Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that stood out to me the most was the concept of microfinance.  I think its awesome that people can help invest in lower income people's opportunities and help them out as well as make a profit.  It just seems like an overall good thing for everyone involved.
2. One part that was confusing for me was the company in the article being able to grow so quickly.  I just don't understand why so many would choose to help finance it if the repayments could be so low.
3. Some questions I have for the author are:
1. How were you able to sell your idea to so many people and get them to invest?
• This could be helpful for people that are interested in trying to get people to microfinance their opportunity.
2. What type of industry do you think could benefit the most off of microfinancing?
• This could be useful so potential entrepreneur could know what industries benefit the most off of microfinancing and maybe see if their opportunity fits into that industry.
4. I did not disagree with anything.  I agreed with everything the author said.

Final Reflection

1. Looking through all of my blog posts, its crazy to see all thats happened throughout this semester.  The high was working on my opportunity throughout the different assignments.  I think it's awesome to see how it has transformed over the weeks.  The low was having to do so many video interviews.  I think that doing just regular text or audio interviews would be just as good as video interviews.  A fun moment was also with getting to work on your opportunity throughout the weeks, refining it to what it is now.  I didn't have any moments of drudgery or dread, luckily so that made this class fun.  In all, I have had a fantastic time with this class and all of the learning assignments have been very useful for learning the entrepreneurial mindset.
2. My most formative experience is also my most joyous.  I am very proud of being able to come up with an opportunity that, throughout the weeks of refinement and updating, I could potentially produce.  Being able to say that you were able to have an excellent idea and a plan for how to implement it and allow consumers to use it is awesome.
3. I do see myself as an entrepreneur.  I think that I have moved closer to an entrepreneurial mindset.  This class has taught me many different things throughout it and I feel that they have contributed to me gaining an entrepreneurial mindset.
4. The major key to succeeding in this class is being on top of when your assignments are due and "buying into" the class. If you believe in the assignment's goals, then you have a better time doing them and an overall better outlook on the class.  Also, if you make sure you are aware of when your assignments are due, then you can prevent missing an assignment and ensure your grade is good.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

The overall feedback for my previous elevator pitch was positive, which really stood out to me.  People liked the pitch and what I was offering.  The only thing I received that I could improve on is the opening line, which stood out to me since I don't usually receive constructive criticism on my assignments.  I didn't think any of the comments were silly or wrong.

I edited the opening line of my pitch.  I removed calling out Uber and Lyft.  Everything else remained the same.

Venture Concept No. 2

I feel that my opportunity is one that people in society can greatly benefit from.  I would be offering a way for customers to use a cab service for an amount of times, whether that be unlimited or a set number, by having them prepay in monthly or yearly increments.  The cost would be based off of what the average ride costs throughout the day times what the average frequency of one user uses the service.  Since it is a bulk purchase, the user would be getting the rides at a fraction of what they would go for individually, and I, the seller, would profit by being able to guarantee the cabs/Ubers a bulk purchase of their services which they would sell to me at an even lower price of what I would sell to the customer.  The type of potential customer that I would be attracting with this service is everybody that uses cab services.  With how often people on college campuses and in cities use cabs, I think that they would be the most common users of this service.

There is only one force in the environment that is creating this opportunity.  Nobody is offering this type of service in the marketplace, so I feel that now would be the best time to launch my service.  This would give me a leg up over any potential completion because I would have been around the longest with the service, whereas everyone else would have to play catch up with me.  Given the uniqueness of my service I am offering, it is not defined geographically or demographically.  Instead, it is something that nearly everyone could use and would benefit from. Because nobody else offers this type of service, potential customers are stuck paying fees per ride.  This adds up to a lot more in the long run than if they were to use my service.  With that, I do not think that any of the current customers would be loyal to the cab services and paying fees per ride, instead of saving money.  I think that they would happily switch to my service, which they could still use their favorite type of cab service with, but instead pay less per ride, through my bulk purchase offering.  This opportunity is very big, given that nobody else is offering this type of service.  While nobody else is offering this service, it is unclear how long the window of opportunity would be open.  Since my offering would be the first of its kind, it could take a while for others to catch up to me and offer similar, competitive services.

I have already explained what my opportunity is and how it works above, so I wont bore you with repeating the same stuff.  This service would allow for them to prepay in monthly or yearly increments for the service.  When compared to if the customer were to just pay per ride, they would be saving a lot of money with my service because of the bulk purchase in the increments specified above.

My concept will address the opportunity I have identified above.  Since no one else offers this service, I will be bringing on a completely new and never before seen idea.  With the abilities of being able to save potentially a great deal of money, many people will be attracted to this service that I am offering.  With how much money that customers could save through my bulk purchase method of cab rides, this will attract a lot of people to it.  With how many people on college campuses and in large cities use cabs, I feel that they will benefit the most from this. Since almost nobody feels attached to a certain cab service, I do not think that it will be difficult to get customers to switch to my service.  Also, since my service just adds on to what the existing services are, they might be more inclined to switch since they already know and are comfortable with the cab services already offered.  Given that I am the first person to produce this service, I have no competitors as of right now.  Maybe after others see the success my service has, they will try to replicate my service. I think that pricing and customer experience will play the biggest roles in customers choosing my service.  The price has to be low enough to attract people and show that they can save money through choosing my service rather than paying by each ride. Also, customer experience is going to affect them, but that is not something I can control beyond the computer and mobile app.  Since the rides are performed through existing cab services, those companies are liable to the customer experience.  With how my service is performed through online services, I do not think it would be that difficult to maintain the service for ongoing production.  I do not think I would need a large team to oversee it.  I would mostly just need a marketing team to promote it and a technology team to oversee that everything is working for the online services.

My most important resource will be great performance through the mobile and computer applications.  With these, the ability to perform just as they should will be the most important to the people first using my service and continuing to use it.

            The next thing for my service would be to work to continue the same great service as when I start as well as working to add new cab companies that may become popular to my existing available cab options.
            For me, I would like to see myself in five years as still overseeing my company and watching it continue to succeed.  After ten years I would like to see myself as potentially having another person oversee the day-to-day operations and I only work on major projects and improvements.

The feedback that I received was overwhelmingly positive.  People loved the opportunity that I had.  The only thing that I received other than positive feedback was one question on making sure I didn't charge too high for the service and that be why people did not use it.  That is an interesting question, but it is something I cannot answer until I get actual estimates from the cab companies I would use.  Until then I can only speculate as to what the price would be and be hopeful that it would be low enough to entice people to utilize my service.

I did not change my venture concept.  I did not receive an feedback that I could use to make improvements to my venture concept.  With that, I did not change anything because according to the feedback I received, my venture concept is already great as it is.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that surprised me was the list of all the characteristics of an entrepreneur.  I had never known that that many characteristics can be attributed to an entrepreneur.
2. One thing that confused me was the charts and graphs.  I sometimes struggle with comprehending what information is trying be displayed, and this was a case where didn't fully understand it.
3. Two questions I have for the author are:
1. Could there be other characteristics that could define an entrepreneur that aren't listed in the table?
• This could help possible entrepreneurs from getting discouraged if they don't think they have many of the characteristics of an entrepreneur according to the chart.
2. Do certain areas of business require a stricter ethics code than others?
• This is just an interesting question that could bring about a discussion on ethics in the business world and where they should be strictly applied.
4. I don't disagree with anything.  I agree with everything the author wrote.

Google Gold

1. I tried to keep my style of writing similar so that the words that I use throughout blog posts are relatively similar with the words.  I used the label "week X" to describe what week each post was and that could help link posts to each other.  I would put a link to my blog post for an assignment when I would comment on other students' blog posts.
2. I think that ENT3003MT (my blog name) is a keyword since it is the beginning part of the link to my blog.  Also, I think that the different "Week" labels are keywords.  I chose the "Week" ones because I was required and the ENT3003MT because I felt it worked for what the blog's purpose was.  The keywords didn't really change throughout the semester except to reflect a different week.
3. I didn't really use social media to enhance my SEO efforts.  I did not want to share blog posts to my Facebook or Twitter because that's just not something I do.  My Google+ is linked to my blog so I would think that that might have come into play a little bit for SEO.  Also, I did post the videos I have done throughout the class for the assignments to my YouTube account so I would think that that might also helped my search engine optimization.  I do think though that social media was usually ignored though for these blog posts.
4. My most viral post was "My Entrepreneurship Story".  I think that it was the most viral post because it is the most relatable.  People like to learn about what made others who they are and this post is close to that.  It's fun to learn about people's "X Story" that demonstrates something that they are proud of or led them to who they are now.
5. Yes, I made it to the first page of Google with the keyword "ent3003mt".  I was the top four links on Google for that keyword search.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

I think now at the end of the semester looking at my original interview, I have a better understanding on what it means to be an entrepreneur.  I think it is cool to look back to what I thought of in the class back then and compare it to now.  The questions and what I thought were not that descriptive, but that's ok, I had not learned everything at that point.  From where I began in the semester I can definitely say I've learned a lot throughout this class.

Three questions I had for the same experienced entrepreneur and his answers:

1. Do you think being an entrepreneur has changed the way you see things?
• I think it has allowed me to realize when there is an unmet need.  While I may not be able to create a solution to every need, it is a fun thing to be able to pick out what could be an opportunity in everyday life.
2. How has failing played an impact in your entrepreneurial mindset?
• Failing is ok.  It's what you do after you fail that's important.  If you can learn from it and work to prevent the same mistake from happening again, then you have succeeded.  That is what I believe in and use it to help influence my decisions and help me try new things.
3. What is one last tip you have for an aspiring entrepreneur?
• Don't have a fear of the unknown.  Try new things, regardless if you are afraid.  Being adventurous and taking a chance can help create some of the best decisions of your life.

I would say that I definitely feel more comfortable interviewing an entrepreneur now than when I did three months ago.  Even though it is just a close family friend that I interviewed, it still is a lot easier than three months ago.  I think that he conveyed a sense that they had thought that I had progressed in my entrepreneurial journey.  I think with the knowledge that I have learned it was easier to have a conversation and that would have led to him thinking that I have progressed in my entrepreneurial journey.  I think that with these two interviews, I am able to say that I have progressed entrepreneurially throughout the semester.