Venture Concept 2

1. I think that I will stick with my initial idea of a voice activated remote that connects all aspects of the entertainment center together (goodbye multiple remotes/controllers)! I will make this product amazing but I think that once it takes off I will sell the technology and/or partner with a giant company so they will not end up pushing me out of the market. In return, I will also gain access to a huge pool of new customers and profits.


2. The feedback I received was all over the place in terms of the different questions I posed in my initial venture concept. One person agreed that the possible senior citizen demographic would love my product, one said I should join forces with Amazon and create an Alexa that can incorporate my idea and let them do all the work (genius), and another said selling to businesses would be ideal. One pointer was to expand into multiple products to build a brand so the company stays relative.


3. The feedback that I used to alter my venture concept was that of partnering with a bigger company. While the exact advice was to create a custom API and sell it to Amazon and the Alexa product I would instead partner and work together with them (hopefully).

Final Reflection

2) 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?

My most formative experience would have to be all the interview assignments. I am not afraid of talking to people as I interact with hundreds of people a day at work but asking them about MY own idea was vulnerable and scary. I also think this was the experience I was most proud of myself for accomplishing. For some of them I spoke to people I already knew or was associated with but that can be even scarier because I will have to see them again where as a stranger can think my idea is dumb but I'll never see them again!

3) 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?

I don't see myself there yet but I do understand the mindset necessary. I think I still have some work to do in the identifying a problem area which is the basis of the process. Besides that part I think I have got it down!

4) 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?

I would say to leave their strict study tactics behind and think outside the box for this class. One needs to dive into their creativity but also think in a way that's different than memorizing definitions or understanding theories. Also, don't be fooled by it seeming like an "easy class." The assignments will push you and may take a while to complete so work ahead!

Exit Strategy

1) 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 think that within 5 years, IF my imaginary business was large enough, I would sell it and move onto something new. I can't say for sure that is what I would do, however, I tend to get attached to things but I also like new challenges and adventures. My product was also technology related so therefore I think within a certain time frame it would be bombarded by better versions of itself so if I were not able to keep growing it would become obsolete.


2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?


I choose to sell and move onto another venture because if/when the product becomes out of date and customers move onto newer things, I will already be out and will not feel the down fall personally.


3) 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 don't think it has influenced my growth intentions or how to acquire and use resources. I will have given this product my all whether I was going to stay with the company for its life time or leave it after it becomes successful. I give everything I do 100% and it does not matter if it's short term or long term!

Reading Reflection 3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

This book was about why talent and intelligence don't necessarily bring success. It is more based on, surprise, your mindset! I found this book similar to the one in my last reading reflection, "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win."

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

I think mindset is an important lesson for anyone but it definitely connects to the class in the sense that entrepreneurs are going to fail a lot and they must realize that determination and resourcefulness is key. This is a mindset one must put themselves in or else they will be discouraged and continue to fail or give up.

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

I think that the exercise I would create would involve role playing stressful situations. I do this with my managers and they role play in groups and deliberately try to fluster the other person. This teaches them to control their emotions (and their mindsets) and stay positive and focused on the end game and solving the conflict.

4) 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?

I was pretty surprised to read that praising someone for their intelligence or specific talents actually does not increase self-esteem. I always assumed this was the case but it is merely on a surface level and does not increase long lasting self-esteem. In return, this actually destroys it in most cases. Learning/teaching a growth mindset is more valuable than praising current ability.

Celebrating Failure

This topic is easy for me because I am currently the store manager of a restaurant. As a manager, especially one higher up the line, we are taught (and forced) to accept, learn from and eventually celebrate our failures. The reason being is that failure teaches us lessons and how, hopefully, not to repeat our mistakes.

One thing I have failed at big this semester is my time management. This is vague so I will speak about it in regards to having important one on one conversations with my managers/employees. There were a couple times when I knew there was some drama or something going on that was hindering the store from operating at optimal performance. I naively tried to let things play out hoping that these people or issues would turn themselves around. It became clear quite quickly that this was not the case. I have had small issues turn into big ones in the blink of an eye. I learned that I need to nip things in the butt immediately so that they do not grow into habits and then problems.

For example, my store is 24 hours. The overnight employees are constantly late and/or call out of work for unacceptable reasons and I neglected to take matters into my own hands and instead let the overnight mangers deal with the situation. Well, they were afraid of losing people because no one wants to work overnights right now and so nothing was done at all to reprimand said employees. Fast forward a couple months later and we are having major staffing issues on the overnights and have had to close the restaurant a couple times because I was sleeping and did not answer my phone to solve the problem for them.

However, I am now not afraid to reprimand overnight employees and those managers and stopping this culture that has risen right before my eyes. I now see how minor allowances turn into problems. I have suspended one employee and two mangers for not following protocol about these situations and so far it seems everyone is now taking me seriously and realizing what is expected of them. I have several new hires starting in the next three weeks and I am determined to set a good example and retain them this time!

What's Next?

Existing Market.

Step 1: What I think is next in my venture regarding more products are many voice activated items throughout the home. These will, however, not involve complicated apps. They will just work on command and not require syncing of different systems.

Step 2: Many said that they didn't think a product like this was possible, or that they were not comfortable with the artificial intelligence behind the products that would come following mine. They thought that I should focus on safety and security regarding personal information which I had not thought of previously.

Step 3: First, I would have to take the safety and security concerns as priority. Making sure personal information is safe is key to gaining customer trust and loyalty.


New Market.

To change this to a B2B concept, I actually do not think it would be too hard. Just finding the right concept for it would be the challenge. People at work are, or should be, always busy and constantly multitasking. How awesome would it be to have voice activated equipment at work to take some of that challenge off of you?

Making it universal to each individual business would be what to focus on. What is it that each business has in common? Is it the staff side of things that would need the technology (office workers,etc)?

What I learned is that, we as people are always busy and looking for ways to make our lives easier, at home and in general. I think that I did not realize this concept could go outside of the home. While, of course it COULD, would people use it? Many of the new people I interviewed actually said they would prefer it at work over the household because they want to focus on their families more. This also depended on the age group I spoke to. This new market is definitely as attractive, maybe not more, but not less as well.

Venture Concept

Opportunity:
The opportunity that my venture is based off of, is basically the need for having free hands or the need to be able to multitask. There are several groups that fit the need. This includes: the technology savvy, parents with young children, the disabled and/or the elderly.

Then changes in the environment that create this opportunity is the fact that people’s lives are constantly getting busier and busier. We are expected to work more and/or later and always be able to be in contact with the outside world from our homes. The potential customers are those who need to keep children occupied while they get work done and/or cook dinner, whether it be at the same time or not, or maybe those who cannot easily move around as well as they used to.

Geographically I think this is a big city type of a product. While anyone can find it useful, it will do best in places where the majority of people will want it not just a few here or there. Demographically, I believe the younger/middle aged group will realistically want it more. While I personally can see a use for it for the elderly generation, it is technology and it tends to gear more towards the younger crowd.

Currently, customers are satisfying this need with universal remotes. However, voice activation will increase their ease of living because even without the remote (what if the dog eats it) they will still be able to access all of their equipment they want. Many people I have spoken to have never even thought of a voice activated TV system, despite the recent increase in “assistant” technology.

I believe this is a fairly big opportunity. I would personally want it with how often I find myself running around the house cleaning or doing homework and then I cannot find the remote.

I think the window of opportunity is fairly small to break into this market. The release of my product would have to move fast.


Innovation:

I do not see my product as radically innovative, I think it definitely plays off of other technology out there right now however, many other products do as well. Whether they last a long time is another story. My product is a voice activated remote that controls the TV and all inputs that may be associated with it. All too often I get frustrated with the 3 different remotes and 2 console controllers laying around that each control a different aspect of the entertainment center. Why isn’t this easier by now? My product will solve that. It will work as an assistant does, picture an Alexa or the Google Assistant. There will be a key word or phrase to “wake it up” and it will be able to control all devices connected to one’s television in the home. I do not see this product being expensive, as the technology is already out there in other ways. I will make money by selling the remote as many ways as I can. First, with a website then trying to get into brick and mortar stores and electronic stores. Commercials and a good marketing team will be key. Obviously, Amazon is the hot spot right now so trying to get on there would be ideal but fighting price point will be tough. I think that somewhere around 40-50 dollars sounds suitable. Depending on how much cost per unit actually turns out to be.

Venture Concept:
This concept solves the problem by allowing people to control their devices via their voice which in
return, frees up their hands. This may sound silly to some but to others it is priceless. I believe
certain people will eat this up immediately while others will be skeptical and will take a while
with proof that it works and is valuable for them to participate.

The competitors are definitely the ones out there who already possess this technology in their own
ways who are giant companies with many followers. Once they develop their own version my
product is sure to disappear.

Packaging and price point will be vital, I’m sure. We are all human and are drawn to attractive packaging and a “valuable” price point. Trying to find that price point will be tricky, as for any venture. Also, I have never organized a business before so creating that hierarchy and finding the right people for each job role will be a new experience. I do, however, have experience in running a restaurant and I hire people in that aspect so I just have to figure out how to translate my knowledge into the business side of things.

The three minor elements

I think that my most important resource will be my ability to network and make connections. I am pretty resourceful at getting things done through others as well. I believe this comes from all my years of management experience.

If this product were to work how I envision it, and become successful as well, I think that I would follow this line of technology into other areas of daily life. I'm sure that other giant companies are also doing so as well though.

If this venture were to launch, I would want to be working closely with my employees to make sure that things are running to optimum efficiency so we can expand. Then I would want to venture out even more and create new concepts. My main goal in life is growth and I never want to stop growing!

Unfair Advantage

Resources:
1. Knowledge of the technology
2. Knowledge about the audience
3. Social relationships with people good with technology related things
4. Networking skills
5. Business relationships with people high in companies
6. Research skills
7. Determination
8. Bargaining/negotiating skills
9. Current employees who would follow me to help
10. Support system I have surrounded myself with




VRIN
I think my top resource would be my set of current employees. We are basically a family and have worked together for years. They would do anything to help me, in a personal matter, but also appreciate my bossing style and have told me before they want to follow me wherever I go. I take this for granted sometimes but this definitely valuable, rare, inimitable AND non-substitutable.