Assignment 23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Assignment 23A

Resources:

·       Access to UF Online Class Lectures

1)       Valuable: Without access to the UF online lectures I would not be able to give out notes specified to that content.

2)       Rare: In the grand scheme of things, it is rare because only students who attend UF and maybe professors have that access.

3)       Inimitable: It is in no way inimitable with the UF-specific material; you either have it or you don’t.

4)       Non-sustainable: Competing products to my own try to replicate this access, but no this access is the most authentic and pure part of my business model.

·       Personal Capabilities (Writing)

1)       Valuable: Without my writing capabilities and strong work ethic I would not be able to pass off a popular product that is based on writing.

2)       Rare: This ability is not rare and is in fact found in almost every human being on the planet.

3)       Inimitable: While my style is in certain ways different than others, it most likely could be imitated.

4)       Non-sustainable: There are thousands and potentially millions of substitutes, and therefore its not the best resource.

·       Advertising/Social Media

1)       Valuable: Without advertising and social media platforms I would have to rely on word of mouth sales to make up 100% of my business.

2)       Rare: There are plenty of businesses who advertise via social media, so unless I found a way to differentiate myself, it is not rare.

3)       Inimitable: Advertising and social media are both easily inimitable due to the fact they do not any factors that can hold someone from making a similar product.

4)       Non-sustainable: Besides the fact that my business concept is different than the potential substitutes, there are plenty of alternatives that could take my place.

·       Human Capital

1)       Valuable: The skills and knowledge of my previous life experiences are paramount to the success of my business, as without those aspects I am mostly rendered useless.

2)       Rare: Every human being has a certain amount of human capital they have built up over time with there depths of experiences and outside communication.

3)       Inimitable: Gaining knowledge and skills is not possible purely overnight, and therefore being able to imitate human capital is virtually not possible unless its over a long period of time.

4)       Non-sustainable: Like social capital, there is effectively no substitute for human capital and that gained from previous experience cannot be bottled and sold in an easy manner.

·       PayPal

1)       Valuable: Without PayPal, I wouldn’t be able to accept business transactions online and would need a brick and mortar storefront and point of sales system to accept finances for my product.

2)       Rare: PayPal is the most popular financial transaction platform on the planet, and there is only one PayPal.

3)       Inimitable: PayPal would be a very difficult thing to imitate from ground zero, as you would need technicians with vast experience dealing with algorithms and coding that could create a similar platform.

4)       Non-sustainable: There are financial transaction platforms that emulate PayPal and they are becoming more mainstream and potentially are gaining more market share.

·       Social Capital

1)       Valuable: Without a standard of my previous social interactions and relationships, I wouldn’t be able to have a foundation of customers and access to financial capital and outside advice.

2)       Rare: Every human being is enabled with a certain amount of social capital just from their everyday interactions and built up lifetime of experiences.

3)       Inimitable: There is no way to imitate social capital and unless you have been through the exact same situations as a given person, there is no way you have the same social capital.

4)       Non-sustainable: Because of the depth of potential regarding the term social capital and the interactions that come with it, there is no pure substitute for social capital and it all depends on a given individual.

·       Subscription-based Service

1)       Valuable: To my business concept, this is one of the pinnacle ideas and resources that I cherish and believe will lead to a differentiated product and sustained success.

2)       Rare: Compared to traditional business transactions of real-time payments when the need exceeds one’s patience, subscription-based services are rare, but numerically they still make up a large number of businesses.

3)       Inimitable: This system has opponents due to the methodology that company believes will drive the most opportunity for financial success, but it would be almost impossible and worthless to imitate a non-proprietary system of business.

4)       Non-sustainable: Like previously stated, there are other substitutes to  a subscription-based business practices, and whether it be trading a good for a service or a point of sales business, there are many that could replace my business model.

·       Prior Business Experience

1)       Valuable: Without my previous business experience, I would be lost understanding certain aspects of running a successful business, whether it be understanding the books or customer service.

2)       Rare: I don’t believe previous experience in business is rare at all, in fact, I believe that most entrepreneurs use previous experience to guide their transition into starting their own business.

3)       Inimitable: Anyone with free time and an opportunity to gain meaningful experience can imitate in certain ways my business experience.

4)       Non-sustainable: While individuals may have had business experience with different businesses, there is no substitute for hard work and physical experiences that have taken place during prior work engagements.

·       Financial Capital

1)       Valuable: Financial Capital is one of the most valuable assets a company can have, as further resource accumulation and customer acquisition become exponentially easier with financial capital.

2)       Rare: While the majority may be clustered in few individuals/corporations, the rarity of financial capital is limited when you understand that everyone has some level of financial capital.

3)       Inimitable: Financial capital is not, in essence, inimitable at all, and only it can be exchanged in the manner than financial capital is.

4)       Non-sustainable: While there are different methods of financial capital, bartering goods and services has mostly gone by the wayside, so I would conject that it has few substitutes.

·       Production Resources (Technology)

1)       Valuable: This is one of the most valuable resources I have in my arsenal, due to the fact that the crux of my financial avenue related to this business is tied to the ability to house and deliver an online product.

2)       Rare: With an increasing distribution of technology across the globe, it is becoming less and less rare with each increasing year.

3)       Inimitable: With only a small amount of financial capital and the ability to purchase the technology, it could and would be quickly inimitable.

4)       Non-sustainable: There are multiple different brands of laptops and other aspects of technology I use for production, therefore, there are a multitude of substitutes that competitors could use.

My Top Resource (after evaluating them all):

After evaluating all the resources that I consider to be of utmost importance to the success and sustainability of my business, I’ve realized that my top resource is the access to the UF online courses. Not only is this the heart and soul of my project, but I imagined if I lost all of the resources I listed, and only that resource would completely and utterly wreck my entire idea. The access to the lectures feeds into the notetaking of each lecture and the distribution and backhand parts of the business rely on the information itself to drive the product. Each and every resource I listed has a special connection for what I plan on pursuing, but nothing becomes the way that I envision without the necessity of the online access to UF lectures.

Assignment 22A - Elevator Pitch #3

Reflection on the feedback:
I realized that I wasn't taking it as serious as I probably should and was holding back from fully going in on this given assignment. I appreciate that feedback often, as it helps me focus in on what I need to change and sharpen the proverbial knife on any given assignment.

What did I change:
I took a longer time writing this version of the elevator pitch and included more pauses and effective aspects of communication to attract the listener to want to hear more about the product. While maintaining a level of professionalism, I also wanted to add elements of comparability that everyone could relate to, which I hope they see in this third edition of the elevator pitch.

Assignment 21 - Reading Reflection #2

Assignment 21A

Cognitive Surplus: Clay Shirky

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

The general argument in the book is the increase in technology of time passes will change the social constructs associated with the different technology, and society should adjust for these future differences.

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

This book, through its exploration of how new technologies changed social perceptions and circumstances, enhanced my appreciation for how technologies can help define a marketplace and opportunity with understanding your outside circumstances and limitations.

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

I would design an exercise that involves comparing the impact of modern day technologies to pre-modern advances, such as AOL and Napster. In addition, they would then need to create a business idea using modern day technology and how its improved using modern-day technology versus pre-modern technology.

4)    What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

My biggest surprise came from understanding his comparison between the gin craze in 18^th Century London. By putting in rules to ban gin drinking only subsided drinking for a period and then an alternative was used to quench their thirst. In a similar manner, Shriky explains how the shelf life of technology is outdone by increasing methods, but the passion for the technology will continue far into the future. This altered my view of current technology and now understand that future methods will replace certain aspects of tech I don’t agree with.

Assignment 20A - Growing Your Social Capital

Assignment 20A

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry: Sam Perkins, customer service representative for Smokin Notes, is a domain expert within my industry and could be an asset to my initial launch of my company. A friend since we were in Middle School, he would have the expertise to show me the way and help me figure out customer distribution and may even become an asset to my company at a certain point. This relationship is mostly one-sided in my favor, but I would incentivize his help in areas such as food.

2) One person must be an expert on your market: Todd Van Graff, a technical analyst that oversees technical customer acquisition at Siemens, who also happens to be my uncle, would be key in helping me navigate the online subscription business model and any complaints with technical support. Because my online strategy is a key to my business plan, this is potentially the most important relationship. For a relatively low price or no charge because of family ties, this could make or break my initial business and be either a big asset or what holds me back.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry: Jordan Morang, a manager at Rifle Paper Co. who is one of my cousin’s best friend, can be someone who would be key with my potential business for supply purposes. I would be a potential successful client for Jordan and in a similar manner he said he would provide a friends and family discount that would jumpstart business without unnecessary overhead costs. This is a worthy combination that is mutually beneficial to both parties.

Assignment 19A - Idea Napkin 2

Assignment 19A

1)    You. 

I’m someone with a passion for business that matches potential ideas with a non-stop work ethic that settles for nothing less than perfection. I bring previous experience starting up a successful business and understand how to combine customer service and financial practices that will provide worthwhile future success.

2)    What are you offering to customers? 

I’m offering a product that is offering an unmet need in terms of help with educational practices, specifically when it comes to online lectures that are unable to be watched for any given reason. With a subscription model, it offers the student a service that will be continually beneficial.

3)    Who are you offering it to? 

I’m offering my service to online students who are forced to watch the lectures online because they either cannot or decide to not attend the class in person. Whether or not they’re business students, they can be sure of the same process regardless of their class schedule.

4)    Why do they care? 

The bottom line is my service will provide realized educational benchmarks, and therefore paying a certain amount for a grade boost. Providing each student for assessments, whether they’re exams or not, is a surefire method to supplant my product as one worth paying for.

5)    What are your core competencies? 

My core competencies are both the way my product is delivered and the speed for which it is delivered. No other outlet is subscription-based and therefore the influx of income is steady for sustained success, and the product being delivered hours after the lecture stands out and remains the core of my business plan.

Assignment 18A

My prototypical customer is a student between seventeen and twenty-three years old that takes multiple online classes at UF. They are talking fall, spring and summer courses and rely on watching lectures online to receive information about a given topic. They also have grown tired of the process of watching lectures online and are in a financial place to spend a few dollars on a solution to ease their educational pain. My customer can be socially active, whether it be a fraternity or sorority, or keep to themselves and focus on their academic future. In fact, they do not even have to live in the greater Gainesville area, as the classes that they take supersedes their geographical location. My product is based on the customer’s class schedule and type of courses they are taking and is less reliant on their personal needs/wants. It is a universal product in its ability to help those who struggle with finding the motivation to complete the necessary work in their online classes, and since I previously had this struggle, the customer could easily be someone like myself, but is not limited to other types of  people as well.

Assignment 17A

After my last elevator pitch, I realized that I needed to sharpen my material and really hone in my message to best sell the product to those listening to me. Therefore, I tried to provide vocal variation and a better overall message that the listeners to relate to. I hope anyone who sees this feels that improvements have been made.