Principles of Entrepreneurship Summer 2019

Feedback Summary: A recurring theme with feedback that I have received through several stages in the project is to investigate what I am already supplying and display benefits that I had not realized yet. The one that stood out to me first was to include in my venture concept and elevator pitches that not only would my solution be saving the consumers time, but it would be saving energy for the building. This was so clear once it was brought up, and I am so glad that my classmate raised this point. If I were to sit down and really look at the benefits that I am already supplying, there is so much more to market. If the conceptual “firm” were to be established with the resource of ten industrial engineers, we could go beyond just the programming of the elevators, we could improve so much more about an industry frozen in time because of the lack of dynamic thinkers. Going beyond there, we would not just be limited to quirky projects like traffic or camera sweeping, we could go into s...

My selection for this reading list was Shoe Dog , by Phil Knight, the CEO and co-founder of Nike. It actually just so happened that my roommate had a copy of the book and lent it to me for this project. Had I known it was in our apartment, I would not have had the other biography express delivered. The read was alright, I knew somewhat the story already of Nike from background knowledge, but what I was really surprised about in the book was the writing. Knight had a tremendous story telling talent in the book, which helped make the read easier. One thing I really admired about Nike’s story was the tenacity through the hardships of the development of the business. Something I was not a fan of was the clear hyperbole of the situations. It makes for a better story, but in order to really learn from the book, I wanted the real lessons, even if they were more plain. Knight’s dealings with failure lent more to the lessons that we are learning in the class, lectures and assignments about ho...

My exit strategy has been in the back of my mind since the start of the discussion of entrepreneurial ventures. One of the possibilities is to exit the venture almost immediately. I am not experienced in the sale of ideas, but if the correct government restrictions are placed on my idea, formula, and/or program, I might be willing to sell upon negotiation with the elevator companies. The way I see it, there are two options for me: develop and sell the idea or establish a firm that works in industrial/systems efficiency. It is something that I enjoy doing and has to opportunity to be profitable. As of now, I would say that starting the firm and getting the solution finalized would be the first steps. From there, based on opening offers to buy the solution or firm from companies, if they are not ludicrously profitable, I would continue working with the firm, eventually retiring from working there and keeping stock in the company. I have chosen this path because it would allow m...

My story of failure comes in the form of the Business Finance class at UF. It is widely regarded as the absolute hardest business class a student will have to take to graduate from the Warrington College of Business. The professor even provides a pass option at the beginning of the course that, should a student do all of the extra credit, all of the practice exams, and all of the exams, taking as much time as allowed, and average above a 40%, a student can pass the class with a D-, which is technically passing for the business school, but still damaging to the GPA and resume. The class was 6 weeks long, one exam every two weeks. For the first exam, I scored a 50%, which was not considered bad for the class. I did a lot of preparation. I watched lecture, I used tutoring services, and I studied for days leading up to the test. For the second exam I wanted to knock it out of the park. I studied for the two weeks leading up to the exam and when faced with the test, I was clueless. ...

Existing Market The next steps for the service my firm would be providing would likely be tackling traffic inefficiencies in major cities where in we would be profitable. Local governments could dish out for the firm to come in, observe the traffic patterns, and suggest ways to manipulate traffic lights, road closures, and detours that could streamline driving patterns to avoid accidents and holdups. The three people that I interviewed are my current roommates, who had strong and insightful opinions on the elevator idea. I asked them each what I should pursue as my next venture. Roommate 1: Go beyond working outside of the elevator companies and work in one. Good ideas like the previous venture would set me up for higher level positions in a large corporation. He thought that the traffic pattern studies would be to widespread and hard to do all over the country/world. Roommate 2: He recommended staying open as a business and installing the programming in the current elevato...

Elevators In Efficiency The potential consumers for this venture are member of the population that use elevators regularly in their daily lives. Anyone who lives in a multi-story building or who works in an office building or skyscraper. The need itself that these people have is a preferential need. People do not know that they have this need until they are in a situation where they feel it. If an elevator functions perfectly for a person, they will not think about the inefficiencies of the product. Once they are waiting for over 30 seconds or are in a rush, they then start to feel that pressure of the need, they would prefer that the elevator work as well as possible. There are two forces in the environment that create this opportunity. Overpopulation of buildings and statistical rush hours create the problem of overflow for people trying to use an elevator in a multi-level building. The customers need to be able to get where they are going incrementally faster than they are now...