Final Reflection

What stuck out to me as the most formative experience was writing about my failures. The creation of a small business was a great theory exercise but it wasn't as great as the internal reflection on failure. That definitely helped me grow. My most joyous experience was reading about Elon Musk and all of the wondrous things he has created with his knowledge and willpower. I believe that I can see myself as more of an entrepreneur. My friends often point out that I tend to take charge when a situation starts going astray without anyone asking because I know I can do it and do it right. I definitely believe this class has moved me closer to the entrepreneurial mindset. What I would recommend to students that take this class in the future would be to really take their time with the assignments and really try to become passionate about their products. If they are not passionate about the product then they will fail to see the point of the course, and that is to know what it is like to be an entrepreneur.

Venture Concept No. 2

Chirp

The opportunity for my product is that bikers don't have an efficient, and successful way of alerting people in front of them to move out of the way. This is especially true for pedestrians or people driving in cars. The car drivers and pedestrians usually don't look out for bikers and this can be a major hazard to those bikers. The most difficult ones to alert when you are a biker are pedestrians that have their headphones while listening to music or those that are very distracted on their phones or in conversation. Cars also fall into that list as it is difficult to hear anything going on outside of a car. A biker just cannot yell loud enough for some of the examples listed above to move out of the way or not cross the street. Many bikers also don't want to yell at the pedestrians to either not draw attention to themselves or because they feel they might be rude. There is just no discreet way of alerting these pedestrians and cars to move out of the way or at least be on the lookout for you.

The forces in the environment that created this opportunity are the ignorance of pedestrians and the more predominant use of bicycles. The market for a product like this would be areas that have a big biking population. For example, a city like Seattle is well known for having many bikers. Other areas with high biking populations are college campuses as many students cannot afford cars and opt for using a bike to get around. The demographics I am targeting are college students and young professionals that use bikes often. These potential customers are currently satisfying this need by just yelling to other all the time to get out of the way. They are not extremely loyal as all they are doing is yelling. There was never a transaction. This opportunity affects basically every single biker owner therefore, this is a major opportunity. This window of opportunity will last as long as people use a bike and there is no better way of alerting people by screaming while on a bike.

The innovation is a small device that will change biking and alerts in general forever. It is a high-frequency noise, much like a dog whistle. This noise would not be at the same frequency as a dog whistle or else no one would be able to hear it. It would be high frequency but not necessarily loud. The noise would be highly directional and only be audible if you are within a 45-degree cone in front of the device. It would be rectangular. The size would be about four inches long by 2 inches wide by half an inch thick. It would encase a small yet powerful speaker as well as a battery that is powered with micro-USB. The device on its own could be sold for about 20 dollars. For the unit as a whole with a charging cable and a quick start guide.

The product would be called Chirp and would send a quick burst of noise that can be determined by the three settings on the device. It can do a series of "Chirps", it can send a single Chirp, or it can just keep "Chirping" until you press a button to stop. People will pick up my product because it is of great benefit to their safety. It should not be difficult to get them to switch. My competitors would be bicycle bells and rings. Their weakness is that they are very annoying and loud. My goal is to integrate my device into bike lights and bicycle helmets. That way it is sure revenue and I would not need to worry about retail distribution. All I need to do is distribute it to the bike light and helmet makers.

My most important resource is the fact that my device is discreet and it is an actual need. Needs outweigh the importance of a want almost everytime. The next new product would be implementing this on a larger scale for cars. In the next five years, I see the company being a staple for bikes. I want that when people buy a bike they also buy my Chirp along with lights and a helmet. In the next decade, I hope to have sold my idea to a company and be using the money from that to fund the next great idea that I come up with down the line.

2)The feedback that I received from the industry professionals I showed it to said that my idea was fine. However, it might be better to think of my business as a business to business venture and sell it to other bike safety manufacturers. The feedback from my classmates was that my move to expand into the automobile market was a good idea

3) Because the feedback was all positive there was not too much for me to change. What I did change from the previous venture concept was to make it more cohesive and added the product name. I felt that repeating the name throughout the venture concept was crucial to make the name stick. 

28 Your Exit Strategy

My exit strategy is definitely to sell my product to another company down the line. One of my industry experts was the CEO of an LED bike light company. He said that he would love to integrate my chirp technology into the housing for the lights. So already I have a buyer. My strategy would be to first build out the actual product and essentially have a proof concept and test it in the market to show that there is demand for a couple years and then sell the business to the LED bike light company. If I were to just sell the idea to another company it would not be worth nearly as much as a fully fleshed out product with a defined and actively aware market.
My exit strategy has definitely changed how I view the product. At first, I viewed it as its own stand-alone device that I sold to consumers but now that I see the potential for integration with other bike equipment I can shift my focus to being a B to B business. This drastic change of markets is drastic but necessary as selling in bulk to businesses allows me to have a steady and assured income.

27 Reading Reflection 3

I read The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general argument of the book that in order for a business to succeed in this era of rapidly advancing technology and interconnected culture a business must sell many products to a broad market. This is a stark contrast to the conventional approach of having a business start out as a niche product and then branching out towards other products and markets. An example of this is Apple. At first, they were only a computer company, then they added the iPhone and then the IPad and then started selling variations of each one along with the computers that they had always been making. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

To me, the book actually conflicted with much of what we have learned in class. Professor Pryor basically preaches that we must focus our efforts on one product and a very specific market. In that way, the book actually challenged what I was learning in class. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

The exercise would involve having the person completely flip their focused business strategy to a broad market strategy and then come up with products to fulfill those markets. 

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

My biggest surprise was that the book did challenge what we were learning in class. Of course, the book did focus mostly on much larger businesses, not small self-owned startup like what we are creating in class. I still stand strong however on my dig a mile deep not a mile wide approach to building a business. That means to focus on a niche market and product and build your identity around that and then start branching out instead of spreading yourself thin at the beginning. If there is no depth then business is sure to fail.

26 Celebrating Failure

Fortunately, I have not had any major failures this semester. The only failure I can really think of was that I had forgotten to do one of the first cupcakes. I had woken up late and went about my Monday morning routine more hurriedly than normal. I got out of bed, ate breakfast, and was out the door and on my bike heading to campus. It did not occur to me until after my noon class was over that I had forgotten to do the cupcake. I usually do it on Mondays soon after waking up. I remembered about the cupcake once I was walking to Heavner to watch Professor Pryor's lecture.

From this experience, I learned that I had to set an actual schedule for the cupcakes and get them done over the weekend. I realized that leaving it up to my groggy Monday morning brain was perhaps not the greatest idea I have had. 

Failures like those are hard because I know they could have been avoided. Luckily by learning from that failure, I am sure to not make the same mistake again. I have always been more on the cautious side so I'm not sure I am more likely to take risks than before. I still like to heavily outweigh the pros and cons of a situation before going along with it. 

25 - What's Next

Existing Market

The next step in my venture is creating more safety products for bikers.

The people I talked to were a group of students and they suggested that I make an app that integrated with Chirp device and let them turn it on from there and change the different predetermined setting so they could choose how many chirps to use. Some just wanted a steady stream feature so they could use it like a normal dog whistle for their dogs. The other person I interviewed wanted an app that uses the phone's own speakers to make the noise. I believe that my next steps based on this feedback are definitely to have some kind of smartphone integration. I really resonated with the idea that my first interview produced.

New Market

The other market that I can target is bike safety equipment manufacturers that are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. 

I can create value for them by adding another function to their product with the integration of my device. 

I talked to the people that I added to my social capital in the growing your social capital post. What surprised me the most was how on board they seemed to be. Tom Carroll, the CEO of NiteRider was telling me that they are constantly trying to find new features to their lights and how they can only upgrade the LED diode so many times. They believe that adding my device would add a great functionality that is line with the intention of the product; to provide a safe and pleasant ride for the customer. They would want to implement it to their current products as the "elite safety model" for retail customers. This market is much more attractive than selling to the consumers because these are assured sales to businesses that will be buying in bulk. There is less risk on my part and I also don't have to worry about dealing with packaging and distribution to consumers. 

Venture Concept

Chirp

The opportunity for my product is that bikers don't have an efficient, and successful way of alerting people in front of them to move out of the way. This is especially true for pedestrians or people driving in cars. The car drivers and pedestrians usually don't look out for bikers and this can be a major hazard to those bikers. The most difficult ones to alert when you are a biker are pedestrians that have their headphones while listening to music or those that are very distracted on their phones or in conversation. Cars also fall into that list as it is difficult to hear anything going on outside of a car. A biker just cannot yell loud enough for some of the examples listed above to move out of the way or not cross the street. Many bikers also don't want to yell at the pedestrians to either not draw attention to themselves or because they feel they might be rude. There is just no discreet way of alerting these pedestrians and cars to move out of the way or at least be on the lookout for you.

The forces in the environment that created this opportunity are the ignorance of pedestrians and the more predominant use of bicycles. The market for a product like this would be areas that have a big biking population. For example, a city like Seattle is well known for having many bikers. Other areas with high biking populations are college campuses as many students cannot afford cars and opt for using a bike to get around. The demographics I am targeting are college students and young professionals that use bikes often. These potential customers are currently satisfying this need by just yelling to other all the time to get out of the way. They are not extremely loyal as all they are doing is yelling. There was never a transaction. This opportunity affects basically every single biker owner therefore, this is a major opportunity. This window of opportunity will last as long as people use a bike and there is no better way of alerting people by screaming while on a bike.

The innovation is a small device that will change biking and alerts in general forever. It is a high-frequency noise, much like a dog whistle. This noise would not be at the same frequency as a dog whistle or else no one would be able to hear it. It would be high frequency but not necessarily loud. The noise would be highly directional and only be audible if you are within a 45-degree cone in front of the device. It would be rectangular. The size would be about four inches long by 2 inches wide by half an inch thick. It would encase a small yet powerful speaker as well as a battery that is powered with micro-USB. The device on its own could be sold for about 20 dollars. For the unit as a whole with a charging cable and a quick start guide.

The product would be called Chirp and would send a quick burst of noise that can be determined by the three settings on the device. It can do a series of chirps, it can send a single chirp, or it can just keep chirping until you press a button to stop. People will pick up my product because it is of great benefit to their safety. It should not be difficult to get them to switch. My competitors would be bicycle bells and rings. Their weakness is that they are very annoying and loud. My goal is to integrate my device into bike lights and bicycle helmets. That way it is sure revenue and I would not need to worry about retail distribution. All I need to do is distribute it to the bike light and helmet makers.

My most important resource is the fact that my device is discreet and it is an actual need. Needs outweigh the importance of a want almost everytime.

The next new product would be implementing this on a larger scale for cars. In the next five years, I see the company being a staple for bikes. I want that when people buy a bike they also buy my Chirp along with lights and a helmet. In the next decade, I hope to have sold my idea to a company and be using the money from that to fund the next great idea that I come up with down the line.

23 - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

My Resources

• Financial Capital
• I currently have a decent amount of financial capital saved up thanks to my Bright Futures scholarship. Many people have this.
• I can also ask for capital from my family as I know they would be willing to help at the very beginning. Many people have this.
• Social Capital
• Tom Carroll from NiteRider who makes lights for surfers and bikers. He already contains plenty of experience in my industry. Is unique and has the ability for a future partnership
• J. Lucas Elrath is an expert in my market. He has worked for several years as a project manager overseeing testing, benchmarking, and hazard testing of bicycles and bike equipment. is unique and somewhat substitutable.
• A supplier in Taiwan that can manufacture the product for me. Can be substitutable.
• Human Capital
• I don't have any employees so all the Human Capital currently comes from me. I currently bring the business knowledge that I have gained from my classes.
• I have experience working in start-up businesses as an intern.
• Capabilities
• The device is small and can be integrated into bike lights. Very unique and must first form a relationship with a partner.
• The device could also be installed into a bike helmet to emphasize safety. Very unique and must first form a relationship with a partner.
• The product has the possibility of saving a person from injury. This is unique in the way that it prevents accidents.

My top resource is in my social capital. My connection with Tom Carroll is vital to the success of my business. I can already foresee an integration of my device into his products that would work seamlessly and allow both of us to have an advantage on the entire bike safety market.

Elevator Pitch # 3

Elevator Pitch 3

The feedback on the previous elevator pitch was very positive. It was encouraging to know that my pitch had improved from the first time.
This time the only major change that I made was to quicken the pace a little bit as I think that my speech pace was too slow before and did not keep the audience as engaged. I definitely felt more comfortable in front of the camera and only needed two takes to get it right this time.

Reading Reflection #2

For my second reading, I chose How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The Main argument of the book is that life is not set in stone. There is no direct path for anyone in life. Everyone's path to success is paved with many stones that are formed and shaped from failure.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

In the class, we have talked about product Ideas and about the importance of being able to pivot your idea. This book helped emphasize the importance of pivoting. During the process of developing my own product, I have discovered new markets and use cases that I had not intended at the beginning of the course and could actually end up being more effective than my original strategy. All of the little failures and miss steps help shape my product to be the best that it can be. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

The exercise that I would design based on this book would involve being given a set of scenarios. Each of those scenarios involves failures and the objective is to make the failure a positive in a creative way. 

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The part of the book that really resonated with me was how Scott Adams (the author) explained that the path to success isn't just one of the multiple random goals. Rather it is a system of flexible and connected goals that allow for change but also keep the company/person on track with short-term goals that help achieve the overarching main goal. 

19 - Idea Napkin 2

1. I am a second generation immigrant and have been raised by a family defined by hard work and devotion to its success. I aspire to lead my family further and set the standard for my cousins and siblings. I have experience with entrepreneurship as both sides of my family have their own businesses that I have spent time working in. This business would be at the forefront of my life and I would be solely focused on making it succeed. 
2. What am I offering customers? I am offering my customers convenience and safety. They will no longer need to struggle and stop their favorite activity because of ignorant pedestrians.
3. Who am I offering it to? I am offering it to customers that don't have patience, are fairly athletic, and are safety conscious. The product is not exclusive to bikers. It can be used by runners and skateboarders too.
4. Why do they care? My customers will care because they all have the same mutual hatred of pedestrians that don't move out of the way and can put you in harm's way as you try to avoid hitting them.
5. What are my core competencies? What sets me apart from everyone else is that there currently isn't another product on the market that does what mine does. There are bike horns and bells but they don't work when people have headphones on which is the majority of pedestrians nowadays. 

          I believe that my elements fit together. My hardworking nature is going to help develop the product and enable it to succeed. My potential customers definitely have this issue. All of their needs that I am fulfilling definitely do match up with why they care for it. The product allows them to exercise outdoors safely. Because the product is about safety and improving the quality of life of the potential customers, I believe that the 3 middle elements tie in nicely without any outliers. The core competency of my product is the reason that my customers would buy it in the first place so that ties in with the other elements as well. 

Feedback Memo: 

         The main things that I took away from the feedback was my Idea napkin had many related parts that really help glue everything together. The other main feedback that I took was that long-boarders are also part of my potential buyers. I revised my Idea napkin with this feedback by adding more variety to my potential customers.

20- Growing Your Social Capital

1

The industry expert that I contacted is Tom Carroll. He is the founder and CEO of NiteRider. He started the company by accident in 1996. He was an avid surfer that wanted to be able to surf at night when the waves were best. His solution was to create a small, light, waterproof, and portable light. He realized not too long after that the light would also be a great help to cyclists looking for alternatives to the weak lights they had been using. I discovered him while I was researching the market for my product. I initiated our correspondence after calling the office number that he had on the Facebook page. My conversation was about what he thought about my product. I hope to exploit this relationship with an integration of my technology into his bike lights.

The market expert that I contacted is J. Lucas Elrath. He has worked for several years as a project manager overseeing testing, benchmarking, and hazard testing of bicycles and bike equipment. I found this person by looking up on google for people with a set of skills. I initiated contact with him through the email he had on his website. I mainly asked him about what the chances were that a product like mine could survive in the market. He told me it was a good idea that has potential, but he would need a pitch before he could say anything more definite.  By having a market expert like him he can tell me how to best position my product to yield the most success.

I found a supplier for my industry but was unable to contact the head of the company. It is a speaker driver manufacturer in Taipei, Taiwan. They make all different kinds and sizes of speakers. I would use exploit this relationship to see if they could make me a small high frequency focused speaker.

This experience will definitely change how I approach networking events in the future. Like was said in class, you can’t just start handing out business cards to everyone. You need to form the relationship first. That will be the thing that I focus on from here on out.

18 - Create a Customer Avatar

"College Student that uses a bike to go to class." This customer enjoys biking for exercising and transportation. They don't have kids. They watch The Office and Game of Thrones. The customer doesn't have a car. They are about 19 years old. They feel 19 years old. I have many things in common with this avatar. I don't believe it is a coincidence. The product was created based on a need I have and I would be one of those customers. Therefore, I based the avatar on myself.

17 - Elevator Pitch 2

1) Elevator Pitch 2

2) All of the feedback that I received was positive so it was difficult to discern what needed to be changed. It was important to be told that my pitch did look professional and that I nailed all the necessary points. I took a don't fix what isn't broken approach with this pitch.

3) In my new pitch I mostly just changed my pacing with the words and added an additional closing statement.

15 - Figuring out Buyer Behavior # 2

The first person I interviewed told me that when it comes to bike safety, they would rather pay more for a product than cheap out and end up with the product failing when it comes time to actually use it. Higher quality is of most importance to him. He said it would be convenient to buy it online on Amazon which is where he already does most of his shopping. He said that what matters most to him is if it did the job it was meant to do. If it was a bad idea to buy a product then it is because it failed to do its main function.

The second person I interviewed said that she does not have much disposable income available so the price was more important to her. She said that as long as a product is cheap and does its job, she would buy it. She doesn't care for bells and whistles. She said that she would prefer the product to be sold at local shops where you can already buy bike equipment like helmets and bike locks. It would make for an easy choice when already buying the other accessories. She told me that with a single use product like mine if it works she's happy, if it doesn't she's not happy.

The third person I interviewed said that they buy based on bang for buck. She said that having good quality while possibly still having some additional features is very important to her as long as it is at a decent price. She said that if it were available to buy online or on campus, it would be very accessible to her and other students. She said that if the product works she will be satisfied and if it does not then she will be unsatisfied.

I have learned that the main thing I should focus on is quality while still trying to keep the price down. Price/performance will help my product stand out. Because my product is a fairly cheap device, cash is used. The product working is the only thing necessary for post-purchase satisfaction.

14A- Halfway Reflection

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

I have learned to keep my own deadlines and schedule so that I can manage my time much more efficiently. I have also learned to be more willing to talk to strangers with the interviews that we were required to perform.

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?

I have not felt like giving up in the past two months but a moment when I did feel that in the past was when I was taking my accounting course. I was studying for an exam and nothing seemed to click. I was studying so much information and it seemed like it was never going to end. The thing that helped me pull through was remembering why I was doing this. I was taking the course for my betterment. Doing poorly would only hurt me and essentially be a waste of time.

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' ?

The three tips I would offer students next semester are to keep a schedule so that work does not pile up at a deadline. It will do wonders for decreasing your stress. The second thing students need to do is figure out their main drive for college and strive towards that. The third thing to be tenacious would be to set a semester goal. Setting short-term goals is helpful because they are easier to realize and can really help you on your way to your larger goal.

13A- Reading Reflection 1

1) 

I read the book on Elon Musk. I was surprised by the attitude that he had with his employees. He was often very harsh with his employees. He has fired some people that he really should not have. Most notably was when he fired his assistant Mary Beth Brown. She was essentially the same to him as Pepper is to Tony Stark. The thing that I most admired about Elon Musk was how he never wavered no matter how bad things got. At one point he had to live at a friends house and sell his own because his businesses had drained him of all his money. What I least admire about Elon Musk is how he had treated employees. I feel that had he kept some of them and maybe a little nicer he would have others to lean on and help him on his endeavor. Elon encountered adversity at almost every single corner of his life. In South Africa, he had a rough upbringing. In America, he made successful businesses but always struggled to get them to work. The one thing that kept him going was his personal mission to truly advance humanity and innovate. 

2) 

Elon Musk was always very smart and absorbed information very easily. He carried that into his new businesses where he would essentially have his engineers give him an information dump relative the project they were working on. He would be able to recall the information with remarkable accuracy. 

3)

The part of the reading that I found the most confusing was the part about his time in college. They left it very ambiguous and it was difficult to tell where he actually studied and for how long. 

4) 

I would ask Elon what he believes are the steps humanity needs to follow to become a fully space-bound species. The second question I would ask is what drove him to keep his dream alive when almost everything seemed lost. These two questions relate deep into his psyche, and I would love to know it.  

5) 

Elon's opinion of hard work is basically working so hard that your health starts to suffer from it. He believes working 16 hours a day is normal and what everyone should do anyway. I believe that the 16 hours alone would be plenty enough to consider hard work.

12A Figuring out Buyer Behavior 1

The market segment I am focusing on for this assignment is students with a bike as their primary method of transportation.

My first interview was with a female freshman at the University of Florida. She was telling me that she was late for class because as she was leaving Publix, where she bought her groceries, the sidewalk was very crowded and no one made any room for her to go through even though she was asking politely. She said that when she doesn't research a way to fix the problem. All she does is complain about it to her friends.

My second interview was with a male junior at the Univerity of Florida. He told me how whenever it was time for the class change it was near impossible to ride his bike because of the sheer amount of people on the sidewalk. He told me that whenever he bikes anywhere, he looks up if there is a wide bike lane so that he does not have to use the sidewalk and can avoid pedestrians.

My third interview was with a male senior at the University of Florida. He told me that in the past 6 semesters of going to school at UF he always had a hard time biking anywhere during class change because of the crowds. He says that sometimes he looks for bike lanes to avoid pedestrians, but that still doesn't help much because there are many students that jaywalk carelessly. These jaywalkers force him to stop abruptly. One time they even caused him to fall and scrape his leg because he lost balance as he was trying to avoid a collision.

The interviews all shared similarities in terms of where it occurred and most were around the same time. Information search was not very prevalent with them. This segment has the need on campus around class change time which is 15 minutes of every hour from 8am to about 5pm. They do not look for solutions to the problem apart from looking for bike lanes.

11A Idea Napkin

1. I am a second generation immigrant and have been raised by a family defined by hard work and devotion to its success. I aspire to lead my family further and set the standard for my cousins and siblings. I have experience with entrepreneurship as both sides of my family have their own businesses that I have spent time working in. This business would be at the forefront of my life and I would be solely focused on making it succeed. 
2. What am I offering customers? I am offering my customers convenience and safety. They will no longer need to struggle and stop their favorite activity because of ignorant pedestrians.
3. Who am I offering it to? I am offering it to customers that don't have patience, are fairly athletic, and are safety conscious. 
4. Why do they care? My customers will care because they all have the same mutual hatred of pedestrians that don't move out of the way and can put you in harm's way as you try to avoid hitting them.
5. What are my core competencies? What sets me apart from everyone else is that there currently isn't another product on the market that does what mine does. There are bike horns and bells but they don't work when people have headphones on which is the majority of pedestrians nowadays. 

I believe that my elements fit together. My hardworking nature is going to help develop the product and enable it to succeed. My potential customers definitely have this issue. All of their needs that I am fulfilling definitely do match up with why they care for it. The product allows them to exercise outdoors safely. Because the product is about safety and improving the quality of life of the potential customers, I believe that the 3 middle elements tie in nicely without any outliers. The core competency of my product is the reason that my customers would buy it in the first place so that ties in with the other elements as well. 

Elevator Pitch 1

Elevator Pitch

9A Testing the hypothesis part 2

My first interview was with a parent who said that she wishes she had an easy way of getting their kids attention when they are on their phones or listening to loud music. She said that it's annoying having to go all the way to their rooms and yell so that they listen. 

My second interview was with a teacher that wishes he had a way of getting her students attention in class. She says that the students get on their phones or are browsing Pinterest or Facebook instead of watching and participating in the lecture.

My third interview was with a dog walker that said her dog barely listens to her when it starts barking at random birds and animals. She explained that the dog won't stop getting distracted by things no matter how much she tries to pull at the leash or tell him "stop it!"

The fourth interview was with a student that said her boyfriend doesn't listen to her when he's playing video games. She explained to me that he gets so invested and zoned in that he won't hear when she is talking to her. She says that she wants an easy way of getting his attention easily. 

The fifth interview was with a nurse that said she notices some of her co-workers were distracted doing various things and were missing the calls from their patients. She said that she wanted a way that was easy for the nurses to be alerted without being disruptive.

What: Nurses, teachers, couples, dog owners. They fall outside of the boundary because they are not doing an athletic activity that merits the opportunity. 

What: People that just want to get someone's attention are not in the boundary of this opportunity. This opportunity is about helping athletic activities be safe and uninterrupted. 

Why: The outsiders' need is about getting the attention of people that don't need to be alerted urgently. Also, they already have another means of getting their attention.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is in: Bikers, Runners	Who is not: Nurses, Teachers, couples, dog owners.
What the Need is: Pedestrians don’t pay attention and can’t hear biker’s warnings.	What the Need is not: getting the attention of people that are not in harm's way or causing harm.
Why the Need exists:  The pedestrians are on their phones and oblivious to their surroundings	Alternative Explanations: These people are distracting themselves in a manner that does not affect those around them negatively.

Solving the Problem

The opportunity that I am addressing is the problem of pedestrians being oblivious and not paying attention to bikers or runners.

I am going to solve the problem with a small device that emits a highly directional “chirp” at a high frequency. The high frequency would be similar to a dog whistle but just low enough for humans to hear. When I say directional, I mean that the device only shoots the chirp in a cone about 45 degrees wide in whichever direction the device is pointed. The device can be handheld for runners or it can be clipped to a bike handle. It would be small, light, and made of plastic. The price target would be about $20.

Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

Problem: When Bikers are biking and there are pedestrians in the way that are so into their phones that they don’t hear the biker’s warnings.
Who has the problem: Bikers
What is the problem: Pedestrians don’t pay attention and can’t hear biker’s warnings.
Why is there a problem: Because they are on their phones and oblivious to their surroundings.

My first interview was with a biker that felt he had the same problem with pedestrians not listening to him. He said that that it was because people have headphones on are listening to music. He also told me that it wasn’t only people but cars as well which are difficult to signal.

My second interview was with another biker. She said that she would get very frustrated especially during the class change at her inability to bike because no one pays attention to her. She believed people would not move or listen to her because people hate to be bothered. That they would rather the biker get off and walk before they for him/her.

My third interview was with a non-biker pedestrian. She told me that she was guilty of using her phone all the time she is walking between classes. She says that she does it to check up on her social media and to try to look busy so that the ‘survey’ people don’t talk to her. She said that she doesn’t mean to be in the way of bikers and will be more attentive next time.

My fourth interview was with another non-biker pedestrian. He is a runner and told me that he has the same problem with people in his way in sidewalks. He said that he has to stop running and lose his tempo to tell the people in front of him to move or try to squeeze in between them.

My fifth interview was with a non-biker. She said that she has this problem whenever she is in a place like a big city with many people walking and barely any room on the sidewalks. She says that some people just start to talk on the sidewalk and essentially form a wall. They are so involved in their conversations that they don’t realize other pedestrians are trying to get through them.


Thanks to the interviews I now know that my opportunity expands beyond just bikers. It expands to runners and other pedestrians as well. The problem also does not just lie with pedestrians being on their phones. They can also be listening to music or be conversing with other pedestrians.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Trends:

In Miami Beach, they are now criminalizing operating Airbnb-like rentals without a license. I found this opportunity on The Miami Herald. This means that there will be a lot of new on how many Airbnb's will now be illegal. This could open up the ability for a local service that pools together all of the people in Miami Beach that operate with a license. The prototypical customer would be tourists looking for a Hotel alternative that is properly licensed and don't need to worry about legal issues. This opportunity might be somewhat difficult to exploit. If the current owners of these small businesses already have their own form of exposure that works well for them, it will be difficult to sway them to use my service.  I believe there is an opportunity here because I have lived in Miami my entire life and now there are many people with condo's on the beach that go unused for extended periods of time and would like to be able to make money on them. Once they get the license the service would allow them to rent out their home without worrying about legal issues.

FRA proposes to eliminate the certification badge that verifies that a train complies with noise emission standards. I found it on regulatoins.gov and using prior knowledge. I believe that an opportunity will arise in soundproofing houses/buildings near railroads. The deregulation of noise pollution will mean that these buildings will have to deal with much more noise. The prototypical customer is anyone that lives near a railroad and hates the noise. This opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit with customers that have trains going by their area very often and they would have a much higher need than others. I saw this opportunity because my house in Miami is near a railroad track and I have to hear the noise of trains going by often, especially at night. I would definitely be interested in soundproofing.

Economic Trends:

Previously Intel pretty much had a monopoly on the CPU market. However, last year Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) launched a new line of processors named Ryzen. These new processors are on par or at times surpassing Intel's offering. AMD's stock has soared 200% since the launch. They forced Intel to release a line of products early to meet the new competition. This has now caused Intel to have a shortage of current and future processors. This means that companies like Dell, HP, and Lenovo will have to begin building their products around AMD's Ryzen. This applies to consumer and enterprise products. Because AMD is uncharted territory for most of these companies, there will be a need for people with knowledge of AMD for repairs and maintenance. I found this opportunity on Google trends. The prototypical customer is consumers and businesses with no knowledge of AMD. This opportunity might be rather difficult to exploit on a B2B level because of how difficult it can be to show value over bigger tech support companies. I saw the opportunity because I love technology and have been building computers as a hobby for some years now and they have all been built with AMD.

I found this opportunity on Google finance and based on past knowledge. Tesla as a company has been trending down as people lose faith in the car manufacturer and question its ability to support itself. This will mean many teslas owners might sell their cars and then be stuck with a Tesla supercharging station that they installed in their garage which has become utterly useless. This means that if someone can create an attachment/converter for the Tesla supercharger that allows for it to be used with everyday objects, a new use case will emerge for a previously single-use item. The prototypical customer is any current or former Tesla owners. The main hurdle is actually designing and creating the product that works. Once the product is created, it will be rather simple to exploit. I saw this opportunity because I know of people that own Tesla's and have told me they wish they could use something else with the charger.

5A Identifying Local Opportunities

The bike in the middle of Biscayne Bay: Why we can't have nice things in Miami.

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16E6F70D89CC6858

Miami is a very unbikable city. It has the highest rates of bike related accidents in the US. Many bike sharing companies have to tried to operate in Miami but have had a very hard time doing so. Residents want to use the bikes but find it difficult to bike anywhere safely. There are very few bike lanes or bike roads. Even still some drivers go out of their way to inconveniece bikers. Some people strip the bikes for parts and bring the frame far from Miami. One frame was even found at the bottom of Biscayne bay. 

The problem is that people in Miami want to use bikes but do not do so because it is unsafe to bike in Miami.

The people with the problem are bikers in Miami.

Alan Jackson's son-in-law dies in slip and fall accident in Florida

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16E6F70D849DE280

A man dies when he slips and falls on a dock while helping a woman onto a boat.

The problem is that docks can be slippery and can cause injury when falling on them or between a dock and boat.

The people with the problem are boaters and anyone that walks on a marina dock.

As a young voter, I request early polling sites at Miami-Dade college campuses

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16E6EE253311D658

Early voting is not allowed on college campuses in Miami Dade County. Many students have very busy schedules and many times just traversing traffic in Miami is a struggle on its own. The author of the article wants to spur a movement for lawmakers to allow college campuses in Miami Dade County to host early voting. It would help increase the turnout rate for students tremendously.

The problem is that students in Miami cannot do early voting on their college campus.

The people affected by the problem are students in Miami.

Fire drills and false alarms are re-traumatizing Stoneman Douglas students, teachers

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16E6CAD10FD95F80

False Fire alarms are going off at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HighSchool. These firealarms are giving the students and teachers PTSD from shooting that transpired some months back. The school is expected to conduct 10 routine code red alarms, and 10 routine fire alarms during this school year. The teachers and students believe it is an unecessary amount and will only worsen the conditon of the students that have struggled to move past the dreadful day.

 The problem is that the students and teachers are getting PTSD from the fire and code red alarms.

The people affected by the problem are the students and teachers that were at the school earlier this year.

New music fest could be coming to South Beach. Is the city ready for its own Coachella?

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F16E6CAD0E14A85A0

South Beach is going to be the home to a brand new music festival starting on November 2019. Locals are worried about how it will impact the traffic and general livelyhood during those days. They compared it to spring break earlier this year and how the Miami Beach Police Dep. had to close a highway to restrict incoming traffic.

The problem is that locals are worried about their home island being too crowded from the three day event.

The people affected are the resident of Miami Beach.

2A Bug List

When I am biking to class and the campus is so crowded during class switch that I need to get off my bike and just walk.

Why: People are changing classes and need to be out on the sidewalk to walk to their next class.

People being unattentive on their phone and headphones and won't listen when I tell them to get out of the way while I am biking.

Why: People like listening to music and look at their phones to make their walks less boring.

When I am going to put my bike at bike rack but it is full and I need to lock my bike to the bike rack at another building.

Why: There are only so many spots available on one bike rack and many students bike to class. 

When my laptop's battery is dying in class and there aren't any electricity plugs nearby.

Why: Laptop batteries can only hold so much charge and not every building is outfitted with tons of power outlets.

When my roommate leaves the dirty dishes stacked in the sink.
Why: He is either late for class and in a rush or just being lazy.

When I have to wait an hour or more in line to get into any club or bar in Gainesville.
Why: The Bar/Club is probably full and can only let people trickle in to maintain a certain capacity of customers.

When I have to make dinner and then open the refrigerator to find out my roommate has eaten all the food.
Why: He was probably very hungry and needed to eat.

When my roommate lets the garbage fill up and doesn't bother to throw it out when he adds more to it and it starts overflowing.
Why: He is lazy or it is raining outside.

When I am walking to class and I get soaked when it starts raining randomly because there are no covered pathways on campus.
Why: Rain is a common occurrence in Gainesville and the school does not believe it is worth it to build covered pathways.

When I am walking to the bus stop and miss the bus.
Why: I did not leave my apartment on time or the bus got to the stop earlier than expected.

When I have to call customer service for any company and they route me to seven different operators and spend an hour on hold.
Why: Most of those call centers have a bureaucracy that forces them to spread out different jobs unnecessarily. Also, there are many callers.

When a package that I ordered on Amazon is delayed and arrives a couple days after the scheduled time.
Why: It is probably a high demand time and Amazon cannot keep up with the number of orders.

When my flight gets delayed for whatever reason and then I need to spend several hours waiting for the plane or a replacement.
Why: The plane encountered bad weather or there was a mechanical issue that caused the delay.

When I am on the bus going between Gainesville and Miami and the seat is uncomfortable and I have to suffer through it for 6 hours.
Why: The cheaper bus routes don't have enough funds to allocate towards upgrading the seats.

When I am taking a proctor U exam and my internet cuts out for a couple of seconds and I have an anxiety attack.
Why: There was probably an issue with Cox Communication or my modem had an error.

When my Uber driver only talks about problems he has had with other passengers.
Why: The driver is probably very frustrated with his day and needs to vent.

When I go to a Department store and the staff keeps pestering to help me and sell some clothes to me that I don't want.
Why: They are working on commision and need to push sales in order to earn more money.

When my favorite artist is having a concert in my hometown but I have an exam that day and I can't go.
Why: The two events unfortunately lined up on the same day.

When I am doing a group project and no one when I ask for help or a question in the group chat no one responds for several hours.
Why: They are probably busy with something else or just don't care about the class.

When I call for an uber and they do circles around me but for some reason can't seem to find the right street to turn into to get to me even though they have a GPS.
Why: Some drivers chose to not use a GPS because they don't trust it (This was an actual excuse a driver gave me once).  Other drivers are just incompetent.

Reflection: The list was difficult at first. However, once I started thinking of a couple, my mind just started snowballing and was overflowing with bugs. I think when reading my list it's fairly easy to see my train of thought spiraling and going every which way.

3B Entrepreneurship Story

I come from a family of Cuban immigrants. When both of my grandfathers came to the U.S. they had to struggle and find a way to provide for their families. My paternal grandfather, Rogelio, immigrated with the Peter Pan initiative. This was a started in Miami to bring children from Cuba to the U.S.  My grandfather came alone at the age of 17. He was never able to finish high school. When he arrived in Miami, he worked in a camp for several years picking tomatoes, until his father joined him. Years later, in 1971, they started a boat upholstery business in a tiny warehouse in Hialeah. Since then they have expanded their client base and the once small business has gained a reputation in South Florida for making the best boat upholstery available. Naturally, because it is a family business, my grandparents had me working there from an early age. Every summer while I was in middle school my grandfather would have me there with him learning and working by his side. I was able to meet many of his clients and learned how to form prosperous relations with customers. The most important thing I learned from Rogelio is the value of hard work and what is possible through entrepreneurship. I enrolled in this class because I want to learn more about entrepreneurship, the single most important thing that has shaped my family's life. I hope to walk out of this class a further educated individual and attain the skills required to launch a business of my own.