30A – Final Reflection

1)     My favorite moments in the class were when the assignments were very simple and straightforward. The ones that were much longer and required a lot of my time weren’t my favorite to do. Overall, the class was a nice experience and wasn’t that difficult, just a little time consuming.

2)     I liked doing the elevator pitches a lot. It challenged me to give my best effort. I was very proud of myself for doing those assignments because I typically hate talking in front of cameras as I get nervous and anxious.

3)     Now that the semester is over, I don’t know if I’d fully say I’m an entrepreneur. However, I will say that I’ve definitely developed an entrepreneurial mindset. I look at things differently now and I’m always looking to maximize any opportunity given to me.

4)     I’d say to any future student to stay on top of the class. The class isn’t hard, but you need to stay on top of things to make sure you lose no points. Watch lectures to ace the cupcakes. Also, get assignments done early in order to have time to revise it later on. Do all those things and you’ll be fine.

29A- Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

High school athletes see their dreams of playing college sports come to an end every day because they get offered 0 scholarships to play in college. An underlying reason for this is that these athletes aren’t getting enough exposure to even get a chance at a scholarship to play at the next level. When it comes to athletes not getting scholarships, it can be for a variety of reasons such as they’re simply not good enough to play at the next level and sometimes its injuries. However, I’m going to focus on the not getting enough exposure as the main reason why. To combat athletes not getting enough exposure, I planned to create a website in which it allows them to upload they’re high school highlights. First off, they would obviously need their parents or friends to film them during games and practices. However, once this is done, all they would need to do is upload the videos to their respective account. This platform would allow individuals share their accomplishments with the sports world. By having a website that exposes college scouts to these high school athletes, it gives them a better shot at being noticed and ultimately a better shot at receiving a scholarship. In defining who has this need, it’s obviously high school athletes. In defining the nature of the need, its in place to help high school athletes get more recognition. I think this opportunity could be a huge game changer in that in could help so many people out.

Innovation.

So basically, with the website, athletes create a profile and add all their details they want. (Sports they’ve played, position, dreams and aspirations etc.) However, it is 10 dollars a month for an anyone to have a page of their own. I think this fee is more than do-able and if these athletes end up getting significant recognition from the website, I find it to be such a good deal. Furthermore, once athletes make their respective profiles, they can then start uploading all their highlights and game tapes. From simple drills, to full game tape, to a neatly put together highlight real, anyone will be able to show off their skills. Once everything is uploaded, athletes can give scouts a link to their profile and hopefully good will come from it. Additionally, by giving the website link to their head couch, their head coach can then email your profile to all their different connects they have. In turn, this will be very beneficial to the athletes as they will be getting a lot of exposure.

Venture Concept.

As previously stated, my innovation will do the best job possible at trying to solve the problem of high school athletes not getting enough recognition. Customers will buy my innovation as it will give them a great opportunity to gain recognition in hopes of landing a scholarship at the collegiate level. If a high school athlete is already getting recognition from colleges with offers, they won’t need my website. However, the low-key athlete whose very goof but hasn’t gotten much recognition will find comfort in my service. I think they’d use my website in a heartbeat. The only competitor I know of would be the website Hudl. They offer similar benefits to my innovation. My overall business concept is pretty straight forward and simple as everything runs online. I think once a few athletes start getting some recognition from using the website, the customer support will skyrocket as they’ll see the website has many benefits. I hope all customers have a great experience. If they don’t like the website after using it, they can cancel their subscription any time they want. In total, I’d have a few employees in order to keep track of all the new users registered and what not. The other employees would be making sure that the customers are paying with a valid credit card. In total, I’m very excited about my venture concept and I think it could very successful.

Secret Sauce

I think my ventures secret sauce is that it’s the best bang for your buck. If an athlete is struggling to get recognition, and they see my website, for only 10 dollars a month they’ll basically be investing in their own future by giving themselves a great shot at getting some much needed recognition. You cant beat that and they can cancel whenever they want. It’s simply too good of an investment to pass up.

 what’s next for the venture-

My main goal with the venture is too successfully get these athletes the recognition they deserve. I hope at least 35% of my users get offered a scholarship or some sorts to play at the collegiate level.

Next for me-

I plan to have the company for a very long time. I hope I can help many athletes over the years. After 10 years or so, if I receive a lucrative offer, I will probably take it.

2) I didn’t submit any initial venture concept, so I didn’t have any feedback to go off of.

3) This is my first venture concept officially submitted.

28A – 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?

I plan to sell my business within 7 years in hopes of a large return. If 7 years have passed and a large offer doesn’t appear, I’ll likely hold on to the business till get an offer I like. If that big offer never comes around, I’ll leave the business to my children for them to take over.

2)     Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I selected this strategy as I’m an adventure seeker. I have no desire to have a business for like 50 years because that’s boring to me. I like to switch things up and try new experiences (within good reason). If my business is booming for a long time and I sell it for a good price, ill take my family on a nice vacation where I’ll then plan my next course of action.

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?

My exit strategy hasn’t influenced much. I’ve always known my plan so with every decision I’ve made, I’ve had the long term goal in mind each step along the way.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck

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

               The main theme in here is defining the 2 different types of mindsets and explaining why they’re good and bad. With a fixed mindset, one thinks talent is everything. With a growth mindset, one thinks they can do anything they set their mind too, no matter the circumstances.

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

               This book only enhanced what I learned from this class. Having that entrepreneurial mindset to take risks and be the best version of yourself ties in with this book neatly.

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

I would create a multiple-choice questionnaire involving many different scenarios and based off everyone’s answers, they would be either identified as an individual with a fixed mindset or as an individual with a growth mindset. With these results, the people will be able to reflect on themselves and make changes to their life if they want.

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?

I didn’t know there were multiple types of mindsets. I also came to the realization that a fixed mindset really isn’t ideal and that individuals should strive to develop a growth mindset.

26A – Celebrating Failure

This past semester I dropped the ball when I didn’t study well enough for my midterm in my other class. I started studying too late and ended up getting a 72 on the midterm. Although I later recovered by getting an 85 on the final and scores of 97 and 95 on the 2 main papers in the class. However, I only ended up with an 87 B+. Even though that’s not a bad grade at all, I think of it as a failure as I thought I’d get an A in the class and I came up short because I didn’t study well enough. Through this I learned sometimes things don’t go as planned and that’s okay. I changed up my study habits after the midterm and did much better in the class. Lastly, although no one likes failure, I also think it plays a key role in being successful. Failure humbles individuals and challenges them to rise to the occasion to overcome a challenge or obstacle. The individuals who fail only gain experience and new skills and eventually it’ll all pay off and it’ll be the reason they end up being successful one day. This class has only enhanced my outlook on failure and I will definitely take risks when I feel it's the right choice.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market. 

My next step regarding my venture would be to see if Chick-fil-wanted any additional food products/meals to be tested on the open market. If Chick-fil-a isn’t interested in doing business anymore, I’d have to come up with different food options to pitch to other potential fast-food restaurants.

I interviewed all 3 of my roommates. They all eat Chick-fil-a regularly and when I told them about my idea, they were fully supportive. When I asked them what should be my next move, my first roommate said that I should my relationship with Chick-fil-a by officially joining the company in some fashion as a worker. Whether that’s working for an individual franchise somewhere or by working behind the scenes in some corporate level position, my roommate urged me to stay with the company in some fashion. My second roommate thinks that I should start advertising new food products to other fast food restaurants like Wendy’s, McDonalds, BK etc (rather than staying with Chick-fil-a). My last roommate offered the biggest plan in that he thinks I should just open up my own restaurant and then I can sell whatever I want. Although that idea is tempting, it’s also expensive to do that so maybe when I’m a little older I can look into that.

In terms of growing my existing market, I’d like to continue working with Chick-fil-a by continuously always pitching new foods to sell to the public. If they aren’t interested, ill need to bring my talents elsewhere.

New Market

Rather than focusing on the fast food restaurant business, I’m interested in learning more about the bakery industry. I love all kinds of desserts and bakery style food items. If I could create some new dishes and pitch some of my ideas to already established bakeries for them to possibly sell to the public, I’d be happy.

I interviewed 2 of my classmates.  Both of them have experience in working for Ice Cream shops so they know what I’m talking about. My first classmate said that I need to be outside-the-box in pitching new desserts to the already established bakeries because they are always looking for new creative dishes to sell to the public. My other roommate fully supported my idea and was even willing to get me a meeting with one of her old bosses (who owns an ice cream shop) to discuss some potential ideas.

Overall, I learned that the bakery industry isn’t that easy to be successful in. However, I’m willing to try and see what happens. I still think my existing market is more attractive as I have so much more foods to work with in pitching new meals. Whereas in the baking industry, there’s a very limited selection of foods that they make and sell so its way more restrictive in that sense I’d say.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1)     Having access to individuals who know how to make these quality meals

Value: Very valuable.

Rarity: This is not rare because a lot of people have a variety of worldwide connections.

Imitability: imitability is high as anyone can make a chicken alfredo meal. However, the key distinction is the QUALITY in the individuals who know how to make it.

Non-Substitutability: The only other way to provide this is to get another chef of less-quality.

2)   Having access to individuals who know how to market new meals to the fast-food restaurant consumer

Value: Very valuable.

Rarity: I think this is sort of rare as most people don’t know people like that on a first-name basis.

Imitability: Imitability isn’t high.

Non-Substitutability: Yes, other people can do the job but how well will they do it?

3)     Willingness to accept failure

Value: Very valuable. Some can’t accept this, and it ends up costing them their whole business

Rarity: While not extremely rare, I do think most will keep their doubts in the dark rather than being open about it.

Imitability: This mindset can be copied.

Non-Substitutability: No.

4)     Start-Up Business Experience

Value: Very valuable.

Rarity: Not very rare as many people have experience in starting up businesses whether they end up good or bad.

Imitability: I highly doubt someone is pitching the same idea as me

Non-Substitutability: Sure, other people have experience but I doubt there are other alternatives.

5)     Unique Idea

Value: I think my idea can be very valuable, only time will tell.

Rarity: Unique= rare.

Imitability: A competitor could replicate my idea; however I don’t see the success rates being high.

Non-Substitutability: Don’t think so

6)     Being Able to Learn on the Fly

Value: Very valuable. Helped me a lot in school growing up.

Rarity: I think it is rare as many people have many different great skills. However, a lot of people can’t just learn things and then do them

Imitability: This is a very hard skill to imitate because for a lot of people, it takes time to learn and process things

Non-Substitutability: Being good at other things can take the pressure off being a fast learner. (i.e being a fast reader, or a good listener)

7)     Having People Who Support my Idea

Value: Very valuable.

Rarity: Not very rare as a lot of people have support from their friends and family

Imitability:

Non-Substitutability: Support can come from anyone and can come in a variety of ways.

8)     Simple Idea Being Pitched

Value: Very valuable to me because I think the benefits could be great.

Rarity: I think my idea is rare as I’ve never heard about it in the real world.

Imitability: Many ideas can be replicated

Non-Substitutability Nope.

9)     Everyone Loves Chick-Fil-a

Value: This is very valuable because almost any new product that Chick-fil-a tests on the open market, it usually always gets much attention from consumers. This trend will only help me in my idea to pith new chicken related meals at Chick-fil-a.

Rarity: It is rare for an establishment to get so much recognition for its food and service.

Imitability: Very hard to copy the love Chick-fil-a gets in comparison to other fast food restaurants.

Non-Substitutability: Perpetual industries could be substituted with just a long-lasting one or a very short-lived industry, both can be profitable like a perpetual one.

10)  Being a Risk-Taker

Value: This is valuable because if one doesn’t take risks, success may never be found.

Rarity: 50/50. Some play it safe and others take risks all the time within the business world.

Imitability: You either take risks or don’t.

Non-Substitutability: You either take risks or don’t.

I think my top resource is my willingness to accept failure if I gave it my all. If my idea pops off and is a great success, then great for me. If my idea doesn’t do as well as I thought it would, I’m okay with that because I gave it my all and wasn’t afraid to take a chance.