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I think my most formative experience was the venture capital assignment. That’s really the first time that I had to completely look my business all the way up and down and identify the opportunity, how I’m going to meet that need, and why people would do that. When you think about starting a business people often first think to raising money or something similar, yet no one really thinks about how you’re going to first identify the need and the opportunity that you must meet. It completely changed the way that I perceived starting a business and it definitely taught me a lot. I also learned a lot from the elevator pitches as they taught me how to speak well in front of others but also was a lot of fun to see how that process worked. I really do believe that I’ve developed more of an entrepreneurial mindset, as the way I perceive things and opportunities really has changed. I wouldn’t call myself a complete entrepreneur because I haven’t started my own business, but I’ve definitely made

Venture Capital Revised Opportunity There is an opportunity in this market for a personalized trainer app that takes out the middleman and gives consumers a customized workout plan directly at the fingertips without having to meet with a trainer, saving them both time and money. This is for young adults and millenials who want to get fit but save the time and money it takes to do so. With the rise in fitness and being in shape ever so prevalent in social media and pop culture, there is demand to get that perfect body now more than ever. The market for a product like these includes young adults all over the U.S., specifically towards anyone trying to get in shape or workout. Customers satisfy the need for workout plans by simply going to trainers, and while some remain relatively loyal as they’ve gone to the same trainer for a while, those looking to cut down time and money would be willing to switch for a cheaper product. This opportunity is pretty big as many people are trying to

My exit strategy for my app FitTrend, is to sell it for a large return in hopefully stock, (not a majority but a decent amount of shares), and some cash. This is because although I do think I have a chance that it could be successful, it would be more valuable and successful for a larger company that has the ability to run it properly. Whether it be a company such as LA Fitness or a tech company like Google, they would be better equipped to hire the personnel and grow the company than my limited knowledge of the subject, which requires me to outsource almost every aspect of the company. For this reason, I would sell for a large return with stock so I can get money for the future from FitTrend, as well as immediate money if I want to jumpstart a project that I’m more passionate about and more ready to handle myself. It hasn’t necessarily influenced me yet, as this is really the first time I’ve given it a lot of thought, but it definitely would factor into some of the decisions. I would

Failure is something that is initially hard to take at first, but is beneficial in the long term. Something that happened with me specifically this semester that relates to failure was when I didn’t do well on my first financial accounting exam. It was the first one at the beginning of the semester and I didn’t realize how to properly study for that class nor the tests. I simply thought that because I was doing the homework I didn’t have to study as much for so I wasn’t adequately prepared. It was good that it happened at the start of the semester, however, as it taught me how much work it would take to get a good grade in the class and I took that principle forward in order. I decided to devote more time to the second exam and studied different materials and ended up getting a 90, and plan on doing the same for the third exam. Failure is something that is essential to every aspect of life because of the process it makes you learn, and the harder the failure, the better you learn. The

Existing Market While I think my product can definitely have a good foothold in my existing market, after interviewing a couple different customers I think there is definitely ways I can improve and grow in it. I interviewed one person who works out at Southwest everyday, another one of my friends who goes to Student Rec, as well as one random person who I met through one of my friends. We discussed how I could grow in my existing market, and what I need to be doing and planning for that I’m already not. The biggest takeaway I think is an aspect of customer service that I seemed to miss. In the fitness market, I definitely could add a constant stream of communication where I could have a personal trainer on the line, ready to talk with any consumer about how to do a workout or what they should do. This, along with adding a nutritional aspect to my app, could help my app grow and expand in the fitness market, getting more consumers and raising demand for my product. New Market I thin

Opportunity There is an opportunity in this market for a personalized trainer app that takes out the middleman and gives consumers a customized workout plan directly at the fingertips without having to meet with a trainer, saving them both time and money. This is for young adults and millenials who want to get fit but save the time and money it takes to do so. With the rise in fitness and being in shape ever so prevalent in social media and pop culture, there is demand to get that perfect body now more than ever. The market for a product like these includes young adults all over the U.S., specifically towards anyone trying to get in shape or workout. Customers satisfy the need for workout plans by simply going to trainers, and while some remain relatively loyal as they’ve gone to the same trainer for a while, those looking to cut down time and money would be willing to switch for a cheaper product. This opportunity is pretty big as many people are trying to workout and it could be adve

1. Organizational Structure - One of my resources that allows me to keep costs low is the fact that I would have a virtual system, where I could do all of my work at one headquarters as all of the information is sent in online and we create our custom workouts online. This allows for all of the physicians and people who create the plan to be in one location, or even work from home and send it to them, so we can keep costs low and not have to have multiple facilities. Valuable - It’s very valuable because low costs mean higher profit margins. Rare - I would say its moderately rare. Big companies like Walmart, Sam’s, and others are able to keep costs low because of their economies of scale, but its not like everyone does it. Imitable - Again, moderately imitable. Some companies all work online and it allows for low costs, but it is not very common Non-Substitutable - There are other ways to create the same benefits, so it is somewhat substitutable. 2. Social Capital - I plan on hiring we

https://youtu.be/EOUR7jL7FeM My feedback from my last pitch made me think that I should focus less on my product and more on the consumer and what they need. I also thought that it was a bit silly because I was told that I should move more by one of my friends, but I think in this specific scenario where I'm recording a video rather than giving a sales pitch made that not relevant. I tried to be more engaging in this elevator pitch, focusing on making an actual connection with people and trying to be more relatable to them. For this reason I tried to address the need this time early on so that people would see it, rather than talking about just my product like I did in the last pitches. I also changed my script up a bit more, yet still it had mostly memorized because a lot of it was the same from the previous pitches.

The book that I chose was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams the cartoonist. Adams uses witty humour and big ideas to show a couple specific points that create an alternate way to get what you want rather than simply just trying to work hard. One big idea is his idea of having a system as opposed to a goal, as it focuses on doing completing task and being realistic rather than simply having an unknown reward at an uncertain time in the future for the work you put in. Another important idea was the concept of deciding versus wishing. Adams urges people to decide what they want and the price they must pay for it, rather than simply wishing for something. This stuff, along with programming yourself to more fit your internal clock and finding things that give you energy rather than the typical “finding your passion”, combine to show a different way than the traditional way of reaching success. For me, this is where it connects the most to ENT. This class has

One of the first people I talked to was my friend, Michael Kennedy, who is a computer science major here at UF and knows various coding languages. He also works on dance marathon website and has helped develop apps before. He was especially relevant because he could be of use in knowing how complicated it could to be code and design an app similar to mine, because of this I’m filling him with the domain expert slot. I met him through another mutual friend at UF and we sat down and talked. He gave me a lot of ideas about how to code properly just because he wanted to be friendly, so he did not expect anything in return. By getting this knowledge, it gives me the ability to better understand how much capital I’m going to need to properly start my business and run maintenance on my app. The second person I found is one of my parent’s friend Beth, who is a personal trainer at a gym back home. She makes all her money off of in person appointments, and I thought it would be important to get

19A After doing several interviews and reflection exercises and getting feedback, I believe I have a different perspective on my skills and myself. In my previous post I mentioned that I am an ambitious, organized person which would help with my business. In addition, I think my calm temperament and ability to problem solve would be a huge addition as well, especially in a startup with a quickly changing environment. My past experiences with marketing and the internship I had last summer would provide a lot of benefits that could aid the business. I see it growing to be one of the biggest, most downloaded apps on the market, and expanding my business to hire more employees, personal trainers, and technicians to keep the app constantly changing. I’m offering a fitness app to customers, which gives them the ability to workout properly and have a customizable plan that will get them in the shape they want. The difference is that I’m going to market it as a personal trainer app rather than

My customer avator is a 20 year old male who enjoys working out and doing physical activity. He probably drives a red nissan altima and watches shows like The Office or Parks and Rec. Assuming the young age, he probably has no kids but enjoys reading books like Harry Potter or Basketball and Other Things. He’s probably either more conservative or not involved in politics. He also probably wants to add more weight but has trouble putting on muscle. He also probably has a bad diet, and has a fast metabolism because of his weight. His ultimate goal is to get in shape and have a look big. I have a couple things in common with my customer, specifically the skinny part and the similar likes and interests. This is because one, we are similar in age, and two, a lot of the reason I came up with this idea was to solve solutions for people like me, who eat a lot or poorly and workout but never put on weight. For this reason, I don’t think it’s a coincidence, but rather something that came out as

Human capital is a large component people don’t factor in when they measure the value or worth of the business/person. The most successful businesses have the most value in the people that run them because they’re knowledge, skills, and abilities drive the business. That being said here are 5 of my unique human capital skills. Ambition - I believe I am very ambitious. I set high-reaching goals and a higher standard for myself and am going to push to get to those goals no matter what. I don’t allow being inexperienced, young, not as athletic, not as smart, or whatever to be an excuse; there is always a way to achieve the goal whether it is through yourself or others. People Person - I like to think I’m very good with people. I can connect with a variety of people and know when someone needs to be picked up and helped, or how to properly give constructive feedback. I enjoy talking and learning more about others, and am good at it. Tragedy - This is more of an experi

For my second set of interviews I selected three separate friends who went to Southwest and Student Rec. During my interviews I tried to get as in depth as possible in order to figure out the most information about consumers’ habits and how they perceive the product. The most consistent alternatives to my product were either simply hiring a personal trainer or other workout apps that are free. This was clearly a factor, as all three didn’t want to pay a lot of money for a personal trainer and the reason they would choose my product over that was mainly if it was cheaper. This worked both ways, however, as they were also likely to choose a product that would be free is they were simply logging their workouts and caring less about the workout plan. Quality of workout plan’s made were also a factor, because I found if someone was paying money for the service they all wanted it to be comprehensive and provide tips on how to do the workout and what would be good nutritionally after. My prod

A couple of the behaviours I’ve had to develop for this course were better time management and planning. While the assignments are due on the same time every week, often times I have events going on throughout the week or things to do on the day they are due, so I have to work ahead. In addition, I also look ahead and view the size of the assignment and then plan on how much I can fit in around the lectures and when I need to start it. Without things like this, the assignments can catch up and start to feel like a lot. On the specific assignment Testing the Hypothesis Part 2, I almost gave up on doing it because it seemed rather repetitive and I had a lot of other stuff going on that week with exams and extracurriculars. However, I pulled through and got the assignment done because I wanted to push the boundaries of my product. I was glad I did it, because the second part revealed more about the product and brought out new ideas like a better customer service page that I would’ve never

For my biography, I chose Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance. I chose him specifically because although he’s the most well known and most seen in the news, especially recently, I wanted to know some depth about him and his character. Maybe its because I never followed him seriously, but I pictured him having a very similar story to Steve Jobs, with Tesla being his baby project he started in his very own garage and grew it to what it is now. However, he actually has a very similar story to most entrepreneurs in the fact that the started multiple enterprises such as Zip2 or X.com before he got involved with Tesla and SpaceX. This was also one of the things I most admired about him; the fact that he is involved in multiple industries and didn’t stop with Tesla shows his truest entrepreneurial spirit. Rather than simply make money, he seems more obsessed with starting and growing his ideas to benefit the world and isn’t afraid to take risks or try

Segment: People who workout at Southwest and Student Rec I interviewed three separate students, 2 who workout at Southwest and one who works out at Student Rec pretty often. I found there was need to be able to easily log workout info so you could see how much weight you were doing or if you missed a workout last week. In addition, they were all pretty keen on the fact that they would be getting personal tips from a trainer, without actually having to pay the money or take the time out of their day to hire one. Lastly, the fully comprehensive aspect was especially important, but it would only be useful if it was user friendly and not jumbled or cluttered like many apps. All that information would need to be visually pleasing while also efficient, something that's hard to do with such a large comprehensive app but effective if done right. I found that when one of the people had an issue with their workout, they would often google how to do a particular workout or what are goo

I am a very organized, ambitious person, and if I were to start this business I would want to see it grow and go far. The fact that I’m transitioning to a marketing major and that I’m in the business schools allows me to have a much more distinct and better ability to both market and run my business. I’ve also joined a marketing team for an organization, Project Makeover, on campus, along with having a marketing internship this summer. These experiences give me the ability on how to advertise and publicize my product, as well as have real life experience knowing what it takes to keep a brand’s image up using social media or other forms. FitTrend is both a product and a service; it’s an app that uses specific algorithms made from physical trainers to help customize workouts based on users body type. After a person inputs all their data, such as how much they weigh, how tall they are, how often they lift, and what they typically eat, FitTrend creates a monthly workout plan based on

For my Testing the Hypothesis Part 2, I interviewed another set of different people. I used a different method this time, focusing on interviewing people I randomly met at Turlington/Marston or through mutual friends, as opposed to interviewing some people I actually knew. This gave me a greater range in my responses, allowing me to test the boundaries a little farther. For instance, I found that although there are plenty of people who like to workout, some would not like to my fitness app because they do not necessarily feel the need to spend extra money on a personal trainer. This was typically more experienced lifters, or those who only go to the gym for cardio rather than put on muscle. That helped me to realize what exactly made the boundaries different, as the need differed when it went from trying to get in shape and put on muscle like I had originally planned, to changing to a different need people would have such as a free app that maybe tracks heart rate or other health stat

In my previous assignment I identified an opportunity for a mobile app that would help consumers workout better, as many did not want to spend the time or money to use personal trainers but still wanted good customizable workouts. My interviews showed that their was a demand for this product, as many of them did not want to interact with trainers or did not want to pay an hourly rate when they could just pay a cheaper monthly subscription to give them customized workouts. My solution was a combination of both a product and a service. It would be a mobile app that requires you to put in personal data about how much you workout and your body type, as well as you knowledge about work outs. Afterwards, using either an algorithm created by physical trainers or having a set team of physical trainers who can analyze data, we would build custom workouts for the consumer and have a workout plan for the month. Each day we would have what exercises they need to do, as well as ways to log thei

I believe there is an opportunity for a mobile app/service that allows people to properly track their workouts, get advice from physical trainers, and get exercises customized towards their body type. The fitness craze has only been increasing, and with social media more prominent now more than ever, people want to look good but don’t want to spend the time and money to get a trainer to tell them how to work out. The Who: Consumers who work out often, specifically college students and young adults The What: They want to look good and more and more people are exercising while fitness products are rising The Why: Often not willing to pay or put in the time for a trainer to tell them how to workout and what they should do in for their body Interview 1: For my first interview I decided to interview a female student who I know works out a lot. She would benefit the most from a product like this, as she would be the prototypical customer. After explaining the product she did agree

1. Economic Trend - Computer Science I believe many businesses will want computer science majors and those who are familiar with coding in languages such as JavaScript or HTML. I first discovered this when at my internship over the summer, as my boss explained to me how they often have to hire out to firms to help run their website, rather than being able to have someone in the company run it and save money. With the way the world is changing, we are constantly having new websites or pieces of technology, whether it be new apps, websites, programming computers, face technology, etc. To be able to code and be familiar with the language is essential for college students from marketing majors to engineers. I myself am a marketing major and currently run a student organization’s website, and I’m trying to learn coding because it will save a lot of time and money, and also make things like posting, adding widgets, and the entire process a lot easier. Engineers often have to program or r

Title: Judges Need More Space Link: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0601%21June%2B01&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16C46ACA36538438 Story:   The Tampa Bay Times reported in its Hernando County section that judges in downtown Hernando county need more room to operate. There’s been a conflict of space where they work, so their plan was to move to a Pinebrook property they owned which they would then renovate, but the plan fell through. However, they were supposed to have funding to build a new courthouse, but it appears they’re lacking it without a new sales tax or some other sort of revenue. This is an issue because the courthouse has not grown while the number of residents has, (50,000 to 180,000), and the number of cases as well. They need two new courtrooms; two judicial chambers, including hearing rooms; nearby holding cel