30A- Final Reflection

After looking back on all the assignments and peer reviews I have completed this semester, I have actually learned a lot more than I thought. The most formative experience of this class for me would be the elevator pitches. Recording myself and pitching a theoretical product definitely put me outside of my comfort zone. It also helped me realize that there is no reason to get so worked up and nervous about things such as this. We are all here to learn from our mistakes and become more familiar and make something out of the material we are taught.

From my very first post, I felt that I have an entrepreneurial mindset. After taking this course, I feel the same. I still look for ways to make money all the time and would be very interested in actually creating a business. This course has taught me that I am not ready for the big step in becoming a business owner, but has helped me with the basics of what it takes.

I would recommend to any future students to enjoy the course. Always watch the lectures. They aren't boring like most other courses and they contain a ton of valuable information (as well as Cupcake answers). This class is very easy if you are diligent and plan ahead for some of the larger assignments as well as the elevator pitches. I would also tell them to try and make the most of this course because it is very valuable for anyone who wants to become a future business owner.

29A- Venture Concept 2

The opportunity for my venture is based on the fact that people will be using nicotine for a long time despite any imposed laws on these products. My opportunity is that the products currently on the market are not safe for consumption and my goal is the provide a truly safe alternative to smoking. The potential customers are anyone who has used these products in the past and are seeking to a product that does not put their health at risk. This includes people who have made the switch from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes as well as those who have used these products in the past quite frequently. Demographically, this opportunity is quite wide ranging. This need is being satisfied by customers currently through products such as JUUL as well as others. These customers are quite loyal, but I believe they could be won over by the approval of my product. This window of opportunity should be open for a while, but there are a few things that could close this window quicker than most would think. These include new state laws and even nation wide bans as well as other products being sold.

The innovation I provide with my product is all to do with customer satisfaction and safety. There has been far too much about the negative effects of electronic cigarettes on the human body in the recent news. It should be of every users' concern. Depending on the cost of manufacturing and actually putting this theory into reality, I would try to make my product very affordable.

Like I have said before, my one unfair advantage is over the competition would be that my product is safer to consume than others. My next step for this venture is to keep talking to people who use these products and see what they like and dislike the most about the products and take their feedback into account. In five years, I would most likely still be in the beginning phases of the company. I would be finalizing the product with my team and getting them onto shelves, hopefully. I could see myself becoming heavily invested in this company as it is something that is very important to me and people's lives are at risk.

The feedback I received from my peers was very helpful and eye-opening. It helped a lot to see how others viewed my venture concept and what I can improve on. They told me how this electronic cigarette crisis is a really big issue right now and how a product like this would be great for the market as well as people's livelihood's. I did get some criticism on the difficulty of actually being able to produce this product which I completely understand. I am willing to put in many, many hours to accomplish this goal as well as bring together a team of people who are qualified for a challenge like this and dedicated to the cause.

28A- Your Exit Strategy

The exit strategy for a venture is one thing I never really thought of during this whole process. I have been so focused on the start-up for this product that I never really focused on the end goal and what I would do with the company after.

1. My strategy would be the build my business up to the best it can be, so I could get a lot of notice from potential buyers of the company and because I do want my business to be the best it can possibly be. I am not sure if I would want to sell the business though. It could make for a good retirement plan in the future and would probably be the best option though. I would not want to pass it down to my children. I want my children to be their own people and follow their own paths in life. After going through multiple exit strategies, I believe that staying with my business for a few decades and selling it for a large sum of money would be the best option.

2. I chose this particular strategy because I feel like it is the best option for me as a retirement plan. Also, it would be interesting to see what a new owner could do with my business and possibly revolutionize the product even further.

3. This exit strategy has kind of changed my point of view on my product concept. I never thought of my product as extremely long term, but you never know what can happen. This assignment has made me realize that perhaps I should really look into how to properly manage a business and how to build up and maintain a successful business for a lengthy period of time. It has also shown me how valuable particular people can be towards the success of a company. It pays to have good connections with the right people.

27A- Reading Reflection 3

For my third and final reading reflection for this class, I chose to read Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's, which is written by Ray Kroc, the founder of the most popular food chain in the world. Two things that surprised me about Ray Kroc was that he started out his career by selling paper cups and that he played piano at a bar the sold alcohol illegally. I admired Ray Kroc's perseverance and that he sacrificed so much for the McDonald's franchise. The thing I least admired about Ray Kroc was that he knowingly sold bad real estate for a while, even though he eventually decided to change his ways. He definitely endured much failure and adversity throughout his career especially when he had to overcome his past decisions such as selling bad real estate. He also had to work countless hours in order to make McDonald's what it is today. Ray Kroc had several competencies. These included his knack for being an amazing salesman. He was also obsessed with being a businessman and was very good at what he did. He was very efficient and hard working. One part of the book that was quite confusing to me was how Ray Kroc simply took over the McDonald's franchise and the McDonald's brothers were so satisfied with giving him such a big role within it. 2 questions I would ask Ray Kroc would be 1). How did you overcome the biggest issues that you faced during your time as an entrepreneur and 2). What were your feelings and emotions when you realized that you were in control of the largest fast food empire in the world? I feel like both these questions would help me understand how great entrepreneurs think. Ray Kroc most likely has a very strong opinion on hard work as he worked his butt off for many years trying to get his franchise to the top. The name of the book is Grinding it Out so I am sure he values hard work and dedication very much so.

26A- Celebrating Failure

I might just be speaking for myself, but I feel that failure, to some degree, has been experienced by almost every college student more than once. This past semester I experienced failure more than once. The most notable time being when I forgot to submit one of my larger assignments for my Macroeconomics class. It was one of the writing assignments and it was very important for me not to screw this one up. Instead of simply not doing well on the assignment, I got a 0 on it. This was quite a failure for me since it is very probable that this 0 will drop me a letter grade down. As punishment for this silly act, I ate a whole raw onion.

I learned that I need to be more attentive to when assignments are due, not just for macroeconomics, but for every class. It is very easy to get lazy and forget when things are due. I have now started to make a calendar for when all my quizzes and assignments are due in order to help me remember. I believe this will help me tremendously in all my classes.

Failure is something that all people experience, some more than others. Failure can range from minor inconveniences to gargantuan issues. I see failure as something that everyone needs to go through in order to become a overall stronger and better person. I handle failure as many people do. I mourn and get upset at myself usually. After a day or two, I realize that I need to be better and strive to form a strategy that prevents me from failing in a similar way again. This class has changed my perspective on failure though especially when it comes to business ventures. I now know that a huge percentage of business ventures initially fail and that it is normal. This class has definitely made me want to take more risks in my daily life. 

25A- What's Next

What's next for my venture is putting words into action and making this whole thing into reality. I believe products similar to mine could take a huge jump in production. My product could revolutionize this industry in terms of making sure the customer is happy and healthy. The people that I interviewed said that I should begin planning on who my target audience is and how to advertise to them properly. They also said that I need to make sure that my product is perfectly ready to be sold on shelves as a "healthy alternative" to adult smoking which I completely agree with.

For my venture, I would like to take my interviewees' opinions into consideration as they resemble my target customers. I need to keep reaching out to potential customers and relaying my message of my product's safety and how it can benefit these people's lives. I believe that my market is wide open as no one has been able to nail the formula for a healthy nicotine based product. What makes the most sense if for me to reach out to gas stations and convenience stores and tell them about my product.

A New Market- Identifying a radically different market from what I am currently targeting is quite difficult. My product seems to be directed towards one particular group of people and anything else would seem hard to pitch to. I assume a new demographic I could pitch to are those trying to completely ditch cigarettes or nicotine, but are struggling to. I would never seek to sell my products to those who have never consumed nicotine, but those who are struggling with coping with  giving up nicotine might be a demographic that needs my product. Those who cannot deal with giving up nicotine might be a demographic I have never even thought of. Customers like this are those who have tried to rid their lives of nicotine, but have noticed that their lives feel sort of empty without it. As I do not advise this lifestyle, there are many people who feel this way and I would hope they would want to fix it healthily and not do any detriment to their bodies.

This new market idea has really opened my eyes to how many people my product could actually help if executed properly. There is always a demographic that you are not thinking about. There is always a group of people that could be benefitted by your product that you simply do not realize or recognize. This new market is obviously not as attractive as the existing market as these are people who are trying to get over nicotine. But, nevertheless, it is a market that might have interested customers.

24A- Venture Concept

My opportunity is based on the fact that people will be using nicotine for a very long time regardless of the laws placed upon these products. This unmet opportunity is made up by mostly high school and college students who consume nicotine as well as those who are older and have made the switch from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes looking for a healthier lifestyle. Many people have been bamboozled by JUUL and other corporations that say that their products are truly the healthy alternative to adult smoking which has been proven to be not true at all. My goal is to create a product that promises to be that healthy alternative to adult smoking that so many people have been longing for. People have been using these non-safe products for far too long and it is time for these products to be put to rest.

My innovation is one that many people need in their lives right now. A nicotine based product that is truly harmless to their health would be a huge development in the industry. My product is a electronic cigarette that poses no health threats to the user. This would be absolutely huge for a product to be able to accomplish this and that is my goal. Too many of these large businesses do not care about their consumers and it shows through the recent news stories.

My new product will solve all the consumers' problems. They will still be able to enjoy their fix of nicotine while knowing that they are ensured safety while using my products. That is my main goal for this particular product. This goal is to give these people what they want while making sure they consume this type of product healthily. I believe that these potential customers would switch from their from the products they use now completely based off their health. This has proven to be a serious issue and if the products they are using now can affect their health negatively, then they should definitely switch to my product.