30A - Final Reflection

1.) The highs of the semester: Learning about entrepreneurship; posting on time; taking risks; getting critical feedback on my ideas; the excellent readings; the amazing and amusing lectures. The lows of the semester: forgetting to turn in an assignment (or 2); procrastinating until the last minute to turn in some assignments.
2.) The most formative experience has definitely been the new insight I received from the lectures. It has completely changed the way I see business, the world, and life in general.  Besides the lectures, a pivotal moment was the second reading where I learned about the different mindsets. The experience I will most remember years later will probably be this feeling right now - looking back and realizing just how important and pivotal every moment has been.  The realization that every little moment is important. That in itself is joyous.
3.) I definitely see myself as an entrepreneur, but even more so: an innovator. I have
4.) I would first off recommend that they get organized as soon as possible. Business, entrepreneurship, college, and life are serious things that should be approached appropriately. Another recommendation would be to do all of the assignments. Also, have an open mind going into the course.

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

1.) Venture Concept Description

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.  There is also a huge opportunity within the sports industry for this type of streaming innovation.

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. 

Also, I would need to develop a separate sports subscription service for around $20 a month that provides access to cable exclusive sports. This would be similar to the NFL Sunday Ticket that DirecTV has.

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.

2.) The feedback I received from the previous Venture Concept assignment was very optimistic, but I did have one good constructive comment: sports. A classmate stated that they were in the target market, but sports access was a major issue.  This was something that I noticed, in general, among a few college-aged people I interviewed.

3.) Based on that feedback, I added in the plan to develop a subscription service on top of the current product and I also highlighted the great opportunity for such a service in the innovation section. 

4.)