Venture Concept No. 2

I. Opportunity

What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? 

The forces creating my opportunity, defined as the issues inherent to living with roommates, is created by (but not limited to) the opposing perspectives, social tendencies, living habits, and traditions that every person has. Regardless if you live in same city, people live and behave differently in their household because that’s the normal thing to do. Upon moving to a communal house, or even a shared bedroom with roommates, this all changes due to the different living styles and factors listed above. Furthermore, it is very challenging, and in some cases impossible to be forced to live a certain fashion – and this provides the most fuel to this problem where roommates don not work together.

How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

For the entire semester, I identified University of Florida students as my sole customer. In result of the “What’s Next?” assignment, I have changed my customer range to be from 16-18 years old. With these demographics, my company can serve the age group (through workshops/events) that is expected to live with roommates in the near future; basically right after their high school graduation. Geographically, I can theoretically provide my service anywhere, though I would focus my efforts in schools and school districts that have the resources necessary to pay for my services. Although I would love to provide my service at a discount for certain schools, this can only happen if my firm has matured enough financially to do so.

How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 

      Currently, my customers are not satisfying this need at all unless they are being actively trained and conditioned by their parents, teachers, relatives, or friends. Further, most of my customers are not necessarily concerning themselves over how to live peacefully with roommates (I know I wasn’t at that age). In result, there is practically no loyalty to anything because there aren’t other companies that have implemented a system that could create customer loyalty in the first place.

How big is this opportunity?

This opportunity is massive. There are millions of current and future high school students that meet my customer parameters in the United States that will undoubtedly experience issues living with roommates in college.

How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

This question is quite hard to determine because there’s no saying as to when a person will think of the same idea I have proposed. Moreover, it can happen at any point in time since all the necessary technology and resources are available and only getting better.

II. Innovation

My innovation is recognizing a huge unmet customer need and exploiting it by providing workshops and events that will teach/expose students how to live effectively with roommates. In the past three years of my higher education, only one class briefly talked about this issue, a class that was created to get us prepared for transferring from a community college to a university. Basically, my company could pitch to high schools, school districts, or other related high school programs to host a series of workshop or events at their school – or somewhere offsite if need be. For pricing, I am not certain what we would charge but I’m sure it would be upwards of $5,000 for a two or three-part series.

III. 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 customers are not switching over to my product, since no other product possesses market share for my opportunity. This is great because my product is entirely new, but also bad because if my company takes off, new competition will be introduced proving different products or services.

Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?

It is unclear who my direct competitors will be since the market for my opportunity does not exist and is not being recognized. With such low recognition, it would take multiple years to develop enough brand power to entice other competitors. Overall, I suppose my competitors would be high schools (as they can always create a class), universities, government-led programs, and investors that can also recognize this opportunity – who will probably have stronger finances and marketing to overwhelm my company. For both high schools and school district officials, their weaknesses include the time and resources necessary to create a class, a class that is worth teaching for a full ten months in comparison to one or two days. For credible investors who know what they are doing, their capabilities outweigh their weaknesses; they can get it wrong and still win because of how much money they put in.

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?

Asides from perhaps packaging, distribution, and the business location, all these factors play a tremendous role in my business concept. Selling at price points too high will kill my business, strong customer support can sway high schools into becoming a regular customer for future years, and if the customer experience does not exceed expectations, my customers have zero incentive to pay for more workshops. 

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?  

In the beginning stages (years 1-3), my company will consist of about 30-40 employees, in a relatively small office. As for any business, there will be a marketing team, social media team, finance team, and so forth. These teams will contain about 3-10 employees each. For professional aspects of the company, such as legal, I would outsource that to another firm until the company could afford to create its own department.

IV.  Three Minor Elements

Once I completely commit to exploiting this opportunity, my livelihood is determined by the success of my company until I’m in a position where I can afford to diversify. Therefore, my continuous dedication to the company will ultimately be the deciding factor.

What’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers.

The next new product will be creating an app that teaches everything we mention in workshops through a mobile device. Although this can potentially decrease the chances of high schools paying for workshops, I would only create this app once the company is established and financially prepared for it.

What’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision?

After five years of launching the company, my goal would be providing my services every year to at least one hundred different customers. This is a small number because it will take a while to develop my product and my company’s infrastructure, let alone the natural roadblocks you experience with start-ups. Ten, twenty, thirty years after that I would consistently attempt to exploit other opportunities that relate to my company, while also diversifying into other more stable businesses/industries.

Provide a summary of the feedback you received from your previous venture concept description. You certainly want to include the student feedback, but you may also include the feedback you received from others during the "What's Next" exercise. You want to summarize all of the feedback, but be sure to place an emphasis on what people recommended you change about your idea. (In other words, don't just describe the positive feedback.)

From the feedback on my first venture concept assignment, the main concern was high schools or school districts not having the financial resources to pay for my service. Naturally, this is one the biggest factors that will contribute to the success of my company. Thus, my research and development team and I would be forced to identify specific customers (defined in this venture concept) who will be capable of paying for my service(s). Even so, it is still a challenge to sell to these particular schools – yet every company experiences this issue, as this is part of predetermined and constantly evolving business plan.

In addition, I also received some key insights from the “What’s Next” assignments. These included breaking down the workshop/class into manageable stages and adding excitement to the presentations. In retrospect, I have not considered the effect of excitement in prior assignments, though the college experience is exciting indeed. Regardless of the complexities and issues of living with roommates, college remains a transformative and enjoyable couple of years, where students (being on their own) start to recognize the world around them. If my company can both excite students for college and leave a lasting impression that will help them in troubling situations with future roommates, I believe that will define success above all else.   

3) Describe how you changed your venture concept, based on what you learned from the feedback.

Some key changes include:

·       Changed the demographic parameters of the course for only junior and seniors.

·       Changed the customer outlook from “everywhere” to only high school or school districts who can afford to pay for my services. Once I can offer lower prices, then I will expand into more financially restricted sectors.

·       Added school districts as a customer; school districts can create contracts with multiple high schools as opposed to me selling to them one-by-one.

·       Added universities and government sponsored programs to my competition.

·       Changed goal to serve at least 100 different customers by five years of creating the company; 20 customers was far too small of a goal.  

4) Include a picture (for illustration!).

I would tell students to just watch Friends,

if only it was that easy. 

Final Reflection

Although this is the end of our journey together in ENT 3003, you now have a set of experiences that you can use to better navigate the future. My hope is that each of you have, to one extent or another, developed an entrepreneurial mindset. That you keep a sharp eye out for problems, and you're willing to offer a solution. 

For this final reflection, I'd like you to do a few things:

1) Read through your posts 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.

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?

Looking through prior assignments I have completed for this course, I believe the most formative experience had to come from the posts involving customer interviews. Although it was challenging to coordinate these interviews, most of which were my friends attending different universities (as that met my customer demographic requirement), it was quite rewarding to read real opinions from them. The organization and processes I went through to specify my customer and their needs is a highly valuable skill that I will hopefully apply later in my career. Furthermore, I will remember these experiences years from now because I have proof of friends that were willing to help me, and therefore would be likely to help me again (as would I).

Strangely enough, my most joyous (and satisfying) experience was recording the three elevator pitches. In general, I have always felt comfortable speaking in front of crowds, though I have little experience speaking in front of a camera. After recording the pitches and analyzing how I appeared in the video, I enjoyed seeing how I present myself on screen – as opposed through writing. Moreover, it was also incredible to watch my peer’s elevator pitches and put a face on the people I had been reading about for months.  

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

            For the most part, I still do not see myself as entrepreneur but do feel that I have gained an entrepreneurial mindset. Compared to the first week, where I had no knowledge in entrepreneurship, it’s been an intriguing experience throughout these assignments, and I’m grateful to have learned all that I have. To me, entrepreneurship is more of adapting to challenges and being receptive to criticism, reviews, and understanding that you cannot figure everything out. After these past few months, the most influential thing I have learned is that entrepreneurship is not intended to be approached the same style as those around you, but rather the style that works best for your strengths and your opportunity.  

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?

Although I am no expert in entrepreneurship, I would recommend to always keep an open mind to new ideas and strategies. The world is evolving around you, and there is no reason to handle your start-up in the same fashion that others are; do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone! In addition, be sure to identify your customers and demographics to the best of your ability, or else your product will not produce as efficiently as you thought it would. To perform well in the course, simply stay ahead of your assignments, try to complete all the interviews by Thursday, and do not over-analyze assignment instructions. To foster this mindset, apply what you have learned in this class to other classes. Perhaps it will prove harder to identify opportunities in other subjects, but that’s the hidden beauty within entrepreneurship – anyone can do it!

Reading Reflection No. 3

Makers: The New Industrial Revolution by Chris Anderson

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

The central argument in Makers, published in 2012, is that anyone will now have access to exploit new opportunities without experiencing manufacturing obstacles “normal” entrepreneurs traditionally encountered. Specifically, people can learn how to design new products using universal software (through the web), eventually build practically anything through 3D printers (representing more control in production), and create unique “communities” for innovation. Anderson continues by describing how open the field for innovation will become when any person can enter a market and design an effective product, perhaps by simply emailing your idea to a firm that manufactures 3D printed objects. Overall, these communities of makers (as opposed to two or three massive manufacturers) can work together in incredible ways to exchange ideas, make corrections, and potentially disrupt certain industries. The concept is extremely interesting, especially because I have personally witnessed the impact of 3D printers as far back to when I was in high school.  

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

This book connected to our class because Anderson not only discovered an opportunity but also described how he believes the opportunity will be exposed. Instead of one entrepreneur using this unique, he mentions how thousands of entrepreneurs can venture into this idea, and furthermore create communities that will advance innovation to help meet customer needs. Very similar to what we have been learning in ENT3003, Anderson exhibited his entrepreneurial mindset – going into specifics of the opportunity and how it will most likely be exploited.

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

A great exercise would be creating a group project where ENT students work alongside a team of UF engineering students to create a new product through 3D printing, as to meet an unmet customer need. This correlates to one of the core arguments within the book; where entrepreneurs lack the technical aspect required to manufacture new products, engineers can easily manufacture their concept into reality.

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?

Perhaps the most influential concept I learned from the book was the value of 3D printing technology being used to disrupt manufacturing firms. Prior to reading Makers, I understood that 3D printing enables innovation, though I did not think further into the possibilities of this technology. Anderson proved that even though I may lack the skills necessary for 3D printing, the opportunity is still there. In theory, all you have to do is present a product that would be worth manufacturing for customers, and therefore avoid all the technical components of producing it.

Your Exit Strategy

Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

If my firm does play out to be a considerable success, which I would define as sustainable control over my market, I would be hesitant to sell for a large return. Having a real customer demand would be the most valuable part of my company, and since there is no real or recognizable competition, there is little incentive to give that away – especially after we exposed and exploited the opportunity first. It is hard to predict whether a substantially larger company would want to consume Roommates for Change, because my opportunity would still have to be tangible, and thus they would simply want access to my market. In summary, I would love to keep control of the company for as long as possible, but if an offer exceeds my own expectations of future company growth, then I would sell and capitalize into new opportunities. Also, I do not believe this company would be under my control long enough to be passed down to my children. But overall, I do not have any issues doing so – just as long as I feel my children (or other family members) are responsible and inspired enough to take over.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

To be clear, my exit strategy will most likely be partnering with another firm capable to fund future expansion. Although there would be many compromises and perhaps disputes when collaborating with a new partner, I would rather live with this decision than be forced to give up my company entirely. In one of my prior assignments, I shared that I would eventually utilize this company to diversity into new opportunities, assuming it would be the appropriate financial time and setting to do so. As long I maintain over 50% majority to my company, I would be eager to partner with other firms. This inflow of funds will be used to promote growth and reach markets that were originally beyond our reach.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I think this exit strategy has influences for some of my decisions, but none influence the opportunity itself. Adding a partner to the business plan does not change the existing opportunity – if anything, it presents more opportunities than anticipated. Therefore, the resources necessary to get the company started will most likely come from an investor (who holds a small stake), with future projects/innovation being funded primarily by my partner firm or revenue generated from the company itself (the less reliant we are with the partner, the better).

Celebrating Failure

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. 

One specific example of a time I failed this semester was not being able to complete the “What’s Your Secret Sauce” assignment (16A). Upon reading the description of the assignment, I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to transfer my friend’s audio files from the recordings on my phone to another platform, such as YouTube or SoundCloud. Up to that point in the semester, I was able to handle the technology aspects of the assignments and was thus able to turn everything in on time. The failure itself was believing I knew how to do this trickery before attempting to see if it would work beforehand. After I had acquired all the recordings, I could not find a way to solve this problem; I remember paying iCloud to upgrade my account, downloading shady MP4 applications, reading multiple confusing articles, and even calling friends to see if they could help me out. This breakdown occurred at about 10:00 PM, and therefore, I simply ran out of time to solve this problem. All in all, the most aggravating part of this experience was having all the necessary parts for the assignment completed, to still lose three points to something that could have been easily avoided.

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

After this experience, I realized that I took advantage of my prior successes in other assignments and misjudged what was needed to complete this one. Looking inwards, I learned that growing complacent with success is equally as harmful as being lazy or not pushing yourself enough to succeed.

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 just a few months ago?

There’s no hiding that I have continuously failed in baseball, schoolwork, and relationships (among others). Although, after the appropriate time has passed, you begin to realize where you went wrong. This process is a beautiful thing indeed because there is always capacity for you to learn from these failures, which is ultimately the true value. Yes, it absolutely sucks in that moment, and you will probably not be thinking about this value when there are multiple people witnessing your failure(s). After this stage of self-pity, I start to feel accountable for my actions and process how I could avoid this failure next time – sometimes this happens over two hours, four months, or even years. In turn, and regardless of the failure, you gained some form of humility and knowledge others do not possess.

After taking this class, I feel more open to take risks not so much because I “feel smarter,” but strangely because I have failed a few times. Throughout these failures, my strengths have been practiced and my weaknesses have been exposed, thus making my ability to analyze certain risks just that much clearer.

Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept No. 1 

I. Opportunity 

An opportunity may be defined as a group of customers with unmet or under-met needs. When you describe the opportunity you have identified, you need to be sure to describe both (1) who has the need (i.e., who are the potential customers?) and (2) the nature of the need. Other questions you should address in this section:

·       What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? 

      The forces creating my opportunity, defined as the issues inherent to living with roommates, is created by (but not limited to) the opposing perspectives, social tendencies, living habits, and traditions that every person has. Regardless if you live in same city, people live and behave differently in their household because that’s the normal thing to do. Upon moving to a communal house, or even a shared bedroom with roommates, this all changes due to the different living styles and factors listed above. Furthermore, it is very challenging, and in some cases impossible to be forced to live a certain fashion – and this provides the most fuel to this problem where roommates don not work together.

·       How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

      For the entire semester, I identified University of Florida students as my sole customer, but in result of the “What’s Next?” assignment, I have changed my customer range to be from 15-18 years old. With these demographics, my company can serve the age group (through workshops/events) that is expected to live with roommates in the near future; assuming after their high school graduation. Geographically, I can theoretically provide my service anywhere, though I would focus my efforts in a particularly college town first before expanding to others.

·       How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 

      Currently, my customers are not satisfying this need at all unless they are being actively trained and conditioned by their parents, teachers, relatives, or friends. Further, most of my customers are not necessarily concerning themselves over how to live peacefully with roommates (I know I wasn’t at that age). In result, there is practically no loyalty to anything because there aren’t other companies that have implemented a system that could create customer loyalty in the first place.

·       How big is this opportunity?

      This opportunity is massive. There are millions of people that meet my parameters in the United States that will most definitely experience future issues living with roommates.

·       How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

      

      This question is quite hard to determine because there’s no saying as to when a person will think of the same idea I have proposed. Moreover, it can happen at any point in time since all the necessary technology and resources are available and only getting better.

II. Innovation 

In this section, I would like to you discuss your innovation in moderate detail. Explain what it is, what it does, and how it works. 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.

My innovation is recognizing a huge unmet customer need and exploiting it by providing workshops and events that will teach/expose students how to live effectively with roommates. In the past three years of my higher education, only one class briefly talked about this issue, a class that was created to get us prepared for transferring from a community college to a university. Basically, my company could pitch to high schools or other related high school programs to host a series of workshop or events at their school – or somewhere offsite if need be. For pricing, I am not entirely certain what we would charge but I’m sure it would be upwards of $5,000 for a two or three-part series.

III. Venture Concept  

A venture concept may be defined as the application of a specific innovation to address a specific opportunity. In this section, describe how your innovation will solve or address the opportunity you identified. You also want to explain why customers will buy your innovation. In describing the concept, you also want to be sure to cover issues such as:

·       What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch? 

My customers are not switching over to my product, since no other product possesses market share for my opportunity. This is great simply because this product is entirely new, but also bad because if my company truly takes off, new competition will be introduced proving different products or services.  

·       Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?

It is unclear who my direct competitors since the market for my opportunity does not exist and is not being recognized. With such low recognition, it would take multiple years to develop enough brand power to entice other competitors. Overall, I suppose my competitors would be high schools (as they can always create a class) and other investors that can also recognize this opportunity, who will probably have stronger finances and marketing to overwhelm my company. For high schools, their weaknesses include the time and resources necessary to create a class, a class that is worth teaching for a full ten months, as opposed to one or two days. For credible investors that know what they are doing, their capabilities outweigh their weaknesses; they can get it wrong and still win because of how much money they can put in. 

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?

Asides from perhaps packaging, distribution, and the business location, all these factors play a tremendous role in my business concept. Selling at price points too high will literally kill my business, strong customer support can sway high schools into becoming a regular customer for future years, and if the customer experience does not exceed expectations, high schools have zero incentive to pay for more workshops. 

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?  

In the beginning stages, my company will consist of about 30-40 employees, in a relatively small office. As for any business, there will be a marketing team, social media team, finance team, and so forth. These teams will most likely contain 3-10 employees each. For professional aspects of the company, such as legal, I would outsource that to another firm until the company could afford to create its own department.

IV.  Three Minor Elements

First, describe what you think your most important resource will be. You might call this your venture’s “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage.” Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?

Once I completely commit to exploiting this opportunity, my livelihood is determined by the success of my company until I’m in a position where I can afford to diversify. Therefore, my continuous dedication to the company will ultimately be the deciding factor.

Second, what’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers.

The next new product will be creating an app that teaches everything we mention in workshops through a mobile device. Although this can potentially decrease the chances of high schools paying for workshops, I would only create this app once the company is established and financially prepared for it.

Third, what’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision?

After five years of launching the company, my goal would be providing my services to at least twenty high schools. This is a small number because it will take a while to develop my product and my company’s infrastructure, let alone the natural roadblocks you experience with start-ups. Ten, twenty, thirty years after that I would consistently attempt to exploit other opportunities that relate to my company, while also diversifying into other more stable businesses/industries.

What's Next?

What’s Next?

Existing Market.

Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.

             For products and services, I believe the next step, or really the most important step, would be breaking the course material in manageable assignments for the students. After all coursework has been identified and meets the needs for issues of living with roommates, then we could work on making the course compatible through Canvas or any other form of software UF wants to utilize. Upon expanding, the next huge step after that would be adjusting to other institutions systems and infrastructure.

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. 

Person 1: Darragh Groves, UF 

            Darragh, who interestingly is my own roommate, shared that it would be valuable to include testimonies from current UF freshman, since they would need actual proof that my opportunity exists for them and their students. Although I most likely would have included this within my initial pitch to UF, it is good to see that he also thinks that is a good idea as well. Darragh also shared that we should be making the course material and overall business simple, while avoiding complex or confusing strategies in the pitch, and this makes perfect sense because honestly, my opportunity is simple and should be treating as so (obviously leaving all the truly complex components to me and the company). He told me customers would want hands-on experience (perhaps teaching how to clean) just to simply keep them engaged and not dying of boredom. In close, Darragh agreed with my ideas about what to do next.

Person 2: Abraham Elmir, UNC 

            Abraham shared some interesting insights where he focused more on the course material itself being effective and non-problematic. Furthermore, he believes students should be exposed to normally troubling situations, without the help of anyone. He also said the evaluations completed by students and faculty should be the only factors that would change the course structure from semester to semester, regardless if we feel the considerations were faulty or not applicable (by this point, I would be older and might not be as connected to my customers as I was before). Although Abraham agreed with my ideas for what to do next, he did note to make them more specific and less broad.

Person 3: Brianna Alvarez, FIU

            Brianna believes, after UF decides to partner with us, is to provide workshops for other institutions that are not currently affiliated with my company. In her words, it’s an easy way to grow brand recognition, increase revenue, and have this extra cash-flow to grow our main business which is selling directly to schools. This was an incredible take because I have restricted myself this entire semester to only selling to schools, and never considered outside options. Therefore, she told me we should plan to include this in our operations as well. Brianna also shared that I have the right intentions and goals for what my customer would be wanting next.   

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.

For the first 2-3 months of my venture, we would focus entirely on meeting the needs or demands of University of Florida, through meetings, emails, etc. These meetings will only consist of discussion and reflections about how both parties picture this class being offered, since it would not make much practical sense to develop an entire product without understanding what the customer wants and does not want. After determining what would for UF based off these preliminary meetings, then we would start to develop the product (probably would take around 6-8 months, although I’m just ball-parking). This would include writing the material, working with Canvas, UF personnel, acquiring resources and so forth.

Once we sign official contracts and UF implements the course within their system, then we will begin the next phase of company where we will be developing a system to provide this course in a condensed fashion through workshops. This would be logistically challenging because we would have to summarize the material into about 3-4 hours, worked with building owners to host such workshops, and have to move resources perhaps across the nation back and forth. These workshops will be for both students and non-students, and therefore both would be adjusted accordingly. After about a year or two years of doing this, we would then shift to marketing our product to any university or college that would be willing to work with us. In total, it should take around four years to arrive to this point, and honestly, I have no clue where the company will go from there (probably would be figured at some point in those four years).

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.

Perhaps not entirely a “radically” different market, but we could target students in any age group through workshops or events. Realistically, I do not suppose adults over the age of 18 would consider participating in such events, so we would focus more on kids at or below 18 years of age. This way, we can still exploit the issues of living with roommates, where our customers (most likely their parents) will feel a benefit for their children to be exposed to this lifestyle before moving away.

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!

The value is for both the students and their parents. For the parents, they will at least more sense of security and peace of mind, knowing that their kid(s) have been exposed to what it really means when living with other people. For the students, they gain also gain exposure, and will be able to handle situations more efficiently/peacefully compared to other students.

Step 3: Interview two 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 customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 

Person 1: Jordan Hricko, 15 years old

            Jordan, my cousin, is freshman in high school and she represents a decent age to go after with this new market. Although she is only 15 years old, there is no harm in being exposed to this workshop because this is a general life skill that people need to develop at some point in their life. That being said, she actually liked the idea of participating in a workshop or event related to living with roommates. Jordan told me she would rather be introduced to this way of life instead of being thrown into it, which happens to probably about 85% of high school graduates that leave for college. Interestingly, she told me that there shouldn’t be any adaptations because she wants the true experience of all the implications of moving out for the first time.

Person 2: Daniel Labrador, 18 years old

With Daniel, he represents our ideal customer because this is a time period where parents should be growing worried about their children moving away. Daniel also told me this is great idea, though he wouldn’t be sure if his parents would be able to find this service on their own, that is, it would have to reach them in some way. In a prior assignment, I wrote that social media will not be too important for my company, but considering this new market, I would have to create social media geared more towards parents. This was the biggest adaption he told me I would need.

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. 

What surprised me the most was that both of them weren’t against participating in such a workshop, and showcased curiosity for the idea. Because they had no experience living with roommates, I had anticipated for them to not understand the true and unseen complexities of living with roommates. This is a significant indication because it shows that they are also my customer as well, when I thought the parents would really be the only people who cared. Although this is an extremely small sample size, it something a company loves to see happen when you have more customer segments than anticipated.

In truth, this new market does seem more attractive than selling directly to the University of Florida. Although it would play to be more logistically challenging (with social media and traveling especially), the market would be easier to exploit. In comparison, UF has more rules, would have to agree to absorbing the risks involved with a third-party company providing educational material, and would be much more of a challenge to sell to. Knowing this, I have decided to shift to the workshop/event concept, rather than have UF as my sole customer; as there is fewer risks for the company and hurdles to pass for the company!

Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

Generate a list of all of the resources in your venture (produce a list of at least 10 resources that you already possess). This can include your human capital, social capital, financial capital, and capabilities. You may also discuss the organizational culture you intend to create (but, obviously, it's not a resource that you have, now.) 

Note: this list is not for my current age but probably when I am 25-30 years old, where I have already completed graduate school and have some work experience in my field (in this scenario, it would include prior work experience within the University of Florida).  

1. Highly educated, motivated, and inspired staff (all hand-picked).

2. Solid connections and contacts within the University of Florida system.

3. My education in business – includes a sizeable network of past professors, classmates, and current friends that might, theoretically, be eager to help me out in times of struggle or situations where I am lacking the necessary knowledge to complete that project.

4. Relatively low operating costs (do not have a massive office space or large amounts of inventory to handle).

5. Relaxed though structured/organized company culture where innovation and freedom of opinions are nurtured, and lack of inspiration or complacency is not.

6. My innate ability to over-analyze practically everything, which at times can be harmful, although for the most part, it helps keep me on my toes and prepared for future events.

7. My very, very competitive nature. If I genuinely enjoy what I am doing, I will do anything to maintain an advantage over my competition (this is rooted in my 11 years of playing baseball).

8. Even though social media will not play a huge factor to our growth and success, we will be connected on every social media platform so that our product can start growing an audience (which can be exploited in the future).

9.  Employee benefits and programs. For the general well-being of the company, I prefer investing more into my employees than having them paid more and dreading to come to work.  

10. New class material that can be potentially sold to outside clients (i.e. not universities).  

Conduct a "VRIN" analysis for each resource. That is, describe, for each resource, how it is valuable, rare, inimitable (how hard it is to copy by others), and non-substitutable (are there other resources that can provide the same benefits?). 

1. It is common for companies to acquire highly educated employees, although it is generally rarer for the employees to be consistently motivated. My employees would be highly motivated because they are working on something that is not ordinary. Furthermore, I would search for employees that have experienced some type of issue when living with roommates in college, and thus their prior frustrations translate into more effective innovations because they physically experienced it.

2. Because UF is my primary buyer, the contacts and connections made while working at the University of Florida will provide me with an extra boost of reputation upon pitching to them. This resource is similar Stanford graduate selling their idea to venture capitalists or angel investors in Silicon Valleys, where they might feel more inclined to help you. This would be considerable hard to imitate or substitute because UF would obviously have to employ you first. 

3. The connections I make through the course of my educational career are quite invaluable and should not be overlooked or taken for granted. My friends and professors will be substantially more proficient in certain areas than I am, for they either majored in that area or have experience in that field. Knowing this fact, I would even think of people who would be willing to help me prior to launching the start-up. Plus, they will have a vastly network different from yours and can refer you to someone else if need be.

4. For my company, the expenses will be allocated almost entirely to product development, research, and wages since we are selling an online course with few physical materials that would be administered to the students. Whereas larger companies have to handle with higher operating expenses, Roommates for Change will not be entirely affected by this until we diversify to other instructions or customers.  

5. When I imagine my company culture, I want my employees to be comfortable and not battle through the burdens of boredom or feel confined to just their job title and cubicle. Further, the office space will incorporate an open design to encourage teamwork and interaction. If a company can somehow create constructive relationships from coworker to coworker, they will be allowed to complete their best work and even suggest outside projects – apart from their job description; and thus, it is extremely difficult to imitate a company that is self-innovating from within.

6. As described in the list, it is normal for me to over-analyze situations, which can perhaps play well or be detrimental to me. With that said, this is part of who I am, and therefore the success I have experienced in life has been at least somewhat a result of this behavior. This resource would be pretty easy to imitate if the person (or competition) thinks in a similar that I do, where every little detail of a plan is considered fully.

7. This is perhaps the most shared resource among business owners and people in general, though it is still an incredibly valuable trait to possess. Logically, other resources cannot provide this because being competitive is its own separate thing entirely, whereas you can have talent and lack the hunger to win.

8. Social media nowadays is not rare, it is substitutable, and very easily to replicate. Moreover, it is the intangible value of your product reaching your customers that makes social media an opportunity that must be exploited as a business, regardless if you do not entirely need it.

9. I am sure countless firms have great incentives and employee programs, although when I walk around my father’s office (works for CenturyLink), I instantly feel a little bored. Although the cubicles are nicely sized and the break-room is well maintained, there isn’t a culture. Granted, he works in a corporate office holding more than fifty people with employees separated into different sections. Because my company would be considerable smaller, I would offer great programs for my employees, such as more vacation days, exercise programs, catering, etc. To cultivate a work environment where employees show compassion with their coworkers while still producing excellent work, now that is a challenging task to accomplish!

10. The products my company creates do not have to be limited to the University of Florida, meaning I would have the freedom to adjust to the needs of other outside customers. In doing so, we might learn new aspects of our business that have gone unnoticed and take on more creative and unique projects. Promoting this innovation grants employees the opportunity to go outside their comfort zone and feel more impactful to the firm, where this much more challenging to do in larger companies.

After conducting the VRIN analysis, determine what your top resource is. Explain why it's more important to your venture than all of the other resources.

My top resource would have to be the connections and contacts I made over my educational career (#2). This resource is the hardest to substitute or replicate because these contacts form your distinct personal network to friends, professors, and perhaps prior coworkers that will be willing to help you (depending on the person and projects obviously). These connections will be useful when you get stuck on certain aspect of your business but just need that bit of expertise or opinion I would be lacking. Plus, there is so much value of just keeping these relationships active because one day they might be asking for my help as well.