28A - Your Exit Strategy

1.) My exit strategy for my business would consist of me owning and working on my business for many years.  I would not sell the business to the big cable corporations and, out of fear that someone else might do that, I would probably not sell my company at all.  I understand that big corporations would most likely use predatory pricing strategies to get me to go out of business, but I don’t think it would be that effective due to my commitment to the local community. When I am older and can no longer operate the company, I would give it to my children or perhaps then sell it for a large profit and reinvest the profits to my family and my community (since you can’t take it with you when you die).

2.) I chose this strategy because I am a firm believer in family first and helping out the local community.  As such, I would hate for a big company to buy my company and essentially destroy whatever good was done for the community.

3.) My exit strategy didn’t really influence much of my other decisions. It did in the sense that I wanted to keep it primarily local and invest heavily in the community: something that would make no sense if I was just looking to sell the company for a huge profit.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

Book: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The general theme/argument of the book is that we have two systems of thinking which can be basically described as fast and slow. The ‘fast’ system is the thinking we perform most actions with and is something that is more or less instinctive.  The ‘slow’ system is one where we have to exercise more time and energy on thinking. It is essentially the system we use when making analytical or tougher decisions.  Kahneman argues that both modes of thinking can be helpful, but they also have drawbacks. For example, with the ‘fast’ system, we tend to make irrational decisions or just bizarre predictions.  With the ‘slow’ system, we tend to approve of these same crazy decisions that our ‘fast’ system made. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
The book connected with ENT3003 because it explained to me the two different systems of thinking we have and how to avoid the many mistakes that a potential businessman or entrepreneur would make not knowing this information.  Furthermore, Kahneman points out that failure is bound to happen, yet we are so hesitant to accept failure that more damage can be done.  This is an important lesson that we learned in ENT3003: accept failure and move on.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
It would involve a corporate scenario that would consist of 3 groups/businesses: the first group would make quick decisions about everything, the second group would make slow and analytical decisions about everything, and the third group would do a combination of both. I would then compare the results at the end of the exercise and see who faired the best.

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?
I was surprised that the author included sections that discussed emotions and regret. I never really considered regret as a punishment to one’s self, but that is essentially what it is.  I was delighted to see that Kahneman described emotions as something that can coexist and somewhat depending on our own perspective. This is what I believe as a practicing stoic: that nothing is inherently bad or good. It is our perspective that makes it so. 

26A - Celebrating Failure

1.) I would consider mainly one event a true failure this semester: me failing my second exam for calc 2. I didn’t understand the material while I was being taught it but, instead of seeking help, I just pushed it aside. I did the bare minimum required for the homework and the class, in general, leading up to the exam.  I only studied the day before the exam! Then came the exam. After about 90 minutes of guessing, I ended up with a 15/40. My worst exam score ever.  I was surprised: I genuinely thought that I could figure out the material during the test, but series and the different rules/tests require a ton of practice.

2.) Instead of blaming the test for being too hard or the math department for being evil people, I took full ownership of the matter. Had I went to office hours and completed extra practice work, then I would have at least passed the test.  This was all on me.  My efforts were worth a 15/40, so I needed to increase my effort.  And so I did.  I went to tutoring, office hours, and completed my homework with great effort in preparation for the next exam. As a result, I only missed three questions on the multiple-choice on exam 3.  I essentially learned that the important things in life don’t come easy: they require a lot of hard work and effort.

3.) When I was younger, I hated the mere idea of failing.  I found failure to be something that only idiots would do.  When I came to college, my whole world view changed.  I became more inclined to the idea of taking risks and also to the optimistic idea that nobody really cares.  Essentially, I found that if you take a risk and fail, you can either learn from it and grow, or complain and never rise.  This class definitely helped me with viewing failure as a necessity for growth.  Especially reading the Mindset… by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. really emphasized the value of effort.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept Description: CoastStreamz LLC

Opportunity:

The opportunity exists in the Volusia/Flagler county area. The unmet need stems from middle-aged consumers who are struggling to pay the ever-increasing cable bills.  The changes in the environment creating this need is mainly the higher costs of cable while wages remain stagnant.  Another force driving this demand is the rise of streaming services that have essentially become mainstream at this point.  Geographically, my market is in the borders of Flagler and Volusia counties.  Demographically, my market is primarily focused on middle-aged fathers that are in lower-middle-class and watch television in moderation. Customers are not satisfied nor loyal to current cable companies right now.  This opportunity is pretty large, but the window of opportunity will not last long due to the rise of streaming.

Innovation:

The product I am selling is a streaming system with the consumer’s choice of streaming service.  The streaming service and amount of services would be dependent on 3 different packages: Lite - this comes with a Roku stick and 1 choice of streaming service for $ 75; Regular - Roku Standard player with 2 choices of streaming services for $100; Ultra - Advanced Roku player with 3 choices of streaming services for $150.  These are one time costs for my service. I would also offer on-site technical assistance after the installation for $50/hr to fix any problems. 

Venture:

Consumers would switch to this product because it helps them save money in the long run while offering technical service.  It wouldn’t be too difficult for customers to switch. They would just have to cancel their cable (or not if they want to keep it) and we would come in and set up the system.  The primary competitors will be cable companies like Spectrum and AT&T, but also Dish and DirecTV could be considered competitors. Their weaknesses are bad customer service and high prices.  My whole packaging system is vital for my business concept. Regarding how I would organize my business concept, I would start straight out of where I live and use my SUV as transport.  It would be just me and family until I gain more money to hire workers and expand.

Important Resource:

My important resource is my social capital. I am well known among the church and political community in Flagler and in parts of Volusia. This conveys the native/local trust and good-heartedness that my competitors just wouldn’t be able to effectively match.

Next for the venture:

The next thing for the venture would be a subscription monitoring service that will charge a low monthly fee to make sure that customers don’t overpay for subscriptions they aren’t using, and managing billing and services on behalf of the consumer.

What’s next for me:

I hope to still be humble and remember where I came from. I would hope that as time goes on, I would actually work harder and be involved in my community. I don’t take pleasure in moving to an elite area with mansions. I would rather invest my money in the community and helping students learn technical skills. I take great pleasure in seeing my local community thrive. This venture would definitely help me generate the funds to help the community while serving their unmet needs.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

How valuable, rare, inimitable, non-substitutable
Resources I have:

1.) Knowledge of area: Knowledge of the area is pretty valuable - especially since I come from the area, but it is definitely not rare, inimitable or non-substitutable.  Any company or person could find most of the information on a computer or visit Volusia/Flagler County personally.

2.) Social Capital: This is very valuable in Flagler county politics because you essentially have to know someone to get anything passed through the government. I don’t have personal connections with anyone that is in government, but I was a student ambassador for the Department of Commerce when international and domestic investors came to my county and high school. Social capital is easily imitable, but my social capital is not very substitutable. I am pretty well known in my community through the church, high school programs, and government/political functions. 


3.) Financial Capital: I have very little of this, so whatever I do have is valuable.  It isn’t hard to make money though, so it is not rare, inimitable, or non-substitutable. 

4.) Marketing Knowledge: My knowledge is primarily based on online marketing and social media marketing.  The knowledge is somewhat rare since many people don’t really understand how it all works.  It is super imitable because online marketing is not hard or impossible to learn. It is also substitutable with traditional marketing or word of mouth.


5.) Human Capital: Very valuable.  My human capital encompasses a wide variety of skills and knowledge that can help with the technical and social aspects of the business. It is not imitable but it is substitutable. 

6.) Excellent Communication Skills: This is very valuable in business and life in general. It seems as excellent communication skills are becoming more of a rarity, so I would say that it is pretty rare.  It is imitable, but it takes time and commitment to actually understand and implement communication skills. This is pretty non-substitutable for the most part because companies have tried using other techniques to solve this problem but have not gone far. 

7.) Equipment: I have an SUV, a ladder, and a toolkit.  This is the very basics of what I would need to go to the site and install the product. These basics are valuable in that they are necessities to accomplish my venture.  They are not rare, inimitable, or non-substitutable.

8.) Analytical Skills: This is a super valuable skill for my venture. I could combine this with my knowledge of the area to pinpoint exactly the area I would set up shop or conduct business in. These skills are pretty rare and not too inimitable. This is somewhat substitutable with computer software, but that can only go so far. 

9.) Technical Skills: This is also very valuable for my venture. I would have to know how to install and set up the product that I am selling.  It isn’t too rare or inimitable, and it’s definitely not non-substitutable. 

10.) Great consumer relations: Extremely valuable since my target group includes people who are not happy with their current cable provider. It is actually pretty rare in my industry, but it is very imitable and substitutable. 

Based on my analysis, my best resource would be my social capital. This is the most important because I left a good impression in the community when I left for college. I still occasionally participate in some local functions when I visit on the weekends. This would definitely help in conveying trust to potential consumers. I would also be able to market my product at community events.

22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3

The link: https://youtu.be/IHvlvtpBQQU

Feedback/Reflection: On the other video, I received little feedback from my peers so I had Professor Pryor provide some critical feedback.  The feedback I received was that I didn't really state the problem and I also didn't specify what my solution is.  A student noted that I spoke a little too slow.  I thought all of these were accurate and I took these into account to better prepare for my elevator speech.
     I probably recorded over 15 takes just because I wanted to have my speech memorized and appear natural.  I also wanted to successfully implement the constructive feedback that I received from Professor Pryor and my fellow colleague.  I am definitely more comfortable in front of the camera and the pitch itself is better.

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

The book: "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck

1) The general theme/argument of the book was that a growth mindset will help you become more successful.  This growth mindset is opposed to the fixed mindset that many of us carry around.  The growth mindset is believing that our skills (and others) can be learned and improved over time. It also states that our mistakes are learning experiences and not failures.  The growth mindset encourages us to take on challenges that will “stretch” our skills and become better learners/people.  This is opposed to the fixed mindset which states that our abilities are fixed and there is nothing we can do to significantly improve.

2) This book excellently connected with ENT3003. Every aspect of the class started to make sense when I read the book. A perfect growth mindset moment was when Professor Pryor said that entrepreneurs can be formed and are not born. Another growth mindset aspect of the class are the assignments themselves.  They don’t put any emphasis on obtaining a high grade, but rather on actually learning. 

3) The exercise I would design for the class would be to set up a failing business scenario where each student is a CEO of a failing company, and have two options: a fixed mindset path or a growth mindset path. The students would choose the paths and see where it leads.  In the end, I would engage in a discussion to show how the growth mindset path was more helpful than the fixed mindset path.

4) The biggest ‘aha!’ moment in the book was just realizing that I have a fixed mindset towards a few things in life. I had a fixed mindset towards school, work, and romance.  With school, I didn’t believe that hard work was justified, and that if I knew it I knew it.  I also thought that a grade could define me and could not be changed.  This was all false.  I just had to put in the work and effort to actually LEARN the material: not just aim for a high grade.  With romance, I was under the impression for a long time that, “if it’s meant to be, then it’s meant to be.” As a result of this, I would think that a good relationship requires little to no effort and little communication.
Overall, the biggest ‘aha!’ moment was just the realization that nothing good comes easy. Everything good needs hard work/effort guided in the right direction.
I would highly recommend this book for professional and personal growth. 

20A - Growing your Social Capital

Industry Expert

1.) Greg Peters - Chief Product Officer at Netflix
2.) Mr. Peters is considered an industry expert for this assignment due to Netflix being in the same industry as my business idea.
3.) I found Mr. Peters through the D&B Hoovers industry search. The site displayed his email address, which is how I contacted him.
4.) I merely asked him if he could give me feedback on my elevator pitch for this class. I have not received any communication from him yet.
5.) Including Mr. Peters in my network would dramatically help exploit my idea since he is on the executive board of Netflix - a potential partner for my business idea. 

Market Expert

1.) Gary Vaynerchuk - Chief Executive Officer at VaynerMedia
2.) Mr. Vaynerchuck is considered a market expert for this assignment due to his incredible market observation skills - especially revolving around the entertainment sector.
3.) I found Mr. Vaynerchuk on Instagram almost a year ago, but I found his contact email on Medium after a google search.
4.) I asked Mr. Vaynerchuk if he could review my elevator pitch and give me feedback on it. I have not heard back from him.
5.) Mr. Vaynerchuk is a marketing genius who already has a large following on social media. Including him in my network would be a very smart move.

Supplier

1.) Mark Labombarda - Director of Program Management at Roku.
2.) Mr. Labombarda is considered a supplier for this assignment because Roku is where I would be receiving the digital boxes to make the bundles.
3.) I found Mr. Labombarda on D&B Hoovers. On the Roku page, I selected show contacts with email available, and his email was the first to appear.
4.) I also asked Mr. Labombarda to provide feedback to my elevator pitch. I also have not heard back from him.
5.) Since Mr. Labombarda has a high position at Roku, I would find it extremely beneficial to include him in my network. I would need to make contact with someone at Roku, and having contact with him would be extremely beneficial.

Reflection: This experience was a little challenging for me because I am not used to asking complete strangers to give me feedback on an elevator speech. The fact that these strangers have high positions in top companies also added to the challenge. Now that I have completed this assignment, I will now take full advantage of networking events and not find it awkward to ask for a favor.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

1.) You. I am a second-year economics major and math minor at the University of Florida from Palm Coast, Florida. I am skilled in finding trends and performing varying analyses. I am currently working on building my human capital so that I can provide value to the public and private sectors.  As it relates to my class business, I don’t see myself committing too much time to this idea. This is primarily because I want to focus on my education at the moment and learn new skills that can best help me and my community.

2.) What are you offering to customers? I am trying to bridge the gap between cable television and direct content streaming. As such, I am offering three bundles which include the hardware and software necessary to start streaming. I am also including technical support.

3.) Who are you offering it to? I am offering this to everyone who wants to switch from cable to streaming services, or who just wants to start streaming. I am, however, targeting primarily middle-class people over the age of 40 in Flagler and Volusia counties. These people would also have to notice a price hike in their cable bills.

4.) Why do they care? These people care because many of them tend to be somewhat elastic to price changes. If the cable companies continue increasing their rates, many of these people will search for a much cheaper alternative such as my solution.

5.) What are your core competencies? I lived in Flagler County for most of my life and I am greatly involved with the community. Furthermore, I am well-versed in modern technology: I even built my first computer when I was in 7th grade. Another competency I have is my ability to understand the different economic factors of running a business such as this.

I strongly believe that these elements fit together. Having the analytic perspective is important regarding business decisions and having technical knowledge is important regarding the product/service. As such, I believe that this combination increases the business's potential for success.

Feedback Memo: The feedback I received was super helpful! I was told that having the analytic knowledge from my economics background would help my business succeed while having the technical knowledge would help me in my target market.