Your Exit Strategy

1.    My exit strategy is to compile as many vapes and people registered into my database as possible within the next 1-2 years. After this, I will then market my database to all big companies looking to sell a nicotine-related product to this demographic. Since I already have all the research on them, I believe a B2B transaction here is very possible. 

2.    2. I have selected this exit strategy because I believe vaping is a fad and will not last in the population. Products like Juul and other nicotine vapes are already under fire for multiple reasons, and now legislation is attacking them as well. Once I have taken the vapes out of many young adult’s hands, I will have solved the need they previously had of a structured way to stop vaping. Once a new company comes along with a product they want to market to this generation that relates to vaping, I believe they will buy my data instead of doing it themselves or getting a 3^rdparty to find the info I already have in my hands. 

3.    I believe my exit strategy has influenced my decisions in a variety of ways. The biggest influence is on the short-term life expectancy of my company. Like I stated before, I believe vaping is an epidemic, but a fad. It will crash just as quickly as it rose. And I will be here to catch the falling fruit, disperse it and go about my life onto my next product. Also, since my business is only making money after all the data is collected, I need the lifespan to be short so I can get to the point where I make a profit. Keeping the company’s life span short allows me to collect the data and sell it in a year or two, making all my efforts worthwhile. It also has influenced how I collect resources. Since I don’t have to buy any inventory or have my own money tied up in the company, I can afford to make the life span short and have no consequences or debt to pay for it. 

Reading Reflection No. 3

1.    For this assignment, I read Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow. The general theme of this book is looking into the human brain in order to better understand why each person behaves the way they do. A main focusof the book is decision making. Kahneman presents two basic systems of decision making. The first is System 1. System 1 decision making involves automatic responses that require no deeper thinking. For example, a System 1 decision would be picking up the TV remote. You do this quickly and usually without struggle, since your brain has done it so many times before and the pathways already exist. System 2 involves the slower, more cognitive decisions. It would be something like solving a puzzle, planning a wedding, and other more complex decisions. Kahneman also covers topics like choices, intuition, biases, and a fascinating look into what he explains as “the two selves” (experiencing vs remembering). Overall, his 5 main parts of the book combine to give an in-depth look into why individuals operate the way they do from a cognitive standpoint. 

2.    For me, the best connection I could make between this book and ENT3003 was when Kahneman referenced “The Law of Small Numbers.” So often we hear about the rags to riches story of an entrepreneur with a billion-dollar idea. However, as the law shows, these are not representative of the population. Millions of entrepreneurial ideas fail every single year, while only a select number make a ton of money. It is important to keep this in mind as an entrepreneur. As ENT3003 has shown us, failure is common and needs to be embraced in order to achieve success someday. You will fail a hundred times before you can succeed once. Not everyone can be a millionaire, but with hard work, and idea and the right state of mind, success is achievable. 

3.    If I were to design an exercise based off of something from this book, I would focus on Kahneman’s “Frames and Realities” chapter. Nowadays, it is easy for media outlets to make you perceive events in a different way than is reality. FOXNews and CNN can report on the same event in two completely different ways. In order to help students filter through the noise and find the truth of the matter, I would design an exercise that focuses on a recent event. The class would be separated into two groups, each with different agendas. They would then have to come up with a storyline that fits their agenda. After presenting, the entire class will be assigned with writing a report on the true events, without bias. This will help them see how news can be easily manipulated and framed, while being far from the truth of what actually happened. Getting students to think objectively and focus on the facts in any given situation will only help them in the real world later on. 

4.    The most surprising part to me was Kahneman’s Illusion of Understanding. He states that since we believe we understand the past, we should be able to know the future as well. The two problems with this are that: we don’t understand our past nearly as well as we think we do, and that the future is uncertain and very hard to predict. I made a connection to this point with a bias I learned about in another class, the hindsight bias. So many times, I have thought to myself “oh, I should’veseen that coming!” or “How did I miss that!” To me Kahneman’s Illusion of Understanding has helped me to seek to understand my past more, so that I can better predict the future and not make the same mistake twice. While it may seem simple, it was definitely the biggest “aha” moment for me when reading. And the best part about it is that it is something I can work on today.

Celebrating Failure

1. I failed most recently at my job. As the video coordinator for UF Women's Soccer, I am responsible for all video presentations for the team. At the SEC Tournament, the head coach wanted me to show a pump up video a few hours before the game took place. I was fully prepared, with the video, projector, extra speaker, etc. Upon starting the video, I realized the sound was not nearly loud enough. The room was huge, making the noise from my speaker seem mouse-like. It didn't have the right effect on the team, and the head coach let me know afterwards.
2. The biggest thing I learned from this experience is to not trust technology. Even if you have used it before and it has worked seamlessly, always show up early and test it out just in case. It is better plan ahead. As the cliche goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. The other takeaway from this failure is that while people might be upset that you let them down in the workplace, it is not a personal attack. You must remind yourself that, at the end of the day, you are all friends and will remain friends. Sometimes, the workplace causes problems. It is only if those problems carry over into your personal lives that it becomes a real issue.
3. Overall, I handle failure quite well in the workplace. I do not take it personally and I never make the same mistake twice. I always strive to be the best I can be, so failure can hit hard sometimes. But in the end, I always remind myself that none of this really matters and to not take life too seriously. Whenever I do fail, I make sure to make people forget about it by going over the top on my next task or assignment. This class has helped change my perspective on failure by showing me it is not the end all be all. Failure is simply a part of success. You fail everyday in pursuit of that one success. Failure is common, success is rare. You can't have one without the other. I feel as if I am more likely to take a risk now after this class.

What's Next?

Existing Market:

            The path that makes the most sense for my venture is to get the website up and running and start collecting vapes and data immediately. Vaping in America is a hot topic right now, and the window is closing each day in terms of being able to take advantage of this opportunity. My service in the existing market is B2C. Having local stops where people can turn in their vapes was unpopular, but it spawned a new idea. Instead of renting out buildings and creating unnecessary costs, it would be easier to just set up a tent in public spaces. Particularly college campuses, where our target market is located.

            By providing college kids with access to both an online and in-person place to get rid of their vapes for a health insurance discount, we ensure that all of our target market has access to our service. Many college kids are 100% online now, so being able to give them the same opportunity as students walking the campus each day to turn in their vapes is essential. This was not something I had taken into consideration before this assignment. This expands my existing market, college kids, without having to do any tinkering with my offer to the people at all. 

New Market:

My original assumption that a potential B2B opportunity would be present after a database was created of previous vapers was somewhat correct. Market research is a huge part of every company nowadays, many of them hiring 3^rdparties to do so. In my case, I’ve already done the work for them, so they wouldn’t need to hire me. It would be a simple, one time transaction for my database. The only potential problem with this new market is it relies on another company or product being created that does not exist yet. 

            In order for my B2B market to work, something else needs to happen in vape legislation for my idea to hold water. As the legislation stands right now, only flavored vapes are banned from society. If vapes do get banned altogether, a company could arise that markets a product that is a replacement to the vape. My data would work here, as they would target all the people I have provided my service to, previous vapers. If the legislation goes the other way, and the ban is lifted on flavored vapes, I am also in good shape. Now I can sell my database to the vaping companies who are back in business. While the ethics of this second outcome are questionable, the point remains that legislation would have to change again in order for my database to be profitable. If legislation doesn’t change, I am reliant on a new product that replaces the vape to be created and become popular so I can sell my database to that company. 

Venture Concept No. 1 (Bye-Bye Vape)

Over the course of this semester I have created a service that allows for the vaping epidemic to be combatted. Deaths and illnesses caused by vaping continue to rise every single day in the United States. With my service, high school and college kids are able to get rid of their vape in exchange for their information going into a registry and a discount on their health insurance. The name of the company is Bye-Bye Vape.

The opportunity I have identified is the vaping epidemic in the United States during 2019. Since the beginning, we have seen everything from Juul giving their employees $1 million+ each in dividends, to legislation being passed that bans flavored vapes altogether. One thing is for certain, vaping is dying out and young adults don’t have a structured way to get rid of their vapes if they want to. For those high school and college kids that don’t want to get rid of them, they haven’t been incentivized enough yet either. That is where I have positioned my service. I have targeted Americans between the ages of 18-25 that have a will to get rid of their vapes, as well as trying to incentivize those who do not want to get rid of them even after legislation has been passed. The nature of the need is to end the vaping epidemic in America and help our next generation become healthier and lead better lifestyles. Customers are currently satisfying this need by throwing away their vapes. Instead of throwing them away, my company will provide them a discount on their healthcare plan, giving them a reward for quitting vaping. The opportunity here is massive. Vapes became a huge trend in the United States in 2018 and 2019. Now that the current legislation has banned some vapes, along with the rising health risks being associated with vaping, the opportunity has only grown larger. However, the window will not stay open forever. If new legislation were to be passed furthering the ban, or the ban is lifted, the window for my service to thrive will close. In order to combat this unknown timeline, action must be taken immediately in order to ensure this opportunity is taken advantage of by my company.

My service is innovative because no other service like it exists at the moment. It addresses a pressing need that can boost the health of an entire generation and end an epidemic that stains young adult’s livelihoods. My service will allow people to turn in their vapes to me, fill out some brief, secure paperwork with their insurance information, and in return they will receive a discount on their health insurance policy. Customers can stop by one of our regional locations to do so, or they can visit our website and do it all online. If choosing the online version, they will have to mail in their vape to our P.O. Box. While in this process we will not be making any money, the second phase of this plan will involve a business to business transaction. In order to make this idea profitable monetarily (by ending the vape epidemic, we are profiting from a humanity perspective), I will take my database that I have collected and market it to one of two business. The first could be a new company that is selling a product to help people deal with the aftermath of nicotine addiction. By having already done all the research for them by collecting a database of people who once had a nicotine addiction, I can sell this information to them. The other potential customer of this database are vaping companies. If the vaping ban is lifted and vaping companies improve their products, I can sell my database to these companies who are back on the market. How much the database will cost is not yet determined at this point, but it will not be cheap. An idea that has been brought up is repurposing the vapes and reselling them for profit. While a serviceable idea hasn’t been thought of yet, it is entirely possible that we could use the free inventory we are collecting to create an entirely new product to sell. 

            My innovation will solve the opportunity highlighted above by giving young Americans a structured way to get rid of their vapes that doesn’t exist yet, all while helping to save them or their parents money by getting a discount on their health insurance for making a positive lifestyle choice. It will not be hard to get customers who want to stop vaping to use my service. It will be more difficult to get customers who do not want to stop vaping to use my service, but the incentive might sway them. As of right now, there are no competitors on the market that are trying to do the same thing as my company. To start-up, I will not need an employees to work with me. If the operation is a success, I will look into hiring dedicated people to assist me with the vast amount of information being sent to our company.

            The most important resource in this venture is my relationship with the generation to which I am appealing. Having a college kid run a business that provides a service for college kids will create a sense of familiarity and form a connection that I can take advantage of when marketing my service. The next opportunity I want to tackle is creating a product from the vapes that are sent to me that I can sell back to the public. This is tough, as I need to think of a product people want that is sensible and reasonable to make. As for myself, I want this company to have almost eradicated vaping by 2024, potentially expanding into a different country that has similar vaping problems In their population. 

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources:

1.    My love for public speaking

·     V: Very valuable, it is a skill that is not possessed by many

·     R: Yes, most people would rather die than speak in public.

·     I: Yes, there are other people who are better than me at public speaking.

·     N: No, while valuable, someone else could fill-in for me in public speaking situations.

2.    Knowledge on web design and running my own website

·     V: Yes, can save money by not having to pay someone else to make it for me.

·     R: No, there are plenty of web design programs out there today.

·     I: Yes, it is easier than ever in today’s world to become educated on any topic, web-design is not a unique field of expertise that I possess.

·     N: No, a quick google search can provide thousands of web-design services that are both free or cost money.

3.    Possession of Adobe Creative Cloud Software and knowledge on how to use it

·     V: Yes, I can create my own advertisements, images, logos, etc.

·     R: Yes, It is a skill that needs to practiced and acquired over time.

·     I: Yes, anyone with a computer and the money can purchase the software and educate themselves on it.

·     N: No, plenty of people on this planet are fluent in the Adobe Creative Cloud software and have jobs utilizing it.

4.    My relatability to my customers

·     V: Yes, college kids will be more inclined to believe someone who is exactly like them than an older person who “has no idea what they are talking about.”

·     R: Yes, no other vape company or anti-vaping group has such a relationship with its customers.

·     I: No, the owners of vaping companies and such are all older and not of this generation. 

·     N: Yes, this relatability between me and my customers is not something anyone can buy for any dollar amount. 

5.    My company requires $0 to start

·     V: Very valuable, as a poor college student it allows me to start my business without incurring any debt.

·     R: Yes, most businesses require some sort of initial investment or start-up costs.

·     I: Yes, it is possible for someone to create another business that doesn’t have an start-up costs.

·     N: No, investors could potentially help out other companies, thus eliminating the owners personal start-up costs.

6.    Social media knowledge and fluency

·     V: Yes, every product needs a social media that targets its consumers nowadays.

·     R: No, social media is utilized by basically every company on Earth.

·     I: Yes, anyone can make a social media and research the tactics needed to be successful at it. 

·     N: Yes, no other platforms provide the reach and direct connection to consumers as social media does.

7.    I own all the resources necessary in order to start this business today

·     V: Yes, I have to do no other planning or shopping in order to start my venture.

·     R: Yes, usually companies take some time to plan out and form, but I have already done so.

·     I: No, you can’t imitate hard work without hard work. 

·     N: Yes, it is the same reason as the imitable section. Hard work is hard work, there is no replacement for it.

8.    Society views the product I am trying to get rid of as “bad” and needing a solution to this epidemic

·     V: Yes, this will drive people to want to use my services immediately. 

·     R: No, society is constantly changing and causing certain trends to become hot and cold overnight. 

·     I: No, a single individual can’t force an idea upon society if they don’t want to believe it.

·     N: Yes, it is binary. Either society sees your product as necessary or it does not. In my case, it does.

9.    Only one person is needed to make my business begin

·     V: Yes, I can make sure all the work is done appropriately and on time since it is my responsibility. 

·     R: No, plenty of companies start as a solo endeavor.

·     I: Yes, most entrepreneurs are prepared to begin their ideas as an individual and do so. 

·     N: Yes, again it is binary. Either you are a solo or you are working in a team. Teams can do some things better than individuals and vice-versa. There is no substitute for working on your own. 

10.  Knowledge of the areas where the service could be marketed

·     V: Yes, knowing where the target market is and how they behave is a good starting point for advertisement.

·     R: No, almost all companies do research on their consumers and know where they are spending their money and for what reasons.

·     I: Yes, anyone can do research on the Gainesville area and see where kids who vape are likely to spend their money. 

·     N: Yes, this knowledge requires both personal experiences and research. It is time consuming and can’t be replicated unless you get “boots on the ground” in these areas. 

After reviewing my resources, I believe that my relatability to my consumers is my most valuable asset. For almost all of our lives, we have been told what to do by old people and giving our money to companies run by people we aren’t familiar with. As a college student, my peers will have a connection with me and feel comfortable using my service because of this relationship. No longer will they feel that disconnect between generations when hearing my advertisements or my talks about vaping. They will have a fresh, relatable face to hear from that understands the culture they live in on a day-to-day basis. Most of my resources are replicable and substitutable, but this one is not.

Elevator Pitch 3

1. 

2. The best feedback I received was to round my statistic in the beginning. Instead of 1496 people, I used 1500. The most outrageous piece of feedback I got was to talk slower. I'm an Italian, it's part of who I am to talk fast and talk loud. It's what I bring to the table!

3. Based on the feedback, I tried to talk slower and be more concise in my pitch. I have found myself very comfortable with my pitch now and able to recite it from memory. Also, the camera has never bothered me, so I feel as if my elevator pitch is almost perfect at this point.

Reading Reflection No. 2

1. For this assignment, I read Guy Kawasaki's & Peg Fitzpatrick's The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users. The general theme of this book was boosting your social media presence via numerous tactics that are simple yet often overlooked. Some of these tactics include: treating your social media with a professional mindset, content creation vs content curation, linking your different accounts to drive users from one account to the other, etc. While some of the ideas presented seemed fairly obvious to myself (since I grew up with social media like the rest of my generation), others who did not grow up with it could take more away from this book. The best idea, in my opinion, presented in this book was the mixture of content creation vs content curation. Most of us are familiar with creating content for our audiences on social media. However, not all of us curate other people's content and share it with our followers. It is much easier and takes far less time than content creation. The key here is to share content your audience is interested in, and give your own brief summary of the article or video.
2. This book connected with ENT3003 because it not only mentioned blogging, but it showed how to incorporate your blog into your social media. While this class places the material and assignments into a blogging format, this book helps to highlight the other potential benefits of social media tools like Twitter and Facebook. I felt as if this book was a good addition to the content we are learning in class, highlighting a couple different social media tools and tactics that can help strengthen my chances of success as an entrepreneur. In this class we have focused on content creation and strengthening our blogging skills. This book shows that content curation is just as important, and is necessary to succeed in today's online entrepreneurship world.
3. If I had to design an exercise based on this book, it would be a practice in content curation. For example, this assignment is the closest we get to content curation in this class. I would have students find a post on Twitter or Facebook that relates to ENT3003 and the course material. I would then have them summarize the post and share it on their blog or personal Twitter or Facebook account. The focus would be on finding a quality post that their classmates would benefit from and want to read/see. This would help students get a better grasp of content curation and the positives it can bring to their social medias.
4. The biggest"aha" moment for me was having the mindset that your social media needs to be treated like a business. Meme culture has become a staple on the internet. Log on to any social media platform and you are bound to be bombarded with finny videos, pictures, and all sorts of whack content. While you can enjoy this content, it is probably not in your best interest to share most of it on your professional social media. In order for your audience to take you seriously, you need to have a good mixture of content that you create and curate. This doesn't mean it has to be 100% super serious, almost robotic. It also doesn't mean you can't share your views or opinions. You just need to be aware of what you are sharing at what time, keeping the majority of it professional. Always ask yourself, "would my audience want to see this?" before clicking the post button. If you want to be a pro at social media, you have to act like one and think like one. It is a skill. Skills take practice and time to master. Doing these things will help you have a greater online presence.