Venture Concept No. 2

Unfortunately, I did not receive any comments on my first venture concept post. I am not sure why :(

I did get some feedback on my "What's Next" post though, so I am glad we can also incorporate those in this post. I changed and stressed things regarding their comments to me:

One person gave me an extremely interesting insight about my next market. He mentioned to me that I should not only be reaching out to the younger generation to teach them about social media, but to also target the elderly community. The youth is getting exposure at such an early age that they may not need the service as much as the elderly community may. He also mentioned that removing third party comments and photos will be difficult without contacting the host site, such as Facebook. Good point! 

I also received positive feedback saying how rapidly this is becoming a more important service and that I should heavily market high school, college and graduate aged people. I got a recommendation to post my advertisements on Facebook and LinkedIn, as these are the most highly populated sites of my target market (age group and professionals seeking jobs). 

Opportunity:
Those who have the unmet need of my service are people who are currently seeking employment, applying to college, a grad program, or a promotion. Because of this nature, the general age group of my potential customers is 18-25ish. The reason these people are my potential customers are because this is generally the time where there are the most inappropriate photos/posts/memes/etc. on people's social media pages. These things can prevent people from getting the job or getting accepted into school. More and more of our society is becoming online-oriented, which is why our online presence is more important now than ever. Geographically. I'd say this need is mostly focused in the United States. Currently, people have to go through all of their social media platforms themselves to clear out things they don't want their future boss to see. In terms of Google, there is nothing they can do to change what shows up on the first page. Because of this, it is a very big opportunity. This opportunity will be available as long as social media outlets are checked before people get hired! There are also people who LOSE their jobs because of things that have been found on their social media pages from years back.

Innovation:
My service, which I've unofficially named iCleanup, will essentially "clean-up" the customer's online presence. These days, many people do not get hired because of inappropriate content on their social media profiles. iCleanup would manage the customer's various social media platforms, deleting and clearing out anything that could potentially ward off employers (or anyone that could inflict consequence due to online content). Another service we'd provide is perfecting the customer's Google search. With the usage of SEO's (search engine optimization), we could reorganize what shows up on the "top" or "first" page of Google when the customer's name is searched. That way the customer's LinkedIn, portfolio, blog, etc., would show up first rather than a Facebook page or an old MySpace account. The service would also help with going "all the way back" on our various social media accounts to ensure that everything is work-friendly. In terms of payment, there would be a "one time fee" for an overall cleanup. We will also offer a subscription style service where we will constantly monitor a clients personal pages and Google presence.That way, if anything comes up on radar of a negative post about a client, we can have it removed or hidden immediately. This would keep customers longer than just the one time social media cleanup. 


Venture Concept:
Everything comes together here. My innovation will satisfy the need of the opportunity because the target market will no longer have to worry about their online presence preventing them from getting and keeping their job. It will help those who already have a job because they also will not have to worry about something of their past being dug up and getting them in trouble. For those who have things that don't paint them in an attractive light pop-up on Google, the service will help them in an even better way because now things that will help them get the job will show up first. Our subscribed clients will forever have their social media platforms perfect!

Three Minor Elements: 
Secret sauce: close family friend who is an extremely successful venture capitalist
What's next?: Targeting young kids and elderly people to teach them about social media safety and the importance of keeping your reputation pristine on these sites. 
What's next for me?: If this venture launched and was very successful, I would sell it and move on to something new!

Final Reflection

Wow! What a semester. To be honest,  I had such a love/hate relationship with this course. It was somewhat tedious and the interviews were pretty annoying, but I learned so much and have gained so much experience in this area because of it.
The most formative experience in this class for me was actually the Bug List exercise. I think that exercise is also the one that I will remember years down the line. It taught me the most important thing--how an entrepreneur thinks. I never thought before that exercise to simply reflect on life and things that "bug" me. That is definitely the way to find what needs to be fixed aka the opportunities. The most joyous experiences were reading the books. I love to read (especially in the summer when I have more free time). I really enjoyed learning about Elon Musk, Ray Kroc and "how to fail at everything and still win big!" I loved that these readings were incorporated into this class. The experience that I am most proud to have accomplished is the elevator pitch. I normally have been very nervous doing things like that, but I think by the third try I really nailed it. It taught me how to be a salesman and I think that is extremely valuable today in whatever we do.

By now, I don't really see myself as an entrepreneur per se, but I do think that I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset. Like I mentioned above, the idea of the "bug list" and seeing opportunities through that has transformed the way I think. I am constantly thinking how I can make things better or more efficient.

Some advice that I have for students coming down this path in the future is to NOT think that just because a class doesn't have quizzes or exams that it means it is an easy A. To preform best in this course, I recommend staying on top of everything. Not only keeping a careful calendar of due dates, but to start early. If you do not start early, you will find that there is not enough time to finish certain assignments. Even though things are only one point, missing assignments add up. I also would recommend to never miss commenting on your peer's blogs. Comments are worth the same as posts, so why would you not take them seriously?!

Good luck future students and thank you, ENT3003!

Reading Reflection No. 3

Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc

1. Something that surprised me about Ray Kroc was that he had an "all or nothing" mentality that caused him to have less than great personal relationships. I admired that he always carried his humble beginnings with him. I did not admire the time in his life in which he sold bad real estate to people. Luckily, he left that profession to go back to selling paper cups honestly. He experienced failure during that time of selling bad real estate. He also experienced failure working as a piano player at a bar that sold illegal liquor. He overcame these mistakes and went back to selling paper cups.

2. Ray Kroc was an extremely good salesman. When selling paper cups, he knew exactly how to get them to restaurants, soda shops, etc. He also was good with keeping connections with them. He was an honest salesman, and never sold a cup to someone who didn't need one. He also was very good at spotting opportunities and taking advantage. When he stumbled upon the invention of the milkshake mixer, he took it to the McDonald's brothers and wound up changing America forever.

3. I was confused upon starting this book because I did not even know who Ray Kroc was! I was under the impression that the McDonald's brothers were the only people involved... I guess I was kind of living under a rock!

4. The first question that I would ask Ray Kroc could be taken as a rude question. I would like to ask him if he regrets the success of McDonald's now that we know how terrible it is for our health. McDonald's contributes to so much of the world's obesity. I wonder if he would have ever guessed that it would result in that. My next question would be if he would do anything differently, what would it be?

5. I think that Ray Kroc's opinion of hard work is doing anything and everything you can to be successful while being HONEST. Honesty was very important to Kroc and I respect that about him. I wish that he was around today so that I could hear his opinions about the current election and the way McDonald's is run today. I wonder if he would approve of what is going on or what he would have to say about everything.  

Celebrating Failure

In high school I was on the track team. I was a great runner--I was in awesome shape in terms of my stamina and speed and ran short distance sprints. When I got to college, varsity track was obviously a thing of the past. I still went for runs from time to time, but it was nothing compared to my old ways.

Now, here I am a junior in college and I have completely lost my skillz!! I used to run a mile in about 6 minutes. Now, I usually do it around 9. This summer, I made it my goal to get back down below 7 minutes. It has been MUCH harder than I anticipated. It definitely falls under the category of "multiple failures."

Though I still haven't brought my time down to what it used to be, each failure has made me a better runner. Every time I ran, I knocked off a couple seconds. So even though I technically failed, I improved. Each failure was (is) one step closer to my ultimate goal.

This is representative of other "failures" in life. I learned that they may seem like failures in the moment, but they are only bringing us closer to the ultimate success. We either learn from them or they make us stronger.

Failure is hard. I personally get very frustrated when I fail. But I know that being successful is a million times more satisfying when it was hard to get there. Succeeding on the first try isn't nearly as rewarding!

What's Next

Existing Market:

Next will be an ongoing service. This will allow the company to make more money because it would be subscription based rather than just a single payment. We would monitor a customer's online presence for them. Whenever something is posted of them by a friend that it inappropriate, offensive or controversial, we would run it by the client and then remove it for them. This way the client's pages would stay in tip-top shape at all times.

During my interviews, I received a lot of encouragement about my idea. Many said they would consider subscribing to the service as an ongoing service. That way, they would never have to worry about inappropriate things of themselves online. Something that stood out particularly (which I mentioned in my Venture Concept post) was an idea to pitch to Facebook and make my service an option upon making a Facebook profile.

I think that in the future of my company would involve more subscriptions rather than one time "clean-ups." This would be more profitable for the company. Also, I would love to get into the idea of potentially making it an option when signing up for different social media sites. (That is definitely a long shot but would be AWESOME.) I would eventually sell the company to help fund my next idea!

New Market:

This was really difficult for me to come up with. Because my service is pretty specific, I'm not sure who else I can really market my service to. Currently, I am selling to anyone who has a social media platform that needs to be cleaned up, anyone who wants their Google search to show important, positive things about them, or people who want their online presence to be monitored by me. I suppose the only radically different market than people who have social media are... people who don't have social media yet.

I can't exactly provide my service to this different market, but I can change up the service to fit them. I can make it a kind of "online presence education" thing. Teach about tips and tricks on keeping your online profiles and searches in shape. Also, I would then be able to sell the subscription to those who are just then making an online profile for the first time. Interviewees for this were my little brother and his 3 friends... they are all 10 years old and the ONLY people I could find within my circle that didn't already have some form of social media already. These interviews were kinda difficult considering they are children and don't really know how social media works. This enforced that my idea about an educational service would actually be a pretty good idea because the kids can learn about the importance of online presence from us.

After reviewing my findings, this market seems to be just as promising as my other market! Because of how prominent social media is in today's society, kids are creating profiles younger and younger. Teaching about the importance of your online image would be extremely beneficial for children. There are already countless programs that focus on cyberbullying and internet safety, but not really any regarding how important it is to keep your online presence in shape for your future.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:
Those who have the unmet need of my service are people who are currently seeking employment, applying to college, a grad program, or a promotion. Because of this nature, the general age group of my potential customers is 18-25ish. The reason these people are my potential customers are because this is generally the time where there are the most inappropriate photos/posts/memes/etc. on people's social media pages. These things can prevent people from getting the job or getting accepted into school. More and more of our society is becoming online-oriented, which is why our online presence is more important now than ever. Geographically. I'd say this need is mostly focused in the United States. Currently, people have to go through all of their social media platforms themselves to clear out things they don't want their future boss to see. In terms of Google, there is nothing they can do to change what shows up on the first page. Because of this, it is a very big opportunity. This opportunity will be available as long as social media outlets are checked before people get hired! There are also people who LOSE their jobs because of things that have been found on their social media pages from years back.

Innovation:
My service, which I've unofficially named iCleanup, will essentially "clean-up" the customer's online presence. These days, many people do not get hired because of inappropriate content on their social media profiles. iCleanup would manage the customer's various social media platforms, deleting and clearing out anything that could potentially ward off employers (or anyone that could inflict consequence due to online content). Another service we'd provide is perfecting the customer's Google search. With the usage of SEO's (search engine optimization), we could reorganize what shows up on the "top" or "first" page of Google when the customer's name is searched. That way the customer's LinkedIn, portfolio, blog, etc., would show up first rather than a Facebook page or an old MySpace account. The service would also help with going "all the way back" on our various social media accounts to ensure that everything is work-friendly. In terms of payment, there would be a "one time fee" for an overall cleanup. We will also offer a subscription style service where we will constantly monitor a clients personal pages and Google presence.That way, if anything comes up on radar of a negative post about a client, we can have it removed or hidden immediately. This would keep customers longer than just the one time social media cleanup. 


Venture Concept:
Everything comes together here. My innovation will satisfy the need of the opportunity because the target market will no longer have to worry about their online presence preventing them from getting and keeping their job. It will help those who already have a job because they also will not have to worry about something of their past being dug up and getting them in trouble. For those who have things that don't paint them in an attractive light pop-up on Google, the service will help them in an even better way because now things that will help them get the job will show up first. Our subscribed clients will forever have their social media platforms perfect!

Three Minor Elements: 
Secret sauce: close family friend who is an extremely successful venture capitalist
What's next?: maybe teaming up with Facebook so that it could be a subscription option upon making a profile
What's next for me?: If this venture launched and was very successful, I would sell it and move on to something new!

Elevator Pitch No. 3

I didn't receive any feedback about changes, mostly just encouragement. People liked my passion for my idea, so I tried to let that shine through a little more. I kinda think these can be a little cheesy, so I held back a little bit last time. But this time I just completely embraced the cheesiness! Enjoy :)

The pitch: https://youtu.be/QyqU7ReB1sA

Amazon Whisperer

My revenue drivers:
My business idea is a service that "cleans up" ones online presence. If there are any inappropriate photos, posts, videos, memes, etc, on ANY social media networking site, my company clears those things out. We would charge per social media site that needs to be cleaned up. Also, another big revenue driver is our "Google search" clean up service. This involves search engine optimization and is more complicated than just clearing out a social media page. This involves us working through Google so that when a clients name is searched, their LinkedIn, Blog, Portfolio, etc will show up "first" and the old Myspace page or photos you can't take down show up on the next page of Google.

What's next?
Next will be an ongoing service. This will allow the company to make more money because it would be subscription based rather than just a single payment. We would monitor a customer's online presence for them. Whenever something is posted of them by a friend that it inappropriate, offensive or controversial, we would run it by the client and then remove it for them. This way the client's pages would stay in tip-top shape at all times.

There is nothing on Amazon that resembles my service.
What I did find were many books about how to keep your online presence up to date. This differs from my service because we actually do it for the customer, not just tell them how.
This product would NOT be good for my business because it basically teaches the customers how to not need us :)
There are already companies that you can hire to make your pages on Google show up higher on the list, but mine combines with clearing out the bad.

My Unfair Advantage

My resources:

1. This class. This class is valuable because it teaches me all about the world of entrepreneurship and the skills necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. It is rare in the fact that it is held at the University of Florida. There are other places you can take an entrepreneurship class, but only one ENT3003 at UF!

2. My age. My venture is pretty much directed towards college-age people who are searching for jobs. It is so helpful that my age is representative of my target customers because it will be easier for me to understand my market. 

3. My friends. My friends are all people that could use my service. Because they fall under that category, it is an advantage for me to use them as test-customers. Also, they are great to interview about ideas because they are the kind of people that would be using the service--so I get honest answers.

4. My planning skills. I am an excellent planner. I am extremely organized and that is absolutely an advantage to me. Many people put things off until the last minute, but I am generally a go-getter and get things done right away. This puts me ahead of those who are less organized because they are more likely to fall behind. 

5. My dad. My dad works in financial services, wealth management specifically, so he has a plethora of advice regarding being successful financially. Though he works with private clients, he still understands what a business needs to do to stay on top. His advice is invaluable and only mine!

6. My high school. My high school experience was very unique. I attended a small, all girls, catholic school. This is an advantage because the girls I graduated with are all very supportive of one another. There is a bond that we still share and a uniform desire for our fellow classmates to be successful. That being said, I basically have 150 girls who would help me get my venture off the ground. Free marketing and customers, basically!

7. My sorority. Ditto^

8. My location. Though I don't think this is really THAT important considering my venture is an online service, being in New York is pretty nice for business. You never know when you may need the help of another company, or to utilize some of your network. New York is great for that. It is full of people who are striving to be successful as well. It will certainly keep me motivated. 

9. My competitive edge. I am extremely competitive. I realize that is not a unique trait because many people are, but it absolutely is an advantage in terms of getting my company ahead!

TOP RESOURCE: 10. My good family friend, Bill Gurley. Mr. Gurley is a venture capitalist who works for a firm called Benchmark Capital. He has been on the investment teams in many different successful start-ups. Namely, Uber, Snapchat, Instagram, and StitchFix. He is an excellent resource to have. I can call upon him for advice about starting my company. (I actually wrote quite a bit about him in my first blog post for this class--he was the person who introduced me into the world of entrepreneurship). 

Reading Reflection No. 2

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

1. The general theme/argument of this book was a very humorous collection of lessons about life and success. Scott Adams tells many stories about his personal professional career (he is most famous for his creation of "Dilbert" comics) and what he has learned through them. It covers a plethora of different topics about life and I truly enjoyed every part of the book!

2. This book connected to ENT3003 in many ways. One way that I noticed first was the way Adams stressed the importance of knowing the right people. A huge part of success is keeping a strong network and utilizing it in your career. This can be reflected in our class with our social capital exercise. Another thing that connects is the topic of recognizing your own talents and how to use them to your advantage. A part I particularly loved is that of "positive attitude is not optional" and its true--it is necessary for success!

3. If I had to design an exercise for this class based on the book, it would be an exercise in which we map out our "goals vs. systems." Adams explains the difference as: goals are what you want to happen, systems are how you get there. For example, a goal is wanting to lose 10 pounds where a system is working out daily. He explains that goal oriented people are constantly chasing their goals and then when they reach them they feel out of place and then look for another goal. People who are system oriented are happy with each day completing the system. I like this outlook and I think it would be a great idea to make an exercise where we right down our different systems that we want to take up in our lives to improve them and help us accomplish what we would like to accomplish.

4. A big surprise to me was Adams outlook on passion. Many people would say "follow your dreams," "follow your passion," or "don't let anyone tell you you can't do something--" but that simply isn't realistic. We constantly hear that if we follow our dreams and our passions that we will become successful, when in the real world, it is usually the other way around. If we follow opportunity, we will find that success will come easily and that when we see the good things that our opportunity has brought us and the people it serves, the passion will follow.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. Me
My name is Sarah Gies. I am from Rye, New York and currently a third year student studying Finance at the University of Florida. I hope to one day enter the financial services industry with a role in wealth management--preferably at a small, private firm. I have developed strong leadership skills through the various leadership positions I have held throughout my life. I also have strong interpersonal skills and am very organized and analytical when it comes to problem solving. I think that these skills will equip me well in terms of translating the wavering financial markets to helping people with their own personal assets. As for this class' venture, I think that it could play a role of helping me with my sales skills. A commenter wrote that my skills in organization and strategy will set me up for success in this specific venture! 

2. What am I offering to customers?
My service, which I've unofficially named iCleanup, will essentially "clean-up" the customer's online presence. These days, many people do not get hired because of inappropriate content on their social media profiles. iCleanup would manage the customer's various social media platforms, deleting and clearing out anything that could potentially ward off employers (or anyone that could inflict consequence due to online content). Another service we'd provide is perfecting the customer's Google search. With the usage of SEO's (search engine optimization), we could reorganize what shows up on the "top" or "first" page of Google when the customer's name is searched. That way the customer's LinkedIn, portfolio, blog, etc., would show up first rather than a Facebook page or an old MySpace account. One commenter suggested it is one of those ideas that you don't know how much you needed it until you have it. 

3. Who am I offering it to?
My target market would mainly be college students and post-grads who are seeking jobs and internships. This is generally the age-frame where people are applying for careers and it is also the age-frame where we would find the most incriminating content online (i.e. drinking photos, sharing inappropriate or offensive memes and posts, etc.). Through my interviews, I also found that students applying to college would also benefit from this service as colleges are now searching social media platforms before accepting new students. Another segment to target would be those who already have an established career, but would like a set of eyes on their name online. We would provide a service to them that notifies them when new content including their name appears on Google, and promptly hide anything that would harm their reputation.

4. Why do they care?
What you say online is much more dangerous than what you say to someone in person. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Every day you could hear a new story about someone getting fired or not getting the job because of an offensive Tweet from 2 years ago that they forgot about. Online presence is so important these days. I think everyone would benefit from this service. One comment agreed with the fact that this need is becoming more and more prevalent. She used the term "erase their past" when referring to what my customers would look for. She also mentioned that it will create better retention to what people think.  

5. What are my core competencies?
There are a couple companies out there that will help you look good on Google. But no companies have offered a service to clean out your social media platforms for you. There are many self-help guides on how to do this yourself, but some people don't have the time or patience to search through their social media from the START. This is the main thing that sets iCleanup apart from the competitors... we do everything, not just one service.

Even after reading the comments and doing this again, I think that my five aspects on this "napkin" fit together quite well. If there is an aspect that needs work, it is the part of customer retention. Once the online presence is cleaned up, I need a way to keep customers using the service. I thought of a subscription, that would allow people to pay monthly/yearly for constant online monitoring. This way, if anyone posts anything inappropriate/embarrassing/incriminating, we would remove it or notify the customer before anyone of importance could see it. I'm still figuring out how that part would work! 

Feedback memo:
>"people looking to erase their past" secures that my business idea is valid in the commenter's eyes, too.
>"online presence is becoming more important" also confirms that my business idea has a market available due to the demand for a pristine online image. 

>"I feel like its one of those things that you don't realize you need until you have it" this showed me that some people would consider my service a need. BUT it also indicated that I may need to work on my sales pitch because if people do not realize they need it until they have it then it will need some serious selling!

>"your skills in strategy and organization will set you up for success with this idea" great compliment! I'm glad she agreed. Organization is one of my strongest qualities and I truly agree that it will help me with this specific venture and anything else that I pursue in life.

>"agree that my five elements fit together almost perfectly" key word: almost! Nothing will ever be perfect. But I am glad that she agreed with me in the sense that they are pretty close to being a great plan! 

These comments helped confirm my original post, which is why I barely changed anything--just added on more to the original. They agreed with me on just about everything, and added some nice comments on why they thought my venture was a good idea and that my skills will help me with it. I appreciate their comments!

My Secret Sauce

1. Five ways my human capital is unique:

     - I am a natural leader. Not only do I find myself in organized leadership roles, but within my friends and family I am looked upon as a leader as well.

     - I have a great balance between a creative and analytical brain. I am quite artistic but my favorite subjects involve math and problem solving. 

     - I am very good at working with individuals. I can easily read each person that I am working with and can figure out the best way I can work with that person. Everybody is different, and recognizing qualities and styles of each person I work with helps me excel in what I want to accomplish.

     - I am super friendly. I can go up and talk to anyone and strike up a conversation. I love meeting new people and will always take the initiative to meet new friends. I could go to a party alone!

     - I am trustworthy. Maybe it is my friendly manner combined with my ability to connect with people easily, but I find myself in many situations in which others are confiding in me. I think that I make people feel comfortable which allows them to trust in me and ask me for advice. 

2. Interviews: 

I conducted these interviews by asking each person to give me one adjective that describes a way that makes me different and why.

First, organized. This person explained that my borderline freakish organization is a main thing that I have to my advantage. They knew all about my planner and how I keep track of every little date and things I need to do. This helps me because I rarely forget assignments and obligations.

Second, intuitive. This person described me as instinctive, oftentimes making the right decision when there is not much information available. He explained that using the reasoning based off how I feel generally gives me the correct answer. 

Third, artistic. I loved this one. Many people don't know about my artistic side because I don't really talk about it or show many people. I think it is assumed because I am a finance major that I am not into art, but I am! She explained that it puts me apart from my other business-majored peers and that ti is something I should try and bring up more.

Fourth, confident. This interviewee explained the importance of confidence in everything that we do. From the classes that we take, to interviews, to our careers and even in our relationships, being confident is key. I was very flattered when my friend told me that she thought of me when she thought of a confident person.

Fifth, self-starter. This came to a surprise to me but I think is great in terms of this class! This interviewee explained that she admired my ability to begin work or projects on my own. She said that I really know how to take initiative and get done what I need to get done. 

3. Comparisons

I think the main difference is that when reflecting on myself, I came up with more qualities in terms of my personality and friendships, rather than skills. I was shocked when I heard the word "organized" that I had not thought of it for myself. I would say that is one of my best qualities in terms of human capital and I can't believe I didn't think of it for myself. Another difference was that I think the interviewees were much nicer to me than I was on myself. It took me some time to come up with my human capital but it didn't take the people I interviewed very long at all. This shows that we need to be easier on ourselves and get our skills down pat and utilize them! I think if I were to go back and make a new list after doing the interviews, I would stress the artistic side more. I think it is pretty cool that I can pursue a career in financial services but also have this creative, artistic side to me. That definitely sets me apart and makes me unique I think. 

My Customer's Avatar

This assignment was rather simple for me because I have actually thought up a pretty specific mental image of my customer already. My customers will mainly range high school-grad school aged people/anyone filling out applications. But my EXACT mental image of my customer is a 21 year old girl graduating college. She is in the midst of applying for jobs and is concerned with all the photos on Facebook of her at Fat Daddy's with a drink in her hand. She was likely in a sorority, went out a couple times a week and took a lot of Instagram photos. She drives a white Accord that her parents bought her for her 16th birthday. She got really good grades and will likely get the jobs she is applying for-- she just seriously needs to update her online image from college party girl to business professional. Her favorite shows are Grey's Anatomy and the Batchelor. She loves going to Starbucks in between her business classes. Some would call her "basic" ;). 

I have many things in common with my avatar, but many differences as well. One difference being the fact that I don't need the service myself! I based the mental image of my customer off of many of the girls I know and am friends with.

I think I would be able to become obsessed with my customer's because I already know just about everything about them! 

Alternative & Post-Purchase Evaluation

Interview 1:   https://youtu.be/oe-nkQtDfUg
This interview gave me some insight that even though someone may think that price is more important that quality or style, when it comes to my service, quality is much more important. This tells me that there are some things that those who are on a tight budget are still willing to pay bigger money for because of their importance. I also mentioned my personal venture to her and she said that her specific age demographic would greatly benefit due to the college admission process.

Interview 2:   https://youtu.be/dYCxN9xqwXc
This interview was very telling about how our spending habits may change as we get older. At the beginning of our monetary independence (such as my first interview) we are very careful with our spending and oftentimes value price as the most important purchase option. But as we get more comfortable fiscally, we can value quality and style over price. I also learned that while shopping in person, this "interviewee" is very unlikely to seek advise from other people. When shopping online on the other hand, she is almost always checking the reviews from other customers.

Interview 3:https://youtu.be/721xokh-ibE
The person I interviewed here was over the phone so I apologize if the quality of the audio is not as great! This interview also solidified the importance of online reviews when making a purchase. This particular customer was the only one who preferred to shop in person rather than online. He said that he likes to have the options laid out in front of him rather than seeing them on a computer screen. He also mentioned that he seeks the advice/recommendation of others before almost every single purchase he makes. This shows the importance of the word of mouth!

Conclusions:
The most important thing I took out of these interviews is that as the age changes, purchase behavior absolutely changes as well. Another thing that I learned is the importance of online reviews. Many people do not bother with reviews when making purchases in person because they are able to see and try out the item themselves, rather than just looking at a screen. When it comes to my service, testimonials and reviews are going to be very important as it will be a completely online service with online results. This way, people will be more confident with their purchase. They will be able to know that they are not sacrificing quality or price.

Portmanteau - "Dogillow"

Dogillow! Have a medium to large sized dog and use him/her as a pillow or cuddle buddy???? You have used a dogillow. Super dumb but works in those situations where you are cuddling with your pet!

This word was really easy for me to use regularly because my dog is constantly lying on my couch with me and my other family members. He is a big chocolate lab and a perfect dogillow. Whenever any of us would be lying with him, I'd use the word. At first, it got laughed at. This is due to the words silly sound and concept. Neither of my parents ever used the word (except to make fun of it). But my sister used it! She was lying with Moose (my dog) and said "he's such a great dogillow!" I think that this word would actually catch on to people who love to share the couch/bed space with their dogs.



One dog using the other as a dogillow. 

Halfway Reflection

   
                                           

     I have really enjoyed the course thus far. I find it so hard to believe that we are already halfway done with the summer. There are many behaviors that this course has required me to use, as well as some that I have developed throughout the course. For one, keeping track of my schedule for this course has been crucial to succeeding. There are lots of assignments, and many require more time than I thought. I realized though, once I sat down and began working, the assignments were rather enjoyable. They have taught me how to think like an entrepreneur, rather than someone just looking for a good grade. I also have particularly enjoyed the requirement of commenting on other student's ideas. It has been really cool to hear about their particular ventures and hearing their comments about mine in turn.

     There have certainly been some times where I became very frustrated and felt like giving up. What comes to mind particularly is just the general idea that we have had to dig really deep into our ideas. Normally, I just would have thought of the idea and called it a day. This class has required me to basically analyze every little aspect of the idea, including conducting interviews. This seemed annoying at the time, but I now know that it is imperative for entrepreneurial success. 

     The first tip I would offer to someone who is going to take this course is: make sure you love your idea. If you aren't fired up about what you came up with, it isn't going to work out. There are dozens of assignments based off of your one idea, so you really have to be interested in fostering it and making it the best it can be. Secondly: be honest with your peer comments. Nobody likes hearing criticism, but it is imperative for success. Anyone can just say "great idea!" but that does not help the person in the slightest. Third: put yourself in the shoes of your customers. This is the number one best way to come up with new ideas for your ventures in this class. When I became stuck on my idea, I thought of myself as the customer. What would I want? What services would I benefit from? And more ideas came flowing! 

Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

1. Elon Musk is really cool. Before reading, all I knew about him was that he invented the all-electric car, Tesla. What surprised me was his "ultimate mission." Elon Musk wants to put people on Mars. Not just for a visit, but he wants to create the technology that allows people to live on Mars. Upon entering what the author calls "Musk Land" aka the SpaceX headquarters, you see two large banners: one with a current photo of Mars and the other with Mars with trees, rivers and life. His ability to dream big is what I admire most about him. The ultimate mission is not just some wild fantasy that he hopes will come true. He ACTUALLY intends for people to inhabit Mars one day. He says that if he can leave this world with more confidence of humanity's survival, he will die a happy man.
Something I did not admire about him was his relationship with his family. He has been remarried more than once, and only gets to see his children a few times a week. I know there are many circumstances that involve these things and that he is a very busy man, but it still is upsetting to see that his work kind of comes before them.
Musk had a rough patch in 2008. Tesla Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy, SpaceX's third rocket failed to launch, and went personally broke (cash not assets). As we know now, things have turned around for Tesla Motors and Elon Musk's personal wealth.

2. Elon Musk has been bright since his childhood. The book goes into lots of detail about his home life as a kid in South Africa. Despite his emotionally abusive father and constant bullying throughout school, Elon excelled academically. His mother and friends described that he would "zone out" a lot, just staring off into nothing, his brain moving a mile a minute. He read books in a day. He read multiple copies of the encyclopedia just for the sake of learning everything he could about everything. He designed a video game at 12. Something that the book describes the most that set him apart from other innovators is his genuine passion for everything he does. One of the main reasons he was/is so successful at his ventures is because he fully immerses himself in each and every one. They become his livelihood. He even said that if he could omit eating from his life he would so that he could have more time to work.

3. One part about Elon that was confusing to me (this doesn't pertain directing to the book, but rather Elon himself), was his dietary choices. Elon tries to restrict himself to a "no-carb" diet. For someone so brilliant, these seems quite stupid to me. He would restrict himself so much that he would wind up binging later on due to deprivation. He should know that carbs are necessary (and one of the macronutrients we need the most)!

4. Questions I would ask Elon:
"If you could go back and change one decision of your life thus far, what would it be and why?"
I'd ask him this because I am curious if there are any regrets that he has. He has been wildly successful with what he has done, and I wonder if there is anything that he thinks he missed out on (besides PayPal).
"Do you wish your different companies were located more conveniently or do you like living in two different places?"
When traveling weekly to his Tesla headquarters, he literally "couch surfs." He does not have a residence there but rather crashes at various friends homes every week... Seems impractical to me but I'd love to learn more about how that dynamic works for him every single week while juggling a family.

5. I think that Elon's opinion of hard work is literally becoming obsessed with what you do. His projects take over his mind and his life. He lives and breathes his mission and I absolutely believe that is why he is so successful today. I do think that can be extreme though, as it appears to me he barely has time for his children and wife. In the book, he talks about his wife as a second "job," considering how much time he should allot to her weekly. I do not share that with him. I think that family should come first, job second.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. Me
My name is Sarah Gies. I am from Rye, New York and currently a third year student studying Finance at the University of Florida. I hope to one day enter the financial services industry with a role in wealth management--preferably at a small, private firm. I have developed strong leadership skills through the various leadership positions I have held throughout my life. I also have strong interpersonal skills and am very organized and analytical when it comes to problem solving. I think that these skills will equip me well in terms of translating the wavering financial markets to helping people with their own personal assets. As for this class' venture, I think that it could play a role of helping me with my sales skills.

2. What am I offering to customers?
My service, which I've unofficially named iCleanup, will essentially "clean-up" the customer's online presence. These days, many people do not get hired because of inappropriate content on their social media profiles. iCleanup would manage the customer's various social media platforms, deleting and clearing out anything that could potentially ward off employers (or anyone that could inflict consequence due to online content). Another service we'd provide is perfecting the customer's Google search. With the usage of SEO's (search engine optimization), we could reorganize what shows up on the "top" or "first" page of Google when the customer's name is searched. That way the customer's LinkedIn, portfolio, blog, etc., would show up first rather than a Facebook page or an old MySpace account.

3. Who am I offering it to?
My target market would mainly be college students and post-grads who are seeking jobs and internships. This is generally the age-frame where people are applying for careers and it is also the age-frame where we would find the most incriminating content online (i.e. drinking photos, sharing inappropriate or offensive memes and posts, etc.). Through my interviews, I also found that students applying to college would also benefit from this service as colleges are now searching social media platforms before accepting new students. Another segment to target would be those who already have an established career, but would like a set of eyes on their name online. We would provide a service to them that notifies them when new content including their name appears on Google, and promptly hide anything that would harm their reputation.

4. Why do they care?
What you say online is much more dangerous than what you say to someone in person. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Every day you could hear a new story about someone getting fired or not getting the job because of an offensive Tweet from 2 years ago that they forgot about. Online presence is so important these days. I think everyone would benefit from this service.

5. What are my core competencies?
There are a couple companies out there that will help you look good on Google. But no companies have offered a service to clean out your social media platforms for you. There are many self-help guides on how to do this yourself, but some people don't have the time or patience to search through their social media from the START. This is the main thing that sets iCleanup apart from the competitors... we do everything, not just one service.

Overall, I think that my five aspects on this "napkin" fit together quite well. If there is an aspect that needs work, it is the part of customer retention. Once the online presence is cleaned up, I need a way to keep customers using the service. I thought of a subscription, that would allow people to pay monthly/yearly for constant online monitoring. This way, if anyone posts anything inappropriate/embarrassing/incriminating, we would remove it or notify the customer before anyone of importance could see it. I'm still figuring out how that part would work!

Testing the Opportunity Hypothesis: Part 2

Interviews:

Normally, I'd say the general population of people that fall inside my opportunity boundary are college students and those who are currently looking for a job. The majority of teenagers-twenty "somethings" could fall under this category. At first, I thought that people outside this age boundary would still find a usage in my ICleanup service because there are still many risks of having inappropriate things online when you are holding any professional position. For these interviews, I tried to mainly conduct outside that age range to learn as much as I could about the different groups that would potentially be interested in my service.

1. My first interview was with my dad, who is already well into his established career. I began by asking about his current social media usage and if there were any things on the internet that he was concerned about. His answer was what I imagined: no. He would have no interest in a service that would clean up his social media pages because they are completely clean and harmless already. So, i transitioned to asking about if he would be interested in the Google search monitoring service that allows him to be notified whenever something new shows up on Google of his name. He said that he is already subscribed to a similar alert system that tells him whenever there is a new post that includes his name. I explained to him that the difference was that my service would then take that information and if the post was inappropriate or reputation damaging, we would push it all the way to the back of the Google search so it would not be seen by a typical Google search. He said that he personally would not be interested, but that there are people that he works with that have had things published about them that are reputation damaging and do not paint them in a very good light. He said that these people would, in fact, be interested in a service that solves this problem. 

2. My next interview was with my sister, who is a junior in high school. This service seemed to be super beneficial to her, considering applying to college is one of the most worrisome times when it comes to social media. My sister explained to me that many of her friends would not be interested in the service because they have resorted to a different way of hiding themselves on the internet, such as changing their name on Facebook to something obscure and silly. For example, a friend named Sarah changed her name to "TriSarah Tops." This allows your friends on the Internet to still identify you but keeps the colleges from finding you and your inappropriate posts. This cracked me up and it made some sense. It is a short-term solution, which is what I explained to her. She then told me that though she does not need the service YET, it would be something that she and her friends would consider in the future because you can only change your name on Facebook so many times and you can't really be making your name TriSarah Tops when you are searching for a job...

3. Next, I interviewed a student that goes to another school. I figured since she was my age and also in college, she would fall right under my boundary for this opportunity. I asked about her social media presence and what she generally likes to post. She said that her number one posts are generally food and photos of her and her friends. She uses Facebook solely to keep up with old friends and relatives and she uses Twitter to get her news and other entertainment. When I heard the comment about posts with friends, I immediately thought that this was my key to sell this to her. Oftentimes, students post photos with alcoholic beverages. Even if you are of age, this is still a major turn off to many people in hiring positions. She then explained to me that her sorority has a very strict "social media policy." This means no photos at parties (drink in hand or not), no posts with curse words and nothing posted or re-posted with inappropriate content in any way. She explained that her sorority did this because of their reputation and the reputation of the girls. I think that that is awesome! But not for my venture ;)

4. This interview was conducted with a family friend who is a stay at home mother of four. I began asking the typical questions about her social media and Internet presence and she said that she posted lots of photos of her children. This sparked an interesting idea. I thought: I hated it when my mom would show my friends awkward photos of myself as a child. Maybe some things I can clear off of social media for people are not just inappropriate photos for work, but embarrassing photos as well! I continued to ask if she asks her children for their permission before posting photos of them and she quickly answered, "no, never." She said that usually her kids get somewhat annoyed, as long as they are not "tagged" in the photos and that they don't show up on their personal pages... This interview was super helpful for me. I could open up the service to also remove and clear out embarrassing photos that your family/friends have posted of you as well!

5. Lastly, I interviewed a recent UF grad. She also would normally be considered a prime target customer for my service because she is currently in the thick of job searching. She is an avid social media user and oftentimes re-posts many controversial articles that normally annoy people on the news feed sometimes, because it was just her being herself. Nothing was actually inappropriate (i.e. no drinking, no partying, no curses, etc.) and she was just posting a lot of opinionated things. She explained that she wanted to work for a place that accepted her opinions and her personality. I think that is a great point. 

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
College students People looking to get hired People with a job already who want to know what is being posted about them and when People who want a perfect online image	Those with perfect online images already People who don’t mind what is posted about them online People who don’t have careers/any reason to keep a perfect profile Children Elderly people
Need to remove inappropriate posts and photos of themselves on the internet Need to maintain a good internet image Need to make sure that when their names are searched on Google, only positive things show up first	The need is not to remove inappropriate things because there is either nothing inappropriate to be removed to begin with, there is nobody who would care if they saw inappropriate posts, or they do not mind that people see inappropriate posts. Or they simply do not use social media
Frivolous posting earlier on Posts by others that they personally cannot remove but we can push out of sight Things that they did not realize were inappropriate at the time	They don’t need anything removed because there are only good things They don’t need anything removed because they don’t use social media They don’t need anything tracked because there is no one searching for them on the internet They don’t mind that there are inappropriate things

*EDIT: For some reason the recording app that I used on my phone is not allowing me to upload to Soundcloud. I came back and made my interview descriptions much longer to make up for the lack of audio. Hopefully, this is ok.*

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Here is my elevator pitch for the newly named venture, ICleanup. Make yourself look like the most hire-able person on the Internet! 

Apologies for the awkwardness of this video:

https://youtu.be/sPF0NrwvLXc

Tweaking the Innovation

Tweaking the Innovation - Internet Presence Clean-Up Service

Revenue Drivers:

Facebook cleanup: 
Core: The benefit of knowing that anyone can look at your Facebook page and see nothing but a well-rounded, friendly, higher-able person.
Actual: Online service that gives each customer an exquisite online reputation. 
Augmented: A monthly/yearly subscription option that allows a constant monitoring of Facebook presence. This not only includes your personal page but also anything that others put up about you. We will alert you of these things and promptly remove anything inappropriate.

Twitter cleanup: 
Core: The benefit of knowing that your Twitter account will only feature interesting/funny/APPROPRIATE posts. Twitter is normally the #1 social media source that gets people in trouble!
Actual: Online service that gives each customer an exquisite online reputation. 
Augmented: A monthly/yearly subscription option that allows a constant monitoring of Twitter presence. This not only includes your personal page but also anything you are tagged in that is deemed inappropriate as well.

Instagram cleanup:
Core: The benefit of knowing that your Instagram only portrays appropriate photos that you wouldn't mind your grandmother seeing.
Actual: Online service that gives each customer an exquisite online reputation. 
Augmented: A monthly/yearly subscription option that allows a constant monitoring of Instagram presence. This not only includes your personal page but also anything you are tagged in that is deemed inappropriate as well.

Google search cleanup:
Core: The biggest part of my service with the most benefit. This benefit is that whenever your name is searched on Google, the things that you want your future employers/anyone to see will be appropriate things that benefit you (such as a LinkedIn page, online portfolio, etc.). No worries of things that you don't want to be seen showing up when you Google your name.
Actual: Online service that gives each customer an exquisite online reputation. 
Augmented: Again, the most important revenue driver of our service is the Google cleanup. This monthly/yearly subscription option would keep a constant monitoring of Google. Whenever something is posted that includes your name--you will be alerted immediately whether it is inappropriate or not. This allows you to have a constant monitoring of your presence on Google.

These items/different services can be introduced and sold as different services or as a package deal. For the different forms of social media, a client may have one platform that needs to be cleared out more than the other. In terms of the Google option, I would highly recommend the monthly/yearly subscription. This option allows me to sell the service to those who may not necessarily need a service to clean up their internet presence but are worried about what may be posted about them on Google. Many people are curious about what information shows up when they are Googled, and we can show that to them and constantly keep tabs on what they want open to the public or not.