Week 8 Reading Reflection

1) Something that surprised me from the reading was the idea of social lending. I have never heard of this before but it is a brilliant idea. I love this because I feel like the people on these websites might really believe in what you are doing and that's why the lend you the money. The fact that they have given over $500 million in loans and I have never heard about it is crazy.
2) The SCOR exemption rules confused me a lot because I didn't quite understand what they were being exempt from. Stocks in general kind of confuse me but all the rules along with them made it even more confusing for me.
3) How do the sophisticated investors know the risk involved with brand new companies that people don't know much about?
What specific kind of ventures were started with under $500?
4) I don't know that the author was wrong but I am definitely skeptical of the idea of starting a venture with just $500. It seems unrealistic to me and would of loved some specific examples.

Half-Way Reflection

1) I have developed a new level of responsibility due to this course because of the frequency of the assignments. I feel like I have to be super on top of my canvas to make sure I am keeping up with the deadlines. I also think I have become more creative and imaginative through the class assignments.
2) Honestly, I have felt like giving up a couple times due to the deadlines in this course. I have definitely had a Sunday where interviewing people sounded so miserable that just I didn't do the assignment. I am beginning to develop a tenacious attitude because I am beginning to enjoy the course work and want to put a lot into the ventures and ideas I come up with.
3) Get really into your work.
Try to notice things that bother you in your daily life and create opportunities out of those.
Don't be lazy.

Week 7 reading reflection

1) What surprised me the most in the reading was that demographics play little part in marketing. I would think that age, race, and sex would be a huge indicator of preference, but the reading suggested that it has to be more personal and more in line with values.
2) I was confused by the concept of segmentation. I wish the author would have elaborated a little bit more on the levels of segmentation.
3) How do you best appeal to different demographic groups who have very different preferences?
What is the best way to reach the largest target group?
4) I did not disagree with anything he author said. I think this article was well written and very informative. 

Free Money

1) I will try to give away the money after one of my classes.
2) I will just approach the people who are lingering and packing up their stuff still. I think students will know I am not super weird and may need an extra dollar.
3) I'm just going to ask them if they want a dollar.
4) I really want to see if people will take the money without a reason at all to take it so I am not going to have much conversation with them. I will tell them it's a free dollar without any obligations but nothing more.
5) Out of five attempts, I predict I will be able to successfully give away about 2 dollar bills.

Giving away the dollar was exactly as hard as I thought it would be. I knew that people would think I was weird or wanted something in return for the dollar. I thought the one where the interviewee offered me the doughnut in return for the dollar was an accurate representation of how most people would react. After asking 5 people, only one person agreed to take my free dollar. I thought that students would be a little more willing to accept the dollar than they were.

Week 6 reading reflection

1) I learned that multiple parties have bargaining power. Who knew that both suppliers and buyers could bargain? I learned that under the right conditions, if demand is great enough, then suppliers can with hold desperately needed supplies thus driving up their profit.
2) I was confused by what the difference between substitutes and new entrants was. Aren't people new to the market also, pretty much, a threat to substitute your product for another?
3) I would ask the author what his biggest examples for these principles are. I think I need a few more to really grasp some of the concepts.
4) I didn't disagree with the author on anything, though once I look more into it I might find some confusion in the fine print.

Idea Napkin No. 1

Hi my name is Katie Austin. I am a marketing major and my talents are social media, marketing, and cooking. My aspiration is to open up a cafe and juice bar in midtown that is open late night. The cafe would play a huge role in my life, especially until it turns enough revenue for me not to work there full time. The cafe will serve healthy food and organic smoothies and will be open until 2am. My customers are students and UF employees who are looking for a healthy alternative. I know that it will attract drunk people who are leaving the bars, but more so students who are up late studying. The thing my customers will have in common is that they value their health and may be up late into the night for some reason.  I want to open the cafe and juice bar for the students who leave the library late and can only get a greasy bag of fries to satisfy their hunger. Healthy food is so important and we need a late night healthy option near campus. Our food, juice, and smoothies will be high quality food that people will want to buy, not even just at late hours. The cafe and juice bar is set apart from everything else in midtown because of the quality of the food. There is nothing in midtown as healthy and there is a demand for healthy food.

My idea is great for the most part. The only part that doesn't really go with the rest is the drunk people who want food when leaving the bar. I don't actually suspect that drunk people will want to eat that healthy of food, so they will probably not be a potential customer to market to.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

1) After my first round of interviews I realized that my opportunity was there, but I also found a more specific opportunity. I discovered that people did want more late night food options in Gainesville, but specifically, they wanted more healthy food options available.

2) I think I talked to the right people last time. College students are my target group for late night food, so I stuck with interviewing college students. 

3) This time around, I tweaked my interview questions to gauge whether or not the person I was interviewing ate healthily normally. I also asked them to identify how many restaurants open late offered healthy food. 

4) 

5) I learned that I was correct in assuming people wanted a healthy option when they are going out to eat late at night. I think there could be a huge opportunity here. 

6) 

1)Use your resources. I asked people at large group meetings in organizations if I could interview them.  It's less scary this way.

2) Be confident and act like you know what you are doing. 

3) Engage with the customers before you interview them to make them more comfortable.

Week 5 reading reflection

1) The thing that surprised me the most in the reading was how important international relationships are. I thought it was so cool how in the story about Dieter Kondek, he became a successful entrepreneur just through bringing something to America that wasn't here before. It made me realize that being an entrepreneur doesn't always involve a complex new idea.
2) The concept of assuming debt too soon confuses me. Does this just mean they took too much debt on without any hope of the business taking off? Isn't there always a risk of taking on debt to start a venture?
3) what are some specific kickbacks that caused customer loss?
Shouldn't agreements between entrepreneurs and venture capitalist be legally binding?
4) I didn't disagree with the author in this chapter.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

My opportunity arose from all the days I walked into Library West on my way to class to find too long of a line. We all have had time where all we want in class is a nice cup of coffee or soy latte.
My solution to this problem would be to start up a coffee delivery company called JUST JAVA. We would have a fully equipped food truck that we can make the drinks in as we drive to the delivery location.