Venture Concept No.1

Venture Concept No.1

Comp Hub

Opportunity:
Do you believe that you have a talent to be showcased? Do you feel you have no time to compete in competitions to show the world how good you are? Are you bored staying at home during the quarantine? Then my innovation called compete and win is the perfect platform for you. It is a website where you can compete against others all around right from the comfort of your home either for a prize money or just to experience the thrill of competing. This will provide you with the exposure of competing against others and also give you an opportunity to develop your skills and also find new interests. It will also allow you to show how good you are to colleges, your employer and the world in general. Currently, I feel my potential customers are students who are getting ready for college and about to graduate from college. This is because the students who are currently getting ready for college would like to show their skills to the college admission officers to standout from the crowd. The students who are going to graduate from colleges also, in the same way, would like to showcase their skills to potential employers and show them where they stand in comparison to the rest of the world. In the present situation of quarantine due to coronavirus, I also believe all the children would be my potential customers as most of the children are at home just wasting time. So most of the parents would like their children to do some activities to keep the children engaged. Currently, I believe that the customers are satisfying this need by competing in regional competitions. I believe this is a big opportunity given the present situation and once people see the real benefits of the service, I feel it would be a huge success. The window of opportunity will be open as long as mankind survives.

Innovation:

I believe that the service/product I am providing is innovative if not radically innovative. It is not a groundbreaking revolutionary project, and it need not be. For a business to be successful, it is important to solve a problem in the easiest and most effective way possible. So, coming to what my service is exactly is that, it is an online platform where a person can compete and collaborate with others around the world. The service is divided into two parts. Competing and collaborating. Coming to the competing part, users can either take part in existing competitions or start their own competitions and invite their friends to join the competition. Take the case of a photography competition hosted by X. If Y would like to join the competition, he/she should enroll in the competition before the deadline for enrolling. Then Y is given a set amount of time to capture a picture based on the topic provided after the start of the competition. Y then should post the picture on the page before the deadline. After the deadline is passed the host gets to vote and choose the winner. Coming to the collaborating part, the users can join with their friends and form groups to learn new skills or compete together as a team. The collaboration part is still under development and not completely done. The way service is going to make money is by placing a minimum fee to host competitions on the website. Initially, users would not like to pay for hosting competitions, but as the scale of the platform grows, I could include premium options. Also, if the competitions are held with an entry fee, I will take a percentage share from the host of the competition. And in the long run, advertisements will be a major source of income. Another way of making an income is by putting an entry fee for the competitions held by the company itself. These are various ways in which income could be made.

Venture Concept:

So basically the opportunity that I have identified is the lack of platforms to compete against others right from one's home. My service is also a great way to get rid of boredom during the quarantine. So my innovation exactly addresses the problem by providing the users to compete in competitions right from the comfort of their homes. My customers would like to buy my product mainly because it gives the comfort of hosting, competing and collaborating right from their homes. Also, it is a platform where you can actually test out where you stand in the real world in comparison to others. So, the ones who take their skills seriously would like to pay for getting the exposure of competing against others all around the world. I don't think there are any services like my platform to compete as far as I am aware of. So, I believe that my users need not switch from any platform, taking out the concept of getting them to transition. My potential competitors would be social media sites as it would be very easy for them just to provide an update to host competitions. But I am confident my service would be different as my service would not have any age restrictions to use and parents wouldn't mind their children using my service for that reason. Price points will play a crucial role in the success of my business. If the pricing is too high, users will not be willing to use the service and will try to find alternatives. The pricing should be reasonable and the service should provide them with unique features that justifies the pricing. 

My most important resource will be the determination and grit that I possess to make my business idea a success.

The next thing I want to tackle in my service is the collaborating part. It is not completely developed and the idea is being constructed. 

Assuming I have launched the service, I would like to sell my company to a huge social media/ online platform for a good amount of money. As it will be a tough thing to compete with such competitors and selling it off would take the burden off to compete against such huge guns.

What's Next?

What's Next?

Existing Customers:

For my service of providing an online platform for competing in competitions, I personally feel that getting colleges and companies to host their official competitions on my platform would be a huge step. This is because my existing customers are mainly school and college students who want to take part in competitions to prove to universities and companies that they are better than others around the world so that they could get admitted into colleges, and get placed into companies. So, making colleges and companies themselves host tournaments on my platform would be a great advantage and increase the legitimacy of the competition.

New Customers:

In the present situation, I would see almost all children as my new customers. Since all schools are closed and children are indoor due to coronavirus situation, competing in competitions will be a great way for them to get rid of boredom and also find new interests. From their perspective, I feel my idea of getting colleges and companies to host their official competitions on my platform would attract these new customers also. Additionally, coming up with courses for students to take part in so that they can master a skill will attract these new groups of people. By providing courses to learn, they will learn a new skill and then can compete on my service itself to test their skill/standing in the world.

Elevator Pitch 3

1) Elevator Pitch Link
https://youtu.be/AGPVwo2gfjc
2) The feedback I received on my elevator pitch 2 was that I improved a lot more from the first pitch and looked more connected to the product. I was suggested to add more emotion while delivering the pitch and also use phrases motivating the customer to use my service.

3) Based on the feedback from the first and second pitches, I tried to add more emotion while delivering the pitch and also use phrases to encourage the customer the use my service. Since my product is an online service, I used the present quarantine situation to my benefit to encourage the customers to use my service right from their home. Also, I felt more confident while delivering the pitch and the pitch itself sounded good in my opinion.

16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

What's your secret sauce?

1) Own Assessment

a) Organized - I am a firm believer in having a well-planned schedule for at least two days planned in advance. This way, I feel that I do not waste any time trying to think what I need to do and most importantly more often than not, I stick to my schedule.

b)  Leadership Skills - I feel that I am really good at handling people in a group and working with them. I can easily resolve disparities and I am always ready to take ownership of the problems being faced by the team.

c) Optimism - I am really optimistic and I always see the bright side of things even in the darkest of situations. I believe that everything, good or bad, happens for a reason and eventually, one will learn from his/her mistakes and end up on the bright side of things.

d) Hardworking - Since childhood, I always was taught by my father that there was no substitute for hard work. Since then it was rooted deeply in my brain and I never believed that there was a shortcut to success and always tried to give my 100% to achieve a goal.

e) Flexible - Even though I like being organized, stick to a schedule and work hard, in life we must always make time for the loved ones. Often we come across many unplanned events for which we must make space. I don't mind making changes to my schedule and instead, I would just wake up an hour earlier to complete the task and move ahead in the day.

2) Five Interviews

a) https://soundcloud.com/toshi-nandan/rohan-interview/s-Dtqt5
This interview is from my friend Rohan. He talks about my leadership skills and mentions how organized I am. He also mentions how organized and flexible I am at the same time.

b) https://soundcloud.com/toshi-nandan/nihit/s-RPtBU
This interview is from my cousin Nihit. He talks about my optimistic nature and how I see the bright side even in the darkest of situations. He also mentions that I am really patient.

c) https://soundcloud.com/toshi-nandan/university-of-florida/s-SDTk5
This interview is from my friend Aadesh. He mentions about my punctuality and my helping nature.

d) https://soundcloud.com/toshi-nandan/nithin/s-Etfrj
This interview is from my brother Nithin. He mentions about me being determined towards my goals and not dropping/changing my goals due to the toughness of the goal.

e) https://soundcloud.com/toshi-nandan/new-recording-5/s-uorQe
This interview is from my friend Tarang. He mentions about my organized schedule and my hardworking nature.

3) From the interviews, one can see that the observations made by others and me were mostly similar and I think the interviews are correct about me. I wouldn't make any corrections to my list from part 1.

Growing Your Social Capital

Growing Your Social Capital

1) Amanda Schull - graduate student at UF with expertise in web and app development. The slot being filled by her is a domain expert. She fills the spot because she has a wide range of knowledge in building and hosting webpages. I first met her during the UF Cyber Security weekly meeting. She offered to teach and help me if I face any problems during the construction of the webpage and doesn't expect anything in return. Including this person in my network will help me exploit an opportunity because she has prior work experience in a big firm and her experience can be used to attract potential investors if she is willing to work with me in the future.

2) Martin Clint - works at Neilsen in Tampa. His role is conducting surveys and collecting data for different markets and upcoming businesses. The slot being filled is that of a market expert. He is a colleague of my uncle and I met him during a family gathering. He offered his expertise to conduct a survey to know if customers are really into my service. Nothing is expected in return as he is a family friend. Including him in my network is really beneficial as I can get accurate results on who is interested in my service and then I can customize my service based on the results to target the specific group.

3) Bharat Tilak - works at Nielsen in Tampa. Has expertise in building webpages and apps to upcoming businesses. The slot being filled is that of a market supplier. I came in contact with him after asking Martin if he knew someone in the supplying domain. He offered help in the development of my service without any expectation in return. He would be a great addition to my network as he has the experience of developing many webpages and apps.

Reflection:
This has been a completely new experience. I don't generally reach out to new people for help but this assignment made me reach out to a whole new set of people. This will really help me in future networking events as I will be confident to start a conversation with a random person and establish connections easily. 

Final Reflection

Final Reflection

My most formative experience from this course is interviewing others to get feedback on my product. Usually, I am a bit of an introvert. But this course has helped me open up and make conversations with strangers. One most important thing that I learned from this course is that the most important aspect of a business is to solve a problem being faced by others. Also, I learned that the solution/product need not be very technologically advanced to be successful. At the end of this course, I believe that I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset and learned lots of tips and tricks in creating a successful business. My recommendation for the ones that are going to take this course is that make a schedule and ensure that you stick to the schedule at all times. At first glance, the assignments might look difficult and long but once you start the assignment, you will actually enjoy doing it and find it simple and also you will learn a lot of useful information while doing the assignments. Do not aim to just complete the assignment 10 minutes before it is due, the more time one spends the more one will learn.

Your Exit Strategy

Your Exit Strategy

1) I believe that the best exit strategy for my business would be to grow my business as much as possible in the next 5 years and sell it for a good return. I can see companies like YouTube buying my business.

2) I have selected this particular business strategy because I feel that after a certain amount of time there will be similar products in the market and the competition will be very high. Once the competition is very high, one must keep on improving the features of the product to stay in the race. Instead, I feel that using the money that I will get after selling the business on other new businesses would be more useful and less burdensome.

3) I think that my exit strategy has deeply influenced the decision I have made in the business concept. I always treated this business as a short term goal rather than a long term goal. Since I always saw this as a short term goal, I never really planned on taking debt.

Your venture's unfair advantage

Your venture's unfair advantage

10 resources that I possess to make my business successful

1) Sound knowledge on using social media for marketing

a) How is it valuable? Easiest and the most efficient way to spread awareness about one's product.

b) Rarity: Not rare

c) Inimitable? No

d) Substitutable? Yes, but other methods for marketing are usually time taking and expensive.

2) Support from family

a) How is it valuable? With the support from my family, I will not have any external pressures and can completely focus on developing the business.

b) Rarity: Not very rare

c) Inimitable? No

d) Substitutable? I do not think so.


3) The originality of the idea

a) How is it valuable? The idea came out of my own head. So one cannot copy it. Thus, the competition will not be very high.

b) Rarity: Rare, as it is my own idea.

c) Inimitable? Yes

d) Substitutable? No.

4) Social capital - Connections with others who can help me develop this product

a) How is it valuable? I will get easy access to help from others.

b) Rarity: Rare.

c) Inimitable? Yes

d) Substitutable? No.

5) Human capital - My skills in web development and management of data.

a) How is it valuable? I have the pre-required knowledge to build my business so I will not need any experts to help in developing the product.

b) Rarity: Not very rare.

c) Inimitable? No.

d) Substitutable? Yes. One can always hire others.

6) Financial capital - Access to funds to set up the business.

a) How is it valuable? I will not need to depend on loans from the bank for financial support.

b) Rarity: Not that rare.

c) Inimitable? No

d) Substitutable? Yes. One can always try to loan money from the bank.

7) The knowledge I gained from this course.

a) How is it valuable? I learned many tips and tricks on how to create a successful business that cannot be obtained from elsewhere. This will give me an edge over my competitors.

b) Rarity: Kind of rare.

c) Inimitable? Yes

d) Substitutable? No.

8) Investors to fund my business

a) How is it valuable? It removes a load of stress on me to find my own investors,

b) Rarity: Rare, as it is not common to have investors even before the business is setup.

c) Inimitable? Yes

d) Substitutable? No.

9) Ability to take criticism and feedback on the product.

a) How is it valuable? It helps me in developing and improving my product.

b) Rarity: Depends from one individual to another.

c) Inimitable? No.

d) Substitutable? No.

10) I am organized and disciplined.

a) How is it valuable? It helps me stick to my plans and achieve my goals.

b) Rarity: Rare, not everyone is organized.

c) Inimitable? Yes

d) Substitutable? No.

I feel my top resource is taking this course. The knowledge I gained so far and will gain until the end of the course will be very useful in not only developing this business idea but also in making me stand apart from other competitors.

Figuring Out Buyer Behaviour No.2

Figuring Out Buyer Behaviour No.2

1) Ricksberg Tait

Evaluation criteria: Price and Quality

Prefers online purchases rather than in-store purchases. Doesn't depend on anyone to make the purchase.

Post Purchase Evaluation: Said that he would be satisfied with his purchase if he finds others using the product too.

2) Smith Hill

Evaluation criteria: Quality

Prefers online purchases rather than in-store purchases. Depends on his parents' decision to make the purchase or not.

Post Purchase Evaluation: Said that he evaluates a product based on the fact if it has helped him or not.

3) Sarah Williams

Evaluation criteria: Price

Prefers online purchases rather than in-store purchases. She feels that there are many more options and reviews available online rather than in-store.

Post Purchase Evaluation: Evaluates a service based on whether or not it has been beneficial for her or not.

Conclusions: From the findings, we can see that the segment prefers an online service/purchase rather than in-store. The price and quality of the service are the major aspects of evaluating the service/product.  Post-purchase, the major aspect they consider is whether or not the service has really benefitted them or not,

Elevator Pitch 2

Elevator Pitch 2

1)



https://youtu.be/DMYQHUu936E






2) The feedback I received on my first elevator pitch was that it was kind of on the shorter side and didn't explain the problem in detail. Also, in the first elevator pitch, I was sitting down and used a webcam.

3) In this elevator pitch, I tried to include statistical proofs to prove why one should compete and made the pitch a little longer. Also, I was not sitting this time and tried to make the pitch as dynamic as possible.

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

Create a Customer Avatar

The unmet need I want to solve is the lack of platforms for students and teenagers to compete and showcase their talents. So, my prototypical customer would be school and college-going students. My prototypical customer would be around 14-21 years old and he/she would most likely like to compete and show their talents. My customers would also have special skills which are not found in many others and would like to improve their skills by competing in competitions.

What I have in common with the avatar is that I also like to compete against others and I like to show my hidden talents to the world. Also, I am of the same age group as my avatar and I would love to use the experience I gained from these competitions to improve my skills. I don't think this as a coincidence because I felt that there was an opportunity to exploit as I felt there was an unmet need present just like my customer.

Idea Napkin No.2

Idea Napkin No.2

1) I am a Computer Science student at the University of Florida. I am from India. I believe I am a good leader and can lead a team well. My goal as of now is to gain as much knowledge as possible. My business aspirations include gaining the experience of running a business and not particularly to earn money.

2) I am offering my customers a platform to compete and to showcase their skills/abilities.

3) My product is particularly aimed at middle schoolers, high schoolers and college students who want to compete in competitions but find it difficult to find the competitions they like or sometimes they don't have the time to go out and compete.

4) My customers will find it really easy and accessible to take part in competitions without having the struggle to actually go to a place and compete. Also, as I previously mentioned, my customers will find it helpful during college admissions and job interviews.

5) 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 am not 100% certain that these elements fit together, but I am confident with a few adjustments in my idea, I can make it a success.

Feedback: I was told that my idea is not clear and I keep changing what I want to offer my customers. I completely agree with the feedback I received and I feel that my idea is still in the very early stage and requires a lot of adjustments. But the good thing is that I am working on the idea...

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.

Reading Reflection No.1

Reading Reflection No.1

For this reflection, I chose to read Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs.

1. The thing that most surprised me was the fact that Steve Jobs’s trip to India influenced his decision to adopt a minimalistic approach. The thing that I admire the most about Steve Jobs is that he didn’t show much interest in material things, other than Sports cars and German knives. The thing I least admire about Steve Jobs is that his harassing and bullying behavior towards his colleagues. Steve Jobs was kicked out of his own company due to his behavior and in return he created Pixar. Surprisingly, Pixar made Jobs a millionaire and not Apple.

2. The main competency that I noticed in Jobs is his ability to get things done no matter how complex it was to do it.

3. The one that confuses me the most is why he chose to keep such a closed integrated system instead of giving users the options to customize.

4. If I had the opportunity to ask two questions, the first one would be how hard it was to get over his addiction to LSD and the second one would be how he came up with the idea of reality distortion field. I would ask these questions because firstly I see many teenagers abusing drugs these days and secondly to learn how he thinks so different as compared to others.
5. I believe that Steve Jobs believed in Working Smart and not just hard. I completely agree with Jobs's opinion of working smart and not just hard.

Celebrating Failure

Celebrating Failure

1. At the beginning of this semester, I often failed to stick to my schedule of watching online lectures for this class. I would often procrastinate and push it to some other day.
2. After the first two weeks, I learned that procrastinating to watch videos for the Entrepreneurship course indirectly had an impact on other courses too. This is because I was not able to stick to the schedule I planned out and from then on I ensured that I followed the schedule that I planned.
3. Failure is hard for sure. But I strongly believe that one wouldn’t learn something new or push themselves to do better if they never fail. This class for sure had an impact on my perspective on failure. I realized that everybody fails and it is imperative to take calculated risks in order to be successful in life.

Halfway Reflection

Halfway Reflection

• To keep up with the course I have developed the habit of multitasking and ensured that I work ahead. I chose an online section for this course which requires me to watch lecture videos every week and submit blog posts. Through developing the habit of multitasking, so far I am able to listen to lectures while working on something else and also whenever I’m free between my classes or on weekends, I try to work ahead. In this way, so far I am able to keep up with the course.
• I am not a huge fan of reading books. When I was told that we were supposed to read a couple of novels and write a reflection on them, I felt like giving up. But then, I just reminded myself that I am halfway there and just needed to push myself to get through those two assignments. I strongly believe that I have developed a tenacious attitude in the last two months and the ability to effectively manage time most contributed to this.

• Three tips : 

1. Work ahead. All the assignments are open. So you can always work ahead and get done with the assignments.
2. Make a schedule that suits you and stick to it.
3. 
   Take notes while listening to lectures.

Solving the Problem

Solving the Problem

The opportunity that I have identified and would like to solve is the lack of platforms for the present generation to showcase their talent. In the fast-paced world, students are often pressurized to study 24/7 and they do not get enough time to showcase some unique talents that they might possess or might have worked on. So my product/service is to create a website which is going to host tournaments and give opportunity to others to host tournaments. For example, the platform could be used to host tournaments and competitions like Sudoku, Crosswords, Art&Craft and so on. For the tournaments hosted from the organization side, the winner will get a certificate and a cash prize. For others to host a tournament on the website, there will be an entry fee. In this way, many students will have the opportunity to take part in competitions they are interested in right from their house and showcase their talents in the wide range of competitions being hosted.

Entrepreneurship Story

Entrepreneurship story

Coming from a middle-class Indian family, just like most others, I always thought that I was required to study to get a 9-5 job. I always thought that all I ever needed was to get into a good company with a decent pay scale. I never even had the idea that I could instead start my own company by finding a solution to a problem until my brother came up with his idea of starting his own company after his graduation. Initially, I thought that the idea my brother had come up with was really cool and I thought that he was going to get super rich when he finishes his product. I thought that the path would be pretty straightforward. I thought that it would be super easy to build the product and starting earning.  I always believed that one doesn’t need to work in his own company and could just hire people. I also thought that profit could be made very easily. But what my brother is experiencing currently is extremely opposite to what I thought. It has been roughly two years since my brother established his company and I can see how hard he works for 16-18 hours a day. He only has about 4 employees in his company (just like a typical startup) and the product is still under development and testing. He recently got an investor for his company and has a 2-year deadline to demonstrate the complete working product. This is my personal experience with entrepreneurship.

I enrolled in this class because I am considering to minor in Entrepreneurship. I hope to learn the various aspects of being an entrepreneur and learn how to become a successful entrepreneur.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

-Economic Trend: US housing starts soar 16.9% in December to a 13-year high

-Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/17/us-housing-starts-december-2019.html

-I believe that an opportunity exists in this situation because it was mentioned in the article that currently the mortgage rates are low and this will encourage many more individuals to build houses. 

-The prototypical customer would be someone who is looking to build a new home.

- The opportunity is relatively easy to exploit in my opinion. This is because, looking at the statistics of the number of houses being built, many more individuals will be motivated to build houses, leading to a domino effect.

-Why did I see this opportunity? In our society having an own house is looked upon as the epitome of success. Meaning, having a house makes one look successful. So, I saw this economic trend as an opportunity.

-Economic Trend: Manufacturers to spend $26.2 billion on ‘upskilling’ in 2020 to attract and keep workers

-Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/17/manufacturers-to-spend-26point2-billion-on-upskilling-workers-in-2020.html

-I believe that an opportunity exists in this case as manufacturing is an occupation that requires being up to date with the technology. Also, investing in the skills of workers will benefit the manufacturer's revenue. Therefore, many manufacturers are likely to invest in upskilling workers.

-The prototypical customer would be all the manufacturers who are looking to upskill their workforce.

-The opportunity is easy to exploit as manufacturing is a competitive industry and if one manufacturer starts to upskill his/her workforce, it will motivate other manufacturers to upskill his/her workforce as well. 

-Why did I see this opportunity? I considered it as an opportunity because of the high number of prototypical customers(manufacturers).

-Regulatory Changes: Worker classification

-Source: https://www.paychex.com/articles/compliance/top-regulatory-issues

- I believe that an opportunity exists in this case as the law has made it mandatory for the employer to demonstrate the efficiency of the worker in a test to classify him/her as an independent contractor in the state.

-The prototypical customer would be a worker who is trying to prove his/her efficiency in the test.

-The opportunity is relatively hard to exploit because not many workers would want to spend their time taking a test and would instead try to find an easy way out of the situation.

-Why did I see this opportunity? I saw this as an opportunity because of the fact that many states across the United States are considering similar changes.

-Regulatory Changes: China approves tax waiver for cleaner ship fuel exports, but may limit shipments

-Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-oil-imo-tax/china-approves-tax-waiver-for-cleaner-ship-fuel-exports-but-may-limit-shipments-sources-idUSKBN1Z90OE

-Importing and exporting of goods plays a crucial role in a country’s economy. So I feel that this regulatory change will have a huge impact on the global economy and thus I believe that an opportunity exists.

-The prototypical customer would be companies that want to invest in a cleaner fuel for their ships.

-It is a hard opportunity to exploit. Mainly because of the fact that shipment industry is very vast and will require a lot of time to make a profit.

-Why did I see this opportunity? Reducing taxes on clean fuel will motivate many companies to take advantage of change even though it would require them to limit some shipments. This is because a clean source of fuel will make the ships much more efficient and decrease the overall cost of shipment.