Figuring out buyer behavior No.1

Figuring out buyer behavior No.1

Segment: School students who want to take part in competitions for improving their college

applications but feel that they do not have the time to take part in competitions due to the high

school workload.

I found three school students who fit the segment on my visit to my cousin’s high school in Tampa.

Findings of my research: I interviewed three grade 11 students who were involved in the process of

applying for colleges. I asked each one of them if they found it difficult to take part in competitions to

showcase their talents due to the high school workload. The three of them said that they faced the

problem. The first and the second students said that they identified their need in the last couple of

months when their academic advisor asked them to find ways to improve their college application.

They thought that competing against other students in the areas of their interests ( the first student

was interested in Hacking competitions and the second student was interested in story writing)

would benefit them. The third student said that he identified the need when he was in 7th grade. He

said that his interest in Sudoku peaked at that time and thought of competing in it professionally but

was not able to find the competitions that he could take part in. All three of them felt that currently

there is no solution to their problem and felt that developing such a platform would be very beneficial

to many students. 

Findings on information search: The first student said that he Googled for “ online Hacking

competitions” but was not able to find competitions for his age group/ experience. The second

student said that she tried searching for story writing competitions on Facebook but was not able to

find competitions where she could compete online. The third student said that he asked his parents if

they knew any Sudoku competitions.

After conducting the interviews, I can conclude that the students get aware of the need mainly during

college applications and when they want to take up a hobby professionally. As for information

search, the segment mainly uses social media platforms and Google to search for a solution to their

needs.

Idea Napkin No.1

Idea Napkin No.1

1) You. My name is Toshi Nandan Reddy Chintala. I am a freshman at the University of Florida and majoring in computer science. I am a National Level Roller Skater and I can easily persuade others. I am time-bound and really like to be organized. My aspirations as of now include starting my business idea back in my home country. I will work relentlessly to ensure its' success.

2) What are you offering to your customers? I am giving my customers the opportunity to compete in competitions either for prize money or just for experiencing the fun of competing against others. This way, the customers will be able to showcase their talents and at the same time know how good they are at what they are interested in.

3) Who are you offering it to? My main customers would-be students who are willing to portray their skills either for the purpose of earning money through winning in competitions or for putting it on their resumes/applications to colleges/jobs.

4) Why do they care? College admission officers and employers look at the overall development of the person and how good they are in comparison with others. So if the students can prove to the admission officers and employers they would have a better opportunity to get placed. Also, as all these competitions are online, it will be easily accessible without any time constraint.

5) What are your core competencies? The convenience the product offers to the students will be of great benefit to them. Also, in the long run, I am thinking of associating with universities and companies where they could host their own competitions. This way, the students get to participate in competitions with high value.

I believe that these elements might work together. I am not 100% certain about the success of it and I feel that the product requires many more additions and changes to make it top-notch. However, I feel that spending time on this product will be a great learning experience for me.

Elevator Pitch 1

Elevator Pitch 1

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interview 1: Amy: A grade 4 student. She doesn't really think that taking part in competitions would be useful for her and said that she didn't have any extracurricular talents that she would like to portray.

Interview 2: John: A grade 10 student. He felt that it would be too much pressure on him to compete in the competitions he is interested in and also to maintain academic excellence at the same time.

Interview 3: Aadesh: Freshmen UF. He particularly believed that taking part in random online competitions wouldn't be useful mainly because one doesn't know how credible/legit the organizers of the competition are.

Interview 4: Victor: Senior UF. Victor felt that taking part in competitions to portray his knowledge in coding as a good idea but he mentioned that he would rather do an online course certification which is much more credible in the eyes of employers. He also said that an online course certification would be much more flexible to his schedule than a competition.

Interview 5: Nihit: A grade 12 student. He said that he doesn't feel he is really good at an activity in which he could compete in. Also said that it would be lot of pressure on students his grade to take part in extracurricular activities and prepare for getting into a nice college at the same time. When I asked him if he believed whether or not these competitions would be helpful for his admission into a college, he said that he doubted the credibility of the competitions.

Who: Although many students would like more convenient platforms to compete in, not all students feel that these online competitions are credible. Also, some students will not be interested in competing in competitions as they consider it a waste of time.

What: This need differs based on the mentality and the age of students. Younger students do not necessarily see the need to compete in competitions and other matured students might see it as a waste of time and questioned their credibility.

Why: The underlying cause is mostly related to time management and the credibility of the competitions.

After conducting the second round of interviews with those who do not have this unmet need, I discovered that the major problem in attracting customers to this idea is the establishment of the credibility of the competitions and also realized that not all students will feel that competing in competitions will be any good for them.


             Inside the boundary                                     Outside the boundary

Who is in Students and parents who feel competitions are beneficial in overall growth.	Who is not Students who see competitions as a waste of time and those who do not have any extracurricular talents.
What the need is A convenient platform to showcase their talents and to compete against others around the world.	What the need is not They do not see the need to spend time on competitions and would instead like to focus only on their grades.
Why the need exists It will be a great addition to one's resume for getting employed or during the admission process of getting into colleges.	Alternative Explanation Credibility and time constraint.

Reading Reflection No.3

Reading Reflection No.3

The book I chose to read was The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, Guy Kawasaki.

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of the book was how to effectively use social media for growing one's
business and informs one how to build a foundation, attract more followers, and optimize one's profile.

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

Throughout the course, I learned that engaging with buyers is the most important aspect of any business. The book teaches us how to attract buyers towards the business by creating a good profile and engaging actively with others and thus enhanced my learning of how to get more buyers.

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

I would ask the students to list out various features that they knew existed to enhance their profile and then I would show them various other wide range of features mentioned in the book. 

4)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?

Whenever I used Facebook, I never thought that features like groups and communities were useful to anyone. But after reading the book I was surprised how an entrepreneur could use it to find more buyers and spread his product to a wide range of people for a minimal expense.

Reading Reflection No.2

Reading Reflection 2

The book I chose was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

1. What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The main theme of the book was that one should embrace both failure and success

equally and that one should continue to work through failures and success will eventually find the person.

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

One of the most interesting things I have read in the book is “Simplify your systems,

thus simplifying your life.” Throughout the course, Dr. Pryor mentioned the

importance of having a simple business idea rather than a complex one. As I read the

book, I was able to connect and understand the importance of keeping it as simple as

possible.

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

One important lesson that I learned from the book is to find the schedule that suits one and to follow it. So, I would design an exercise in which the students would note down what their daily routine was and would ask them to alter a few things and see how they felt in order to find the perfect schedule.

4. 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?

In the book Adams mentions that “The most important form of selfishness involves spending time on your fitness, eating right, pursuing a career, and still spending quality time with your family and friends.” Previously I never thought that these aspects were very important in life. The book completely changed my expectations and how I view life. We often forget all the above aspects in our life. I was surprised at how Scott Adams was able to manage his time effectively in order to ensure all of the above.

Testing the Hypothesis - Part 1

Testing the Hypothesis

Testing The Hypothesis Part 1

Opportunity Identified: Children around the world do not have the opportunity to portray and test their skills/talents by competing in competitions because of the high academic pressure placed on them.

So, I would like to build an online platform where one could compete in competitions he/she is interested in.

Who - Children around the world

What - Unable to portray and test their unique abilities and talents

Why - High academic pressure placed on students is not giving them sufficient time to compete in competitions.

Testing the who - This opportunity could be extended to students and also other individuals who like competing in tournaments to portray their abilities.

Testing the what - Not all children want to portray their talents/skills to the world.

Testing the why - The reason why children/students do not have the opportunity to compete is mainly because of academic pressure and also find it really difficult to

find competitions to compete in.

Summary of the Interviews:

For the five interviews, I interviewed 4 children/students of various age groups and a parent. The first child/student I interviewed was 10 years old, the second one 14 years old, the third one 16 years old and the fourth one was 18 years old. Not surprisingly, all the students saw it as a problem that there are not many opportunities for students to test their skills/talents these days. The 10-year-old personally didn’t face difficulty with the problem but the 14, 16, 18-year-old students saw it as a problem. The 14 year and 16 year old particularly wanted to compete in competitions to hone their skills which will allow them to get ready for college. The 18-year-old wanted to compete in competitions including programming and hacking as it would be a great addition to his resume but thought that there were platforms for coding to compete online, but didn’t find many opportunities in other fields. The parents also thought that there are not many local opportunities for their kids to take part in and also admitted that time plays a crucial role in taking part in tournaments. But the parent also thought that there are platforms like youtube for children to show their skills but technically speaking, YouTube doesn’t give the students the competitive atmosphere.

After completing the interviews, I felt that an opportunity exists and realized that students need more easily accessible platforms to compete in. Another thing I realized was that the younger students didn’t find it as a problem for them but teenagers preparing for college wanted more platforms to portray their skills.