Assignment 28 - Your Exit Strategy

I would plan to sell the business in around 3-4 years. At some point, I think it would not be worth working on and developing further and would be better sold off to some retailer or manufacturer. I think it could be a useful utility but at some point, I think it might be phased out by improved standards or by better solutions. My exit strategy has influenced the functionality that I plan to include in my service. Because I do not think I could sell off an application focused on crowdsourced data to a retailer, I want to support the use of manufacturer-provided information at some point.

Assignment 27 - Reading Reflection No. 3

Makers: The New Industrial Revolution

The general argument of the book was that, as can be inferred from the title, the author believes we are entering a third industrial revolution. He believes that the third industrial revolution is around ‘digital manufacturing’. Essentially, he believes that services around fabrication tools such as 3-D printers, which allow anyone with an idea and modeling software to produce their invention, will accelerate innovation. 

The ideas this book focuses on are a relevant part of entrepreneurship in some cases. The author’s focus is mostly on the power of rapid prototyping regarding fabrication, which applies to physical innovations but not to most forms of software applications and services. Innovation is an important part of entrepreneurship and is presented as such by this class and so being able to rapidly prototype physical products can be related to the concepts of the class.

A somewhat unrealistic exercise I think could be based around the concepts of this book would be for everyone in the class to attend a Maker Fair. While there they would need to find a product that someone has designed and fabricated using rapid prototyping and write about the process the makers went through and how they plan to go from a 3d printed prototype to market.

I was surprised to see that in the second chapter of the book the author uses an excerpt from the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson that I read earlier this semester for this class. He uses the excerpt to describe Stewart Brand’s role in the origins of what he calls the ‘Maker Movement’. The author believes the principles of Jobs’ Homebrew Computer Club are now replicated in modern Makerspaces.

Assignment 26 - Celebrating Failure

This semester has been a very abnormal and stressful one for most of us. I went into this semester already exhausted from how fall ended and hoping to have a good start to the semester. I set up a schedule and an online calendar that I figured would work out for the course load I was taking. By the end of the first week of classes, I realized had underestimated the amount of time I would need to spend each week watching lectures to keep up. My Summer A Engineering Statistics class had an especially heavy load of lectures with around 6 hours of lectures a week with 3 homework assignments on top of that. Because I was not expecting so much work I got behind and the schedule I set up at the beginning of the semester fell apart.

I learned that I should expect a much greater workload from Summer A/B classes and plan around it. I could not have known how much work the class would be because the lectures were not uploaded until the week the course started.

I handled the failure by working harder and pushing through while trying to make sure my grades in other courses did not slip too much. It did mean I had a lot less free time than I am used to because of how much time I needed to spend on schoolwork. For Summer A I only really had much free time on Saturdays and even then, I would try to get ahead on lectures sometimes. Emotionally I was lacking in motivation which just added to the time getting work done would take. I do not think this class has affected my perspective on failure.

Assignment 25 - What's Next?

Existing Market.

Step 1 –

What is next for my venture would be expanding my service from just shoes to other online clothing retail. There are some factors that make this difficult though, with shoes there are much fewer options to begin with, so it is possible to represent almost all options in the data. With something like shirts, there are just so many different shirts with no real standard to go off.

Step 2 –

Christopher, senior UF student, thought buying from manufacturers could be the next step to cut out the middleman, but also agreed that the idea of expanding to other clothes after being successful with shoes worked out made sense. He pointed out that there are other footwear related products that could also potentially be marketed through the application.

Steven, junior UF student, believed that the next step for a business like this is to be able to order newly released shoes and predict from the size and shape of the sole if it will fit, this way I wouldn’t have to wait for customers to buy the shoe before it could be entered in the application. He wondered if I were underestimating the number of people I would need to employ, he thought I might need to consider someone to handle finances and someone to handle human resources.

David, late 30’s casual long-distance runner, thought adapting to the user response would be an important next step after the app was created. He thought it might be helpful to hire someone to do user interface/ user experience rather than having only developers working on it. He thought my ideas of what customers could be too big of a project but does sound like the logical progression.

Step 3 –

I think that the path I came up with, expanding to other online clothing retail, does still seem like a good idea. It might be difficult though, as previously mentioned, to be as accurate with other less standardized clothing. From their advice, I will adapt my business concept to include a UI/UX specialist and consider hiring for finances and HR.

I think buying from manufacturers as Steven suggested could be a good move, and if I can get on good terms with manufacturers it could lead to me selling the product off to one of them. There would be a lot of sales I would be missing out on if I could not promote shoes that are yet to release. Also, I could expect larger commissions if I could sell from manufacturer to buyer.

New Market.

Step 1 –

My concept is currently business to customer, but I have considered making it a business to business product. I think it might be a better way to go about it in some ways, but a lot of the functionality would need to drastically change.

Step 2 –

In order for my product it to be sellable to a business I think I would need to focus less on the crowd sourced data idea and rather have the businesses enter information about their own shoes and how they fit, and potentially use that information with user input information about the dimensions of their feet to recommend shoes. It would exist more as an API connected to a database of sorts that will be shown as information on how a shoe might fit on the page when a customer is viewing a shoe that they are considering purchasing.

Step 3 –

This is difficult to find interviewees for because of how hard it is to contact someone who works in a relevant position, so I will just have some people who are acting in place of.

Steven, acting as a sales representative for an online shoe retailer, he thought the application oriented in this way could be a good way of reducing returns and increasing the sales through their site. He thought focusing on making it more of a product to businesses rather than it being a service offered to customers makes sense. Which would mean selling it as something where someone in the business would enter data that they have on all their shoes, and it would use our software to make good recommendations to customers.

David, acting as a sales representative for an online shoe retailer, he thought it might be an effective use of the data that they already keep on their shoes which they do not seem to use much. He thought it could be sold as a service to companies, where they would pay to be put on the application and they could enter their own information on the shoes that are listed.

What surprised me most is the idea of selling the application as a service to manufacturers. I have mostly considered making it either a service to customers or just making it a product for manufacturers. I think I correctly assumed that it would be more difficult to get information without the data coming from customers. I would have to rely on businesses inputting their own information.

I think the market of selling as a service to manufacturers is almost as attractive as my existing market. The main problem I have is that it would be difficult to get businesses to be interested if the application cannot be user tested without data from businesses. Because of this I think it might be a good idea to stick with my current market and maybe change markets after I begin to see some success.

Assignment 24 - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Venture Concept Write Up

I. Opportunity

There is a segment of the population who has trouble finding shoes that fit correctly when shopping online and would like a solution that will reduce the time drain that is produced. The issue is particularly important to those who go through shoes faster than average, which tends to be athletes. This need has been brought about the rise of online retail in the 2010’s which has increased further because of the push to avoid indoor public spaces created by global pandemic. This market exists globally but my focus would be on North Americans, particularly those in more populated areas. Currently this need is being satisfied by return policies or by purchasing in store but can easily be improved upon. This is a big opportunity because it could mean moving a lot of in store purchases to online and reducing the need for large returns handling in a ~15 billion-dollar industry. I think now is an especially opportune time to enter the market, however so long as online retail continues to grow the opportunity should remain.

II. Innovation

My application will likely come in two forms, as a responsive web application that can be accessed on both desktop browsers and mobile browsers, and as a mobile application. The application will have two parts to it, data collection and outputted recommendations. Users will make an account and enter information about the shoes that they currently wear and the shoes that have fit them well in the past. The entered information will be stored to a database and used to recommend the user shoes that have a similar fit. The recommendations will show in a grid view for the user to scroll, filter, and sort through. Options to filter and sort for color, ratings and price will be available to the user. When a user views a shoe in the application, they will be shown an image of the shoe, a confidence rating of how well it will fit, its price, color options, ratings, and partnered retailers they can purchase from online. The application will make money through these partnered retailers, for each purchase made through the application the partner will pay a commission fee. This way the application can stay free to the user which gives it a greater chance of being advertised by word of mouth. With enough data collected a long-term goal would be to get a machine learning algorithm trained to processes images of shoes from certain angles to recommend shoes for the user based on those photos alone.

III. Venture Concept

This application will draw users because of its usefulness and potential to be extremely effective with enough data. It will not be difficult to get users to use because it operates at no cost to the consumer, and there is not much to lose in spending a few minutes making an account when compared to the potential time wasted by having to go through returns or try shoes on in store. Getting them to implement my application will depend on the amount of exposure I am able to get it. There are no real competitors, the next best option is to go into a brick and mortar retail store and try shoes on there. It is inconvenient in comparison to online purchasing which gives my solution the advantage if it works well enough. Making the application free to use plays a major role in defining my business concept as does the user experience. By making the app free it will allow users to essentially crowd source the data necessary for it to function, and only to their benefit that it does. I could see a policy of giving credits to users who had bad experience with the app to encourage potential dissatisfied users to give it a second chance. In terms of organizing a business around the application, the biggest needs would be in development and advertising. I would probably hire 2-3 developers and 2 for marketing and eventually take on a more managerial role in the business. There would not be too much need for much else aside from maybe someone to manage customer support but could probably be mostly automated.

IV. Three Minor Elements

My most important resource is my personal connections. I know a podiatrist through Boy Scouts and can use that relation to get advice on how to make my application more effective and what factors should be considered. I also have connections to people who have gone through the startup process themselves. The next opportunity for my venture would be to expand to other types of online clothing retail. I think shoes are a good starting point because there is less variation overall between manufacturers than in shirts for example. Once there is a reasonable confidence in my business it will be easier to expand. I would hope this venture could last a few years, maybe 3-5, before being bought off. I obviously hope that it can be a successful venture and solve a lot the issues consumers face when purchasing online.

Assignment 23 - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources in venture:

1. Financial – personal savings

2. Financial – potential investments from friends/family

3. Financial – access to crowdfunding platforms

4. Financial – apply for small business loans

5. Capabilities – application development experience

6. Capabilities – worked for a startup before

7. Human Capital – access to people who have started their own businesses

8. Human Capital – access to people knowledgeable in relevant fields

9. Social Capital – connections to people who would fall into my market segment

10. Social Capital – resources provided by university



VRIN analysis

1. Personal savings

· Financial resources are Valuable in the VRIN model

· Not Rare, lots of money in businesses and organizations

· Not Inimitable, other businesses can obtain financial resources as well

· Non-substitutable, money is in some regards non substitutable because your venture will not function without it

2. Potential investments from friends/family

· Financial resources are Valuable in the VRIN model

· Not Rare, lots of money in businesses and organizations

· Not Inimitable, other businesses can obtain financial resources as well

· Non-substitutable, money is in some regards non substitutable because your venture will not function without it

3. Access to crowdfunding platforms

· Financial resources are Valuable in the VRIN model

· Not Rare, lots of money in businesses and organizations

· Not Inimitable, other businesses can obtain financial resources as well

· Non-substitutable, money is in some regards non substitutable because your venture will not function without it

4. Apply for small business loans

· Financial resources are Valuable in the VRIN model

· Not Rare, lots of money in businesses and organizations

· Not Inimitable, other businesses can obtain financial resources as well

· Non-substitutable, money is in some regards non substitutable because your venture will not function without it

5. Application development experience

· Valuable as a skill that can be used to gain competitive advantage

· Somewhat rare, because I can develop it myself, I do not need necessarily need to employ anyone until I have a working demonstration at least.

· Not Inimitable, it is not difficult to hire an application developer

· Substitutable, can be substituted by hiring

6. Worked for a startup before

· Valuable as skills that can be used to gain competitive advantage

· Rare because not a lot of people have been exposed to the startup environment

· Not Inimitable, it is experience that can be obtained through training

· Substitutable, can hire experienced individuals

7. Access to people who have started their own businesses

· Valuable, to have people who know what they are doing and can provide guidance

· Not Rare, if someone is starting a business, it is likely they know someone else who has

· Not Inimitable, you can find people who have started businesses easily, though making connections can be the difficult part

· Substitutable, can hire someone who is experienced or can advise you

8. Access to people knowledgeable in relevant fields

· Valuable, knowledge and experience can be used as competitive advantages

· Not Rare, a competitor would likely have access to similar people

· Not Inimitable, you can find people who have experience easily on social media

· Substitutable, can hire someone who is experienced or can advise you

9. Connections to people who would fall into my market segment

· Valuable, potential customers are potential value

· Not Rare, there should be many potential customers in your market segment, or your product will not be successful

· Not Inimitable, not difficult to obtain

· Substitutable, many potential customers

10. Resources provided by university

· Valuable, provided resources and services can be valuable to getting started

· Rare, resources that would not be accessible to non-students

· Inimitable, would be difficult for existing firms to source these resources

· Substitutable, could be replaces by other external resources



Top Resource:

I think my top resource is my personal development experience. I can develop the initial version of the application myself which lowers the cost and risks of creating a startup. It also means I have more control over the direction my application goes.

Assignment 22 - Elevator Pitch No. 3

Video

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hsi9qmew4X6aGmkk8

The feedback I got was I should better describe the application and how a user would interact with it. I think it is good feedback, providing some indication of how it will be presented to the user can help the person listening to the pitch to understand the uses of it.

Reflection:
Based on that feedback I have added some more information on the form and use of the application to the pitch. The pitch was not quite memorized, however, I think I spoke more comfortably when doing it this time compared to my previous attempts. My pitch is much better than my first draft after adapting it to receive feedback.

Assignment 21 - Reading Reflection No. 2

Inbound Marketing, Brian Halligan 

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

The book covered different methods of getting customers to find you on their own rather than explicitly advertising which is what they call “Inbound Marketing”. It goes over how to get visitors to find you and how to convert those visitors to customers and sales.

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

For the most part, the book covered marketing and product visibility practices, which do not directly connect to what we have learned in the videos and exercises. Some concepts from the class can be extended through the topics in the book for the purposes of getting visitors and customers. For example, identifying your market segment is an important part of being able to focus your content and search engine keywords in a way that will get you the most visitors.

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

I can think of two decent exercises that could be designed around the concepts covered by this book. The first is one to learn about Search Engine Optimization by creating mock-ups for website content, that focuses on optimizing placement in google search results. The second could be creating mock content for a social media page that promotes your product and would attract potential customers.

4.       

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

I had never thought much about some of the methods that the book uses as calls to action. I have often seen sites that will offer things like webinars, classes, or consultation, but did not think of them as a call to action just as site content or services. It makes sense to me that including such features and resources would be a large factor in converting prospects to customers. They say that using a “Contact Us” form is one of the lowest converting calls to action, which I have included in sites I have worked on previously.