Final Reflection

1.) The most formative experience I have had in this class was going out to campus and conducting interviews with random students to identify opportunities and later to find out more about the issues students were having with purchasing textbooks. I found that it was nice to connect with random students I would not normally encounter in classes and realize that a lot of us college students were dealing with the same financial struggles of overpaying for basic educational resources. I don't know if there is a lot I will remember about this class when I look back years from now. I am sorry about this but while this class was nice, I don't think it had the impact on me that was intended which is fine. Due to this, I did not really encounter a particularly joyous occasion nor one I was exceptionally proud of.

2.) I do not see myself as an entrepreneur at all. I did not develop a significantly more entrepreneurial mindset than what was already there before I started this class. I suppose I do try to identify entrepreneurial opportunities more now than before which is definitely a progression towards that mindset.

3.) My one advice to students who are going to take this class is to do all of the assignments or as many of them as possible. It is easy to look at one assignment that requires more effort than the others and think it is only 3 points so I can skip it. They add up quickly and before you know it, that mindset costed you an entire letter grade. To do the best in this class, get ahead of the weekly schedule and complete a few assignments ahead of time since they are always available to you. Doing this is the best way to ensure you won't miss any assignments and you can use the extra time you have focusing on other classes that require more effort. I don't feel that I am qualified to give advice on what to do to foster an entrepreneurial mindset but one thing that stands out to me is try to look around your every day world, the problems you find in it, and come up with a possible solution. These problems are where business opportunities are found so this would be a good start to developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity      

    The opportunity I have found is one that involves college students everywhere. Students are expected to purchase ridiculously overpriced textbooks for the classes they take in college. According to data collected from College Board, college students spent an average of $1250 for textbooks between 2017 and 2018. That number is staggering and it should not be the case especially when considering that college students are in no way the most economically stable group in society. Many either have near minimum wage part-time jobs or do not work at all. Assuming that students are financially supported by their parents is also ridiculous because this is not the case for a large amount of students in college. It is unfair that the cost of basic educational material is so high and that the consumers of this material are naturally unable to afford it. This problem is caused by textbook manufacturers seeking the highest amount of profit possible for a product that does not incur heavy costs to produce. The average textbook used by a college students takes less than $20 to produce but is sold anywhere from $100 up to $400. That profit margin is almost criminal when you realize that is coming at the expense of poor college students who do not have sustainable incomes that can adequately pay for these books along with their other expenses.
     What this means is that students are looking for a cheaper solution to this problem because they still need their books, they just don't want to sell their kidneys in order to afford them. That is why the market I have chosen as an opportunity is among college students. The demographics of this market are essentially just college students anywhere that are expected to purchase their own books. There is a very wide age range but the majority will fit between the ages of 18 and 25. This is a need across the world but for the beginning of my venture, I am only aiming to focus on students in the United States. These students are currently using their university bookstore, online vendors like Amazon and E-bay, or local bookstores. While all of these options provide students with textbooks, they are not by any means cheap. Even Amazon charges upwards of $70 for used books which is ridiculous. Often students resort to buying earlier versions of textbooks that are not as updated as the editions currently being used in their classes just because those are the cheapest alternatives. I don't think its right that we are making students rely on sub-par educational materials because they cannot afford to have the standard option available. Students who use these outlets to buy their textbooks are not extremely loyal to them and I believe they would easily switch to a cheaper alternative if it was offered. I think this provides a massive opportunity because the majority of college students feel that textbooks are too expensive, meaning there are millions of potential customers who would switch to a cheaper textbook alternative. I think this window of opportunity will be available for years to come because I do not believe that textbook manufacturers will suddenly reduce their prices.

Innovation 

     The innovation I have thought of to solve this problem is an online platform that students pay a monthly subscription to access and this platform will offer students all the textbooks they will need for any given semester or school year. Once a student signs up for the service at a nominal monthly fee, they have unlimited access to all the textbooks they would need. They can save these books to their own personal library that they are able to access on multiple devices, including their smart phones through a mobile app. I feel that the best way to price this would be dependent on the number of textbooks the student would want to access and save in their library. The base options would be $20 for 3 textbooks a semester and then each additional book would be an extra $5 a month. A student that would need four textbooks for the average 4-month semester would spend $100 on all 4 books combined as opposed to $100 on each individual book(which is honestly considered a cheap price if the textbook is new). 

Venture Concept 

     This platform would absolutely solve the problem of having expensive textbooks. Studies are showing that the average student in America is spending around $600 on textbooks a semester and my platform subscription service would bring that cost down to $100. I definitely feel like students would definitely switch to this cheap alternative easily because of this. The primary competitors to my venture are the existing alternatives I listed above that sell textbooks like university bookstores and Amazon. The biggest weakness university bookstores have is that they sell their books extremely overpriced. Amazon offers slightly cheaper pricing options but nothing compared to what this platform would offer which would mean more students will switch. Competitive price points, customer support, and accessibility will be what matter to my customers more than anything else. In order to launch this product at an initial level focused around one university like UF, I would probably need a team of developers to create the platform, an IT team that will provide technical support to the platform and customers, and a data team that can manage all of the storage that is necessary for this platform. Around 25 people would be needed for a small scale launch like this.

Minor Elements

1.) My venture's unfair advantage is that once the platform is up and running, there is very little additionally costs that are there such as production and manufacturing costs. Which is something most of my competitors won't be able to match. 

2.) Eventually I would like this subscription service to turn into a Netflix-like platform that people pay for monthly and have all of the books they would want. 

3.) Assuming this venture launches, I would want to be on the verge of selling the rights to the platform to some bidder for the largest amount of profit I am offered in 5 years. I know this is not particularly noble or bold but I don't want to focus my life on this particular service and platform. If I am able to sell it and achieve long-term financial security for me and my family, that is absolutely what I will do. 

I didn't do the initial venture concept or the "What's Next" assignments so I did not have any feedback I could use. This is the first venture concept I have done. 

 

Your Exit Strategy

1.) The exit strategy I would have if I ever started an online textbook rental service would be to just see what happens. This is not a lifelong passion I have had that I would want to see succeed more than anything. Personally, I am not committed to such a venture and it had nothing to do with what I want to do in life. If the service took off, I would help grow it for about 5 years or so until I can sell it for an enormous profit. I would take that money to plan for my future.

2.) I selected this exit strategy because I do not want to run a textbook rental service in the long run. It does not interest me, it is not what I selected to study in school, and it is not the career path I want. It would be nice if I had managed to create a successful service but even if that is the case, I feel like I personally wouldn't get any emotional satisfaction from this line of work. Once it had become a success, I could easily see myself get bored with the business.

3.) Because my exit strategy is one of very little attachment, every decision I have taken is one that was made without a lot of care. The opportunity I identified was one that stood out to me easily as a college student but if I cared more about the business I was starting, I could have chosen something more profitable or at least easier to get started. Since I don't plan on keeping this business over the long term, it has made me less motivated to seek and utilize resources to help it grow.

Reading Reflection No. 3

      The book I read for my third reading reflection was Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker

1.) Drucker splits his book into three parts that focus on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial strategies. In this first part of the book, Drucker defines innovation which he says is basically the exploitation of any change that gives a competitive business advantage. The second part focuses on management of a new venture, existing venture, or public institution. Drucker argues that all of these establishes requires management with an entrepreneurial mindset because that facilitates success. All organizations must acquire entrepreneurial competence to keep pace with changes in economy and society. 

2.) The entire book is focused on the need for an entrepreneurial mindset and strategies to help grow any potential idea a person has into a successful business venture. It talks about taking time to seek opportunities in a fast-paced world and how those opportunities must be utilized. That is exactly what we spent the first part of the semester doing while we were trying to figure out what our business ventures would be. 

3.) I would not design an exercise for class from this book. We have more than enough assignments and I personally did not feel like I gained anything profound from this book that can be best learned through some exercise. 

Celebrating Failure

1.) I can think of numerous instances this semester that I failed in but one incident that comes to mind in terms of this class is when I did not do the elevator pitch assignments. I have missed all of them even though I did not intend to. The first one was due around the time that I was buried with my midterm exams. The next two elevator pitches were easily doable but I procrastinated on them until finally I was too busy both times to actually complete the assignments.

2.) The biggest thing I learned from this particular failure is that I need to seriously work on my time management skills. I left 9 points on the board in this class because of my complacency, which is inexcusable. It is going to be the difference in why my grade in this class won't be as high as it could be which is irritating.

3.) How I handle failure is to dwell on it for enough time that I am able to see what caused the failure and how I could keep myself from making similar mistakes. The key is to not dwell on my failures too long because it gets harder to accomplish anything when there is a fear of failure. One has to take their failures and grow from it. I do not think this class has changed how I handle failure and I do not think this class has led to me becoming a more risk-seeking person.

Reading Reflection No.2

1.) The book I read for the second reading assignment was "How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big". The general theme of the book is about how the author, Scott Adams, likes to use failure as something that guides him on his path to success. He gives various tips and advice that would be useful in finding success in an a difficult environment.

2.) The book helped enhance what we are learning in ENT 3003 because the focus of the book is how to overcome failure and have it work for you which I believe is necessary for this class where the goal is to learn about becoming a successful entrepreneur. When trying to operate a successful business, failure is a natural part of the process. Thus, a book that teaches how to turn that failure into success greatly enhances what we are learning in this class.

3.) Adams talks about prioritizing activities based on the amount of energy it takes up. One activity I would design for this class is to have students list out their daily activities based on the amount of energy each activity takes up starting with what takes the most energy all the way to what requires the least amount of energy.

4.) Adams talks about building your life around systems instead of goals because systems are more efficient in the long term than goals. He then explains what is the issue with goals. He talks about how goals are in the future and goals are too specific to where they invite additional opportunities for failure. I found this to be a very new perspective that I had never considered before and it made me realize that designing my life around systems could be a helpful way to live. 

Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert- Thomas Rodgers is my domain expert. Mr. Rodgers is the lead IT developer at a company called the New England Packaging company. Rodgers was responsible for creating the company's online customer platform used for ordering products and services. Mr. Rodgers and I met at a networking event before Career Showcase at UF and we had a few different conversations over the course of the week. I emailed him about my business idea and he told me that he saw the growth potential in it. He directed me to which programming languages and online databases I could most effectively use for my platform. By having a technical expert I can contact whenever I have questions regarding the platform development will greatly help me design a very efficient and user-friendly online service.

Market Expert- Aaron Brady is my market expert. Mr. Brady works at the UF Survey Research Center which conducts research for the university and outside contractors like Texas Medicaid, Florida Department of Health, and the state government. Part of Brady's research is focused solely on university students, which makes him an expert in my target segment. I met Mr. Brady at the UFSRC when I used to work there as a survey interviewer. The biggest benefit I see to having Mr. Brady in my network is that whenever I would like feedback or additional input regarding my platform, I know I can rely on Brady for the research necessary for it.

Supplier- Drew Manning is my supplier. He is a textbook sales representative for McGraw-Hill textbooks, one of the biggest textbook manufacturers in the country. I met him at a sales convention this past summer that I attended with my father. I believe Manning will be useful because I can turn to him for information regarding book pricing which I could use when I am creating my payment options for my platform.

This experience did not differ from any previous networking experiences I have had because two of the three people were met through traditionally networking methods, which I am familiar with. However, this exercise gave me a real example of why networking is so important which has made me realize I need to expand my network as much as I can.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1.) You- I am a fourth year information systems and operations management student at the University of Florida. Most of my skills and work experience is in the customer service sector. All of the jobs I held have required customer service skills including creating a customer service department for a company I interned for this previous summer. I believe this is an asset because I am able to always have the customer in my mind first and make decisions in the best interest of my consumers. If I were to start the online textbook platform, I would want to devote my time and attention into making it as successful as possible and have as many college students using it as possible.

2.) What are you offering to customers?-  I am offering an online platform for college students to access their textbooks during the semester for a discounted rate. Rather than paying hundreds of dollars for each individual textbook, students can pay a nominal monthly rate that gives them access to their course materials.

3.) Who are you offering it to?- I am offering this product to students that are in college and need textbooks for their classes. All of these kids will fit in the age group between 18 and 25, have limited disposable income, and are currently taking classes at a university. The biggest thing these students have in common is that they are paying way too much currently for their textbooks. 

4.) Why do they care? - The students will care about this platform because textbooks in the United States are way too expensive and they do not have large amounts of extra income that can be spent on books. Therefore, a product that would save them up to 75% of the cost they would have incurred by traditionally buying textbooks would be greatly beneficial to them and students would naturally care is such a platform is offered. 

5.) What are your core competencies? - My biggest core competency is that willingness to adapt and adjust to new situations. Additionally, because of the nature of my major, I have a lot of technical skills that would greatly aid me in developing this platform. 

      I am confident that the above elements fit together well enough to help my business concept be successful should I choose to actually start it. The skills I have in customer service and the technical abilities that are a part of my core competencies will help me significantly in creating a successful online platform for textbook access. Additionally, I think that since what I am offering is so beneficial and comparatively inexpensive, students will be legitimately have interest in it, which would also aid in the platform being successful. The two biggest pieces of feedback I got that I used for the second idea napkin is that I needed to really talk about what about me would help the platform be successful and why would students care about the platform? I was told to elaborate on both of these points more than initially, which I have tried to do. 

Create A Customer Avatar

     After conducting numerous interviews with people I identified as being within my target segment, I feel that I have a good understanding of who my typical customer would be. If I had to create a customer avatar for my target segment, it would be a twenty year-old male or female. This is because my product is an online textbook service that offers cheaper alternatives to buying textbooks for classes. Such a product would be most used by college students, which is why the 20 year old avatar is perfect.
      The twenty year-old student would be someone who is someone in college, living either in a dorm or an off-campus apartment, and has very little expendable money. The student enjoys cheap pleasures like drinking at mid-town, going for a movie, or getting a bite to eat with some friends. These students typically do not have a lot of external responsibilities or obligations such as having children. Many of them work small part-time jobs to help supplement whatever income they have. This college student watches shows like the Office, Game of Thrones, Friends, and Breaking Bad. Their tastes are varied generally, but being a young college student in this day and age, I feel that most of them are politically conscious even though this doesn't inherently affect my product. Most of my segment would fall between the ages of 18 to 23 although there could be plenty of potential customers who are outside of this range.
     I feel like I have everything in common with this avatar because I definitely fall into the target segment I am aiming my textbook service at. This is why I came up the idea in the first place, I was trying to find a way to cut down costs incurred by college students. I have the same tastes and many of the same overall perspectives as this customer avatar which comes as no surprise given how it is I came up with my service, identified a target segment, and created this customer avatar.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

      The focus of this exercise was to get a closer look at the purchasing decisions of my target segments, college students who need textbooks. The three primary factors that were being studied was how the target segments evaluate different alternatives in purchasing their books for classes, how and where they actually buy the books, and how they feel about their purchases once they have bought the books.

      In order to do this, I conducted three interviews with random students at the University of Florida that I met on campus. I asked them questions regarding all three of these factors and recorded their answers. After going back and reviewing the interview notes, I feel like I am able to gather some idea of how my target segment approaches their textbook purchasing decisions.
     
      I asked the students about what matters most to them when they are deciding the best option of where to buy their books from. As I had suspected, the first thing all three said was price. This shouldn't be surprising because the entire reason I had this idea is because textbooks are too expensive so it's is only natural that the students would say that price was the biggest factor. After that, the next thing that is contemplated is what edition and what format is the book in? Some professors do not care what edition of the textbook the students have as long as it is not too old while others are sticklers for specific editions so this often affects where the students buy their books from. Students also care about whether the textbook is an online version or an actual textbooks. For students who truly prefer to have a physical copy of the book, this factor plays a part on where they buy their books from. The final factor that is evaluated is how soon do the students need the books and how soon would they be able to have the books. Certain classes will require books as soon as the first day of class so for students in such classes, time it takes to obtain the books is definitely a big point of evaluation.

      These questions led me to asking them about where they buy their textbooks from and how they typically buy it. The most common answers were either the University of Florida bookstore or online, usually through Amazon or E-bay. As to what influences where the students choose to buy their books from, the above factors are what has led to these being the most common purchasing sources. The most common method used for purchasing the textbooks are a debit or credit card, along with some students being given stipends for textbooks that they are able to use as well.

      Finally, I asked the students what they think of when they evaluate the purchase later on to see if it was a good or bad purchase. Across the board, they said that the first thing they think of is whether or not the textbook will provide any use for them once the class is done. Unfortunately, for the majority of students, the answer is no. This is why I feel like the online platform that gives students access to the books would be a great idea. The students are paying significantly less to access the books but that is okay because the students only need the access for usually one semester. It does not make sense to overcharge students for a commodity the majority of them have no use for after 3 months.

      In conclusion, I would say that this exercise was helpful in learning more about the purchasing decision making of my target segment. I found that most of the segment is evaluating their purchasing options based on the same common factors such as price, edition, type of book, and time to obtain textbooks. The segment could do further evaluations of their purchasing options though. There are definitely more options to obtain books from besides just Amazon and the UF bookstore. Their final evaluation of the purchase once it has happened is based on primarily one factor: the utility they will have from the textbooks once the class is over. For the few that do have use for the books after class, they have less regrets on how much they spent for their textbooks. But the majority wish that they did not have to spend as much as they had to for books only used for a semester.

Halfway Reflection

                Now that we are half way through the course, it is a good time to reflect upon the last two months of the course and evaluate what has been effective and what has not been.

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. The main behavior I have had to develop for this class is consistency in terms of when I am working on this class. Many of the assignments require gathering information from external sources through interviews which requires planning ahead. I try to check on the upcoming assignments the Sunday before so that I can plan when I can do whatever the required activities are. I try to watch lectures the same days every week but this is difficult some weeks when I have exams for other classes so I need to improve that aspect. Additionally, I get all my required information I need for the week's assignments by Thursday so that I can make my blog posts by Friday every week. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude.  While this class is not meant to be difficult, it does require effort and time that needs to be dedicated to it. There have been times where I have given up or considered giving up but that is not sustainable if I want to succeed in this course. I feel like the biggest wall I ran into was when we had to give elevator pitches. The week of that assignment I had three exams and by the time I was done with all of them, I did not want to give an elevator pitch, record it, and submit it. I regret missing that assignment now because I still could have done it but the experience made me realize I cannot continue to feel demotivated and not work, I want to be successful and self-pity will not lead to that. 

3) Three tips for becoming tenacious. The first is to always keep your goal in mind. If you always have what you want to achieve in the forefront of your thoughts, you become much harder to stop from achieving those goals. The second is be prepared for days that you don't want to do anything. No matter how diligent you are, you will face a period where you want to give up or not do the work required. How you handle this will determine whether you are able to achieve your goals or not. The third is probably most important: be prepared to fail. You will face obstacles and setbacks in life and in this class. You may struggle to find people to interview, you may be nervous about public speaking, you may not read all parts of a required assignment. The failures will happen occasionally and they do not determine whether you will inevitably succeed or not. That is determined by how you choose to respond to that that failure. 

Reading Reflection No. 1

       For my first reading reflection, I read Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson. I chose this biography because I had always been awed by the behemoth that Apple had become and I wanted to know more about the genius behind one of the most successful companies in the world. I also found out that this was the only biography on Jobs that was consented by him and Issacson was actually able to conduct over 40 interviews with Jobs for the book so I figured this would be the closest to a primary source that I could get.
      What surprised me the most when I read the book was learning how Steve Jobs truly became a millionaire. Spoiler alert: Jobs' wealth was not earned from Apple but Pixar actually. He had become the majority owner of Pixar in 1986 and continued to invest millions of dollars in the company until it finally landed a contract with Disney and made Toy Story in 1995. The movie made $350 million and was the most successful movie of the year, leading Pixar's value to increase dramatically by the time Jobs decided to make the company public and have its initial public offering, making him the billionaire he became. I felt like what I admired most about Jobs was his ability to sell his vision to people. There were times when no one believed in Jobs's thoughts that Apple would become the most successful company in the world. He had countless encounters with his engineers who felt overworked and wanted to leave but he had to convince them that their work and effort was on verge of creating something monumental. Dealing with rejection is a huge part of life and business but Jobs became someone who simply would not. He would convince someone to believe in his vision of his company and do such a phenomenal job of it that that person couldn't believe they ever doubted in the first place.
      What I felt like I least admired about Steve Jobs after reading this biography was that the man comes across very cold and uncaring at times. I know that being as successful as he was and being the genius that he was, forming meaningful connections with other people may not be worth the effort but I did feel like he could have been a more compassionate person. The book details incidents of Jobs telling his employees to keep working 10 hours after working already 12 hours on the programming of Macintosh computers. Jobs did not care about the complaints because he was driven by results. I would say that I admired his ability to overcome adversity. Most notably, Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985. This was probably the biggest challenge Jobs faced at the time and his response was what became Pixar. It is truly unbelievable that the man who gets fired from one emerging business giant turns around and simply develops a new one in a completely different industry. That is the kind of will power and cold determination that made Steve Jobs the titan of industry he became.
      Steve Jobs had so many core competencies that made him who he was. He was a visionary who never saw limitations in the world around him, only ways to overcome it. He was someone who understood that the biggest ability a successful businessman needed was to be determined to succeed. Jobs had an intense work ethic and a razor sharp mind. He was a calculative decision maker who always knew what the next brilliant move to make was. I found that Jobs had trouble forming meaningful relationships as a child because of how he was given up for adoption. I did find it confusing how this came about because it seemed as if his adoptive parents were very loving people. This is shown by his early relationship with his first child Lisa, whom he initially denied was his child.
      There are two questions I am really interested in asking Jobs if I had ever had the opportunity while the man was alive. It is evident from everything in this biography that Steve Jobs gave a hundred percent of himself to his work and his visions for success. This led to his family taking a back seat to his work and his dedication to what he was trying to achieve for Apple ultimately kept him from being an ideal family man. So my first question is, if you had the ability to go back and live your life all over again, would you still dedicate the time, commitment, and effort you did for your work or would you want to make sure you were more involved with your family? I want to know the answer to this because I have heard that to achieve the ultimate pinnacle of success, one must be willing to sacrifice everything. I just want to know if doing so and achieving that success is truly worth it in the end. My other question stems from the fact that Steve Jobs was very open about stealing ideas from other sources and improving them. In fact, one of his favorite quotes is " Good artists copy, great artists steal" which was claimed to have been said by Picasso. So as someone who felt like it was okay to borrow ideas from others and improve upon them, why were you upset with Bill Gates when Microsoft released the initial version of Windows software which seemed to have copied the Mac operating system? I ask this because I feel like one cannot justify stealing something and then feel betrayed when it happens to you.
      If there is one safe take away from this biography, it is that Steve Jobs absolutely personified what hard work is. If you read this book, there are many criticisms to draw on Jobs because the man was truly a flawed genius. However, the one thing no one can dispute is Jobs' work ethic. He tortured himself working inhuman hours just like he demanded of his employees. He was willing to sacrifice anything needed to ensure what he did was of the highest quality and as close to perfection as possible. This led to working more intensely than most people ever should but then again, one cannot dream to build a multinational tech giant like Apple without putting in a few hours.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

    Over the last few days, I decided to conduct further interviews with some people within my target segment for my online textbook platform. Since the target segment I had selected was college students, I interviews three students who are all in different years and majors at the University of Florida. I interviewed Vincent Castellano who is a fourth year accounting student, Boone Pham who is a second year biomedical engineering student, and Krishi Patel, an MBA student. I chose these three students because I wanted a sample of students across multiple demographics such as gender, age, and area of study.

      Each of the interviews lasted about fifteen minutes and they focused on two primary topics: the general description of when they encounter a need for cheaper textbook access and what they do to gather information regarding a solution to this issue. What I was able to summarize from all three students was that typically, they encounter the need for cheaper textbooks at the beginning of every new semester. This is when they get assigned their new required textbooks and have to debate whether they are going to spend hundreds of dollars on books or try and get by without the books. The students told me that every time a textbook is assigned, they would check the price of the book at the UF bookstore and realize it is way too expensive to purchase or even rent in some occasions. Once the students have encountered the problem, the next step is to Google the cheapest option for that textbook online. Usually Amazon or Ebay will have a cheaper alternative that is usually half the price that the bookstore sells the books for. The students make sure that it is the same edition or the closest edition of the actually assigned textbook and then purchase it. The decision to buy the cheapest alternative is usually made by the students themselves and there is no external consultation from parents or friends unless they are debating just not buying a book at all.
   
     My biggest conclusion about this target segment of college students is that they are able to acutely assess the fact that they should not have to pay exorbitant prices for textbooks. They look for cheaper alternatives and have been successful in finding cheaper options to their textbooks from other vendors but there still is no perfectly cheap and convenient alternative in my opinion even now. When relying on companies like Amazon to deliver the books, students often have to spend the first few weeks of classes without their books. Even some of the online prices are relatively expensive even though it is marginally cheaper than the university's bookstore. Therefore, the opportunity I found to provide an online platform with cheap textbook access is very much present and must be exploited.

Idea Napkin No.1

1.) You: I am a 4th year Information Systems student which I feel like definitely influenced the business idea I have come up with from  my opportunity assessments. Because of my major, I have been fortunate enough to acquire both technical skills such as computer programming and designing systems, as well as the soft management skills needed to operate a successful business. I hope that if I were to start my online textbook platform service, I would be able to provide a very popular and cheaper alternative to expensive textbooks. What I would hope is that the business is able to gain popularity across college campuses, become larger and more profitable of a platform for me to be able to focus on that solely rather than another career. 

2.) What are you offering to customers? What I am offering customers is a cheaper, entirely online platform that can be used to access textbooks. This platform could be used across various devices, including mobile devices so that students would not have to carry around their books but can always access their books when they need it. Students would be able to download a online PDF ver sions of their textbooks also and save it to their personal devices. 

3.) Who are you offering it to? This service is most useful for the demographic of college students because they are expected to spend hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars on their textbooks. These students usually do not have as much disposable incomes to allocate to their textbooks so a cheaper alternative is imperative. 

4.)  Why do they care? Students care because they do not have as much money as adults with higher paying jobs. Many students are either working part time for meager hourly wages or are unable to work at all because of classes. They would want to find a cheaper alternative to buying their expensive textbooks, especially when many of them know they won't use the books once the semester is over, which is a huge waste of hundreds of dollars. So a cheaper online alternative would absolutely be better than that and students would be willing to pay a fraction of the price they would otherwise have to. 

5.) What are your core competencies? I believe my biggest advantage is that I tend to be overly analytical which, while it does cause making decisions a more lengthy process, I am able to come up with sound decisions. This is essential when starting an entirely new business venture like this. Additionally, I am very driven by tangible results meaning that I do not just want projections and estimations. I want to see actual efforts of my labor and I will continue to work until I do. 

I truly believe that all of these elements come together to form a cohesive and functional business concept. The fact that I am analytical and result-oriented, along with the existence of a very prevalent need among a large demographic means that this is an opportunity that can be successfully exploited. Due to the fact that my service is an online portal and I have a background in Information Systems will also be advantageous to my business goals. 

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

      To continue exploring the opportunity I found regarding textbooks being too expensive for students, I conducted a few more interviews some students around campus at UF. These individuals were all students who should have had the same need I found in my previous investigation but did not. I realized that even though an online service that provided cheaper access to textbooks would be useful to all students, there are definitely groups who do not need this service. Students who have some kind of financial aid or scholarships had was one of these groups because they are allotted funds specifically to purchase textbooks. Another group is students whose parents pay for their books. The final group that I was able to find who did not have a use for this service were students who preferred to have a hard copy of their textbooks rather than an online version.
      The need I identified only applies to cheaper access for textbooks. It stems from an overall need college students have for cheaper education in general. It differs from other needs people have that relate to cheaper educational tools and supplies. The underlying reason that there are many college kids who do not have the need for cheaper textbooks is that they have some form of disposable income or money that they are able to use for textbooks. So the need only affects students that do not have as much money to spend on their books.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
College students with less money to spend on overpriced textbooks.	Students who have money to spend on expensive textbooks and students who prefer to have a hard copy of the textbooks.
The need is for cheaper textbooks	The need is not for just an online version of textbooks
The need exists because textbooks are very expensive even though there is no inherent reason that they are so overpriced.	The need also could exist because most students do not have super high incomes to where they can spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks.

Solving The Problem

         The opportunity I have selected to address is that college students are forced to spend way more than necessary for access to their textbooks for their classes. The average brand new text book can be anywhere from $200 to $500 depending on what subject the textbook is for. Even the used textbooks are not much better as certain used textbooks can cost up to $150 at the UF bookstore. Renting textbooks is often the cheapest alternative but even those textbooks can cost around $100 along with the fact that if the books are not returned, students are charged the full price of the book. The solution I have come up with for this issue is an online service where students can access their textbooks for their classes online without the ridiculous price. I believe the best method would be to charge a flat fee of $50 per textbook for complete online access to the entire textbook. The service would be delivered as both a standard website and a mobile app so that students will always have access to their textbooks regardless of where they are. Additionally, the student would have access to the textbook for the entirety of the semester and if the student really wished to keep a permanent copy of the book, a $20 download fee would be charged to keep the book. What that means is that if a student is willing to pay $70, they get the newest version of their textbooks that they can access across devices whenever they desire. This is substantially cheaper than the options students currently have before them.

Testing the Hypothesis

Step 1) Opportunity: I believe there exists an opportunity in college towns to provide an online service that gives students a cheaper online access to their textbooks compared to buying or renting textbooks from university bookstores and other sources.

Step 2) The Who: College students across the country who need access to their textbooks for classes.
            The What: They are unable to find a cheap option for their books that they need for their      classes.
             The Why: Textbooks are known for being very expensive, often being over $200 while        college students are known for not having a lot of disposable income and have to rely on                    their  parents for financial support.

Step 3) Testing the who: any student who needs textbooks could have the need but most public    schools provide students with textbooks from kindergarten through 12th grade so the                           majority of the target consumers who will have this need are college
  Testing the what: Are only certain kind of textbooks more beneficial to have on the service                 or are all textbooks needed? Do all college students have this need for textbooks or is it just                 a  certain portion of them? Most college textbooks would be useful to provide for this                           service  as students need books for almost all of their classes. Additionally, almost all                          classes have a textbook that accompany the course so most college students could benefit                    from this service.

Step 4) These are the questions that were asked every person that was interviewed:
Would you say that your university's bookstore fairly prices the textbooks?
How do you currently obtain textbooks for your classes?
How do you feel about an online access to a textbook over a physical copy?
Would you be interested in a service that provides you textbooks for a fraction of the price your university or even Amazon charges?
What would be an optimal price you would be willing to pay for your textbooks?

Step 5) Summary: I found from my interviews that I have stumbled upon a very real and existing need among college students. There is an overwhelming opinion that the UF bookstore charges extremely high prices which majority of students feel are unreasonable and should be lowered. A similar sentiment was found in students who attend USF. What this tells me is that the opportunity is very real and could be exploited if acted upon quick enough. Additionally, students do not have a preference towards physical copies of textbooks anymore do to the advantage of having an online textbook that can be accessed anywhere. Students are also willing to pay more for their textbooks than what I had initially expected as the average price a student gave for what they were willing to pay was $50 which means such a service could be very profitable.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Overall Global Demand is Increasing
        The world economy is growing at a rapid rate with the economies of the European Union, Japan, China, and India all growing faster than projected. The rise of the global economy and manufacturing overall means there are now more and more markets that are growing which can be utilized by companies that want to expand internationally. I feel like I am someone who notices a business opportunity like this because I am Indian and I've been raised to have a more global mindset when looking at things. I found this opportunity through the JP Morgan website that discussed major economic trends in 2018. Potential customers now include people in markets like India and China. I believe this is an easy opportunity to exploit because more and more companies are making the move to globalizing already.

Tax Reform Taking Hold
       Major tax reforms are set to take place throughout 2018, cutting down federal revenue by
$205 billion. What this means is that the American consumer will have $205 billion more than last year to spend on things. This presents an opportunity for anyone involved in any kind of business since what this indicates is that the American consumer will be spending more in 2018, which only serves to bolster the economy even more. I found this trend on the JP Morgan website also and I noticed the opportunity in this because of my background with accounting classes, I realized that more money in the hands of the consumer automatically presents more business opportunities. The prototypical customers from this opportunity is the American consumer who now has more money. This is a super easy opportunity to exploit because not many additional actions are needed. The average American will have more money to spend now so just utilize this opportunity.


Sales Taxes for E-Commerce
          Prior to 2018, e-commerce businesses could not be taxed sales tax because the law required that businesses could only be taxed if they had a physical presence in any given state. The Supreme Court recently voted 5-4 in favor of charging e-commerce sales tax. This now presents more opportunities for brick-and-mortar stores to compete with e-commerce since one of the main advantages of online shopping is the lack of sales tax. I found out about this opportunity through the Business News Daily website. I noticed this as a possible opportunity because my uncle used to own a bookstore but he had to close it down in 2016 because he could not compete with Amazon. I've been paying attention to how e-commerce will effect brick-and-mortar stores more and more because of this. Potential customers from this regulatory change are all consumers that usually purchase things online but will now go to brick-and-mortar stores because there is less cost incentive. This will be a hard regulation to exploit because of the convenience e-commerce offers, customers will still prefer it to shopping in person.  

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the European Union

         Regulations regarding cyber security and data privacy in the European Union are tightening up, calling for enhanced protection of people's data to prevent breaches like Equifax. This means that such regulations will come to the United States also. This prevents a huge opportunity in areas such as database management, cyber security, network security, and cloud computing. With increased privacy and protection regulations, companies that specialize in data security and services like this will have the opportunity to reach unparalleled growth. I found this regulation change on the Business News Daily Website. The reason this regulatory change stood out to me as an opportunity is because I am an information systems major. Topics like data management are what I study for my degree so enhanced regulations on data security are things that would directly effect the topics I am studying. Potential customers are corporations with large amounts of data that they need protected properly. This would not be a hard opportunity to exploit for people with experience in network security and data management because all this regulation does is increase demand for their services. 

Identifying Local Opportunities

MAN, 73, DIED IN MOTOR HOME FIRE

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0911%21September%2B11&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E5FB538451FCD0 

            An elderly man by the name of Richard Scarborough died in his motor home due to smoke inhalation when his mobile home somehow caught on fire. The authorities were not able to determine the cause of the fire due to an excess amount of debris and junk surrounded the property around the motor home. This, along with various power tools that were connected to extension cords around the property, makes it difficult to determine what the cause of the fire is. The real problem is that due to motor homes being cheaper, they are often not made to the best standards which means incidents like this occur easily. This is an issue that effects anyone who owns motor homes or want to own a motor home because they will have natural concerns about the safety of their motor homes. This could be seen as an opportunity for the development of a safer alternative to motor homes that could be just as cost-effective. While designing and manufacturing such an alternative won't be easy, the payoff could be high in markets such as Florida where there are a large number of people that would purchase a motor home or its equivalent. 

 

LIVING UNDER THE WHIM OF STORMS

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0914%21September%2B14&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E6F86CF1FA9228

           This article just a general one that was talking about the approaching hurricane Florence and what it is like living in places like Florida and the south east where tropical storms and hurricanes are common. The article describes how the more stronger storms like Andrew in 1992 and Irma last year always cause fear to escalate among residents as preparations get made to make it through the powerful hurricanes. The problem that is presented in this article is that we live in a place that is prone to  strong hurricanes. It is an issue for everyone Florida, especially if they live on the coasts, along with people of other states in the southeast like Georgia and the Carolinas. This situation presents opportunities for anyone who could provide storm preparation services or materials. Smaller construction firms or even independent contractors could offer services to fortify homes to last through storms. Water and canned food are always commodities that run out in stores so a company that focused on getting those necessary tangibles to people before, during, or even after hurricanes could also find success I think. 

PIZZA SHOP OUT AT CHANNELSIDE

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0905%21September%2B05&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E400EC9C0B1F78  

                 This article is about a local pizza place in Tampa, called Precinct Pizza, being closed because the commercial property it is on, Channelside, is being redeveloped. The pizzeria will not be a part of the development and therefore, the lease was not renewed by the property owners. This is a problem for the owners of Precinct Pizza as well as people who live by Channelside or visit Channelside that would want to enjoy a pizza. It is however an opportunity for a new pizza place or different food establishment or even a bar to come and take the place of Precinct Pizza and capitalize on its existing customers. 

 

SIPPING A LITTLE LESS TROPICANA JUICE NOW?

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0905%21September%2B05&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E400EDAEE90C68

                 Tropicana has decided to reduce the size of its plastic containers from 59 ounces to 52 ounces. This is because Hurricane Irma damaged a significant amount of orange crops, causing the company to incur a higher cost of production. The only ways to offset this were to either increase prices or decrease the packaging cost by switching to smaller sizes. The problem here is that orange juice companies are encountering higher production costs which is affecting their market. This would be an opportunity for the companies to do an overhaul of their production process to see where else they can save money while still offering customers the most value. 

VAN SHUTTLE IN PARKING GARAGE HAS UPS, DOWNS

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0904%21September%2B04&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E3AA8E43489768

           Hillsborough County is wasting $26,000 of taxpayers' money by paying for a shuttle service that takes county employees up and down the floors of their nine-story parking garage. The average wait time for the garage's one elevator is 1 minute 17 seconds which means this shuttle service is nothing more than a waste of money. This is an issue that effects all the county's taxpayers because their money should be spent for things that matter, not extra perks for county employees. I feel like this situation contains an opportunity to cut down on unnecessary government spending which can be better allocated to things that benefit taxpayers like schools and road public work projects like roads.  

Forming an Opportunity Belief

My Beginning Point- I think that there is a huge opportunity in Gainesville to have a food establishment that is open 24 hours and delivers. I believe that this is a need for both college students and people who works late at night in areas like hospitals, fire departments, and police stations. This has always been a need in Gainesville as the latest food establishments that are not fast food close by 3:00 am with only Gumby's being open until 4. Currently the only option someone has if they are hungry late at night is to get fast food which is not necessarily the healthiest option. There should be a restaurant that is open 24 hours and serves better quality food. At this point in time, I am about 50% sure this opportunity exists.

Iteration No. 1 - Interview with Mark Stine, college student at UF.

Q: So Mark, do you feel like Gainesville has enough late night food options for people like students that have been out partying or in studying all night?
A: "I feel like there are plenty of places open late at mid until like 3 plus there's always places like McDonald's so there are places to get food late."
Q: Are you satisfied with the quality of food that are currently available?
A: "Yeah I mean there's nothing that is supposed to be healthy or anything but if I'm trying to snag a bite at 4 in the morning, I'm usually not worried about the health consequences."
Q: Do you feel like a place that would deliver food that late would be beneficial?
A: "Yeah for sure, that is the only bad thing about all the options right now that are available. None of them deliver and services like UberEats is super expensive. A place that is delivering food that late would be solid."
Q: How often are you hungry that late and want to get food?
A: "I am someone who stays up pretty late so it happens a decent amount honestly. I'm probably making a late night fast food run a few times a month."
Q: Why do you find yourself craving food that late at night most of the time?
A: "Its almost always on a night we've been drinking or out late. You just get hungry after slamming a few drinks man."

Iteration No. 2 - Interview with Devin Doyle, college student at UF

Q: Do you feel like Gainesville has enough late night food options for people like students that have been out partying or in studying all night?
A: "Yeah absolutely. There's Gumby's, a bunch of fast food, places like Pizza by the Slice and Flaccos"
Q: Are you satisfied with the quality of food that are currently available?
A: "I would say so. I am not very health conscious but I also feel like someone who cared that much about what they ate would not be eating that late anyway"
Q: Do you feel like a place that would deliver food that late would be beneficial?
A: "I guess so but plenty of places deliver and there is always stuff like Uber Eats and BiteSquad that will pick up food for you so there is always options."
Q: How often are you hungry that late and want to get food?
A: "Its very rare, I can only think of a handful of times over the course of three years of being in college. I'm usually someone who will eat dinner by like 8pm and call it a night by midnight so I almost never get food that late. "
Q: What do you do on the rare occasions when you do get hungry late?
A: "Just fast food or I order a pizza but it is so rare that it almost never happens"
Q: Would you say you are happy with the options you have right now for late night dining?
A:  "I mean sure, I don't have a problem with the options that are there. I don't need more."

Iteration No. 3 - Interview with Meryl Linkler, nurse at Shands that works the night shift

Q: Do you feel like Gainesville has enough late night food options for people like students that have been out partying or in studying all night?
A: "I'm sure there are plenty of places that serve food that late. I work from 7 to 7 though so by the time I get out of work in the morning, everywhere is open"
Q: Are you satisfied with the quality of food that are currently available?
A: "Nothing that is open that late at night will be serving quality food so no but I am also not someone who will eat things like that either"
Q: Do you feel like a place that would deliver food that late would be beneficial?
A: "I know that people working the night shift sometimes get hungry around 4-5 in the morning. No where delivers then though so the vending machine or anything you bring from home are your only options since you cannot clock out for a burger run. So somewhere that delivers would be nice I suppose"
Q: How often are you hungry that late and want to get food?
A: "I like to bring something from home when I work just because I prefer home cooked food. I am not really someone who likes eating out a lot."
Q: What would you do if you forgot to bring something from one evening?
A: "Well if it was still early on in the shift like before 10, I know that the cafeteria is still open so that would be what I do. I wouldn't really order anything to get delivered"
Q: Would you say you are happy with the options you have right now for late night dining?
A:  "Yeah I really do prefer to keep it light at night and just bring in a snack or a sandwich. I personally don't need anymore options."

Reflection and Summary: 

         When I interviewed Mark, I felt more optimistic about the opportunity because he seemed like the target consumer, a college student that is up late and does enjoy eating out late at night. However, the interview with Devin and Meryl made me realize that the demand for food that late at night is very low, which explains why there are not more establishments open that late. What really surprised me was that no one cared about the healthy quality of the food that is being offered right now. People seem to accept that if you are eating that late at night, the quality of food is not as important. So having a healthy food establishment late at night that delivers probably would not be the best business idea in a place like Gainesville. I feel like only 25% of my opportunity is there now because there always will be a small portion of people that will want to get food that late. However, I don't know if that customer base is big enough to keep a restaurant open for 24 hours. I believe the opportunity is less accurate than what I initially thought was there. I am a believer that entrepreneurs should always adapt to customer feedback because that is what will increase customers. By catering to their feedback, an organization shows a commitment to changing and improving, which customers tend to appreciate.

My Entrepreneurship Story

         

     
             Entrepreneurship has been in my life ever since I was growing up. My father owned multiple gas stations and I used to go in on the weekends and give him a hand whenever he needed it. Seeing my father run his own business made me realize that eventually, I would want to work for myself and have my own business. I always liked the autonomy that my father had because he worked for himself. He always said that working in your business would always yield more sincerity to your work than if you worked for someone else. I realized that I want to be passionate about what I am doing in life which meant that I need to enjoy what I do and be committed to it. That is why I decided I want my own business at some point in my life. I joined ENT3003 for two primary reasons. The first was that I needed 4 credits to be enrolled as a full-time student and I have met most of my required classes so this seemed like it would a good elective class to take. The second reason has to do with what I said about wanting to own my own business. I hope that ten to fifteen years down the line, I will have started my own business solutions consulting company. If I am serious about starting my own business and being successful, I knew I should take a class on entrepreneurship and learn as much as I can.

My Bug List

1. There are no buses that run through the Enclave apartments on Saturdays and Sundays so getting to campus on those days are harder for students without cars. This is probably because RTS feels that there are not as many students going to campus from the Enclave on the weekends so it is not feasible to schedule drivers on those days. 
2. Products sold in the P.O.D market are extremely overpriced when compared to the prices of the same products at other stores like Walmart and Target. This bug is most likely caused by the fact that both Airmark and UF want a share of profits for the items sold so prices have to be increased. The students also get up charged for the convenience factor of having the P.O.D markets on campus. 
3. The patio screen in my apartment has a huge tear in it so bugs are able to get in sometimes if they try to. The previous residents must have not been careful by the screen, causing it to be damaged. 
4. My roommate plays his music and television extremely loud at all hours of the day and night. I feel like this is because he simply is unable to understand that he is being obnoxious and disruptive when he does it. 
5. My apartment is on the first floor of the building even though all of us specifically requested that we be placed in a unit on the second or third floor. I think the only explanation for this is that too many people requested units on the upper floors and we didn't sign our lease until later in the year. 
6. There is only one trash compactor for the Enclave and no additional dumpsters which means all the residents have to take their trash to the same place rather than having dumpsters conveniently located by their buildings. This is probably so that the maintenance department could easily consolidate all the trash. 
7. The design and layout of the Standard apartment complex is confusing and not easy to navigate at all. The building was probably designed how it was to make the most of the space that was available on the corner of 13th and University Rd. 
8. There is not enough student parking on campus which makes commuting more difficult and parking decals not worth buying. The university probably feels that funds and space should be allocated for more academic related developments like labs and study areas. 
9. Instead of having normal 16 week classes, all of my classes are split into two 8 week module courses so the classes go at a very fast pace. This is probably so that students in the masters in information systems program I am in can take a wide variety of courses over a shorter time period.
10. Marston library is always packed and does not have enough outlets for students in some of the higher floors. The library is older so less outlets were probably required when it was being constructed and it is the preferred library of students so that is why it is busy. 
11. UF students are the only ones who have to pay for season football tickets. The university knows how valuable seats for the Gators' games are so even students are required to pay a reduced rate. 
12. Uber prices increase during busier times like game days even though there are more drivers out on days like that. This is because the company realizes that during peak times like football season and the weekends, rides are a more valuable service so there is an up charge. 
13. The UF bookstore takes too long to process and ship out online orders. There is probably a high order volume in the start of the semester that creates a backlog. 
14. NFL games I want to watch are often not shown by the local cable channels. Cable usually broadcasts more local and regional games so often times we won't get to see teams like the Packers and the Seahawks play.
15.  Apple changed the audio port on iPhones to the new lightning jack that doubles as the charging port so you can't charge your phone while wearing headphones unless you have Bluetooth enabled headphones. Having less openings on the exterior of the phone is better against water damage which is probably why the change happened. 
16. My laptop battery dies within three hours of heavy use even though it is only a year old. I think that the stock battery that came in the laptop is probably a cheaper one that is now dying. 
17. Student meal plans are significantly overpriced as students are usually not able to consume as much food as they pay for which means the money is being wasted. UF and the dining hall company understand the convenience of on campus dining so they know they can charge high rates. 
18. The gym at the Enclave clubhouse is very small and lacks a lot of equipment that basic gyms should have. The company probably figured that the gym won't be used by the majority of the residents so there is no need to invest a lot of money in it. 
19. The NFL off-season is way too long, going from February to August. The sport is very violent and dangerous so there cannot be as many games as a basketball or baseball season. 
20. On campus housing at UF is much more expensive than off-campus housing compared to what the students are actually being offered in their dorms. UF is charging for the convenience of living on campus and not commuting as opposed how the actual dorms are. 

Coming up 20 things to bug me was not challenging at all because I feel like I am an easily annoyed person. The real challenge was coming up with different types of issues that bugged me. I felt like I fixated on my new apartment for many of the things that bugged me because we just moved in so I am able to notice many things that have irritated me. I also talked about a lot of things regarding UF just because I feel like we could make improvements to our campus in many ways. Coming up the reasons the bugs exist was not hard either because most of the problems stem from simple situations.