Week 15 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 thought that the discussion about making money at the bottom tier of the economic pyramid while raising the living standards of the people who occupy it was very interesting; it is not something that many people consider as a possibility, or even go far enough as to analyze its process. 

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

• Understanding Akula's three principles that made his firm successful was confusing to me, so I had to read over it a couple of times to understand their founding ideas. 

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

• How do you continue to profit with a business venture if your customers and your business goals aren't oriented in the same direction?
• Is there a line where if customers' interests no longer take precedent if it undermines the firm’s short-term interests?

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

• I cannot say I disagree with any of the author's statements.

Experience Portfolio

Sofia Ortiz

311 SW 13th Avenue

Apartment 510

Gainesville, Florida 32601

sofia.ortiz@ufl.edu

EDUCATION

01/15-Present University of Florida, Innovation Academy (Gainesville, FL)

Economics Degree with minors in Innovation and Sustainability; GPA: 3.41

09/14-10/14 National University of Ireland, Maynooth (Maynooth, Ireland)

Coursework: Creative Writing, Exploratory Entrepreneurship and

Innovation, and Irish Culture and Heritage; GPA: 4.0

Studies focused on start-up companies, incubators, entrepreneurs, and corporations like Google, IBM, Ryanair, and Facebook, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland

WORK EXPERIENCE

Present Founder, Sustainability Cafe Gainesville

Founder (Gainesville, FL)

Founded. prototyped, and developed startup cafe in Gainesville centered on green technology and sustainable growing techniques

10/15-Present Intern at Start Ups Made in Spain (SUMiS)

Start Ups Made in Spain (Madrid, Spain)

Translator/Intern at SUMiS, a British start-up company focused on researching and supporting the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain

Created research surveys, organized and focused business activities/materials within the company, and attended business-related meetings/activities as a SUMiS representative and translator

06/15 Sustainable Development Volunteer

Finca Toledo de Cafe Organico (Atenas, Costa Rica)

Volunteered at organic coffee plantation while conducting observational research regarding green technologies and organic farming techniques to incorporate in my own entrepreneurial endeavors

07/14-Present Cheerleading Coach & Athletic Trainer at Department of Defense and International High Schools

08/15-Present Cheerleading Coach/Athletic Trainer, American School of Madrid (Madrid, Spain)

07/14-02/15 Cheerleading Coach/Athletic Trainer, AFNORTH International School (Brunssum, Netherlands)

Assistant Cheerleading Coach, Patch High School (Stuttgart, Germany)

Assistant Cheerleading Coach, Rota High School (Rota, Spain)

Choreographed high-level competition routines for AFNORTH International school consisting of 14 athletes, and American School of Madrid, consisting of 60+ athletes; co-choregraphed Rota High School competition routine for team of 14 athletes

Coached athletes on how to safely execute high-level stunts, jumps, tumbling, and choreography



Taught leadership skills and training workshops to forge a team-building atmosphere with international students from over six different countries

Final Reflection

1) Read through your blog from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

• High points: for me, the highlights of this class included how involved I had to become in my own ideas in order to accomplish each assignment; I never realized how much potential my ideas had, and 
• Low points: I get so nervous talking to random people, especially if it involves random topics... needless to say, about 1/3 of all of the assignments in this class entailed exactly that. I definitely wasn't a fan, but I will say it pushed me out of my comfort zone in ways that gave me newfound confidence in myself to go talk to people I typically wouldn't approach. Another thing I didn't love was recording myself, but again, after executing these kinds of assignments over and over again, I found a confidence in something that I previously considered a weakness.

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

• The thing that I will remember the most from this course is definitely the positive feedback that I have received along the way from all of the people who have read my blog, have been a part of this experience, or have been behind the scenes pushing me to make my dreams come true. Honestly, the most valuable takeaway from this experience was nothing tangible, but was the confidence that I gained in myself and my own ability to create positive influence in my environment. 

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And we repeated the mantra -- I am an entrepreneur. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

• I definitely think that this class has pushed me in an entrepreneurial direction more than any other class. Rather than pushing me to make big leaps to become an entrepreneur, this classes assignments provided slow nudges, and by taking numerous small steps in a direction, I have seen the slow culmination of my project. After seeing the progress that this class has pushed me to make, I feel it would almost be wrong to neglect the opportunity to make my ideas a reality. 

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

• My biggest piece of advice that I could offer to anyone taking this class is to stay on top of the assignments. As I have seen this semester, because there are so many little assignments, it is very easy to let them slide by without noticing, and they do carry weight! Suggestion: set alarms for your assignments! I figured this out halfway through, and really wish I had done so earlier. 

Elevator Pitch No. 3

Sustainability Cafe Gainesville 2.0

Here's the last pitch, guys- enjoy!! :) 

Venture Concept No. 2

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 entrepreneur, they are making innovative moves to solve these problems.

How is this market defined geographically and demographically?
Geographically speaking, the market is located in Gainesville. Demographically, the market includes the student populous of Gainesville, faculty, and citizens of Gainesville (to include the homeless population).

How are customers currently satisfying this need? And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?
Customers need their coffee. My coffee shop is just delivering their coffee in a sustainable way that helps the environment and populous of Gainesville thrive.

How big is this opportunity? How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?
This is a huge opportunity, but I think it is essential to act quickly, as Gainesville is seeing a sort of mini "hipster revolution," and with that ideas like sustainability, green technology, and taking care of our environment are being brought with it. I see the opportunity for this kind of innovation being open for only a brief amount of time 1)because I only see myself being in Gainesville for my Undergraduate Degree, and 2) because this kind of innovation requires fast action and cessation of opportunity before other companies catch on to how easy and effective green innovation really is.


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.

A second tier operation that would save money and maximize profit that will eventually be added is abandoning the use of non-biodegradable reusable utensils and converting solely to edible cutlery (a recent innovation). This will save an estimated $500 per year in the first year, only to be increased as we continue to see growth in popularity of our cafe. This will also cut garbage disposal costs by 1/3, allowing us to push funds in different directions, supporting other business activities.

What it does
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, the sustainability cafe will become 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.

Funded by UF in cooperation with the city of Gainesville as a research project, I would be initiating action on this project with a research grant- hopefully as a piece of my senior project, and a way to leave a good impression on the city with the university that gave me so much opportunity.

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.

The beauty of this cafe is that it does not demand for any customers to switch to a new product; it is just making a regularly demanded product (coffee and cafe food) more sustainable and is offered in a more attractive, novel way. Also, the cafe offers ethical appeal that other cafes do not.

Who are the competitors? What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?
Other competitors include Cymplify coffee shop, Pascal's, Curia on the Drag, and Maude's to name a few. All of these coffee shops are very "hipster," and I predict that my cafe would likely fall into the same category, but we differentiate in that we offer ethical appeal, and an atmosphere that will be unmatched. We also feature other specialities (like our edible cutlery) that others do not.

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?
I suppose our "packaging" would be considered our outward appearance to our audience, which I have covered above. Naturally, people are drawn to nature and green spaces, and being able to reintroduce this concept into our daily lives is essential anyway. Customers will enjoy this, and this appeal with create an atmosphere, or "packaging" that no other coffee shop in Gainesville will be able to match.

Based on feedback given on my last venture concept, some changes that I made were:

• Incorporation of one more sustainable feature: edible cutlery
• Editing my venture concept for grammatical mistakes and including all ideas that I hadn't mentioned in earlier pitches
• Consider legal processes of hiring homeless people
• Did further research on the process of grant-writing and had the preliminary meetings with writers who have agreed to partner with me on the project of writing the grant

Going for Google Gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimization (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

• Honestly, this is one of my weakest points. I have never been very good at self-advertising or the use of technology as a business advantage and "getting my name out there" per-say, so if and when I really do move forward in this venture I intend to find a team that can help me compensate for this weakness. 

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

• My keywords included "green technology" "sustainability cafe in Gainesville". Throughout the semester, I definitely repeated these two phrases much more than I did others that I used originally. I think that these two phrases easily encompassed the roots of the company and sparked interest when I began speaking to people about the project. 

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

• I mostly just shared my blog privately amongst other friends and family who have shown interest in my entrepreneurial process from the conception of the idea throughout its growth all the way to this course today. All sharing that I did was generally personal connection between me and others who are interested in these business ideas. 

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

• The post that I got the most traffic on was my "Bug List" post. My theory on this is that this was one of the more comical posts that I have written and the idea of knowing peoples' pet peeves is just generally an interesting topic. If I were to guess, I would say that the majority of the traffic came from other people in this course because they knew what the assignment was and were expecting entertaining blog posts. 

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

• Unfortunately I did not make it to the front page of Google for my keywords because I feel I began to refine them too late in the game. Moving forward, I think the chosen keyword if I do choose to make this an entrepreneurship goal would be the name of the cafe itself (which I have yet to come up with). I do have a logo, though, which I think will be very important in brand recognition eventually. I am not sure which page I made it onto because the terms are really pretty vague. 

Week 14 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 really enjoyed reading about forming an entrepreneurial mindset; this is something that I think is really important in all aspects of life, especially in today's business society. 

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

• Reading about how it is unproductive to punish failure was a bit confusing at first because it is so contrary to what you would expect to see as an incentive to fail less, or succeed more, but it makes sense that 

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

• How do you orient people with different opinions, or people at a standstill in one direction to foster productivity?
• On an innovative team, is it a good idea to continuously change the individuals that are holding that position to avoid monopolization of the "innovation power" of a company?

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

• I agreed with just about everything that I read in these chapters. 

Week 13 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?

• One thing that I found surprising about the reading was how technical valuation of a business is as a process. Obviously, I had considered it before as a more abstract idea, but to see it broken down like it was in this reading was interesting. 

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

• I found the idea of integrating vertically, backward, or forward in order to improve supply and distribution levels somewhat confusing at first. Thinking about it in terms of product motion helped me understand this concept more. 

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

• How long is a "reasonable period of time" for a firm to pay for itself?
• How do you account for the human factors and errors of biased valuation of a business, product, or service? Is there a technical way of doing so?

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 find any point where I strongly disagreed with anything said by the author. 

Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

• (If you don't feel like reading my entire rant, skip to the last bullet point)
• I think that people who go into college and remain with their major either know themselves way too well for their age, or not well enough. I am definitely not one of those students, but this is no indication that I lie somewhere in between with some kind of balanced equilibrium. I was accepted into UF as an engineering major because I had trained myself to smile every time I heard the word, "engineering" because going into college, it felt like the right thing to do. I quickly realized I hated that, so changed, instead to sustainability in the built environment; loved that, but felt like I wasn't living up to my full potential. Then changed to economics, which brings me to ACG2021, Financial Accounting at the University of Florida- the bane of my existence. I hate finance, I dislike math just about as much as it dislikes me, and this particular class is notorious for its"life-destructive" qualities. 
• I was surviving the class, but surviving for a perfectionist is analogous to desperate failure. I went to talk to my counselor about my options because dropping the class didn't sound like a valid option for me, as it would be basically admitting defeat. In the middle of the meeting, my counselor asked me, "Do you even like what you're studying?" I realized then that I never considered that question. 
• Long story short: one meeting with my counselor made me drop my Financial Accounting Class (which I previously considered would be a huge personal failure), turn my life around, switch my major for the third (and final) time, and really do some soul searching about where I wanted UF to take me.

2) Tell us what you learned from it. 

• Through this experience I realized that I was not being honest with myself about who I was, what I wanted to study, and where I wanted to take my life. I have always been drawn to Anthropology but never considered it because it wasn't a technical degree. And the best part, I realized it is okay to live life and make my decisions for me. 

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were four months ago?

• Typically people consider failure to be a terrible thing. After a lot of exposure to the entrepreneurial world, my perspective on failure has changed drastically. In the entrepreneurial world, an array of perspectives exist, but all of them tend towards the acceptance-or even encouragement-of failure. Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, perfectionists like myself take failure to heart. Even though learning about entrepreneurs and the necessity of failure, my brain contradicts my heart in these kinds of situations. I know it is okay to struggle through things and not be great at the first swing, but my heart says otherwise. 
• Recently, especially over the last four months, I have been working hard at shifting my actions to convince my heart that failure is okay and necessary at times. I think I have made progress at becoming more accepting of all possibilities, and throughout my life, I have lived with the motto: everything happens for a reason. Now, when I fail, I become reflective and search for a lesson that I might take from every experience whereas before, I would have had difficulty working past it and being okay with "me". 

Week 12 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 that there was such a differentiation between entrepreneurial and managerial ways of thinking and acting in a business venture. I had never really separated the two in my mind, but seeing it as it was talked about in the chapter gave me some new insight.

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

• None of the reading was confusing to me, just very interesting as I can absolutely see the information in this chapter being a valuable resource in my next venture. 

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

• Can you give examples of times where having a managerial mindset might have an advantage over an entrepreneurial mindset?
• Is there a way to determine what stage of development requires which type of leadership, or is entrepreneurial leadership usually the answer for start-up companies?

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

• I might argue that some of the entrepreneurial qualities have strong managerial qualities and there is much more overlap than what the chapter insinuates, but overall I agree with everything stated in the chapter. 

What's Next

Again, you'll need to hit the pavement and talk to potential customers. This time, you'll be armed with your "venture concept" description. Break your post into two pieces:
Existing Market
New Market

Existing Market.
Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next. You may rely on your analyses from "The Amazon Whisperer" exercise (when you discussed what product you thought might come next.)

The first phase of the project is creating a green environment in Gainesville in the form of a sustainable cafe. The next phase of the project would be to combine a product and a service to make 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. 


Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. Video or audio record these interviews.

[INTERVIEW1:]

[INTERVIEW2:]

[INTERVIEW3:]

Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.

New Market.
Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

One of the biggest missions of this project is to leave the world a better place than how I found it (#lessonsfromaGermanmother... thanks, mama). One thing about leaving the world better than you found it is that when you get down to it, it's a lot more complicated than it seems. In this case, the "radically different" sector of my project's market actually aims to include individuals who are not typically considered to be a part of any market; the homeless of Gainesville.

Eventually, once the coffee shop is up and running, I would like to start a work/exchange program to employ the homeless of Gainesville. I don't see how in our forward-thinking university town there are not yet programs in place to encompass the entire community without excluding potential productive energy. I understand there will be challenges that come along with a venture like this, especially legal challenges, but when changing the world for the better, there are some things that are worth the challenge. 

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

Creative value would be contributed in the form of employment opportunities for individuals that may not be able to sustain themselves otherwise. Like I mentioned earlier, I know that there will be challenges that present themselves with employing homeless or unemployed people, and those challenges usually deter businesses from participating in activities like these, but this is also where I want to differentiate from other companies. I think that it is important to capitalize on opportunity, but creating opportunity for others is a form of capitalization that can hold much higher value in the long run.  


Step 3: Interview three people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. 

Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet the needs of the community. 

What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? Video or audio record these interviews.

[INTERVIEW4:]

[INTERVIEW5:]

[INTERVIEW6:]

Step 4: Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to interview some of the individuals I wanted to talk to for this exercise, although I did receive some good insight regarding moving forward with my current business ideas. The feedback I did receive was generally in line with my assumptions in that there were words of caution shared relating to the employment of homeless individuals, but that overall, it was a great idea with good intentions if executed the right way. 

The most surprising thing about the feedback I received was the different perspectives shared by the college students that reflected their own intended uses of the sustainability cafe.