Week 8 Reading Reflection

This week, we read about different sources of capital for entrepreneurs.  I was not surprised to hear how popular debt financing is.  However, I was very surprised that many entrepreneurs go to the bank with no idea of how much they need.  They just want to get some money, and they will use whatever they get.  The strikes me as something anyone with entrepreneurial aspirations should strive to learn quickly.  After all, failing to plan is planning to fail.  The only part that got a little confusing to me was the section with all of the different kinds of financing.  Preferred stock, common stock, convertible debentures, private placements, and IPOs are just a few of the ones listed.  The author listed so many different types of ways to raise capital.  I would have asked him what he would personally recommend, and when some ways were superior to others.  As this was something I don't have a ton of prior knowledge in, I didn't disagree with the author on anything this week.

Half-way Reflection

The first half of this semester has been an absolute blur.  I credit a large part of that to this class.  Some of the assignments seem more daunting than others, but you can expect them to keep rolling in at a steady pace.  So now I will be sharing 3 things that will hopefully help future students who take this class.

1. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? The biggest thing is to stay on top of the assignments.  As a former professional procrastinator, had I approached this class like I have others in the past, I'd be doing very poorly.  As it is, my grade is doing very well right now.  The main thing you can do to help yourself is avoid procrastination.
2. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?  The only time I've really felt like giving up was last week when I had to give money to people.  That was an inherently awkward assignment.  But I wanted to maintain a good grade, so I pushed through it.  I don't know that I'd say "tenacious" is how I would describe it.  I think "persistent" is a better word.  And the constant stream of projects is what contributed to that most.
3. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset'?  Use your calendar.  At the beginning of the semester, I went through and wrote down every assignment and test for every class on my calendar.  That has been the biggest help to me.  It's something I haven't done before, and I'm noticing a huge difference for me!  I wish you the best of luck!

"Calendar" by Studio Curve
https://flic.kr/p/2a3hQ

The Twenty Percent

This week, I spoke to Mike Dougherty, owner of the Burger Barn in Hawthorne, FL.  He was too busy to do an in-person interview, so he gave me his cell number, and we talked on the phone.  I will list the questions and answers below.

Q: How long has the Burger Barn been open?
A: We opened it in 1982 and have been going strong ever since.

Q: What are your target customers?
A: Anyone who enjoys a good burger.  But mainly, we like to have families come through and enjoy the experience here.

Q: What are some unmet needs your customers have that you try to help them meet?
A: We try to provide a tasty, affordable burger.  So I guess you could say we meet the needs of hunger and affordability.

Q: Where do you find your customers?
A: I'd say most people are pretty much local.  We are one of the few burger places around, so that's who mostly comes here.

Q: What are your customer's demographics.
A: Oh, we get a pretty wide variety.  But mainly, it's people who need something quick or families who are coming to sit down.

Q: Last question for you: What kind of media do your customers consume?
A: Oh, I don't know.  I would guess the main ones.  Twitter and Facebook probably.  We have a page on Facebook that gets pretty good reviews, so I would assume that's where most of our new customers come from.


I then interviewed 3 customers.  I would say that the owner has dead-on knowledge about the demographics.  There was always a solid line at the drive-thru, and several families went to the walk-up counter to order. However, none of the people I talked to mentioned seeing their facebook page.  They heard from Yelp and word of mouth.  Other than that, mr. Dougherty was very accurate.  Here are the interviews.

Free Money

My strategy for this week's assignment was to walk around the neighborhood and try to give money away to random people living their everyday lives.  I was trying to think of a legitimate reason to want to give away a dollar, and the only thing that made sense to me was a random act of kindness.  Since people are skeptical anyway, that at least seemed like a plausible reason to be handing out a few bills.  I have included two of my interactions with people.  Everyone took the dollar, but it was a very awkward encounter.  It was pretty clear that no one really knew how to take some strange person walking up and handing them a dollar.  To me, this was the most awkward and challenging assignment yet.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

This week's reading assignment was by Daniel Yankelovich and David Meer.  The subject was market segmentation.

The biggest surprise to me in this reading was how narrow market segmentation has become.  I think of that as a rather broad term.  However, Yankelovich and Meer point out that it has become narrowly focused on advertising over the past several years.  Instead of accurately segmenting the market, we have become hyper-focused on commercials.  We try to find something likable, relatable, or funny, instead of focusing on market segmentation.  
Yankelovich and Meer made the assertion that if companies used more informational tactics towards a segment of the population, they would have more success.  They then cited an example of Miller Light.  With the Super Bowl just past us, we have just seen the biggest commercials of the year.  It is less than 2 weeks later, and I can only remember a handful of the dozens I watched that night.  I was a bit confused as to how someone would alert companies to the more successful approach, but that wasn't exactly made clear.  Just that facts would be more effective than humor or "making an impression."
I would have asked the authors about how to know when a factual ad is more effective.  I would have also asked how these companies are supposed to fin the data that says their current way isn't working as well.
The only thing I really disagreed on was that facts are more effective.  I am always skeptical when I see an ad that promises something or states a "fact."  I am usually swayed more by emotion and humor than "facts" which may or may not be accurate.  Other than that, I loved this article.  It was very well written, and I believe I learned a lot from it.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

This week, I changed up my approach a little bit.  After conduction more interviews, I decided to change slightly from making just a retractable phone charger.  One of the common complaints people had about their charger cords was they they weren't durable enough.  So I added that as a point of emphasis this week.  I focused on making a "durable retractable phone charger."  Here is the video of my elevator pitch for a durable retractable phone charger.

In the comments on my previous video, people didn't have a ton of things they wanted me to change, so I tried to keep the format as similar as possible.  However, I did change the order of the things I talked about.  I started out by talking about a problem, then proposing a brilliant solution: a durable retractable phone charger.  Thanks for taking the time to watch this!  Please leave a comment with suggestions to improve or things you liked that I should continue to do.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

This week, we were not reading the normal textbook by Kuratko.  Instead, we focused on an article written by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business Review.  The article was:  "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy."  Porter's postulation is that there are 5 main forces that drive competition and force people to create effective strategies.  Four of those forces are external, and one is internal.  The internal force is rivalry among existing competitors.  The external ones are threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, and bargaining power of suppliers.  The biggest surprise to me this week was just how many potential threats there were and how difficult it is t succeed.  In the category of "new entry," there were several barriers.  These ranged from supply and demand to government policy.  With each force, there were more and more ways for a company to buckle under the pressure and fail.  Even if one was able to get a desired product to market, while maintaining a competitive price, they would then have to fend off existing competitors and substitute products.  That was what jumped out at me the most in this week's reading.  The reading seemed pretty clear, and I didn't have anything I disagreed with.  If I could ask Mr. Porter a few questions, I would focus on surviving in such a tough environment.  I would ask him how to stand out from substitute products.  Porter said that substitutes often get overlooked because they don't have to just be one particular thing.  The example he gave was of father's day gifts, and how neckties and tools could be substitutes.  So, I would ask him what was the best way to prepare for that sort of issue.  This article was very well written, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I feel much better educated on the forces that shape competition and the strategy that goes into it.

Customer Interviews No. 3

This week, the format of my interviews changed slightly.  Instead of asking people questions, I handed them a 3x5 note-card with a synopsis of my business plan.  On the card, I had this written:

Many people find phone charger cords to be too short in length.  My plan is to make a longer, durable cord that is also retractable.  Think of a tape measure and how it retracts.  That way, you get however much cord length you need at the time.

Then I simply asked them to share thoughts on the idea.  Here are the interviews I did.

Personally, I enjoyed the format of the first two sets of interviews more.  I actually felt like people gave better feedback when I was asking them a question than when I had them comment on my idea.  Either that, or my idea is just so brilliant that everyone loves it.  I've narrowed it down to those two options.  but I am leaning towards the first.  ;-)  The more I ask people about this idea, the more convinced I am that a retractable charger cord with a super long cord would be a great idea!

I hope you enjoyed this week's interviews!  Thanks for taking the time to watch.

Idea Napkin No. 1

This week, I will be putting more pieces of the entrepreneurial puzzle together.  This is my "idea napkin."  It is where I will be jotting down thoughts on potential strengths and weaknesses and trying to be as objective as possible.

First, I will look at myself.  I am a junior in college, and I don't have any experience starting a business.  However, I have had some previous exposure to startups that succeeded, and a few that didn't.  I can take things away from both of those by learning what to do and what to avoid.  One of my strengths is working with people.  That has always been a passion of mine.  From competing in high school forensics, working with elementary age students, and teaching high school debate, I have always enjoyed being around people.  This particular business endeavor I would see being a large part of my life, while still allowing me to have a full time job to provide for my family.

Next, I will briefly examine the product.  I am considering a retractable phone charger.  Think of a mechanism similar to that in a measuring tape.  You can extend it for quite a ways, then lock it once you have enough length in the cable.

For the target market, I would be offering it to anyone with a cell phone.  I would probably start with an apple charger, but I would quickly put other chargers on the market as well.

So why would customers care about this product?  Of the 10 people I have interviewed so far, 9 have said they would be willing to pay for longer cord length when they purchase their phone.  I know several people that have bought a longer cord, and they all love it.  However, most of them complain that the extra length gets cumbersome from time to time and can be in the way.  This is what would set my product apart from others: you would be able to adjust the length as you need it.  Sometimes, you only need a foot or two to charge your phone.  Other times, it would be very convenient to have 5 feet of cable.  This product would give my customers the best of both worlds.

The challenge we would have is demonstrating our product.  People will know if their charger is inconvenient or bothersome.  However, the challenge we will have is showing people how our product works.  I believe that if people saw it, they would be very excited about it, and the product would succeed.  However, it would take some creative marketing to get the word out.  Overall, I believe there is good potential in the product, but it would take time and a lot of effort to make it work.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

After conducting last week's interviews, I concluded that a many people shared my problem of charging cords being too short.  Mine is barely ever long enough for me to use it while charging.  Four out of the five people I interviewed last week also had issues with their cords being too short.

Last week, I talked to a good mix of people, and they were definitely the right target: smartphone users.  Interestingly enough, all of them used iPhones.  This week, I had a little bit more variety in the phone department.  I had one person who was an Android user and another who just used an iPod touch.

I asked pretty much the same questions as I did last week.  The only thing I changed was being a little bit more specific, particularly with the last question.

Again, I interviewed 5 people.  This week, all 5 had varying levels of issues with their charger cords being too short.  ::Spoiler alert::  All of them said they would be willing to pay a little extra for a few more feet of cord.  One of the people I talked to even mentioned how cheap this would be, which really leads me to believe there is a big opportunity here.  Here are this week's videos.  Enjoy.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

This week, we discussed entrepreneurial opportunities.  Most of this chapter was in line with my assumptions about entrepreneurship.  Kuratko wrote that many entrepreneurial endeavors fail for several different reasons.  Among the reasons listed were: lack of objective evaluation, little insight into the market, poor financial understanding and management,  and lack of uniqueness.  All of these seemed pretty logical and  and made sense to me.  What did surprise me was how many entrpreneurs fail because of an early entry into the market.  According to Kuratko, 40% of the cases they studied failed due to a premature entry into the marketplace.  That number seems very high to me!  Nothing was particularly confusing in this chapter, but I would have liked a little more insight on the "premature entry" problem that appears to be plaguing entrepreneurs.  Because of that, I would have made my questions to the author about that area.  I would have asked him how one can know when is a good time to enter a market.  I would have also asked what one can do to attempt to redeem a situation where you entered the marketplace too early.  These might be covered in a later chapter, but for now they leave a large unknown to readers.  This week, there was not anything I disagreed with.  The only minor thing I would have liked different is more detail about avoiding entering a market too early.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

The opportunity I have is linked to the interviews I did last week.  Most of the people I talked to said that charger cable length was an issue for them and something they would pay more to fix.  It has been problematic for me as well, and I would love a longer charger cord!  So I thought of a plan to fix this issue.  My imaginary company "Smart Tools" will create a retractable charger for phones, and will have a longer length than standard cables that come with phones.  Here is my elevator pitch for this new product.