Idea Napkin No.2 19A

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

Much like in the previous idea napkin, I still love all sports, my favorites being baseball, tennis, football, and hockey. I played tennis in high school and I was the captain of my team for three years, I now play recreationally in college. I've traveled to a lot of places and I have a knack for learning languages. I have a passion for streetwear clothing and I've bought and sold hundreds of articles of designer clothes. My business would obviously play a huge role in my life, it would be my source of income as well as a source of passion. I would think about it all the time but it wouldn't even bother me because nothing is better than seeing something that you've created truly coming to life.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

The product is a device that can sense whether or not a driver's brake or tail lights are malfunctioning and notify the driver so that he/she can get it fixed immediately. This satisfies the need of being safe while driving because the customers' lights are constantly being checked, which they wouldn't have been able to do before.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

Anyone that drives a vehicle could certainly benefit from this product, but the prototypical customer would likely be middle aged or older and they must care a lot about their personal safety as well as the safety of others. That is the main thing that these people will have in common. Also, anyone who leases are rents a care would not be likely to purchase my product since they may not be allowed to alter the car in this way.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Customers will believe that this product has value because it improves their safety will driving a car, which is typically the most dangerous thing you do every day.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

The fact that I have experience working for small businesses and I've already set up a small business of my own sets me apart from a lot of people because I have the experience. Additionally, I'm a computer science major so by the time a graduate I may even be able to program the device myself which would save me a lot of costs.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

I definitely believe that all of these elements fit together just fine. There is an unmet need for more safety while driving vehicles and this simple device will make people's lives safer and easier. I have the experience and the skills to make this business into a reality.

For the "feedback memo" -- please summarize at least two main points that you took away from the feedback you received. Also, please describe how you incorporated the feedback into this idea napkin. 

One main point that I took away from my feedback was that I definitely need to make sure to focus in on my target age group rather than targeting all drivers as a whole. The second main takeaway that I got was that I need to target people that are not renting are leasing their cars.

Create a Custom Avatar 18A

Meet Alice, my customer avatar. She is 60 years old and lives by herself because her husband passed away. She has two children, one that works across the country, and the other is still in college. She drives this year's Honda CR-V in a boring color. She has a small dog named Chris, which she adopted after her last son went to school. She's a strict vegan and makes complete stops at stop signs. She goes to church every Sunday and volunteers at the local fudge shop. She lives in a relatively small town and knows nearly everybody's name. She is a conservative, but hates Donald Trump. She enjoys flipping through vegan cookbooks and reading Mary Higgins Clark novels in her free time. She also has a vegetable garden that she makes sure to water twice a day. She donates most of the vegetables to the local food bank or personally hands them to the homeless if she's feeling brave. She is likely to want to purchase my tail light sensor because she is concerned about her safety in her car and also doesn't want to break the rules.

What's Your Secret Sauce? 16A

https://youtu.be/BNkQdS9XrU8
In this interview, my good friend Vince talks about how my word can be taken at face value. He thinks that it will be helpful in the business world because people will know that I'm somebody that they can trust.

https://youtu.be/ATmybJPvkSQ
In this interview, my cousin (and friend) Natalie talks about how she thinks that I have good communication and people skills. She thinks that this would be helpful in the business world for networking and for giving presentations.

https://youtu.be/OZjMsimp9x0
In this interview, my girlfriend Anna talks about how my physical appearance makes me stand out from other people. She says that it will make people want to approach me in the business world.

https://youtu.be/qY6w4yIwtRE
In this interview, my friend Philip talks about how my socioeconomic status puts me at an advantage over some others. He says that it will make other wealthy businessmen more likely to want to work with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXcw6ukwtTR
In this interview, my floor mate Riley talks about how my kindness makes me stand out from other people. He said that this will make people trust me and and want to work with me in the future.


Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you? Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? Do you think your interviewees are correct about you? Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How?

I see myself similarly to what the people above me have said, though I don't think I'm as wealthy as Philip lets on. I try to be someone that people like to be around. I generally agree with what my interviewees said about me. I don't think I would make any corrections

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 15A

The outcome of this step is to produce a set of alternatives. Customers pick from among this set of alternatives. In this step, your job is to figure out how they do their picking. Does price matter the most? Does quality? Does style? Is there more than one factor that is important to your customer segment?

Being as my device is not being looked at that much and it's mainly due to safety, the style does not seem to matter to potential customers that much, but quality and price does. Potential customers will look at the reviews because they want to ensure that if they invest in their safety that they are getting a quality product. They would also like to do so at the cheapest price possible. 

How/where do they buy? Elements of the actual transaction can help characterize your segment. Is your segment more likely to buy online or in a store? Are they more likely to use cash or will they finance the purchase? Etc. If this is a B2B purchase, who's involved in the purchase decision? 

My segment does not use the internet as much as younger people, so they tend towards wanting to see things in person before they buy it so they buy in-store. However, they did tell me that advertising online may still be effective. They are definitely most likely to pay cash since the device shouldn't be expensive enough to need to be financed. 

Post-purchase evaluation. What matters most to your customers when they think back on the 'rightness' of the purchase? What helps them determine the purchase was a good idea? What sorts of things make them think a purchase was a bad idea? 

The people that I interviewed said that as long as something works as it was intended and meets their expectations as far as how well it works, they are normally satisfied with their purchase. So in the case of my device, if it does its job correctly and notifies the driver when a light is out, they would be satisfied with their purchase.

Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation? 

In the case of my product it is fairly simple. The design doesn't matter too much. As long as the price is right and the product works the way it is intended, the customers that I sell to should be satisfied with their purchases.

Halfway Reflection 14A

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I definitely have to make sure that I am using my time effectively and MAKE SURE I am aware of when the due dates are and what assignments need to be completed. Multiple assignments are due at once so it is important for me to schedule out ahead of time when I'm planning on working on each individual assignment.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

Most recently, I was trying to find a parking spot that a Red-3 decal can park in without getting ticketed or towed. I was driving around for over a half hour just searching for anything I could find. I was about to just call it quits and park somewhere really far and take a bus. But, I was persistent and kept looking, and finally someone pulled out of their spot in the commuter lot and I pulled in right after they left. My lack of desire for walking kept me going in this case and really helped me to pull through. Yes, I feel like I've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months. There was one experience at the beginning of the year where I forgot to submit the links for part A of an assignment and I lost all of the points for that week. I thought I wouldn't be able to get an A after that, but I went and got extra credit when it was available and now I make sure to submit all of my links and study for every cupcake.

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

1. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you are feeling ready to give up, remember why you are doing what you are doing. Give yourself motivation to keep going.

2. Remember your goals. Keeping them in mind makes it so much easier to stay the course

3. If you're really stressed out about something in particular, take a break and come back to it later. Oftentimes a fresh mind can help a lot for getting through those roadblocks.

Reading Reflection No. 1 13A

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?

      The fact that McDonalds was actually started by the McDonald brothers and Ray Kroc basically took advantage of them and the McDonald brothers hated him for it.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

       His vision. Not very many people would have the ability to see what the tiny McDonalds chain could become with the implementation of franchising.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

       How much he manipulated people. He really screwed over the McDonald brothers and he seems very power-hungry which is not necessarily a likable trait

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

       Yes. Ray Kroc tried to build upscale restaurants, pie shops, and theme parks, but he failed at all of these endeavors. He responded by focusing on what was actually working and building that up.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

     Ray Kroc had great vision. From when McDonald's was just one fast-food stop, he could see a future where everyone in the nation and even the world would be able to enjoy McDonald's hamburgers.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

     It goes into detail about the franchising and all of the different financial aspects and those were a bit confusing to me.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

     First I would ask him if he feels bad about what he did to the McDonald's brothers, that he didn't give him the money that he promised. Since he's been dead for a while I could ask him if the McDonald's as it exists today is consistent with his vision long ago.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

     Ray Kroc absolutely believed in hard work and dedication. He was always working, always thinking about his restaurants and what the next best thing could be. I have a lot of respect for hard work and I strive to be a hard worker myself.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1 12A

The segment that I have chosen to focus on is American car owners aged 40 and above. The people that I interviewed all share the common unmet need that they are concerned about their safety when driving a car and want to feel more safe. One of the people that I interviewed explained to me that he feels the need often but feels helpless in combating the need, which is why he has never searched on Google or gone out looking for a solution. This tells me that people will become interested in my product once they know it exists, however, they may not go out looking for it because they may not even know what to look for or what exists. Another woman told me something similar, but she had actually looked up safety features in cars before. She said that whenever she is researching what car to buy next, she always looks at the features and if certain cars have special safety features it definitely influences her decision. She said that she has googled the safety features that exist in cars and if she were to google it her exact search would be "what are some car safety features?". Another man told me that he has been pulled over for having a tail light out in the past. He said that afterwards, he tried to check every once in a while to make sure that they are still working but that he often forgets. He said it might be months in between when he checks them and by that time it'd be too late anyways. Similar to the first person that I interviewed he said he felt basically helpless with his unmet need and that he never even bothered talking to anyone about it or seeing if anything exists that might help to solve his problem. I found all of this interesting because people seem to be think that there could never be a solution to this problem and they just give up. If people knew that there was something out there to solve this unmet need I think that they would definitely purchase it. The people that I interviewed tend to be aware of their need, they just give up on the information search.

Idea Napkin No. 1 11A

You:
. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I love all sports, my favorites being baseball, tennis, football, and hockey. I played tennis in high school and I was the captain of my team for three years, I now play recreationally in college. I've traveled to a lot of places and I have a knack for learning languages. I have a passion for streetwear clothing and I've bought and sold hundreds of articles of designer clothes. I'd also really like to live in New York City someday. My business would obviously play a huge role in my life, it would be my source of income as well as a source of passion. I would think about it all the time but it wouldn't even bother me because nothing is better than seeing something that you've created truly coming to life.

What:
What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

The product is a device that can sense whether or not a driver's brake or tail lights are malfunctioning and notify the driver so that he/she can get it fixed immediately. This satisfies the need of being safe while driving because the customers' lights are constantly being checked, which they wouldn't have been able to do before.

Who:
Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

Anyone that drives a vehicle could certainly benefit from this product, but the prototypical customer would likely be middle aged or older and they must care a lot about their personal safety as well as the safety of others. That is the main thing that these people will have in common.

Why:
Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

Customers will believe that this product has value because it improves their safety will driving a car, which is typically the most dangerous thing you do every day.

What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

The fact that I have experience working for small businesses and I've already set up a small business of my own sets me apart from a lot of people because I have the experience. Additionally, I'm a computer science major so by the time a graduate I may even be able to program the device myself which would save me a lot of costs.

I definitely believe that all of these elements fit together just fine. There is an unmet need for more safety while driving vehicles and this simple device will make people's lives safer and easier. I have the experience and the skills to make this business into a reality.

Elevator Pitch No.1 10A

This is my elevator pitch...

https://youtu.be/LhG1eOc9gs0

The file size was too large to upload to Google Blogger so I uploaded to YouTube instead