting item would spark them to look it up. While having this physical space to be able to advertise effectively they all mentioned that they would go through the app store and look into the more professional looking apps with lots of ratings before looking into the smaller more simple apps. For all three, knowing they made the right decision on an app is having something reliable that doesn't require too much space and has an easy to use interface.
From all of this, I know that I would need to focus on having a professional-looking website and store page, with physical advertising in relevant areas.
From all of this, I know that I would need to focus on having a professional-looking website and store page, with physical advertising in relevant areas.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Halfway Reflection
Tenacious is a competency, in order to succeed in this class you will need to build a routine to keep up with all the work. I like to set my week up to begin looking at assignments on Tuesday and begin working on them until Thursday night so I know I turn everything in on time. Then I wait until I get out of classes Friday to take the Cupcakes, and over the weekend I'll look into my peers' posts. Learning proper time management, and keeping up with all of the work is the hardest part of this class, so having a game plan helps to be successful.
Tenacious is an attitude, I haven't always enjoyed this class. Online classes are difficult for me to focus on, but I need this class to graduate with the degrees I want so I have been focusing on going through the assignments and getting work done.
The tips that I would give to next semester students start to have a game plan. Going in with a game plan will help you feel more comfortable and even if you need to change tactics throughout the class, that's fine. Don't be afraid to ask your friends for help, I like to sit down with my friends whenever I go to write these blog posts so that I have someone around to hold me accountable for it at the moment. Lastly, get what you want out of it, most of the students who will be taking this course will probably be doing so because it is a required class for them. Since you are already paying for the class and have to pass it make sure that whenever you have an opportunity to learn a new skill that you can apply to your career you should explore it.
Tenacious is an attitude, I haven't always enjoyed this class. Online classes are difficult for me to focus on, but I need this class to graduate with the degrees I want so I have been focusing on going through the assignments and getting work done.
The tips that I would give to next semester students start to have a game plan. Going in with a game plan will help you feel more comfortable and even if you need to change tactics throughout the class, that's fine. Don't be afraid to ask your friends for help, I like to sit down with my friends whenever I go to write these blog posts so that I have someone around to hold me accountable for it at the moment. Lastly, get what you want out of it, most of the students who will be taking this course will probably be doing so because it is a required class for them. Since you are already paying for the class and have to pass it make sure that whenever you have an opportunity to learn a new skill that you can apply to your career you should explore it.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1
I decided to interview three other IA students because they will have classes, homework, clubs and IA speaker series that they are required to attend. Between the three of them, I found a common thread, keeping up with the outside of classwork and lectures were difficult for people to keep track of and were constantly rushing to get done or get to. While the syllabus pdf had all of the information on it, this pdf was difficult to access mobile and despite going over most assignments in a class by the time they left class due dates seemed distant to the students. What these students have looked to has been the college provide Outlook and Canvas Calendar, but those have not been enough for them. All three had various to-do lists and student planner apps that they used to try and get organized. The search terms most of them used were "student calendar," "student planner," "student to-do list," and various student fill in the blank terms. They all notice the need at the start of the semester when they are getting various syllabuses and once again when exam season kicks off and they feel they have to spend the majority of their time studying. Two of the three just stopped their search after a quick google search and a conversation with there friends, the third said he went to Gatorwell to try and find additional help, but they didn't have anything that worked for him. I think this leaves me in a good position to fill a need in the community that current is going unattended to because no one is going beyond the minimum to help students succeed by giving them organizational skills.
Idea Napkin No. 1
My name is Ethan Irvin. I'm a UF mathematics major in the Innovation Academy. I have some programming experience and am comfortable speaking in large crowds and one on one. Ideally, I would want this business to help students, myself included, get more organized and help more people manage their lives. I would not be looking for a large profit, I would want to use it to build a name for myself and help others with a problem that I deal with.
I am offering a program that works as a calendar, to-do list, event planner, and journal. By putting all of their due dates, class times, exams, club events, and other activities on one platform students will be better able to plan study time and fun time by keeping an accurate record of when they need to be where.
This program would be open to anyone who wants to try it, but I would tailor it towards the average college student. Anyone taking tradition or hybrid classes that would benefit from combining all of there course work and class times onto one platform.
Students all want to be organized, but very few want to take the time to get organized, I am offering them that organization that would help them to reach their goal with practically no strain on the student.
Other programs and apps typically focus as one thing, either a calendar or to-do list, and none of the items that the university offers interact with each other. Mine would be an all-around app that was able to tie everything together by putting it on one screen, all the information you need would be kept together.
I am offering a program that works as a calendar, to-do list, event planner, and journal. By putting all of their due dates, class times, exams, club events, and other activities on one platform students will be better able to plan study time and fun time by keeping an accurate record of when they need to be where.
This program would be open to anyone who wants to try it, but I would tailor it towards the average college student. Anyone taking tradition or hybrid classes that would benefit from combining all of there course work and class times onto one platform.
Students all want to be organized, but very few want to take the time to get organized, I am offering them that organization that would help them to reach their goal with practically no strain on the student.
Other programs and apps typically focus as one thing, either a calendar or to-do list, and none of the items that the university offers interact with each other. Mine would be an all-around app that was able to tie everything together by putting it on one screen, all the information you need would be kept together.
Friday, February 14, 2020
Elevator Pitch 1
Hey, sorry I am having some difficulty uploading my video, so I'll post my script for now I will upload my script and try to have the video later tonight.
"Struggling to keep up with class, office hours, labs, homework, essays, exams, and life? Us students have the difficult task of meeting all these deadlines but no way to see them on one calendar. Well what if I told you Student Planner was a calendar, to do list, and love organizer that could save you so much time and stress! All you do is upload your syllabus and Student Planner sets all of your course homework, reading, exam, office hours, lectures, and then you can add custom events and tasks programmable with unique reminders so you never miss a deadline. That's all I've got for now, I've got to get to class."
"Struggling to keep up with class, office hours, labs, homework, essays, exams, and life? Us students have the difficult task of meeting all these deadlines but no way to see them on one calendar. Well what if I told you Student Planner was a calendar, to do list, and love organizer that could save you so much time and stress! All you do is upload your syllabus and Student Planner sets all of your course homework, reading, exam, office hours, lectures, and then you can add custom events and tasks programmable with unique reminders so you never miss a deadline. That's all I've got for now, I've got to get to class."
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Testing the Hypothesis Part 2
With this second round of interviews, I went out to find people who fell outside of my unmet need. I asked each of the five students about their college experience and why they wouldn't be interested in an app that helps to organize class time and homework due dates.
The first guy I interviewed was a strictly UF Online student. He noted that because all of his lectures were online he got emails when the lectures had been posted, and then would do the homework at the same time. For all of his lectures, they would mention which assignments were due and go over them in detail. For him, it was simply a matter of making time at the end of his day to sit down and do everything in one go.
Next, I interviewed my roommate who is in grad school here. For him, he goes to the lab every day and is in an environment where everyone around him operates on a similar schedule, and they work together as a team. With everyone doing the lab, going to lectures and discussing the assignments, he has built up a network of people who already hold him responsible for keeping up.
I met with a girl I know who spends drop add week making her semester calendar and asked if she would be interested in this product. Surprisingly, she would prefer to organize manually. She is very detail orientated and thinks that by doing things by the hand she will better remember them, and have a more personal attachment to all of her work.
After those three it was difficult to find someone who wasn't at least partially interested in this product student wise. So I expanded my audience. I asked two different professors to get their opinions. Similarly, they remarked on how assignment due dates weren't relevant to them, and all the timing information they need was easily programmable into outlooks calendar. Since UF gives out Outlook accounts to students and faculty they used it for every aspect of their work and were used to the program.
Inside the Boundary:
Who: Students across various colleges who are taking at least one in-person class.
What: A unified calendar to show assignments, class times, office hours, and other events or agendas.
Why: UF puts all of the necessary information to do well in classes across multiple platforms for those in in-person classes.
Outside the Boundary:
Who: Students who are in a tight college community where information is readily shared and unified, professors and other faculty who are not taking classes, and fanatics who are have found the way that best works for them in this environment.
What: A unified system is not needed because they already have a system in place to catch all relevant topics that my product would cover.
Why: They either already have a group or website that they readily rely on or have devised a system that works for them.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Solving the Problem
Looking into an opportunity that would help many students, myself included, I would sell a calendar app that takes the information from your class syllabus to input assignment due dates as well as class readings and exams. The users would only need to specify how long their semester is and when class time is then an interactive calendar would be generated. Having this app downloaded onto the student's phone they would also be able to input other activities that they would normally mark onto their calendars. By showing all their class times, assignment due dates, and any event they intend to go to students would have a better understanding of how they need to manage their time instead of cramming at the last minute. Or if students prefer to cram last minute, they would know when the last minute is. Students will be able to set reminders for each class's homework and go through and edit unique reminders for those assignments that might take a little longer to complete.
Testing the Hypothesis Part 1
After talking with some other UF students, I noticed that I was not the only one who had trouble keeping up with assignment due dates. Students on the University of Florida campus are unable to easily form a semester calendar that includes all of their assignment due dates and class times onto one calendar app because the resources provided by UF do not interact with each other and filling in this much information is a long process. This would mainly be for students because they are the ones who are trying to balance class times and homework on two different forums, and I am unfamiliar with how professors are expected to organize themselves and what resources they have available to them. While I am only familiar with how UF resources work I imagined other college students across the country might also have this problem. I understand that there are a few students who already take the time to do this on their own, but that is the slim minority and even they might be interested in a faster way of organizing themselves. Taking the time to plug in all of these due dates is a long process that isn't difficult, but something that students don't seem to want to do for themselves. However, this is only useful for people who have at least one class in person, as online classes have no set class time and you already need to be on the classes website to get lectures, but having a set calendar for multiple classes each semester would help them organize when to do lectures and homework. For most of the students I have talked to, they are simply uninterested or don't have the will to sit down for an hour to set a calendar with reminders for when assignments and classes are. Some already take the time to do this, but even they favored the idea of a program that did this for them.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends
Looking for opportunities on a larger scale than what I recently been posting about helps to understand that there is a whole world of opportunities to explore. The first topic that I want to look at is how tobacco shops can no longer serve people under 21. I noticed this change in all of the tobacco shop windows within the last few weeks. Now that these tobacco shops can no longer serve those underage, they could adapt to becoming the adult one-stop-shop. Grouping all the adult products in one space would save people time when it comes to planning weekend parties or relaxing evenings. By including these items to the companies' inventory they will attract a much larger crowd.
Another regulatory change that we can imagine to be coming to Florida soon as it has already gotten approved in 17 other states and Washington, D.C. is recreation marijuana. Once it becomes legal in Florida there will need to be companies that adopt weed into their inventory, distribution center for if, and new businesses are likely to come up from this. While the end product will be for the consumer the opportunity lies with these new companies competing for the consumers.
Moving on from opportunities coming from regulatory changes, we are looking into opportunities that are coming from economic changes. As technology is rapidly expanding forms of payment are becoming more diversified, faster, and easier than ever. Everywhere we look we notice different money sending apps that are only applicable to a select few vendors and programs so have a universal form a payment would greatly increase check out times and viable customers. I saw a news article about how companies are trying to find a way to bring all of the banking and money sharing apps onto one interactive system.
As global warming becomes more noticeable, our crops are starting to suffer. Due to rising temperatures, and more destructive and less predictable weather food prices are on the rise. There is an opportunity for more greenhouses and other climate control devices to be implemented. Farmers would be the prototypical customer, and in areas where agriculture is on a decline having some form of protection would help to boost security.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Identifying Local Opportunities
After looking through the Aligator I found a story titled: "UF Sailing Team's Equipment damaged by High Winds", which grabbed my attention. Link below this paragraph. Over the winter holiday, high winds totaled most of the vessels that the UF Sailing team had and left the remainder with damaged masts. The UF Sailing Team needs all new vessels to be able to compete this year and go to nationals like they are planning, but this could cost around $100,000.
Another article that I found interesting was: "Future of Gainesville Lucky’s Market remains unclear." Link below. Here it is discussed that a supermarket will be closing with rumors that Aldi's will be buying the store, while all of the employees are currently searching for jobs in the city. With the loss of the store, its associates are trying to get jobs in the competitive metropolitan area while it is unclear if more jobs will be made readily available with the opening of another store.
"UF Health monitors rumors of coronavirus spreading to Gainesville" was another headline that caught my attention. Link Below. Here it talks about how the UF affiliates might have come into contact with the coronavirus. While there are currently no confirmed cases of the virus in Gainesville, the Chinese association on campus is having to postpone events out of fear of an outbreak.
One story that concerns me is "UF student dies days after being struck by vehicle," because it happened on campus. Link below. It says she was crossing a street in east Gainesville around 8 pm. This shows that Gainesville drivers can be irresponsible and put the pedestrians at risk. This an issue that every student who crosses a street on and near campus needs to be aware of at all times.
In this last article, "GPD continues use of highly-criticized facial recognition program," we can see that the Gainesville Police Department is using a program to help identify individuals through advanced searches that some would say are an invasion of privacy. The GDP is taking some heat for their decision but they are helping other Police departments with their searches and claims to have plenty of security so that no unauthorized searches can be made by the deparment. Link below.
Forming an Opportunity Belief
I believe that clubs in Turlington Plaza shouldn't just limit themselves to the preset concrete tables already there. There are so many clubs and companies on campus that are constantly tabling but only so many tables on possibly the most traveled part of campus. With all the clubs and events being put on the waiting list, getting peak recruitment times will be difficult at the start of every semester. Most of the clubs are just sending out people to stand in front of Library West with flyers instead of being apart of the heart of campus. This is an issue I have seen and heard organizations complain about in the past. I have seen one club set up a plastic table that they own to overcome this problem and I think more organizations would be willing to rent tables to set up in Turlington.
My prototypical customer would be smaller organizations that have trouble getting optimal tabling times in Turlington.
After talking to a few clubs, a UF start-up company and an on-campus ministry I found that their need was very specific. They needed an area to set up a display to attract people's interest during the morning and noontime rushes in Turlington Plaza. Most are only concerned with tabling for the first month or so when students are looking to try new things before exam season starts.
From the feedback, it would have to be a seasonal opportunity that was flexible to the clubs time frames. Otherwise, many sound like they would be interested in something like this. While this idea would have to be flexible to individuals' timelines, but otherwise is still the original basis that I noticed. I think entrepreneurs shouldn't have to adapt their ideas but should want to provide the best service and be open to improving their methods.
My prototypical customer would be smaller organizations that have trouble getting optimal tabling times in Turlington.
After talking to a few clubs, a UF start-up company and an on-campus ministry I found that their need was very specific. They needed an area to set up a display to attract people's interest during the morning and noontime rushes in Turlington Plaza. Most are only concerned with tabling for the first month or so when students are looking to try new things before exam season starts.
From the feedback, it would have to be a seasonal opportunity that was flexible to the clubs time frames. Otherwise, many sound like they would be interested in something like this. While this idea would have to be flexible to individuals' timelines, but otherwise is still the original basis that I noticed. I think entrepreneurs shouldn't have to adapt their ideas but should want to provide the best service and be open to improving their methods.
My Entrepreneurship Story
My father started his career in construction but throughout years of dedication and learning new skills he has become a successful businessman who direct one of the largest alcohol distribution centers in the world. Along the way, he has taken a few ventures into entrepreneurship, he started an online shopping website before Amazon and would flip boats once a year.
My parents started an online shopping website for clothes that my aunt would buy from companies' excess product that hadn't sold. This was when I was about six or seven years old. They were able to keep the business running for about a year before eBay and Amazon later became the giants that they are today. While the business wasn't overly successful it was an opportunity for my parents to learn more about finances and marketing strategies. They are currently looking to try their hand at owning another business and are looking for marketing opportunities in Florida as something to do when they retire.
While we lived in Missouri my dad, Grandpa, and I had never missed a weekend of fishing. However, keeping up a fishing boat becomes increasingly difficult as it gets older. So my dad started buying boats right around November and December when we could not use them for the next three or four months for really good bargains, then we would sell them when the next tax return season came by for more than we paid after we had used the boat for an additional year. It wasn't always easy though, now and then we would have to do some serious detail work, and once replace an entire motor, in these boats. To me, this was just part of the fishing experience and was the beginning of my mechanical tutelage.
Entrepreneurship has always been in the background of my upbringing, so I hope that I can learn some unique skills that this field fosters. My life goal is to become an astronaut but to get there I will need skills that set me apart from everyone else with the same goal. I hope that in this course I can learn some interpersonal skills and goal setting and management systems that I can use in my daily life.
[picture of my brother (right) and me (left) 2014]
My parents started an online shopping website for clothes that my aunt would buy from companies' excess product that hadn't sold. This was when I was about six or seven years old. They were able to keep the business running for about a year before eBay and Amazon later became the giants that they are today. While the business wasn't overly successful it was an opportunity for my parents to learn more about finances and marketing strategies. They are currently looking to try their hand at owning another business and are looking for marketing opportunities in Florida as something to do when they retire.
While we lived in Missouri my dad, Grandpa, and I had never missed a weekend of fishing. However, keeping up a fishing boat becomes increasingly difficult as it gets older. So my dad started buying boats right around November and December when we could not use them for the next three or four months for really good bargains, then we would sell them when the next tax return season came by for more than we paid after we had used the boat for an additional year. It wasn't always easy though, now and then we would have to do some serious detail work, and once replace an entire motor, in these boats. To me, this was just part of the fishing experience and was the beginning of my mechanical tutelage.
Entrepreneurship has always been in the background of my upbringing, so I hope that I can learn some unique skills that this field fosters. My life goal is to become an astronaut but to get there I will need skills that set me apart from everyone else with the same goal. I hope that in this course I can learn some interpersonal skills and goal setting and management systems that I can use in my daily life.
[picture of my brother (right) and me (left) 2014]
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Bug List
1) How you can see what items a store has online, but not where in the store the item is.
2) Autocorrect on mobile devices stops working once you accidentally type a number.
3) Making lists
4) The pedestrian lights at University and 13th take a long time to get across
5) Prepackaged food that offers multiple servings not being resealable
6) Smart TVs still have multiple remotes instead of a universal remote.
7) Making list
8) Redundancy
I) Inconsistency
10) Youtube has multiple different apps and all of which have their own premium costs
11) Drivers on the interstate who do not use their blinkers while changing lanes.
12) On-campus parking costs $80 a semester but for Red 1 parking there are no good parking spots.
13) Canvas has a calendar function but does not auto upload assignment due dates onto the calendar
14) Youtube has begun to change its rules without letting creators know what those changes were?
15) When bookmarks fall out of the book and you can't remember what page you were on.
16) When you need a few more things for a list but don't know what to add
17) When headphones get tangled up in your pocket
18) Shopping carts being left in parking spaces at the store
19) Bike lanes only on major roads
20) When a Google search won't pull up the answer you want
These things are basic inconveniences that annoy me while making my overall day just go by slower. Nothing here is overly awful, but some items can be quite tedious. These are all things that I have experienced recently. This assignment was difficult, I am not used to looking for the negative things in my life.
2) Autocorrect on mobile devices stops working once you accidentally type a number.
3) Making lists
4) The pedestrian lights at University and 13th take a long time to get across
5) Prepackaged food that offers multiple servings not being resealable
6) Smart TVs still have multiple remotes instead of a universal remote.
7) Making list
8) Redundancy
I) Inconsistency
10) Youtube has multiple different apps and all of which have their own premium costs
11) Drivers on the interstate who do not use their blinkers while changing lanes.
12) On-campus parking costs $80 a semester but for Red 1 parking there are no good parking spots.
13) Canvas has a calendar function but does not auto upload assignment due dates onto the calendar
14) Youtube has begun to change its rules without letting creators know what those changes were?
15) When bookmarks fall out of the book and you can't remember what page you were on.
16) When you need a few more things for a list but don't know what to add
17) When headphones get tangled up in your pocket
18) Shopping carts being left in parking spaces at the store
19) Bike lanes only on major roads
20) When a Google search won't pull up the answer you want
These things are basic inconveniences that annoy me while making my overall day just go by slower. Nothing here is overly awful, but some items can be quite tedious. These are all things that I have experienced recently. This assignment was difficult, I am not used to looking for the negative things in my life.
Monday, January 13, 2020
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