Venture Concept No. 1

 Venture Concept: Study Buddy

Opportunity

The people I am currently targeting my service with are college age/enrolled students who invest in their studies. My demographic also stretches to anyone who studies in general. The unmet need that my consumers deal with are chargers (wired and wireless) that charges their studying tools (laptops, phones, et.). The reason this unmet need has occurred is because in areas like libraries there is a lack of space and plugs for students to use for their chargers. The market for this service is defined geographically by libraries and any available area used for studying, and it is also defined demographically by the plethora of college students both living and studying on college campuses.

Currently costumers are satisfying their unmet needs by carrying their personal wired chargers with them to wherever they go to study, while trying to plan ahead and hoping to gain access to plugs for them to use in keeping their tech online. Due to the fact that this is currently the only way students who use technology to study can succeed academically, they are compelled into a forced-loyalty towards this method. My service would quickly lead them to adapt to my business though. The opportunity itself is enormous and is simply lying there for the taking. This window of opportunity will continue to be open for the taking until someone comes and takes advantage of the opportunity itself and profits from it.

Innovation

My service Study Buddy is geared toward the academic success of studying students who require as many resources possible to earn a successful academic career in college. What Study Buddy does is rent out both wired and wireless chargers to customers that they can use to keep their tech that they use for studying charged. Through a simple purchase of 2-5 dollars (depending on the brand of charger and whether it is wired or wireless), students may use said services for as long as they are in the library.

Venture Concept

With my innovative service Study Buddy, I will have helped bring resolution to an academic challenge that has hindered many college students from achieving educational success in their college career. My customers will buy this service’s offers because not only is it financially affordable on a college student’s finances, but it will also increase a college student’s chances of achieving higher grades in their courses. It will be easy to have customers switch to this service, as then they will no longer have to worry about carrying another item with them to the library for studying and they will not have to hunt for plugs wherever they may study.

At the current moment I do not know of any competition in this particular market. Due to this, I cannot say for certain the weakness and vulnerabilities of possibly existing competition. Packaging is unnecessary in this service, the overall price is affordable for students, distribution must make efforts in finding the different types and brands of chargers available for all student, customers need to be an important base in the service to spread news of our business, and libraries are only the stepping stone to places Study Buddy will reach out to collaborate with in our service.

Three Elements

My unfair advantage in Study Buddy are the large numbers of locations I can spread my service to besides libraries. Thanks to the increase and evolution of technology, people are almost to study almost everywhere. A number of businesses are limited to certain locations due to the narrow offers their businesses offer, but my service is capable of reaching out to multiple consumers of all demographics in the future, not just college students, all over the world.

The next step with my service is to add headphones to Study Buddy. Headphones are required if a student is going to study in an area other students occupy for their own personal efforts at studying. I would rent out different types and brands of headphones available, have employees trained to know how to maintain, clean, and fix them, and make studying overall less of a challenge for college students.

Five years into the future, I want Study Buddy to be known nation-wide. I want the service spread to libraries and multiple locations where people of all backgrounds study at. Ten years into the business, I want to take Study Buddy internationally and share my services with the world at large. I would also like to create a charitable branch in my business that would offer technology for those in need.

Amazon Whisperer

1. Revenue drivers: This is earned through consumers paying to rent the chargers for studying purposes. Another form of revenue comes from the library paying the service to stay on and also for repairs to any damaged and/or broken chargers.

2. The next product to use for my Study Buddy service would be headphones, specifically headphones built for the specific needs of the consumer, like a student in a library or a student exercising in the gym. Studying can be taken anywhere, not just the library, and my service can provide for this.

3. The line of headphones will improve and expand my overall service by making studying in general more advantageous for my customers, which will lead to more consumers and more revenue and success. By showing we care about our customers and their desire to succeed in their studies and life, we not only increase their chances of academic success, but increase their loyalty to us.

4. These headphones are built especially for exercise, the gym, and overall athletic related events. The style is designed to fit comfortably on the ear with little discomfort and it blocks out unwanted noise from the environment around the consumer.

http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Headphones-Liger-XS900-Cancelling/dp/B0184MWYCW/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1459037055&sr=1-1&keywords=headphones

5. Customer reviews: 62% of reviews were 5-star positive and only 12% were negative 1-star reviews. From 5-star reviews, the product is described as one of good price with quality sound and comfortable fit in the ears. The negative reviews pointed out how after some time the quality of staying charged for hours lessened considerably, poor blue tooth range, and choppy sound quality at times.

6. From the basic, foundation style and look of it, I would not change it. I also would not change its purpose either. Instead I would work on improving the product so that its battery life lasts longer and more efficiently, and sound quality becomes a minor issue to the consumer.

7. This product would make a good addition to my Study Buddy service because it complements the pros of the rented chargers already in use. Not only do students have less to carry to the library for studying, but with a small rent payment, they can use chargers and headphones to further help their overall studying and reach a higher level of academic success.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

1. What surprised me most was the reading level of this article. The last reading reflection was so difficult for me to grasp, and this article was a lot easier for me to comprehend. To be more specific, what also stood out was how innovation in general is still a struggle for a lot of businesses, and companies like Apple and Microsoft are so successful because they mastered innovation unique in their work.

2. The jargon used throughout the article at times confused me. I didn't know words like routine innovation and disruptive innovation at first until the article described them in detail later. There were other words used throughout the article that I just learned for the first time or still do not completely know the definition to.

3. Will there one day be a basic foundational model that companies can use for innovation and then customize it further after the foundational aspects? Maybe there is some formula out there, but we haven't discovered it yet, and that is why the author says every company's innovation practices must be tailored to their needs. What steps does one need to take in order to make the difficult architectural innovation less of a challenge? Maybe there is a certain approach one can take to make the transition less difficult to manage.

4. At the current moment, I don't see anything yet to disagree on.

My Unfair Advantage

1. Resources: (1) large demographic (college students); (2) multiple locations to spread to (multiple colleges, later on libraries and other areas); (3) accessibility to customers; (4) personal experience of customer problems; (5) payable prices for service; (6) service able to be repeated and used as many times as wanted for the customer; (7) service is easy to use and employees need little training to perform it; (8) service, while targeted at college students, can be and is available to anyone owning a piece of tech; (9) service's product is light and easy to carry around for studying; (10) different chargers for different pieces of tech available to customers.

2. VRIN: (1) very valuable, especially in beginning of business, relatively easy to copy; (2) valuable because of how many locations there are, can be copied by other locations who want to work with service; (3) high resources, difficult to imitate if customers are paid for their loyalty and commitment to using the service; (4) not at all rare and can be imitable; (5) valuable because good price equals better chance of returning customers, can be copied by others; (6) valuable because service can be used repeatedly; (7)valuable because of easy level of difficulty, can be copied; (8) service is valuable due t inclusiveness; (9) valuable because of little weight carried, can be copied; (10) valuable due to diversity, rare because some businesses may not be as diverse, can be copied.

3. Top Resource: My top resource is the multiple locations my service can spread to. It is above all other resources because it is heavily connected with customer numbers. If my business spread to other libraries and areas that use chargers, customers will attempt my service, which leads to a greater and more expansive use of my business. The multiple locations equals multiple customers, from the targeted college students to any person using technology that needs to be recharged.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1. Holy - freaking - cow. This was, by far, the most difficult chapter I ever read for this class. Some parts flew over my head because of the level of reading required to read and digest. A part that surprised me was the section called "When Currency Loses Its Global Value". It surprised me that losing value in currency can actually, for the short term, be a good thing, because tourists are more likely to come to areas with less value on currency for tourism.

2. Is it wrong for me to say that everything confused me? This chapter was just so complex to read, and there are still some parts that I don't understand.

3. Is there a way that less value on currency can be good for the long run and not just short term? Maybe business owners can have better chances of survival if there are different tactics for taking advantage of this issue. Also, how does a business owner develop the willpower they need to be firm with their customers on payment without becoming cruel? Are there cases where there is no other way? This is because customers prefer to be with a friendly owner than a rude one, and yet it can be difficult being friendly with customers and being firm on doing business too in a number of cases.

4. No, I don't have anything I disagree with on here. I'm still confused over the chapter's contents, so at this point, I can't agree or disagree with the author on the chapter.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

1.

2. While my commentaries were kind and receptive to my pitch for my service, the only constructive advice I received was to set up the camera in a way that I was talking to a group of people and more of my body could be seen overall. I did as they suggested and set up the camera in a way where viewers could see a greater portion of myself in the video. The majority of my commentaries were supportive of my previous pitch.

3.Based on the feedback I received, I set up my phone camera in a certain so that when it recorded my pitch, it recorded a larger view of my overall body, allowing the viewers to see an appropriate amount of myself and not just my face and neck.

My Secret Sauce

1. Five things about me: (1) I am mature for my age, and I have been this way since I was young. I take things seriously and rarely joke around while on the job. There's a time to work hard, and a time to play hard. (2) I'm a hardcore bibliophile. I have already read hundreds of books in my lifetime, and this gives me an advantage when it comes to information. I love learning new things and reading, so these two combined help me to educate myself on topics. (3) I am also persistent, so I only give in after I gave a good fight. I'm not a fan of throwing in the towel a lot of times. (4) I can work efficiently in both individual and group projects. While I prefer to work alone, I am able to share the workload with my teammates and lead a successful endeavor. (5) I am a listener. I can listen to other people for extended periods of time. This is an advantage because I can then get in detail the issues troubling people I speak and listen to.

2. Interview:
https://youtu.be/zx0kYHscHJE

Recker had a more difficult time in this particular interview because the question is different from previous ones I asked her in past assignments. Nevertheless, she described me first by certain personality traits she saw in me, and after I coaxed her into describing me through an academic/educational view, she gave answers more in tune with the assignment's instructions. I took away from this that Recker sees me as a friendly and innocent person who gets along with others well.

* Two of my roommates were unavailable to be interviewed and I could not find another person who knew me well enough to interview as I tend to prefer small groups and small amounts of interaction. I accept the grade that is given to me.

3. Reflect:
I see myself as mature and serious, and in the one interview I obtained I was described as innocent and friendly. Yes, there are differences in how I and other people see myself, and I think this is due to perception. I know way more about myself than people on average know about me. People can't read my thoughts or discern my inner motivations and desires unless I show or tell it to them. I see myself in a different light because I am living me, while other people are living a different experience and thus they may see a different perspective of myself. Becker is right about me to a certain extent, as I admit to being seen as a more innocent person and friendly as well. What she probably doesn't know is that I am very mature for my age and don't need to act like a stiff individual to be this way, and that while I am friendly, I also confess to having a temper that I sometimes lose control of. Finally, I wouldn't remove my self examination in 1, but instead add Recker's opinion to it as well. I am a persistent person who loves to read, and I just so happen to have an innocent way about myself and come off as friendly to others. These are more good traits I can use to describe myself in the future.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1. The biggest surprise for me is how companies can be so afraid of using certain tactics or techniques to help their overall business. I understand that money, time, and the chances of results being unreliable are factors in this, but it still surprises me that this seems to happen often with companies. If someone took the risk to start up their own new business, wouldn't they also take the leap to try different ways to better sell their service and/or product?

2. The guerrilla marketing plan throws me off because in this day and age, companies have been built for practically every purpose and objective. How can you truly be different from your competitors if they too have same/similar qualities as you? Quality, expertise, value, price, etc., these are all goals and objectives and advantages that other companies either have or are striving to achieve. I think you would have to think up of something brand new or very innovative in order to pull this plan off successfully.

3. What can be done to encourage businesses to put in more work for research and so on? I just find it strange that so many would be hesitant in using as many resources possible to help their companies. Also, when should an entrepreneur change their philosophy? They may start out with one of the three philosophies mentioned on pg. 321 of Chapter 10, but when will it be best for them to change their philosophy to further the success of their business?

4. At this current moment, there is nothing that I seem to disagree with on the author. I still have much to learn though.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. You: I am pursuing a major in English and a minor in Innovation and these two degrees strengthen and help nurture my entrepreneurial side. My skills involve writing, writing under a deadline, pursuing research and sources for articles, and experience in committing to a long-term cause. With my business, I see it as a way to help me grow in my leadership skills and capabilities of managing a business well.

2. What are you offering to customers: I would like to offer them free/rentable chargers. The library is a hotspot for many students enrolled in college. However, there are limited places for a student to charge their devices. With a system that rents out chargers or offers wireless chargers that can charge computers and phones, my customers will have greater access to their overall studying, which in turn will increase their success in college.The service will take into account the amount of students who bring their chargers to studying in general and be able to offer chargers with little chance of running out. 

3. Who are you offering it to: My demographic will be college students, but my service can also extend outside my targeted demographic. Anyone enrolled in college is given access in obtaining a traditional charger or wireless charger for their own personal studying while at the library. The service will also take into account the fact that students own different types of laptops, so different chargers will be offered for the majority of different computer brands and labels. My student-customers have in common their desire to study and succeed in their classes.

4. Why do they care: My product will be a solution for a large problem that affects students everywhere. One reviewer noted that I will have little to no operating costs, so I can also gain much financial benefit with the service. Students will not have to cough up large amounts of money to pay for the service either, so money will be a small issue for students intent on studying in the library. With my product and overall service, my customers will worry about one less thing and can devote their time to earning good grades.

5. What are your core competencies: What sets me apart from everyone else is that I have gone through the same problem. I needed to leave the library early once because there were no open plugs for my charger. What I have that nobody else has is patience, and a lot of it. Building a business from the ground up requires delayed gratification and going step by step through the setting up of a business in order to succeed well in entrepreneurship.

* Five Core Elements: With the feedback I received in Idea Napkin 1, I believe my 5 elements coincide together well. The feedback pointed out certain weak spots in my previous assignment, like clarifying whether I am using wired and/or wireless chargers (I am using both). It also pointed out the benefit of having little operating cost and likely starting out financially well, which can lead to other colleges and libraries adopting my service into their respective services. Thanks to the feedback I received before, my elements work together more smoothly together. 

* Feedback Memo: The truth is, I only received a small amount of feedback in my previous assignment. The first is clarification on whether I am using both wired and wireless chargers for the service. I was also told about the benefit of low operating cost in my business. I must also take into account the different types of laptops and devices available for studying so I can properly provide the right chargers for each individual student in the library.  I incorporated the feedback that I received by linking them into my answers throughout this post. I mentioned the good areas of my service and the areas of improvement as pointed out by my classmates.