Venture Concept No. 1

ENT 3003 Venture Concept Write-Up

Sofia Ortiz


Opportunity
What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?
Era to era, the forces and changes in the environment transform, creating a unique set of living circumstances. Some individuals take advantage of these circumstances and turn them into opportunities; we call them entrepreneurs. In current society, one of our current concerns is caring for our physical world. The human population is realizing the gravity of the consequences of depleting our world’s resources and like any good entrepre

How is this market defined geographically and demographically?
How are customers currently satisfying this need? And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?
How big is this opportunity?
How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?



Innovation



Explain what it is:
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.

What it does, and
I am providing a service that turns underutilized space in homes and industrial workspaces (like rooftops) into green space, beginning by converting an abandoned building in the city of Gainesville into a zero carbon footprint space and an example of how sustainable technologies can be used to make these dreams a reality. Eventually, this would be a service that employs the homeless of Gainesville as volunteers to help maintain the gardens/sustainable systems put in place by the business.

How it works
beginning by converting an abandoned building in the city of Gainesville into a zero carbon footprint space and an example of how sustainable technologies can be used to make these dreams a reality. Eventually, this would be a service that employs the homeless of Gainesville as volunteers to help maintain the gardens/sustainable systems put in place by the business.

You should also describe how you will make money – in other words, what, exactly, are you selling and for how much? For instance, if I was starting a business to teach people how to play the piano, I would be selling an hour of my time for $50.

Venture Concept



What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product? How hard will it be to get them to switch?
My general target market would be the community of Gainesville, as this project aims to add value to the city as well as the people employed and supported by the city of Gainesville.

More specifically, the sustainable cafe would be targeting college students as the main source of income

Next would be the middle-aged market, especially young families of Gainesville who are geared towards working to create a sustainable future for themselves and their families.

Finally, this would be targeting corporations (especially restaurants) that can implement the ideas of creating gardens in compact spaces to add value to their products and services by introducing homemade agriculture as well as providing a space that acts as a natural stress reliever, reducing stress as well as increasing productivity merely by improving the aesthetics of the workplace.




Who are the competitors? What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?
What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?
How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?

Week 11 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 see that the author made a line of direct correlation between the misalignment of the innovation strategy of a company with an "innovation strategy," limiting the overall capacity to innovate.

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

• None of the reading was confusing, just interesting. This was an easy read. 

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

• Why is it that senior leaders should be the responsible party for the innovation strategy? 
• I would like a deeper explanation and differentiation between "routine" innovation and "disruptive" innovation and how each is useful in business practices. 

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

• I might disagree with one of the concluding statements that claims only senior leaders can/should take initiative in developing the best innovation strategy for the company; I feel like ultimately, they should be driving the operation, but often times the best information and feedback comes from the bottom of the heap. 

Amazon Whisperer

• Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 
• Green study space, social venue, sustainable options, healthy & unique foods/drinks, zero carbon footprint
• Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want? 
• The next phase of the project would be to implement a combination of a product and a service focused on making sustainability possible to incorporate at home as well; this would come in the form of A-line vertical gardening structures (they have already been prototyped) that can be purchased 
• Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.? 
• These A-line structures are self-irrigating and have three times the growing capacity of  traditional horizontal gardening. This would be a way for customers to create their own paradise at home, 
• Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.







•  Obviously, my initial entrepreneurship idea (the sustainable cafe) is not available on Amazon, but my next product offering, the vertical gardening structures already exist, yet are not as advanced as the prototype that I have developed. 
• What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it? 
• There is a variety of different products on the market that aim to make vertical gardening possible. According to the reviews of these products, they generally had great reviews but included criticism stating that the planters were not sturdy, they were difficult to put together, or that they did not fit as many plants as they appeared to fit. 
• Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. 
• My product would come in two versions; one would be an A-line structure designed to fit against walls and along long, flat spaces (irrigation system included). The other design would be a column planter with a spiral planting design and irrigation system that coiled from the top of the system to the bottom of the system, designed for corners and small, rectangular spaces. 
• Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering. 
• Currently, my sustainability cafe would be founded on the idea of making the world a greener place by creating a green space, but the key of sustainability is making it a viable possibility for everybody. This is not possible without both being the example and teaching others how to do the same. I like to refer to the quote, "if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime". The same goes for sustainable living. The key is reverse-engineering our lifestyles to consider our own intrinsic well being as well as those around us. 

My Unfair Advantage

My resources:

1. Experience in Sustainability-
• Valuable: my exposure to international sustainability provides great platform/information
• Rare: at my age, few people have done research in other countries/have gotten "out of the box"
• Inimitable: self explanatory; my life experience is unique to me & cannot be replicated
• Non-substitutable: this cannot be substituted, but can be complemented with other people with expertise in this area
2. Contacts/Social Capital with experience in sustainability (TOP RESOURCE)-
• *Valuable: most important piece of the business. as the people in any business hold the most value and undoubtedly determine its ultimate success 
• Rare: I have many contacts with extensive expertise in the area of sustainability who are interested in seeing this project to fruition for their own personal gain as well as mine
• Inimitable: social capital is a compilation of unique experiences that together, create a successful working atmosphere
• Non-Substitutable: the individuals that I have in mind for this project are essential and specific and cannot be replaced by skills or technology
3. Social Interest/Attention-
• Valuable: no business is successful without the interest of customers
• Rare: it can be difficult to attract new customers when all kinds of new businesses are constantly popping up 
• Inimitable: this is not necessarily inimitable because each business builds its own customer basis, although our customers would ideally be non-substitutable
• Non-Substitutable: the cafe would aim to maintain our distinct interest from our customers and investors; these kinds of ideas typically attract very eccentric people and we would encourage this
4. Potential Capital-
• Valuable: start-up companies often struggle in finding financial capital to fund their business ventures; I already have several offers for financial support if I choose to go through with this project
• Rare: at this stage, offers for funding is not common
• Inimitable: this would be imitable if other companies also had the same interest; this is unique to us
• Non-Substitutable: again, this could be substituted by other funds, but finding that interest elsewhere is another task
5. Location-
• Valuable: Gainesville is full of students, is a hotspot for innovation, and has showed general interest in sustainability
• Rare: finding a location where all of these things are possible & opportunities combine with good timing in a great location is difficult
• Inimitable: Gainesville is Gainesville; there's no other way of putting it
• Non-Substitutable: finding a great location in Gainesville might be a bit of a challenge initially, but that would become known for the physical positioning as well as the services the cafe has to offer
6. Interested Market Segment-
• Valuable: New businesses typically have to hunt for customers; having customers who are waiting for your services to be provided is an awesome asset for a beginning business
• Rare: customers convincing other customers based on principle to give their business to a company/start-up=rare
• Inimitable: the excitement produced by the cafe serves as motivation to move on and create more interest as the project matures
• Non-Substitutable: this interest is non-substitutable, but can definitely be compounded upon to find a larger customer basis

Week 10 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? 

• It was interesting to me that this reading went into detail with the financial statements because I am currently taking financial accounting. It was especially interesting to see financial accounting tied into entrepreneurial scenarios because the majority of what I have studied so far was purely theoretical; seeing it applied to things that interest me definitely left me with a different impression.

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

• I had to reread the capital budgeting process a couple of times to get a grasp on the concept.

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

• Please explain the capital budgeting process to me; specifically the differences between the different methods used
• Also, I would be interested in seeing more examples of the break-even analysis with further explanation

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

• I could not disagree with anything the author said; in fact, it helped me understand a couple of questions I had regarding my financial accounting exam that is coming up on Wednesday, so this reading came with perfect timing. 

Growing My Social Capital

It's Who You Know, Not What You Know

Entrepreneurs can reap profound benefits from their social capital. If you know how social capital works, then you can build it!

This is a 'networking' experience -- but unlike other 'networking' opportunities you may have had in the past, I'm going to set very clear parameters on this experience. This will help you focus your efforts on achieving exactly what you need for this experience; moreover, you can set parameters on any future networking experience, to get the most out of it.

Mission: establish contact with three new people, who will be valuable to helping you pursue your business idea...

One person must be a domain expert in your industry. This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce.

1) "The Olive Guy" from the Gainesville Farmer's Market

2) He would be the domain expert in my industry; he is a phd in hydroponic technology and owns his own education program for sustainable agricultural technology- he also sells homemade olives at the farmer's market 

3) I found the Olive Guy at the Gainesville farmer's market where I go every week for my groceries. This time last year when I was working on this project, I established contact with him and requested some feedback on my sustainable development ideas for Gainesville. 

4) This exchange was an informal interview where he talked to me about the costs and benefits of starting a business centered on sustainable development ideas. There was no exchange other than information and good, interesting conversation!

5) He was very realistic about the important factors of entrepreneurship in this field and, as a highly educated, yet down to earth individual with plenty of exposure in sustainable technology, could act as a great mentor for my endeavors. 

One person must be an expert on your market. This would be someone who is targeting your market with similar products services -- or knows a lot about conducting customer research in your area -- or represents a major piece of your market (this might be most applicable with B2B markets).
1) Directors of Cymplify

2) These guys are Market experts (without knowing how useful they are to me) 

3) Cymplify is a new cafe here in Gainesville centered on sustainability as well, but are angled in a slightly different direction than are my business ideas 

4) This was another informal interview conducted at Cymplify; I asked them to talk to me a little bit about their journey to creating the cafe, and specifically how they discovered their market and how their market turned out differently than they might have expected in the creation process. I went about it in a very informal manner as a curious customer, and mentioned that I had my own sustainability ideas but 

5) Including these people in my network is a questionable move as it could go one of two ways; we could either become competition (which I think would be the more likely case) or we could work to complement each other in the sustainability/"green" movement here in Gainesville. Regardless, observing their business and keeping them more familiar is a better option, as they are a fantastic source of information relating to a market that is still growing. 

One person must be an important supplier to your industry. This would be someone who is selling products and services to other organizations/firms in your industry. 1) Gainesville local farmers; my main contact would be the organizers of the Alachua County Farmer's Market because my cafe would be built on the objective that 

2) They would be the supplier/main contact for all of the food products that we would be using/selling

3) I knew about the Alachua County Farmer's Market since I moved to Gainesville because that is where I get the majority of my produce; to contact the board who organizes the farmer's market activities, I had to go online to find the contact information and emailed them with my questions. 

4) The exchange was over email and was only an informative conversation about the possibilities of supplying a restaurant with the produce that moves through the farmer's market. They offered to be a contact to make recommendations as to who I should contact, but recommended that I make direct contact with the farmers themselves to see if we can make business arrangements that way. 

5) Keeping the Gainesville Farmer's Market as a contact is very valuable as they have all of the information on the local agricultural and artisanal markets in the local area. 

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

This experience made me really think harder about who I would contact and being prepared to talk to them about what exactly I needed from them. The worst thing is going to meet someone or going to get information from people and not being prepared to answer the questions: what is my goal, what do I need from you, what would it cost you, how would it benefit you? I would say this is the first tier of my networking process, and the next step would be going one step deeper and going to talk to the contacts that I gained through this activity. 

Elevator Pitch No. 3

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. 

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

Be sure to include the phrase "Elevator Pitch No. 3" in the post title and label it "Week 10." 

Week 9 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 most surprising thing to me was the intricacy of the R & D elements of forming a marketing concept and transforming it into a marketing plan. 

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

• No piece of the reading was confusing to me; the reading was just very long and very detailed. Honestl, my attention span is the most challenging part of following through with these readings.

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

• What were some key historical examples of successful and unsuccessful ventures to create marketing concepts and plans in the business world?
• What research and development methods have been the most successful in start-ups and business relating to sustainability and green technology?

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

• I absolutely am not qualified to challenge the author's opinions on marketing development and strategy, but am interested in learning more in the future. 

My Secret Sauce

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique.What is it about you, exactly, that makes you different? 

Self assessment is usually really difficult for me, but I took the StrengthsFinder2.0 assessment and it really cleared up for me some pieces of my human capital that I didn't previously consider to be strengths. Before taking this quiz, this question would have been nearly impossible for me to answer, but now I revert to this because it seems to be a fairly accurate description of me.

• Strategic:People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
• Connectedness:People strong in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.
• Relator:People who are strong in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
• Communication:People strong in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.
• Command:People strong in the Command theme have presence. They can take control of a situation and make decisions.

I consider myself to be unique because of the life experiences that I have had growing up in a military family, but attribute 100% of that to my awesome family and the adventures we have had together as we have moved through the big blue world. Via the fam, I have acquired cultural exposure, a desire to impress and always be the best version of me, at the very least for my family. 

2) Interview the people who know you the best...

Mamacita: (aka La Reina/Königin)
The O.G. Betty Badass of the family-taught me everything about everything

      

Papito: (the dude with all the answers) 

Dance dad, leader extraordinaire

               

 Sabrina: (my other half) 

Professional "tell-it-to-u-straight-aholic"

  Carlitos Ortiz(aka Snowball)
Also bff by default      

Nahel Abugattas: (adopted bro)
Adopted me as a homie freshman year of collitch & we been boizz ever since

   

Kris: (main dude/"the chop")
Also a professional humbler- tells the truth
even when it's irrelevant..

3) Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you?

I see myself as a confident human being who is pretty easy going unless I am traveling in a fixed direction, and then I become resolute and determined, and momentum turns into progress (most of the time, otherwise, there will just be some really intense procrastination). I love traveling, I love being around the people that I love- that is the most important thing to me, by far, and I think that every moment that isn't spent enjoying life/the people around you/creating positive motion in the world/bettering yourself, is time wasted. 

One thing that surprised me that a few of  the people that I interviewed had to say about me were comments in regards to me being caring, as well as how sincerely they took this interview. I am very awkward when it comes to showing affection and complimenting and accepting compliments, and the people in my life are nearly all comedians who rarely take anything seriously (much less me), so to hear them speak seriously about me was definitely a new one. I don't take myself very seriously, but obviously these people know me well enough to see way past this and have a such a clear idea of who I am.

 Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? 

A difference that I noticed was that I seem to see myself as a much more laid back, easy-going person than apparently I come off as. I am aware I have a strong personality, but I guess I confused having very low blood pressure and being generally content most of the time with being easy going (I admit I like to get my way)! 

Do you think your interviewees are correct about you?

If they weren't, I wouldn't be able to say that these are the people who know me best. I feel like they have a way more accurate view of who I am then I do myself- and I live with me 24/7. 

Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How? 

I would not make any changes to my list. My ideas about who I am and what I stand for remain pretty consistent, but these are people who are "up there" on my favorite humans list, so even though we rarely take each other seriously, I definitely take constructive criticism and their opinions very seriously. If/when need be, I would make changes to become a better me based on what they might have to share with me. 

Idea Napkin No.2

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?

• So obviously, from my blog, you can probably derive that my name is Sofia Ortiz. My bio is available on my blog from one of the first weeks of the entrepreneurship course, but in summary, I am a military brat and have moved to 13 different locations between the United States and Europe, but grew up during my high school years in southern Spain, where I call home. One of the most accurate descriptions I have received in regard to my strengths was my results after taking Strength Finder 2.0's personal assessment, which stated that my five core competencies were: "Communicator," "Strategy," "Command," "Relator," and 

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

• I am providing a service that turns underutilized space in homes and industrial workspaces (like rooftops) into green space, beginning by converting an abandoned building in the city of Gainesville into a zero carbon footprint space and an example of how sustainable technologies can be used to make these dreams a reality. Eventually, this would be a service that employs the homeless of Gainesville as volunteers to help maintain the gardens/sustainable systems put in place by the business.

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? & Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable so far as customers believe it is valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

• My general target market would be the community of Gainesville, as this project aims to add value to the city as well as the people employed and supported by the city of Gainesville. 
• More specifically, the sustainable cafe would be targeting college students as the main source of income
• Next would be the middle-aged market, especially young families of Gainesville who are geared towards working to create a sustainable future for themselves and their families. 
• Finally, this would be targeting corporations (especially restaurants) that can implement the ideas of creating gardens in compact spaces to add value to their products and services by introducing homemade agriculture as well as providing a space that acts as a natural stress reliever, reducing stress as well as increasing productivity merely by improving the aesthetics of the workplace. 

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

• One thing that makes me unique is my drive and my energy once I believe in something. I have a gift that my natural energy is such that when I am excited about something and motivated, it becomes contagious and people begin to follow me in a direction. Also, when it counts, I am a very strategic thinker and work well under pressure to come up with creative and constructive solutions rather than falling apart. 

Reflection & Takeaways:

1. This project needs energy; get people who are excited on your side to start chipping away at your progress
2. Look