30A- Final Reflection

The experience from this class that stands out most to me is the elevator pitch. I think this was the most valuable experience from this class because it helped me with my presentation and speaking skills. The most joyous experience was also the elevator pitch as I had fun making it with my friends. I would say I am most proud of my venture concept as I think it was well developed. I think throughout this course I developed an entrepreneur mindset. I would say I don see myself somewhat as an entrepreneur. I would recommend to other students to stick with the class, and do all your assignments. Think of this class as a way to improve your entrepreneur skills. Try to visualize your ventures as being something you will absolutely pursue, and that will help you to develop your entrepreneurial concept.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity-

My opportunity tends to the needs of a variety of people as there potential car buyers.

The need may be out of necessity or rather luxury, but the need is very apparent.

The environment in which this opportunity exists is changing, and developing which could lead to a tremendous potential of growth.

The demographic is clearly all people looking for a car, so obviously the market is massive.
I would say though it is based a lot on the age and financial means of the buyer so there are some boundaries to the potential consumer biases.
All customers are looking for a car to buy and need to consider options and prices.
They may or may not have children which can affect their buying decisions, although there are car buyers of all ages.
The consumer of the opportunity could literally be anyone, as many people have the need for transportation, and saving money.
They realize the unmet need and have searched for the right solution, but have not found one.
I can can see that the need is present, and people are looking for an answer to the problem, making this opportunity huge.
The window of this opportunity may be open for some time, but the market is always changing.

Innovation-

My concept for the ever growing automotive industry is established on the idea of my company making money on the idea of saving car buyers money, because of this the only thing that is required is an experienced workforce.

We would have brokers for car buying, this is because many people do not know the value of different cars and often have a hard time negotiating price.

I intended to accomplish this by creating a website, and enlisting many avid car enthusiasts around the United States to become brokers, although first I would need to create a system for how much the brokers get paid per transaction, via car price and the amount of money saved.

I would also need a database for acceptable car values, and teach each broker how to handle the in person business.

So to make things clear I am selling the broker services, which would allow car buyers to have someone find the car of their choice and negotiate the price for the buyer.

The most vital part of this is the “car broker”, these brokers will aid in the effort to save car buyers money and find the right car based on the buyers need.

This concept is great because it creates a more personalized experience for car buyers. This service would assign a "car broker" to each client and they would assist them in finding the right car and negotiating the price for the buyer.

The service would consist of both online and in person help. The car buyer would pay a fee based on how difficult the car was to find/ price and how much money the broker saved the buyer.

For example the fee would vary base on car, so if an easy to find 1,000 dollar car was purchased through the service in which the buyer saved 200 the buyer would pay 5% of the money saved and 2.5% broker fee for finding the car.

This entices both the buyer and broker through saving and making money.A system would be designed for the "car brokers" and buyers to communicate their ideas to each other and, an effective way of allowing "car brokers" to negotiate prices dealerships and individual sellers.

This system would not be generic, but rather a more personalized experience for car shopping which sole purpose is to find the best car for the best price possible.

Other services currently available only give ca options with somewhat set prices.

A "car broker" can check various sources ask if there are any specifics the buyer wants, and then negotiate prices with dealerships or sellers.

Overall, these services help the car buyer with the difficulties they might otherwise face when trying to buy an automobile.

Venture Concept-

My venture concept is one that mainly focuses on the exact struggles the average car buyer faces, and tries to address them with the introduction of the “car broker.” The opportunity is there because of these struggles, customers will buy this service because of the ease associated with it, and the want to save money on an often very expensive purchase. Customers will switch to this product, because all similar business in the market focus on selling rather than saving money. It should be easy to switch since people often do not have a relationship with any specific way of buying a car, and the way of car buying has always been the same until recently. This implementation of the internet with car buying, allows for my concept to exist. The competitors are far and few, as the service is very unique, I could even suggest that competitors would become allies to increase sales. Customer support is the business itself, so it plays a massive role in the success of the business. Locations would only be an important part of the business if the service was not online as well. There is no physical product so many problems companies face regarding that will not exist. The most valuable part of the business will be the employees, which should be in surplus, and the business would be organized around making their part in the business as efficient as possible.The idea of the car brokers job being to save the car buyer money is the biggest advantage this service has over others.

Suggestions and Changes-

The majority of the feedback I received was very positive, however, I received more critical feedback from my whats next post so I incorporated that into my post. The comments suggested that I take things slow with the business, and try the different markets one at a time. So I implemented this into my venture concept. I changed my idea based on how I want to grow and develop my business. 

27A- Reading Reflection No.3

The main point of Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker is to focus on how entrepreneurs act and behave, the author tries to enact innovation and entrepreneurship as a practice. The author provides strategies for entrepreneurs and gives ideas of what entrepreneurship is. He focuses on how entrepreneurs can bring about change and what makes up a business enterprise. He list some different sources of innovation, such as changes in industry, knowledge, and perception. He gives some principles of innovation as well. Also including how to manage strategies in the entrepreneurs venture and gives rules that they should follow. Drucker believes that innovation and entrepreneurship is key to a successful society. I feel like the book directly connected with this class as it helps to provide skills and can teach young entrepreneurs how to properly approach a market with the hope of enacting innovation. The biggest surprise moment from the book was when Drucker said that an entrepreneur should make both innovation and entrepreneurship an everyday practice and that should be the norm. Overall, I thought Drucker gave some good tips on how to better your entrepreneurial practices.

28A- Your Exit Strategy

When thinking of my exit strategy, I often consider whether or not I will be truly invested in the business venture, and whether or not it is successful. I believe it would be hard for me to sell the business, due to my passion being automobiles, however I think I would either make the decision to sell the business after 5 years or keep the business till retirement. This is because I would sell the business for the right offer, or keep the business if very successful and I continue to enjoy my work. I don't see the business being passed down to family due to me not wanting to force anything. I don't believe my exit strategy has influenced my decisions for this concept as I did not necessarily create the concept with the exit strategy as a key influence. It did not change how I identified the opportunity also, because I based it off of my passion for automobiles. It has not influenced my intentions for growth either as I plan to grow the business based on the concepts I bring and the level of success, not what my end goal is.

26A-Celebrating Failure

This past semester I have been trying to be more healthy and physically fit, and in some regard I have failed. This is because I either have not been eating healthy or sometimes I have neglect going to the gym. However, I typically stick to a fairly good routine. From this failure I have learned how to be more discipline and have been trying to better myself. I learned a lot about myself as well, such as how I get past my desires not to do something, and at the very least try my hardest to stick to a schedule. This little journey of successes, but also failures has overall helped me grow as a person. My reflection on failure brings out the point that it often creates low points and makes one discouraged. Failure can be embarrassing and get you down, but it results in personal growth and eventually success. I believe this class has somewhat changed my perspective of failure, as I now think it is a vital part of success and I would be much more likely to take risks I wouldn't have otherwise.

25A- What's Next?

Existing Market-

In the future I see that we could go towards more specific shopping experiences, such as appealing to the collector market and or find rentals for production and so on. I see this as a big possibility for the future of the venture. I interviewed 3 potential customers who are part of the market I have already identified. I asked them what they thought could be the next thing for my venture, more specifically what should the business think about. One of them replied that we could potentially try to become partners with manufacturers. Another interviewee said that we should look into strengthening the businesses position in the market through advertisement. The third interviewee said that we should expand by directly purchasing the selling the cars. Next I asked them about my idea to move towards appealing to high end buyers, and or car rental service. They said it was a viable option for a move to growth, but does not lead to diversity in the venture.

The path for the future of this business venture include expanding the business to appeal to all the customers possible, including those who look for high end automobiles. This includes potentially adding a rental service. I do think that becoming involved with advertisement could be a strong move, but think that moving to selling cars is against the basis of the venture. I think that trying to become a venture which includes a lot of different business ideas could lead to growth.

New Market-

The new market will include this upper class citizen that is looking for the high end luxury automobile. While the old market focused on the general population. I think the venture could create tremendous amounts of value in the affluent market as high end and rare cars generate lots of money and attention. I interviewed two individuals which were potentially in the market for high end cars, and asked them if they thought the service would be of use and if they would change anything. They replied that they thought the service could be of use, but they said they would want everything to be in person.

This new market could bring a lot of growth to the business, although the market is smaller and it would be more costly to provide them with the same service overall. I was not to surprised at anything as I knew how the buyers in the market would act. Overall, I would say that the existing market is more valuable, but the new market has some advantages.

24A- Venture Concept No.1

UPrice Car Service

Opportunity-

My opportunity tends to the needs of a variety of people as there potential car buyers. The need may be out of necessity or rather luxury, but the need is very apparent. The environment in which this opportunity exists is changing, and developing which could lead to a tremendous potential of growth. The demographic is clearly all people looking for a car, so obviously the market is massive. I would say though it is based a lot on the age and financial means of the buyer so there are some boundaries to the potential consumer biases. All customers are looking for a car to buy and need to consider options and prices.They may or may not have children which can affect their buying decisions, although there are car buyers of all ages. The consumer of the opportunity could literally be anyone, as many people have the need for transportation, and saving money. They realize the unmet need and have searched for the right solution, but have not found one. I can can see that the need is present, and people are looking for an answer to the problem, making this opportunity huge. The window of this opportunity may be open for some time, but the market is always changing.

Innovation-

My concept for the ever growing automotive industry is established on the idea of my company making money on the idea of saving car buyers money, because of this the only thing that is required is an experienced workforce. We would have brokers for car buying, this is because many people do not know the value of different cars and often have a hard time negotiating price. I intended to accomplish this by creating a website, and enlisting many avid car enthusiasts around the United States to become brokers, although first I would need to create a system for how much the brokers get paid per transaction, via car price and the amount of money saved. I would also need a database for acceptable car values, and teach each broker how to handle the in person business. So to make things clear I am selling the broker services, which would allow car buyers to have someone find the car of their choice and negotiate the price for the buyer. The most vital part of this is the “car broker”, these brokers will aid in the effort to save car buyers money and find the right car based on the buyers need. This concept is great because it creates a more personalized experience for car buyers. This service would assign a "car broker" to each client and they would assist them in finding the right car and negotiating the price for the buyer. The service would consist of both online and in person help. The car buyer would pay a fee based on how difficult the car was to find/ price and how much money the broker saved the buyer. For example the fee would vary base on car, so if an easy to find 1,000 dollar car was purchased through the service in which the buyer saved 200 the buyer would pay 5% of the money saved and 2.5% broker fee for finding the car. This entices both the buyer and broker through saving and making money.A system would be designed for the "car brokers" and buyers to communicate their ideas to each other and, an effective way of allowing "car brokers" to negotiate prices dealerships and individual sellers. This system would not be generic, but rather a more personalized experience for car shopping which sole purpose is to find the best car for the best price possible. Other services currently available only give ca options with somewhat set prices. A "car broker" can check various sources ask if there are any specifics the buyer wants, and then negotiate prices with dealerships or sellers. Overall, these services help the car buyer with the difficulties they might otherwise face when trying to buy an automobile.

Venture Concept-

My venture concept is one that mainly focuses on the exact struggles the average car buyer faces, and tries to address them with the introduction of the “car broker.” The opportunity is there because of these struggles, customers will buy this service because of the ease associated with it, and the want to save money on an often very expensive purchase. Customers will switch to this product, because all similar business in the market focus on selling rather than saving money. It should be easy to switch since people often do not have a relationship with any specific way of buying a car, and the way of car buying has always been the same until recently. This implementation of the internet with car buying, allows for my concept to exist. The competitors ar far and few, as the service is very unique, I could even suggest that competitors would become allies to increase sales. Customer support is the business itself, so it plays a massive role in the success of the business. Locations would only be an important part of the business if the service was not online as well. There is no physical product so many problems companies face regarding that will not exist. The most valuable part of the business will be the employees, which should be in surplus, and the business would be organized around making their part in the business as efficient as possible.The idea of the car brokers job being to save the car buyer money is the biggest advantage this service has over others.

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Venture Resources-

1. Have relationships with people in the automotive community in SWFL, that could lead to potential customers or investors. 
1.  This social capital is valuable because it creates a customer basis and the venture could potentially allocate funds through investors.
2. Our business will provide a more personalized experience for the car buyers.
1.  The more personalized experience for the car buyer will attract many people and is different from most car buying experiences which are lacking.  
3. I have a great understanding of the car market and the buyers within the market.
1. This understanding of the car market and the buyers within the market will help me be successful with helping the car brokers find a the car the buyer wants for a good price.
4. The idea takes little financial capital to start.
1. Because the main capital of the business in the individuals that will be the car brokers helping the customers, the venture takes little capital, but knowledgeable people.
5. The car market is ever growing and electric cars broadens the market, thus leading to growth in the ventures consumer basis.
1. A growing market is a great resource which will lead to growth, although other companies within the same market also have this resource.  
6. The implementation of the car broker idea, helps save money.
1. This is one of the key points of the business idea, in that the broker will be helping the customer find the right car, the right price. No companies to have a non biased salesman.  
7. I have good knowledge on a variety of automobiles, and how to properly price them.
1. This knowledge will help when establishing a database to use to price and find different automobiles.
8. The service is based on saving money for the customer.
1. This is very different from all other services in the market, because most services are based on selling the vehicle and making the most money.
9. I have friends that have learned how to web develop.
1. This will be a great social capital when trying to develop a database, or website.
10. The ability to establish links with established dealerships, to save money for the car buyer.
1. This could be great for the business because it will save buyers money while also making dealerships money because we buy from them.

The top resource is the fact that the service is biased on saving people money, this is very strong incentive for people to use the service, and the fact  the service overall will be personalized for each individual. This is the most unfair advantage this venture has against others.