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.
Friday, November 8, 2019
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.
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.
Friday, November 1, 2019
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.
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.
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.
Friday, October 25, 2019
18A Create a Customer Avatar
The Customer Avatar:
The prototypical customer for my product is a middle-aged, middle-class father who lives in a one-story home - where he is still paying off the mortgage - and who drives a 2009 Toyota Prius and can’t stop bragging about the incredible gas mileage to justify his purchase. He is married with two children and is most likely from the North East (or maybe Idaho). He is most likely 40 years old but says that he doesn’t feel a day over 30.
He watches the evening news, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Shark Tank, and football.
His favorite team is the Buffalo Bills, and he wears a Josh Allen Jersey every Sunday.
He leans more to the conservative side but doesn’t vote based on party affiliation.
Here is a picture of the prototypical customer (just imagine a few wrinkles on his forehead).
What do I have in common with the avatar?
I don’t have much in common with the avatar except for 3 things:
I am not too concerned with being fancy. I would also rather drive a Prius if it gave me good gas mileage, and I would definitely look to save money on my cable bills.
I am also from the North East where I lived in upstate New York for a few years before moving down to Florida.
I also wear glasses.
I don’t think these are coincidences (except the glasses part). I grew up with many people that were just like this in my home town in Palm Coast, so I am not too surprised.
The prototypical customer for my product is a middle-aged, middle-class father who lives in a one-story home - where he is still paying off the mortgage - and who drives a 2009 Toyota Prius and can’t stop bragging about the incredible gas mileage to justify his purchase. He is married with two children and is most likely from the North East (or maybe Idaho). He is most likely 40 years old but says that he doesn’t feel a day over 30.
He watches the evening news, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Shark Tank, and football.
His favorite team is the Buffalo Bills, and he wears a Josh Allen Jersey every Sunday.
He leans more to the conservative side but doesn’t vote based on party affiliation.
Here is a picture of the prototypical customer (just imagine a few wrinkles on his forehead).
What do I have in common with the avatar?
I don’t have much in common with the avatar except for 3 things:
I am not too concerned with being fancy. I would also rather drive a Prius if it gave me good gas mileage, and I would definitely look to save money on my cable bills.
I am also from the North East where I lived in upstate New York for a few years before moving down to Florida.
I also wear glasses.
I don’t think these are coincidences (except the glasses part). I grew up with many people that were just like this in my home town in Palm Coast, so I am not too surprised.
15A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2
The set of alternatives that my potential customers picked from:
Price
Ease-of-use
Overall Value
Here is the summary of the interviews:
All interviewees highlighted price and overall value as the most important aspect. The interviewees all had a cable/satellite subscription and they paid a lot of money for the service.
One of the interviewees was an older man, and he also expressed that the new system should be easy to use or at least comparable to his satellite television.
Regarding the places they buy, 2 of the 3 interviewees strictly preferred online to in-store. The interviewees all said that they would pay for the product with card but not finance the purchase - this is also because I told them that the packages will most likely range from $50 to $100 (after reevaluating, I now believe that $50 to $150 is more reasonable).
Across the board, the interviewees expressed that the main factor that will determine if this purchase was worth it is if the monthly bills come back lower - and noticeably lower: enough to justify the initial price of $50 - $100. Also, they stated that they would be disappointed if they did not have access to the shows that they had before.
Conclusion:
From these interviews, I can conclude that price and value are of the utmost importance to potential customers. With this in mind, I now know that the most effective way to market my product is not by how luxurious it is, but rather by the amount of money it will save customers in the long-run. I also realized that I should find a way to keep costs even lower because the target market is made up of middle-class cable/satellite households in Volusia/Flagler County.
Price
Ease-of-use
Overall Value
Here is the summary of the interviews:
All interviewees highlighted price and overall value as the most important aspect. The interviewees all had a cable/satellite subscription and they paid a lot of money for the service.
One of the interviewees was an older man, and he also expressed that the new system should be easy to use or at least comparable to his satellite television.
Regarding the places they buy, 2 of the 3 interviewees strictly preferred online to in-store. The interviewees all said that they would pay for the product with card but not finance the purchase - this is also because I told them that the packages will most likely range from $50 to $100 (after reevaluating, I now believe that $50 to $150 is more reasonable).
Across the board, the interviewees expressed that the main factor that will determine if this purchase was worth it is if the monthly bills come back lower - and noticeably lower: enough to justify the initial price of $50 - $100. Also, they stated that they would be disappointed if they did not have access to the shows that they had before.
Conclusion:
From these interviews, I can conclude that price and value are of the utmost importance to potential customers. With this in mind, I now know that the most effective way to market my product is not by how luxurious it is, but rather by the amount of money it will save customers in the long-run. I also realized that I should find a way to keep costs even lower because the target market is made up of middle-class cable/satellite households in Volusia/Flagler County.
17A Elevator Speech No. 2
Here is the link to my elevator speech: https://youtu.be/_X6tsoo_Kck
2.) I never received any feedback from last time because I did not do the first assignment. This is technically my first elevator speech in that respect. I did notice that it was very difficult to find the right angle to record the video. I ended up just putting my laptop on top of my refrigerator as that was the only place that could best capture me.
3.) As mentioned before, I didn't really change anything because this is my first time submitting the assignment.
Please criticize my elevator speech. Be honest: don't worry about hurting my feelings.
Thank you!
2.) I never received any feedback from last time because I did not do the first assignment. This is technically my first elevator speech in that respect. I did notice that it was very difficult to find the right angle to record the video. I ended up just putting my laptop on top of my refrigerator as that was the only place that could best capture me.
3.) As mentioned before, I didn't really change anything because this is my first time submitting the assignment.
Please criticize my elevator speech. Be honest: don't worry about hurting my feelings.
Thank you!
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