23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1. Social capital

• Valuable- People working with me will have ample experience in the field.
• Rare- To an extent, there are certain people who have credibility in the field, they just have to be found. 
• Inimitable- To have the exact type of team as me including all the different perspectives people bring to the table.
• Non-substitutable- Wouldn't exchange the people on my team. 

2. Simplicity

• Valuable- Won't be a hassle for the customer to figure out how to use product
• Rare- With all the technology today, use of products can be tricky for different age groups
• Inimitable- A patent could be put into play 
• Non-substitutable- Only product of its kind in the market 

3. Convenient Product

• Valuable- It'll make the lives of people easier
• Rare- Many products are tough to use/handle 
• Inimitable- Hard to replicate 
• Non-substitutable- Essential for those who work long hours

4. Maintenance Product

• Valuable- Not much maintenance required 
• Rare- Easy to sustain
• Inimitable- Tough to replicate 
• Non-substitutable- Serves the right purpose 

5. Experience

• Valuable- Expertise in the field
• Rare- Great team of workers who have credible experience 
• Inimitable- Tough to match skills on team
• Non-substitutable- Takes a whole team effort to successfully carry out protocol

6. Affordability

• Valuable- Helpful for our target market
• Rare- Tough to match price 
• Inimitable- Sustainable in comparison to competitors
• Non-substitutable- Quality isn't degraded because of convenient price

7. Customer experience

• Valuable- Retention and word of mouth to acquire new customers
• Rare- Truly care about giving the customer the best experience possible
• Inimitable- Connect with customers on a personal level
• Non-substitutable- Leave a great impression of our company with each and every customer 

8. Insurance guarantee

• Valuable- Shows our confidence in the product
• Rare- Not many companies match this
• Inimitable- Ensuring our product lives up to the standards of the customer
• Non-substitutable- Giving the customer peace in mind if anything happens to the product

9. Friendly Atmosphere

• Valuable- Make customers comfortable to reach out and address any concerns or questions
• Rare- Making an effort to truly interact with customer
• Inimitable- Being authentic helps strengthen relationships
• Non-substitutable- Making the customer feel welcome and appreciative of their business

10. Technology 

• Valuable- Makes it simpler for people to control
• Rare- New method that's being introduced into field
• Inimitable- Making our product unique to our customers
• Non-substitutable- Making it evident that our product lives up to expectations through effectively marketing

22A Elevator Pitch No. 3

1.https://www.youtube.com/watchv=jJfZb8rAUGQhp4t

2&3. The feedback I received was primarily about bringing up the energy from past videos. To do that, I altered my script a bit to include some parts that I can be more enthusiastic. Another thing was to include a few more details about the product which I also revised and included in the script. All the feedback I received made a lot of sense so I carried out the necessary actions. 

21A Reading Reflection No. 2

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

1. In this book, Scott Adams discusses his many failures that he encountered throughout his career but that didn't stop him. The key was that he learned from all these failures little by little which eventually led him to get it right. 

2. This book connects with ENT 3003 because it's similar in the sense that the important part is learning from mistakes and improving your work based on feedback. It's about the progression since it's essential to take everything in. 

3. If I had to design an exercise for the class, I would ask them to tell me of a time where they learned a valuable lesson from a mistake that occurred. I wouldn't ask for too much info, I just want the theme or lesson that was taken into account. 

4. My biggest surprise was a bit of 2 things. First one, I didn't know he struggled that much but I see now that it all played a part. Also, he was very involved in the community with donating money to charity and providing funding for startups.  

20A Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

The person who has experience in this field is my uncle living in Canada. He owns a local delivery business in Canada that specialize in delivering all types pf goods. He started the business 20 years ago so it's been well-established at this point. This is family so nothing in return is really expected. Including this person will help me expand my product beyond borders and enhance my network.

Market Expert:

Somebody I would consider a market expert for this area is Dan Risick. He's conducted ample consumer research in my area since he recently opened up a restaurant in Gainesville. Dan has experience in typically the restaurant business so he's really good at predicting the type pf crowd he's going to see. I knew this person prior therefore, I just reached out to him. In terms of returning the favor, he didn't seem like he wanted anything in return but I'll give him a complimentary unit since he seemed very interested. This will enhance my networking because it'll expose me to different fields.

Supplier to Industry:

I reached out to my aunt who works in the supply chain in an industry related to this one. She's been working in supply chain for over 15 years now. She really gave me some useful information regarding where to incur the lowest costs in terms of manufacturing in a certain region. Being able to have her in my network enables me to really expand my supplying options.

Reflection:

This experience will help me ask the essential questions in terms of networking for a certain product. In the past, I've networked to look for jobs or internships so that's really the only way the two differ from one another. It's not really product focused, it's more about yourself.

19A Idea Napkin No. 2

1.) I am a junior attending the University of Florida, majoring in business management. I'm originally from West Palm Beach with my family being from Lebanon. My main talents are being athletic and playing sports. I played basketball all 4 years of high school including travel basketball. My experiences through interning with Wells Fargo the past two summers have helped me develop skills such as effective time management and team leadership. Aside from that, I also worked in a retail setting with Pandora. My goal is to push my product as far as it could possibly reach in terms of availability and effectiveness. If I were to start this business, it would definitely be a large part of my life because if I invest in something I really want to give it my all and see where I could take it. I don't want to have any regrets or 'what-if' thoughts afterwards so thats why I would give it all I got.

2.) The type of product that I'm offering to customers is one that ensures safety when receiving packages to one's home. The product is a glass or hard plastic box that is installed outside the front door of the house and a key/combination is required to open the box. The box will be offered in different types of sizes which will correspond to the price of the different boxes. There will also be different colors available to try and match the color of the apartment/house if the customer wants to go that route. The customer will also be given the option to have the box installed by us upon arrival at no additional cost.

3.) I'll be offering this to all people living in residential areas and apartment complexes. I would consider my customers to typically be aged 25-50 years-old who like to shop online for most of their needs. They would also be typically women since they prefer to do the online shopping. There seems to be more of an issue in places where crime rates are higher and salaries are lower. This makes sense since most of these resident areas aren't gated in comparison to ones in different areas of the city. One thing my customers all have in common is that they value convenience and don't want to go through hassles that'll waste some of their time.

4.). They care because once their package is reported as missing or stolen, they're the ones who have to go out of their way to contact the company, trying to resolve the issue. These companies often times do investigations or ask for some sort of proof which only makes the process more exhausting and time-consuming. Customers will play money for my product because they will see the value in ensuring packages are properly delivered the first time. Having the added peace of mind knowing that your package is safe and secure waiting for you outside your front door is something that is truly underrated.

5.) My core competencies is satisfaction and effectiveness. Ensuring my customers are satisfied with their decisions is a large part of my motivation towards this product. People are always looking for ways to be more safe and secure especially when it comes to their valuables, this is a great innovative way to do it. The more of a purpose the product serves, the more passionate I'll be towards it.

I believe that these five elements fit together since it's important to evaluate things holistically and from different aspects. Asking those type of questions will distinguish someone's aspirations from reality in terms of their ideas are exploitable. Taking all those things into consideration before hand may prevent failure or loss of money in some cases.

The feedback I received was regarding the details in my answers. I was told to use more concrete examples and details so I tried to incorporate that throughout my answers. I feel like it went well since my answers seem more credible in a sense.

17A Elevator Pitch No. 2

The feedback that was most useful was talking about how this product will benefit the customer. I gave an overview of what the product would do but didn't really hone in on how it'll potentially benefit the consumer. I also got some feedback regarding my opener, I was advised to use some type of fact to give some quantitative evidence.

The link to the video is posted below.

18A Create a Customer Avatar

My typical customer would most likely be a woman aged 23-30 years old. A hobby that my customer would have is online shopping since they're not fans of traditional shopping. They tend to drive Toyota or Hyundai sedans that are economically efficient. In terms of color, I'd say something subtle like a black or gray. They tend to watch reality TV shows. At this point in their life, they may have a child or two. They want to usually feel like they're making a difference with all of their decisions, they want their decisions to have a positive impact on the environment. Something the avatar and I have in common is the method of preferred shopping as we both rather shop online than in the store. I don't think it's a coincidence, it's just the generation we live in.