Final Reflection

Howdy! Here is the final reflection about ENT3003.

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?

• Having to practice interviewing people throughout this class was definitely the most formative experience I've had this semester.  There wasn't any experience that I know I'll definitely remember years later unless I stumble across old YouTube videos that I recorded for this class.  I am proud of myself for completing the course.

Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

• I still don't see myself as an entrepreneur.  However, this class did give me a new perspective and a good insight on the entrepreneurial mindset.

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?

• To students choosing to take this journey, I would recommend checking the due dates regularly and just being confident about your work over all.  To foster that mindset, practice.  That's somewhat of a simple answer, but through practice and the feedback from my classmates, I was able to develop this mindset.

....And that's that! Done! Have a good summer everyone!

Week 15 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is the week 15 reading reflection. Enjoy!

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
• There was nothing I found surprising about the reading.
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• Nothing was confusing about the reading.
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• How is entrepreneurship different in India than in the United States? If there were drastic differences, how quickly/not quickly did you adjust to it?
• It would be interesting to know how culture would affect innovation in business.
• Are there any business strategy aspects that are unique to your business?
• In the article, the author mentions how his business strategy was based on American fast-scaling consumer businesses. Their original input would be interesting to compare to these strategies.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There isn't anything I thought the author was wrong about.

Venture Concept No. 2

Howdy! The following is my second attempt at the venture concept.  Enjoy!

VENTURE CONCEPT

OPPORTUNITY

The major need of customers is one that promotes energy saving and also is an affordable convenience.

If the word “environment” is taken literally, the fact that energy is constantly being wasted helps create this opportunity. Generally speaking, however, the fact that the current market has not changed in such a long time also generates potential opportunities.

The market for this product would be those with access to electricity. The product could be sold to people of almost all ages that are able to make conscious purchases for themselves, from young adult to elderly people. All age groups could use the product for its energy saving potential.

Customers are currently satisfying this need through getting up to make sure that every electric object is turned off whenever not in use. Based on the interviews from random customers, they seem to be pretty loyal to this process. Because of this, realistically speaking, this opportunity is moderately sized. This is because although it caters to almost every age group and demographic, it can easily be replaced by something that already exists (other conveniently located and accessible objects) or through people sticking with what they already do. Nonetheless, this “window of opportunity” will be open indefinitely until someone, whether it be a large company or a small business, decides to cater to the need of being a convenience to people while being energy efficient.

INNOVATION

My product is a battery-powered, infrared remote-controlled attachment that would adhere to the wall around a light switch. When activated via the remote, the attachment would either press the light switch in the on or off position. The light switch would still be able to be used manually, but with this attachment, one could turn off the light from a distance without having to leave their comfortable position.

This product will make money via selling the attachment for more than it costs to make it. The price would range from $25 to $35, varying by light switch type, the amount purchased, and whether or not batteries are included in the package. As demand increases, the price would definitely drop. The product would be available online via Amazon.

VENTURE CONCEPT

My innovation will solve the aforementioned opportunity by enabling people to remain in their comfortable positions while giving them the potential to save energy with ease. They will buy my innovation purely for those reasons. People love products that make their lives easier. Customers would switch to this new product because not only does it help prolong the users comfort, it also has safety bonuses, especially for older customers. Through the use of the light switch attachment, there is a decreased chance of falling down and injury. However, it would be difficult for consumers to switch from their current methods because they would not have to spend any money to continue to get up and manually turn on and off lights. There are not any major competitors, but the existence of desk lamps and overhead lights that are already remote-controlled may sway consumers from purchasing my product. However, since not everyone has lamps on their bedside table or can afford built in remote-controlled lights, customers would be more inclined to buy my innovation.  This is what would make my product different: the affordability and accessibility.  

Since the product would be distributed through Amazon, the shipping costs would follow their standard (the product would be prime eligible). Business location and packaging would not have any influence on my business concept for this reason too. As any online purchase goes, there would be a review system that would allow the business to address any concerns of any customer (Amazon also supports this) to ensure the best possible customer experience. The price may be a slight deterrent, thus making the growing process somewhat slow until lots of units are purchased. Nonetheless, the product would be affordable.

I would organize the business to have the attachments assembled in a factory by machines to eliminate the possibility of human error. They would then be transported to the Amazon distribution centers. The business would need employees to communicate with consumers online via the business' website, Amazon, and social media outlets. It would also need employees to transport the product from the factory to the distribution centers.

THREE MINOR ELEMENTS

I believe that my most important resource is a tie between the good network I currently possess and my knowledge of electronics. The former because every entrepreneur needs a good network to accomplish anything and the latter because it is the fundamental reason as to why the product would exist in the first place. The unique and genuine designs of the product would make it difficult for other companies to copy.

Once this venture conquers the initial opportunities, I would want to adapt the wall attachment to work with objects other than switches and buttons. As for specific ways I would apply the product, I am not sure yet.

If I were to launch this business, in five years I would want this product to be one of many successful creations that promote convenience and energy saving. However, within a decade of running this business (and hopefully several patents later), I would step down and let someone else within my company run it for me. I would still have partial ownership, but I would not be in control. Although this first venture made me see that I would not want to run my own business for too long, it also would have given me the irreplaceable experience of being an entrepreneur.

REFLECTION FROM LAST VENTURE CONCEPT

The feedback from my initial venture concept post was generally positive!

However, some of the people that commented wanted to know how my product would be different than those already out there. As I described in the last post, my product would be different from others in that it would be more convenient and affordable than having a new light system installed in their house.  Design-wise, it will be unique since there is nothing out there like it that looks similar. 







I did not change my venture concept too much based on the feedback.  I added what I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Google Gold

Howdy! Here is the post regarding the Google search engine and my experiences with it in refernece to my product.

1. A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 
• I actually did not try to pursue SEO.  I uploaded each post with the same general tags as required in the assignment.
2. What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?
• The keywords I used were strictly based upon the ones required for each assignment.
3. How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?
• I didn't use social media to advance my efforts at all.  I was always given the option to share my post to my Google Plus profile, but I did not want any of my schoolwork to be accessed from my social media profiles at all.
4. What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?
• My most "viral" post was the Idea Napkin No. 1 post (22 views and 6 comments).  I think this happened because it was the first time I clarified my business plan idea.  I doubt that keywords had anything to do with it.  Also, the fact that everyone in this course is required to comment on other peoples posts helped with that too.
5. Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?
• Technically speaking, my blog made it to the first page of the google results from one of the comments I made on another persons blog.  Otherwise, I could not find my blog on the first few result pages.  

Week 14 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is week 14's reading reflection:

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
• There was nothing surprising about the reading.
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• None of the reading was confusing to me.
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• Did you have any trouble creating a good environment for "in-house entrepreneurship?"
• I would ask this because it would be interesting to hear where the author had trouble in their endeavors.
• Which type of innovation do you prefer/apply more often: radical or incremental? Is there one you think is more effective?
• It would be interesting to know how the author would rather proceed in entrepreneurial advances.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There was nothing I thought the author was wrong about.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is my week 13 reading reflection.

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
•  There was not anything I found surprising.
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• There wasn't anything that was confusing to me.
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• When you started your business, how did you value your business?
• Since there's a lot of factors to take into account, I would like to know which factors they paid more attention to. 
• What was the greatest liability you had while making your business?
• I would ask this because liabilities take away from the profitability of a business so it would be interesting to hear how that affected the authors business.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There's nothing I thought the author was wrong about.

Celebrating Failure

Howdy! Here is my post on failure.

1. Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. 
• One time that I failed was earlier this semester.  I registered for a discrete math course. I failed not only the first quiz, but also the first exam.  I had studied for hours and hours before each of them. When I dropped the class I had around a 40%. 
2. Tell us what you learned from it. 
• I learned that discrete math is hard and that I am not good at it.  I also learned that knowing information is not the same as comprehending it.
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 four months ago?
• The way I handle failure has changed a lot from high school to now (my second year of college).  Before I would feel really embarrassed and be upset with myself for extended periods of time.  Now I accept the failure and move on since one can only move forward post-failing. Meaning the real failure would be not trying to better yourself afterward.  Each failure motivates me to try harder next time and I always learn from my mistakes.  This class has changed my perspective on failure in that I know it's okay to fail multiple times.  In terms of risk taking, I feel like I am not more or less likely to take a risk after this course.  I usually consider the consequences and take the risk based upon that.

My Exit Strategy

Howdy! Here is my 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 on selling my business within the first 5 years for a hopefully large return.  
2. Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?
• I have selected this exit strategy because my product is a pretty small venture so I wouldn't mind leaving it and moving on with my life.  
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 my exit strategy influenced my decisions thus far in that I set up everything so I could leave easily at any point with or without whatever resources I accumulate.  In terms of my opportunity identification skills, I thin it definitely has improved it.  I notice a lot smaller needs that others may not consider to be needs.  

Week 12 Reading

Howdy! Here is the assignment for Week 12's reading.

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
• There weren't any major surprises, but I thought it was interesting how much goes into growing a company/business idea (this could also be said for this entire course, but this chapter had a lot of the components listed).
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• There was no part of the reading that was confusing.  Everything was pretty straightforward (as per usual).
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• How did you retain your entrepreneurial frame of mind?
• The chapter lists several ways to do so.  I think it would be interesting to hear which ones the author used.
• How did you balance the responsibilities involved in growing a business or entrepreneurial firm? Is there anything you had difficulty with in particular?
• If I knew the struggles that the author had, it would give me an idea of what to keep in mind while growing in my entrepreneurial skills.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There was nothing I thought the author was wrong about.  I didn't disagree with anything they said.