Week 8 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

• So far the book has covered such a range of topics in such depth regarding entrepreneurship and innovation, that to see it move even further into intricate detail about financing in entrepreneurship was a bit of a surprise, especially since start-up, innovation, and individual entrepreneurship funding is absolutely its own ballgame. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• I am currently taking financial accounting as an economics major and it is ruining my life, so when I saw references to accounting principles and theory, part of me wanted to cry, and the other tenacious part of me wanted to delve in and figure out exactly what the author was writing and explaining because I find financial accounting unnecessarily confusing. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• See the end of Question 4
• What are the three most important takeaways (if you could narrow it down) to financing and understanding finance in business? Basically 3 point summary of all there is to know, please: go. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I think that statistics and facts can be thrown around all day in regards to the perfect "pick-me" formula when presenting to and dealing with venture capitalists, but that in today's day and age, you have to have a little "extra something" to get picked to be financed by a venture capitalist. Obviously, when competing against the best of the best in your field, you must differentiate to stand out, but what would be most interesting to me would be a breakdown of the most effective differentiation methods when dealing with Venture Capital. 

The Twenty Percent

1) Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers. Who do they think their target customers are? What are their customers' unmet needs?Where do they find their customers? What are their customer's demographics? What kinds of media do their customers consume? Etc.
I spoke to the owners one of my favorite panaderias (José from Pastelería Nunos) in Madrid about how they started and how they became so successful. I chose them over another sustainability cafe that I knew of in the city to interview because they have built a very very loyal customer base, which can be hard to do, especially as a young company in a gigantic city, and in my experience in businesses like this, the most important thing to focus on is the people.  

• According to the owner, José Fernández-Ramos, the keys of success to his business are:
• Location: they have a prime location in the heart of Madrid; "tenemos mucha suerte...." 
• Their target customers are the local workforce in Madrid's city center & their "hotspots" of the day are the transit times, like breakfast and lunch, when the business people of Madrid traditionally take their coffees and pastries
• As opposed to some other more modern businesses, their social media is fairly limited, and they prefer to build their customer base in-person because they are targeting a very specific audience in a very specific location, otherwise if they were planning on expanding, he says he would consider other channels of communication for his customers.

After being asked for advice on how to go about starting a bakery-type business, offered me the advice to keep it simple. He said the most important thing is to recognize one customer need, and to clearly address that need better than your competitors. In his case, this was pastries and coffee. "Not complicated and my customers clearly like it."

2) Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described. As these 'target customers' the questions in the paragraph directly above.

• After talking to three different customers between the breakfast and lunch rushes at the bakery, this is the feedback that I received: 
• Customer 1: Banker, Santander Bank, Madrid
• Loved the bakery because of the convenient location on his way to work; also loved that it was a family environment and that when José is in the bakery, he makes an effort to personally check on his customers. He did not have any critiques for the bakery.
• Customer 2: Undergraduate University Student, St. Louis University Madrid
• Only the second time she had been to the bakery, but came back because she enjoyed the wide selection of pastries and said the coffee was very good. "A good way to start my morning." She said she would continue to come back. Only critique offered was a suggestion to be able to call in orders or have a web page where people could see what pastries or deals were offered on a particular day. 
• Customer 3: Construction Worker
• Likes the wide selection that the bakery had to offer and that certain specialty items were available depending on the time of the year, which kept him looking forward to coming back (like the turron during Christmastime, for example). Did not have any critiques other than that the bakery can get crowded and noisy at times, but that that is a sign of content customers. 

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist. 

• Yes, the entrepreneur has a clear picture of who his customers are and what they want to take from his business. I really liked the advice he gave me in regards to "keeping it simple" when it came to my business ideas and how I sold them to customers, because I know I have a tendency to get wrapped up in details a lot of times. One thing that José might want to pay attention to eventually is his customers' need for contact through social media, even though he prefers to run more of a traditional, "mom 'n pop" style operation. 

*entrepreneur requested that I not record the interview*

Half-Way Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a skill. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

• Time management is huge; perhaps one of only two really important thing about this course- the assignments aren't complicated, but it's a matter of staying on top of the deadlines and not getting sidetracked, which proves to be more complicated than not sometimes. 
• The other important thing about this course is to approach each assignment as a piece of homework and just get it done; for instance, I'm not a good interviewer & I don't like being videotaped because I get nervous and awkward interviewing people, so I have to look at it as a deadline in order to get over the avoidance stage of the assignment and just get it done. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

• During the prototyping process of my sustainability project, there have been many times that the project has appeared to be much more heartache than was worth the effort, but after moving forward and seeing real progress and getting real feedback, it seems much more probable and definitely worth it. 
• I've always been a fairly tenacious human, but this course has been an opportunity to use my persistent qualities to be productive and see results with a project that I otherwise didn't have time for. 

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

• If you're not already a "time-management badass," take this as an opportunity. Get on top of your stuff. Turn them in.
• Don't be embarrassed about these projects; after surviving the majority of them, they're really not that bad, and once they're done, it's cool to look back at them and realized you survived them, and like me, probably gained new experiences from them. 
• If you have a project that you're passionate about, use this class as a tool to move forward with your project. If you have a project that you haven't started yet, start it. 

Free Money

Mission: Give five random people a dollar. Make it look natural... And here's how it went: 

• Where will you go?
• I will take five random dollars and give them out on campus as I walk to class. 
• What kind of people will you approach?
• I will try to approach five random people, hopefully not all in the same place. 
• What will you say to get the conversation started?
• "Hey, I found a couple dollars on the street & I figured I would pay it forward, here's a dollar, have a good day!"
• What is your plan for the conversation?
• My plan for the conversation is to claim that I found a couple dollars on the street & I figured I would pay it forward. Then I'll ask them to also pay it forward 
• Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away.
• I think done the right way, I could manage to give all five bills away, but I'm especially broke this week, so it's going to be painful. This had better be worth it- karma points on fleek. Thanks, entrepreneurship. 

Reflection: So this was definitely a bit of an awkward experience, especially since people aren't used to other people coming up to them and offering them money. I will admit though, I left this exercise feeling pretty good about making these peoples' days. There was one person who outright rejected the dollar, but it led to a pretty interesting conversation and making a new friend while I was walking down Stadium Rd. on my way to a class. All in all I think this was a successful project- definitely interesting and a bit challenging, but worth it! 

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

• I was surprised to read that concepts like nondemographic segmentation were not around until as late as the 1960's. In my mind, marketing and these business/marketing theories have been around for centuries because business in America is kind of a given, so it is interesting to think about the time period these theories were realized.  

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• I had to reread the article a couple of times to understand that the new theory was one that abandoned the idea of segmenting target markets by demographics, and instead categorized consumers based on other criteria. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• What other similar theories exist for predicting consumer behavior?
• Of all of these theories, is there one that has proven to be the most accurate?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I don't disagree with the author regarding anything, but it did seem unlikely that segmentation that completely ignores customer demographics could be as effective as it seems in the article. 

Elevator Pitch No. 2

(Video Uploading)

1) The pitch. Same as last time, 1-minute long. No Web cams. No sitting. Be dynamic! Upload the video to YouTube (as you do with all of your videos) and post the link.

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. Describe what stood out to you as important, what feedback surprised you the most, what feedback you think was outright wrong or silly.

I didn't get a chance to upload my last pitch video, but I have gotten a lot of varied feedback thus far from various other pitches I have done regarding this project, as well as a lot of very constructive feedback on my blog up to this point. Nearly all of the feedback I have gotten has been positive feedback encouraging me to actually follow through with this project. The most helpful comment I received was one suggesting that I look into applying for a grant to start prototyping the sustainable cafe in an abandoned city building here in Gainesville. Other comments mentioned the possible expenses of the project, but honestly, any start-up like this one is going to cost money, but will absolutely thrive if the passion and motivation is there to push it through to completion. After seeing such a positive reaction to this project, the only question I have in my mind is when I will have the time to really delve into it and start making real time progress. 


3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

Throughout this process of brainstorming, prototyping, pitching, and rethinking this particular project, tons of changes have been made to morph the project into the most streamlined objective possible, and that is: to create a sustainable green space in Gainesville using rooftop gardening and space-saving technologies. After receiving the most recent feedback on my idea napkin, and other project posts, some other things have come to light that I did not consider before, especially the issue of employing homeless people and the legal issues that might be presented through minimum wage issues, etc. 

Interviewing Customers No. 3

I let my interviewees read my concept card so that every "interview" was consistent and I asked to record each of them giving me feedback so I could capture their immediate reactions to the ideas on my card. Attached below is a picture of the concept card that I used for the interviews:

Reflection: So far, I have received absolutely nothing but positive feedback. The most surprising piece of this project and its progress so far is the overwhelming support that I have been receiving in regards to moving forward into the next phase of completion. I did get a very constructive comment on my last post warning me about the dangers of "volunteer" work by employing the homeless in regards to legal issues with minimum wage, so that was an enlightening piece of information for me. The only thing that I am missing at this point is spare time, as I am taking 17 credits, am on two dance teams, and am suffering a painful death by Financial Accounting, but all of the signs the world has been sending me recently have been suggesting that I take a step back after I finish my current commitments, and pursue my ideas because they seem to have growing potential... So we shall see what happens... 

Reading Reflection Week 6

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

• The biggest surprise for me in the reading was that the most successful companies are the most profitable companies, but that does not necessarily mean that they are the biggest companies. It was interesting to see the examples they used. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• There was nothing in the reading that was confusing to me, although the reading was very interesting. I will admit it would take me a while to really comprehend the different industries and their respective profitabilities.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• I would be interested in seeing more applied examples in the reading
• At which point does competition between industries become destructive rather than constructive? Could you give some more examples of such situations?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• Nearly all of the information in this chapter was new information for me, so I would have to know more about the subject to be able to disagree with the author. 

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

• According to Strengthsfinder, my strengths are: Strategic, Connectedness, Relator, Communicator, and Command. I am good at making personal connections with people and guiding projects and energy in a direction. After establishing my business, I see myself playing more of a managerial role. I would definitely need a strong team to guide in the right direction and I would need people who were willing and able to help me focus and work towards important milestones to make sure the business remains profitable and on task. 

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).

• My idea is to introduce vertical gardening techniques to create green and social spaces that bring some life to underutilized spaces in Gainesville. I would like to start by converting an abandoned/neglected building and converting it into a green, sustainable cafe that grows its own produce and has social spaces for people to volunteer, socialize, and study. The next step would be an employment campaign for the homeless in Gainesville and create some kind of work exchange for taking care of the gardens and maintenance around the cafe. Studies have shown that green spaces improve morale, fight depression, and are natural stress relievers. I think it is really important to incorporate this into our daily lives to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle. 

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

• I would be targeting: Residents of Gainesville, especially students/professors/people involved in University life here in Gainesville
• Also, another focus would be to target the homeless/poor of Gainesville by providing work opportunities (starting with garden maintenance) 

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

• Across the board, the feedback that I have received about the idea of starting a sustainable cafe has been positive. This project would add value to the community, and further, the individuals of Gainesville. I see this cafe as the beginning example of how easy it is to incorporate sustainability into our lives. There is one other cafe that is similar here in Gainesville, but I see that as an opportunity rather than competition, especially since the intrinsic goal of this project is to encourage everyone to live a healthier lifestyle (mentally, physically, habitually). I would just like to take this project a step further and continue forward by helping others convert their underutilized spaces/rooftops/etc. into spaces that can be used and that add value to their properties and to their lives. My cafe would become the example and consulting agency that makes sustainability convenient and available for the community of Gainesville, while providing another area to study, socialize, and be yourself.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

• The most valuable thing that I have going for me in regards to this project is experience. I grew up watching my family use sustainable gardening techniques to grow the food that we live on, and from that grew my passion for sustainability and green things! I have international exposure as I prototyped vertical gardening structures that proved viable, pitched my business ideas both here at the University of Florida and abroad to ThinkYoung and Google in Madrid, and won second place for the business pitch and content. It is evident I have genuine interest and support with the project, the only thing I am lacking is spare time and the right team. 

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?
The biggest surprise for me in the reading this week was the predictability of failure. Failure typically seems like a very abstract term that people are afraid of, but using the theories presented in this chapter to gain insight into the future success of a business could be very useful. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I really would like to know where these theories came from and know how the authors came to the conclusions they did about predicting failure and success. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
How do you go about predicting failure and success while incorporating outside factors? 
What is the best analysis approach to use/is there a specific approach to use that pertains to each style of start-up/entrepreneurial venture?


4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
I wouldn't say I disagreed with anything the author had to say, but I would add that there are anomalies in every situation. Also, the feedback I received from every entrepreneur I have ever spoken to was that the people involved in whatever venture was in question were, hands down, the most important predictor of success of the project. I would emphasize that finding a good, motivated team is one of the most valuable steps an entrepreneur should take if he/she wants their venture to succeed.