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. 

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.