Assignment 30A: Final Reflection

Most Formative Experience
The most formative experience that I have looking back on past assignments is when I went to interview people. I have been shy for a lot of my life, and these assignments made me go out my comfort zone to accomplish something. What I found out was that people were more friendly than I thought. Lots of people that I interviewed were actually really interested in what I was doing, and would ask questions about the product that I had in mind to create. I would also consider this the most joyous experiences, as well as one in which I am proud of myself. I found that when I have a greater end goal in mind, it becomes easier to overcome things that I fear such as reaching out to others.

Entrepreneurial Mindset
I have definitely come closer to what I believe what a true entrepreneur is. Each person has their own standard of what an entrepreneur is, as well as a shared belief of what was taught in class. In that sense, I have definitely progressed since the beginning of the semester. I have become a better problem solver, have instilled more belief within myself, and have been able to make better connections with others. However, this entrepreneurial mindset I believe is a lifelong journey, and I have just begun! This is going to be exciting as each day has its own opportunities and surprises.

Recommendation
The one recommendation that I would give to students who are on this path in the future is to grow themselves before they try to grow anything else. This would include reading self-help books, listening to motivational audios, and creating a set of daily habits that will lead to success.

To perform best in this course, I would recommend checking out assignments early in the week, as some take more preparation than others. I would also recommend to learn to be uncomfortable outside of their comfort zone, as there will be times when this is necessary. No need to fear, every successful entrepreneur has mastered this. They have become comfortable being uncomfortable.

Assignment 29A: Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity 
Currently, there are still millions of mid-aged Americans that are buying earbuds that have long wires to connect into their device. As most college students know, these are a hassle to untangle each time they are taken out from a backpack or pockets. Even when people try to carefully place them away, they still manage to get tangled, and this creates frustration.

At the moment, there is still a huge need for this market. It will target those that use wire earbuds, typically those in the college settings, early 20s. It is important to note that with the increase in use of wireless earbuds such as AirPods, it is important to work quickly on this product. According for Fortune, Apple has sold over a million Airpods in the US alone, and thus this needs to be considered when looking at the target market.  The "window" will still be open for a while, as not everyone will transfer over to these wireless earbuds.

Currently, to avoid this annoying issue, consumers just ravel their earbuds around their fingers before placing their earbuds away. However, this does not solve the issue. There are a few products online that attempt to solve it, however it is just a flimsy piece of plastic that consumers can wrap earbuds around and hope that it does not become unraveled. Thus, there is no strong loyalty, and that is one of the reasons that I believe my company would have a great way to enter the market.

Innovation
The product that I created is a device in which any pair of wire earbuds can be fed into a small circular device, which can then be pulled to either use the earbuds, or have them ravel into the device to keep from untangling. This technology essentially works like an ID that can be pulled from its circular device to be scanned, etc.

The estimated cost for this product would be around $3, depending on manufacturing and shipping costs. However, this is reasonably priced, and allows for our target market to afford the product.

Venture Concept
My product allows students to finally be able to plug into their earbuds without having to untangle the for five minutes. It prevents frustration, and another hassle.It is also so simple and lightweight, that it can also be transported anywhere.

This is something I could see being all over a college campus, as students listen to their music and lectures. It will not be a hard transition, as their is no loyal brand that people use to avoid their earbuds from getting untangled.

By having students be able to purchase various colors and designs, this becomes something more personable and "fun". This is also something that can easily be spread by word-of-mouth, as other students come up and ask where they purchased that from.

This company would probably be no more than 5 employees at the beginning stage. It is quite simple, as we only need a manufacturer. We would sell online until we earn enough revenue, to then have a distributor to put our product into stores.

Important Resource
Having a network of other entrepreneurs will allow me to leverage their experiences and advice to help avoid some problems my company may go through. I know people at each stage in the process, and this is very useful to apply to my own company.

Next Venture
Once our company becomes a familiar name, we can then broaden the scope of products we sell to our customers with ear buds. This would include trendy, custom-able attachments such as clips that can be added to earbuds to give them a nice accent piece.

Next For Me 
Once this company is successfully off the ground, I want to be able to hand it to somebody else to continue to grow. This would probably take about five years. Within ten years, I see myself starting up another venture and seeing how well I can grow it.

Summary of Feedback
Overall the feedback I received was quite positive. It included the fact that I have a clear idea of who my target market is. I was also told that the steps I am going to take after launching my first product are smart because I will be reaching a segment of that market that would potentially be my competition for the first product (wireless earbuds).

One of the critiques I found was to include more information about the competition I would have for my first product, because it would not apply to those that have wireless earbuds such as AirPods. Thus, I added a little section under 'Opportunity' to address this issue.

Assignment 28A: Your Exit Strategy

Me Exit Strategy
I intent to sell my business for a large return, because my true passion in life is being able to inspire others and travel the world. To achieve this, I need to build up my platform as an entrepreneur, and be able to be self-sufficient. I do not want to be tied down to any one company or business. It has definitely influenced the decisions I would want to make with my concept. I would want to find people to work for my business that are passionate in their specific areas, whether it is product design, or management, and assign them roles within the business. That way they can do what they are passionate about, while at the same time growing a profitable business.

Assignment 27A: Reading Reflection No. 3

Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

Elon Musk
From this book, I learned how innovative and creative that Elon Musk truly is. After the dot com boom, there was nothing in society that was being produced that had a large overarching vision. For example, Facebook was being created around that same time that Elon was trying to bring his ideas to fruition. However, if you think of Facebook, all it does is connect people and allow people to post pictures and allow others to like them. Elon, however, changed that way that the automobile and spacecraft industry works, both of which are sectors that have not had profound change in a long time.

What I admire most of Elon is the fact that he is a visionary. He sees beyond his lifetime. In the beginning, he thought of having the ability to put people on Mars. He thought of what we be able if he could not only change the way we lived on Earth, but also change the way that future generations could live. He wants to improve the environment as it is on Earth, by creating a completely electric car, as well as solar power to be used by businesses and individuals. He then also wanted to create a way that we could see past Earth as our home, and is working on SpaceX, a rocket that would have the capability of launching and landing to its same spot on Earth.

What I least admired of Elon is the fact that sometimes he could be hard on his employees. Perhaps it was because he had a rough childhood, however he should not have detracted from the lives of others. He wanted his visions so strongly to come into fruition that he would expect crazy amounts of effort that perhaps at times could not be made possible.

One of the hardest adversities that Elon suffered was throughout his childhood. He was always the odd one out, and could not seem to relate to other children his age. Although he did not go into detail, his father was very hard on him and his brother, and messed them up psychologically. He was able to push through such hardships and become the person  that he is today.

The competencies of Elon was his strength in vision, ability to translate his vision to others, and perseverance. He also did not lack innovation. For example, he created PayPal as a means to fund his true dreams of Tesla and SpaceX.

One part of reading that was confusing 
A part of the reading that I found confusing was where he grew up. It was not clear to me if spent most of his childhood growing up in South Africa, or if he spent most of it traveling with his family.

Two questions I would ask Knight

• How do you find the people that you think will perfectly execute your vision?
• Since he himself is not engineer for both cars and spacecrafts, I wonder where he can find the people that are able to innovate at the extent of his imagination. How does he communicate to them exactly what he wants if it does not yet exist. 
• What would you want to be able to tell generations to come?
• Since he is always thinking about life beyond him, I would want to know the message he would want to spread to those that will be living after us. 

For Fun

I think that Elon's definition of hard work is constantly working on a vision until it comes to fruition. Even when that idea comes to the material world, our thoughts and actions should instantly focus onto what the next biggest and greatest innovation can be. 

Assignment 26A: Celebrating Failure

Aw man, well I am going to be very honest here so hope this entertains those that read it:

I would definitely say the majority of my life things have come somewhat easy to me. I prepare for a few hours, whether it is an exam or presentation, and I could pretty much nail it. So, this past semester I dove headfirst and tried to find an internship that I could do this summer. Of all the internships that I applied for, these are definitely the biggest fails and pretty memorable looking back:

• City Furniture: So I received a phone call after talking to a recruiter to find a date to have a conversation over the phone. We had agreed that it would be on a Tuesday at 11am. Well, I received a phone call from them on Monday, the day prior to what we scheduled. I had not yet prepared by knowing the company's values, work ethic, and how I would tie in my resume to this. When I answered the phone, I explained my confusion, as I thought the interview would be the following day. The woman on the phone was willing to move it, and she said it would only be a five minute conversation on the phone. Assuming this was not the interview, I said that I would just have the conversation now, on Monday. Well, little did I know that WAS the interview, and I most definitely fell on my face. I had no preparation, and it was very obvious in my responses. Embarrassing and silly mistake on my behalf.
• Aldi: Not as embarrassing as a story, but I was able to get to the final rounds of interviews for the Aldi internship. This was by far my favorite company that I had spoken to, and I could see myself being their intern for the summer. I spent hours preparing, meeting with past interns and getting advice on what to expect and how to perform. After such as long process and built up hope, I found out that I was not selected as one of the interns. I was not a happy camper that day, or the following day. 

What I have learned from this experience is to prepare to the very best of my abilities for things that I know I want. I know that if I do the best I can on my end, then the result should not bother me as much because I know that I had nothing left to offer. 

I would only to be able to grow if I failed. If I had nailed everything and received both offers, then there would be nothing that I would be able to fix or make better. Now, with the help of this class, I am more likely to put myself out there and see what happens. Each chance I take is a learning opportunity and I know not to fear it. 

Assignment 25A: What's Next?

Existing Market

I think what is next for my existing market is customizable features to add to ear buds, because this will still reach my potential market.

After talking to potential customers in my target market, a few suggested that I should create something for people that have Airpods. I thought this was a bit odd because they personally did not have Airpods, so I will take this into consideration, although it does not target my market. Another suggestion given to me by somebody was to find a way to clip my product onto backpacks and clothing, that way they will also not loose their earbuds. I think this was a really great suggestions, and can be a feature to my already existing idea.

For the next step in my venture, I think that I should introduce an option for consumers to be able to purchase my product that also has an attachment for their clothing or backpack. This will add to my features of being able to custom select product.

New Market

I could now target a more affluent part of society...namely those that own wireless earbuds such as Airpods. I might be able to custom create cool features to add to wireless earbuds, just was ways to make them stylish with jewelry accents for example.

The girls that I interviewed thought that making cute attachments for their Airpods was a great idea. They explained how I could also make custom colors that can clip onto the actual wireless ear buds that are interchangeable. The guys I interviewed, on the other hand, were not very interested in changing that way that their earbuds looked, and were fine with how they were.

I was quite surprised that people confirmed my ideas. I was not sure if people would actually be interested in customizing their wireless earbuds, and it seemed as though they liked it. This market however does not seem to be as "active" as my original one, as this one does not seem to include males. Thus, I would expect it not to grow as profoundly. 

Assignment 24A: Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity 
Currently, there are still millions of mid-aged Americans that are buying earbuds that have long wires to connect into their device. As most college students know, these are a hassle to untangle each time they are taken out from a backpack or pockets. Even when people try to carefully place them away, they still manage to get tangled, and this creates frustration.

At the moment, there is still a huge need for this market. It will target those that use wire earbuds, typically those in the college settings, early 20s. It is important to note that with the increase in use of wireless earbuds such as AirPods, it is important to work quickly on this product. The "window" will still be open for a while, as not everyone will transfer over to these wireless earbuds.

Currently, to avoid this annoying issue, consumers just ravel their earbuds around their fingers before placing their earbuds away. However, this does not solve the issue. There are a few products online that attempt to solve it, however it is just a flimsy piece of plastic that consumers can wrap earbuds around and hope that it does not become unraveled. Thus, there is no strong loyalty, and that is one of the reasons that I believe my company would have a great way to enter the market.

Innovation
The product that I created is a device in which any pair of wire earbuds can be fed into a small circular device, which can then be pulled to either use the earbuds, or have them ravel into the device to keep from untangling. This technology essentially works like an ID that can be pulled from its circular device to be scanned, etc.

The estimated cost for this product would be around $10, depending on manufacturing and shipping costs. However, this is reasonably priced, and allows for our target market to afford the product.

Venture Concept
My product allows students to finally be able to plug into their earbuds without having to untangle the for five minutes. It prevents frustration, and another hassle.It is also so simple and lightweight, that it can also be transported anywhere.

This is something I could see being all over a college campus, as students listen to their music and lectures. It will not be a hard transition, as their is no loyal brand that people use to avoid their earbuds from getting untangled.

By having students be able to purchase various colors and designs, this becomes something more personable and "fun". This is also something that can easily be spread by word-of-mouth, as other students come up and ask where they purchased that from.

This company would probably be no more than 5 employees at the beginning stage. It is quite simple, as we only need a manufacturer. We would sell online until we earn enough revenue, to then have a distributor to put our product into stores.

Important Resource
Having a network of other entrepreneurs will allow me to leverage their experiences and advice to help avoid some problems my company may go through. I know people at each stage in the process, and this is very useful to apply to my own company.

Next Venture
Once our company becomes a familiar name, we can then broaden the scope of products we sell to our customers with ear buds. This would include trendy, custom-able attachments such as clips that can be added to earbuds to give them a nice accent piece. 

Next For Me 
Once this company is successfully off the ground, I want to be able to hand it to somebody else to continue to grow. This would probably take about five years. Within ten years, I see myself starting up another venture and seeing how well I can grow it.