Final Reflection

What sticks out to you as the most formative experience?

It was definitely when talking about ways of finding funding for business ventures.

The experience that you'll remember years later?

Learning that things don’t have to be perfect at first.

What was your most joyous experience?

Going to the live lectures and enjoying how fun they were.

What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

For doing all of the assignments and learning lots.

Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

Yes to both. Now I feel more prepared for the future as an entrepreneur, and I feel that hopefully, the things that I’ve learned will be very useful in my career.

What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future?

To not give up and keep pushing forward!

What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course?

To do the assignments on time and analyze them thoroughly as to learn the most.

What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

To actually take the time to reflect on the content and the different assignments.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

The opportunity that I identified is the need for a method that lets people get parking spots based on how long they have been working, instead of just a matter of luck.

Who has the need?

People who go to places with limited parking, like event venues, colleges and universities, malls during sales events, etc.

The nature of the need

This need occurs as people have the necessity to be on time to different places, but sometimes this gets complicated as multiple factors may make them be late.

What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?

As technology evolves, digital solutions to the physical problem of limited parking start to arise. Therefore, technology is the force creating this opportunity.

How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

Geographically, opportunities may be present in very diverse locations across the United States, or even internationally. Demographically, this would probably work better with people over 18, with access to the internet and smartphones, employed or going to college, and who attend crowded places with limited parking.

How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?

Currently, there are some places that offer VIP parking spots, or valet parking, which tend to be very pricey. They are not very loyal to the options they have right now, as they tend to be very pricey.

How big is this opportunity?

It may be very big, as there are so many places where parking is limited, and where some organization for it might make a huge difference.

How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

It will be open for a long time, but especially until any other company decides to take it.

Innovation

My solution for the previously mentioned issue is an app that people download to their smartphones. With this, they can reserve, get in waitlists, and get assigned to available parking spots in real-time, so that the distribution of these limited spots is equitable. The way this works is that in those places where parking, I would offer my services and install sensors in each of the parking spots that would detect when it is being utilized and when it frees up. When this happens, it assigns that spot to whoever has been waiting for longer, or whoever reserved it previously. And the way I make money is by charging an installation fee, and an annual maintenance fee to the owners of these places, to organize and modernize their parking situation. My installation fee would be the price of the equipment plus a 30% profit, and the maintenance fee would be depending on the size, but around $10,000 annually for 5 to 10 thousand spots.

Venture Concept

What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?

They will do it because it is going to be a service for their own customers, and it is going to make their lives easier and make them want to go to their businesses without worrying about parking.

Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?

Competitors are valet parking services or VIP parking spots. Their weakness is that very few people want to pay for them.

What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?

Since there is no packaging involved, the only thing that matters would be my pricing.

How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?

I would need a certain number of technicians and programmers to run the company. I can probably start with less than 10 full-time employees.

Three Minor Elements

Most Important Resource: My yet unexploited idea, because that makes it profitable.

What’s next: After I begin, I can expand to other transportation services, like internal buses, for very big places.

What’s next for me: I want to be in a position where my company is constantly growing, and I have the economic means to support my family

Feedback

Fortunately, the feedback was very good, so I kept most of the Venture Concept the same as my peers absolutely liked it. I also learned that they like my idea of subleasing parking spots as an alternative market to make even more profit, so I made sure that it was clearly explained during my Venture Concept.

Celebrating failure

1.     This semester I have been trying to learn how to cook different things. My objective was to save some money in food and diversify considerably the things that I eat day by day. However, what happens most of the time is that, since I am learning, my dishes are usually not that great the first time, and sometimes I end up having to order food outside because I want to eat something perfectly done.

2.     I learned that, although the first time I cook something it is not that great, usually it improves over time, which can apply to anything in life. Practice makes perfect.

3.     The way I take failure now is as a learning. I understand that if things were always easy, then no one would really succeed. It is after trying multiple times that success can happen. Thus, I am now much more likely to try and to learn than I was in the beginning of the semester.

Exit strategy

1.     Although I know I would be very proud of my venture, I understand that its growth capacity is in the end limited. This is why I think that after I think that I have profited enough from it, I would hire someone else as a CEO, and give him/her a portion of the stock of the company.

2.     I think is the best option because it would allow me to focus on new ideas in the future, while at the same time, I can give someone I trust the control of the company that I have worked so hard to establish.

3.     The major thing where I think my exit strategy has affected is in the fact that I do not see myself as CEO of the company for a very large period of time. Therefore, I would try to make it grow as much and as fast as possible (to be able to profit), and at some point, sell a portion of it to someone else to manage it.

Reading Reflection No. 3

Book: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

What was the general theme of the book?

During this book, Scott Adams talks about his story on how he stayed motivated and moving forward, even after failing and failing so many times along the way. One of the things he recommends is that people should try to get jobs where they are able to take risks and get out of their comfort zone, so that they can always improve. Likewise, finding things you love can be the right area to focus your attention, and if you are able to be flexible and adapt to different circumstances, then you are more likely to succeed.

How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

The book absolutely connected because Dr. Pryor always tells us about taking risks, and that if you follow your passions and learn from failure, things will end up going your way.

If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

It would be to think of different moments where you, or someone you personally know has failed, and to talk about the outcome of it. Did they keep trying? Did they succeed? Etc.

What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

It was the fact that it doesn’t matter the number of times you fail, even if it is a lot, in your likelihood to succeed. Actually, the more you fail, the more likely you are to succeed in the end.

What’s Next?

Existing Market

Step 1: My venture will be providing parking control services through the mobile application.

Step 2: I could not make the interviews due to the current situation, but I assume they would tell me about other parking services

Step 3: What makes the most sense in terms of making my business grow is definitely to start out with a good foot by implementing my ideas effectively. After that, I should be constantly keeping track of other ideas or options that I might implement in order to keep my product current and stay as a good option in the market.

It is clear that if I am able to do this, then I am boosting my chances of being successful, and being profitable with an idea that has not been tested before, therefore having a lot of risks involved within it.

New Market

Step 1: Another market would be to rent parking spaces of my own, or even sub-lease parking spaces owned by other people and get a commission for it.

Step 2: It would have value, especially if I sub-lease parking spaces owned by other people because I would give residents of places where parking is limited, like downtowns, a source of extra income, while I get income as well.

Step 3: I think they would tell me that they like my idea, and that perhaps I can even expand it to other parking services, like GPS trackers with all the parking spaces in a downtown.

Step 4: This market actually appears to be very interesting, and it could also be very profitable if exploited correctly. I think it surprised me that it might even have more growth potential than my current market.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:

The opportunity that I identified is the need for a method that lets people get parking spots based on how long they have been working, instead of just a matter of luck.

Who has the need?

People who go to places with limited parking, like event venues, colleges and universities, malls during sales events, etc.

The nature of the need

This need occurs as people have the necessity to be on time to different places, but sometimes this gets complicated as multiple factors may make them be late.

What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?

As technology evolves, digital solutions to the physical problem of limited parking start to arise. Therefore, technology is the force creating this opportunity.

How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

Geographically, opportunities may be present in very diverse locations across the United States, or even internationally. Demographically, this would probably work better with people over 18, with access to the internet and smartphones, employed or going to college, and who attend crowded places with limited parking.

How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?

Currently, there are some places that offer VIP parking spots, or valet parking, which tend to be very pricey. They are not very loyal to the options they have right now, as they tend to be very pricey.

How big is this opportunity?

It may be very big, as there are so many places where parking is limited, and where some organization for it might make a huge difference.

How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

It will be open for a long time, but especially until any other company decides to take it.

Innovation

My solution for the previously mentioned issue is an app that people download to their smartphones. With this, they can reserve, get in waitlists, and get assigned to available parking spots in real-time, so that the distribution of these limited spots is equitable. The way this works is that in those places where parking, I would offer my services and install sensors in each of the parking spots that would detect when it is being utilized and when it frees up. When this happens, it assigns that spot to whoever has been waiting for longer, or whoever reserved it previously. And the way I make money is by charging an installation fee, and an annual maintenance fee to the owners of these places, to organize and modernize their parking situation. My installation fee would be the price of the equipment plus a 30% profit, and the maintenance fee would be depending on the size, but around $10,000 annually for 5 to 10 thousand spots.

Venture Concept

What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?

They will do it because it is going to be a service for their own customers, and it is going to make their lives easier and make them want to go to their businesses without worrying about parking.

Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?

Competitors are valet parking services or VIP parking spots. Their weakness is that very few people want to pay for them.

What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?

Since there is no packaging involved, the only thing that matters would be my pricing.

How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?

I would need a certain number of technicians and programmers to run the company. I can probably start with less than 10 full-time employees.

Three Minor Elements

Most Important Resource: My yet unexploited idea, because that makes it profitable.

What’s next: After I begin, I can expand to other transportation services, like internal buses, for very big places.

What’s next for me: I want to be in a position where my company is constantly growing, and I have the economic means to support my family.