27: Reading Reflection #3

Book chosen: How to Think Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 

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

The general theme of this book is getting to know our two systems of thought, System 1 being fast thinking and System 2 being slow thinking. Both are important in our daily lives, but we are shown how to tap into each and given exercises to try and change between the two. 

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

This book was much more psychology based then entrepreneurship. Though its not all about creativity and business, it provides knowledge of human thinking and initial reactions that could be used to better understand our market and ourselves as entrepreneurs. We did so many assignments on understanding our market to the point where you can predict your customers needs and problems that you can solve with your product. We went from thinking using System 2, slow and complicated thoughts that took time to comprehend and think of a solution, to now thinking using System 1 and natural instincts to make predictions. 

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

I would create an exercise that involves studying your market up close while facing the problem you are trying to solve. Take note of their physical changes, narrowed eyes in focus, hunched shoulders in stress, etc. Maybe even include how different they react with your product, more positive and have more ease completing the problem or task. Hopefully this could show the change between thinking with System 2 to System 1.

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 heard about this thinking phenomena before in a previous psychology class. I think though reading the authors personal examples and learning just how much the human body gives away of your thoughts and feelings was very interesting. The saying I can read you like a book is so true if you know what to look for, dilated eyes for laziness, scrunched nose for focus or anger, etc. 

28: 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?

My exit strategy is to sell my product and its resources to a large technology company like Google or Microsoft. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I know my product can be successful as I can build relationships with colleges and universities around the U.S. by providing them tools that could better engage students and help with their academics. But building a tech empire isn't my goal, and these big companies could take my product to a whole new level, while also giving me a lot of money. These tech companies may even want to replicate my product, but it would be cheaper to buy mine instead of creating one themselves as it would save them time and resources while also getting rid of their only competitor. 

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 just thought of my exit strategy for this assignment as I honestly didn't think that far into the future. I think this would be a natural order of things though, as big tech companies don't want competition and have enough money to buy successful startups. I don't think I have an exact time where I would be willing to sell my product to Microsoft or Google, because I would want to grow it as much as I could by myself, but I wouldn't mind being bought out after five to ten years. 

26: Celebrating Failure

One of my other classes is ACG2021 (Financial Accounting), it's a weed out class and can be hard if you don't keep up with lectures and if you're not self motivated. Thankfully I started off strong, getting 95-100% on all my quizzes and even a 90% on the first exam. One chapter got the best of me, and I struggled through 2 hours of lecture and over 30 pages of text that might as well have been hieroglyphics. After finishing that, I went on to My Accounting Lab to complete the practice homework problems. I saw the first assignment that had the chapter number and clicked on it, not checking to make sure it was the homework practice, not the actual quiz. I should have checked but I was so used to doing this routine that I didn't think twice. When I opened what I thought was the practice problems, I realized too late that it was the real deal, the quiz that could make or break my grade. I was stressed and worried, as I still didn't understand the material, but I couldn't exit as that would give me an automatic zero. Knowing the only option was to try and take the quiz with the notes I already had, I hunkered down and tired my best to complete the problems. I thought I did okay, but I only got 2 out of 6 points. I felt so disheartened and angry with myself, as every point in this class is vital to pass, so a simple mess up could mean the difference between a B+ and an A. I didn't let it get the best of me though, I completed the practice problems and made sure I completely understood the material before moving onto the next chapter. Just because I messed up the quiz doesn't mean I have to mess up my exam too. As for the grade, it definitely made an impact, but an A is still possible so its not all that bad. From this experience I learned not to get lazy, as you're opening yourself up for problems to arise. I also learned hat a little mistake among successes isn't such a bad thing, and you shouldn't beat yourself up over it as that just extends the problem when you could move on and use your energy on something else. 

24 Venture Concept

Currently, there are 19.9 million college students in the United States. All are looking to receive a higher education which could catapult them to a higher-level position in their career. In order to remain a student and graduate, a student most stay focused on their academics, but as we all know, a 4.00 GPA is not enough to get hired today. Participating in clubs and volunteer opportunities is a must and internships are required by many colleges in order to graduate. With all of these requirements and dates, it’s hard to keep up and stay stress free. The last thing on a student’s mind is what’s next. Many students just live day by day as they don’t have time nor effort left to actively plan their month or even week. This way of organization is ineffective and leads students to mismanage time and forget about important events and due dates. The most used forms of organized for students includes online calendars that are provided by the education platforms they use like Canvas, and the calendar apps provided on their cellphones. Both of these options create problems of their own. These online calendars provided by sites like Canvas are helpful when your logged in, but could be hard on the go to pull up. Not only that, but the are single use, meaning they only serve a single purpose. This leads to students going back and forth from multiple open tabs to get your correct schedule. A smart idea may be to log everything in a planner or calendar app, but it’s tedious work to schedule individual dates, especially if the students participate in multiple clubs, volunteer, and work.  When looking at the most used online calendars on the market like Google Calendar and Outlook, there is an amazing tool, the sync button. This allows you to automatically sync most calendars at just a touch of a button, creating a single calendar in seconds. This tool is a life saver and used by many, except for college students. Due to the secured log in for education sites, you cannot sync these online calendars to Outlook, leaving a huge opportunity that could benefit students in a big way.

I am a college student myself, obviously. I am a full time student who works a part time job and participates in a club. I am always on the go and have a need to stay organized, especially since my job requires me to keep my schedule up to date incase they need me on the spot. I have gone through different ways of organizing in hopes to find something that works. I like calendar apps as I always have my phone on me and its pretty easy to use and make your own. Though with any planning, it takes time to do. Most weeks I’m okay with the snail pace of logging each individual date in, but others I’m scrambling to finish the current week, not even stopping to think what’s to come the following week. I’ve seen this problem first hand, I have background in web design and coding, and entrepreneurship background, making me a good candidate to try and make a product to solve this problem. So, I created Sync Me EDU, a calendar app that automatically connects and syncs with student’s educational sites due dates, class schedule, club meeting times and locations, and any events happening around campus. This product would be sold to Universities for $5,000 a semester and provided to students to use by logging in with their student’s ID number and password. I plan to work with colleges and universities to allow my app access to their programs, like Gator One, in order for students to successfully sync their calendars into one place for easy access and use.

Once a student opens the app and inputs their log in information, their class schedule and canvas due dates would already be inputted into the calendar. From there the student can sync any other online calendar, like their work or personal schedule. Students would also be able to look up official clubs of their university and add their schedule with meeting locations to their calendar. This can be also be done with Greek life, sports events, and special events happening around campus. Each organization would be required to keep their schedules up to date and would have a different type of account.

Though the idea seems simple, there are no other business trying to solve this problem. My largest competitor would be Outlook, but there is a clear difference between Microsoft’s product and mine. Outlook’s target market is business professionals, whereas mine is college students. My simple design and includes desired features for active students then Outlook’s over complicated design and heavy focus on email. And, as stated before, Outlook cannot sync calendars from websites that require a log in. I decided to sell my app to universities because of how closely we would have to work together in order to make this product a reality, and the fact that college students are cheap. By partnering with universities instead of selling the app on the app store, we would be able to give more to students and offer them a chance to become more active in their time at college. I plan on starting small, selling my idea to colleges with a student body of 10,000 or less to test the system to make sure it works under pressure and to find out more of what students want from the app. I would eventually need a team; a crew of tech gurus to help with later system updates and new additions when larger amounts of students start to use it, as well as a professional connections team to help keep our bonds with the colleges and universities we partner with.  Through this product I would love to grow with our connections to create and provide more tools and products that students can use to make their lives stress free and more valuable.

23: Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Lack of competition
Valuable: Few competitors to deal with creates less stress and a higher opportunity to have my product succeed.
Rare: No one else is trying to solve this problem.
Inimitable: Though my product stands out from current options, it could be replicated if a business beats me to the larger universities.
Non-Substitute: Universities could just make their own version of what I'm trying to create, but that would cost them more time and money to create a competitive product to mine.

2. Web design and coding background
Valuable: Since my product is an app, its important for me to know how to code and create a pleasing and easy to use product.
Rare: Not so rare, people could take a quick class or watch YouTube videos to learn coding and good design.
Inimitable: Could easily be copied by technique, but not style and organization.
Non-Substitute: Could be done by others, but would rather I do it myself then to pay someone.

3. Entrepreneurship background
Valuable: Having more experience making products and creating business plans lets me move faster in my process to create and market my product than others just starting out.
Rare: People create all the time, it's not at all rare, its only rare if it succeeds.
Inimitable: Many people, especially fellow IA students, have the same previous experiences as me, but not the same ideas.
Non-Substitute: Anyone can be an entrepreneur, but few go through with their ideas and spend the amount of time and money it takes to create the product.

4. Current Student
Valuable: I am a customer for my product, I need a way to stay organized as easily and hassle free as possible. It also gives me a foot in the door to pitch this product to UF.
Rare: Not rare at all, there are currently 19.9 million college students in the U.S. and every college student needs to stay on top of their schedule and due dates to do their best.
Inimitable: Anyone can become a college student or need this product.
Non-substitute: I am in a great position to be in a larger university with resources and a lot of students who could benefit from my product then if I were to be in a smaller and lower rank university.

5. Connections to Clubs and Organizations
Valuable: If I want people to use my product, I'll need to pitch and market my app to others and have them use it and refer friends. This is especially helpful with larger clubs and organizations.
Rare: Not rare, all you need is a friend and a friendly personality to get to know a person or club.
Inimitable: Connections between people are different and cannot easily be replicated.
Non-Substitute: Others can connect with similar groups or clubs I am, but I would have already beaten them to the chase and would have a longer more trusting connection with them.

6. Drive to Make a Difference
Valuable: This is extremely valuable in order to keep your spirits up and to continue to keep making the product, as your handwork could make a difference in someone else's life.
Rare: An uncommon characteristic
Inimitable: It's hard to replicate someone else's drive or to change your own. It also depends on the situation, which I don't know a lot of people who are extremely passionate about student planners.
Non-Substitute: You don't need a drive to help others to make a product, but your level of effort shows in your work and could connect better with your market or buyers.

7. Low cost
Valuable: Many people put tens of thousands of dollars into their product, but a self made app just takes a single person and a lot of hours learning and creating.
Rare: It is kind of rare to have a low cost startup, as many people think it takes a village and a million dollars to make it.
Inimitable: People make low cost apps all the time, as you can learn to make an app for free online. The only thing that can set me apart is my design and use for the app.
Non-Substitute: Other companies like Google or Microsoft could come and make one themselves at a cost that low to them, but way too high for me, driving me out.

8. Benefits to the University
Valuable: My app will help students become more organized and active, causing the college or university's participation and grades to increase which would help with their overall rank.
Rare: Opportunities to improve are readily available
Inimitable: My product helps in a particular way; organizing to improve whereas others use tactics to help improve test scores and sports performance.
Non-Substitute: I don't know how many other types of tools are targeting students organization and planning, but seeing there isn't really a product like this already, I'm assuming not many.

9. Small Business, Small Team
Valuable: Having a small team and small business allows a more mom and pop feel and would work well with our connections to the colleges, as your not left on hold or worse, stuck listening to an automated voice when the system goes awry.
Rare: Most businesses in the U.S. are small businesses, so no.
Inimitable: As my main two competitors are some of the largest companies today, I don't think this can be replicated.
Non-Substitute: Nothing can beat a personal feel when your doing business, you want to feel a connection with someone when making a business deal and to know their in good hands.

10. Change from Paper to Electronic 
Valuable: As we are currently moving into a paperless world, it's an advantage for my product as more people would be wanting to go from paper planners to online versions.
Rare: Not rare, but a giant movement to help improve our environment.
Inimitable: As it is a movement, more businesses are going to convert their products into online versions.
Non-Substitute: Everything is going to be digitized in the next ten years, so sooner or later there will be more products on the online market.
Note*: I think this one's a stretch but this list was super hard to make!


I think my best resource is the fact that there is a lack of competition. This is extremely valuable as this causes me less stress and allows me to show just how unique my product is when I am pitching my idea to colleges. As I rely on colleges and universities to buy my product, it's important for me to distinguish my product and show how it would be more effective then lets say Outlook, especially when moneys on the line.

22: Elevator Pitch #3

First I would like to thank everyone for their critiques from elevator pitch 2! I got a lot of feedback and made changes to my script and made a wider body shot. I tired to make a more interesting intro and decided to appeal more to the students then the universities. I also explained more about why my product is unique to my current competitors and tired to include how it would work with student log ins. I also figured out what happened to my last video upload and this one runs smoothly with video and audio running at the same time. This still isn't perfect, I'm seven seconds over and stuttered a few times as I tried to memorize the script, but I think it's my best yet.

21: Reading Reflection #2

Book of my choosing: 

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams

What is the general theme of the book?

This book is a humerus piece on Scott Adams life, or more so his failures, that lead him to where he is now, a famous cartoonist. He explains how your failures are your most vital tool in life, and you shouldn't be embarrassed to fail, you should be excited, or at least positive. He also explains how you are your own worst enemy. Anything you want to do can be done, but you have to let yourself do it. His tone is comedic, yet a bit harsh which is needed, a little bit or a wake up call and some tough love to get you going. 

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

Scott Adams provides a great insight to entrepreneurship, as he himself is one and has been since his career started. My favorite part of the whole book is when he laid out and explained some of his most memorable startups and how they all failed spectacularly. Ideas that were too simple to patent, failed restaurants, but mostly ideas that didn't hold his interest, and therefore his time. I think this was refreshing, to see someone lay all of his failures out and look back at them fondly. We talk a lot about our 'ugly babies' in this class, but you don't really get to see other's as they are overshadowed by their success. 

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

I think early on we should have to make a list of a few times we failed at something. Anything from an uncomfortable interview to a failed project or start up. This could help show where we fall short, maybe we lack energy, passion, thick skin, time, skills, etc and from there we can work on them. If we can identify where and what we lack in, I think that could be a great confidence booster to those of us wanting to get more involved in entrepreneurship. 

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 most powerful part of the book for me was when he talked about energy. Waking up and having something you look forward to doing is so important not just for an entrepreneur, but anyone. You should have something that makes you happy and gets you out of bed. Recently I've been lacking that energy and having a hard time getting out of bed and finding something to do that would make me happy and give me energy. Sure I have a schedule I keep up with for classes and work, but other than that its been hard to feel energized. Reading this book put that thought at the fore front in my mind and I've been coming up with little exercises I can do to get me out of this fog and eventually get me back on track. (ie read that book I've had on my shelf forever, exercise more often, pick up a new hobby, etc.) For that I thank Scott Adams for this book.