Week 8 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? 

I have honestly been very curious this whole semester as to how entrepreneurs obtain their capital and the necessary finances to start their business. This chapter was all very interesting to me because of my lack of knowledge on the subject. But what had really stood out to me was equity financing. I have heard this term before but have never known what it actually meant, so it was interesting to read about it and the different sources that it can be raise through.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

Private placement was a little confusing to me at first. I had never learned about anything of this sort so it was completely new to me, making it a little difficult to understand. There are so many different parts with unusual names.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

1.) Would you say there is a best way to obtain capital for entrepreneurs? I ask this question because I would like to know his opinion on what he feels is best and appropriate, although it probably just depends on the entrepreneur and the situation he/she is in.

2.) Do you feel it is a good idea to turn around problem ventures, or is it better to just consider it a sunken cost and move on? I ask this because the author mentions general partners salvaging these ventures, so I wanted to know the authors opinion on this topic.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I didn’t think the author was wrong about anything. It’s very hard to disagree with a textbook since everything is backed up with facts and sources. The author doesn’t include opinions and is very thorough in his explanations.

Half-Way Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a skill.
Throughout this course we have been given numerous assignments with a large range of due dates. At the beginning of each week, I go through the assignment list and write down all the due dates in my planner. Then whenever I get a free minute, I would tackled the assignment, or I would just knock it out the day it was due. If you do slip up and miss an assignment, yellowdig is a great opportunity for extra credit. It helps you avoid being discouraged when you miss an assignment which has been really helpful. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude.
There were many times I wanted to give up. I don't want to be an entrepreneur and doing some of these assignments makes me very uncomfortable. I just remind myself that it's an experience that wil help me grow. Not everything I turn in is going to be perfect work, but as long as I'm trying, and experiencing, it's a good feeling. I remember absolutely NOT wanting to do the elevator pitch no. 2. I resented it because we had already done one and I got no feedback. But I just got in a positive mindset, went for it and got my points. You have to have a positive mindset in the class and not give up. If you have a negative mindset you won't want to do any of the assignments and you will fall behind. 

3) Three tips.
Confidence is key! Be confident in all that you are doing and you won't feel super uncomfortable and get discouraged.
Positive mindset is also key! If you are negative you won't want to do anything. And no one is there pushing you to do it, you have to have a lot of self motivation.
Which brings me to my third tip, self motivate! You have to create some sort of system to keep you motivated and on top of your work or you will fall behind and miss out on easy points. 

Week 7 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? 

The biggest thing that stood out to me in this reading is that the use of traditional demographics such as age, sex, education levels, and income are no longer considered to be the basis of a companies marketing strategy. Companies are currently taking the traditional demographics as secondary information and utilizing nongeographic trait information such as values, taste, preferences to better influence the consumer base’s purchases.

2)    Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The part of the reading about psychographic segmentations being used effectively to develop advertising, but not being effective in creating new products was very confusing to me.

3)    If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

  Do you think it would be more effective if when a company hired a new marketing officer, they required he or she to maintain the current market segmentation strategy that is in place for a one-year minimum? If the new marketing officer changes the strategy immediately, primarily to put their name on the project, then this new official may be making changes to an organization that he or she does not fully understand yet, ultimately putting the organization at risk.

What do you believe is the best way to determine which customers drive profits for a company? I’m curious if there is a certain protocol or method that is universally effective for all companies or does each industry have a more precise method to derive this information.

4)    Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I thought that everything the author said was correct, and have no disagreements. The author used reliable information and factual data to explain different marketing segmentation and to back up the points that were disclosed in the reading.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

This elevator pitch is about an app called "Lets Hang". An app geared toward friendship and matching people up with others that have the same interests. Instead of looking for an intimate relationship, those using this app will be looking for a platonic relationship.

Every single comment I received on my last elevator pitch was a comment about the business idea itself, and not personally about me or my elevator pitch. So I had nothing to reflect on about improvement or change. Sorry:( 

Customer Interview No. 3

For these customer interviews, I decided to try and branch off of my first customer interviews to dig deeper into peoples thoughts on having others shop for you. I wanted to do these interviews in a way that I didn't try and persuade the interviewee in any direction. I also tried to ask questions that would provoke them to think about how much their time was worth. I was going to make that connection to how much my service would charge.

With these customer interviews, I only interviewed college kids and I think that doesn't reflect the customer base I'm trying to reach out to. It's difficult, pretty much impossible, to interview the real customer I'm reaching out to. I would be searching for someone who feels too busy to stop for 2 minutes, making it challenging to have them stop to answer a college girls irrelevant interview questions.

Idea Napkin No. 1

Idea Napkin- "Shop-Ease"

About Me

Hi! My name is Rachel Slidell. I am currently a freshman at the University of Florida, with the credits of a junior. I have serving experience and experience working with kids. I like to keep my schedule very busy, which makes it difficult to get necessary things done, such as grocery shopping. I feel personally to this business idea because of how much stress the thought of having to go to the grocery store puts on me. Being only 19 years old with no income, I'm sure other people have the same feeling as me, and are also willing to pay extra for the convenience. 

About Shop-Ease

 Shop-Ease is a business teamed with grocery stores that goes around and does the shopping for the customer. For a small fee, the customer can pick up their groceries from the store, or for a larger fee, they can have them delivered right to their door step. 

About the Customer

The demographic that will be geared toward Shop-Ease will be those who feel too stressed and busy to go grocery shopping. It will most likely be families with both spouses working, who always have extra disposable income. It will also be appealing to elderly folk who find it difficult to make it to the grocery store. 

Why Care

This is important for those who want to allocate their time to different needs. Whether that be work, or family time, Shop-Ease will clear up your schedule making you less stressed and more available. 

We're Different

We care about the customer and the customers convenience. We want to make obtaining groceries as easy and smooth as possible. We want it to take less than 5 minutes to pay and have your groceries in your car. We want to make picking out your grocery list convenient and user friendly. Overall, we want to rid you of your grocery shopping stress.

I definitely believe these elements all fit together. Mainly because I felt I thought them up to fit together well. I wanted everything to align well so it all makes sense to the reader, and customer. I wanted to make it all understandable and convenient. The whole business motto is about convenience, so that idea laid out should be too. 

Interviewing Customers No. 2

1. I decided to think of a different opportunity this week. I wanted to talk to a different demographic, different customers than what I had done last week. So I began to think about social media. I thought about dating apps like Tindr, and how I could make an app similar to Tindr, but unique in its own way. So instead of "dating", I wanted to consider the idea of an app for finding friends, or just connecting to people you've never met. 

2. My who would be anyone who uses social media. I interviewed college students, not all of them had used Tindr before, but half of them had. 

3. I obviously did completely different interview questions than last week since I'm addressing a different opportunity. Here are my interview questions:

1. What do you use social media for?

2. Do you meet new people through social media?

3. Have you ever used a dating app, like Tindr?

4. If yes, have you ever met someone on Tindr?

5. Would you use an app to find (meet) friends?

6. Would you use an app to connect with strangers at specific events, or places?

4. Interviews:

5. I didn't find out much about this opportunity from my interviews. It seemed like people didn't really care for the idea of trying to make friends through an app, but they kinda liked the idea of connecting with strangers at specific event or places. Although, most of them didn't understand that question. It seems that people used social media for staying connected to people they are already friends with.

6. Three tips about interviewing customers:

1. Be confident.

2. Find people that want to be interviewed, or don't mind. 

3. Keep the interview under a minute, or no one will want to do it. 

Week 5 Reading Relfection

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? 

I was very surprised by how much must be considered when starting up a new business. There are so many pitfalls that seem very challenging to try and avoid on your own. Also, the “A New Venture Idea Checklist” is long and extensive. There are so many different perspectives of starting up a business that must be considered, or your business will fail.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I was pretty confused with the different roles in the failure prediction model. I didn’t really understand why the author was talking about an entrepreneur and manager relationship. I really didn’t understand what the author was getting at at all.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Could an entrepreneur delegate some of these responsibilities, like in the new venture idea checklist? I would want to ask the author this because I am interested in how one person can accomplish all of that on their own and have a successful business. I assume an entrepreneur can delegate, but then that makes me think of them more as a manager than an entrepreneur.

What do you think is a characteristic of an entrepreneur whom is able to successfully accomplish all of the responsibilities? I am curious what the author thinks makes an entrepreneur able to accomplish all of this to avoid a new start up failure.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I didn’t think the author was wrong about anything. It’s very hard to disagree with a textbook since everything is backed up with facts and sources. The author doesn’t include opinions and is very thorough in his explanations.