Assignment 30 - Final Reflection

The most formative experience was trying to come up with a business venture to go after as this made me really focus on thinking like an entrepreneur and shaped the course for the rest of the weeks. What I am most proud of accomplishing is completing the vast majority of the assignments even though there were times I did not want to or felt like I could not.

At the end of the semester I really feel like I have developed that entrepreneurial mindset. I have definitely moved closer to developing into an entrepreneur as this class made me focus on certain aspects of business and opportunities that I had thought of before.

One recommendation I would advise to students going though an entrepreneurial journey in the future is to try and find something that motivates them and also have that stick with them, almost as a chip on their shoulder to help accomplish what they are dreaming. To succeed in this course I would advise they should stay working ahead and keep in mind the schedule of the course as it can be easy to forget some of the assignments and easy to get behind if you do not work ahead on assignments.

Assignment 29 - Venture Concept 2

Venture Concept 2

Opportunity:

The opportunity for my venture concept are those that have just newly entered the sports gambling world and seek the best advice and data out there to help them make educated decisions. The major reason for consumers having this need is because of the new legislation concerning sports gambling. As more and more states pass these laws making sports gambling legal, more and more consumers will become available for my business. Geographically speaking, the market is in those states that have legalized sports gambling. Demographically speaking, the market is usually more male than female and those middle adults in their late 20s to 30s as they most likely have steady jobs with a steady income and can afford to pay for my service. Customers are currently satisfying this need by trying to research data and analysis on the web themselves, but by doing this clouds their judgement with over information and differing opinions on the web about teams and players. They are not really loyal to this, I have found that these consumers are more loyal to what consistently works best for them, so whatever is producing results gives loyalty. This is a pretty big opportunity in my eyes as the new legislation as created a whole new change in the sports gambling scene and I want to take advantage of it. I believe this window of opportunity will be open for about the next 10 years, as that is how long I predict this will take for every state to make sports gambling legal, plus a few added years as after then I feel like the sports gambling will have moved on to something more innovative.

Innovation:

The service that I am selling is a sports gambling consulting service that uses experts analysis and team data and analytics that help advise sports gambling consumers to make an educated decision. The serviced would range from $9.99 to $39.99 a month based off the extent of the package that a consumer would want. The different package would range from the variety of sports someone wants covered and to the type of bets someone wants to be placing. For example, if someone would wanted just the standard over/unders, moneylines, and line bets on just the NBA then it would just cost them $9.99 a month. If someone were to want everything including parlay bets on leagues such as the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, NCAA then it would cost them more like the $39.99 price point.

Venture Concept:

I do not think it will be hard for consumers to switch over to my service at all. I believe this because my service is relatively cheaper compared to other services. Also, because I believe my service will provide the best results, and because I will market on social media and get more consumers engaged better than any other service. I do not believe it will be hard to switch because usually the consumers just follow as to what provides the best results, so if I produce results they will follow and become loyal to me. The role of price points and the customer experience play the biggest role in my business venture. Price points because I mentioned earlier they really separate myself from the rest of the pack. In a risky business like sports gambling consumers, especially new ones area willing to take that risk if the risk is deemed lower by price. Also, customer experience because the happier and more satisfied my customers are then the more they will be likely to continue to come back, and the easier it will be to generate new ones. I would organize my business with a very small, but knowledgeable and hard working staff. Since this is a new business, I will need people who can work through almost anything and are determined to help make this work in order to progress this business. I would need it to be very small, because there would not be much demand just yet. The roles for these people would include social media, analytics and data research, and writing.

Three minor elements:

My business’ advantage over others is are customer experience that will help engage customers as to what is going on and keep them informed. We will do this by being a totally transparent company. The hard working and determined nature of our team will also be to our advantage as we want to service our customers as much as possible. Also, our team’s research and knowledge of sport will be superior to others. The next opportunity for us I believe is for us to create a more useable service through an app for customers that combines all of our packages in one. In the next 5-10 years to come I want to see this business grow and compete with all the top services and be one of the most productive and reliable service out there. As an entrepreneur I want to be known for my tenacity and dedication through this service.

Summary of Feedback: I did not receive any feedback since I never posted an original venture concept.

How I changed venture concept: I never changed my concept due to me never posting an original one.

Picture: 

Assignment 28 - Exit Strategy

The exit strategy I plan to make is to sell my business in the intermediate future probably about 5-10 years down the line for a large return.

I plan on doing so for my exit strategy because I believe that my service is not fully sustainable for the future ahead. I believe that there will come a time and place when my service is run out by bigger companies and I plan on selling to those companies or to others before I am ran out of business.

My exit strategy has definitely influenced the decisions I have made in my concept. In my concept I plan on trying to develop the most growth that I can due to the new legislation laws and market. Then once the market has become saturated with a bunch of others trying to do the same thing that I have been doing, I will then look to sell.

Assignment 27 - Reading Reflection 3

Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, Chris Anderson

The general theme of the book is about the everchanging world that we live in and how it is changing to a more software and technological based world sparking a change in manufacturing.

The book connects very well to this class as entrepreneurs we are challenged to come up with product ideas, but to be able to sell those products and ideas with the world we need to make something tangible for the customer. The tangible product must be made by the manufacturers that use the advanced technology like Anderson talked about in his book. Anderson talked about how before if an entrepreneur wanted a prototype for his idea they would have to pay up a lot of money and capital for one, and would also have to rely upon a big corporation. Now these products can be manufactured more easily because of all the technology causing the steep capital to go down.

My exercise for the class would be for the class to list all of the ideas in the past 10 years that was invented without the need of technology. Obviously, this would be almost nothing, but by doing this they will see just how vast the important of technological advancements are in our world.

My biggest ‘aha’ moment from reading this book was when Anderson mentioned how technology and software have cut down the costs for manufacturing which is allowing smaller inventors to enter the market with their products. This really stuck with me as it shows how technology is allowing and creating more of a free market for entrepreneurs and their ideas to come to life.

Assignment 26 - Celebrating Failure

1) A time I failed this past semester was when in this class I had trouble completing assignments and failed to complete them on time. This was often due to my forgetful nature and forgot that we had a cupcake due the first few times around, or did not plan out my time to complete assignments efficiently enough.

2) From this I really learned the importance of not giving up after this failure and not being too hard on myself for it as well. I learned that if I want to fix these failures I have to make changes in my work routine and start by actively writing down all due dates for the assignments and working on them ahead of time.

3) I believe it is not hard or rare to fail, but the hard part about failure is accepting it and moving forward for the better from it. The way I handle emotional or behavioral failure is to look at what I have been doing and try to change it and once I figure out what to change, I move on. I move on, but all the while keeping it in the back of my mind for motivation. This class changed my perspective on failure because it made me see and realize how natural and often failure is in everyone’s lives.

Assignment 25 - What's Next?

Existing Market.

Step 1: I could create another service that goes along with my sport gambling consulting that livestreams the games and tracks the consumers bets live with the games the customer bet on. Also, possibly a podcast that goes along with my service that talks about the daily sports gambling news and scores, so that consumers can get to know the staff and minds that they are buying into.

Step 2:

Interviewee 1: Interviewee 1 responded by describing that we could track the customers bets and possibly send recommendations as to what type of games and leagues they usually bet on and send them the lines for those type of games. They said they had not thought of my idea as to what customers might want next, but it sounds like a good idea.

Interviewee 2: Interviewee 2 responded by saying that he would do something where there would be a service that shows tips on how to bet and what is the smartest way to divvy up one’s betting portfolio. They said the same things as interviewee 1 when is shared my solution.

Interviewee 3: Interviewee 3 responded by saying they would probably add something like an app to put this all together and market that as well. They agreed with my solutions I described and said basically the same things as the other interviewees.

Step 3:

After receiving all the feedback my future looks pretty bright as everyone liked my ideas and they provided really good ideas of the future for me.  For the future I expect to use my idea of live streaming some games on an app like one of my interviewees suggested. I really like that idea of an app is it would be a simple way for consumers to access my services and it would be pretty simple to market to consumers.

New Market.

Step 1:

I am going to switch my approach from business to customer, and change it to business to business. I am going to start targeting those that own sports gambling shows and/or podcasts that want to buy space on my app and to be featured.

Step 2:

There will be created value for the people in this market as they also are trying to address the new market for sport gamblers and an easy way to do that is to get exposure from services like mine.

Step 3:

Interviewee 1: Interviewee 1 said that they think that if my business were to establish this app and gain some traction then people like them would be likely to do business, but they enjoyed the start I was on.

Interviewee 2: Interviewee 2 said that they would definitely be interested and think that customers would enjoy it if the app I had were to update with some sort of system where if you were to click on any random game there would be given data and recommendations on what to bet.

Step 4:

It was refreshing and encouraging to hear the feedback from the target customers that they enjoyed my concept. I find that the existing market is far more attractive to me than the new market I am trying to target.

Assignment 23 - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

List of 10 resources:

Knowledge of sport:

V-valuable as I have a good grasp of the sport world and all the important factors that go into a teams’ performance.

R-rare to a degree as many people follow sports, but the extent of my knowledge and insider information is decently due to my many years being in sport and following sports.

I-inimitable, can be replicated somewhat as other companies can copy my marketing and promotion strategies, but not as much the extent of knowledge my company has.

N-non substitutable, others can have extensive knowledge of sport as well so it is somewhat substitutable.

Social sport contacts:

V-valuable, this is pretty valuable as it allows me to know potential partners or mentors in the field that can help back up my business.

R-rare, not that rare to have contacts but my exact ones are rare and unique to me.

I-inimitable, my exact contacts cannot be replicated but others could have contacts that could help them in their own way.

N-non substitutable, can’t substitute

New field:

V-valuable, this is pretty valuable as there are not many companies so far in the field to compete with.

R-rare, there are plenty of new fields in today’s world.

I-inimitable, a specific field can’t really be replicated

N-non substitutable, can’t really substitute a field.

Knowledge and contact of target potential customers:

V-valuable, this is valuable as it is important to know the type of people you are selling to and what characteristics they possess.

R-rare, not very rare as most companies and business possess some sort of knowledge of their potential customers.

I-inimitable, can be replicated as others also have knowledge on potential customers, although maybe not the same exact contacts of customers I have, but they could easily contact those customers if they wish.

N-non-substitutable, this is pretty substitutable by my resource of sport knowledge and sport contacts.

Social abilities:

V-valuable, this is valuable as it allows me to meet new people and build relationships with them helping my business.

R-rare, not very rare a bunch of people of social skills.

I-inimitable, pretty easy to replicate social skills, business can just talk to people and build mutually beneficial relationships.

N-non-substitutable, could be substituted along with sport contacts and knowledge of potential customers as these require social abilities.

Knowledge of analytics:

V-valuable, valuable to company as we will analyze data and analytics of teams to help us form predictions on games.

R-rare, not very rare as analytics and the usage of them is commonplace in today’s atmosphere.

I-inimitable, can be replicated as others also have knowledge of analytics.

N-non-substitutable, this can be somewhat substitutable by knowledge of sport as with that comes along a basic understanding of the analytics that go along with the sport.

Knowledge of other companies:

V-valuable, valuable as it is important to have a sense of what other companies are doing and what works and does not work for them.

R-rare, not too rare as these companies market themselves on the internet and social media and are pretty transparent of what they do in order to gain consumer trust.

I-inimitable, other companies can easily do this themselves with a little internet and social media research.

N-non-substitutable, not really substitutable by any of my other resources.

Social media skills:

V-valuable, valuable as it helps me reach out to a wider customer base and it is easier to spread the innovation of my product through social media.

R-rare, not really rare as others have a bunch of social media ability, especially in our social-media heavy environment today.

I-inimitable, can be replicated by other companies as all they have to do is know how to use social media.

N-non-substitutable, could be substituted by my social abilities resource.

Creativity:

V-valuable, valuable as creativity is important to find solutions to problems and get a leg up on competition.

R-rare, a lot of people are creative, but nobody has my mind and therefore my exact creativity, so this is rare.

I-inimitable, companies can replicate by coming up with creative idea themselves.

N-non-substitutable, not substituted my any of the other resources as none of them involve unique creativity.

Willingness to adapt:

V-valuable, this is valuable as it helps my business react to the everchanging world around it and the everchanging tastes of customers as well.

R-rare, this is somewhat rare as most successful companies adapt well, but others do not adapt and despise change and do not succeed as much.

I-inimitable, can be replicated it is just whether or not they are willing or not.

N-non-substitutable, can be somewhat substitutable by creativity as adapting to the changes around my business might require some creativity.

I think my top resource is my creativity as this is something that should help me get a leg up on competitors. All my other resources are resources that most companies would have some form of, but my creative mind is something that would make my platform stand out to consumers.

Assignment 22 - Pitch 3

 https://youtu.be/Lgwu5UPslIw

I received a lot more positive feedback on my most recent elevator pitch, which was very encouraging. The only negative feedback that I received was that the lighting and setting for my pitch was pretty poor, so I strived to fixed this on my newest pitch. In this elevator pitch I really improved the lighting and setting of my pitch. I was really encouraged and enjoyed all the positive comments as they really motivated me as well to work hard and strive to do a better job on my elevator pitch. I feel like the hardest part of this elevator pitch is that the time restraint went from 90 seconds to 60 seconds, which made me feel like I had to go a lot quicker and rush in my pitch to get under the time restraint. I feel like throughout all the elevator pitches I have gotten a lot more comfortable with my idea and presenting it to others.

Assignment 21 - Reading Reflection 2

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

The book I read was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams. The general theme of the book was learning on how to grow from failure and be able to move on in life.

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

I feel like the book really connected with what we are learning in the class because it really hammer homes the idea of persistence and dedication. As an entrepreneur it is important to know how to earn from failure and embrace it. Entrepreneurship involves a lot of trial and error with failure, which is essentially what the whole book talks about. I feel like entrepreneurship can really be summed up by the book’s title “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big”  considering entrepreneurship is about constant dedication and failing just to hopefully ultimately see that hard work pay off in the end.

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

What I would design for the class is to write down everything in the last 6 months that has made them freak out or consider themselves a failure. Then have them write down everything they have done in the past 6 months that they have done in terms of self care and self happiness. By doing this they will see how much balance they have in their life and can focus more on improving their self happiness rather than stressing about failure that looking backing on it that ultimately probably doesn’t matter.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The big ‘aha’ moment for me was when Adams mentioned that he really switched to believing in systems rather than goals. This was surprising to me as usually you hear people talking about sticking to their goals, but Adams totally discouraged this as they are too specific and too far ahead in the future.

Assignment 20 - Growing Social Capital

Domain Expert:

Who they are?: This person works for a sports analytics company that actually inspired me to make my business idea. The company is called SportsAnalytics247 and they use data of hired sports analytics experts to help determine picks for games.

Which slot?: They are filling my domain expert spot and fill it because they are experts of the kind of product I would like to serve.

Contact?: I contacted them by direct messaging them through Instagram and they were surprisingly very helpful and enthused to help me.

Exchange?: They told me all about the natures and specialties and offers of there business. They told me all about how they like to use a system where they offer more picks and discounts to others that they feel are “valued” customers that follow them on all kinds of platforms. This was a cool and unique idea to me that I had not considered. The favor they did for me is they gave me knowledge and inside information of their expertise. The favor that I did for them is that I help them by following them on more platforms and got a lot of my friends to follow them and use their services.

How will they help you exploit an opportunity?: They already helped by giving me expertise on their business model and what they like to do and how big social media can be for an upstart business with a new service.

Market Expert:

Who they are?: This person is one of my professors for my sport management classes, Sport Marketing.

Which slot?: They are filling the market expert as they are experts on the field of sport consumer behavior, plus understands the sports gambling field.

Contact?: I just asked him after class what he thought real quick of my idea.

Exchange?: He informed me that although I have a god grasp of who I am selling to, I should include how the effects of some characteristics of the behaviors of sport consumers should factor into my business model.

How will they help you exploit an opportunity?: He helped me understand that my opportunity to reach my consumers goes far beyond what I originally thought it was. He helped me see that using what he taught me about understanding sport consumer behavior, I can really target my customers better and use this opportunity to grow my business. The favor they did for me was by helping me grow more knowledge of my customer base.

Supplier:

Who?: This person is one of my friends’ dad that actually sells to sport consumers and primarily golf fans and consumers.

Which slot?: They are filling the supplier slot as they sell to sport consumers, which I intend to do.

Contact?: I asked my friend to give me his father’s contact information and set up an phone interview where he allowed me to pitch my service and business idea to him.

Exchange?: He told me that I should continue to adapt my model based off more personal selling to customers as I am going to be an upstart business and service and that customers would be more trusting if they put a face to the business as well as backed up data that proves my service is something that is more accurate then just basic gambling off feel or someone making a glorified guess. The favor he did for me was giving me more knowledge on how to sell and gain customers.

How will they help you exploit an opportunity?: They will help me exploit the opportunity of trust in my industry as there is not a lot of areas of trust with other companies, but I have the opportunity to gain trust with my service.

Reflection: This experience really showed the importance of networking as there are many people out there with a lot of knowledge that can help guide me with my business. This differed a little bit from my networking experience in the past as it required me to ask more in depth questions and get outside my comfort zone.

Assignment 19 - Idea Napkin 2

You: I am a sophomore sports management student at the University of Florida. My talents are that I am creative, a positive thinker, I persevere well, and I can adapt to situations quickly. Some of my skills and experiences are that I have good customer service skills and have a deep understanding and knowledge of the sports world. I have attained this knowledge from my experiences of being around sports and sports fans as well for the majority of my life. I see this business as a business that helps service sports fans by giving them insider information and proven data that helps fans and consumers make better gambles with their money.

What: I am offering to customers a service that will help new gamblers make better choices with where and how they place their money. My service will give them insider information and backed data and research that helps them get a better understanding of a team they are gambling on. This will help them be more educated on their bets and gain a sense of confidence that they know what they are getting into and earn more money off their bets.

Who: Sport consumers that either enjoy gambling, looking at gambling predictions, or want to start sport gambling. I will mostly target the newer sport gamblers as they are the ones with the highest need of my service. All my consumers share the fact that they are sport consumers that would like to benefit monetarily by gambling.

Why: Consumers will care about my service as it will help them become more informed gamblers and become better gamblers as well. They will understand how to place bets consistently instead of betting based off feel like most do, especially new gamblers that will be starting to gamble after the new legislation.

What: What I have is the same as before, what I have that other companies do not is that I will add in a brief trial period that will hopefully get the consumer interested in only my service particularly. This is different from most sport gambling consulting companies as they either do not offer trials or they will give out a reduced fee for certain picks.

I think that there is definitely room for improvement in my business concept. I think a lot of my competencies can e copied or duplicated by other businesses, especially if they see success. Because if this it makes it hard for my company to continue to stand out. This will cause me to have to adapt to the market and the other businesses around me as I go with my service.

Assignment 18 - Customer Avatar

My customer avatar:

My customer avatar is one that thoroughly enjoys sports and the thrill and competition of sports betting. They most likely enjoy the thrill of winning and like being on the right side of events. They mostly likely drive just the standard sedan type car and are feeling like they can do in better in life by using sports betting to make a few extra bucks. They long for an even better car and aren’t completely satisfied with where they are in life, as they hope to use sports betting to better their position in life. They probably watch a lot of sport talk shows and sport betting shows as well, as they have a general basis of understanding for the sport betting world. This customer avatar is probably a young to 30 year old adult that likes to feel younger by making risks.

What I have in common:

What I have in common with the customer avatar is that I also thoroughly enjoy sports and heavily watch sports and sport talk shows. I also am a risk taker that enjoys the thrills of competition that comes along with sports and sports betting. I do not think that this is a coincidence as I am targeting those that are most like me and those that I know.

Assignment 17 - Elevator Pitch No.2

Elevator Pitch No.2:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsFjwK2z_b4

Reflection:

The feedback I received was mostly about confusion on whether or not my service was a booking service that actually placed bets for customers. I cleared this up in my video explaining that although we would be taking advantage of the new sport betting laws and market out there, we are not a service that takes bets like a booking service. We are a service that just provides information and data to customers to help them more accurately make decisions that benefit them with their bets.

What I changed based off  feedback:

Based off this feedback I changed my pitch up a little bit. I made sure I was more relaxed and calmer in my new elevator pitch. I spoke with more confidence and spoke slower so my viewers could understand me. I also cleared up that my service is not a booking service that helps place bets for customers, but rather one that aids those that are new to the sport betting world.

Assignment 15 - Buyer Behavior Pt. 2

I interviewed 3 individuals of the segment that I am targeting, which are those that are new to sport gambling and would want to pay for a service that provides them analytics and expertise to guide them in their sport betting ventures.

Alternative Evaluation: A couple of my interviewees said that they have done some brief searching before about these kind of services saying that they were really interested. They mentioned that what really prohibited them the most from joining any of the service is that it was expensive and obviously there is no guarantee when it comes to sport betting. I had one interviewee who said that he has researched a lot of these sport betting consulting companies and that they too were very expensive, but he said what really kept him from paying for any of the services is that some of them seemed gimmicky and did not know whether he could trust them.

How/Where Consumers Buy: All my interviewees said that they have seen these alternative companies all online. They said that this was not really a problem for them as they usually place their bets through services like Paypal, Venmo, wired transfer, or just credit card.

Post-purchase Evaluation: What my interviewees said what really mattered for them was the results of whether the services helped them accurately place the right bet. One of my interviews said that he follows a company on Instagram and that they often post stories and posts highlighting their correctly picked bets.

Conclusion: What I found from these interviews is that what matters most to consumers are the results and that when the consumers see results they will continue to flock to the company. The problem I saw however was that it is very hard to gain the trust of consumers as some of these companies seem gimmicky and untrustworthy. Also, prices for these services seem quite expensive to consumers, especially the new ones that have not firsthand witnessed any type of results yet. The prices prohibit new consumers from joining the services, this causes them to not see any results and limit their want.

Assignment 14 - Halfway Reflection

      1).  For the assignments in this class you definitely need some sort of time management skill and persistence to keep track and complete all the weekly assignments and lectures.

      2). There have been times where I felt like not doing some of the assignments, but what has kept me going is knowing that at the end of the course when I receive a good grade it will have been all worth it. This class has definitely given me a sort of tenacious attitude during the past 2 months. This has developed from just the consistency of assignments and lectures every week that makes you develop this sort of mindset.

       3). 3 tips that I would offer to next semester’s students are: 1. Just stick with it, there are going to be times when you do not want to do assignments, but keep grinding because you will be a lot happier if you do. 2. Work ahead of schedule, there are going to be times when random situations pop up so work head of schedule so you can still complete the assignments and tend to the situation. 3. Lastly, I would say you get out of this class what you put into it.

         

Assignment 13 - Reading Reflection

      1). The entrepreneur that I read about was Steve Jobs. What surprised me about Jobs was that he was so against going anywhere other than Reed college, his adoptive parents wanted him to attend another institution such as Berkley. He was the kind of person that was set on his own aspirations and would not let anything hinder him from that. What I admired about Steve Jobs is that he talked about his displeasure for those that value money as utmost importance. What I admired the least about Steve Jobs is his arrogance that caused many of his coworkers to dislike him when he was at his job at Atari. Steve Jobs encounter a lot of adversity in his life, most significantly he was removed early on from his own company, Apple. He overcame this by working his way back into the company and succeeding in directing the company.

    

      2). The most significant competencies that I noticed Jobs exhibited that I think contributed to his success was obviously his own skill and knowledge with computers along with his arrogance, his willingness to try new things and risks, and his determination.

      3). What was confusing about the reading was the beginning part of his life and figuring out how Jobs was shaped early on to make him the innovator he was.

      4). I would ask Jobs how he thinks how much a person’s early experiences in life shape them to the person they are? I would ask him this because it seems like Jobs went through a lot of ups and downs that you would not expect of such a successful business innovator. I would also ask Jobs what quality or qualities of his he thought attributed most towards his success? I would ask Jobs this because he was quite a unique person that thought differently than the normal stereotypical successful businessman.

      5). I think Jobs’ opinion of hard work would be that it is necessary to be successful and I share that opinion as success does not come over night it comes after years and years of persistence and dedication.

Assignment 12 - Buyer Behavior

Segment: The segment I am targeting is the sport gambler consumer.

Interview: I interviewed 3 individuals, all relatively avid sport gamblers. Interviewee one was a 26 year old male that said he participates in sport gambling “probably about 5 nights a week.” Interviewee two was a 41 year old male that said he participates in sports gambling by betting “usually 3-5 nights a week, but it definitely changes depending on the kinds of games that night.” Interviewee three was a 21 year old male that said he participates in sport gambling “periodically, some weeks it’s a lot more than others, where some weeks it is not all”

Need awareness: I would say all 3 of the these individuals have the need for it, but the degree of the need varies. Interviewee three was more new onto the sports scene and gambled at sporadic periods of time, which is really common among new gamblers. The other 2 interviewees were not as new, but still have the need for my service as they said they bet based off feel of who they think will win or how many points they will score. Also all 3 interviewees said that they usually bet different amounts each time based off how they feel the game is going to go.

Info search: Both interviewee one and interviewee three said they had seen on Instagram a few different sport gambling accounts and sometimes they will scroll through the comments to see what people are thinking for the game. Interviewee two said he asks his friends that are also into sports gambling and sports in general what they think. All 3 interviewees said they use sites like ESPN as sources of sports knowledge to help them decide who to gamble on.

Conclusion: I think this segment of consumers typically recognize they have a need for my service, but they just go research and see what ESPN experts and their friends have to say. They said it would be helpful if they had a service like mine that would compact proven data of past matchups and styles of play, combined with knowledgeable experts to help determine what will happen.

Assignment 11 - Idea Napkin

You: Some of my talents of mine are that I am creative, a positive thinker, I persevere well, and I can adapt to situations quickly. Some of my skills and experiences are that I have good customer service skills and have a deep understanding and knowledge of the sports world. These stem from my experiences of working at a retail sporting goods store for about 2 years, and playing and watching a multitude of sports since I was young. Personally, my aspirations are to become an athletic director at a university. Regarding my business concept, if I were to start it and pursue it deeply it would take up a huge role in my life as for it to become successful, I would have to devote a lot of time towards it.

What: I am offering consumers a service that will help them make smarter gambling choices that will hopefully allow them to make more money by winning more of their bets at a higher accuracy rate.

Who: Sport consumers that either enjoy gambling, looking at gambling predictions, or want to start sport gambling. I will mostly target the newer sport gamblers as they are the ones with the highest need of my service. All my consumers share the fact that they are sport consumers that would like to benefit monetarily by gambling.

Why: Consumers will care about my service as sport gambling is very annoying on one’s own as sports can be very hard to predict especially if someone is not knowledgeable about the sports world. Also, new gamblers probably do not know how to properly bet at a safe and consistent rate compared to just betting sporadic amounts of money based off feel.

What: What I have that other companies do not is that I will add in a brief trial period that will hopefully get the consumer interested in only my service particularly. This is different from most sport gambling consulting companies as they either do not offer trials or they will give out a reduced fee for certain picks.

I think that there is definitely room for improvement in my business concept. I think what makes it weaker is that for my stated competency that makes my company stand out, I stated that I would start a free trial period that most companies do not have. What makes this seem weak to me is that this is something that can be easily copied by other companies if others notice that it is working well for my company. Business is a copycat world and it is not like I can patent or copyright a free trial system.

Assignment 10 - Elevator Pitch

Assigment 10 - Elevator Pitch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyqHxcpTpBM

Assignment 9 - Continuing Your Opportunity Reach

Continuing Your Opportunity Reach

For this assignment, I interviewed 5 of my fraternity brothers, who are avid sport consumers and would be an ideal target market for my opportunity. From the interviews I conducted I drew the following conclusions:

Who: There are some similar companies that produce media content that shares a lot with the opportunity that I have to aid new coming sport gamblers with their decisions. These companies fall outside the boundary of my opportunity as they mostly just target the general sport consumer rather than the new sport gambling consumers.

What: The point in which the need differs from another need is the point where the consumer no longer has the need to use the services to make money off sport gambling. My opportunity only services the need for sport gamblers, especially the new ones that are coming onto the scene without any experience or relative knowledge.

Why: The underlying cause for the generic sport consumer is that they have a need for sport content because of their high level of interest in sports. The underlying cause for those that are inside the opportunity’s boundary is that they have a need to win their bets and make a profit on their gambles. Also, the sport gambling need exist even more now due to new legislation passing it in several states.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
New consumers with the need for sport gambling help	Regular sport and sport media consumer
The need for sport gambling advice, data to make smarter decisions	The need is not just the basic sport media and content for the average sport consumer
The consumers want to make a profit off sporting events, also the need exists due to recent legislation passing sport gambling in several states	The outside need exists due to one’s interest on sport and love for the sport and its media

Assignment 8 - Solving The Problem

The opportunity that I intend to solve is the opportunity of new sports gambling consumers needing advice, statistics, and expertise to help them make sports gambling decisions because of the new legislation legalizing sports gambling in several states. My solution to this opportunity is to provide a service that provides these new consumers with the knowledge they need to make smart sports gambling decisions. This service would contain notable statistics on previous matchups and similar ones that could help a new sports gambler make an educated decision on where they place their bets. My service would also contain background information regarding not only team analytics but players as well that could predict or imply a projected performance for our consumers. With the new legislation passing, there will be more people gaining interest in the sports gambling world. With new consumers coming into the field, they will have a need for advice on which bets to place.

Assignment 7 - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

I believe there is an opportunity to provide new sports gambling consumers with a service to help meet their need of expert sports knowledge and notable trends in sporting games due to the new legislation legalizing sports gambling in select states.

The who: new sports gambling consumers

The what: these new consumers have a need for expert sport knowledge and notable trends of sporting events to help them predict an outcome

The why: new legislation deeming the legality of sports gambling to be determined at the state level, and other states legalizing sports gambling

Those that have this need are new incoming sports gambling consumers. With the new legislation legalizing sports gambling in several states, there should be an influx of new sports gambling consumers. I don’t believe there are any others who have this need besides the basic sports gambling consumer, as everyone in my current ‘who’ shares the need.

The boundaries of the need are that the need is strictly limited to the new sports gambling consumers as the old ones already have obtained knowledge, so their need wouldn’t be as strong. The need also does not extend to all sports consumers as well, just the ones that have an interest in sports gambling.

The why I identified was that legislation was recently passed legalizing sports gambling in several states. This why does not hold true for everyone of the interested sports gambling consumers as it is limited to only the consumers that live in those legal states.

While conducting interviews to gauge interests and opinions on this opportunity I interviewed 5 of my roommates that watch sports heavily. After conducting my interviews I found out that the need for my opportunity is a bit more isolated than I had previously thought. My interviewees all said that the need for my opportunity is limited to mostly new sports gambling consumers and that the already active ones would not see the need for my opportunity.

Assignment 6 - Economic and Regulatory Trends

Assignment 6 – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Why did you see this opportunity?

Economic Trend #1: Rapid growth among jobs requiring master’s degrees

Source: “US Economic Outlook for 2019 and Beyond” https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669

I believe there is an opportunity present with more and more jobs requiring a master’s degree. To me this means that more and more companies are getting more knowledgeable and hard working employees. To me this presents an opportunity for companies to be able to afford to make more innovative and tech related products and services. With more higher level thinking employees a company will have employees that know how to logistically communicate and conduct business, to me this means this allows a company to cut back on mid-level employees whose basic job requirements are to manage and conduct logistics. With the new incoming employees having higher education they will be able to a higher level of innovation and workable products that accurately pair with a company’s target market.

With this new opportunity I believe the typical benefactor and customer of this trend in higher education will be companies looking to get younger and more innovative.

I think this opportunity is going to be pretty easy to exploit as since the employee field is growing in numbers of those who have a masters. This means that soon it will become the norm to have a masters and as the field continues to grow, the easier it will be for companies to take advantage of this.

I feel like this is an opportunity that can be identified by more people than just me. I formed this belief because I saw that more jobs are looking for applicants with master’s degree. With this trend occurring I made the connection that more students would get their master’s degree.

Economic Trend #2: Minimum Wage Increasing

Source: “Four Economic Trends That Will Impact Your Wallet in 2019” https://www.thesimpledollar.com/four-economic-trends-that-will-impact-you-this-year/

I believe with minimum wage increasing this presents an opportunity for more businesses to go digital with its basic services that are currently being provided with minimum wage employees. As minimum wage increases this means employers are paying their employees more for the same services. These services like checkout and basic greeting can be done through digital responsive services.

The prototypical customer for this new opportunity would be businesses with a lot of minimum wage employees like fast-food restaurants and retail stores.

I think this would be a pretty difficult opportunity to exploit just because all the new implementation for businesses would be tough. A lot of the businesses that contain heavy amounts of minimum wage employees are big chains. These big chain businesses would have difficulty changing across all their stores a new policy of digital responsive services instead of employees. Also, I think the customers would have difficulty transitioning to this instead of more people employees.

I feel like this is an opportunity that can be identified by more people than just me. I formed this belief because in high school I worked for 3 years in a sporting goods retail store and found that most of the services done by minimum wage employees could be done by digital responsive systems.

Regulatory Trend #1: More states legalizing sports gambling

Source: “Here's What Will Change (and What Won't) Now That Sports Gambling Is Legal” https://www.complex.com/sports/2018/05/heres-what-will-change-and-what-wont-now-that-sports-gambling-is-legal

I see an opportunity with sports gambling becoming legal in more and more states. This is an opportunity for sport franchises and tv companies to make even more money as with people having a monetary investment on the game they are more likely to tune in on a game that would normally not interest them.

The prototypical consumer for this new opportunity would be the sports consumer.
I think this opportunity would be pretty easy to exploit because with people having monetary investments on games, it will be easier for consumers to become interested in the lesser known sports and sport leagues. These leagues can exploit this opportunity to gain interest and generate more revenue.

I feel like this is an opportunity that can be identified by more people than just me. I formed this belief because I saw how when the news broke, that sports gambling could become legal in more and more states, the whole sports world went insane saying how big this is for sports leagues.

Regulatory Trend #2: Regulation protecting privacy and security concerns

Source: “10 Top Regulatory Issues for Small Businesses in 2019” https://www.paychex.com/articles/compliance/top-regulatory-issues

With regulation shifting to protect consumers’ privacy and security, businesses have to adapt to these regulations. I see an opportunity to respect these regulations and promote themselves as a safe and secure company to garner more consumers that have these concerns with privacy issues.

The prototypical consumer for this opportunity would be those with concerns over privacy in today’s environment.

I think it would be hard to exploit this opportunity because it could become a situation where almost every single business promotes themselves as a safe and secure business. This would cause consumers to place less value and have less faith in a company promoting themselves as safe.

I feel like this is an opportunity that can be identified by more people than just me. I formed this belief because I made the connection that with the consumers wanting more privacy, business should promote how secure they are and give the consumers what they want.

Assignment 5 - Local Opportunities

Assignment 5 Local Opportunities

Title: What shut the restaurants? Roaches in a wok, flies near the wine, sewage on the floor

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0122%21January%2B22&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/1711DF184FE565A0 

This article describes a local problem among a few restaurants that have sanitation issues due to the excessive amount of roaches and lack of cooling and refrigeration of their inventory. Among the restaurants was a Bar Louie’s in Boynton beach, a Dunkin Donuts in Pembroke Pines, a Gyroville Really Fresh Really Greek in Ft. Lauderdale, a Nico’s Pizza in West Palm Beach, a Porterhouse Bar and Grill in Sunny Isles Beach, and a Sarku Japan in West Miami-Dade. There were numerous of violations with one business accumulating 33 violations itself. The violations included mold, non-working bathrooms, flies, roaches, no washed hands, excessive food grease, perishables being kept at high temps, and much more.

Problem: These businesses have an unmet need of sanitation and should develop a better strategy to keep them from violating sanitation procedures. The consumers have an unmet need as well for quality food that is free from sanitation violations.

Who: Both the restaurants and the consumer now have unmet needs.

Title: Workplace safety violations at UM dining hall add up to a proposed $134,000 in fines

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0124%21January%2B24&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/1712A48D94B9AA00

The article illustrates the local news that the University of Miami is being fines $134,000 for safety violations among the dining hall. The violations were for hazardous working conditions as employees were exposed to hazardous smoke and chemicals without being given access to a quick eye draining station nor were they given proper information and training for working with hazardous chemicals.
Problem: The University employees have the need for safety while working with hazardous smoke and chemicals.

Who: The University and its employees.

Title: The next possible victims of the shutdown: Your food, flowers and toys

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0120%21January%2B20&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/171121A936B566D0

The article highlights how with the government being shut down, inspectors are working without a paycheck causing the inspection for toys, food, and flowers are now delaying. Inspections for non-perishables have actually been sitting in warehouse waiting for inspection for 2 weeks now. The article communicates that consumers should now be aware that because of the shutdown the next to fall could be their food, flowers, and food that are still waiting inspection.

Problem: Consumers have the need for inspected food, flowers, and food.

Who: Local Consumers.

Title: More than 68,000 pounds of chicken recalled after wood was found by some customers

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0119%21January%2B19&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/1710FDC49C6E2AF0

This article details the recent recall of Perdue chicken. After wood was found in some of the chicken nuggets by a few consumers, Perdue had to recall over 68,000 pounds of chicken. The article mentions that the recall occurred for the 22-ounce bag of chicken nuggets made by Perdue with the best by date set at “10/25/19.”

Problem: Consumers have a unmet need of clean chicken, and the company has an unmet need to sell clean chicken to its consumers.

Who: Both the company and the consumer have an unmet need.

Title: Most CEOs say their companies are trying hard to attract ‘Gen Z'

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0118%21January%2B18&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/171078E9625CE3E8

This article highlights a growing trend for most big businesses and that is to attract the sales from “Gen Z” consumers. Because of this push for more of a younger target market companies are adapting by becoming more digital. The article explains that there has been a greater push for services to become faster and rely around convenience and responsiveness. Another push the article mentions is for more companies to do more work that is “purposeful” as this is another attraction for the “Gen-Z” consumer.

Problem: Companies are trying to bring in a younger consumer base.

Who: Businesses that have typically relied on less technology are in danger of pushed out.

Assignment 4 Forming An Opportunity Belief

My beginning point is that I have a belief that there is an unmet need for more parking spaces for off campus students. This need comes from off campus students that live far off from campus and cannot walk to class and have trouble relying on the buses that only come once every 30 minutes. This is not a new problem, it is one that has existed for some time now, and the university has started to try and do something about it by adding more parking spaces around campus. Although this need is trying to be fixed by the university, it is still a problem has there are currently people that will even go as far as to uber to class so they do not miss there class. Often times people will have friends drive them to class or just skip out all together. At this point I am 90% sure this is a problem and that the opportunity exists.

The prototypical customer for this unmet need are those college students at the University of Florida that live off campus. I interviewed 3 college students at the University of Florida that happen to live off campus:
Q: What is the exact nature of this need for more parking spaces for off campus students?
Person 1: I think it comes from the limited housing that is available on campus.
Person 2: I think it is because most of the parking spaces are for on campus students or even graduate students.
Person 3: I believe it stems from the many people that go to UF, and that UF can't accommodate for every sector of students, so the off campus students are left without on campus parking.
Q: When do you become aware of this need? Is it all the time or just sometimes?
Person 1: It just becomes a problem when I go to class, it is not all the time, just when I need to go to class.
Person 2: Every time I need to go on campus and parking is not lifted it is a problem.
Person 3: I become aware of this problem whenever I have to go to class or the library or really anytime I have to be somewhere on campus.
Q: How long have you had this need?
Person 1: Since I moved off campus
Person 2: Person 2 provided same reasoning as Person 1
Person 3: Person 3 provided same reasoning as Person 1
Q: When did you first become aware of this need?
Person 1: At the beginning of the semester when classes started
Person 2: Person 2 provided same reasoning as Person 1
Person 3: I mean I have been aware that this was an issue since I became a student here, but it really has only been an issue since I moved off campus.
Q: How do you currently address this need?
Person 1: I usually have to wait for the bus to come.
Person 2: I have to ride the bus, but often I miss the bus and my friend drives me.
Person 3: Person 3 provided the same answer as Person 1
Q: How satisfied are you with the parking spaces on campus
Person 1: Not really satisfied.
Person 2: I'm not that satisfied, but I don't really care that much.
Person 3: Not at all satisfied.

Reflection:
What I learned about this opportunity is that is an ongoing issue at UF as many students off campus cannot park on campus to get to class. The most surprising thing I learned about this unmet need is that I got the sense from the people I interviewed that they did not really care much for this need, they had the belief that there was nothing that could be done about this unmet need.

Summary:
I still believe the opportunity exists, but I am less sure that this is a problem that can be fixed, and that people actually care about this problem. I believe this exercise gave a more accurate depiction of this opportunity. I think Entrepreneurs should absolutely adapt their opportunities toward customer feedback as they are the ones that buy a product and how a company makes their money.

Assignment 3 Entrepreneurship Story

My entrepreneurship story is a little bit of an odd, but unique one. I started becoming interested in entrepreneurial ventures my junior year of high school when I took an entrepreneurship class. As part of the class we were required to come up with a business idea and write a business plan for it. Wanting to be different I used an idea that I thought of while sitting at a table in Panera Bread. The idea was for a table that had a built in toaster in it that popped the bread up and onto your plate when the toast was finished, the product was called a "Toasta Table" and was under the fictional company of "Toastas Inc." As a part of the assignment I created a company logo and slogan and even a line of a bunch of other products the company could sell such as a "Toasta Chandelier" and a shirt called "Pocka Nugget" that in theory would heat up a select amount of frozen chicken nuggets in the front shirt pocket. After presenting my ideas and company to my classmates, my creativity became a huge hit, so I decided to create a few different shirt designs of my ideas that I sold to my classmates. This experience in my life really sparked an interest in the entrepreneurship world for me. This interest in entrepreneurship led me to take this class as I hope to gain more knowledge on the entrepreneurship field and continue to gain interest and passion for it as well.

Assignment 2 Bug List

My many Bugs:
1. The people who take too long at a green light
-this bug exists because often times people are looking at their phones at a stop light and do not realize that the light has turned green
2. The people who do not use their turn signal
-this bug exists because people are either too lazy to do it or their turn light is broken
3. The waiters/waitresses that linger too long at the table
-this bug occurs often when the waiter/waitress is new and not well trained
4. The waiters/waitresses that don’t refill water/are not very attentive
-this bug exists because the waiter/waitress has not been trained to be attentive enough
5. Football coaches with terrible clock management skills, especially late in games
-this bug exists because coaches often overthink the situation
6. Referees that make wrong calls
-this bug exists when replay is not used because a call is non-reviewable
7. Forced small talk
-this bug occurs when there are brief awkward interactions with other people
8. Commercials on tv/radio/podcasts
-this bug exists because of pauses in scheduled content leading for sponsorship and exposure opportunities for companies
9. Pop up ads on phones/computers
-this bug exists because companies pay to get exposure on websites you visit
10.  Buffering or loading screens
-this bug exists due to decaying phones or slower generations
11. Outside commotion and noise early in the morning
-this bug exists because many people have different schedules in their lives and houses are spaced very close to each other
12. The people that go the wrong way in parking lot
-this bug exists when maybe a road sign is not all that clear of what is what
13. The people that double park
-this bug exists when there is limited parking available
14. The bikers that think they own the road
-this bug exists because some bikers are not knowledgeable enough that they have to stop and obey the normal rules of the road if they choose to bike on the road 
15. The groups of people that walk slowly on sidewalk/take up all of sidewalk
-this bug occurs when perhaps a sidewalk is too narrow and people are not aware enough of when/how to move and get out of the way
16. The people that hover over your shoulder
-this bug exists because some people are very curious of what is going on around them
17. The people that cut lines
-this bug exists because perhaps a sign for the line is not very clear
18. The people that are noisy eaters
-this bug exists because people exaggerate their sounds/are not aware enough of what they are doing
19. When a bag of chips only has a few chips and the rest is all air
-this bug exists because companies try to cut back and save money on the product by lessening the chips and not displaying it on bag
20. The people that do not put things back into place at stores
-this bug exists because people forget where they got something or how it was supposed to be displayed
Reflection:
I had a very challenging time thinking of what bugs me after about 6 or so bugs. This assignment really forced me to start paying attention of what is going on around me and forced me to become critical of my observations.

First post blog

Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing.