Assignment 30A Final Reflection

I think that my most formative experience was when I decided that my dog was my most valuable resource. I had been thinking about a pet monitoring device for the past 3 years and knew my options were limited and only included using a surveillance camera that was stationary and would only show me the area in which it was set up or using a baby monitor which is pretty much the same setup. I'm proud that I came up with a Smart Collar idea that would be attached to my pet and allow me to monitor him wherever he was in the house not just in one room.

I think I have developed an entrepreneur mindset because there are an unlimited amount of needs that people have now that are not being met as to what they wish there was a better solution to. I think I could become an entrepreneur someday just by talking with people and asking questions about what their problems are and what are their options to solve those immediate problems.

If I had to make any recommendations for future students, I would recommend they don't give up on any idea they have. No idea is 100% wrong. I would also recommend that they ignore negative feedback and continue to believe in their idea. What I have learned is the most important thing to do to foster that mindset is to never give up. If you give up, there will always be someone who takes your idea and builds on it and eventually turns it into a success. If that happens your left thinking that was my idea first.

My picture for this post relates back to my most valuable resource which is Gator, my friend for life. He's always thinking about and analyzing his next move!

     

Assignment 28A Your Exit Strategy

My exit strategy would be fairly simple. If I did get this venture up and running, I would stick with it for no more than three years. Within three years I will be able to see if my Smart Collar is successful. If it is, then I would sell the rights to my product to a company that is able to advance the features of it. Also if this Smart Collar was successful, I'm sure that someone would be trying to copy it within three years. I would be better off selling the venture before any competition starts to happen. I'm sure there would be a large company out there that would be interested in it and could improve it and make it more successful rather than me holding onto it.

I have selected this exit strategy because I really don't have any family that would be interested in keeping the business going after I'm gone. Also, I'm not really concerned about the money I could make if I held onto it. This idea didn't start thinking about possible money. My Smart Collar idea grew out of concern for pet owners who are attached to their pet and consider them as part of the family. It was just an idea to give the owners a boost when they're away because seeing your pet always makes a person feel better.

My exit strategy has influenced how I identified an opportunity because it's all for the benefit of pet owners, and not just about me. I get a wonderful feeling when I see other pet owners bonding with their pet. Anyone who owns a pet knows just how special that bond is even though the pet can't speak. So for my idea to have the chance to grow and become better I need to turn it over to someone who can make it better than I can. The biggest way I would see myself as being successful with this idea is to see other pets wearing the Smart Collar and know that their owners are happy that they can see or say something to their pet when they're away from them.   

Assignment 27A Reading Reflection No. 3

Innovation and Entrepreneurship By Peter Drucker.

The general theme or argument of this book is what companies and new ventures need to learn, do, and know to keep up with today's everchanging and modern world. Peter focuses on how entrepreneurship is broken down into three aspects, and he mentions that aspects are not stages. The three main aspects are the practice of innovation, the practice of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial strategies. Peter explains that this is a practical book and not a how-to book. He also states how we have become an entrepreneurial economy in the past ten to fifteen years.

I would say this book connects with what we learned in ENT3003 by having us practice entrepreneurship and the strategies we can use to try and make the venture better. Strategies can be talking with people and getting input from them about our product or service. An idea needs to meet the needs of others, or it will just remain an idea. People must have a need for what we are offering them. Feedback from others is what will make the new venture a success.

If I had to design an exercise based on this book I would have students identify something they think is obsolete or becoming obsolete and then use creativity and imagination to redesign the product or service. This would be an innovation exercise, and crazy or stupid ideas would be welcome. There would be no wrong ideas, and whatever your redesign looks would be fine. There would be no chance of any ideas failing.

I think my biggest surprise when reading this book was that Peter states planning is actually incompatible with an entrepreneurial society and economy. I would have thought that planning would play a major role in our society and economy. I also thought this book was hard to follow and understand with all the statistics he threw out in the beginning, but I did like how he made mention of well know companies and how they overcame warning signs about what was going wrong and moved forward.   

Assignment 26A Celebrating Failure

The one thing I feel I failed at this semester is the fact that I never went to any of Dr. Pryor's lectures. I live in Gainesville, and it is very easy for me to get to UF anytime or any day. In the first couple of weeks of the class, I sent him an email telling him I would definitely show up one day to check it out since he usually doesn't have many people there on Monday or Wednesday when he gives the lectures. Well now it's almost the end of the semester, and I still haven't made it to one lecture. Every time I thought about going and planned to go; I ended up doing something else. The other things I ended up doing were really not important at all. A few times my friend called me just before I was going to leave my house and go and asked me to play golf. Well, I never turn down a chance to play golf and did that instead of taking in a lecture.

What I learned from this is that if I tell someone I'll show up I should follow through with what I said. I know Dr. Pryor doesn't hold this against me because this is an online class and you aren't required to attend any lectures. If I tell someone I'll be there in another scenario and don't show up there may be ramifications for not following through with what I said. So I basically learned not to say I'll do something and then find an excuse not to do it.

Failure is both embarrassing and hard. Failure can easily be turned around by someone thinking they had a reason for the failure which only justifies their excuse in their own mind. I handle failure emotionally by feeling bad about what happened after the fact. I don't get upset or behave differently because if you failed that situation is over and you can't change the outcome. There's really no reason to cry over something that's over with. I don't really think this class has changed my perspective on failure because I don't believe failure can be prevented 100% of the time in every situation during your entire life. I just don't think that's possible and have never met anyone yet that didn't experience failure once in their life. I think life is full of risks and you'll never avoid living life without taking risks. It's all about which risks your willing to take because some are better than others, so that's a personal choice you have to make on your own.

Assignment 25A What's Next?

Existing Market

I think what's next for the Smart Collar is to get a few different designs of the collar which could be done using a 3D printer. I also need to talk to someone who is familiar with building apps that can be used on any smartphone. I'm fairly certain I could find the right people to help me with this at UF. Having access to UF and what they offer might be a valuable resource I didn't consider in the past.

The first person I talked with was actually a fellow student who reached out to me after seeing my elevator pitch which I presented. He asked if the Smart Collar was real because his dog had got loose a few weeks back and he spent 8 hours looking for it before he finally located the dog. He explained to me that a collar a dog could wear would be very helpful for anyone whose dog might get loose and wander away. He was very interested in my idea and suggested that I might want to market this to veterinarians who could use the Smart Collar as an alternative to getting their pet implanted with a chip. He told me he thought I needed to create a physical replication of my idea so I could get better feedback from potential customers even though it might not be what the finished product looks like in the end.

The second person I spoke with suggested that I might want to market my Smart Collar by using the local TV cable provider as a way to advertise it. He also mentioned that customers might want the Smart Collar to be waterproof so it could be used on pets that are allowed to go outside for extended periods of time.

The third person I spoke with suggested that I test market the Smart Collar in select locations before investing a lot of money on producing a large quantity which might not sell as good as I thought it would. She also mentioned that with other options like a security camera or baby monitoring device I have to make sure to price it correctly so people will not always go for the cheapest way to get the same results for these other options.

Reflection:

The feedback I received was very helpful as far as expectations I thought I had. I was very surprised someone thought the Smart Collar was already on the market. Thus I know there is a need for this product. I also never thought about it having to be waterproof so that is something I must consider and make changes to accomplish that. The price also needs to reflect what additional benefits the Smart Collar provides without giving the customer a cheaper inferior option to choose from.

I also discovered that there are many other ways to market my product. The one that stuck out was targeting veterinarians. I never thought that pet owners may be leery about implanting a chip into their pet and by giving the veterinarians another option to offer to people who want to do this could be huge. Also, test marketing the Smart Collar in a selected location makes sense because I would actually see how much interest there is in it. Using cable TV advertisement is another thing I never thought of.

New Market 

A totally different market I could target would be pet owners who have a dog strictly for security. People who own junkyards or towing companies, for example, would have a dog used for security when the business is closed at night. People might also have a security dog at their house who stays outdoors all the time.

For people who own dogs strictly for security, the Smart Collar could be used to detect what goes on after hours. Are there people snooping around? Did someone manage to avoid the dog and break in? If so the Smart Collar would be able to show the owner that with the 2-way camera and microphone. Owners could receive an alert on their phone when something unusual happens, and the dog starts barking for an extended period of time.

The first person I spoke with is a pawnshop owner here in Gainesville. I explained my idea and was told that the entire property is under video surveillance 24/7. The dog he has is just used to warn off potential threats by being vocal. He did not seem to think I needed to improve the Smart Collar because his security needs are met with 24/7 video recording that is saved and backed up in case something did happen when the pawnshop was closed.

The second person I talked to is a dog owner in my neighborhood who has a dog which he keeps inside a fence surrounding his house. He was interested in my idea and stated that many times at night the dog might start barking, and he has to go out and check on whats going on. He does not have 24/7 video surveillance so he thinks that the Smart Collar could be useful to him if it had a way to send an alert to his phone if the dog did start barking so he could see whats going on without having to go outside. The Smart Collar would somehow have to be modified so it would be capable of sending an alert to the owner's phone and I have no idea how complicated that might be.

Reflection:

I thought this new market was a good idea. I even thought police dogs might have a use for the Smart Collar. What I learned about this new market is that people who own a dog for security at their business use the dog for vocal purposes only and rely on good quality 24/7 surveillance systems. So the dog is really for show more than actual security.

I can confidently say that this new market is not as attractive as my existing market. If I had chosen police dogs as my new market, I think it would have been a better idea than the security dog market. If police dogs were to use the Smart Collar, I wouldn't have to modify it to send alerts because if a police dog was sent into an area, the dog handler could see what the dog is encountering just by using a smartphone.

 

Assignment 23A Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1) My support for Animal Shelters.
Valuable: I can use their help and reputation to promote my product.
Rare: There are many people who support and are involved in animal welfare projects.
Inimitable: This is hard to copy because either you like dogs and cats or you don't.
Non-Substitutable: There are numerous organizations people could support which don't involve animals.

2) Social Capital which includes interacting with pet owners on a daily basis.
Valuable: Yes because by talking with pet owners I can use word of mouth to promote my product.
Rare: Not really because people talk about things they like every day.
Inimitable: This is not hard to copy because people will always talk to each other.
Non-Substitutable: There is no substitute for peoples opinions and feedback.

3) My Father and him extending me a line of credit without having to use a bank.
Valuable: Yes because he is willing to help me and not expect something in return.
Rare: Probably not because there are people who just like to help others without any expectations.
Inimitable: Probably not because people generally have compassion for others.
Non-Substitutable: My dad is my dad, and there is no substitute for him.

4) My Dog.
Valuable: Yes very much so. He could be a walking billboard.
Rare: Probably not animals have been associated with different products in the past.
Inimitable: I would say no because every dog is different and has their own personality.
Non-Substitutable: There are numerous ways to promote my product.

5) Time.
Valuable: Yes because it is my investment in the venture, it shows my commitment.
Rare: Yes time is rare once it passes by you can't get that time back.
Inimitable: No because people use their time differently.
Non-Substitutable: I think you could use money to substitute time and get quicker results.

6) The Internet.
Valuable: Yes because I can use the internet for research without having to leave my house.
Rare: No because anyone can get access to the internet.
Inimitable: This is not hard to copy because anyone can find the same information using the internet.
Non-Substitutable: You could probably substitute a library for the internet, but it would not be as fast.

7) Crowdfunding.
Valuable: Yes because it could provide me money to get started with my venture.
Rare: No anyone can use crowdfunding, and it's free to use on some crowdfunding platforms.
Inimitable: Yes it can be easily copied by others who use crowdfunding.
Non-Substitutable: There are other substitutes for crowdfunding like peer to peer platforms.

8) My House
Valuable: Yes because I don't have to spend extra money to rent an office.
Rare: No people all live somewhere.
Inimitable: Yes because anyone can work out of their house and save money if they're self-employed.
Non-Substitutable: I could rent an office or building to do the same thing I can do in my home.

9) Low Competition.
Valuable: Yes because I don't have to compete with other similar products.
Rare: Very rare there is no other product like the Smart Collar.
Inimitable: Anyone could create a similar product in time that might be better than mine.
Non-Substitutable: You could use a security camera or a baby monitor to do some things my product does.

10) Knowledge about how people consider their pet part of the family.
Valuable: Yes because knowing how much people care about their pets will help sell my product.
Rare: Probably not because people who own a pet care about them.
Inimitable: This can be easily copied just by becoming a pet owner.
Non-Substitutable: There is no substitute for a pets love or loyalty if you own one.

After considering these resources available to me right now and doing the VRIN analysis it surprising that I can use any of them for little or no cost right now. There are two recourses I think that benefit me the most and they are time and my dog. If I had to pick one, I would have to say it's my dog because I think by showing what the Smart Collar does when I'm away from home would be very easy to do just by using my phone to connect to the collar which is on my dog. Anyone could then see exactly what my product does which I think is more valuable than just listening to me describe the product. I could approach anyone that is a pet owner, and by showing them what the Smart Collar does, I think they would be interested in it. 

Assignment 21A Reading Reflection No. 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life
By Scott Adams

1. The general theme or argument of this book is that there is no one size fits all advice guide for success that will work for everyone. You're better off taking away bits and pieces of advice from others and discovering which pieces make sense and work for you.

2. In my opinion, this book relates to the ENT 3003 idea napkin assignments. Scott Adams has failed at just about anything you can imagine. When coming up with your idea napkin, you get feedback from others about it. The negative feedback can be seen as a way of failing. Negative feedback can sometimes make people think they are a failure and they just give up on whatever it is they were attempting to do. Scott explains his technique on how to move on from one failure and use that experience to better yourself as you move forward in life.

3. If I had to design an exercise based on this book I would design something similar to the first assignment we had which was the Bug List. I would have the students create a list identifying 10 failures that they have experienced in their life. Maybe 10 is too many, but there are a lot of ways to experience failure. Next, I would ask them to identify why the failure happened. Was it because they just weren't good enough at something like sports or did they consider they failed because of feedback from others or might it have been a result of peer pressure? Then I would ask them how they dealt with the failures. Did they just give up or did they try a new strategy moving forward? The purpose of this exercise would be for the students to understand that life keeps going and just because you have experienced failure it doesn't mean it's the end of the world.

4. I think my biggest surprise was how Scott describes that goals are for losers and passion is BS. He claims systems are for winners. This differs from what I was always told about how to succeed in life. I don't know how many times I've been told that unless I set goals, I'll never get anywhere. I was also told passion is what drives you to succeed. According to Scott having a system will outdo goals and passion every time. I thought this was a good book and was very funny at times. It's hard to imagine that Scott being a great cartoonist as he is with Dilbert could have failed at all the things he's pretty much tried in the past.