Week 15 Reading Reflection

This weeks reading was extremely interesting to me.  It's always fascinating to read about cultures where some people can earn as little as $1.00 a day, and they still believe in themselves enough to invest in themselves.  I think that is extremely courageous and inspiring.  Some people in the United States make 30,000 a year and still do not believe it would be fiscally possible to make an investment of any kind, and instead they live paycheck to paycheck.  I think entrepreneurs and people around the world have a lot to learn from microfinancers and the customers of these companies. --That anything is possible.  If I were to ask the author a question, I would ask if there was time during this business where he contemplated giving the money to the people who threatened his business.  I would also ask him if he thinks his business would have still succeeded if he originally had given them the money.  Would people still respect the business? I was originally confused as to how micro financing worked, but after I read the article it was much more clear to me.  I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this article.

Final Reflection

After reading through my entire blog, I realized how much I have done and written for this class.  I think the most formative thing was the interviews with other entrepreneurs, feeling comfortable enough to reach out.  I think we realized the friendliness of others and how willing other people are to help.  I think another formative thing I've learned is time management and how important it is to stay on top of assignments and watch out for due dates.  I would have to say that my most joyous experience was handing out dollars for the "free money" assignment.  I think I'll remember that for a long time because it was very interesting.  I am most proud of myself for simply doing all of the posts by their due date.  I think a lot of students struggled to keep up with assignments but I think I succeeded in the challenge. At the end, I would not consider myself an entrepreneur, but that is because I have not actually tried to start my own venture of business yet.   I do, however, believe I have so much more knowledge about what it takes to start a business, and I think this also contributes to why I do not consider myself an entrepreneur yet.  --I know what it takes to be one.  The steps and processes involved are so complex.  I have definitely come closer to having an entrepreneurial mindset. For future students, make sure you keep up with the coursework.  As there are no exams or quizzes, the assignments take up your entire grade and they are easy to miss.  I love the 9 pm deadline time because it keeps me from staying up late to finish assignments, its great.  I would also suggest to work ahead, it makes the assignments and your responses so much better, because you are not crunched for time.  I think my best posts have been the ones that I've done ahead of time. To foster the mindset, just be open minded and imagine success.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

After much consideration, I've decided to keep my 4th elevator pitch the same as my third one.  The explanation is below. 

After the first pitch, people where a little confused.  I had focused too much on the fact that the tracker was identical to a credit card.  Some people I interviewed about the product thought the tracker was only a replica for a credit card so a thief would try using that card instead of a real card.  I got the response, "Well, what if the thief tries all the cards?"  For the second pitch, I tried to make my Elevator Pitch clear that the tracker is only for tracking purposes, not to stop the thief from spending any of the money in your wallet.  I also included the fact that a lot of people are now making purchases on their cell phones, so less people are carrying wallets.  Because of this, if you are carrying a wallet, it is more likely to be stolen, because the decrease in the amount of wallets for thieves to steal.  My third change to my product and pitch was the addition of an app or website, where people can access information about the whereabouts of their wallets.  Some of the people I interviewed seemed confused as to where they could track it from. 

After the second pitch, I concluded from the comments that almost all changes had been made that needed to be, to be clear about the product.  One suggestion that I added to my pitch was that the tracker could be used for luggages, duffles, and backpacks while traveling.  If your luggage has ever been lost while flying, the tracker can tell you exactly where it is, so you know where to call.  Overall, the four comments I received on my second elevator pitch were very positive, and people seemed excited about the idea, and happy with the changes I made on the second pitch. 

After the third pitch, I didn't really receive that much feedback.  Someone suggested that I start including SafeCard in designer purses, so it becomes a mainstream perk to buying designer purses, and a staple.  This way the brands would purchase very large amounts of SafeCards, and enter into contracts with me, where I could make massive sales at one time. I decided not to include this aspect in my forth elevator pitch, because that would come much later on for the product. I decided that there were no changes that I wanted to make about the information I included, and the way it was presented. 

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

With the growing theft rates, and with stress levels on the rise and our days getting busier and busier, it is easy to lose personal items or worry about misplacing your belongings.  Traveling is also becoming more and more popular, where it is extremely easy to have your items stolen or misplaced. Almost everyone in every demographic uses a wallet, luggage, purse, or jacket.  Sense my product can be used on almost every item or device, the customer base is endless. Currently, my customers do not have a solution to finding a lost or stolen item.  They may have insurance on their products to protect them if their phone or wallet is stolen, but sometimes these insurance policies are expensive and unaffordable. I think customers would easily switch from an insurance policy to using my disguised tracker if they trusted the device, because it would be much more affordable.  The window of opportunity has been open for a few years, since tracking technologies such as bluetooth, and the ways to access location, through apps and the internet, have been available. 

Innovation

SafeCard is a tracker that is sold in many different forms to disguise itself from thieves.  For your wallet, buy a tracker that looks like any old credit card.  For your luggage, buy one that looks like a luggage tag.  SafeCard uses an app and a website, where customers can log on and view the location of any of the devices they have registered.  You can also use the app to make whichever SafeCard you would like make a sound, either a vibration, loud ring, or soft ring.  This way, even if you know the location of your object, but it is lost in a crowded or cluttered area, you kind find it using sound.  This card is disguised as many different items so that if stolen, the thief will not know to discard of it. I am also selling holders for the SafeCard to be secure on the item that you are tracking.  A holder and keychain that can easily attach and detach from any item you would like.  The trackers would be sold for $25.00 to $30.00 each, depending on the item that the tracker is imitating, and the holders for $5.00 to $10.00, depending on the type of holder.  This is around the same price or less from any other tracker that is on the market, and it is very affordable. 

Venture Concept

Consumers will use SafeCard to find their items such as jackets, purses, wallets, luggages, and more, when these items are either lost or stolen. Customers will buy this for a piece of mind, and to save money on buying insurance for their items, and instead of re-buying their items when misplaced or stolen. Customers will switch to the SafeCard because the technology will be trustworthy and reliable.  Also apps are becoming increasingly popular, and are used in every day life by most Americans these days.  Customers will be very comfortable with using the app to find their items, and feel more at ease while traveling or working.  The competitors are other tracking device products, such as Cube, the tracking device that I mentioned in my last post.  The advantage that SafeCard has over cube is that SafeCard looks like other items, such as credit cards and luggage tags.  If a thief see's Cube on a wallet or luggage, the thief would recognize the tracker and quickly discard of it. For this product, I would not have a physical store, or location for people to go to, I would sell the product on the website, and from the app.  If people were interested in the product, they could simply download the app and order as many SafeCards as they would like to their house.  I would want a customer support team over the phone, and I would also like fast delivery and shipping to the customers house or business.  The packaging could be a very basic, inexpensive job, as we are trying to cut product and shipping costs down as much as possible, and the product would not easily break. 

Three Final Elements

1.  Unfair Advantages:

• Hundreds of apps are downloaded everyday.  They are such an available, easy, and fast way to buy and obtain a product.  Most people have many many apps on their phones, and would prefer a product that they could use from the convenience of their phones.

• We have such a dependence on technology, and because we are on our phones often, we can get distracted from the rest of our belongings, meaning that they are more available to be stolen. As theft in the US and abroad becomes more common, demand for my product will go up.

•  The demand for insurance is going up, as people would rather pay to feel protected.  This card is a form of insurance because people are paying to be able to find their items if lost or stolen.  People in the United States are spending more and more on insurance than ever before.  Because this card is a form of insurance, the demand high, and rising.

• Most people who order the product will order 2, or 3, so that they can put them in different places to keep track different items. This will drive up sales.  Even if the customer only buys one product to start, if he or she is happy with it, they will probably want another to put in a backpack or suitcase, and feel more secure.

• Hundreds of apps are downloaded everyday.  They are such an available, easy, and fast way to buy and obtain a product.  Most people have many many apps on their phones, and would prefer a product that they could use from the convenience of their phones.

2.  Next Venture:

• The next opportunity or aspect of my venture that I would like to accomplish would be promoting the tracker to be sold for everything.  I want to make it a common, "cant live without" item, like a cell phone.  
• I would expand it to go on children, pets, cars, bikes, skateboards, ect.  I would want to decrease the price as much as possible so that people could afford to buy them in bulk and put it on everything.  

3.  Future:

• Five years from now, I would like SafeCard to be a common and necessary household item.  In the future I would like people to look back and wonder how they got by without a tracker on their important belongings, just as people look back and wonder how they survived so many years without a cell phone, or the internet.  
• People spend so much waisted time looking for lost or misplaced belongings, which could be simply avoided with this device.  People also worry so much about items being stolen, but the police could easily use the tracker to track down any item using this product. 

Summary of feedback & What I Changed:

After the first pitch, people where a little confused.  I had focused too much on the fact that the tracker was identical to a credit card.  Some people I interviewed about the product thought the tracker was only a replica for a credit card so a thief would try using that card instead of a real card.  I got the response, "Well, what if the thief tries all the cards?"  For the second pitch, I tried to make my Elevator Pitch clear that the tracker is only for tracking purposes, not to stop the thief from spending any of the money in your wallet.  I also included the fact that a lot of people are now making purchases on their cell phones, so less people are carrying wallets.  Because of this, if you are carrying a wallet, it is more likely to be stolen, because the decrease in the amount of wallets for thieves to steal.  My third change to my product and pitch was the addition of an app or website, where people can access information about the whereabouts of their wallets.  Some of the people I interviewed seemed confused as to where they could track it from. 

After the second pitch, I concluded from the comments that almost all changes had been made that needed to be, to be clear about the product.  One suggestion that I added to my pitch was that the tracker could be used for luggages, duffles, and backpacks while traveling.  If your luggage has ever been lost while flying, the tracker can tell you exactly where it is, so you know where to call.  Overall, the four comments I received on my second elevator pitch were very positive, and people seemed excited about the idea, and happy with the changes I made on the second pitch. 

After the third pitch, I didn't really receive that much feedback.  Someone suggested that I start including SafeCard in designer purses, so it becomes a mainstream perk to buying designer purses, and a staple.  This way the brands would purchase very large amounts of SafeCards, and enter into contracts with me, where I could make massive sales at one time. I decided not to include this aspect in my forth elevator pitch, because that would come much later on for the product. 

Week 14 Reading Reflection

I thought it was interesting this week that we would jump back to chapters 3 and 4.  I wonder why we were told to study these chapters in this order. I thought the most interesting part between corporate entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and the global environment for entrepreneurship, was the part about how social entrepreneurship is an up and coming segment and it becoming an important aspect. I thought these sentences outlined it perfectly; "Most often, social entrepreneurs who create transformative changes combine innovative practices, a deep knowledge of their social
issue area, and cutting-edge research to achieve their goals. For entrepreneurs working in the
social realm, innovation is not a one-time event—rather, it is a lifetime pursuit." I also found interesting the information regarding the triple bottom line; economic, environmental, and social.  I think its great that the environment is becoming as important to businesses as financial and social aspects.  If I were to ask the author anything, I would ask if the author believes that the environmental concerns should be this important, or if it is having a negative effect on entrepreneurship.  Are some business owners afraid to pursue a new product or machinery out of fear that the public will react negatively out of environmental or ethical concerns?  If there were none of these concerns, such as animal testing or pollution, would we have many more inventions and more efficient methods of production today?  What are his thoughts. I do not believe the author was incorrect about anything in this section.

Google Gold

My search engine optimization for my product has been kind of a failure.   My strategy has been to use words such as "safe," "practical," "efficient," "at-ease," "comforting," ect.  Unfortunately, many products go by "SafeCard" or some other form of my company name.  I have noticed that it is also quite popular to use the keywords I'm using for many other products and companies.  As far as social media goes, my blog has only had 539 views, which have mostly been from me.  My youtube videos have only had 3 to 11 views each, most likely from the people assigned to comment on my post.  Since I do not use twitter, it has been difficult for me to post about my blog to social media.  I think if I were to do this again, or seriously pursue the marketing of my company, I would make a twitter and Facebook page for the company and ask my social network to like it and share it.  I would also probably go for a different, more unique name, without such common words like "safe" and "card." My most viral most was my first elevator pitch, although that only reached 11 views.  In conclusion, I couldn't find my company on google using key words.. I was simply unsuccessful with my marketing and SEO techniques.  I am disappointed, but after taking this class I know that failure is 100% part of being an entrepreneur, and that from failure there is so much to learn and obviously so much room for improvement.  I know that if I develop another business or product in the future, that I will know what to avoid if I want the product to be successful.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

My first interview with Rob Walters:

• What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

"It means freedom, it means being responsible for yourself and your whole team. It means that if you have your bad day you could lose your company, and everyone who works for you.  It's the ultimate responsibility.  It also means that you do not have motivation from anyone else, you have to motivate yourself.  There's no pressure except for what you put on yourself."

• What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?

"In an entrepreneurship course you should learn how to start your own business, but it should be after you gain experience in another firm.  This course should give you 100% confidence that you can make your own business work.  Make your mistakes with other peoples' money, and then start your own business. You'll know when you'll be ready to go off on your own."

• What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur? 

"It's hard to teach that in school.  It's extremely hard to be in business for yourself. You need a lot of capital, because the first year is the hardest year.  I wish they taught me that I need to set up work before you start your own business. It's something you have to learn on your own. You cant learn experience from school, you have to live it.  You have to dive into the best operated company you can find and explore every avenue of your business. Be very diversified and know your trade."

My impression of that initial interview is that I got very great advice from Mr. Walters.  He touched on the fact that you have to be responcible for your own motivation and drive while working for yourself, and that this is so important because your responsibility is higher than ever.  He also mentioned how hard it is to learn in school because being a successful entrepreneur relies on experience.  Since experience cannot be taught in school, Mr. Walters suggested making all of your mistakes with a company first, before going out on your own.  After taking this class, I would strongly agree that I would rather have experience in the work force before starting an entrepreneurial venture.  I have learned what these ventures entail and I would rather have real world experience before starting my own business. 

Interview Part 2:

1.  What aspect of your job has been most satisfying?

"For me, as a builder developer; taking raw land, and taking it into a money making operation. In other words, bringing in the utilities, bringing in the construction, the vertical building, and all the permitting and design aspects, you know, taking it from the raw land and taking it into a money making facility. It's an assent not only to the people who are using the facility, but the community as well, through tax revenue.  I enjoy having a vision, taking the vision to a money making machine. 

2. What was the last book or article you read that had the most impact on the way you run your business?

"Emith principle. It basically says that you have procedures within your company and people follow those procedures. You don't want your employees taking your business into their own hands and moving away from your businesses procedures. Keep things simple, and control your business."

3. What is next for the future of your business? 

"Eventually there will be a way to sell our properties to a real estate investment trust, and once we depreciate the assets enough, its time to roll them over and sell them and move on."

After taking this class, I have become more familiar with the terms and speech that the interviewee used in his answers.  I am not sure if he noticed a change in my interviewing confidence, but I definitely felt more at ease and confident while interviewing him for the second time, after a semester of experience. 

Week 13 Reading Reflection

Being a finance major, this week's entrepreneurial venture valuation topic really interested me.  There were so many more ways to value a business than what I expected, and so many aspects that I was previously unaware of such as the rollup frenzy.  I have always wondered about how the market puts a value on a business, and I always assumed it was simply the sum of assets and profit potential, although there is so much more.  One thing that was lightly confusing to me was how some businesses can increase the price of their stocks so much and others keep it low.  I haven't been able to take most of my core finance classes yet, so I am mostly unaware about the financial aspects of business, involving stocks and bonds.  I would ask the author what system of ownership he would set up for his business, if he had one, and what kinds of stocks and businesses he likes to invest in.  What does he find valuable? I do not have any disagreements about the concepts in this chapter, as I know very little about the valuation of companies and it is all very new to me.

Celebrating Failure

I have majorly failed twice this semester, but from both experiences I have learned a lot. One of the most memorable failures was when I got an F on the first marketing exam, when I had a date function the night before and never studied for the exam. This has single handedly ruined my grade in the class, even though I did well on the second exam and hope to do well on the final. From this instance, I immediately felt terrible about my performance and my actions that week. I knew that if I didn't drastically change my study habits in the semester then my GPA would be at risk, as well as my future. That also made me realize that a single exam or assignment that goes really wrong can have a HUGE impact on your grade, which you cannot recover. This made me realize the importance of always doing your best for the entire semester. Even though it was early in the semester and I felt like I had time to recover my grade, I was wrong. My other failure this semester was with securing an internship. Both my friends and I failed time after time again to secure paid summer finance internships. I let time pass before last minute signing up for a program that set me up with an internship in a city of my choice. I learned from this that making big decisions quickly is important, and that you cannot procrastinate on something that you do not want to tackle, it is best to get it done and get it over with. I think failure is so important so that you learn that you control your own destiny and future. I think a lot of the population is under the impression that "life" just happens to them, instead of making life happen. People need to go through failure and try again and again to succeed so that they know that they have control of their future. My accepting and embracing failure, people can learn and thrive. After taking this class I believe that I will be way more willing to take risks and start new ventures, because even the most successful entrepreneurs and business owners failed many times before they finally got it right. 

My Exit Strategy

My exit strategy for my venture would be to sell it in 5 years or so, right as it reaches its maturity stage.  This would be a good idea for my product because it has to deal with technology, and technology and innovation is always rapidly advancing.  Instead of continuing to innovate to keep my product relevant, I would rather sell it and use those funds to start another business or invest in property.  I think because my business is selling a device, that could easily be outdated, it would be smart to sell it before it becomes outdated and invest in something that retains value or grows in value overtime, such as property.  I think this exit strategy will influence the product because we will be growing the company to appeal to buyers, instead of focusing on innovation.  We will know that we will want to sell it, so we will pay attention to the market and other technologies, and when we feel like our product could be outdone by different methods of tracking devices, we will sell it to the highest bidder.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

As discussed in the reading last week, business strategies are often overlooked, and this is sometimes detrimental to business's, who have to keep up with an extremely competitive and innovative market.  These days consumers have extremely high expectations for new technologies and new products, and expect companies to be consistently updating and improving their products to suit the customer's needs.  This chapter was interesting because it explored how most entrepreneurs start out with very informal planning, and some ventures can easily succeed by doing this.  But when companies grow and become more complicated, they need to have some structured formal strategic planning.  This depends on the amount of competitors, the experience of the entrepreneur, and other reasons.  This chapter also explored how a business grows and develops, and how the business will always end with either innovation or failure.  This proves how important it is for businesses to innovate and have a strategic plan.  An aspect I thought was a little confusing was the section on evaluating strategic plans.  I found it a little confusing, but interesting, when a plan fails but the business actually finds a bit of success in that plan.  The failed strategy or method, could lead to a different success or resolution that the business had never explored.  If I were to ask the author a question, I would ask how many businesses, if any, have lasted for a significant amount of time and are extremely successful, without implementing any innovation or strategic plan.  There was nothing I thought was incorrect or wrong in this chapter.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

This reading touched on why it is so hard for companies to become successful, and then also why it is so hard for companies to maintain that success.  The key, according to this reading, is to not just have a business strategy, but have an innovation strategy, because this is the key to successfully competing with competitors. What interested me most in the reading was the fact that most businesses do not have an innovation strategy, and that their business strategy can conflict with their innovation efforts.  I thought it was a little confusing when the author mentioned how business's should not use the innovation strategies from other successful business's, but they should come up with their own.  I disagree with this a little, I think it would be a good idea for start ups, and many other innovative businesses with less of a budget to use a successful business's innovation strategy, instead of spending the money to come up with their own.  There are so many companies and business's these days, so finding another company that resembles your own, or a company that is in a position with their business that you would like to resemble, would be likely possible. If I were to ask the author any questions I would ask why he believes that every company should come up with their own innovation strategy.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

With the growing theft rates, and with stress levels on the rise and our days getting busier and busier, it is easy to lose personal items or worry about misplacing your belongings.  Traveling is also becoming more and more popular, where it is extremely easy to have your items stolen or misplaced. Almost everyone in every demographic uses a wallet, luggage, purse, or jacket.  Sense my product can be used on almost every item or device, the customer base is endless. Currently, my customers do not have a solution to finding a lost or stolen item.  They may have insurance on their products to protect them if their phone or wallet is stolen, but sometimes these insurance policies are expensive and unaffordable. I think customers would easily switch from an insurance policy to using my disguised tracker if they trusted the device, because it would be much more affordable.  The window of opportunity has been open for a few years, since tracking technologies such as bluetooth, and the ways to access location, through apps and the internet, have been available. 

Innovation

SafeCard is a tracker that is sold in many different forms to disguise itself from thieves.  For your wallet, buy a tracker that looks like any old credit card.  For your luggage, buy one that looks like a luggage tag.  SafeCard uses an app and a website, where customers can log on and view the location of any of the devices they have registered.  You can also use the app to make whichever SafeCard you would like make a sound, either a vibration, loud ring, or soft ring.  This way, even if you know the location of your object, but it is lost in a crowded or cluttered area, you kind find it using sound.  This card is disguised as many different items so that if stolen, the thief will not know to discard of it. I am also selling holders for the SafeCard to be secure on the item that you are tracking.  A holder and keychain that can easily attach and detach from any item you would like.  The trackers would be sold for $25.00 to $30.00 each, depending on the item that the tracker is imitating, and the holders for $5.00 to $10.00, depending on the type of holder.  This is around the same price or less from any other tracker that is on the market, and it is very affordable. 

Venture Concept

Consumers will use SafeCard to find their items such as jackets, purses, wallets, luggages, and more, when these items are either lost or stolen. Customers will buy this for a piece of mind, and to save money on buying insurance for their items, and instead of re-buying their items when misplaced or stolen. Customers will switch to the SafeCard because the technology will be trustworthy and reliable.  Also apps are becoming increasingly popular, and are used in every day life by most Americans these days.  Customers will be very comfortable with using the app to find their items, and feel more at ease while traveling or working.  The competitors are other tracking device products, such as Cube, the tracking device that I mentioned in my last post.  The advantage that SafeCard has over cube is that SafeCard looks like other items, such as credit cards and luggage tags.  If a thief see's Cube on a wallet or luggage, the thief would recognize the tracker and quickly discard of it. For this product, I would not have a physical store, or location for people to go to, I would sell the product on the website, and from the app.  If people were interested in the product, they could simply download the app and order as many SafeCards as they would like to their house.  I would want a customer support team over the phone, and I would also like fast delivery and shipping to the customers house or business.  The packaging could be a very basic, inexpensive job, as we are trying to cut product and shipping costs down as much as possible, and the product would not easily break. 

Three Final Elements

1.  Unfair Advantages:

• Hundreds of apps are downloaded everyday.  They are such an available, easy, and fast way to buy and obtain a product.  Most people have many many apps on their phones, and would prefer a product that they could use from the convenience of their phones.

• We have such a dependence on technology, and because we are on our phones often, we can get distracted from the rest of our belongings, meaning that they are more available to be stolen. As theft in the US and abroad becomes more common, demand for my product will go up.

•  The demand for insurance is going up, as people would rather pay to feel protected.  This card is a form of insurance because people are paying to be able to find their items if lost or stolen.  People in the United States are spending more and more on insurance than ever before.  Because this card is a form of insurance, the demand high, and rising.

• Most people who order the product will order 2, or 3, so that they can put them in different places to keep track different items. This will drive up sales.  Even if the customer only buys one product to start, if he or she is happy with it, they will probably want another to put in a backpack or suitcase, and feel more secure.

• Hundreds of apps are downloaded everyday.  They are such an available, easy, and fast way to buy and obtain a product.  Most people have many many apps on their phones, and would prefer a product that they could use from the convenience of their phones.

2.  Next Venture:

• The next opportunity or aspect of my venture that I would like to accomplish would be promoting the tracker to be sold for everything.  I want to make it a common, "cant live without" item, like a cell phone.  
• I would expand it to go on children, pets, cars, bikes, skateboards, ect.  I would want to decrease the price as much as possible so that people could afford to buy them in bulk and put it on everything.  

3.  Future:

• Five years from now, I would like SafeCard to be a common and necessary household item.  In the future I would like people to look back and wonder how they got by without a tracker on their important belongings, just as people look back and wonder how they survived so many years without a cell phone, or the internet.  
• People spend so much waisted time looking for lost or misplaced belongings, which could be simply avoided with this device.  People also worry so much about items being stolen, but the police could easily use the tracker to track down any item using this product. 

Amazon Whisperer

The revenue driver that I currently have is the sale of the actual tracker device.  The app that came with the tracker, as well as the website, are free to download and access, as they are an essential part of the product.  To develop the product further, I would have to simply add more and better features to the tracking device.  Adding sound to the device would be helpful if you lost your items in your house or car and were trying to find them in dark or cluttered places.  The tracker can locate your item within a few feet, but if you were trying to find it in a very crowded place, a sound on the device could help.  I would expand the tracker line to disguise itself as many different common items.  A credit card would be a great disguise for a wallet, but in a luggage for example, a tracker that resembles a luggage tag would be most appropriate.  The whole point of disguising the tracker is to make it more difficult for thieves to recognize and discard of.  I could also expand the product line to include a holder for the device.  A holder that could easily attach and detach from a coat, luggage, purse, or any other place that a customer would like to place the tracker.  It would be sold separately from the tracker and would secure the tracker so it was not loosely thrown into a bag or coat pocket.  The purpose of SafeCard is to feel secure, and a place for the SafeCard to sit securely, will definitely enhance the feel of the product.  This will be sold separately, incase consumers want to place SafeCard in other places besides their wallet.

The "Cube" product on amazon, featuring a keychain, is the closest thing I can find to my product and the secure holder that I want to offer next.  The cube can attach to purses, luggages, jackets, and more using the keychain.   The biggest complaints about this product was the inability of the tracker device to work when bluetooth would be accidentally turned off.  This product relies solely on bluetooth, which can be risky. You can press a button to allow cube to ring, vibrate, or make any kind of sound you choose, and cube also uses an app to show the location of your product.  One complaint was that the device would sometimes be activated to go off, as it was easily for this button to be accidentally pressed. If I had this product, I would disguise it as something else than a simple tracker.  A thief can easily recognize this as a tracker and discard it easily after stealing the item.  I think the keychain aspect of this item would make a great addition to my product line, because keychains are a great way to attach an item on anything, especially the inside of a jacket, bag, or suitcase. 

My Unfair Advantage

1.  Large, diverse customer base.  No specific demographic.
Having a large possible customer base is very valuable, but not rare, and there are many products that appeal to all types of demographics.  Some organizations that provide very specialized products for a certain age, gender, or culture, will definitely be at a disadvantage because they have much fewer customers than I could potentially have.
2.  I'm involved in large social organizations, where I could spread the word about my product easily.
Being in a sorority and in business organizations at school, I could easily post in the UF class page, or in my sorority's facebook page, and within minutes thousands of people could know about my product.  This is a huge advantage because I have a big network and will not have to spend money on marketing or advertising in the initial stages of developing my business.
3.  People at my school and in my social organizations would invest in the product to support me.
The University of Florida is very supportive of start-up businesses, and they even have a whole program, (the innovation academy) dedicated to encouraging students to be innovative and entrepreneurs.  Peers, especially sorority sisters, would likely be extremely supportive and buy the product when it first came out.
4.  As theft rises, the demand for products that protect our belongings will rise.
We have such a dependence on technology, and because we are on our phones often, we can get distracted from the rest of our belongings, meaning that they are more available to be stolen. As theft in the US and abroad becomes more common, demand for my product will go up.
5.  People are more likely to purchase items that have an app, because it's easy to access, easy to buy, easy to download.
Hundreds of apps are downloaded everyday.  They are such an available, easy, and fast way to buy and obtain a product.  Most people have many many apps on their phones, and would prefer a product that they could use from the convenience of their phones.
6.   The product will have an app as well as a website, so if customers do not have their phone, they can use the website to locate their belongings.
Most apps are strictly apps, but the advantage of my product is that it can also be tracked from a desktop computer, incase a customer doesn't have their phone on them.
7.  I could build the product cheaply, as it will be small, the size of a credit card, and made of plastic.
Other products are built of expensive material, driving up the prices and therefore decreasing demand.  My product would be practical AND affordable, so college students will need it and be able to purchase it.
8.  Most people who order the product will order 2, or 3, so that they can put them in different places to keep track different items. This will drive up sales.  Even if the customer only buys one product to start, if he or she is happy with it, they will probably want another to put in a backpack or suitcase, and feel more secure.
9.  This item could be easily shipped for very cheap, it could fit in an envelope.
Because the card is so small and lightweight, it could be shipped in an envelope! The cheap shipping costs would decrease prices and increase demand and profits.
10.  The demand for insurance is going up, as people would rather pay to feel protected.  This card is a form of insurance because people are paying to be able to find their items if lost or stolen.  People in the United States are spending more and more on insurance than ever before.  Because this card is a form of insurance, the demand high, and rising.

After analyzing all of my unfair advantages, I've concluded that my involvement in large organizations and easy access to a large network, as well as the fact that my product has an app aspect to it, are the most competitive of the advantages.  A lot of people do not have access to thousands of people very easily, and I could spread knowledge about my product very quickly.  Apps are also a very important part of technology these days, and people could easily download and buy my product on their phones.

Growing My Social Capital

University of Florida student Jonathan Katz can be both a domain expert in the industry and a domain expert on the market. He was the inventor of Qwerk, which is an app that is used by people in Gainesville, primarily by University of Florida students, to make money completing small tasks, or to pay for people to do small tasks for you.  Since my product, SafeCard is an app, Jonathan Katz could help me design the app, as well as help me market it to college students in the area, as I am trying to do.  I have found this person through knowledge and word of mouth about the app, and contacted Jonathan through linked in.  He gave me advice on developing an app, and a ballpark amount of money it would take to get the app up and running.  For marketing ideas, he mentioned his promo video, where he got well known UF students to participate in the video and share it with their friends, who then shared it with their friends.  The video has over 55,000 views now.  In addition to Jonathan, almost anyone in the industry of marketing would be able to help with the marketing of my product, because beyond the people of Gainesville, my product relates to almost every demographic, and can be successful in any market.

Priyanka Kotian of Thane, India, could be a supplier to my business.  Kotian is a manager at Euclid analytics, which is a location tracking company.  They could supply the tracking chip device necessary to make the credit card look alike tracker.  I searched the employees of this Euclid company on linked in and sent an "Inmail" message to one of the managers who looked like they worked in sales.  They replied that they do not have a sort of chip that I am looking for, but other options.  This means I would have to tweak my idea a little, but that some version of my product is still possible.

Before this assignment, I had never reached out to anyone on linked in.  I had also not spent a lot of time on linked in searching companies or the employees of these companies, so that was really interesting for me. This experience will definitely change my networking events in the future, because now I am much more comfortable with messaging strangers on linked in and asking for help or advice.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

After reading this chapter, I concluded that it was mostly a summary of my financial accounting class.  Most of the information was extremely familiar, such as the balance sheet,  income statement, and the explanations of these two finance tools. Especially because I am a finance major, paragraphs about aspects of finance such as cost of goods sold and cash flows were review. One thing that did surprise or interest me was the information about pro forma statements. The book described them as forecasts or projections of a firms financial period during a future period.  I either do not remember covering this information in earlier classes, or we did not have time to go over it in the semester. This chapter is complicated, not confusing.  There is not much to debate or disagree with because the information is very straight ford and deals with math and finances.  There are set ways that business's keep track of their funding and accounting, so theres really no disagreeing with the author.  If I were to ask the author a question, I would ask if he thinks that the financial aspects of a business are the most important part.  Are entrepreneurs still able to successfully start a business if they know little about finance?  What is the correlation between entrepreneurs being successful, and their finance knowledge?

Elevator Pitch No. 3

After the first pitch, people where a little confused.  I had focused too much on the fact that the tracker was identical to a credit card.  Some people I interviewed about the product thought the tracker was only a replica for a credit card so a thief would try using that card instead of a real card.  I got the response, "Well, what if the thief tries all the cards?"  For the second pitch, I tried to make my Elevator Pitch clear that the tracker is only for tracking purposes, not to stop the thief from spending any of the money in your wallet.  I also included the fact that a lot of people are now making purchases on their cell phones, so less people are carrying wallets.  Because of this, if you are carrying a wallet, it is more likely to be stolen, because the decrease in the amount of wallets for thieves to steal.  My third change to my product and pitch was the addition of an app or website, where people can access information about the whereabouts of their wallets.  Some of the people I interviewed seemed confused as to where they could track it from. 

After the second pitch, I concluded from the comments that almost all changes had been made that needed to be, to be clear about the product.  One suggestion that I added to my pitch was that the tracker could be used for luggages, duffles, and backpacks while traveling.  If your luggage has ever been lost while flying, the tracker can tell you exactly where it is, so you know where to call.  Overall, the four comments I received on my second elevator pitch were very positive, and people seemed excited about the idea, and happy with the changes I made on the second pitch. 

Week 9 Reading Reflection

The most surprising thing for me in the reading were the statistics about social media and its effects on social media marketing.  Forrester research estimates that online spending will reach almost $250 billion a year, which is 8% of the total retail market.  With no in store costs, this raises profits for the companies by a ton, and marketing over social media is relatively inexpensive as well.  It was also interesting to see that social media marketing is different from regular marketing because it is a two way street instead of a one way one, from the marketer to the consumer.  On social media, consumers can respond and give their honest opinion about a product, where people can see it.  It was a little confusing when the chapter mentioned that companies should categorize social media platforms and focus its efforts on the ones that have the largest relevancy to their products.  In my opinion, most social media networks are used by an extremely wide range of people, so it would be hard to distinguish networks from each other.  Almost every demographic is on Facebook and twitter, so how would you categorize those from each other in order to find one where the audience appealed most to your product?  If I were to ask the author, I would ask what the effects of advertising and marketing are on social media.  Is it possible for people to be annoyed at the advertisement and therefore become annoyed with the product?  Adds on youtube can sometimes get annoying and repetitive, and may even anger some consumers. There was nothing I think the author was particularly wrong about, I was just confused in some sections, as I mentioned before.

My Secret Sauce

When I think about my qualities, I have always believed that I have a lot of common sense and persistence.  Even though my academic life might not be perfect, I think I'm very street smart, like having a good way with people and knowing how to do things and get places.  I've always had a very good sense of direction, and I've been alarmed in the past when people do not know where they are or how to get someone, as I always seem to have a good handle on where I am.  I also think I get very frustrated when other people lack what I consider to be common sense, but most of these people make up for it with success in school and classes, where I do not naturally thrive.   I think I am not afraid to try new things, and I think I am a very naturally curious and interested person.  And because I am so interested in the world, I try so many new things that in turn, make me a more interesting person.  I have a knack for getting what I want, and I will try very hard to achieve something if I set my mind to it.  When I have a goal, I am very good at making it a reality, as I believe I am a "doer."

The people who know me best are not currently in Gainesville, so I called them and recorded the phone call and uploaded them here, with their picture. 

Interview 1:  In this interview, the interviewee said I was smart, passionate, adventurous, hard working and responsible.  As a parent, I expected to say things like hard working and responsible, because I know he is very proud of me, but I was pleased to hear passionate and adventurous, as those are qualities I know I have, but not all people know of.
Interview 2: This was interesting because instead of focusing on what my qualities were specifically, she went into detail about what kind of person I was, out of two different options, and how that effects traits.   She said I was the kind of person who believe I have control over my fate, and that I can control the things that happen in my life, so instead of waiting for life to come to me, I go out and make things happen.
Interview 3: She talked about how I was mature, and very curious about aspects of life, and that I make my own assumptions and opinions on things based on experience that I've had.  She also said that these experiences that I'm always looking for and curious about, give me a great perspective on life.
Interview 4:  She mentioned how I was smart and persuasive, how when I want something I will get it, and I am good at making people do what I want them to. She also mentioned how I was motivated to be doing well.
Interview 5:  Interview 5 was a lot like interview 4, she mentioned how I am smart and a hard worker, and how I can adapt easily to situations, and try to do as well as I can in those situations.

After watching and reflecting on the interviews, I can come to the conclusion that my family and close friends really think that I am smart and that I am a hard worker, and adapt easily to situations.  I get into these situations because I am curious and adventurous, and I make my own assumptions and opinions about my experiences. I also now know that people believe that I think I can control my future, which is what makes me a doer.   Instead of waiting around for good things or great situations to happen to me, I go out and make them happen.  I think my conclusions from the interviews are extremely similar to how I see myself.  If I were to add anything to my original list, I would probably focus more on how I was a doer because I believe I have complete control over how my life turns out.  I believe I can make my own destiny, so that makes me happy as I always have hope of success.