30A - Final Reflection

2. The first exercise was probably the most difficult assignment and was really what catalyzed forming an entrepreneurial mindset for me. We were asked to create a "bug list" of 20 opportunities / problems that we could find. I remember at first thinking to myself how in the world I was going to do that, because 20 seemed like a lot. Overall, after completing this exercise, I could not help but notice that weeks and even months afterwards leading up today, I was constantly looking around for opportunities that presented themselves to me in everyday life. It is definitely an exciting experience to change the way that you think about the world in general, and I have become far more open minded and logical about the way I see things since. I think it was this experience that will stick with me for years to come. I cannot shake the way I view the world now. My most joyous and proudest moment was creating the third elevator pitch. I generally love giving presentations and talking in front of people, so to be able to do that for an exercise three times was just enthralling. However, at the end of it all, looking back at the progress I have made is a feeling I cannot put into words. Generally, looking back at things that I have written in the past brings back feelings that I had during the time, whatever I was dealing with. And to be able to see the changes I have made all along the journey brings me both pride and joy.

3. I definitely have developed a more acute entrepreneurial mindset towards the end of the semester. The exercises that we had to complete were very challenging and demanding at some times, but I do not regret a single minute that I put into it. As mentioned above, I have been constantly been looking for problems that need solutions, not only for the general world, but for myself as well. I have never made such drastic changes in my life then after starting this class. I am incredibly glad that I signed up for this class and followed through till the end.

4. The biggest, most important recommendation that I could give to any student who is planning on taking this course is to not approach this class is to not view the work as any other class. Do  not look at the assignments as every other class they are taking. Look at each assignment as an opportunity, and opportunity to expand your entrepreneurial mindset and to develop a skill set. This class was by far the best class I have ever taken, and I am thankful for the opportunity. I would also, of course, recommend to never procrastinate, because sometimes the assignments, if not looked at before, can require you to go out and do interviews or can just be straight up demanding in the amount of work that  is needed to complete them.

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Part 1

Gator Parking        

            The main opportunity that is associated with my venture concept is to meet the unmet needs of UF students around campus. The unmet need that my service is targeted towards is finding available parking spots around campus. The problem is that UF students who have vehicles at campus have trouble finding available parking spaces, and often leads to a lot of stress and a lot of wasted time when they do go out to find a spot, if there are any available. The problem also reaches out to students who currently use scooters to get around campus, because they were forced to purchase one in order to get around campus, and hopefully my service will make it so that they will be able to avoid another major purchase just so that they can find parking efficiently. Changes in environment that create this opportunity are increases in population. With increases in population, parking doesn’t and therefore it becomes harder to find spots. Geographically and demographically, this need extends mainly to UF students who are currently living on campus, since they will be the main group facing the problem. Currently these students are satisfying their needs through two options: either by utilizing bus services or by purchasing a scooter. Through this, they are loyal either to the RTS bus system or companies that sell scooters respectively. This opportunity is not as big as it could be, maybe extending to possibly 30,000 – 40,000 potential customers at the current time. This window of opportunity should be available for as long as the University of Florida remains open.

            The main innovation that would be incorporated would be consisted of two parts. The first part would be creating new parking room around campus. There are many spots that are underutilized that could be better used if parking spaces were created. An example would be the Broward Parking garage, which is relatively close to where I live. Currently, it is only available to certain people, such as teachers or staff during the day. Because of this, at many times during the day the garage is relatively empty when many students could be using that parking space. This part would generate no profits whatsoever and would merely be the first step into creating a successful business opportunity. For the second part, the part that would make me profit, I would mark certain parking places for “premium members”. Basically, my service would allow students to pay an up charge of $75 a semester to have access to these parking spaces. Approximately 50% of these spaces would be marked for premium students. On top of this, I would have an app that my customers can utilize to figure out which parking spots around campus are open. I would offer other options, such as premium for a week for $10, and premium for a month for $25. Overall, I would want to force students to purchase the $75 package because it is the best deal and would generate the highest profit at no extra cost. This would be how I would make my main source of revenues and profits. I believe that this is a fair price point because the cost of a full semester of parking is relatively cheap compared to tuition costs and housing. It also costs less than the average textbook, so I think that students will be willing to spend money on my services.

            The innovation of premium parking spaces via using an app available to students would be the venture that would solve the problem and work together with my opportunity. Basically, it would solve the needs of the students listed above at a relatively low cost. Customers will purchase my innovation simply for the fact that it will reduce stress and will make them feel more comfortable using their car around campus. Students who have purchased a car already or are currently paying for their own gasoline or insurance should really have no extra problem buying premium parking memberships simply because the price point that I am offering is marginally below the cost of owning and maintaining a car. Personally, I would be willing to cash out $75 for a semester of hassle-free parking, and many of the people that I interviewed agree with me throughout the process. A reason that people would be willing to switch to my service is because it is cheaper to pay $75 a semester or $600 for their extended time at UF than to go out of their way to purchase a scooter for $1000+. Because of this, I believe that it may be easy to get new customers to switch to my service, especially if they are new incoming students who were previously thinking about purchasing a scooter. The main competitors would be the RTS bus system and companies that sell scooters. The weakness of the RTS system is that waiting for the correct bus and then actually getting to the destination that you are trying to go is often a hassle and not worth the time or effort. The weakness of scooter companies is that their products that they are offering are almost at double the price point of what I am offering. On top of this, many students already own their own cars. Business location, customer experience, and price point play the biggest role in my service, because these are the main areas that I am targeting to satisfy the needs of my customers. I would have relatively few employees: I would need people for customer support via the app, people to handle accounting, and people to paint and maintain the parking spaces for my company.

            My most important resource and secret sauce would be our incredible customer support. I want to offer my customers the best possible experience so that they will be more willing to maintain their loyalty and support. The next step of the venture would be to extend to other university campuses around the nation, because I am sure there are many other places that have similar issues to UF. I want to be able to expand this beyond just University Campuses as well. I want to be able to reach other facilities that face this problem. For instance, theme parks in general face parking issues as well as any other places that have big events. If I were able to reach out beyond my original scope, I will be able to reach more people who have more money to spend, therefore, giving me increased profit potential. Finally, in 5 years all my customers should be satisfied with their results and we should expand and be nationwide. I will take my experiences and skill sets to other technological based businesses that can help people all around the world.

Part 2

A lot of the feedback that I received was incredibly helpful. The main thing that intrigued me was how can I take my business further than I already have. The answer that I have come to is to expand my opportunity to other university campuses. Right now, my idea is primarily focused on students at UF. However, I can expand this to other places, not just campuses as well. This will allow me to target people who have more money and are more willing to spend on parking spaces. Another piece of feedback that I received was to maybe change the name "premium" to something else, as this can drive some potential customers away. My goal is not to separate students from each other based on wealth, rather to make parking more convenient for everybody, which is why it will be cheap as it is: less than the cost of a single textbook.

Part 3

I changed the last part of my venture concept based on the feedback that I received. I want to expand my opportunity to more places than just the University of Florida. I want to reach other potential markets who are filled with customers with a very similar need. The more people I am able to reach, the more money I will be able to make and the more people I will be able to solve a problem for. I can use this to build up a higher valuation for my company, and in the long run, if it comes to selling it, I will be able to ask for a higher price for my business because it will be worth more.

Part 4

28A - Your Exit Strategy

1. The best course of action for me is after my business proves to be a success, I will probably continue to expand my business to other campuses around the nation. This would probably only be viable for a limited amount of time, because there are always competitors. After competitors enter the market and I see that my business is no longer as successful as it once was, I would sell my business to a bigger competitor, turn over a profit, and retire.

2. I selected this particular strategy because I really think it is the smartest thing to do. If I sell my business to another company, I will probably be able to make a lot more money than if I were to remain and the market and continue to operate. I would rather get out, get my money, and retire, than continue to deal with stress and potentially see my business go downhill.

3. I think that the beginning part of my exit strategy would allow me to expand my company to other areas to gain more profits. This has influenced the way in which I see my plans and how I ultimately want to expand and not just focus on one niche: The University of Florida. For this, I will have to have a more open mind and grasp at larger opportunities then to just remain in one spot. I do not want to just create a business and have no future plans for it. I definitely plan to grow and acquire more resources so that I will be able to establish my business in other places around the nation, which will require a lot more resources than just for one campus.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

1. The general theme and argument of the book is that we are entering into a new revolution of manufacturing. The idea is that this new manufacturing will not be done in factories, rather in households of the general population. This is going to be the driving force of the future economy. He argues that physical manufacturing behaves exactly like the digital world, and how 3D printers are incremental to success in the future.

2. It connected and enhanced my understanding in the new path that entrepreneurship is heading. Entrepreneurship is directly connected in a way in that it begins with the ideas of individuals. Entrepreneurship highly reinforces individual creative capacity, and whenever new technology is released, we should utilize it to turn our dreams into realities, as technology is constantly evolving.

3. If I had to design an exercise for this class, I would split the class into two separate groups. I would give one group only physical objects, and tell them to turn it into whatever creating they would like. For the other group, I would give them computers, and tell them to design whatever they like using a 3D software, and tell them to print it out via a 3D printer. This exercise would show the technology offers a lot more resources that were not accessible before, and it will also show that it paves a new path for entrepreneurs and their success.

4. By biggest aha moment from this book was when I connected what I did with creating an app to the general theme of the book. I was really able to connect with this book because in the past, I was able to utilize a computer and some programs to turn an idea into a sellable product. After seeing success on this side, I realized just how important technology is, and how it enables us as entrepreneurs to achieve many things that we were previously unable to do.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. A time last semester where I failed was when I attempted to workout and get in shape and started to go the gym but failed and gave up after about 2 weeks. I remember that I wanted to get healthy really badly and break my bad habits, but I eventually got lazy and gave it all up. I felt terrible after failing, but was not in the right mindset nor had realistic goals in mind to be able to succeed.

2. I learned a lot from this experience. I learned firstly that it doesn't matter what your goal is, you have to be doing it for the right reasons. I remember when I started working out, it was because there was a girl in my life. I wanted to get in shape for her, but she was not going to be in my life forever. I learned that I should only set a goal and go for it if I am doing it for myself, and myself alone. Another thing that I learned was that discipline is far more important than passion. Passion comes and goes, but discipline stays consistent and never wavers.

3. Failure is hard to deal with, but is necessary in the path to success. Every person that you hear about that is successful has failed many times. The thing is how they take the failure. Instead of attaching negative emotions to failure, they use it as a learning experience. They learn what to do and what not to do in the future. Failure is definitely an incremental part of success. It's definitely hard, as I learned, but I have recently started working out 3 months ago with a new mindset, and I am still going strong.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market

1. In terms of products and services that my business offers, I think that my next venture would be to target other Universities around the nation that have the same problem. With this, I would have to expand my resources exponentially, and this would only be possible if my first market at UF is a success and I am able to turn over a lot of revenue as profits to put back into resources.

2. The first student that I interviewed said that instead of simply targeting students at the University, I should also expand and reach out the staff members, teachers, and people that are visiting the campus. They said that I would have more potential customers if I were to do this and make even more money. The second student that I interviewed said that I should potentially try to expand to more than just Universities. They said that my services could also be applied to other places, such as theme parks and movie theaters on days in which they are busy and it can be difficult to find parking. The third student that I interviewed shared a similar opinion with the first, but said that I should also maybe try and target people who already went out of their way to purchase a scooter, and maybe could offer them a similar service, also expanding my market.

3. I think that based on my interviews, all three students shared really good ideas. For me, I think that I would like to stick primarily with students at this moment in time because I do not want my market to get over saturated with too many customers and a limited amount of space. Also, professors and staff already have designated parking spaces, so I think they would not need to utilize my service. i thought that the movie theater and theme park idea was interesting and that could be a potential area of expansion, but it would be harder to break into. The third idea was also interesting, and I could target people who have a scooter, but I would have to figure out whether it is worth the time and money or not.

New Market

1. And interesting concept would be a B2B market, in which instead of targeting customers (the students) I could target the Universities themselves and offer them my service as a way for them to deliver to the students on campus. If this was possible, then they would be in charge of creating new spaces and would greatly cut back on my costs and resources needed to achieve a similar goal.

2. My service would create value because it would be essentially doing the same thing. I would merely have to offer the technology via the University, and they could use my technology to offer the same service but through a more established business. Because of this, I would have lower costs and resources needed, but the University would also get a cut in my business so I would also be making less revenue overall. I would have to figure out the numbers to determine whether this would be beneficial to my success or not.

3. The two potential customers that I interviewed shared very similar opinions. They both said that it would be a really good idea, because through an established business model such as the university, I would have a greater outreach. They said that they are far more likely to purchase my service through the legitimate university website rather than a company that they have never heard of before. This adaptation would make my service more successful merely for the fact that I would have a greater amount of customers than before, therefore earning higher revenue.

Step 4 / Reflection:

    For the most part, the assumptions that I made were affirmed after conducting interviews with potential customers. I had assumed that if I were to offer the service being the technology and application to the university, they could then redistribute my service to the students. This would lead to greater outreach and overall higher profits. However, I would have to split the revenues with the university, but overall it would be beneficial to me as a entrepreneur.

    I think that this new market is even more attractive than my original proposed business plan. This would not only increase my revenue, but it could potentially change the way that parking is handled around the nation. On top of this, if I were to expand to other campuses around the United States, I would be marginally more successful with this business concept than the one that I proposed previously.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Gator Premium Parking

           
          The main opportunity that is associated with my venture concept is to meet the unmet needs of UF students around campus. The unmet need that my service is targeted towards is finding available parking spots around campus. The problem is that UF students who have vehicles at campus have trouble finding available parking spaces, and often leads to a lot of stress and a lot of wasted time when they do go out to find a spot, if there are any available. The problem also reaches out to students who currently use scooters to get around campus, because they were forced to purchase one in order to get around campus, and hopefully my service will make it so that they will be able to avoid another major purchase just so that they can find parking efficiently. Changes in environment that create this opportunity are increases in population. With increases in population, parking doesn’t and therefore it becomes harder to find spots. Geographically and demographically, this need extends mainly to UF students who are currently living on campus, since they will be the main group facing the problem. Currently these students are satisfying their needs through two options: either by utilizing bus services or by purchasing a scooter. Through this, they are loyal either to the RTS bus system or companies that sell scooters respectively. This opportunity is not as big as it could be, maybe extending to possibly 30,000 – 40,000 potential customers at the current time. This window of opportunity should be available for as long as the University of Florida remains open.

            The main innovation that would be incorporated would be consisted of two parts. The first part would be creating new parking room around campus. There are many spots that are underutilized that could be better used if parking spaces were created. An example would be the Broward Parking garage, which is relatively close to where I live. Currently, it is only available to certain people, such as teachers or staff during the day. Because of this, at many times during the day the garage is relatively empty when many students could be using that parking space. This part would generate no profits whatsoever and would merely be the first step into creating a successful business opportunity. For the second part, the part that would make me profit, I would mark certain parking places for “premium members”. Basically, my service would allow students to pay an upcharge of $75 a semester to have access to these parking spaces. Approximately 50% of these spaces would be marked for premium students. On top of this, I would have an app that “premium members” can utilize to figure out which parking spots around campus are open. I would offer other options, such as premium for a week for $10, and premium for a month for $25. Overall, I would want to force students to purchase the $75 package because it is the best deal and would generate the highest profit at no extra cost. This would be how I would make my main source of revenues and profits.

            The innovation of premium parking spaces via using an app available to students would be the venture that would solve the problem and work together with my opportunity. Basically, it would solve the needs of the students listed above at a relatively low cost. Customers will purchase my innovation simply for the fact that it will reduce stress and will make them feel more comfortable using their car around campus. Students who have purchased a car already or are currently paying for their own gasoline or insurance should really have no extra problem buying premium parking memberships simply because the price point that I am offering is marginally below the cost of owning and maintaining a car. Personally, I would be willing to cash out $75 for a semester of hassle-free parking, and many of the people that I interviewed agree with me throughout the process. A reason that people would be willing to switch to my service is because it is cheaper to pay $75 a semester or $600 for their extended time at UF than to go out of their way to purchase a scooter for $1000+. Because of this, I believe that it may be easy to get new customers to switch to my service, especially if they are new incoming students who were previously thinking about purchasing a scooter. The main competitors would be the RTS bus system and companies that sell scooters. The weakness of the RTS system is that waiting for the correct bus and then actually getting to the destination that you are trying to go is often a hassle and not worth the time or effort. The weakness of scooter companies is that their products that they are offering are almost at double the price point of what I am offering. On top of this, many students already own their own cars. Business location, customer experience, and price point play the biggest role in my service, because these are the main areas that I am targeting to satisfy the needs of my customers. I would have relatively few employees: I would need people for customer support via the app, people to handle accounting, and people to paint and maintain the parking spaces for my company.

            My most important resource and secret sauce would be our incredible customer support. I want to offer my customers the best possible experience so that they will be more willing to maintain their loyalty and support. The next step of the venture would be to extend to other university campuses around the nation, because I am sure there are many other places that have similar issues to UF. Finally, in 5 years all my customers should be satisfied with their results and we should expand and be nationwide. I will take my experiences and skill sets to other technological based businesses that can help people all around the world.

Word Count: 999

             

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

My list of resources:

1. Human capital in the form of people who can supply to me knowledge
2. Computer to develop application
3. Knowledge of campus layout
4. My knowledge of app development and computer programming
5. Money
6. Group of friends to test my application and get feedback
7. Potential partners
8. Information and feedback from customers
9. Somewhat close connection to construction company
10. Network with successful multimillionaire business man

VRIN Analysis of Resources:

1. These people include the people I described in the social capital exercise. They are valuable because they are already successful entrepreneurs themselves, they are rare because  I am a close friend with them, they are inimitable because it took a lot of time to get to know them on a personal level, but they are substitutable because they are not the only knowledgeable people that exist.
2. It is not necessarily valuable because you can have free access at the library, they are also not rare in today's day and age, it is easily copied, and there are many substitutes. This is probably not my most valuable resource.
3. It is valuable because I can utilize where the best places for parking are, it is not necessarily rare because everyone has access to it, it is easily copied, but there is no substitute because the campus remains unchanged.
4. It is valuable because it is something that takes time to learn, it is rare because not many people have this specific skill set, it is only copied in the way that other people can code my app for me, but would increase costs and decrease my level of control, and it is non-substitutable because programming is used specifically for coding apps.
5. Money is valuable because it will be used in almost every aspect of the business, it is rare only in the sense that having enough money will be hard to come by, it is easily copied because money can be used for everything, however, there are also no substitutes for it.
6. They are valuable because they can tell me what is right and wrong about my app, they are not rare because anybody I come across could be willing to test my app, they are easily copied, and there are many substitutes for them, including people that I interview / pay to test my app for me.
7. Potential partners are valuable because they bring specific skill sets and ideas to the table, good partners are rare because not everybody knows what they are doing, they are easily copied because anyone can be a partner, they are substitutable because there are a lot of people that can be my potential partner, although I would rather chose a close friend that I could trust with finances and responsible decision making.
8. Information and feedback from customers is incredibly important because it tells me what is good about my service and what needs to change, especially since these are the people that I am going to be selling to. They are rare only in the sense that I would have to find people that would actually want to utilize my service, and that does not include everybody. They are inimitable and have no substitutes because these are the people that I would particularly be targeting with my business.
9. This is valuable because certain changes to the parking would need to take place. This is rare in the sense that I could get potential discounts just because I am a close friend of this person. It is imitable, however, because there are many construction companies out there. There are also many substitutes.
10. This is very powerful and valuable because money is the driving force of any business. This is rare as well because not many people are close friends with already successful entrepreneurs. This resource is inimitable in the sense that it takes years to befriend somebody. There are also no substitutes for this resource.

Most Valuable Resource:

4. My knowledge of app development and computer programming.

I think that this is my most valuable resource because it is something that I spent years learning how to do. With this knowledge, I will be able to have complete control over the app that I create associated with the service I plan on offering. This will also allow me to cut down on costs. The most important aspect of this resource is the ability to have complete control over the design process of my business.

22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3

Video Link: https://youtu.be/QJWLX1D8hrU

Feedback: Overall, I received mostly positive feedback on my last elevator pitch. However, one thing that somebody said was to be a little bit more enthusiastic, and looking back at my second pitch, I could see that I was a bit monotone at times. I thought that it would be important to implement this change in my third elevator pitch, because first impressions are often a make or break kind of deal. I also thought that this was pretty inciteful because instead of just memorizing and regurgitating a pitch, I though it would be better to actually practice as if I were delivering it to somebody important, like a potential investor, etc. I did not think there was any feedback that was downright silly or wrong.

What I changed: Based on the feedback from my last pitch, I made a few important changes. Firstly, I cut back on the amount of time that I spent giving a back story or potential situation, and spent more time talking about what my product / service was actually offering. I also included the application that I was thinking of implementing as well as giving an actual decided price for what I would be charging to utilize my service. Finally, I made sure to be more enthusiastic, and since I already had my pitch pretty well memorized this time around, it was much easier to do. Overall, I thought that this pitch was the best out of my three.

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

1. The general argument of the book is that there are two types of people: there are people who have a fixed mindset and just take whatever is given to them and never achieve anything excellent in life, and then there are people with a growing mindset who can constantly expand on new ideas and opportunities and exploit them. Dweck argues that all people should adapt the latter, which is essential if anyone wants to reach a level of success that they are striving for.

2. I think that this book greatly builds upon the idea of "tenacity" that we have covered in class. I think that having a mindset and actually doing something requiring effort are two different things entirely, but the two ideas support each other. First a person must be able to have a growing mindset, and then they actually have to act on their desires in order to achieve their goals. It also goes to show how having a proper mindset is essential to having a successful business, which is what this class is mostly about.

3. If I had to design an exercise for this class based on the book that I read, I would split the class into two groups of students. I would then ask both groups to complete a particular assignment. Secretly, I would limit one group to a specific set of resources, while the other group I would allow unlimited access to all forms of resources. At the end of the assignment, the two groups would have to present the solutions that they came up with. Naturally, the group with more resources should do better, which would resemble and simulate the concept this book was about, and differentiate about how much somebody could achieve with a fixed mindset versus a growing mindset.

4. The biggest aha moment for me was that reading this book, not only does it apply to the entrepreneurial aspect of life, but the idea of having a growing mindset can be applied to almost every area of life. Although it is beneficial to having a growing mindset when attempting to create and maintain a successful business, one must also have a growing mindset in other aspects of life. It is often what one already does or habits they portray that are then reflected into their work ethic and will determine just how successful their business will be overall.

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

Person 1

1) They are the father of my friend. They currently own their own multi-million dollar business that deals with manufacturing and construction.

2) Domain Expert in industry

3) I met this person many years ago when I went to middle school. I spent a lot of time around my friend, and naturally it would always spark business conversations with his father when he would tell us what he was currently doing and giving us advice on how to start up ourselves. I called him for this particular exercise.

4) When we talked, he said that the basic principles of the business model were decent, but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done and rough edges that needed to be rounded out. He wanted me to go out and shadow him and have a discussion to see exactly what is entailed in the process, and if I would, then he would help me.

5) This is an expert in the field, who is worth tons in advice, experience, and knowledge that would most definitely help my business succeed and get on its feet.

Person 2

1) I once again talked to another father of my next door neighbor. This time, he works for a construction company as well that deal with supplying construction supplies to other parties.

2) Important Supplier In Industry

3) I have known this person since I was about 2 or 3 years old. I also made a phone call to him describing the situation I was in and the business I wanted to start.

4) He said that they would pretty much be able to supply with any construction materials that I would need if I had the money. This would be beneficial for long-term projects once it has established its presence. He was only concerned with the fact that I would have money to pay.

5) A supplier will be incredibly beneficial when it comes to supplying infrastructure of my business. He will be able to support the physical aspects of my business.

Person 3

1) This time, I talked to my aunt, who is an experienced computer and app developer over in in Poland.

2) Market Expert

3) I got on Skype to have a talk with my Aunt about my business. She is family, so I have pretty much known her for quite a long time.

4) They provided me with a lot of essential information when it comes to developing a flow and creating applications for successful businesses. She recommended that it would probably be important to have an application associated with my business that would make it possible for people to use on their mobile devices. She didn't expect anything in return because she is family.

5) This is incredibly beneficial to my business. Having an application would prove extremely useful to set up an efficient and reliable service to anybody who is trying to find parking spaces using their mobile phones.

Reflection: Instead of looking for potential customers, I had to instead look towards experts and potential partners. The difference here is that the people I talked to this exercise already had a lot of experience and were not necessarily suffering from the same problem that I am trying to solve. With this in mind, their main goal was seeing if there was any potential in creating a business that would both solve a problem and turn a profit so that they could get in on it. The difference is, that with a customer, they are only concerned with if their problem can be solved or not.

19A - Idea Napkin 2

1)You - My main aspirations are to set up a successful business that would make the life of other people first. One trait that I value is putting "solving a problem that people have" before "what profits I can make". I am very good at communicating with other people, and I think that this will definitely be a benefit to me when it comes to talking to other people about their issues. It will also be greatly beneficial for when I am networking an looking for potential partners.

2)What are you offering to customers - Reflecting on my last post, instead of focusing on the material product or service I am offering, I believe I am offering customers something much more intangible. I am offering a solution to their problem. I am offering convenience to my customers, I am offering a less-stressful parking situation for UF students.

3)Who are you offering it to - I am offering my product / service to anybody who currently is stressed out about the parking situation at campus. I am offering my product to anybody who currently owns a car and utilizes it to travel around campus.

4)Why do the care? - People will ultimately care because we already have stressful lives. People are constantly traveling around, working, meeting deadlines. Although it may seem like not a lot, one little addition to someone's life that cuts back on their stress can make a huge change to their life.

5)What are your core competencies - I personally have dealt first hand with a lot of these stressful situations. Because of this, I can easily put myself in my customer's shoes. I can better relate to their problems, and find the best way possible to come up with a solution.

These elements definitely fit very well together. There are a lot of aspects that go into a successful business idea, and the more varied and unique they are that help come up with a solution to the problem at hand, the better. I think that with my determination and creativity, I can definitely find a way to come up with the solutions that I need to the problem. It is important to keep in mind all the elements of the problem to fully solve it, including who has the problem, what solution I am offering, and why the customer would care.

Feedback Memo: None of the feedback on my last post was really critical or constructive. However, I still took the time to look over my original post and make the appropriate changes.
    1. Firstly I tried to answer the questions less literally to actually acknowledge the intangible benefits I am offering rather than focus on the product.
    2. Secondly I tried to keep it more brief than my last post to keep it concise and stop myself from going off on tangents.

18A - Create a Custom Avatar

My pro typical customer, and the avatars that I created for them, reflect a college student, who owns a car. They have a really nice car, that they spent a decent amount of money on, and would drive it to school everyday during high school. Over the years, they have both become accustomed to driving whenever they need to go out somewhere and have developed quite an attachment to it as well. After all, they worked really hard and spent a decent sum of money on it.

Now, it is time for them to go off to college, and they are planning on bringing their car with them. They drive all the way up to UF, and they park their car, go to their dorm, get settled in and ready for classes to start. Classes start, and after a week goes by, the figure they want to go out and have some fun Friday night with their friends. They go out and have a blast. They went to the movies to watch the new Avengers film, since they absolutely love Marvel and superhero movies. They then drive back, except there is one problem. There is no parking. Anywhere. They get heavily frustrated, annoyed, and upset. Eventually, they park their car at the commuter lot, and walk a mile back to their dorm. Their car sits there for the next few weeks, unused.

Thanksgiving break comes up, and they drive home. After the break, they come back to UF, but they leave their car behind, to avoid all the stress of finding parking. The car sits there for the rest of the year. They no longer get to see their favorite films in theaters as often. They no longer get to swing by their favorite coffee shop to pick up their favorite beverage. They no longer get to go to the gym everyday and exercise. They no longer have the convenience of travelling frequently to see their friends at FSU or other universities. They ultimately decided that it was not worth all the pain and annoyance of finding parking spaces at UF, so this was the decision that they had to make.

This is who my pro typical customer would be, and this is where I would come in. To make sure that the same thing does not happen to any other students.

I definitely relate to my pro typical customers. Although I currently do not have my own car at UF, I ultimately decided not to go out and buy one because of all the stories I was told about how hard it would be to find parking spaces. However, if this were not the case, I definitely would get one as it would make travel a lot easier around campus and going off-campus. Just to go to the gym every morning, I have to wait for a bus, sometimes up to 15 minutes and the bus ride itself takes another 15 minutes. This would be an inconvenience I would want to alleviate. I also do not think it is a coincidence that we have this in common, in fact, I believe a lot of students at UF face the same problems, which would mean that I have a very large potential segment / market.

17A - Elevator Pitch No. 2

Elevator Pitch Take 2: https://youtu.be/frPOX95GgJI

Based on the feedback I received on my first elevator pitch, I made some improvements to this one. One of the comments said to keep the story more concise. To achieve this, I made my story more relate-able to other people, instead of some crazy out of the world scenario. On top of this, I decided to integrate the story throughout the entirety of the pitch while adding in bits of my potential solution. Finally, I tried to calm it down with the overuse of hand gestures so that I only used them when they were relevant to what I was talking about. Overall, the comments on my last elevator pitch were pretty positive, but I still made some changes just to round out the edges a bit.

16A - What's Your Secret Sauce

1. What are five things that make me different?

• The first thing that sets me apart from others is that I am incredibly motivated and do not back down from a task easily. I know that whenever I face something that I want to accomplish, it will take a lot to actually cause me to back down. Once I set a goal, I will do anything to accomplish it.
• The second thing that adds to my secret sauce is my communication skills. I love talking to people, meeting new people, and making connections. This will definitely enable me to find out what problems that people have and how I can help them. Another area that this will help me in is my ability to network, which is an extremely important aspect of entrepreneurship and should not be overlooked.
• The third thing that sets me apart is that I am extremely creative. Ever since I was young, I loved coming up with new ways to solve problems. This is definitely an important trait of an entrepreneur, and will allow me to solve other peoples' problems in new ways in the real world.
• The fourth thing that sets me apart is that I am very hardworking. I know that hard work is incredibly important and that you need both hard work and creativity to be a successful entrepreneur. If you have the latter but not the former, the things you want to accomplish will not become a reality.
• The fifth thing that sets me apart is that I am friendly. I find that I have an easy time approaching people and sparking conversations, and that I am very outgoing and love meeting new people. You have to be likable to be a good entrepreneur. If you look at all the most well-known entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, etc., they all had a certain trait that was shown in their product or service, attracting people to their market.

2. Interview Link: https://soundcloud.com/justjokes/sets/interviews

The first person I interviewed was my friend Isaiah. He said that I am friendly and love finding out what people need and talking to them.

The second person I interviewed was my brother Connor. He said that I was hardworking and took all the necessary steps to get a task done.

The third person I interviewed was my dad. He said that I have good communication and networking skills that would make me a successful entrepreneur.

The fourth person I interviewed was my mom. She said that I am very good at negotiating especially since I am the middle child.

The fifth person I interviewed was my older brother Josh. He said that I was very creative and always came up with new ways to solve problems.

3. I think that the attributes that the five closest people to me talked about and the ones I mentioned are very similar to each other. I am mostly in accordance with the fact that I am very creative, hardworking, and motivated. However, the one difference that stood out to me was the negotiating part that my mom mentioned. In a way, since I am the middle child, I found that figuring out ways to negotiate my way to a conclusion of mediate a situation is definitely an important attribute that I possess. If I could go back and alter my list, I would probably add this attribute onto the list.

15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

1. For this exercise I decided to interview 3 different undergraduate students as my chosen segment. The first two students were located around Hume Hall as I found and interviewed them as they were leaving the building, and the last was a freshman from Jennings Hall that I bumped into.

3. My main focus of these interviews was to determine how customers choose between alternatives. I asked questions relating to price, location, alternative choices, style, and what factors were must important to them. The first student that I interviewed was a freshman chemical engineering student living at Hume Hall. She currently has a car on campus. After interviewing her, I discovered that she probably would not be the best fit for my product when it comes to finding more permanent / overnight parking as opposed to temporary parking. She said that she does not have that much difficulty finding parking since the communal lot is very close to where she is, and that it is only a short walk for her to get to her car. She also stated that she would not need to utilize my service because she has never been placed in a situation where she was unable to find parking. I guess this would be an example of price and location alternative. She would not need my service because her location is relatively close to a free parking spot, and therefore it would not make any sense for her to pay for a parking spot that is much farther away from her. The second student that I interviewed was a sophomore living in Hume Hall and rode a scooter. He said that he probably would not utilize the service I provide because the Scooter is much more efficient for him, especially since he already went out of his way an purchased it. However, relating to price alternatives, offering students affordable parking would make it so that they would not have to buy a scooter that would cost at least a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars, and cheaper prices would attract more potential buyers.
The third student that I interview was a sophomore computer science student. He currently uses a car on campus as well. When it comes to price alternatives, he said that if the price was low enough, that he would probably be willing to purchase a parking spot because it would save him money as the amount he has to pay for parking tickets would far exceed the price paid for parking. The location would also be beneficial to him.

4. After conducting the three interviews, all three students came to the similar conclusion that it would be most beneficial if students were able to buy these upgraded parking passes online. After their purchase, they would either have to go to an office to pick up a tag solidifying their parking abilities or have it mailed to them.

5. These students all found that to be satisfied with their purchase, if they were to consider making the purchase, they would want to make sure that it was making their lives easier. If they are able to continue using their cars on campus and not have the same difficulties parking then they would be satisfied with their purchase. The second student interviewed also made a good point being that one potential issue lies in the fact that if many people see my service as appealing, it may attract a lot of potential customers and over saturate the market, then again creating the same issue I set out to fix.

7. After all of my interviews, I came up with some conclusions. Firstly, my idea that parking is an issue at UF and something needs to be done about it was solidified. However, one thing that crept up that I really had not thought about too thoroughly was the potential of having an over saturated market, recreating the same problem I am attempting to alleviate. To make sure that this does not happen, I will have to take some measures, possibly setting up a certain price level barrier, to assure that this problem does not arise.

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

The book that I decided to read for this reflection was The Wright Brothers.

1. Reading about the entrepreneur:

• The thing that surprised me the most about this book is about how many times the brothers failed but still continued to pursue their dream. Their success is one of the most true and upmost displays of tenacity that an entrepreneur could wish to harness. Even in the face of many failures, they continued to attempt to achieve the "impossible".
• Going off of my first observation, I would have to say that I mostly admire the tenacity and ingenuity of the Wright brothers. Traveling by air was seen by many as an impossible feat, and with enough failures, it could be enough to make one believe it. However, the brothers persevered through all of their failures never giving up on their dream.
• Not fully an undesirable trait, but the Wright brothers were so involved in their craft that they never married. Although it is important to be passionate about your pursuits, I still firmly believe in a balance, and that maintaining some sort of social life is beneficial to the entrepreneur. Not in all cases, but it's hard to point out any specific undesirable traits about the brothers.
• The Wright brothers faced plenty of adversity and failure. In fact, they are most well known for all the failure they did face. However, instead of giving up, they persevered. When they developed their first glider, the bad weather had messed up their flight plans and actually broken parts of it. With this adversity in their midst, the brothers used it as an opportunity to repair the glider as well as make it stronger and better before. Whenever they hit an obstacle, they always sought a way around it.

2. Competencies displayed by the entrepreneur:

• The major competency that stood out was that the Wright Brothers did not go into this project blind. They did not set unrealistic goals or expectations for themselves either. They definitely exhibited great quality traits of a successful entrepreneur. They spent years studying other experiments and aviation engineers so that they were able to craft together the best plan for the creation and prototype of their glider / airplane.

3. One part of the reading that was confusing:

• The one thing that confused me in this reading was how the Wright Brothers never attended college. The reading described many times about how intelligent the brothers were and they were incredibly successful at college, but I understand how it goes to show that one does not need a college education to be a successful entrepreneur. College will only show you the basics, but it is really your character and your traits that make you a successful entrepreneur.

4. Two questions I would ask the entrepreneur:

1. After all of the adversity that you faced, did you ever feel like giving up? Most people face adversity in life and feel like giving up all the time. This is especially true when the goal someone sets for them self is way above the standard and something that seems impossible. They may think that it is just too unrealistic and give up, even if it is their dream.
2.  If you could go back and time and change one thing you did, what would it be? The reason I would ask this question is because looking back on such an impressive feat would surely present a lot of hindsight. There are many things that people do and look back on thinking that if they had done something a certain way, maybe it would have been a more efficient process and they could have gotten more done in less time.

5. Entrepreneur's opinion of hard work:

• I think that we would share the same opinion of hard work. There are two important aspects of being a successful entrepreneur. The first is that you have to have a vision and be passionate about it. The second is, you have to work extremely hard. There are many people who have amazing creative and innovative ideas, however, if you do nothing about it and you don't put the work in, they just simply will never come to fruition. 

14A - Halfway Reflection

1. One of the main factors that helped me keep up to date in this class was that at the beginning of this semester, I set up a google calendar for all my assignments and when they due. Therefore, on Monday, I would get a notification on my phone to let me know what assignments were due for this week. With this planning, I am able to keep ahead of the class and make sure that all my assignments get completed on time.

2. On one of the first weeks, there was a lot of work. I thought that it would be a lot to handle, and just for a single week of assignments, I had written over 3000 words. I had to remember that going in to this class, there was going to be a lot of work, and I always remind myself that it will be worth it. Yes, there is a lot of work, but all of the assignments that I complete have enabled me to think differently in a entrepreneurial mindset. I have enjoyed every assignment for this class because they are both thought provoking and also very helpful. I feel like I have definitely developed a tenacious attitude over this past couple of months, and I will do whatever I have to do to keep this attitude for the rest of this semester and onward.

3. The first tip that I would give is to watch all of the videos posted. Although you can skim through them and still do fine on the cupcakes, I find that I gain something beneficial from every video. They are both incredibly interesting and fun to watch, and I always learn something new each week. The second tip I would give is to try and do assignments before they are due. You really have to plan ahead, as some of the assignments require conducting interviews or giving presentations for the camera, so if you leave them to last minute, you will find that they can be impossible to complete. And the final tip I would give is to have fun. Even if you are taking this class for the "easy A", there is still so much useful information and beneficial knowledge that can be taken away from this class. Even if you don't plan on becoming an entrepreneur, a lot of this knowledge is applicable outside of this field. You learn things about innovation and creativity, which can be utilized in almost every day life.

12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Interviews Summary: The segment that I decided to focus on for my interviews was undergraduate students specifically living in Broward Hall. I chose between 3 students, one had a car and was a freshman, the second had a scooter and was a freshman, the third was a sophomore with a car. I asked each of these three students at one times the need most frequently arises, and they all seemed to agree together that it mostly occurs on weekends or after classes. For classes, they usually can walk to where they need to go or use a bike. However, the problem is most persistent whenever they need to go shopping for groceries, go to events off campus, or just eat out at a place that is not included on campus. They also become most aware of this need whenever they are slapped with a $35 ticket for parking where they should not be. Two of the three students (owners with the cars) have both been hit with at least one ticket. The student on the scooter also has this unmet need, but in a different way. This student has seemed to find their own solution. They purchased a scooter which allows them to travel without having any major issues finding parking, however, they are pretty concerned with the safety of using these scooters. He says that he does not wear a helmet when he is riding, and tries to use the scooter minimally. He says he would much rather have a car on campus so that he does not have to deal with the dangers of riding on a scooter on open roads next to the cars. He was also pretty annoyed that he had to cash out a hefty sum of money for his scooter, which he now barely uses. When these students became aware of their need, they took different approaches to find solutions. The student with a scooter, well he purchased a scooter 2 weeks in school starting. The other two students, the freshman and the sophomore with a car, said that they have started to park their car at the Jennings lot. However, they also agreed that finding parking their is very random and their are some days where they have to move their car all the way to the commuter lot and make the 15 minute walk to Broward, which is a huge convenience. The sophomore also conducted extensive research into parking policies at UF and solutions to their need, but to no avail. Whatever, they searched, they found that parking still was an issue. She said that she has received 5 tickets for invalid parking since she came to UF.

Conclusions: After conducting these interviews, I found that these students in this particular age segment all face the same unmet need. When freshman first come to the University of Florida, they are often unaware of the strict parking policies, and they fall victim to numerous tickets. Paying for classes is expensive enough and having to pay parking tickets on top of it can be quite annoying. I also found that these students have different personal solutions to the problem, however, I see a trend: most students either purchase a scooter or park over at Jennings, Beaty Towers, or the commuter lot. Freshman coming to college looking to bring their car could definitely do with having more efficient parking. It would make the college experience all the more enjoyable, and hopefully it will save them a lot of money in the long run and avoid falling victim to parking violations.

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You - I believe that I have many skill sets that I believe would make me a great entrepreneur and have a successful business. Firstly, I am determined to reach a goal I set for myself, so the obstacles that are bound to come won't be able to shut my dream down. I think I also have a pretty good eye for what people want and I am good at identifying opportunities. I also believe that an important aspect of any business is networking and connections. I definitely have some successful business owners that I know that I could reach out to if I ever need to. Finally, I am also very hardworking and open-minded. With this, I will be able to approach different problems in different ways to be able to come up with a solution.

2) What are you offering to customers? - I am offering customers a product that would create convenience and efficiency. Having extra parking spaces would offer a large potential benefit to consumers at a higher price so that people can better park in spaces.

3) Who are you offering it to? -  I am offering my product to mostly UF students and teachers alike who own any time of vehicle, car or motorcycle. These students would utilize my product to better find parking spaces around campus.

4) Why do they care? - People care because the parking at UF is a pretty big issue. A lot of people have headaches when coming to finding parking spaces, and so if it was made better, people would be sure to utilize my product.

5) What are your core competencies? - I know a lot of places around campus that could be transformed into parking spaces around different segments of campus. One thing that I would need to build up would be my connections I have on campus. With that being said, I am very good at talking to people, so setting up a meeting with the person in charge of parking would not be too difficult. Setting up the meeting, however, may prove to be more complicated.

I think that most of these aspects fit well together. My skill-sets would give me the determination I need to make this business into a reality. The only big issue I face when attempting to make this product a reality is finding the actual space to set up these parking spots. The campus is already pretty cluttered, but I am sure that there are ways to convert empty lots into parking spaces for students. There are also under-utilized parking spaces that could be better allocated to students, so I may look more for these. The weaker aspect would be the resources that I actually have. This is something that I would definitely have to work on.

10A - Elevator Pitch No. 1

Video Link: https://youtu.be/czK5-w4w2Xo

9A - Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

Who: For this exercise, I decided to conduct interviews on people who do not actually use their own car on campus, but would find my opportunity to be helpful for either the future or people that they know. Basically, people who would potentially use a car on campus if parking somehow where to become more efficient on campus.

Interview 1: For the first interview, I found a student who uses the RTS bus system because they find that cars are inefficient. On my way to the gym I struck a conversation with this person on the bus in the morning. They said that they have a car, which they brought to campus last year, but they decided to leave it at home because it was too much of a hassle. They agreed with me in saying that if these new parking spots were to open up, they would definitely bring their car back to campus.

Interview 2: For my second interview, I found a student outside of Broward who was parking their scooter. They said that they had decided to purchase a scooter to be able to get around campus better. They also agreed with the first interviewee in saying that they would bring their car, however, there were not enough good parking spots. They also believe that it was unfortunate because they had to go out of their way and purchase a scooter when it would have been better to just bring their car.

Interview 3: This person I interviewed was a freshman I found walking to the Reitz Union after his class. They currently do not have the unmet need because they did not bother acquiring a car. It is well known, they said, that UF has terrible parking. They also said they probably would not consider living off-campus next year without a car because they would either have to purchase a scooter or take the bus everyday just to get to campus.

Interview 4: I interviewed a person who uses a bike to frequently get around campus. They said that buying a bike was a good option, because they do not have to have to deal with the bad parking situation. They also agreed they would consider getting a car if they did not have to be stressed about finding a parking spot.

Interview 5: For this last interview, I chose somebody who goes to the gym every morning (Southwest Rec) and chooses to run there every morning. It's about 2 miles away from where he lives, and he says that if he had a car and could utilize better parking services, it would make his life so much easier. It would definitely be something he would take advantage of.

What: The point at which the need differs is the point at which people decided to bring their car and people that did not decide to. It seems that a lot of people are missing out on the luxury of having a car for convenient travelling around campus, but they do not. In this way, both groups of interviewers have the same need.

Why: The underlying cause for the people inside and outside of the group are very similar. The people on the inside deal with inconsistent parking which causes them a lot of stress while the people on the outside have decided to utilize other forms of transportation to avoid the stress.

                        Inside the boundary                                                      Outside the boundary

Who:              People who have a car but                                                People who decided not
                       have trouble finding parking on                                       to bring their car and resorted
                       campus everyday, finding it                                             to other methods of transpor-
                       quite inconvenient.                                                           tation.

What:             There is either not enough parking                                  They have to buy scooters or
                       spaces or they are frequently receiving                            bikes or use the bus because
                       tickets because there are so many                                    bringing a car is not efficient
                       restrictions.                                                                       for them.

Why:               There are parking spaces, but there are                            Very similar, there are either
                        so many restrictions on them.                                          not enough spots or too many
                                                                                                                 restrictions on them. 

8A - Solving the Problem

The opportunity that I have found in assignment 8 was that there are not enough viable parking spaces to students that are attending UF and would like to use their cars to make travel more efficient.

The main solution that I could think about regarding this issue was building three or four parking lots that are specifically accessible to only UF students. They would be located in different parts of the campus so that students who live in different dormitories have a relatively close space that they could rely on. There could be a method in which to access the parking space, a student would have to use their UF identification to be checked and allowed access into these car parks. This service would be accessible to all UF students

One issue that could face this potential solution is that their could still be an overflow of parking as most people would probably want to utilize this service. To counter this, there could maybe be an up charge or a payment-per-semester type plan in which students can access specific places if they have the specific plan. This could solve the problem of over-cluttered lots and students would be able to reliably utilize their cars without having the headache of trying to find one in the first place.

7A - Testing the Hypothesis

1)The opportunity that I am going to pursue is that it can be nearly impossible to find a place to park your car on campus. There are a lot of parking spaces, sure, but there are so many restrictions that makes it so you cannot leave your car there for a long period of time. Most of time, students have to move their car to avoid getting ticketed. I did not end up bringing a car to UF just because of how hard it is to find parking, and it did not seem like it was ultimately worth it in the end.

2)Students at the University of Florida have a difficult time finding convenient and reliable parking because of the restrictions place on available lots.

The who: Students on the UF campus
The what: They are unable to find convenient, reliable parking
The why: There are many restrictions on available spots

3)There are other people who share in this need. On gameday weekends, for example, many families and fans come to UF to watch the game, and there is not a sufficient supply of parking spaces for everybody. The problem is not necessarily that there are not enough spots, it is simply just that not all of the spots are available for people to park. When you have fifty-thousand or more people on campus, there is no way everyone can fit their car into a spot. This is why a lot of students have resorted to scooters for the time being. Most students would agree that having more parking spaces would be highly beneficial. It would allow people to better commute from place to place without having to stress about getting ticketed.

4)The five interviews I conducted, I revolved them around 3 different types of students: One student from Broward, one from Hume Hall, and one from Jennings hall. I also interviewed an alumni who frequently travels to UF to watch football games, and a student who live off-campus and has to commute to campus everyday for classes.

Interview 1: Broward Hall Student
    I talked to this student quite a bit. He told me that he currently has a car at UF. The one convenient part about living in Broward is that there is a parking garage right next to the dorms. He says, however, that when he does decide to use them (not on the weekends) he has to wake up before 7 in the morning to move it so that he does not get a ticket. The main feeling I detected was frustration that he cannot leave his car there when he wants to.

Interview 2: Jennings Hall Student
    This student described similar frustrations as the student from Broward. She had a car last year, but decided not to bring it this semester due to the inconvenience. She found that she was getting tickets left and right for simple parking violations, and ultimately decided that it was not worth the effort. She said she tried parking at the commuter lot near Hume a few times, but it was incredibly inconvenient, as the walk back was not worth the effort.

Interview 3: Hume Hall Student
    This student did not find it as annoying having a car on campus. They mainly use it to travel off campus on the weekends or to go out to eat with friends. However, students at Hume have a commuter lot, so he did not find it as much of a nuisance. He did however mention that his friends at Broward always complain about parking.

Interview 4: Football fan
    This person comes to most UF football games during the season. Since he is always super early, he often does not find trouble finding parking spaces for himself. However, he did note about how there are cars parked everywhere due to the lack of parking spaces available to the many fans that travel to UF to watch the games. UF tries to compensate for this buy restricting certain parking zones to students so that only fans can use them on the game weekends.

Interview 5: Off-campus student
    This student used to use their car to come to campus for classes, but ultimately decided that it was not worth the hassle. After a few tickets, he quickly resorted to utilizing the RTS bus system to get to campus, and now leaves his car at his apartment complex. He said that he now only uses his car to go places of campus, such as grocery shopping, dinner, etc.

After all of the interviews were conducted, I realized that this opportunity does exist because a majority of the people that I interviewed displayed similar discontent and frustration with the current parking system at UF. There is a commuter lot, however, for students living in Broward, or other residence halls farther away, using this lot is not beneficial to them.
   

6A - Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Opportunity 1 - Economic

(a) China begins to slow down its production and begins cooling. The world however, needs its energy to drive world economic growth.
    Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/20/business/china-economy-growth-davos.html

(b) I believe with this information that an opportunity exists because there is factual evidence that China is slowing down and for the past three months, its economic growth has been the slowest that it has ever been. China is a huge world economy, and most of the world relies on China, and therefore, its slow economic growth impacts the rest of the world.

(c) The pro typical customer for this situation would be workers and companies globally. Not only is China suffering, but also the American economy, as well as many European economies, are beginning to dim, as suggested by the article. People need to find a way to increase economic growth. Also, investors are also starting to cut back in Europe.

(d) I believe that this opportunity would be pretty difficult to exploit due to the nature of the issue. This is a global concern, and there are many potential solutions, but also there are many different factors that contribute to this problem.

I saw the opportunity because... I am very interested in looking at the world economy. I am also currently studying macroeconomics, so it is interesting to apply what I am learning to the real world. We are in a period in which the global economy is highly influential and in which trade is at its highest. Each country relies on global trade to have a successful economy.

Opportunity 2 - Economic

(a) People that have lower income end up paying higher effective tax rates
    Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2018-10-17/residents-with-lower-incomes-pay-a-higher-effective-tax-rate-study

(b) This information suggests to me that an opportunity might exists because people who are earning less money are being taxed more. This is obviously a problem, and the situation should be reversed. The burden should not fall on the lap of those who are earning a low income, and those with a higher income can afford to pay more money to help with taxes.

(c) The pro typical customer would be a person who is earning a lower income. They are the ones who are facing the problem after all. These people exist all over the country in many different places.

(d) This opportunity would be difficult to exploit because taxation is such a huge aspect of government funding. They will not be willing to cut down on tax rates if it will have a large negative impact on government funding. There will also most likely be opposition from the other side because some people will be having to pay higher taxes.

I saw the opportunity because... I have done a lot of research on taxation. The government also relies heavily on taxation. In my county back home, there recently was a law that was put into place that effectively raised the sales tax to 8.5%, so I personally have seen the effects that increased tax rates have on my daily life.

Opportunity 3 - Regulatory

(a) Hospitals now have to post their prices online in Florida
    Source: http://www.fox5dc.com/health/hospitals-will-have-to-post-prices-online-starting-january-1

(b) I think that this opportunity exists because this law was already passed in Florida recently. Hospitals now have to post their prices online so that patients can actually see what they are paying for and not be surprised when they get a random expensive bill. This is something that is applicable to a wide range of people.

(c) The pro typical customer would be anybody who wants to see the prices of going to the hospital to under go a treatment or just for a clinical checkup.

(d) This will be relatively easy to exploit due to the fact that it is a service that many people need. A lot of the people end up going to see the doctor for checkups or when they get sick.

I saw the opportunity because... A few years ago my brother broke his arm which got him landed in the hospital. I still remember that he had to go in to get a sling for his arm, and we did not know how much were paying for it until we were slammed with a huge hospital bill after the fact.

Opportunity 4 - Regulatory

(a) Florida is increasing its minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $8.46 an hour
    Source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Florida-to-See-Biggest-Minimum-Wage-Increase-Since-2012-503563881.html

(b) I think that this opportunity exists because it is a law that has already been passed. Minimum wage rates are now higher which will lead people to begin working if they already are not. This can be beneficial in reducing unemployment rates in Florida.

(c) The pro typical customer would be anybody who is unemployed or currently looking for a job. This will persuade people to get a job since the minimum they can be paid is now at a greater level.

(d) This will be easy to exploit because everybody in America relies on a source of income to survive. Also, college students are always looking for jobs and usually rely on minimum wage as a source of income.

I saw the opportunity because... I am currently a college student and most of the jobs that are open for me to take are on the level of minimum wage. This is applicable to me because getting a minimum wage job would mean that I am now making more money.

5A - Identifying Local Opportunities

Article 1

Title: Developer of Proposed Bezu / Blue Lotus Tower Sues City of Saint Petersburg

Link: https://www.tampabay.com/business/developer-of-proposed-bezublue-lotus-tower-sue-city-of-st-petersburg-20190124/

Summary: Developers of the Bezu / Blue Lotus Tower are suing the city of Saint Petersburg to overturn a vote to cancel the tower. The developers are claiming that the tower fits in with the regulations, but the opponents are saying that the tower does not fit in with the other buildings in the area and stands out too much.

Problem: The problem is that there is an argument with the local government and this company. The company relies on the tower to make money and if the government shuts the tower down, then they could lose a lot of potential money.

Who Has the Problem: Driven Ziggy LLC, the developers of the tower, have a major problem because their tower is trying to get shut down. Therefore, they are filing a law suit to try and get the vote that will nix their construction reversed.

Article 2

Title: Tampa Electric's Big Bend changes face increased opposition

Link: https://www.tampabay.com/business/tampa-electrics-big-bend-changes-face-increased-opposition-20190124/

Summary: Tampa Electric plans to convert one of its facilities into a power station that uses natural gas instead of one that is powered by coal. This decision is being faced by a lot of opposition from both the people and environmental groups, criticizing that the corporation is going backwards and using fossil fuels which could have negative impacts of both the health of people and the environment. On March 11, there will be a hearing to determine whether this will be allowed.

Problem: The problem is that this change is being faced with a lot of opposition. There are a lot of people and environmental groups that are concerned, but there also many people who believe that this will be a good thing.

Who Has the Problem: There are two groups in this story that are being faced with a problem. First of all, the company, Tampa Electric, is facing a problem because there are groups that are trying to shut them down. The people outside of this corporation also have a problem because they believe that this change will have a lot of negative impacts on public health and safety as well as the environment.

Article 3

Title: Hulu Raises Price for live-TV service, cuts basic package price

Link: https://www.tampabay.com/business/hulu-raises-price-for-live-tv-service-cuts-basic-package-price-20190124/

Summary: This article discusses how Hulu, a popular video streaming service will be raising its prices on TV streaming such as ESPN, CNN, etc. They are raising their prices from 13 to 18 percent trying to make the service more profitable, while cutting down on their basic package price by $2.

Problem: The problem is that this service is becoming more expensive. The same service is now being offered at a higher price, which means that consumers will have to pay more for the same service.

Who Has the Problem: The consumers have the problem according to this article because they now have to pay more.

Article 4

Title: All for Transportation asks court to dismiss lawsuit against Hillsborough sales tax

Link: https://www.tampabay.com/hillsborough/all-for-transportation-asks-court-to-dismiss-lawsuit-against-hillsborough-sales-tax-20190124/

Summary: Stacy White, a Hillsborough County commissioner has filed a lawsuit against a political committee challenging their one-cent transportation sales tax. A group known as "All for Transportation" is asking that this lawsuit is dismissed, claiming that White violated state law by using  his position to file the lawsuit.

Problem: The problem is that there is a disagreement on the sales tax being placed on transportation. A law suit has been claimed and now these two groups are arguing.

Who Has the Problem: The "All for Transportation" group has the problem because a lawsuit has been filed on them, which they are trying to levy by appeal.

Article 5

Title: Peaceful Paths, shelters say shutdown bodes trouble

Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190123/peaceful-paths-shelters-say-shutdown-bodes-trouble

Summary: Peaceful Paths is a shelter that was established to help victims of domestic abuse. Because of the government shutdown, many of the people who use this service will be left without it because the director states that they do not have the budget. They are currently losing $60,000 to $90,000 a month. They still are keeping the shelter open for anybody who needs it, but they are remaining conservative with their resources until the government shutdown ends.

Problem: The problem is that the government shutdown has led to decreased funding for the Peaceful Paths organization. They are no longer able to provide services that they usually would to their maximum capacity.

Who Has the Problem: The Peaceful Paths shelter for domestic abuse has the problem because they do not have the funding that they require at the current time.