29A – Venture Concept No. 2 Submit Assignment

• Opportunity
• While attending sporting events such as baseball, hockey, football, and soccer games, there are always tons of fans in the stadium.  While in the stadium, there are several needs such as food and drinks.  When a team is doing well, fans tend to want to continue to come to events to support their organization.
• The nature of sporting events, is that people are constantly waiting on a line to purchase food and drinks.  With these lines being so long, people are consistently bumping into one another or missing parts of the games from the lines being too long.  When people are attending these events, they are trying to enjoy themselves as much as possible with their friends or families.  Other groups of people that want to enjoy these events are tourists who probably do not want to miss a second of the game.
• The need is for people to attend these events and have fun with having the opportunity to not miss as much of the game as possible.
• The forces that allow people to have to wait on lines is the amount of people that are attending the events, the size of the stadium, along with the amount of concession stands and different types of food in the different parts of the stadium.
• There are no satisfactory resolutions to this case.  Majority of my interviewees that I spoke to while they attend sporting events is that they cannot stand having to walk around for the specific food that they want and when they finally arrive to that specific stand, they cannot wait for much longer because they have already wasted so much time. 
• Potential customers can be identified as individuals who are in the ages of 16-50.  These are the fans that typically are attending sporting events and will able to pay for their food and drinks by card on the tablet.
• Innovation
• This tablet is designed to cause less crowded areas and limit lines throughout the stadium as much as possible.  The tablet is also designed so that you will not be able to miss a single play of the event you are at and if you do you will be able to rewatch the play on the tablet itself.  You will be able to order food and drinks and be able to have them brought to you while you are sitting in your seat.  The only time you will have to get up out of your seat is if you would have to use the restroom.  On top of being able to rewatch plays, you will be able to see the scores around the league of the type of event you are attending.
• Our goal is to be able to plant the tablets throughout every single stadium throughout the United States.  Another one of our goals is to be able to then go international once it is seen how successful it is in the United States.  The cost of the tablet would depend on the size of the stadium and how many the stadium plans on purchasing.  The more tablets that want to be purchased, the less the price of each will be.
• I will also be making more money on top of selling the tablets by taking a small percentage from the amount of food and drinks fans are purchasing throughout the stadium.
• Venture Concept
• Stadiums will purchase my product if they want to be able to limit the amount of lines throughout the stadium.  They will also be interested in the fact that they will be saving more money on other technology because this will satisfy the needs.  Stadiums will not have to hire as many people as well because they will only need people bringing food to the seats rather than working the actual stands.
• I do not believe that it will be hard for stadiums to switch to my idea once I get one stadium to purchase first.  They will be able to see how much money that stadium is saving and how there is not as much trouble as there typically would be.
• As of right now, there are no competitors because nobody has come out with an idea such as this.  Once the product is bought, it will be hard to compete against it because it is an expensive investment for the stadiums to switch.
• I will effectively distribute by visit different stadiums and showing them the tablet and how it works.  Once stadiums begin purchasing them and they are being installed, more stadiums will be able to see how they work and I will not have to travel as much.
• Customer service will be taken by the fans attending the event.  After the event, a survey will come up on the tablet that will allow them to respond on what they thought.  Fans do not have to do the survey but if they do they will be given a coupon code via email for the next time they are in the stadium.
• When the survey is taken, we will then make adjustments and bring in considerations for the tablet on what to change and add based on the feedback.
• I am estimating that I will have about 20 employees.  These employees will be for tech help and questions concerning the product.  I will hopefully be able to have some travel as well so I do not need to be the only one doing it.
• Unfair Advantage
• Being able to have my background in sports with such a highly respected organization in baseball is going to be what puts me over the edge.  I have made so many connections that I could go to for help on this product to tell me what I am doing right, wrong, or what I could even be doing better.
• What is next
• I want to be able to make tons of money off of this product that I believe could make a run.  I also want to be able to help fans continue to love their experience while going to sporting events because it is a major hobby of mine along with so many others.
• For Me
• If my product was able to pull through, I would want to be able to go around explaining to students who have ideas to continue to pursue them and not back down.  I would want to share the struggles that I went through while being an entrepreneur.
• Feedback
• Go international is a main goal.
• Understand what I would have to do to know that I accomplished my goal.
• Know that getting them into every stadium is a main goal.
• Know what you will do after they are installed.
• Agreed people do not like waiting on line at sporting events.
• Agreed lines ruin the customer experience at the event.
• How I'll Adapt
• Eventually work my way to internationally if everything goes as planned.
• Target all stadiums throughout the United States.
• Find out more ideas from all kinds of fans.
• Continue to adress to fans what they do not like about attending sporting events. 
• Based one what I learned from the feedback from my classmates, I was able to change to my venture concept of making it clear what my goals were.  I was also able to come up with other ways to continue to push the product and continue to update it by seeing what the fans wanted themselves.

30A – Final Reflection

• Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.
• In my opinion, by far, the hardest experience throughout this course was creating an idea to stick with throughout the entire course.  When I think of ideas of what the world needs, I feel as if everything has already been made but there is always something that someone needs.  I remember thinking about what to write about all week.  I did not think I had the greatest idea at first but as I continued throughout each assignment and was getting feedback, it made me realize that there was potential.
• What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
• I believe my most formative experience was when we had to interview a good amount of people throughout the entire semester.  I had to open myself up and share my idea with a few people that I did not know or was not comfortable with opening up to.  It was able to show me not to get too high and not get too low because nobody will ever think of your idea like you do yourself.
• The experience that I will remember years later is what this entire course has shown me from start to finish.  I will always remember how much work should actually be put into an idea before you jump ahead and start investing into it.  This course has proved to me that you must always be prepared to the max before making your decision.  Even in the second to last week, reading my last book review taught me more that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
• My most joyous experience was when people were giving me my feedback and believing in my idea.  I was able to continue to add to my idea and make it better than ever before.
• The experience that I am most proud of myself for accomplishing throughout this course was being able to stick with the same idea and continuing to add to it each and every week.  This course had shown me to never be satisfied with your idea and that there is always something I could add to make the product better.  This concept can always go for life itself or other courses that I will be taking.
• At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
• At the end of this semester and completing all of the assignments, I now do see myself as an entrepreneur.  I saw myself all semester every day continuing to think about what the world needs and how I could see it in business.  I was able to focus on my own ideas along with coming up with other ideas that I could look into for the future.  Bringing these techniques with me, I can definitely say that I have developed my brain into an entrepreneurial mindset.
• What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
• One recommendation that I would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future would be to never give up and to never be satisfied with whatever you are doing.  There is always something to continue to keep your feet moving with and if you are content and not changing you are probably doing something wrong.  To succeed in this course, I would recommend that they read the assignments early and often so they can picture in their head how long it is going to take and how they want to go about completing the assignment.  To foster this mindset I would recommend that they continued to push themselves until the entire semester is over because this course is definitely one that they can benefit from for the rest of their life.

28A – Your Exit Strategy Submit Assignment

• Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?
• I plan on staying with my idea for several years until I begin to see a decline.  I want to be able to make sure that I am making enough money to support my family and live a healthy life.  What also makes this questionable is how much more I can improve my idea.  If I am able to continue to add to the tablets with companies continuing to buy in, I think the sky is the limit on how long I would want to hold on.  If this was the case, I could see myself eventually passing it down to my children.
• Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?
• I have selected this particular exit strategy because I think it is the smartest way to go about it.  If the company went off at the beginning and was declining very fast, than I would consider selling it in 5 years but I think that is too early to make such a big decision that I have put so much time and effort into.
•  How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?
• I believe my exit strategy has influenced my decision on how I am going to go about making future decisions.  I say this because I do not plan on selling it early at all, with that, I am going to be making decisions that will be benefitting me more in the long term rather than early on.  If I see an opportunity that can benefit me early on I would still be open to it.  Mostly I believe my exit strategy will be effecting more long term if anything.  I feel as if planning for an early exit will slowly move towards that and eventually I will have no choice but to sell it early which is something I would not want to do.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

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

• What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• In my opinion, there were several of themes and arguments of this book that you could talk about but the one I found most powerful was Scott Adams talking about how you should be following a system rather than a goal. In his book, he uses dieting as one of the examples. He states how wanting to lose 20 pounds is a goal, while eating right is a system. Another example I used which I believe to relate to entrepreneurship the most is making millions of dollars is a goal while being a serial entrepreneur is a system. I think a lot of the times especially in college people focus on how much money they are going to be making. This book shows how you will be able to see a bigger difference by being in a system and slowly working rather than just having a set goal. Having a set goal especially one as high as making millions can be very discouraging when you get to a certain point. If you get into a system and use it to keep working you will see a better change in your life rather than having a goal and quitting.
• How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT3003?
• This book in my opinion connected and enhanced what we are learning in ENT3003 because it shows us that there is a recipe to success and it is not having one thought and not allowing a single thing effect it. When you are able to work in a system, you are able to see all of the different ideas that come along that can benefit you. There is more to being an entrepreneur than having an idea and not allowing anyone to prove you wrong. It takes time for an idea to come close to perfect.
• If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
• If I had to design an exercise for this class based on this book, I would make an exercise similar to what Adams showed in his book. As I spoke about earlier, I feel as if tons of college kids just want to graduate and make tons of money and expect that. I think using an exercise to make a list of about 20, like Adams showed can be a big help of showing students that you can't just expect certain things to happen because you have a college degree. It will show them that following a system will benefit them way more than setting a goal and they can see changes in their life that they can benefit from.
• 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 to be when reading this book was what it had to offer. When I first began to read it, I did not think it would be as eye opening as it was along with affecting me the way it did. This book was able to show me how much more there is to just setting goals and doing whatever you can to achieve them and if something didn't work to just set another goal. By following a system rather than doing what you want, if you decide to stop it, you will leave the idea or goal a lot better than when you first thought of it and potentially carry some of the learnings with you to your next goal or plan.

26A – Celebrating Failure

• Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 
• One time during this semester that I have failed in my eyes is not getting an A in one of my courses that I thought I should have.  Instead of getting an A, I have come to the realization that I will most likely be getting an A-.  Obviously an A- is a very respectable grade, but in my eyes I failed because I did not meet my expectations.  Last semester was my first semester here at UF and it felt like a breeze to me.  I came into this semester cocky and got off to a slow start in the class which is going to wind up coming back to get the better of me in the end.
• Tell us what you learned from it.  
• What I have learned from this experience is that you should never take any kind of situation easy.  No matter how easy the course is expected to be I now know that I should be giving each course 110% so that I can get the grades that I want and expect to get.  I learned that you also can expect one thing from a course but it can go a complete opposite way than you expect.  This also opens my eyes to realizing that it could have been a lot worse if I did not take action as early as I did which I am thankful for doing.
• Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were just a few months ago?
• My opinions on failure is that it is really hard to accept and it absolutely is embarrassing. It teaches you that you need to make a change to something that you may not be comfortable doing.  It shows me that the world is consistently changing and you must adjust to that.  Failure shows people that you cannot be content with where you are because one thing can change which is going to result in you "failing".  When I fail, I am always looking at what I could have done differently.  Yes it does bother me at first, but once I am able to overcome it I can open my eyes to want needs to be done next and can't worry about the past.  After taking this class, I am absolutely going to take more risks compared to a few months ago when I did not take this course.  This course has shown me that there is nothing wrong with failing and that you can only learn from failure.  The course has shown me that determining what is done after failure is how you will overcome the loss and see change.

25A – What’s Next?

• What I Think Is Next
• I believe that down the road, I should consider, what I can continue to add to the tablet to upgrade the customer experience.  I think that adding to the fan experience can only want more stadiums to purchase from me.  I think creating different packages for different seats in the area on the devices can also help bring in more money for the stadiums which could lead to more commission for my company.
• Existing Market Interviews 
• My first interview was with a male who is 28 years old who attends several New York Giants games a year.  He had stated how he believes that he thinks being able to purchase drinks and food from your seat without having to get up is an awesome idea.  He also believes it is a smart business move because people will be more tempted to purchase more while having the screen put in front of them.  What he did mention about the alcohol purchases is that it may allow fans to get too "rowdy" which can lead to more fights in the stands of the stadium.  He stated how he enjoyed my venture and he is curious to see how it turns out.  He strongly recommended to continue to add to enhance the customer experience.
• My second interview was with a male who is 21 years old who attends multiple New York Giants, New York Yankees, and New York Ranger games a year.  He also thought it was a great idea.  He thought that the purchasing of alcohol at the seats could make someone like him and his friends more tempted to get drinks because they just turned of age.  He also thinks being able to purchase future tickets at his seats is a good idea.  He thought this because if they have alcohol in them, they will be more tempted to buy them there if the team is doing good than if they were to be at their house weighing out the options of getting tickets or not.  He thought that as technology continues to advance, I will be able to continue to get more ideas on where to go to next.
• My third interview was with a 24 year old who goes to several New York Yankees games and concerts a year.  He stated how he does not think having the tablets at concerts would be that good of an idea.  He mentioned how depending on the concert, there is a possibility that the tablet would break or become damaged.  He recommended to look into all aspects for my venture and to see if there was any way to put something around it to protect all of them and keep germs out of the way.
• Reflection
• I was able to see more opinions on my idea as I continued to engage into it.  I was also able to see different possible ideas.  One idea that I found interesting was in my third interview with taking the tablets away for concerts.  Typically at concerts, people are more engaged into who is playing than what they are drinking and future tickets they will be able to purchase.  Taking the tablets away for events like these would be able to save a lot of money incase they were to become damaged in any kind of way.  These three interviewees have continued to be great influences to continue to give me more ideas on where to go to next.
• New Market
• In this case, I do not believe there to be a true new market.  I believe that one of the best things to do is to continue to add on to the tablet for the fans.
• New Market Interviews
• I decided to interview a fan while I was at a Yankees game yesterday.  He expressed to make sure that before I go to show it to stadium owners, to make sure everything is polished completely.  He recommended that it would be a good idea to have all languages installed onto it because you never know the type of fan that will be using the tablet.
• I decided to interview another fan at Yankee Stadium yesterday as well, he recommended that it would be a good idea to look into just creating the software for a tablet and then invest in an already made tablet that is being sold today,
• Reflection
• As I continue to talk to more and more people, I am beginning to understand how there is always a need for something and always something that can be improved.  For example, I had never thought of installing all kinds of languages on the tablet.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1 Submit Assignment

• Opportunity
• While attending sporting events such as baseball, hockey, football, and soccer games, there are always tons of fans in the stadium.  While in the stadium, there are several needs such as food and drinks.  When a team is doing well, fans tend to want to continue to come to events to support their organization.
• The nature of sporting events, is that people are constantly waiting on a line to purchase food and drinks.  With these lines being so long, people are consistently bumping into one another or missing parts of the games from the lines being too long.  When people are attending these events, they are trying to enjoy themselves as much as possible with their friends or families.  Other groups of people that want to enjoy these events are tourists who probably do not want to miss a second of the game.
• The need is for people to attend these events and have fun with having the opportunity to not miss as much of the game as possible.
• The forces that allow people to have to wait on lines is the amount of people that are attending the events, the size of the stadium, along with the amount of concession stands and different types of food in the different parts of the stadium.
• There are no satisfactory resolutions to this case.  Majority of my interviewees that I spoke to while they attend sporting events is that they cannot stand having to walk around for the specific food that they want and when they finally arrive to that specific stand, they cannot wait for much longer because they have already wasted so much time. 
• Potential customers can be identified as individuals who are in the ages of 16-50.  These are the fans that typically are attending sporting events and will able to pay for their food and drinks by card on the tablet.
• Innovation
• This tablet is designed to cause less crowded areas and limit lines throughout the stadium as much as possible.  The tablet is also designed so that you will not be able to miss a single play of the event you are at and if you do you will be able to rewatch the play on the tablet itself.  You will be able to order food and drinks and be able to have them brought to you while you are sitting in your seat.  The only time you will have to get up out of your seat is if you would have to use the restroom.  On top of being able to rewatch plays, you will be able to see the scores around the league of the type of event you are attending.
• The tablet will be sold to stadiums around the United States and hopefully be able to expand internationally.  The cost of the tablet would depend on the size of the stadium and how many the stadium plans on purchasing.  The more tablets that want to be purchased, the less the price of each will be.
• I will also be making more money on top of selling the tablets by taking a small percentage from the amount of food and drinks fans are purchasing throughout the stadium.
• Venture Concept
• Stadiums will purchase my product if they want to be able to limit the amount of lines throughout the stadium.  They will also be interested in the fact that they will be saving more money on other technology because this will satisfy the needs.  Stadiums will not have to hire as many people as well because they will only need people bringing food to the seats rather than working the actual stands.
• I do not believe that it will be hard for stadiums to switch to my idea once I get one stadium to purchase first.  They will be able to see how much money that stadium is saving and how there is not as much trouble as there typically would be.
• As of right now, there are no competitors because nobody has come out with an idea such as this.  Once the product is bought, it will be hard to compete against it because it is an expensive investment for the stadiums to switch.
• I will effectively distribute by visit different stadiums and showing them the tablet and how it works.  Once stadiums begin purchasing them and they are being installed, more stadiums will be able to see how they work and I will not have to travel as much.
• Customer service will be taken by the fans attending the event.  After the event, a survey will come up on the tablet that will allow them to respond on what they thought.  Fans do not have to do the survey but if they do they will be given a coupon code via email for the next time they are in the stadium.
• I am estimating that I will have about 20 employees.  These employees will be for tech help and questions concerning the product.  I will hopefully be able to have some travel as well so I do not need to be the only one doing it.
• Unfair Advantage
• Being able to have my background in sports with such a highly respected organization in baseball is going to be what puts me over the edge.  I have made so many connections that I could go to for help on this product to tell me what I am doing right, wrong, or what I could even be doing better.
• What is next
• I want to be able to make tons of money off of this product that I believe could make a run.  I also want to be able to help fans continue to love their experience while going to sporting events because it is a major hobby of mine along with so many others.
• For Me
• If my product was able to pull through, I would want to be able to go around explaining to students who have ideas to continue to pursue them and not back down.  I would want to share the struggles that I went through while being an entrepreneur.