The Twenty Percent

1. Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers: I interviewed Joel, the owner of Italian Gator Pizza by the Slice, most commonly known as "Pizza by the Slice." I didn't catch him at a great time so I couldn't record him, but he was happy to talk to me and answer questions. He said that although they're open from 11am during the week and 3pm on Saturday, their 20% are customers who visit late at night usually 10pm - 2:30 (until they close). Their main customers are college aged students. Although he didn't directly say it, we both understood that these are people usually coming/going to the bars that are hungry and obviously love pizza. They've been in that location for just over 15 years, and he says the location is the biggest key to their success as it's in the heart of "Midtown." This allows them for perfect access for their customers who are all within walking distance from it. He is definitely right about his 20% which I have experienced and will also discover with my customer interviews. He said internally they have done studies and understood this 20% to be those late-night customers. Although, they don't actively solicit feedback from customers because most people seem to be satisfied. But, they just recently closed because they are expanding with larger ovens and new plumbing and electrical systems. He said that this was necessary because during these peak hours, it is very busy and people are so demanding that they needed to add a larger window and second cash register. The problem that customers mainly have is long lines so he believes this change will help that and attract more customers. Thus, even though he knows he runs a successful business, he realized that they can do even better with the improvements. The social media that they use is Facebook to attract their customers with different pizzas and deals. 
2. Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' - using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described: 

I asked my "target customers" questions:

• Do you like Pizza by the Slice and why?
• Do you have any problems with it? How impactful is it?
• Do you know of the renovations they are undergoing such as a new oven and a larger cashier window and will that attract you more to the Pizza by the Slice?

      3.  Reflect: The interviewees I chose definitely fit the "target customers" because they like pizza and go to Pizza by the Slice often, especially during the peak hours late at night. Based on my interviews, customers were definitely more than satisfied with Pizza by the Slice due to it's convenience and usually the quality of the pizza. Although customers definitely said that they had problems such as long lines and the occasional bad piece, they were still willing to buy from them. But even though there was this small problem, Pizza by the Slice understands this and they are fixing it with their renovations. So yes, Pizza by the Slice adequately understands all of their customers' problems because the main two problems of long lines and quality are being fixed with a second window and cashier as well as a larger oven, respectively. 

Week 8 Reading Reflection

1. What surprised me was Figure 8.1. I didn't realize the different sources of capital that entrepreneurs have as their ventures develop. Funding is obviously a big component in entrepreneurship and I didn't realize the amount of factors that go into play for funding start-ups.
2. What confused was Table 8.1 outlining the common debt sources. There seemed to be a lot going on and I couldn't analyze and sort out what the author was intending to get at. Although it was very simple with little words, this actually caused it to be lacking in detail and confusing. 
3. If I could ask the author questions, I would ask: 1) When do you use debt financing or equity financing? I would ask this because if I ever wanted to start a business I would want to know which is the best option. Then I would ask: 2) Is there any situation where going public is an absolute necessity? I would ask this because if I ever own a business, I would want to know if I should go public if I'm struggling or still growing. 
4. I disagree with Myth 3 about venture capitalists that says they are quick to invest. I think that they do need to act quick in some cases because if this product or good has been identified with great potential, then many venture capitalists will want to hop on board. Thus, I think when competition is involved, venture capitalists will want to act in their best interests and think quickly. 

Half-way Reflection

1. Tenacious is a skill: To keep up with the requirements of this course, you definitely have to manage your time because assignments can creep up on you. Although I thought I had this skill, it's definitely developed for the better. I also have developed an ability to not take things personally due to the amount of times you will hear "no." Something I didn't have before but now do is the confidence to walk up to strangers and ask them questions about yourself. It's very scary at first and I think I've overcome this fear and I believe it's made me more tenacious.
2. Tenacious is also about attitude: There were many times where I felt like giving up in this class just because of the mental perseverance it requires. I think the times when I felt this was the back-to-back-to-back weeks of interviewing customers. This experience requires a mental strength of walking up to random people and being able to hear rejection. I definitely developed a tenacious attitude because of this as you have to stay focused and not get down on yourself if you're told no.
3. Three Tips: The tips I would give are: 1) Take every assignment seriously because they will build these tenacious skills if you do them right; 2) Always have a positive attitude so that you can be able to absorb the rejection; and 3) Know before hand that developing this tenacious mindset isn't easy and that you are willing to go through the challenges this class presents you.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1. What was surprising to me was that Daniel Yankelovich was studying market segmentation in 1964. I know I might seem young, but I feel like the technology back in the day was less than suitable for market research.
2. What confused me was the section on "The Drift into Nebulousness" because the dated reference was not only un-interesting, but I also couldn't find the direct connection and analysis to market research.
3. The questions I would ask the author are: 1) Based on the figure under "What's at Stake?" what is usually the best option for marketing your company? I would ask this because if I ever owned a business, I would want to know how to effectively market it. Then, I would ask 2) In this day in age, how much emphasis would you point on online marketing? I would ask this because this article was written in 2006, but I think that's outdated due to our technological advancements. 
4. The main place where I disagreed with him was his opinion on the un-importance of traditional demographic segmentation. While I agree with the opinions he outlines, I feel like these also factor the marketing strategy and consumer. 

Free Money

Strategy: I did this assignment in the courtyard outside of the Marston Science Library. The people I targeted were those on their phones because I wanted to simulate what it would feel like interrupting customers in the real world. To get the conversation going, I will try to be friendly and greet them in a nice way before I start just jumping into the task of giving them a dollar. Then, to convince them to take the dollar, I said "are you willing to take this dollar and donate it to your favorite charity?" I thought this would be a good idea because it would seem more legitimate in the eyes of the customers instead of a random person handing them money. Then, even if they felt awkward, I thought that giving to a charity might compel them more to take the dollar. Out of the 5 people, I think 3 will take the dollar, and then the other 2 will probably say no just due to the awkwardness and the camera factor.

Videos:

Reflection: Out of the 5 attempts I had, 2 of them accepted the money (which are the videos above) and then 3 of them denied it. This assignment was definitely harder than I expected as I guessed 1 over the actual result because I thought most people would graciously accept $1. Then I realized that the delivery of the dollar definitely spooked people as well as an annoyance because I targeted people on their phones. Being videotaped definitely impacted the results as I expected though because I could tell people were more resistant once they saw the camera was videotaping them. My assumptions were generally right, but I just underestimated the impact it would have on someone taking a free $1 bill. I did think this was a creative and useful assignment because it gave me a real life lesson on selling as it's not as easy as it looks. It definitely humbled me into feeling the pain of others when I have to watch them try to sell their product or service with rude people.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

1.  The Pitch

2.  Reflection on Feedback: As a whole, the people who commented on my pitch thought I did a   good job. Although, out of the 3 people who commented on my first elevator pitch, only one person really critiqued my actual elevator pitch while the other two just agreed saying that my idea would be effective. I really valued the comment that critiqued my elevator pitch that said I should enunciate, articulate, and project more to keep the listener intrigued. I found this a little surprising but I realized that even if you have good content in your pitch, your delivery can make or break your pitch. I didn't get any feedback about my dress which I took as a positive sign because I was wearing a suit.

3.  What I Changed: Based on no negative feedback from the content of my elevator pitch, I kept my wording pretty much the same because people felt like it got the idea of my business across well. On the other hand, I really tried to be more dynamic in my delivery with more gestures, movement, and enthusiasm in my voice. I tried to position the video better so there was more of my body in it so that I was able to do these gestures and move around.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1. Although it might seem obvious, what surprised me is the 5 factors of industry competition. I never thought about all of those besides the rivalry among existing competitors. The threat of entry is something I never valued as much as what I'm reading especially because when the threat of new companies is high, existing companies have to hold down their prices or increase investment to scare off those companies.
2. What I found most confusing was the graphs on the return of invested capital and profitability of US industries. To me, it seemed like it was just thrown in there, but then it still didn't fully explain what the graphs were and analyzing them besides defining what a return on your investment is.
3. The 2 questions I would ask are: 1) Is there one factor of industry competition that is most important? I would ask this because if I ran a business, I would want to be wary of something hurting my business the most. The next question I would ask is 2) How effective/successful is it to attempt to eliminate your rivals? I would ask this because if I was running a business and was being possibly overtaken, I would want to know if eliminating them is a good idea. 
4. Although I thought that Porter laid his ideas our simply and credibly, the only thing I disagreed on was his list of typical steps in industry analysis. I thought he made it sound to cut and dry while not really emphasizing other key factors or underlying pressures based on a company's decision.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

1. My Interviewing Strategy: Like Dr. Pryor's email suggested, I wrote down my business plan on a piece of paper and handed it to the interviewees. For my business idea, it will be to 1) create a portable, light-powered outlet which well help increase the outlets in libraries and 2) develop an app that will identify which outlets are or aren't being used to let studiers know. Like my second set of interviews, I decided to interview not only the people who still go to the libraries, but the people who don't go the libraries because they might be the people the most annoyed with the outlet situation. Both viewpoints are good because even if it bothers them, some people will still go the library no matter what but some people find it ruining their whole library experience. The questions below I asked encompass what they overall think of the idea and if they think it'll be successful and also questions from my past interviews just to get a sense of who these people are.
1. What do you think of this idea?
2. Do you enjoy going to libraries to study?
3. Do you think outlets are a problem?
4. Do you think this will be a successful business venture?
2. Conducting my Interview:

      3.  Reflection: What I learned from interviewing people, is that I'm realizing that it really isn't a         big deal and that most of the time, people are willing to help you out. At the same time though, when people reject me, I don't take it as personally as I originally did. For my idea though, I'm really starting to think this is a possible business idea because the demand is obviously there. What surprised me though is that people really thought this could be successful especially if I can fine tune the logistics. Because of these interviews, I realized that there are unmet needs all over the place, but sometimes people don't pick them out and believe there is a business possibility there. I now know that mine definitely has some potential to it as well as many other ideas. 

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. Me: I'm James Donigan and I'm a freshman with a finance major. My talents include playing soccer and golf with interests in fishing as well as college football recruiting. I'm a very hard worker with excellent leadership and communication skills. These have led to valuable experiences such as being on the philanthropy committee and assistant treasurer for my fraternity. I've always loved entrepreneurship which drove me to take this class as well as thinking of a practical business. For the business I created, I think it could really take off and it would become a big part of my life as I believe in its success. If not that idea, any idea I would do, I would go all the way with it and put all my effort and energy into it.

2.  What I'm offering: Because people have always been complaining about the lack of outlets in libraries in general, I thought I should come up with an idea to fix that. For my company, it is actually both a product and service. First I would develop a transportable outlet that would be powered by the light through the windows and lights overhead. Secondly, I would develop an app that would identify which outlets were used and weren't used on a map. I think this two-step company will solve people's problems.

3.  Who I'm offering to: As I'm targeting my company to first college campuses, I have to sell to the school and the students. For my product, I will be selling these portable, light powered outlets to the school so they can put them in the library. For my service and phone app, I will sell these to the students who want it on their phone. This will be my first step and as I grow, I will expand into maybe possible businesses who want my product and service. 

4.  Why they care: People will definitely pay for my product and service due to their need. My product I'll sell will definitely be sellable to schools and businesses because it will attract people into their spaces making them smarter if they're at their school or business longer and work more efficiently. My service will definitely be able to attract and sell to the students because students will want to know where outlets are and if they need to walk to the library or not. Students love apps if it makes their life easier and mine will do just that.

5.  My core competencies: I'm definitely set apart from other companies because I believe neither of these ideas have been brought to the market so I'll be alone in that category. I'm hitting a specific population that has a dire need which will bring success. Also because it's a product and service company, I'm very flexible if one idea fails and the other succeeds. Thus, I'm not solely reliant on one specific thing.

I believe that all of these elements fit together to help bring success to my business as their is a definite outlet shortage. Although, like most businesses, there are weaknesses. I think my product will be the one place that might not be as successful because I think it's going to be very hard to pitch to schools why they need these portable outlets. I think in businesses, they'll like it because they will benefit from better workers and attract more money, but for schools, they don't really have any incentives in giving students more battery power. I think the service will be very easy to market and sell as apps are the hottest thing going right now especially if it is specific like mine. 

Interviewing Customers No. 2

1. Opportunity: After my first set of interviews I just realized that people found the similar problem I had. People who studied in the libraries got consistently annoyed with the lack of outlets because it would possibly cause their studying to be shortened. Originally, I didn't really ask the tough questions as I was just really asking about their un-met need. But because I realized people did have this problem, I felt that this was a tangible opportunity. Thus, with my elevator pitch, I did figure out a way where I can combat this problem with an app that will identify which outlets are or aren't used as well as a light powered, portable outlet.
2. "Who": Last time I thought that because I was interviewing people being annoyed with the libraries that I should only ask people in that library. But then this time I thought I should interview the people who don't go the libraries because they might be the people the most annoyed with the outlet situation. I thought adding this different point of view would better reflect how impactful my ideas would be because it would not only help out the people who already use the library, but possibly help understand why the people who don't go to the libraries anymore as well as maybe convincing them to study at the libraries more. 
3. Tweaking Interview Questions: I asked the same first 2 questions, but I added the last 3 questions because it related with my possible company in my elevator pitch. I decided to add these questions because not only will it give me a better idea about my opportunity, but it will help my interviewees understand why and how this opportunity can be maximized.

• Do you enjoy going to libraries to study?
• (*If they said yes) Which library do you like the best and why?
• Would you say there is a problem with finding outlets in the libraries?
• If it was possible, do you think portable, light powered outlets would attract more students to the library?
• Then, would you use an app that told you which outlets were used and which weren't in the library?

      4.  Interviews:

      5.  What I learned about the opportunity: Now that I've interviewed 10 people, I'm realizing   this is a very common problem and something that has a great potential in solving. At first I just thought this was an un-met need that some of my friends had, but I'm figuring out that people all over are annoyed with the lack of outlets in Marston. Also, in the beginning, I never thought there was a realistic solution to it and students would be forever annoyed. But I really think my ideas has some potential due to the obvious opportunity and potential solution.
      6.  What I learned about interviewing customers: Now that I have 10 interviews under my belt, I've started to become a lot more comfortable interviewing random people. This interviewing session definitely took a longer time because not only did people say no, but I really tried to find people that did use libraries and were annoyed as well as people who didn't use libraries because they were so annoyed. The three tips I would give to students next semester in ENT 3003 would be: approach people in a friendly way and not be too pushy if they don't want to do it, give them a full description of what you're doing so they trust you and aren't confused, and to have your questions fully prepared so you don't take too much of their time.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1. What I found most surprising was the statistics stating that there are 1,500 business start-ups per day and that the U.S. Patent Office receives approximately 500,000 patent applications per year. I think this is great because start-ups and entrepreneurial activity is what drives this economy and country. I hope we can continue this rate and provide accessible outlets for people starting companies.
2. Due to the clearly outlined bullet points for most of the section, it was a pretty straightforward section. The only part that I was confused on was the comprehensive feasibility approach. Figure 6.2 that attempted to explain this idea was very confusing and jumbled due to the excessive arrows and wordiness. 
3. The first question I would ask is: 1) what is the most common pitfalls in selecting new ventures? I would ask this because if I ever want to start a business, I want to know what I need to watch out most for. Then I would ask 2) what is the best way to finance a new venture? I would ask this because I believe financing your idea is the hardest and most critical part, and I would want the best advice.
4. Because the author kept his opinion out of this section with simple rules and definitions, I didn't disagree with him on anything specific. Overall though, I guess I disagree with him for the reason that he makes entrepreneurship seem so formulaic while I feel like it's much more flexible. 

Elevator Pitch No. 1

        People are always struggling to find outlets in the Marston Science Library as it hasn't been renovated or updated in years. Many people would rather study in libraries rather than their dorms, but sometimes when there's no outlets and people's computer dies, students are forced to go home. That's why I am creating a company called Outleter. Outleter is a two-part company that will be a mobile app connected with the Marston Science Library that will show which outlet is used or open with red and green dots, respectively on a multi-floor map. It will also develop a wireless outlet that is easily transportable and can be powered by light. This will help solve people's problems because not only will more outlets be available, but people will know which ones aren't being used.