Friday, April 20, 2018
28A - Your Exit Strategy
Eventually, all businesses must come to a close. This time can be within a few weeks of opening, or even after a few hundred years. Yet, many times this can come down to the discretion of the business owner, and how long they plan on staying in the field. I would like to make as much money as I could in five to ten years, and then hopefully sell my company to another large business. After this, I would then be able to relax and live off of my profits for a little, before pursuing another passion. I would choose this because it would allow for me to constantly shift fields, and thus go through the process of opening a business from the ground up several times. This has influenced my other plans within this business. I had always had the intention of selling my company relatively soon after opening, and because of this, I aimed to pursue quick growth strategies. This has also forced me to only identify and go after short-term opportunities.
30A - Final Reflection
There have been many moments this semester that have caused joy and other moments that have caused dread. Some of the notable moments that have been memorable in good ways have been those 'a-ha' feelings during assignments when the lesson truly connects and the meaning becomes cemented. The times that have caused angst have been when logging onto canvas and seeing three or four big assignments due. The thing that sticks out that will be something I will remember years down the road is when I began to think like an entrepreneur earlier this semester. I had never considered the many aspects that went into owning and running a successful enterprise. Because of this, while I would not consider myself an entrepreneur, I would consider myself more so of one than when this class started. One recommendation I would say to future students would be to get ahead and to start all of their assignments on time. This makes the class much easier and less stressful, especially when dealing with the workloads of other classes. To foster this mindset, one must view all assignments and projects as positives and as a learning experience.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Reading Reflection No. 3
The book that I have chosen to read for this part of the semester is 'The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More' by Chris Anderson. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the reading of the book and the overall lessons that it entailed. The point of the book is that in the future, blockbusters will not be the primary driving point of profits for any large industry. Anderson argues that with so much information available nowadays, people will go further and further down lists in order to find the perfect book, movie, or product that suits their preference. Because of this, while demand may not be large for some of these smaller name products, it will never be non-existent and the demand will only increase in the future. The book connected with what I've learned so far in this class in the fact that you do not need to develop a massive life-changing product in order to make a profit. It proved that a product can still turn a profit even if it is in low demand. An exercise for this class based off of this book would be to have each student think of ten products or services that would not be massive, but would simply be complementary to people's lifestyles. The biggest 'a-ha' moment of this book was when Anderson talked about how when people get access to more information, that they will continually search for products farther and farther for the mainstream. I had never thought of this, and it makes sense considering the technology boom of the past decade since people do not have to settle only for products that are popular.
26A - Celebrating Failure
One memorable time this semester in which I failed is when myself and my roommates had to move apartments. Our apartment complex was doing a renovation so, at some point throughout the year, each individual apartment would have to move out to allow for the renovations to happen. During this, I tried to find a way to move all of my items faster to ensure a quicker and easier move. While doing this, I tried to improvise new ways and devices of carrying large objects, such as making baskets and containers out of items that were not designed to do this. Doing this however wasted a ton of time, and during the first trip while moving the bottom of the first 'basket' fell out and all of my items were strewn across the lawn. However, I still kept trying to figure out ways to help me move, and none of them worked to the extent that I hoped. I learned that sometimes it is easier to not try and find shortcuts and to just put your head down and get the task done. Failure can be hard at times, but it is always an opportunity to learn from. Failure can show the flaws in the plan that was developed, and how to make it better the next time. This class has shown to me that failure is not necessarily the worst outcome. While success is always the best course, failure can also show flaws in the mindset going into the activity, and it can also be a roadmap to success the next time.
Friday, April 6, 2018
25A - What's Next?
Existing Market
For this step of the assignment, I interviewed my three friends Robby, Declan, and Raina.
I talked to them about the next step for my venture, which would be to expand into the action sports world and provide a shoe cleaning product for items such as snowboarding boots. Robby and Raina are big into action sports such as snowboarding and wakeboarding and thought that this would be a good path to take. However, Declan is not as big into this and thought the best next route to take would be to use a similar idea on clothing items. He was envisioning a quick stain cleaner or something of that sort in case clothes get dirty, either out while camping or such, or while at something as trivial as a family party.
I believe that a combination of both of these feedbacks would be the best possible route for my company. This growth would essentially go into all areas of clothing, and would thus encompass a much larger market. The product would then be a fit for anyone, and of all lifestyles rather than those who are more active than others. There would be an item for everyday use, an item for those who are into action sports, and even the casual person who might want to clean a mark on their suit on the way to a business meeting.
This would also keep the appeal of being a cheap product made for people on the go. There would need to be some adjustments to make sure that each product is safe to use on the materials that it would be used on, however, I do not believe this would be a major factor. It would be pretty much the same idea as the shoe cleaning service, but it would be spread to all apparel items that could become dirty.
New Market
A market that is radically different from the one that I'm currently pursuing would be senior citizens. While the elderly are not as active as younger people, they typically do not like change and like for things to like neat. Because of this, they would be able to use the cleaning product on all of their clothes and shoes and use them for extremely long periods of time, or until they break. For this, I interviewed both of my grandparents on my dad's side of the family. They said they could see themselves using the product on their clothes and shoes, but said that they would struggle to see the extremely elderly ever using it since it does require some physical energy. They also said that since they are not as active as a thirty-year-old, they would only infrequently need to purchase this.
I did have some interesting findings from interviewing my grandparents. I was relatively surprised that they said they would use the product and could see others their age using it as well. This is relatively what I thought they would say, as most people would at least like to own a product that is capable of quickly cleaning stains and blemishes on clothing articles.
However, I was also correct in thinking that this would be a relatively small market. I find it hard to believe that many senior citizens would be purchasing this product, and my interviewees saying that they would be infrequent buyers affirms this belief. Because of this, this market is not as desirable as the original market of 20-30-year-old active citizens. Despite this, it did prove to me that there is at least a little market for those who are older.
For this step of the assignment, I interviewed my three friends Robby, Declan, and Raina.
I talked to them about the next step for my venture, which would be to expand into the action sports world and provide a shoe cleaning product for items such as snowboarding boots. Robby and Raina are big into action sports such as snowboarding and wakeboarding and thought that this would be a good path to take. However, Declan is not as big into this and thought the best next route to take would be to use a similar idea on clothing items. He was envisioning a quick stain cleaner or something of that sort in case clothes get dirty, either out while camping or such, or while at something as trivial as a family party.
I believe that a combination of both of these feedbacks would be the best possible route for my company. This growth would essentially go into all areas of clothing, and would thus encompass a much larger market. The product would then be a fit for anyone, and of all lifestyles rather than those who are more active than others. There would be an item for everyday use, an item for those who are into action sports, and even the casual person who might want to clean a mark on their suit on the way to a business meeting.
This would also keep the appeal of being a cheap product made for people on the go. There would need to be some adjustments to make sure that each product is safe to use on the materials that it would be used on, however, I do not believe this would be a major factor. It would be pretty much the same idea as the shoe cleaning service, but it would be spread to all apparel items that could become dirty.
New Market
A market that is radically different from the one that I'm currently pursuing would be senior citizens. While the elderly are not as active as younger people, they typically do not like change and like for things to like neat. Because of this, they would be able to use the cleaning product on all of their clothes and shoes and use them for extremely long periods of time, or until they break. For this, I interviewed both of my grandparents on my dad's side of the family. They said they could see themselves using the product on their clothes and shoes, but said that they would struggle to see the extremely elderly ever using it since it does require some physical energy. They also said that since they are not as active as a thirty-year-old, they would only infrequently need to purchase this.
I did have some interesting findings from interviewing my grandparents. I was relatively surprised that they said they would use the product and could see others their age using it as well. This is relatively what I thought they would say, as most people would at least like to own a product that is capable of quickly cleaning stains and blemishes on clothing articles.
However, I was also correct in thinking that this would be a relatively small market. I find it hard to believe that many senior citizens would be purchasing this product, and my interviewees saying that they would be infrequent buyers affirms this belief. Because of this, this market is not as desirable as the original market of 20-30-year-old active citizens. Despite this, it did prove to me that there is at least a little market for those who are older.
24A - Venture Concept No.1
The Opportunity
1) The people who have the need would be anyone who has dirty shoes that wants them cleaned. The target segment is active, college-aged students or post-college adults.
2) The nature of the need is that shoes tend to only last for short amounts of time looking new, and then get dirty and the product is devalued. This greatly negates value from an item that was recently purchased.
The force creating this opportunity is that life is unpredictable and thus materials are bound to get dirty. The market would be all over the country but would be most popular in warm weather regions where people can get out and exercise all year. This product would apply to all ages since everyone moves around at some point during the day, but college kids and those directly out of college tend to be more active than other age groups. Customers are currently either not satisfying this need at all and are letting their shoes stay dirty, or they are using time-consuming home methods that can be costly as well. The opportunity is relatively big, as I believe a decent population would be interested in a quick and cheap shoe cleaning product. However, there is a sizable population that would not care enough to purchase this. The window of opportunity will be open for as long as people go outside and are active, or place themselves in dirty environments.
Innovation
I would define my product as only incrementally innovative, as it is nothing radical since it is a cleaning product. My product is a spray that you apply to dirty shoes. It would then be left to sit for a couple minutes, and then rubbed in with a damp paper towel. After these become dry, the shoe would look like its original version again. It would be sold in cans at various shoe stores or sporting goods stores across the country. I would aim to sell this product for approximately $10, and this product would be able to be used multiple times. For example, each can would have the capacity to clean roughly 20 pairs of shoes before becoming empty.
Venture Concept
My product will solve the unmet need because it will make dirty shoes clean once again in a quick and easy process. There are not currently any other big name products that do this service, so thus it will not require anyone to switch over to my product. The distribution of this product will be a major point of emphasis for the product. Ideally, this product would be placed either next to all the shoes, or it would be sold at the counter. People probably would not go out specifically to buy my product, but when buying new shoes would deem it acceptable to buy my product as a complementary good that would help elongate the life of their new purchase. I would organize my business as a small setup with roughly twenty people that would be able to handle the day to day dealings with the company, and who also have a similar passion.
1) The biggest resource that my company has is that the need will always be there. There will never be a world in which people will never have their shoes get dirty through outdoor activities or just walking around.
2) The next venture would be to move into the world of action sports, possibly selling a similar item to people who want to keep their snowboarding boots clean, or who use specialty shoes to hike, etc.
3) In five years, I would ideally see this company being something more as a side business that is also profitable. This way would ensure that I can enjoy the process of the business world and can be happy while operating the venture.
1) The people who have the need would be anyone who has dirty shoes that wants them cleaned. The target segment is active, college-aged students or post-college adults.
2) The nature of the need is that shoes tend to only last for short amounts of time looking new, and then get dirty and the product is devalued. This greatly negates value from an item that was recently purchased.
The force creating this opportunity is that life is unpredictable and thus materials are bound to get dirty. The market would be all over the country but would be most popular in warm weather regions where people can get out and exercise all year. This product would apply to all ages since everyone moves around at some point during the day, but college kids and those directly out of college tend to be more active than other age groups. Customers are currently either not satisfying this need at all and are letting their shoes stay dirty, or they are using time-consuming home methods that can be costly as well. The opportunity is relatively big, as I believe a decent population would be interested in a quick and cheap shoe cleaning product. However, there is a sizable population that would not care enough to purchase this. The window of opportunity will be open for as long as people go outside and are active, or place themselves in dirty environments.
Innovation
I would define my product as only incrementally innovative, as it is nothing radical since it is a cleaning product. My product is a spray that you apply to dirty shoes. It would then be left to sit for a couple minutes, and then rubbed in with a damp paper towel. After these become dry, the shoe would look like its original version again. It would be sold in cans at various shoe stores or sporting goods stores across the country. I would aim to sell this product for approximately $10, and this product would be able to be used multiple times. For example, each can would have the capacity to clean roughly 20 pairs of shoes before becoming empty.
Venture Concept
My product will solve the unmet need because it will make dirty shoes clean once again in a quick and easy process. There are not currently any other big name products that do this service, so thus it will not require anyone to switch over to my product. The distribution of this product will be a major point of emphasis for the product. Ideally, this product would be placed either next to all the shoes, or it would be sold at the counter. People probably would not go out specifically to buy my product, but when buying new shoes would deem it acceptable to buy my product as a complementary good that would help elongate the life of their new purchase. I would organize my business as a small setup with roughly twenty people that would be able to handle the day to day dealings with the company, and who also have a similar passion.
1) The biggest resource that my company has is that the need will always be there. There will never be a world in which people will never have their shoes get dirty through outdoor activities or just walking around.
2) The next venture would be to move into the world of action sports, possibly selling a similar item to people who want to keep their snowboarding boots clean, or who use specialty shoes to hike, etc.
3) In five years, I would ideally see this company being something more as a side business that is also profitable. This way would ensure that I can enjoy the process of the business world and can be happy while operating the venture.
Friday, March 30, 2018
23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage
1) The shoe cleaning product itself
- This product would be our own formula that would allow for a quick shoe cleaning spray. This would be a mix of chemicals or other products that would be hard to copy unless given inside information.
2) The people working with me
- These people on my development team would be hand selected by me, so I know their human capital would be centered around the business, which is something very unique to my business.
3) The business culture
- My company would be filled with people that truly appreciate and enjoy the business they are in. These would be people who have always been interested, either through basketball, magazines, etc.
4) Social media presence
- The product would be heavily featured in Instagram ads and other such ways of social media. However, this is not as valuable and unique since any company can do this.
5) The price of the product
- The product will be cheap, however, so are many such cleaning products that can be used around the house. One of the main target groups will be college-aged kids, and thus one of the main selling points is the price.
6) The multi-fabric use
- The shoe cleaning product will be able to be used on all shoe materials, from leather to mesh, etc. This will be a unique quality of my product.
7) The development process
- The product will be constantly updated to keep up with the shoe trends of the time, so as to constantly work and not ruin anyone's look.
8) The unmet need
- This is a product that will constantly be needed, as there will never be a world in which shoes don't get dirty. Because of this, people will always have a need for the product so as long as they want to clean their shoes.
9) The joy of the business
- When I would ultimately go through with producing this product, I would need financial backing from years of previous work. Because of this, this product would be made because I enjoy the process, rather than out of financial necessity. This would ensure positive vibes throughout the staff that would make people want to work together.
10) Pairing this product
- Ideally, my product would be sold in skate shops and at places like Sports Authority. I would have these placed next to where the shoes are, or at the counter because people would want to buy those items together. People are always buying shoes so this will be unique to my product because it will allow for consistent demand.
My companies most valuable resource, in my opinion, is number eight. This is because having a company based on a need that will always be there will ensure for constant sales, and will not be a product that goes in and out with phases. This part of the list would be a main point of my business model.
- This product would be our own formula that would allow for a quick shoe cleaning spray. This would be a mix of chemicals or other products that would be hard to copy unless given inside information.
2) The people working with me
- These people on my development team would be hand selected by me, so I know their human capital would be centered around the business, which is something very unique to my business.
3) The business culture
- My company would be filled with people that truly appreciate and enjoy the business they are in. These would be people who have always been interested, either through basketball, magazines, etc.
4) Social media presence
- The product would be heavily featured in Instagram ads and other such ways of social media. However, this is not as valuable and unique since any company can do this.
5) The price of the product
- The product will be cheap, however, so are many such cleaning products that can be used around the house. One of the main target groups will be college-aged kids, and thus one of the main selling points is the price.
6) The multi-fabric use
- The shoe cleaning product will be able to be used on all shoe materials, from leather to mesh, etc. This will be a unique quality of my product.
7) The development process
- The product will be constantly updated to keep up with the shoe trends of the time, so as to constantly work and not ruin anyone's look.
8) The unmet need
- This is a product that will constantly be needed, as there will never be a world in which shoes don't get dirty. Because of this, people will always have a need for the product so as long as they want to clean their shoes.
9) The joy of the business
- When I would ultimately go through with producing this product, I would need financial backing from years of previous work. Because of this, this product would be made because I enjoy the process, rather than out of financial necessity. This would ensure positive vibes throughout the staff that would make people want to work together.
10) Pairing this product
- Ideally, my product would be sold in skate shops and at places like Sports Authority. I would have these placed next to where the shoes are, or at the counter because people would want to buy those items together. People are always buying shoes so this will be unique to my product because it will allow for consistent demand.
My companies most valuable resource, in my opinion, is number eight. This is because having a company based on a need that will always be there will ensure for constant sales, and will not be a product that goes in and out with phases. This part of the list would be a main point of my business model.
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