ENT3003

What sticks out to me the most as a formative experience in this class was missing my deadline the second week because I assumed that this class had normal deadlines like many of my other classes. Instead of being due at 11:59PM, it was due in the middle of the day and I misread that time. The experience that I'll remember years later from this class is the assignment where I had to interview my friends and learn some of my most unique and special qualities. This is an assignment that I will definitely cherish for a long time coming forward. This was also my most joyous experience because it made me very happy to learn how highly my friends think of me. I think that I was most proud of my venture concept from this class over anything else that I have created because I was able to firm up a lot of my ideas. I definitely do see myself as an entrepreneur more now than ever. I try to look at the world in a different way than how I did when the semester started. Now, I try to look ...

Venture Concept Write-Up My venture concept is "Endless Mode", a gaming bar/PC Bang that allows equipment to be rented out for use 1. Opportunity The group of customers with an unmet need are people who cannot afford to keep up with the release schedules of major game developers and people who are interested in casually trying out new developments in technology but do not want to commit to owning that technology because of cost or space required. The changes in the environment creating this opportunity are the constant releasing of new games combined with the appearance of the new game and tech developers on the scene. This market is geographically located all over the United States, but many near college campuses. Demographically, this market is filled with people who are young adults (18-26) and older adults (50-60). The customers are currently satisfying this need by purchasing as much as they can and then missing out on content that they want to enjoy until they can affor...

1) The general theme/argument of this book is that it is insanely important to take advantage of social media. The book teaches you different techniques on how to make this a reality through different techniques and information that is important to know if you are planning on using your social media to grow your presence. 2) This book in my opinion connected with what I was learning in ENT 3003 because a lot of the things we are doing currently (such as writing in this blog) are important to growing your presence as an entrepreneur. Dr. Pryor mentioned linkbacks often and a good way to get started on these is following the outlines of this book by posting in blog and integrating your social media. 3) If I had to design an exercise for this class based on this book I think the exercise would involve picking a topic to write about on social media (in our class blog) that is not something you enjoy to write about but is something that those interested in your entrepreneurial purs...

1) The exit strategy that I plan to make is that I plan to protect this business until I retire. I want to continue working with this business for the rest of my life until I can no longer work with it, and then preferably pass it on to someone who really enjoys the industry. I think that I would not want to force this onto my family because I think that everyone who opens a business does so because they are especially interested in it. I do not think that it is a good idea to force a business onto someone unless they are absolutely interested in working with that concept. 2) I have selected this exit strategy because I have a love for this industry. I think that this is something that I'm very invested in and I would very much regret selling the company only after a few years. For me, this entrepreneurship idea is more of a dream project than a quick way to make money. I think that one of the only ways to be successful continually in this entrepreneurship concept is for me t...

1) An example of a time this past semester that I failed is a failure that I am currently experiencing. I had planned far too much for this semester between research, applying to graduate school, classes, and extracurriculars. As a result, I am struggling to keep everything to a higher standard and I am letting certain things slip through. I have not been able to study to the extent that I wanted to for the LSAT and I am worried that it will negatively impact my score on the exam and I will have to take it over again. 2) Something that I learned from this experience is that it is always better to bite off less than to schedule too much. It is important to be clear to people about your expectations and let them know that you are too busy. I think that I struggle a lot with telling people that I cannot help them and as a result, I took on too many tasks. 3) In general, I think that failure is necessary for growth. Even though it will not feel good at the time it happens, it teaches us ...

Existing Market: What makes the most sense for me in my venture in terms of growth is to provide more resources to sweeten the pot for consumers. Since my business is service-based, many of the people I interviewed said that as long as I am providing the service I can only grow by improving what is offered by my service or by providing more. Since my service will already be competitively priced and offering any games that the customer wants (though it will take a while to build up a catalog), I asked for the people I interviewed to tell me what customers might want in this environment besides the games and consoles they are renting. Some ideas were drinks, additional capability for streaming, unlocked DLC for games, and early release parties. Based on the suggestion for early release parties, I started to think that perhaps I can make event-focused activities to get more customers in. Perhaps I would be able to host watch parties and sell beverages and snacks as a way to advertise...

Venture Concept Write-Up My venture concept is "Endless Mode", a gaming bar/PC Bang that allows equipment to be rented out for use 1. Opportunity The group of customers with an unmet need are people who cannot afford to keep up with the release schedules of major game developers and people who are interested in casually trying out new developments in technology but do not want to commit to owning that technology because of cost or space required. The changes in the environment creating this opportunity are the constant releasing of new games combined with the appearance of the new game and tech developers on the scene. This market is geographically located all over the United States, but many near college campuses. Demographically, this market is filled with people who are young adults (18-24) and older adults (50-60). The customers are currently satisfying this need by purchasing as much as they can and then missing out on content that they want to enjoy until they can af...

Resources: 1. Connections with others in the industry V: This is valuable because I have experience working in the industry and understanding the pros and cons of this type of business R: This resource is rare because you have to be introduced to them somehow and it is difficult to make this many connections I: This resource is imitable but it is very difficult to obtain without a connection N: There is no way to substitute for these connections. 2. Understanding of current market pricing V: This is valuable because you have to understand the market pricing to be able to competitively price your product. R: This resource is not rare for others in the industry as it is necessary, but may be rare for people who are not in the industry. I: This resource is imitable because you just have to study the market pricing to be able to understand it. However, a lot of this information is not public. N: A substitute for understanding the current market price would just be tr...

Reflection The feedback I received was as follows: I was told that the facts I included were good. I was told to use props but I had used a prop for my first elevator pitch and was told that the prop looked silly so I took it out. I was told to make my pitch longer, which I agreed on. My pitch was too long the first time and too short the second time. This time I think it was just right. Another suggestion I received was to do something in the first 10-15 seconds to grab the viewer's attention but I think that my facts and numbers were good at doing that. I was also told that my catchy phrase at the end was good so I kept it in. Changes For this final elevator pitch, I made a few changes. I added a couple of sentences to make it longer and explain how my service is useful with examples of what it could be used with. I stood closer to the camera so that the viewer could see me better. I also looked less at my script because I had memorized more of it. I found that this time t...

The book that I read for this assignment was Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan. Although this book was written awhile ago, I think that the information in this book is still helpful because even though the landscape of the internet has changed a lot there is still a lot of interesting information in this book. 1) The general theme or argument of this book is that social media sources can be an insanely valuable asset to building your business and your audience. 2) I believe that this book connected back to our classwork and what we are learning in ENT3003 because we learned how important social media influencers, google results, and blog posts can be to an entrepreneur. We learned how important it is to get linkbacks to our page and a good method of doing that is by following the guidelines outlined in this book. 3) If I had to create an exercise for this class based on the book, I would have the assignment be to create content as it is explained in the create remarka...

For this assignment, I had already made a lot of these connections and I was surprised that I haven't reached out to any of them for this class so far so this was a good experience to talk about my ideas with them. 1) This first interview is someone who I have worked with named Danny, he works in a similar business providing setups but only for larger events  2) Domain Expert 3) I found this person because I worked with them previously and rented equipment from them, I reached out through cell phone because I already had his phone number 4) The favor that they did for me is I asked them a lot of questions about whether or not he liked being in the business and some important details about what he thinks I should know. I expect that in return, I will be able to maintain contact with him and work alongside him if I do get into the business. 5) Having this person in my network will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity because I will be able to know what the market i...

1) 2) The feedback I received on my last post is as follows: Great Elevator pitch, I liked the way you identified the opportunity right off the bat, it helped me understand what the problem was and what the solution was (your product). The length itself was good, not too long or too short and I was able to get a good understanding of your product. The headset was a little distracting but it helped with the audio and fit in with the theme of the product well enough. I think that the feedback of my headset being distracting is good feedback but I tried 10 other ways to record this and I couldn't get the audio to work as well so I think that it is something that I will just have to deal with. I think that identifying the opportunity right off the bat is a strength and I tried to remake my elevator pitch so that I emphasized it even more. 3) Based on the feedback I received, I decided to keep my pitch very similar and since I knew that presenting the problem was the most importa...

Idea Napkin No.2 1) You I am a student at the University of Florida, a 21-year-old, who was born in New Jersey but moved to Florida for college. Some of my talents are seeing opportunities to fix problems as they arise. I am skilled in management and seeing where things could possibly go wrong. I am a creative person with a unique upbringing. I aspire to be someone who can help make the lives of others easier. I want to innovate and create solutions to problems that people do not often see. I want to one day own my own business. Regarding my business concept, I think this business would play a big role in my life because it would be something that I could gain a lot of enjoyment out of. I want to share the experience of gaming with all sorts of different people. 2) What are you offering to customers? The service that I offer to customers provides high-quality gaming equipment and games at a low-cost. This is useful to customers that want to experience gaming but do not have ...

Personally, when I think about who is using my business I have two main ideas about demographics. Firstly, I believe that the main people interested in new tech and renting it out are people that are obsessed with keeping up with new technology but cannot afford to purchase it. This would generally be a young person, and likely a male. I like to think that the hobbies of my prototypical customer are likely nerd-related. They probably play a lot of video games or read comics. Maybe they even like to do research in their free time about new gaming computer parts or even learn to program. I assume they do not drive a very expensive car because they are unable to afford to buy these new parts for their computer. I think that they like to watch TV shows about superheroes, or even anime. This person is probably in their early 20s or maybe even in high school and using their chore money to rent out equipment to play with their friends. I think that what I have in common with ...

What's Your Secret Sauce? 1) Here are the five ways in which I believe I have something special as far as human capital: 1: I am both introverted and extroverted, as a result, I am able to connect well with people from both sides. This is something that you do not generally find in people because introverts do not push themselves to be extroverted, whereas I have done that a lot of time and it makes me come off as a much more extroverted person. I understand that in some situations it is better to be more outgoing and I have learned to push myself in that area. 2: By virtue of my gender and background, you do not generally see someone like me in the field of gaming. There are not a lot of females who grew up playing games and my childhood was a very interesting one. I did not like spending time outside and have been playing video games my entire life, as a result I know a lot of trivia and information that someone who has not been involved their whole life would not know...

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior 2 In my interviews, I decided to write up a list of questions and to ask everyone the same questions but this time I let them tell me in detail more if they felt that they had other information that I had overlooked. Here is a list of the questions I asked: 1) When considering the problem of new releases coming out faster than you can purchase, how do you pick a solution? Please rate these in order of importance: Price, quality, efficiency, ease Are there any factors not listed here that are important? 2) Are you more likely to use this service if it is available online or in a store? 3) Are you more likely to use cash or credit on this type of service? 4) Would you be interested in monthly fees for this service rather than one-time fees? 5) After you purchase an item, what helps you decide whether that purchase was a good idea? 6) What makes you believe that your purchase was a bad idea? Summary of interviews: The three people I inter...

The book that I read for this assignment was Ray Kroc's Grinding it out: The Making of McDonald's. I had a lot of fun reading this book because I have always been interested in McDonald's and how it became such a large chain. McDonald's has had a tight hold on the American conscience since before I was even born. It is one of those entities that is recognizable in so many different places across the globe. I have always been interested as well in McDonald's because they were able to become positive in the media after everything that happened with Super Size Me and an ever-growing belief that fast food is unhealthy. There is something to be said about a business that is not only so successful but also able to bounce back after media backlash. After a long time, many corporations end up going under but McDonald's has been able to stick around and I think that is what drew me to my choice of reading this specific novel. What surprised me the most about Ray ...

Dear Future Student, As a student half-way through my semester of ENT3003, I have a lot of advice for you on how to do well in this course. Here are some of the things that I have learned in the past two months. 1) Some of the behaviors that I have developed in order to do well in this course are doing work way ahead of time and paying a lot of detail to the little things. Although I have a really busy schedule, I take a lot of time out of my day to get started on assignments for this class a long time before they are due. Since this class involves a lot of hands-on work it is difficult to stay ahead of the curve without putting a lot of time in. The most important behavior you can learn is to get started early. 2) A moment when I felt like "giving up" in this course was when I realized that many of the other students that have taken this class in previous years probably had a lot of similar ideas to mine. It is hard to swallow the pill that some or all of my ideas are ...

Sketching Out the Beginning of the Buyer Behavior Process Problem:  Video games and video gaming consoles come out too quickly for people to afford to purchase all the games and gaming systems that they want to try. Segment : The segment that I picked was college students and young adults that want to buy gaming equipment and games but cannot afford to because of limited income. The three people I interviewed : My first interview was a 21-year-old college student named Lauren. My second interview was a 24-year-old graduate school student named Sharez. My third interview was a 19-year-old college student named Jake. All of the people I interviewed are college students and as a result, are interested in saving as much money as possible, but they also spend their free time playing video games and discussing those games with their friends. Need Awareness Question List: 1. Is there a certain time of year that you most wish a service like this was available? 2. What si...

Idea Napkin No. 1 1) You I am a 21-year-old university student. I think that many of my talents have to do with being able to pay close attention to details and being motivated to make things better. I have a lot of experience with video game culture and have been working first-hand with similar business concepts for the last three and a half years. I aspire to be someone that finds a way to open closed doors for gaming communities. Whether that be by finding a way to host in-person tournaments, or finding a way to make improvement more affordable, I think that all people should have a chance to show off their skills. I see this business playing a huge role in my life because it is something that I have been interested in doing for a long time. I think that there are not a lot of people with my background interested in not only the games I like but the games that other people want to see. I try my hardest to be unbiased and I have a personal stake in helping others be heard. ...

Opportunity : New releases for games and consoles are coming out so quickly that people cannot afford to purchase all of the gaming consoles and games that they want to play Summary of interviews: Interview 1: My first interview was a 21-year-old male (George) college student at The College of New Jersey. He said that he did not have any desire to use this service because he wouldn't be willing to pay to play video games because he does not invest a lot of time in new games and prefers to play older games to save money. He does not generally spend money on video games and buys a new release every couple of years but does not buy more than one or two because he is not interested or does not have the time. Even if he rented it he thinks that he would not have enough time to play the games and feel like he got his money's worth. Interview 2: The second person I interviewed (Sam) was a 28-year-old male who works full-time as a programmer. He told me that he would not use thi...

Solving the Problem I believe that there are many different solutions to the problem that I identified in the previous exercise. Here is my hypothesis from the previous assignment: My hypothesis: I believe that this need mainly exists for casual gamers that are unable to afford the equipment necessary to run new and popular games because new technology comes out very frequently and as a result, casual gamers cannot or do not want to pay to purchase a new machine every couple of months. (1) Selected Opportunity  The opportunity that I have selected is that I have noticed that many large gaming corporations have been producing games and consoles with content exclusive to their brand faster than any fan can acquire their systems. They are far too expensive and being released with upgrades far too often for any person, even someone with a lot of expendable money, to purchase every single console and game that they are interested in. (2) Product/Service The pro...