30A Final Reflection

30A Final Reflection

The single most important thing I have realized by taking this class is how important research and preparation is. I need to do way more market research and interviews with customers before I even think about making a prototype. Interviewing people was something that I was apprehensive about at the start, but throughout the semester I got a little more comfortable with it.

I am most proud that I was able to come up with an idea and use it for the entire semester. I was able to develop it enough that I believe could be viable. I don’t think it looks like a good enough business to drop out of school right now and pursue it, but I think I will follow up with it later in my life if I have the time.

I have noticed a lot more problems, and I believe that this allows more to see more solutions. This covers everything from problems in the physical world, to problems with software. Hopefully I will have the skill set later on to be able to use software to also solve these problems.

Research, research, research. That is my advice for any other students or any other entrepreneurs. I have learned so much just by watching people as they shop and looking at their habits. I would be able to use this in my business to develop a better idea of why customers buy my products and also be able to create a product that they would be more likely to buy. Also my advice to anyone taking this course in the future, don’t wait until the last minute to do assignments, give yourself some time to spare. Doing the assignment Friday afternoon instead of Friday night at 10pm makes a huge difference.

It’s been a great semester and hopefully I will be and entrepreneur and be my own boss in the future!

29A Venture Concept #2

29A Venture Concept 2

The changes in the environment is everything is getting more competitive, and a slight improvement in efficiency is what can make a business succeed and become profitable. My product would be future-proof for the time being. If mowers are robotic controlled and don’t need an operator it would still be useful to have a bigger mower. This would be a market for warmer climates, as they would gain more efficiency because the season where grass grows is longer, about 8 months in the south vs as little as 4 months in the north. Currently they are satisfying their needs through mowers that are undersized. It would be much more efficient with a larger mower. Most lawn care people are loyal to the brands they use as long as they perform well, so it might be tough to initially get a market share. This could revolutionize the concept of mowing the lawn for the entire world, although I think the USA would be the biggest market.

The biggest competitors would be John Deere, Kubota, and Toro. The advantages they would have are economies of scale, brand reputation, and expansive networks of distribution. I would have to overcome these problems with a better product. Once I have the initial concept up and running the first thing I would focus on is hiring a couple engineers so I can make the best product possible. I would want the best product from the very beginning, and wouldn’t want any competitors to pass me in terms of quality. After that I would expand and hire more people as the need arises.

In terms of what’s next it would be creating a prototype and then doing initial testing. I would contact large companies that might be my competitors about a licensing deal, and this would reduce my risks. 

28A Exit Strategy

28A

My goal would be to exit in a couple years after it is successful. I would still maintain some share in the company, so I can keep a small stream of revenue in the future. I think it would be better to use the money from the sale on bettering my kids than giving them an ownership share on the company. I would help them come up with their own ideas and start their own companies. One thing that I have seen a lot is people not having the skill set to run a large organization. Once my company has more than 50 employees I am sure someone else would be better able to manage it than me. I selected this strategy because this is the way to cash out from all my hard work. At some point I will be burned out and not want to work 100 hour weeks anymore. If I don’t sell the company I will have some profits from it, but not a massive check. I will cash out and then continue to work. I don’t know if I would continue working at the company, because I might have some conflicts with future managers about the direction of the company.

I think it has influenced my decision making so far in the way that I want to set up the company to have large and fast growth at the start, and then slow steady growth after that. This will give me the best ability to sell the company after a while once I has steady income. Because I want to sell I would try to raise money through debt at the start, and not equity because I wouldn’t want my ownership shares to get diluted. 

27A Reading Reflection #3

27A

The Wright Brother is a book that shows a fancy education is not always the way to success. Both of the brothers didn’t have any education higher than a middle school level. As the book points out though they still studied the world around them, and used this to grow their knowledge instead of text books.

The competencies they had was never giving up on a dream. Humans have dreamed of flying ever since they saw birds. However they were alive at the right time were the technology made flight possible.

If I could ask them anything it would be what they would have done if they never achieved success. I might suspect they would say something like it doesn’t matter, it is the process of learning and creating that we like. This would be good motivation for me to keep going after my dreams.

The book makes it seem like hard work was the only thing that they knew. If I was in their shoes I don’t know if I would have had the drive and motivation to achieve flight. They believed it was possible, and they worked as hard as they could to make it happen. At the moment I don’t think there is anything in my life that I would 100% commit myself to in terms of spending all my time and energy at it until I succeed. However after this book it has given me more motivation to find my true passion for what I want to do in life. Overall it is a great book that I recommend you read.

26A Celebrating Failure

26A

Failure is something that unfortunately happens a lot to me. But I have learned that unless the outcome is dire it is fine to fail, and hopefully I learn some lessons along the way. One thing that I failed at this semester was trying to call people and talk with them about my business idea for this class. Frequently when I called a company and asked if I could talk with anyone and interview them I was frequently told no thanks and they hung up. I slowly learned what to say to get them to stay on the phone longer. Something I tried to do was pad their ego’s, I said things like “I am calling you because I have been referred to you as a leader in the industry.” When I said things like that they were more inclined to talk with me. I also tried talking with them a little more about themselves and their business before I brought up my own ideas and what I really wanted to talk about. By listening to them for a bit they felt like they should also listen to me for a while. I have also struggled with creating a model of my product. My first attempts were just rough drawings, but I am not a good artist so these did not turn out well. Then I also tried to build a model with Legos, but I just didn’t have enough skills to make a semi-accurate model. Overall this class has taught me that failure is great as long as I learn from why I failed and don’t make that mistake again. 

25A What's Next

25A

In terms of whats next the ideal situation would be creating a functional protoype. Once I have a prototype I could refine it until I have a product that I want to do some initial testing on. At the start I would give it to a couple local places for a super cheap price, maybe $100. I would then have them provide me feedback about what they liked and what they didn’t like. I would also be able to find out any weak points and see what broke during the year. I would then redesign my product and do more testing. After that I think I would be ready to bring it to the market and have it available for everyone to purchase.
An entirely new market that I could try and target would be the farming industry. At the moment the machines for harvesting are already huge. But I believe my technology would allow them to expand even further in their size and the speed at which they can plant and harvest crops. The season for harvest and planting are short, so a small efficiency gain would translate to a huge boost in profits. Speed is especially important in farming, so this would potentially be a huge boost for the industry.
It could also apply to the auto industry as a way of detaching accessories from the engine when they are not needed, such as the compressor. This would give the engines a small boost in efficiency resulting in higher MPG. 

24A Venture Concept 1

24A

·       What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?

The forces creating this change is that efficiency always needs to be improved. It is a competitive marketplace, so any slight advantages can help a business become more profitable.

·       How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

Geographically it would be more in warmer climates. In the south lawns have a longer growing season. This means that customers are more likely to have a lawn mowing service, and that service will get more use out of the mower. If the mower is only needed for 2 months of the year it isn’t that good of investment. However if it is used 9 months of the year then it will pay for itself sooner.  

·       How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 

In the industry I think there would be brand loyalty. This would be a big investment for the people buying a mower at multiple thousands of dollars, so I think it would be similar to cars where people buy one brand of their whole life. hopefully it will develop a reputation as a reliable product so word of mouth will be positive and I will be able to spend less money on advertising.

·       How big is this opportunity?

With just my product I see it being about a 100 million dollar industry. If I am able to expand the technology into different areas then that will vastly increase the scope of areas I can sell my products.

·       How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

This opportunity will be open until someone else creates the product. Or another thing that could disrupt the market would be mowers that are controlled by computers. They would use sensors and not even need an operator. As such it would not be that beneficial and the slight benefit would 

23A Venture's Unfair Advantage

23A

1.                          First to the market

(ii)    This is impossible for anyone else to copy

1.                          Will develop brand recognition

(iii)  Hopefully my brand would development a reputation as a product with quality that lasts a long time so I would have many repeat customers

1.                          Connections in industry

(iv)  I have a connection at John Deere, hopefully this would allow me to integrate with them

1.                          Ability to raise capital

(v)    My finance background would help me raise capital in the beginning

1.                          Marketing

(vi)  I am able to see what my customers want, and deliver a product they will buy. While this is not specific to me it is something that I think I do well so it will give me an advantage over the competition.

1.                          Creating new ideas

(vii) Once I initially create the technology I will think about many other places it can be applied. I will also be able to create other improvements to products once I have more funding so that will increase my revenue even further.

1.                          Expanding technology to new fields

(viii)                    The technology of taking power off an engine and using it to power another attachment could be used for so many different applications. I could also create other attachments.

1.                          Always improving

(ix)   I am never satisfied with the way something is at the moment, so I would always improve the product to stay ahead of any competitors.

1.                          Attention to details

(x)    Small details is what will make my product stand out. This is something that other might to copy as well so I would have to stay ahead of them.

1.                          Organizational skills

(xi)   It would be a lean management team, this would decrease overhead and improve margins.

Overall I think my strength will be that I am first to the market and then the share of the market that I acquire. 

22A Elevator Pitch #3

22A

One of the things I changed is trying to make more pronounced gestures and focusing on being clear in describing my idea. I tried to talk a little slower and make it seem like I was less nervous, I know that if I actually gave this pitch to real investors that would add a lot of pressure, so I should be able to do the pitch in front of a camera and not be nervous at all. I also feel like I have the pitch pretty much memorized, while I don’t know every single word I pretty much have the main topics that I want to hit, and I know what I will do to promote my product.  

21A Reading Reflection #2

21 A

I read "The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users", and the most important thing I learned is how important it is to have a strong online presence. Social media is not really something that I use on a regular basis, and I know I would struggle with it if I started a company. However throughout the book I found a number of small pieces of advice that I can implement right now. I plan to update my linkedin profile with the advice from the book and hopefully it will be able to help me in my personal career development.

It relates to class because it hammers home the idea that how you present yourself and your product is the most important thing. I could have some great product that will make millions of dollars, but if I cannot communicate what the product is to other people they will not realize how great it is, and thus they wont buy/ invest in the product.

If I designed an assignment for this class based on this book it would be to reach out to some people on Linkedin and make those professional connections. First student would need to update their Linkedin profiles, and then thye would find a UF alumni in a position they hope to be in one day. This would give them practice networking, it also might help them obtain a future internship if they create a connection with the person on Linkedin.

The biggest surprise was how easy the book made everything seem. I always thought having interesting social media and creating something where people wanted to connect with you was really complicated, but after this book I realized make posts simple and to the point, and that will draw people in. 

20 A- Growing your Social Capital

20A

The first person I interviewed for this assignment was my friend who is doing an engineering internship at John Deere this summer. While they are not specifically working on lawn mowers, they are working on tractors which is a similar machine. I also think this is a good interview because I was able to ask them some of the more technical questions about the engineering side of my invention such as the optimum way to power the extra blade. While my friend is not a world-renowned expert, I would call them very knowledgeable in the field. This is my friend so and I knew they are working in an engineering position, so I called them and ask them more about what they did, and then asked some questions about how feasible my product is. The nature of the exchange was friendly at first, just general catching up, and then after about 10 minutes I got into asking the more technical questions and it got a little more serious. Having this person in my network will benefit me from being able to bounce quick ideas off them. They also could potentially help me make computer drawings and simulations to see exactly how the mower would work. When I asked about someone in marketing she passed me along to her friend Jenna who worked on the sales team. This conversation was a little awkward at first, because I was just some random person, but soon the conversation flowed better when I asked more questions about their job and how the marketing and sales worked. Jenna helped me get answer to basic ideas to the way John Deere showcases new products, such as trade shows. Attending conventions and trade shows is something I didn’t even think about before, but it would be a good way to get my product and ideas out there. I also asked her about the supplier part of their business and how they go about that. The thing I found most interesting was how they balanced marketing with servicing older products. Servicing old products keeps customers happy, while showcasing new products can create more revenue. This exercise made me realize the importance of my existing network and friends. With my friend at John Deere I would not have been able to contact everyone else. Overall it helped me become more confident when talking to new people and explaining who I am as well as what my product is. 

19A Idea Napkin #2

19A Idea Napkin #2

Based on the feedback I got last time it confirmed that one of the things that makes me different is the attention to small details that can change the user experience.

I see this business playing a small role in my life at the start. In the beginning I would have a full time job to support myself, and just do this as a hobby at night for a while. Once I actually got a working prototype I would try and transition to part time at work, so I would still have money coming in while business picked up. Once I had enough business I would quit my other job and focus entirely on this project. I know it would be a lot of work and I would expect to be working 100 hour weeks while I am getting everything up and running.

Since the last idea napkin I have revised my model to be more user friendly. Originally I wanted it really big and complicated, but I think the ideal solution would be to have the extra mower attachment be driven off the main engine, so there isn’t the complication of an extra engine to take care of.

Time is money. Saving time = saving money. That is why customers should care. Why do people buy a riding mower over a regular push mower, because it makes their lives easier and makes mowing the yard faster. My mower would be the next step towards efficient lawn care.

One area that I would need to look into more is if I want to go only the commercial route and sell it to lawn care businesses, or if I would want to sell it to regular consumers. Another option I could look into is if I could license the technology to a large company like John Deere and they could use all of their knowledge to make it more efficiently than I could. It would be a good way for me to avoid some of the risks, and make it easier for the technology to get to the market. 

18A Customer Avatar

18 A- Customer Avatar

My avatar would be the average guy in his 30’s or 40’s wearing jeans and a tshirt. They would most likely be a man who is a homeowner with a large plot of land. Ideally they would have some type of gardening hobby, so they would like to take care of their yard and have everything look professional. Along with gardening, they would be an outdoor type of person in general. They would not be afraid to get down and dirty and would rather fix things themselves rather than take it to a mechanic. The guy would be married with one kid and a dog, and another kid on the way. The backyard would have a small playground, as well as some nice landscaping in the back where the mower would have to be able to make fine movements around the rocks and tiles. 

The thing I most have in common with this avatar is being an outdoor person and not being afraid to get my hands dirty. I also like to fix things myself, and like to figure out what went wrong when something broke. Hopefully my customers would also give me this feedback when things break so I could identify trends and improve the next generations model. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I have these things in common with the avatar. I came up with idea because of all the mowing I had to do, and I always wished there was an easier way to do it. If I was the type of person who stayed inside all day and never did any yard work I would not have even known this problem existed. 

17A Elevator Pitch #2

17A Elevator Pitch #2

In this pitch, I really tried to pitch it more towards the cost savings for the customer. In my previous pitch, I realized I was focusing too much on the technology. While the technology is cool, it's not what will sell the product. Convincing the buyer they will save time and money is what sells the product. I tried to use some of my estimated numbers to give potential buyers a number that could stick in their head. Then, later on, they could look at their bottom line and see how much more they could earn if they were 30% faster across all the jobs they did.

16A Secret Sauce

16A

1. I have unique human capital because of my view on life. I believe that everything can always be improved, and I am doubtful when someone says they already have the best solution. 

2. My experiences give me a better perspective on how the world works. I travel as much as I can, and by doing so I have seen all types of different ways of life around the USA and the world. This lets me see how my product could fit into different markets. 

3. I am stubborn. This is sometimes a bad trait to have, sometimes it is good to have when it relates to never giving up on something I believe in.

4. Connections- I don’t believe in burning bridges, this is especially useful in business when you never know when that one person or that one connection will come in handy.

5. I am always looking forward at what is coming to the market. Ideally, I want to enter a market that has just started, or one that is growing rapidly so my business could become a major stakeholder in the market.

I think people noticed that I talk about a lot of random things. I also concur with them that I hate inefficient things, I try to be as efficient as I can in my everyday life, and I wish the world around me could also be as organized and on time as I want it to be. The people I interviewed also said that I seek out challenges, which I why I like entrepreneurship, because it is me vs the entire market, the biggest challenge there can be.

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15A Buyer Behavior #2

15A

Alternative options that customers could buy; a larger mower that is pulled behind a tractor, a normal riding mower, a combination of both of the previous options. I don’t really believe that it would be practical for most people or companies to buy a tractor with a mower attachment. It would be harder to transport, and it would not be able to follow the edges of the yard. The second option of having a regular riding mower is the status quo of what everyone does now, it gets the job done but its slow, and could be done faster. By doing nothing businesses lose money because they are inefficient. Labor is the main cost of their business, so if they could use something to make their workers more efficient then they will save money. Using a tractor for large spaces, and a smaller mower for edges of yards and around obstacles is simply an inefficient solution to the problem. My solution combines both of these in one easy package. Also transporting two machines instead of one would create extra time to load and unload the machines when they got to the job site, potentially eliminating the benefits of using the dual machine system.

Consumers would buy my mower from a big hardware store, like a Lowe’s or Home Depot. It would be about $500 more than a regular mower, but when the average price is around $1200 spending an extra $500 to make the process more efficient would be a good investment.

I believe that this product fills a gap in the market, and would be successful once people saw and tested the product for themselves. After a while, a lawn care company would be at a disadvantage if they didn’t have my mower since they would be slower than the competition. 

14A Halfway Reflection

14A

To keep up with this course the main thing I did is to look at the assignments for the upcoming week. This way I knew if I had a longer or harder assignment I would have to start earlier to get it done in time. While if I saw all of the assignments were shorter then I gave myself an extra day to watch the lectures before starting on the assignments.

For me giving up is something that happens after I have lost up all hope of achieving the goal. The feeling of having a slim chance of success is what normally pulls me through. It is true that victory tastes better after a hard struggle. During the last two months I have developed a better attitude while working a full time job and taking this class. It taught me better time management skills, since I had to complete all of these assignments at night after I came home from a full day of work.

To students taking this class next semester I would say you need to plan in advance when you will do assignments. I didn’t set aside time for the first couple weeks, and I struggled to force myself to do the assignments ahead of time. Later on I set aside a couple hours on my calendar in the week, and then I was able to complete the work sooner and do better work. Hard work is a mindset, once you decide to do something put your entire effort into it so you feel like you did the best you can do.

13 A Reading Reflection

13A

I read the Elon Musk autobiography a couple weeks ago, so I will do my reflection on that. My biggest take away from the book is that in life I need to find a problem, and then find a solution. He is not afraid of any problem, and his great acumen has gotten him a fortune. The biggest thing I learned about being an entrepreneur from him is learning everything about the field as fast as possible. When he decided to get into the space business he went and bought a couple textbooks on rocket science, read them cover to cover in a couple days, and then did his calculations and realized everything could be done for so much cheaper. The only part I wish the book went into was the finances of his companies and how he funded them. I know that financing is always one of the hardest things that startups have to deal with, so I wish the book went into detail about how he decided to complete deals with VC’s, and if he regrets any of the early financing decisions he made.
I think his opinion of hard work is that it’s the only way. Even now once he has made hundreds of millions he still works 18 hour days. His first vacation was more than 4 years after he started Tesla. So if he saw someone working 12 hours a day 7 days on a startup he would question why they are not working harder.

I want to try and be more like Musk in the way that I approach problems. Starting a new car company, when there had not been a successful startup in over 80 years, no problem. Creating a rocket company and privatizing something that once cost billions of dollars, no problem. If I approach problems with this type of attitude I will not let the magnitude of a problem stop me from attempting to solve it.

12A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

The biggest thing that I learned is that control over the mower is the number one concern for most people. Zero turn mowers have greatly increased in popularity, and as a result this is a consideration that I would need to design around when coming up with initial design. They were also concerned about the safety with a potential open blade on the side of the mower, and what precautions would be taken to ensure that it couldn’t accidently cut someone. How the extra blade would be powered is another thing people had concern with. I wanted to power it with an extra engine, but most people didn’t like this solution because of all the extra maintenance. I would have to design a way to power the extra blade off the main engine. Based on these interviews I think that I have a bunch more work to do. I would need to talk with as many people as I can, and try to figure out what the customers want.

11A Idea Napkin

My talent is coming up with the most efficient way to solve the problem. I thought about trying to make a lawnmower that is completely autonomous, but I feel like the development costs would be so high, and there are so many variable that it is better to have a human driver the mower until the technology progresses.

I am offering an innovative solution that will increase the efficiency of mowing lawns. It is a simple investment for the customer to make, and it will provide long term gains for them without any extra investment.

The main demographic would be professional lawn care services. My secondary market would be anyone who buys a riding mower, and wants an even bigger mowing width.

They care because it would increase the profitability of their business. They would make an investment today for a long term gain in the future.

My core competencies are that I will be first to the market, and after that everyone else will try and catch up. I will also ensure that I constantly innovate, and have the best design and function to stay ahead of the rest of the market.