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.