Week 11 Reading Reflection

I was somewhat surprised in this weeks reading that often technological innovations are the not the primary driver of successful new businesses, but rather the strength of innovative ideas instead. I was confused what "create value in your innovation strategy" meant, it seems to just be PR talk for "make your thing useful to someone" which seemed a bit self-explanatory. If I could ask the author two questions, I'd ask them what a useful tactic for discovering innovative ideas is, and what the next most important factor for business success other than innovation is. There was nothing I disagreed with with the author this week, I found it well written and agreeable.

Amazon Whisperer

The revenue drivers I can see existing for my current idea would be ad money, and  app purchase. Either I could offer my app for free and support it with adds, or have an upfront fee. The next offering should be something that further allows my customers to plan and manage their academic careers, maybe a system for sorting class assignments by priority and due date, or managing group projects. This could foster customer loyalty by making my products a line for enhancing academic experiences. The closest thing I could find to this was a program called siebel assignment manager. I could not find direct user review for it, but it seems very archaic and not user friendly, and only on computers. I would give it phone support, a totally renovated UI and look, and make it as user friendly as possible to appeal to broad audiences.

This potential product would increase the reputation of my product line as a series of high quality user friendly academic managing tools.

My Unfair Advantage

1. My college education in business. This is valuable, but not very rare, and easily inimitable. It could be replaced by experience in business theoretically.

2. Potential startup capital from family. This is valuable, reasonably rare, not too inimitable. It would be hard to get startup capital as an unproven venture with no track record, I would think

3. Technological prowess. This is very valuable in today's society, but not very rare, and easily inimitable. Theoretically one could replace this with someone to explain or do things for you.

4. Knowledge of the smartphone app market. This is somewhat valuable, but not all that rare, and somewhat inimitable. This is hard to replace, however and is an important skill I feel for penetrating an app-based market.

5. Access to entrepreneur resources via college. This is very valuable, but not too rare considering the size and number of other similar business colleges. Other resources exist for entrepreneurs, but its not very replaceable.

6. I have a car. This is important for getting around and meeting people for meetings, but not at all rare. Its not that important because I could always use public transportation, and is very replaceable.

7. A solid idea for my startup. This is extremely important, as businesses live and die on the quality of their concepts. Its not necessarily rare, but still very important and not at all replaceable.

8. Support network. Starting a company or launching a business plan can be very stressful, and having a network of friends and family is important not for business contacts, but for emotional support and stability. I'm confident that my friends and family are second to none, and absolutely irreplaceable.

9. Location. I currently live in a very active town full of college students, which is my businesses primary demographic. This is very valuable, somewhat rare, and not very replaceable. This will allow me to better access and interview my demographic.

10. Determination. I feel that I am very determined and driven to achieve my goals, This is extremely valuable to entrepreneurs. I cannot say for sure how rare or not rare my specific level of determination is among my peers. It is absolutely irreplaceable.

After performing this VRIN analysis, I feel that my most important resource is the strength of my startup idea. Without a strong, valid idea, every other resource doesn't really matter. It is by the strength of their concepts that businesses live and die, and while other resources assist or harm this, without that central concept, none of it would matter. A close runner up was my support network.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

In this weeks reading, I was surprised that the book claimed that most people would think market research would only support already known information. This idea seems strangely naive to me as an entrepreneur. I was also somewhat surprised by how in depth the book covered the financial aspects of this section, which seemed somewhat uncharacteristic compared to previous readings. I have previously taken multiple courses dealing with finance and accounting, such as financial accounting, so a lot of that did not really confuse me as I was already familiar with it. If I could ask any two questions, I'd ask what the cutoff point is for a market to be a 'niche' market, and I would ask how important it is for new entrepreneurs to understand about accounting before starting their business. There was nothing in particular I could disagree with in this reading, I found it all well written and agreeable.

Growing My Social Capital

I plan on having a future career in Dentistry, so I tried to contact people based on this.

The first person I contacted was Dr. Nossa, who is a dentist in Gainesville. He is a domain expert because he has worked in this field for many years. I had previously worked with Dr. Nossa and contacted him with e-mail. He has previously allowed me to volunteer with him at his practice. Knowing a practicing dentist will be useful for shadowing and potential letters of recommendation.

The second person I contacted was a man named Thomas Dithson, who I had met while volunteering at another clinic. He has worked in selling dental supplies for several years, making him a supply expert. I contacted him via e-mail that he had given me previously. Knowing him could allow me to gain info on the dental supplies market.

The final person I contacted was a pediatric dentist named Dr. Nealson, who I know from childhood as my own personal pediatric dentist. She is a market expert because she has worked and operated multiple dental practices and knows the market in South Florida. I contacted her via phone. She has previously allowed me to shadow her. Knowing her could be useful for getting information on how to open a practice in certain markets.

This experience differed from my previous networking experiences in that I had to directly reach and contact people, which I was not used to and was somewhat nervous about. In the future, I will mentally categorize network contacts by the specific niche they fill in my industry and how I can use that information to assist myself.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0g7CjH8fTU&feature=youtu.be

The feedback that I have received over the past two elevator pitches was useful to me in making this final third elevator pitch. The primary thing I was told in feedback was to make sure I am being dynamic and focused on the pitch, which I tried to do even more in this elevator pitch. Overall, people seem to think that my idea is solid and that I have found the right demographic to focus on for my idea. Feedback definitely helped me improve my elevator pitch.

Idea Napkin No. 2

 My name is Jordan Lopez, I am a 3rd year Business Admin. major and am planning on going to Dental School after I graduate. I am good at public speaking. If I were to start my business idea, I would like to oversee it as I continue with my education. My product is an app that allows college students to get advising info without having to go to the adviser. This includes functions like planning out future semesters, checking degree audits, and viewing class catalogs. This allows students to avoid going and waiting in lengthy lines to get simple questions answered. The demographic for this product is college students, plain and simple. From freshman to senior, this app is useful to all of them. College students are busy, and advisers can have limited hours and long lines to see them. With that in mind, being able to pay 99 cents to download an app to have their questions answered and more would be a very attractive deal. But an even better way to get this app out to students would be to market it as a service to specific schools that could pay for it on their students behalf, making it a free bonus for students of that school What sets me apart from others with regard to bringing this idea to life is my skill at thinking through prospective demographics, public speaking skill, and knowledge of the app market. I believe I have a detailed and thorough understanding of the app market that few others have through my extensive research on the subject.

I think my elements all fit together very well, my demographic is very on-point and I believe my idea to be sound. The only real weakness I feel in my business plan is that developing and running an app is not totally congruous with my plan to go to Dental School.

The biggest and only feedback point I got from my comments on my last Idea Napkin was that I should make the app be available for free to students. I could accomplish this by selling the app to the schools so they could provide it to the students for free. This makes the app easier to access as students do not have to pay upfront for it, and works for the schools as its a nice bullet point on their advising website.