10A Elevator Pitch #1

9A Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

Who: People who share common factors and needs related to my problem are bullet journal users. These people enjoy having the freedom to design and organize information the way they want to, adding a personal touch to a usually plain and generic item. They also find it easy to carry around to class, work, etc. 

What: What differs between my target market and bullet journal users is the online aspect and the amount of time they are willing to spend on logging events and due dates. 

Why: People who use bullet journals tend to be a hipster type who don't like to be on the internet or starring at a screen for too long, so they use a tangible planner/calendar rather than an online version. The whole point of a bullet journal is to make a plan set of pages into a unique notebook that is completely up to you to customize. Those who use bullet journals are excited and find it relaxing and fun to sit down for hours and hand draw and design pages. 

Through the 5 interviews and watching bullet journal videos (called plan with me), bullet journal users are a community of artists and creative people, that build off each other and  share their monthly designs and ideas. This is something that cannot be replicated on an online version, but the average student does not have the time nor effort to do this and keep up with it month after month. Bullet journal users are my solutions boundary. 

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who:  College students, High School Students, business people (secretaries), planners/managers, etc.	Who:  Bullet journal users
What is the need:  An online calendar that can sync with multiple other calendars to create a one stop shop for people busy schedules.	What is the need not:  The whole point of my solution is to automatically sync up with other online calendars and schedules. Those who use bullet journals don’t want online calendars, as they prefer tangible, and more unique forms of planning.
Why the need exists:  Current online calendars cannot sync up with many websites and calendars students use regularly. Students and other busy professionals also don’t have time to sit and prepare their calendars on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.	Alternative explanations:  Both provide an effective way to plan, but the two give different advantages to the user. It all depends on what works best for the customer.

8A Solving the Problem

Problem: Online calendars are unable to sync up with other calendars and schedules that students use to keep organized with classes, work, clubs, hobbies, etc. 

Solution: A website or app calendar that is able to sync up with calendars from popular and most used websites students use, like Canvas and MyLab as well as class schedule, work schedule, and extracurricular/sports events. The application would be sold to the university on a semester basis, and given out to students using their ID number. Students would be able to customize the look and organization of the calendar. For instance they may add the football schedule, events happening at the Reitz Union, club meetings, or speaker events happening around campus. Having it as an app would probably be the best option, so students would have easy and convenient access to it where ever they are. This product would keep students organized without spending a lot of time creating their own planner or logging in individual events in their phone calendar. 

7A Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

1)

Problem: Online calendars are unable to sync up with other calendars and schedules that students use to keep organized with classes, work, clubs, hobbies, etc. 

2)

Who: Busy/active students (participating in multiple extracurricular along with classes)

What: They are unable to have a single, organized calendar that can be accessed anywhere. 

Why: Popular online calendars like Google Calendar don't have the option to sync up information and schedules from Canvas, Proctor U, MyLab, etc. 

3) 

Testing the Who: Other people could benefit from this product, like professors, business people, managers, coaches, basically anyone that has more than one online calendar that doesn't want to devote a lot of time to logging events and dates one at a time. 

Testing the What: There are other options to online calendars, like bullet journals which have risen to popularity or just pre printed pocket planners you can get at target. 

Testing the Why: A lot of people would blame the websites themselves, like Canvas, for the inability to sync up to Google Calendars or Outlook or maybe even blame the University for not giving the students an option that is more convenient for them. 

4) 

Interview #1: 

Who: A Sophomore from UF who is a full time student, works a part time job, and participates in one organization. 

What: Uses a planner bought from Walmart to log due dates and events. 

Why: Finds it cheapest and easiest to use. Can color code and organize as she wishes. Often finds it dissatisfying to whiteout or cross out mistakes and constantly having to double check her online schedules to update the planner. 

Interview #2: 

Who: A Junior from UF who is a full time student and works at an unpaid internship. 

What: Uses a whiteboard calendar and a planner. 

Why: Uses the whiteboard for most of her planning and scheduling, but has a planner from when she's at class or internship in case something new pops up or she is asked to change her schedule. 

Interview #3: 

Who: A Sophomore from UF who is a full time students and is in a sorority. 

What: Uses phone calendar to log all events, relies on Canvas calendar every time she logs on. 

Why: Claims to be disorganized and doesn't enjoy planning, often completing assignments the night of and finds it works best for her. Her schedule is repetitive, so she doesn't find herself having to log every event in her calendar. 

Interview #4: 

Who: A Junior from FIU Honors who is a full time student, works as a TA, and participates in two organizations. 

What: Uses planner bought from Staples, as well as a printout of his schedule and due dates on his desk. 

Why: Is always on the go and needs to have his schedule with him to be organized and on time. Doesn't really mind having to cross out or change dates in his planner, but finds yearly planners a bit wasteful and has been looking into an online option. 

Interview #5: 

Who: A Freshman from UF who is a full time student and works a part time job. 

What: Uses bullet journal created and designed by her. 

Why: She likes the creative freedom it gives her, as she not only has a calendar, but memory pages and artwork scattered in the book. Does not find herself wanting to switch to an online version, as that would be boring and gives her less to do. 

5)

Overall I found this exercise very insightful to my potential product. I was gland to have found a variety of students that had different means of organizing their schedules. Some seemed to be perfect candidates from my product, and others were fine with what they already have, which was expected as we all have different ways we like to organize things. My who will stay the same, as the busier you are, the less time you want to devote to creating a planner. Same with my what and why, as the main thing is websites we uses constantly cannot be merged into something like Outlook or Google Calendar. 

6A Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Economic Trends

Upon opening Google Finance, two things automatically caught my attention; several articles pertaining to the economic health of delivery services like UPS and FedEx, and Dow Jones Industrial Average is the current top local market (as of 9/13/18). 

Something we are always going to need is delivery services like UPS. We constantly choose ordering online versus driving to the store to pick up items like clothing and technology in our daily lives, mostly for convenience, sometimes for no social interaction. So seeing articles like this one shows just how much work and innovation needs to be done in order to fulfill all orders in a timely manner. There can be improvements on  shipment and handling, whether that be improvements on the trucks, facilities, or even workers. As the market continues to choose online ordering over in person shopping, there are plenty of opportunities for innovation. This personally interested me because I'm a regular customer of UPS, and can find holes and improvements that can be made in there service.

Next, Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently the top local market, making it very enticing for entrepreneurs to get their ideas in. Lots of interest means lots of money to be spent and a lot of stockholders to keep happy. The index is a combination of several companies, like Chevron, Apple, Walmart, Walt-Disney, and many others. Just like the delivery services, these companies can always be improved upon by better and quicker service, whether that be online sales or technology. And because of their popularity, its safe to say they're not going anywhere anytime soon and always stand to make a profit, making it less risky for entrepreneurs. This stood out to me because of the companies in the index, they were mostly companies I was familiar with so it felt more natural for me to generate ideas and see that this is a trend. 

Regulatory Trends

Something I'm passionate about is protecting biodiversity, so when I see regulations that will protect species and reduce the amount of pollution/trash we create, I get very excited. This regulation is to improve upon the Endangered Species Act of 1973 by clarifying the procedures and criteria for species being on and off the endangered species list. Opportunities for this regulation could be better trackers, observation equipment, and protection technology to help keep endangered species alive and thriving. We all depend on each other, even the smallest species, so protecting animals from extinction should be one of the most important things on peoples minds and agendas. 

Following this, there are also new regulations coming out about reducing the amount of plastics we use in order to create less pollution in our environment, saving millions of marine animals, birds, and more. These regulations have become a world wide affair; places like England are trying to ban micro plastics, and Kenya has banned plastic bags, and could send you to jail. Here are some regulations in the U.S. that protect our bodies of water from plastic pollution. We can already see Starbucks trying to reduce there plastic (unsuccessfully), but there could be so much done at a larger scale that can protect our oceans and animals.

5A Identifying Local Problems

Opportunity #1 - FitBit's for Football Players

The article "Gators Emphasize Improving Physicality", is a summary of the downfalls from the Kentucky versus UF game last weekend. Dan Mullen harps about the loss, putting the blame on low physicality of the players, which is a problem if you want to win a game. You cannot just give up half way through a play, and you need to be able to run after your opponents for a tackle. I've been to a UF football practice and though they do stretch, run plays, and tackle, they are missing stamina training. I think a product they could use is a physical monitor that tracks the amount of energy, stamina, heart beat, etc. used by a player in a real game, which will then be used as a goal for training, so that they have real game like training. (i.e. they cannot leave practice until they reached the same amount of physical activity as they did the last game they played). 

Opportunity #2 - Security System for Delivery Drivers 

We all use delivery service apps for food, groceries, and other goods. Though these are so prevalent in our daily lives (I guarantee you if your on campus you can count more Bite Squad Ads/cars than you have fingers in under two hours), delivery people have little to no compensation and protection. The article "Police Looking for Robbery Suspects" talks about a recent event where a delivery driver was robbed (it was only two pizzas cause he had no cash, but it's still a robbery). Delivery drivers are just the middle man between a restaurant/business and the customer and should feel safe and protected at there job. I suggest all delivery drivers should have a security system in there car or on there person with different buttons depending in the severity of the action. 

Opportunity #3 - Restaurant Inspection Grades Front in Center

Following my last idea with food delivery service, something important that isn't really seen by the average consumer are a restaurant's inspection grade. These are very important and can help make a decision as to if you want to dine there or not. I know in certain cities, its required for restaurants to put there grade on the front of the establishment, but not in Gainesville. Knowing the inspection grade is important, as a restaurant can still be in business but have several violations. In the article "Restaurant Inspections in Alachua County" several popular spots to eat are shown their full violations list. I think this is important info and should be included in food delivery apps along side the menu. 

Opportunity #4 - Community Service as Financial Aid 

As students we can all agree that upper education isn't cheap, even with in state tuition. You have books, room and board, fees, and food to live. Something that everyone says there needs to be more of is volunteers, as a group can accomplish much more than a single person, as can be seen in the article "'One Tree Saved' - Developer Will Spare Live Oak" where several locals went to change the plans of removing an oak for construction. A lot of people are selfish, and don't do anything unless they get a gain from it, and as a college town we have plenty of hands to help if we have the right incentive for them. I suggest that for every hour spent at a verified charity or community event should give you $1-$5 off your tuition. 

Opportunity #5 - Job Listings for College Students

Piggy backing on the last thought, college students need money.  Though the thought of getting financial aid for community service, we can still rely on good old fashioned part time jobs. I know from my friends, looking for jobs isn't easy in a college town, too few jobs and are always gone by the time you get to applying. Small part time job offers like voting polls advertised in the article "Need a Gig? Elections Office looks for Poll Workers" are often over looked by students that could really need them. Maybe making an app or page on MyUFL where businesses can post jobs specifically for college students could prove useful for both parties. 

4A Forming an Opportunity Belief

One of my bugs from 2A was the fact that assignments posted in MyLab aren't posted/visible on the Canvas calendar, making it difficult to take a full look at all the assignments or quizzes coming up. Taking that one step further, there are plenty of other separate calendars (for work, tutoring, club meetings, etc) that we have that would work so much better if they were combined, making it a one stop shop for whats going on. Many college students are heavily involved and take several classes in a semester and could use a more focused, organized area to plan their days that doesn't take much time to set up. Currently, you can use the separate calendars on Canvas, MyLab, and others like them, buy a planner from Staples, or create your own bullet journal. Each of these options takes time and could be frustrating for students to use. Because of these factors, I believe there is a 50% chance this need exists.

For my interviews, I interviewed college students from different universities (Sophmore at FSU, Junior at FIU, and Senior at FSC) to get a broader range of ideas from different settings and ages. They agreed that having different calendars is disorganizing and there could be a better system to ensure they are up to date for everything. That being said, there are some downsides to this idea. For instance how would you combine multiple calendars? They also said they didn't have much of a problem with ready to buy planners at Staples, but could be beneficial to have something different and unique in my product that would make it stand out if I went with my planner idea (creating a business that prints a personalized semester long planner that has assignments, quizzes, work schedule, club meetings, sports events, etc. printed in it like national holidays are).

After the interviews my ideas for a product for this need has changed, but I still sense there is a need from college students. I think gathering other people's thoughts opened up more hurdles to my idea, some things I hadn't thought of and some things to consider if I follow through with this idea. I think you are never done adapting your ideas. Wants and needs from consumers are always changing, like faster speeds and lighter weight products, that's why we have ten IPhones. We are never done improving and reinventing products.

3A My Entrepreneurship Story

I am an Innovation Academy Student here at UF, meaning I get a minor in Innovation from taking classes on creativity and entrepreneurship. I'm actually taking this class as it counts towards my minor. Through IA I've created two products, a children's toy and a business to help biodiversity, and presented them with my groups to professionals and other entrepreneurs. The children's toy, Picking Petals, helps kids in kindergarten and first grade learn how to add in different ways, like 3+3=6, but so does 2+4, and 5+1. We felt this was a good idea in order to teach kids at an early age free thinking and problem solving skills. Over the summer, I participated in Catalyst with a group. The problem we had to solve was protecting biodiversity in our hometowns. As most of us in the group were from South Florida, we focused on the amount of plastics found in the ocean. We created a business that takes plastics too thin to be recycled and turn them into home products, like plates and reusable bags.

2A Bug List

1. Water in my water bottle getting hot way too fast at Flavet Field.                        Some of my shifts at work for the O'Connell Center are parking for certain events. Most areas are fine to work 5 hours at, but Flavet is different as its an empty field with no shade, causing the water in my water bottle to become way too hot to be enjoyable within the first half of the shift. This happens because of poor insulation of the bottle, and direct sunlight from the open field.
2. Package tracking give little information on where your package actually is.   Over the past two months I've had two packages go missing, and the tracking link gives you little to no information on its where abouts. I think packages should be tracked like your Uber driver is tracked on the app, giving you a better idea as to when your package will arrive, and if it goes missing, you can track it. The Uber tracking is still relatively new to the market, and shipping companies have nothing to lose over there tracking system, as there are only a select few companies you can choose from. 
3. Setting up cable boxes still requires an hour long phone call.                               Maybe this is just for Cox, which was my only option in my new apartment, but it took a whole hour on the phone to set it up; transferred four times and put on hold for half the time. Companies are more focused on there product, reinventing it and making adjustments to its design rather than customer service.
4. Not enough crosswalks on my way to work.                                                                        I either take the bus or walk to work. When I do walk to work, there's certain areas that need crosswalks, or else I walk in a giant circle around instead of just taking a straight line through, adding an extra 5-10 minutes to my commute. A lot of college students at UF either have a car/scooter or live on campus, so crosswalks on the edge of campus aren't really thought of often.  
5. No sandals or heels big enough for a women's size 11.                                               Lots of shoes only go up to a size 9, maybe 10 if I'm lucky, so finding shoes for an event is a long process. The average size of women's feet is size 8.5, leaving the smaller and larger sizes behind and focusing on the largest part of the market to make money. 
6. Higher prices at CVS on 13th.                                                                                                 Because of its convenience and they know we'll pay, CVS prices are $1-$3 more expensive than Publix, Target, or any CVS's on Archer. 
7. Phone call scammers.                                                                                                                      I get these daily and are just really annoying to deal with. Easy to do, but not easy to track and get authorities involved, plus a lot of people still believe in these.
8. Cleaning out dryer lint.                                                                                                                 I have an old dryer and it fills with so much lint from a single cycle. Plus, the lint spread everywhere and triggers my allergies when I clean it. I actually had to look up what dryer lint really is, and its just fibers from the clothes that are getting dried. I don't think you can get rid of this, but the placement is awkward and causes for a lot of lint to fly in the air. 
9. Vending machines that don't work or don't take cards.                                           So annoying when you can't get a Gatorade on a hot day because you don't carry cash. UF is a busy campus, and no one is gonna take the time to call or make a complaint about the broken machine. There should be a system in place to alert maintenance. 
10. Not being able to pull up Apple Music through my Google Assistant.                      I prefer Apple Music to Google's option, but when I say "okay Google play ______", it sends my to Google Play music and says I don't have it in my Library. This is probably due to the Android vs. Apple feud, and makes you want to switch to Google Music for the ability to use the Google Assistant.
11. Not having any late night car/bus service near my apartment.                                  I live a bit off campus and don't have a car, so when I do have late nights at Marston or get off work late, I can't use SNAP, and the buses are on a 40 minute loop still drop me off kind of far from my place, but its still better than nothing. Most UF students live on campus or has a car/scooter. 
12. Group projects that aren't really group projects.                                                        Everyone's gone through this, people letting everyone else do the work and just showing up for the presentation, yeah it's annoying. People have different personalities with different skills and levels of ethics, causing some to be able to slip through and not do anything, or others taking up all the work themselves. 
13. Scooter entitlement.                                                                                                                     As I wrote before I do a lot of parking for events, and you would not believe how entitled and rude some scooters are, like trying to enter in an exit only or yelling at me for doing my job. Even just trying to get somewhere I have been almost clipped in the heel by scooters while trying to cross a crosswalk several times. Scooters probably have this problem because they are smaller vehicles and can zip through tight or crossed off places. 
14. Command hooks.                                                                                                                           These things are annoying, because sometimes they don't work and will fall off from holding a simple decoration (I do get the ones that match the weight and they still give me this problem) or they really stick and don't come off, or take part of the wall with them. This is probably from production inconsistencies. 
15. Too large amounts of food at the grocery store.                                                             Didn't really know how to word this one, but as a college student, I don't need a whole loaf of bread that goes bad in a week. I know its cheap but I don't like wasting food. Grocery stores are more focused towards families who need larger amounts of food then I, a college student cooking for one. 
16. Pop up ads that you can't exit.                                                                                                      I get a lot of these from online clothing stores, they ask for an email for a measly 10% off but you cant exit the pop up unless you give the email, so annoying and useless. Bad design can be blamed for this, as this problem mostly happens on the mobile versions of the website. I've made websites before, and you have to constantly check if what you put on the website looks good and works on the mobile version. 
17. UF email (outlook).                                                                                                                            I actually like the UF email, makes it easy to connect with other students and faculty, but I just don't care for outlook. I have to check two different emails and I don't get notifications if I got an important email like Gmail. Usually its things from gator dinning, or the monthly news letter, so I don't pay too much attention to it. Bad design and no helpful tools on it, should have the ability to link with other emails.
18. UF wifi.                                                                                                                                                   I use UF guest wifi on campus because I cannot figure out how to use the gator link one. (you need a separate app but when you get the app it can't find the network and its just frustrating). But even the guest wifi isn't that great, its spotty and will drop you out of no where, making you resign in. A wifi system should not make me have to download another app to use it. There are errors in both the wifi and app that need to be updated. 
19. Hair clogging the shower drain and sink.                                                                Multiple girls with long hair clogs the drain real fast, and its gross to clean it. Dorm drains aren't great at gathering hair, it usually has larger hole to let a greater amount of water through. They should replace them with a cover with more holes that are smaller that can keep the hair out of the drain. This will save time and hassle from us and the cleaning staff, as well as money that has to go into cleaning/clearing the pipes. 
20. Certain assignments/quizzes not showing up on canvas calendar because their on MyLab.                                                                                                                                  I like a one stop place to get all my information like my emails stated before, so when I have a class that uses MyLab, I groan because it's harder to keep track of the assignments and keeps me on edge in case I forget anything. MyLab is its own application with its own set up much like Canvas, but since the two now work hand in hand in the majority of classes online, they should be able to combine the calendar and checklist for work due. 

Overall this list wasn't that hard to come up with. I had a lot of free time and a lot of annoying things happening to me over the past month. The only thing is I don't think a lot of these will lead to a break through idea for my to use as my business idea for the class, but it was a good exercise!