30A Final Reflection

The End of Our Journey & The Beginning of Your Journey

After looking at my journey throughout this class, I would say I have grown. When I first began the class, I really thought of the assignments as just being busywork. At times, I wanted to quit and not do it anymore. However, over time I realized how beneficial the assignments were and found them to help me in aspects of my business career. Outside of class, I would be able to make connections to what Dr. Pryor was talking about and was so amazed by the accuracy. I can say this class has given me some valuable tools to help me in my future career and I’m very appreciative of every piece of information Dr. Pryor has shared with us over the semester.

My most formative experience in this class was doing elevator pitches. I liked the idea of me having to convince somebody to partake in my business in such a short amount of time. It showed me how important it is to make the most out of your first impression. It was also cool that I was able to see my improvement in pitches over time and how I got more comfortable with presenting.

I don’t see myself as an entrepreneur, but I do think I have moved closer towards developing an entrepreneurial mindset. I now understand the process of finding an opportunity and how to go about solving this opportunity within a certain audience. As well as, learning to not let my failures stop me, but use it as motivation to improve things and work harder to be successful. All the tools and advice I have learned will be very beneficial to me if I choose to pursue opening a business.

Some recommendations I would make to students going down this path and wanting to perform their best in this class is being open-minded and having time management skills. Each assignment allows you to receive feedback from others and you should be open to it, so it can help you improve on your opportunity. Also, students should have good time management skills because the assignments do take some time to complete and you need to give yourself an ample amount of time to complete them thoroughly. If you work on the assignments throughout the week, you give yourself enough time to work on other classes as well.

29A Venture Concept No. 2

Smart Closet

Opportunity

·      The opportunity that I have identified is offering individuals a product that helps styling be easier. I believe there is an unmet need for people who struggle to pick outfits to wear. This need has been an existing need that applies to teenagers and adults. I am more so targeting the younger audience which would include young adults anywhere from 18-25. The nature of the need is not immediate, it really depends on the person buying the product and how much they struggle with this need. I want to start off small first, so my market will be in South Florida around high schools and colleges.

·      The forces that create this opportunity is self-confidence and how society perceives you. Many people will find this need because they want to look and feel good. If they feel like their outfit doesn’t look good or fit the occasion, they will not feel confident. Also, it is especially important because in today’s society people may judge you based on your outside appearance, so they want to ensure that they always look good.

·      Customers can satisfy this current need by hiring a personal stylist, buying a monthly styling subscription service, or planning in advance. The customer’s loyalty fluctuates; they are only loyal to these solutions if they are continuously satisfied with the quality of service, convenience, and price.

·      This opportunity is kind of small because not everybody finds this as an unmet need. It really depends on the person because some people care about what they wear, and some don’t. However, this window of opportunity will be open forever because people always struggle with coming up with any outfit.

Innovation

·      The innovation in this product is using user feedback to style outfits and allowing them to see how it will look virtually. This will help avoid the struggle of putting together outfits and wasting time trying to figure out a good combination of clothes.

·      To do this, Smart Closet will use a scanner software system that will download and read all pieces of clothes in your closet. Once all the clothes are in the system it will be linked to the app so users can scroll through their items. Users will be then prompted to upload a 360-degree image of their body onto the app to have a virtual image by using their phone camera to scan their bodies. Each day, users will go on the app and answer a short amount of questions that will help the software pick suggested outfits based on their answers. Also, it will show how the options look on the user through the virtual image.

·      I will be selling this service for a one-time fee of $10-20 to accommodate the technology costs and the app will be free. Funds will also come from investors, in-app purchases, and in-app advertisements.

Venture Concept

·      My innovation will solve this opportunity by picking out outfits for a customer to wear decreasing the amount of time it takes for them to pick an outfit and get ready.

·      Customers will buy my product because they are looking for a solution that will actually solve their needs and won’t be inconsistent in producing results. Younger people who have this need, want a consistent service that will help dress them for any occasion and decrease the amount of time it takes to get ready. They will switch to this product because it is affordable, user-specific, and reliable. Also, other businesses in this market don’t really advertise their products, so individuals will be ready to take advantage of my product once it’s out there.

·      The one company that I know is similar to mine is Rabbit Tech Inc. There are also some styling websites like Dailylook and Stitch Fix. All these alternatives make people pay monthly subscriptions, which can be costly for the demographic I am targeting. Besides, I had to do some searching for these companies because I don’t see much advertising for their service.

·      To have a “business” to support the production of this product I would need 30 employees. I would need technology, advertising/marketing, HR, and finance departments. The technology department will consist of the IT techs who create the code for the app and deal with any malfunctions in the app. The marketing department will target our market audience and work closely with the advertising department. Advertising will be in charge of promoting the app, finding companies who want to promote within our app, and finding brand ambassadors. HR will hire/fire the employees and ensure policies are in place so everyone is treated fairly. The finance department will manage the funds in the business and secure investment opportunities.

3 Elements:

·      My most important resources will be being affordable, as well, as user-specific. It is most important to my venture because it sets me apart from the competition and allows my customers to directly feel like their need is being met. Affordability is good for my target audience because they are young and may not have flexible funds to use. Being user specific is key because my audience will know this is the product for them and will help them not regret their purchasing decision.

·      I don’t think I can tackle another opportunity with this current innovation because it is pretty specific to the opportunity. However, I would choose to launch two new product/service that can be aimed at my existing customers. My first product will build on what Smart Closet already offers. I was thinking of a service that will suggest outfits based on inspirations you like or your preferences, allow you to buy them, and have it shipped to your home for customers to wear. The suggested outfits will be under 2 categories. One category will be the regular line, offering stylish clothes but for an affordable price; and an upscale line that is stylish as well but for the wealthier individuals.  My next product will be creating heels that are durable, but also stylish for dance use. In the modeling organization, I am in, we always struggle to find heels that are durable to practice in for our performances. We go through heels about once a month, which is costly and a waste of heels.

·     In the next 5 years, I hope that this innovation will be successful and adopted by individuals and retail stores. As an entrepreneur, this venture will have shown me the do’s and don’ts of my next vision. For my next vision, I feel like I will be more prepared and will have the resources/tools to have another successful product.

Feedback & Changes:

·      I didn’t receive any feedback on my previous venture concept. However, from the “What’s Next” exercise I received feedback that encouraged me to continue with implementing a service that gives consumers the ability to shop from the app and have it shipped to their homes. They also suggested that with this new service, I should also make an additional line of clothes that caters to the wealthier individuals. I enjoyed receiving this feedback and implemented it into my 3 elements of my venture concept. I believe this feedback will be beneficial and will help my product get more exposure.

28A Your Exit Strategy

Exit Strategy

My exit strategy will be to stay with it for 5 years and then probably sell it off depending on the venture’s success. I feel like there is a certain point I can take the company to and at that point, I won’t be able to do much else. I want to pass it on to a buyer and allow them to spin the venture as they wish. This venture was just the beginning of me finding what opportunity I should truly take on.

Why?

I chose this strategy because this venture allowed me to learn from it. Now, I know how crucial feedback is, what tools to use to find the right opportunity and target audience, and can apply my experience to my next venture. I also want to sell it off because, after 5 years, I don’t know how much more I can do with the venture. I feel like at that point I won’t be able to do much more and just need somebody else to take over. The selling factor is also dependent on how well the company is doing. If it is doing well, I might keep it for a couple of years, but if it is not, I’ll sell it to a buyer.

Strategy Influence

My exit strategy has influenced other decisions I’ve made in my concept by showing how I am shifting my focus on another venture and closing the chapter to my first venture. Like I mentioned before, it allows me to know how to identify a proper opportunity and audience to market and sell my product/service through the tools I have learned. As well as, helping me know what people to connect with to build my company and where to look for investors. This exit strategy helps me to grow as an individual and apply my previous experience to the new venture.

27A Reading Reflection No. 3

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

What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of the book is finding success through our failures. Adams talks about his life, challenges he has overcome, and explained his failures. He describes the strategies he used to embrace this failure and use it to his advantage to help him be a successful comic strip writer. The takeaways from this book for me is not following goals but using systems, focusing on your personal energy, and faking it till you make it.

How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book connected and enhanced what we learned in class by emphasizing the point of embracing failure In this class, Professor Pryor encourages us to take risks as an entrepreneur. This is the best time for us to take these risks and fail because the impact is not that huge and will only help get us better. The failures that we encounter early, will allow us to learn from our mistakes and apply them to future decisions.

If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I designed an exercise based on this book, I would make an activity focused on taking risks and being more comfortable. I would ask students to identify 5 things/skills they are bad at or fear and challenge them to do an activity or a job that addresses one of the skills/things. After, I would ask them how they felt after taking the risks and did it help them be more comfortable with trying new things.

What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The biggest surprise moment of this book is Scott telling us to be selfish. We need to make sure that we check on ourselves and that we are good physically and mentally. He realizes that looking after yourself is key because without doing that you aren’t operating properly. Usually in life being selfish has a negative view, but in the book selfishness is good. Adams talks about how you need to focus on yourself first and make sure that you are good in place, before you start helping others. If you’re not together, how can you help someone else? I definitely loved this and agree with his point.