27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

I think the thing that surprised me most about the entrepreneur I read about was how open minded and creative he was. I think that Elon Musk had a skill in seeing things that few others were able to see and he was not the person to stop another from following their dreams. I think that this is also something I really admired when it came to that as I really appreciate someone who can be supportive in scenarios where no one else can be.  His ideas and companies that he created were crazy important in helping people around the country getting things they themselves wanted done. I think the thing that I least admired when it came to this entrepreneur is what can be seen in real life with some of his announcements and how sometimes he does not take things seriously at the risk of other people's lives. I guess something that can bee said about this is that this could be his way of relaxing but it could also harm others. Yes, Musk definitely encountered adversity and failures such as choosing between two of his companies Tesla and SpaceX. To solve this issue he was able to take some risks and also work with the government to save both of his companies eventually. As previously mentioned, the competency that I was able to notice was that the entrepreneur exhibited to see things other were not able to identify. I think Musk was great at seeing an opportunity and taking up on that chance to really start something and get people interested in his ideas. I think the thing that confused me was how crazy Elon could get with some ideas. I think it was interesting that he wanted to save the human race, but his solutions were way out there and things that are very hard to accomplish. I think two questions that I would ask Elon Musk is what company he thinks his greatest mistake was in and what he would have done differently with that company if he could go back in time. I would be interested in this as I would want to see what new ideas he created in his journey of following his dreams. I think that the entrepreneur really prioritized hard work as a key skill to have to accomplish many things. This is obviously something I agree with as this combined with passion can unlock many more doors in finding one's own ideas for specific opportunities. 

28A – Your Exit Strategy

The exit strategy I would probably have is two different possibilities. The first possibility is continuing to grow the business if I see that the business is capable of growing to other parts of the country. If that path does not work, then the other possible plan I have after 5 years is seeing whether or not another company would bee interested in purchasing the company.  This particular strategy I think works really well for me because when you work in the technology industry, if other companies start noticing your product they have a larger group of employees that can easily see flaws in your product and exploit those by making a product that does not have any of those weaknesses. If the business does look like it can grow I do intend to state with the business for several decades because I want to be able to help that business grow myself and protect the venture as a family business that can be passed down to someone who I know can run it really well. I think that the exit strategy I have made has made me think about how to optimize the product to not just be able to be used in one specific scenario but be able to be used in multiple other scenarios. This way it will allow for the product to expand to other parts of the country or it can connect well with another company that is interested in purchasing this product. I don't think it has influenced my growth intentions if anything it has put me on a specific timeline to make sure things don't fall behind and allows me to get everything out at the same time in a successful manner.

26A – Celebrating Failure Submit Assignment

A recent event in which I failed within a class assignment was my attempt in programming a hardware piece that I had to get working. The hardware piece itself had to start displaying an image that would change based on buttons that the hardware piece had. Something that can be annoying with hardware projects is that sometimes a person cannot tell if the issue is software or hardware related. I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out the issue and had to ask for an extension. Eventually, I had to ask for help and was able to find the issue that was creating so many of the different problems I was facing. From this I was able to learn a few things. I learned that trying several different paths in solving something is not the end of the world even though it may be bothersome. I also was able to learn that asking for help is not a bad thing either and can also help speed up the process, because with the help of another person that person may be able to see the issue that another person may never be able to solve. My failure was not the first time someone has questioned whether their own work or the items that they had was failing the tests that they needed to solve. It definitely is hard though and can sometimes be embarrassing if others can solve it a lot faster. I realized though that its not the end if you can't figure something out and just have to contact someone for guidance. I will state though that my emotional state is not the best when I am failing as sometimes I will just start freaking out but eventually I will calm down and try to figure out the issue. This class itself has changed my perspective on failure as I have realized that failing is part of the process in creating new things or creating new solutions. I definitely am more likely in taking a risk that I was a few months ago as there is no way something else will be created without taking some form of risk. 

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market

The next step in my venture would be going towards groups that travel to provide my product and allow them to experience the same thing beach goers are able to experience. After interviewing three customers that I already identified as part of my market they said different things that are all possible plans for this venture. The most surprising recommendation was targeting more people than just beaches, which is similar to the next step I created as it would allow for a larger reach for my product and allow more people to experience how my technology works. The second customer said that I should create more products that targeted beach goers. This was a possible path as instead of expanding my customer base it would create another product that people would appeal to the same group to buy another product. The third customer said to just expand the company even more to other countries, This last suggestion was something I did not consider as I never thought of expanding outside of the united states but think is a great idea. 

Through this, I think there are several paths that I can take to grow into a larger company. I think the best path is to first look into expanding the reach my company has inside the united states such as those who travel on a constant basis. From there I think that it can then be expanded even more like another customer was saying to have a larger reach in beaches outside of the united states.

New Market

The market I am considering is more of a middle class group where any person can afford this product. The radically different market that I can target is the more wealthier groups of people that can afford a lot more than the middle class can. Thee venture concept that I have might be able to create a value for people in that market if the quality is upgraded and technology can be used in parallel with things such as their yachts and other cool vehicles. Other things that this can do is that the technology can be invested into its own cup and would therefore have to be somewhat bulkier but still worth it. The amount of effort it would take to put all the technology into a cup would be a lot, but it would please a more affluent group. The two customers I talked to said that the idea I had would be a good idea as long as it is portable. Both of the customers I interviewed said that they already had coolers integrated in the stuff that they had, but something such as a transportable device could come in handy. One of the customers said that they think if the design of the product is well developed then the value could rise a lot as many people would want it just by the looks. 

I think that this market is a hard one to hit as the more affluent group of people can be pickier with what they want. Even with that though, this market isn't unreachable as the design I have created can be changed slightly and have new added features to appeal to that group. The expectation of integrating it with other stuff that they already have is something that is already occurring but they did give me another possible idea in focusing on the design of the product as well. This new product is still a reach as it can be a very hard one to appeal to. 

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Chill Out

The Cool Company

The Opportunity 

Beach goers and constant travelers are the primary targets of my company. There is a need for a way to control the temperature of a drink to achieve satisfaction with the item being consumed and for this item to be easily transportable. The certain reason people need this is because people are constantly doing these two activities and have to either face room temperature to warm drinks or deal with things that are heavier than necessary to control their drinks temperature. This market is primarily target geographically to beach goers as this will be where most people will benefit from this product. It may expanded later on to airports as it can also help those who are constantly traveling throughout the country. The customers are currently satisfying this need by dealing with the inconvenience of just not having a drink at the correct temperature or carrying bulky containers that can be displeasing. The biggest loyalty customers may have to what they use now is if they have a family the bulkiness may not be significant enough to repel them from this process and go to my product. At the moment this opportunity is not that big because of coronavirus but after the fact it may become bigger as more people will want to go to the beach and travel. The window of opportunity will open shortly after the pandemic starts to subside and will only last for a certain amount of time.

The Innovation 

My device is creating a simple device that can hold a cup or any random sized container and then control the temperature that cup contains. This device will be manually controlled by the user using buttons that will then control software to change the temperature of the drink. For this product several goals will be met one of them being transportability. This product will be small enough to fit in a backpack, but it will also be capable of expanding to larger sizes that will fit anything that the consumer may want to use. The device will also come in several colors to attract as many people as possible and have different themes that can relate to the beach or any important events that are occurring at that time. This device will also have special material that will be sand resistant to not fall apart and break on the consumer that purchased the product. There will be three possible products that the consumer will be able to decide between. The first product will be $10 and will be able to only hold cups that can fit into car holders. The second product that will be an option will be $15 and will be capable of holding cups and larger containers such as bowls, this product will be expandable but still be able to be used in tasks such as traveling and beach going. The third product that will be obtainable is a higher quality design that can be controlled by a phone and will cost $35. These three products will allow people to decide what product will best fit their lifestyles. 

Venture Concept

The reason that this device will allow people to switch to the new product is because this product will meet two of the needs that these people need, one being the need of a drink's temperature that a consumer can control and the other need having a transportable and easy to use device. It may be hard for some people to switch to my device as people like to stick with things that they have always stayed with so a large cooler may be something they see as more appealing, but if this device is marketed enough, I think that it will be amazing in bringing and attracting more people to the product. The competitors would most likely be companies that create coolers and other similar companies such as yeti. Thee most possible weakness of all this would have to be that they do not target beaches like my company would. As this is marketing towards the beach, packaging will be simple which will also lower the cost of creating this product. The price points I have explained before come in increments to allow people to be able to have choices between how much they want to spend on this product. Customer support will be important in helping people with products that are broken and the customer experience is just as valuable as we would need to know if the product is good enough quality to last the beach environment and also easy to use for everyone. These customers will allow for the business to be better shaped to increase customer happiness. I would organize this business to have four to five different teams each specializing in their specific field. The three core groups would be marketing, software, and human resources. These teams will allow for the company to have specialized people that can work together and produce a good item that will please several consumers. The number of employees would differ per each team but at the moment the entire team would be around 10 people and then grow as the company grows. 

The Three Minor Elements

The most important resource I think will be the experience that I have. The experience I have will allow for this product to be created at a low price using the software knowledge I have and will also allow for my experiences with going to the beach so often to be used. The experience I have will not be as common as not everyone knows how to code and not everyone goes to the beach so often. With this, the product I can create can then have things that stand out from the rest as they will be specific to the beach. 

The next opportunity I want to tackle with my innovation is going to the traveling business. Not only will it be useful in going to the beach, but it can be useful for people who are on the constant go and need smaller things that will allow them to still be happy with their travel. The next thing for me is to have a running company that will be selling in both sides of the country in every major beach area to maximize the reach the company has. This will most definitely be a 5 year goal if not longer as it will take time to start off in Florida and then grow on the east side of the country and then the west side. I think that after this I want the company to start creating more products to expand their reach even more in other markets and things that a person may need. This first venture will allow me to get to new ideas that will allow me to invest in more things and really help me grow more businesses. 

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1. Software Experience-
1. Valuable: Highly Valuable as it makes many tasks easier to do. 
2. Rare: This is not the easiest to come by as it can take many years of experience to be a capable software engineer. 
3. Inimitable: With enough schooling this is easy to imitate. 
4. Non-Substitutable: Needed for this product as something needs to be programmed to correctly control the temperature. 
2. Mechanical Engineering Relations-
1. Valuable: Highly Valuable as it is important for the product as a whole. 
2. Rare: Similarly to the previous one, it's not the easiest thing to come by because of the needed schooling. 
3. Inimitable: This is imitable as long as someone goes to school.  
4. Non-Substitutable: Needed for this product as something needs to contain the technology that is being used to control the temperature. 
3. Low Cost for a Quality Product-
1. Valuable: Somewhat valuable as it will not pose a problem for people who prefer spending on inexpensive items. 
2. Rare: Not rare at all as there are always cheap products that attempt to do similar things. 
3. Inimitable: This is imitable with the right planning.   
4. Non-Substitutable: Hard to substitute something at a low price. 
4. Personal Beach experience-
1. Valuable: Valuable as I have experience in products that may or may not be affected by the beach environment. 
2. Rare: Not rare as there are many people who have beach experience. 
3. Inimitable: This is imitable with the right planning.   
4. Non-Substitutable: This kind of experience is hard to substitute. 
5. Low Cost in producing the Product-
1. Valuable: Valuable as I have experience in products that may or may not be affected by the beach environment. 
2. Rare: Not rare as there are many people who have beach experience. 
3. Inimitable: This is imitable with the right planning.   
4. Non-Substitutable: This kind of experience is hard to substitute. 
6. Transportability- 
1. Valuable: Somewhat valuable as it can allow the product to be used in several locations but it also may limit how often it can be used. 
2. Rare: Rare as there are very few items that can do this and be small. 
3. Inimitable: Imitable with correct planning. 
4. Non-Substitutable: The size of the product cannot really be substitutable.  
7. Solid Starting Fund- 
1. Valuable: Important as there are several things that need to be invested in and mass produced. 
2. Rare: Not super rare but not super common either. 
3. Inimitable: With enough time this can be done as well. 
4. Non-Substitutable: Loans. 
8. Optimal Location- 
1. Valuable: As my product is targeting beach goers this is really valuable. 
2. Rare: Not as Rare as there are several locations for beach goers. 
3. Inimitable: Yes as long as a beach is near. 
4. Non-Substitutable: Somewhat substitutable as it can target other similar locations.
9. Strong Instagram and Facebook Presence- 
1. Valuable: This is really important as people who are going to the beach will constantly be updating their social media. 
2. Rare: Not as rare.
3. Inimitable: Yes 
4. Non-Substitutable: Not really, socially media is the best in outreaching to large groups of people. 
10. Good Customer Service- 
1. Valuable: Somewhat important as my device is going to be cheap so people may choose to just purchase the same product again after a few months, but needs to be present for people who got broken products at the very . 
2. Rare: No
3. Inimitable: Yes 
4. Non-Substitutable: No Customer service cannot really be replaced. 

After looking through the list, I have decided that the most important trait would have to be the experience in software that comes with my company. This can be a very costly thing as it takes a lot of schooling to do this and is really important to the product that is being made. A lot of the other 9 items can be imitated or are not as expensive. 

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/IhCcs0xWsh4

Again I did not receive too much feedback. Through my family, I was told that I spent too much time giving stories as there were moments in my last two elevator pitches where I went on about going to the beach and forgetting ice. I think that this was good advice as sometimes I went too deep into the story and forgot the device that I was trying to get to other people. 

Based on the advice, I was able to shorten up my story and instead talk more about the device I am creating. Something else I feel that was differnt from the other videos was my ability to speak in front of the camera. Even though there may have been one moment where I forgot what I was saying, I think that the way I communicated through video was a lot better than the past two. 

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

The book that I have chosen is How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. The general theme of the book was that in creating a business there are several paths and difficulties that a person may face and can learn from. I think that Scott Adam was trying to teach how these experiences can help shape someone into becoming more successful as starting something in the sense of a business is not dependent on one characteristic. The book in my opinion connected and enhanced what I learned from ENT by reinforcing what I have learning about all the different things a person needs to start up a business. Whether it be human capital or other kinds of capital it is important to be diverse in all the skill sets a person has and try to open up as many doors to have the best possible path in the future. A possible exercise that I would have the class do is look into having an idea of a business and planning out a month of plans that the business needs. I would then get them to write down all failures and successful tasks that are accomplished and write down any characteristics they learned of themselves that can help them in the future or need improvement. The biggest surprise when reading the book was that no matter how hard you work with one skill you cannot go far without using several other skills. Starting a business is not as easy as it sounds and needs many things to be a successful plan. 

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1. Raveena Patel is a user interface software engineer that works on ensuring that customers can easily use applications to complete any tasks needed. She has several years of experience coding in python, C++, and other languages. 

2. Domain Expert- Seeing that the device I am creating will need software to function correctly Raveena fits perfectly for this. 

3. Looking throughout my network I was asking a couple of friends from Pennsylvania who knew a full time software engineer that could give me information and advice on what to do. I ended up finding Raveena to give me advice on how to create my idea.   

4. Raveena said that this device software-wise is relatively easy. Some advice she gave when it came to this was to create several tests to ensure that the product would meet all the standards and promises that I set out to make the device do. She also said that splitting up the work amongst multiple software engineers would also speed up the process and allow them to focus on the tasks that the have. She was really nice to me as we had mutual friends that connected us together to talk about my idea. 

5. Including this person in my network not only will allow me to have more people that have software skills to help, but can allow me to find people to test the product in its initial stages when it comes to software use. 

1. Amanda Hazel Dilmore is a Data Scientists that deals with metal detections device. 

2. Expert in Market- Amanda specifically deals with how the device is going to be used in a beach setting and how different settings can alter the device and how customer experience on the beach can be maximized. 

3.This time I looked through through my California links and through some friends I found someone who had actual experience with beach materials a market that is really important for my device. 

4. Amanda gave me advice to products that came to the beach. She said that technology and other products itself can be in danger of more wear and tear than usual because of the harsher climate that it has to be in considering the sand and sun that it will constantly be used in. Through this she said to look into materials that can stand together well to make sure the product lasts long as well. Similarly, this person was friendly with me because of our mutual friends that we could talk about. 

5. Including Amanda in my network link will allow me to have someone that can give me advice on how effective and how good of quality my device will be before it is produced. This is something that is super important as it will allow people to have good usage of my product. 

1. Pablo Luna deals with 3-D printing and mechanical engineering required tasks that is required for the products to function correctly. 

2. Important Supplier To Industry- Having experience with printing out devices, Pablo can be amazing resource when it comes to making the container that will be holding the drinks to change its temperature. 

3. Through the University of Florida itself, I looked through organizations that used AUTOCAD and tried to see if I could find any people who have graduated and can help with supplying the outer layout of the container. Through this I found Pablo who supplies material using 3D printing that can help me with my device. 

4. Pablo said that the device I could create wouldn't be too difficult. He said to ensure that I took into account any heat that would be produced by the technology that is placed inside the plastic and also advised me in creating multiple prototypes before sticking onto one of the handles that I have decided on. In return I talked to him about how the organization he used to be in was doing and what current tasks they were on. 

5. Including Pablo will be a good networking choice as he can be a great person to ask for help before I decide on a specific device. This will not only ensure that the design I choose is a good choice but can also help me lower the cost of producing my devices. 

This experience will allow me to be open minded in speaking to more people I meet on a daily basis. There are many times I meet a person and never keep contact with them because I have no interest in what they are doing. Now I have an interest in what many people are doing because they can help me in the future. This experience didn't really differ from my networking experience in the past. Usually I ask my friends or people I know around and see if there is someone they know that can help me. With this I will be able to connect with people as fast as possible.  

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1)    I am Santiago Clavijo-Gomez and I study at the University of Florida. I major in computer engineering and I am also a rising senior interested in going to graduate school. I have industry experience with my specific major as I have interned in software engineering for Texas Instruments specifically in quality assurance and improvement. Through personal experience, I believe that I am quite resourceful and great with working in teams. I think something that really helps me with this is the ability to communicate well with others. Specific aspirations I have that pertain to this business is using my college education to make an efficient piece of technology at a low-cost to manufacture and something that will stand out amongst any competitor that is created. I also hope to have this company go nationwide where it is seen as a technology driven company to help satisfy people. It would be great to use my own personal hobbies such as going to the beach and fishing all the time to my advantage for this product. As this can relate to many people and how they might struggle with drink temperature when they are doing this as well. 

2)    The product I am offering is a device that will act as a handle to a cup and control the temperature of the liquid. This device can be manually controlled or can be set to a certain temperature all the time. This device will also be capable of easily changing sizes to fit any kind of cup to expand the experience of the customer and allow the owner to easily travel with it. With this device, I can now help the customers’ unmet need of not being able to have a drink at a temperature they want. Something else that this device will be able to do is be easily usable for people who are traveling as it will be transportable being able to change size. It will come in different textures and have different designs that will target specific areas such as people who love to go to the beach.

3)    The specific demographic of people that I am trying to target can include people who are interested in traveling and people taking breaks throughout the day that are not near any electrical sources. Now more specifically I am also targeting avid beach goers as they are constantly in heat and constantly need cold drinks to refresh themselves. The reasons that I am targeting these specific people is that they can benefit from having a device that is transportable and I have personal experience with scenarios like this as I travel a lot and live in Florida. A common issue that all these people can relate to is the need to want a correct temperature drink but be nowhere near an area that can provide that. 

4)    Recently it has come to my attention that there are competitors but this is not a problem as the device I am offering will be of low cost and bring a better experience. A common problem of being outside a building is not having a drink at the correct temperature a person wants. There is a device that can help keep a drink at a consistent temperature, but this is only beneficial if the drink is at the correct temperature. The device I am proposing will help correct the temperature of the drink.

5)    Certain things that separates me from everyone else is my experience with working in the technological realm and experience in traveling several times without an easy way of controlling my drinks temperature. I think something else that splits me from everyone else is the industry experience I have in quality to ensure everything is made properly. My device is also not a container itself and therefore does not need any cleaning at all. The cost of the device would not be too high compared to the expensive containers that are used to keep the temperature of the drink consistent as well.

 

Looking at this again, I believe that the elements mesh really well. People who want to go to the beach dont want to be spending hundreds of dollars for a device so a lower priced device is perfect for customers. Even with this, people who are traveling may want a more luxurious device and this can also be adjusted for that. With my experience, I believe that this device can be created really well with few defects as my experience within quality can help me with that particular detail. 

Nobody gave me feedback on my last Idea napkin so I again asked my family for tips and they told me to add more details about myself and how my experience can better improve the product. For this reason I brought up my beach and travel experience in multiple parts and also added more about my own technical experience. 

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

My prototypical customer is a 35 year old man named Jimmy. 

Jimmy!

He has a wife and two children. He is always traveling as his work requires him to be meeting with several people throughout the country, but on his free days he loves taking his children to the beach. He loves to drive his 2017 Black Audi Q7 and loves to watch family shows with everyone including his parents. He loves reading but does not have a book in particular that is his #1 as he reads so much. As this man lives in Florida he does not really care about politics. He always feels like he is in a rush, but loves to spend time with his family. 

Something that is very easily comparable to me and jimmy is the constant rush we are facing. I am constantly moving and doing things and therefore I can relate to him in this aspect. I do not believe this is a coincidence though as many Americans are constantly moving to get their work finished and accomplish many of the things they have to do throughout the day. This is something really important to look at because it may be an underlying factor as to why a customer will choose one product over another as it may be more convenient with an "on the move" style of life. 

 

17A – Elevator Pitch No. 2

1) The pitch. 

https://youtu.be/yDc6K21HiUE

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. Describe what stood out to you as important, what feedback surprised you the most, what feedback you think was outright wrong or silly, what feedback you thought was most useful and insightful. 

Although I did not receive any feedback last time. I asked my family if they could review and give me feedback of their own. The biggest thing that stood out was how I was moving a little too much. I think this is important to note as it may come across as if I do not want to be presenting what I am doing or come off as a scared and stressed person. There were other points of advice that were less significant in my opinion such as having too long of a story, which I wanted to keep as it was important. 

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

With the advice given to me, I tried to be as calm as possible to not look super stressed. Another thing I did was shorten the story I had last time, but I kept a similar story to connect to the audience and ensure that they liked my product.