Final Reflection

As i went back over my previous assignments, I remembered many of the emotions that went into creating each post. My favorite assignments were the customer avatar and the bug list. These were more about identifying opportunities which is a vital skill for entrepreneurs. My least favorite assignments were all of the elevator pitches. Even though they were helpful in the long run, I did not look forward to having to get dressed and go video myself and upload it to youtube.

The experience from this class that I will most likely remember for years to come is the bug list. It is the first thing we did and it is the foundation for coming up with an idea for a business. I am not actually going to follow through on my business idea from this class, it was more of a practice run. So in the future i may have to complete a bug list to come up with a business idea. My most joyous and proud accomplishment was the first venture concept assignment. That was the moment I thought "Wow, I actually created a fleshed out idea for a business and it seems somewhat feasible".

I feel I have developed my entrepreneurial mindset throughout this class. I now know all of the steps necessary to fleshing out a business idea and I have practiced finding markets and creating innovative ideas. I am definitely better off as an entrepreneur than i was at the beginning of this class.

My best advice to future students is to focus really hard in the beginning to come up with a business plan that you actually want to do. I think many students see that they have to pick an idea in the next 24 hours and they come up with something that interests them but isn't realistic or something they want to do for the rest of their lives. The more time you spend crafting a business idea, the more helpful this class will be.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity


Many highschools and colleges fail to offer courses about investing. This leads students to be uncomfortable with the idea of investing in the stock market. This is a problem because investing money at a young age can have tremendous benefits. The highschools and colleges have a need to provide their students with more a more practical curriculum. If the students knew more about investing, it would benefit the students and the school. The students would be more comfortable with investing, which would make them more successful. This increased financial success would lead to more alumni donations to the school.

• The forces that have created this opportunity are economic forces. The potential upside of investing has made investing a very useful skill for all people.
• This market exists across the United States in high schools and colleges of all sorts.
• Customers (schools) are currently neglecting this need in favor of a more historical curriculum.
• This opportunity is very big because the majority of schools do not teach their students about investing.
• This window of opportunity will be open until schools begin teaching their students about investing, which will likely take decades.

Innovation

My plan to solve this issue is to create a curriculum that can be sold to both highschools and colleges. This curriculum would teach young adults how to invest their money through two different teaching methods. The first method is through an e-textbook. I would put together a panel of experienced investors and equity professors to create an up to date textbook outlining topics such as:

• What age you should be when you start investing
• How much capital you need to start investing
• What different applications and websites you can use to start investing
• How to find indicators for each stock
• What indicators you should take into account the most when choosing a stock to trade
• How risky you should be when making a portfolio
• How to determine the risk of a stock
• When to sell a stock

The second part of my curriculum would be the use of a paper trading platform. Paper trading is a method of using fake money in the real stock market. This would allow students to get real experience with investing without taking on any of the potential risks. I will make money by charging high schools and colleges $2,000 for each semester they use my curriculum. This would give their students access to the e-textbook and paper trading platform. If I got 100 schools to adopt my curriculum for 5 years, that would result in $2,000,000 in revenue.

Venture Concept

My business plan will directly address the problem at hand. If highschools buy my curriculum, students will learn how to invest at a young age. This will give them a very valuable skill heading into adulthood. If they know how to invest they will have a much higher chance of being financially stable. In addition to this, having financially stable students/alumni will benefit the schools because it will result in more donations. Highschools and colleges will want to buy this curriculum because they care about their students and they want them to be successful. It may be difficult to get schools to switch because they have taught many of the same courses for decades. However, there are no major competitors for my business it is mostly untapped. I will not have to worry much about packaging or customer service but my price point will be important. It needs to be the perfect price so that schools will buy it and I will make a profit. The only employees i would need for my business would be those I hire to create the e-textbook. I would personally go to schools and try to sell them on the curriculum.

My biggest resource is my passion about this topic. Many others are more knowledgable than me about investing but they haven't cared enough about young adults to penetrate this market. I think I am unique in this aspect and it shows in the lack of schools that teach investing to their students.

The next project for my venture would be to create an intermediate investor course that individuals could buy online. After school's adopt my curriculum there will be a drastic increase in intermediate investors. This new course would allow them to continue their journey to becoming an advanced investor.

Assuming this plan goes well, I would continue my mission to teach others about investing through a variety of methods. I would create more courses, further develop my website, and possibly make a youtube channel. This first project would give me a reputation in the industry and would give me a good basis of knowledge on how to sell.

Feedback

The feedback I received after last assignment was mostly positive. Many people have agreed that investing is a practical skill and it would be beneficial to teach students about it. The one constructive piece of feedback I got was that it would be hard to replace other subjects such as english and science, so I should consider selling directly to consumers.

I did not change much about my venture concept because the feedback was so positive. In regards to the suggestion to sell my curriculum directly to consumers, I do not agree with that path. This would be difficult because online investing courses are a very saturated market and it would be difficult for me to have success without a solid reputation.

I changed a couple little details, but the overall gist of my venture concept is the same.

My Exit Strategy

If my business ends up doing well, I intend on selling it after about 10 years. At some point I want to focus on financial advising and potentially creating my own business in that industry. Continuing to focus on maintaining my curriculum and finding schools to sell it to will consume a lot of my time. I would also like to have kids at that point so juggling this business in addition to financial advising and family life would be too much.

My exit strategy has not had much of an effect on how I've laid out my business plan. I still intend to build the best curriculum possible and go all out trying to find schools to sell it to. I have just decided that I don't think this specific business plan is something I want to dedicate the majority of my life to.

Reading Reflection Number 3

I read Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker

1. What was the general theme or argument of the book

This book is split into three sections:
1. The Practice of Innovation- He talks about the need to be constantly innovating and looking for opportunities.
2. The Practice of Entrepreneurship- He talks about the need to have entrepreneurial leadership in order for innovations to be effective in a business
3. Entrepreneurial Strategies- He talks about strategies for introducing new innovations into your business.

2. How did the book enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book enforces the fact that entrepreneurship is the driving factor behind a successful business. Even if you have an idea for an innovation you need a leader with an entrepreneurial mindset to carry out that innovation.

3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book, what would it be?

The exercise I would create would be for each student to identify an existing business and then create an innovation that would help that business. This would help students hone their ability to identify innovations in different industries.

4. What was the biggest surprise of this book?

The biggest surprise to me was that entrepreneurship and innovation should be made the main priority in your business. While these things are clearly important to continue growing as a business, I would think daily operations would be the main priority. If your business is not fulfilling its daily responsibilities, it will not be profitable and there will be no business to innovate. However, i understand what he means and entrepreneurship is vital to long term success.

Celebrating Failure

One thing I have failed with is keeping up with assignments in this class. I have missed deadlines on multiple occasions on accident. After the first time this happened i vowed that I would never let it happen again because my grade couldn't afford it. Then my girlfriend came down to visit from New Jersey and I missed another Friday deadline. This made me feel terrible because i knew i was inadvertently hurting myself. I still can manage a B in this class but i had much higher aspirations for my grade.

I learned that I need to be much more vigilant about checking when assignments are due, especially when my life is full of distractions. I also realized that sometimes these things just happen. Not everything is going to be perfect. I became more accepting of my grade is this class, because that's life.

I struggle to deal with failure at times. I usually feel upset and angry after failing, especially when there is no opportunity to redeem myself. For example, when I inadvertently missed assignments in this class I felt terrible. I realized that there is no opportunity for me to get back up to an A and that devastated me. However when I put in my best effort and I fail, I don't feel as bad because I know I gave it my all. This class has taught me that failure is a part of success.

What's Next?

Existing Market:

My business plan is to sell my investing curriculum to highschools and colleges so that young adults can learn how to invest.

Interviews:

Nick (College Student): Nick thinks my business should focus more on colleges. He thinks highschool students will be less interested in investing and highschools will be more cautious in changing their curriculum.

Ryan (College Student): Ryan thinks I should hire representatives around the country so that they can visit schools and try to sell my curriculum. He thinks this is a more efficient way of reaching every highschool and college.

Brett (College Student): Brett thinks I should focus more on highschools because the earlier I get the these students the better. 

Reflection:

After conducting these interviews I found that these ideas could be very helpful. Two of the ideas i received involved catering my business to one of the two market segments i was planning on marketing to. Since there are valid reasons for both, i will continue to pursue selling my curriculum to highschools and colleges.

I think it would be valuable to hire a group of representatives around the country to visit schools and try to sell my product. The downside of this is that I would need to train each one on how the curriculum works and then put my trust into them. This would be expensive but I believe the increased efficiency would be worth it.

New Market

Another possibility for my business would be to create an online curriculum for individuals to purchase and learn from on their own instead of selling the curriculum to schools.

Interviews:

Max (College Student): Max likes this new idea because he thinks it may be able to reach more people and I could likely make more money if I am charging per person instead of per school.

Dalton (College Student): Dalton also thinks this is a good idea. He suggests that if I go down this route, I should make the price point reasonable because individuals would not pay nearly as much as a school would. He also thinks I would need to build a reputation first because it is unlikely that somebody would spend money to learn from some random person on the internet.

Reflection:

After conducting these interviews I learned that this may actually be a feasible direction for my business to take. Instead of trying to sell schools on changing their curriculum I could sell it to individuals which would be a much easier task. The issue with this is that the market for online investing courses is pretty saturated.

I agree with Dalton that if I were to do something like this I would first need to build a reputation. I need to prove to people that my curriculum will be worth the money. 

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

Many highschools and colleges fail to offer courses about investing. This leads students to be uncomfortable with the idea of investing in the stock market. This is a problem because investing money at a young age can have tremendous benefits. The highschools and colleges have a need to provide their students with more a more practical curriculum. If the students knew more about investing, it would benefit the students and the school. The students would be more comfortable with investing, which would make them more successful. This increased financial success would lead to more alumni donations to the school.

• The forces that have created this opportunity are economic forces. The potential upside of investing has made investing a very useful skill for all people.
• This market exists across the United States in high schools and colleges of all sorts.
• Customers (schools) are currently neglecting this need in favor of a more historical curriculum.
• This opportunity is very big because the majority of schools do not teach their students about investing.
• This window of opportunity will be open until schools begin teaching their students about investing, which will likely take decades.

Innovation

My plan to solve this issue is to create a curriculum that can be sold to both highschools and colleges. This curriculum would teach young adults how to invest their money through two different teaching methods. The first method is through an e-textbook. I would put together a panel of experienced investors and equity professors to create an up to date textbook outlining topics such as:

• What age you should be when you start investing
• How much capital you need to start investing
• What different applications and websites you can use to start investing
• How to find indicators for each stock
• What indicators you should take into account the most when choosing a stock to trade
• How risky you should be when making a portfolio
• When to sell a stock

The second part of my curriculum would be the use of a paper trading platform. Paper trading is a method of using fake money in the real stock market. This would allow students to get real experience with investing without taking on any of the potential risks. I will make money by charging high schools and colleges $2,000 for each semester they use my curriculum. This would give their students access to the e-textbook and paper trading platform. If I got 100 schools to adopt my curriculum for 5 years, that would result in $2,000,000 in revenue.

Venture Concept

My business plan will directly address the problem at hand. If highschools buy my curriculum, students will learn how to invest at a young age. This will give them a very valuable skill heading into adulthood. If they know how to invest they will have a much higher chance of being financially stable. In addition to this, having financially stable students/alumni will benefit the schools because it will result in more donations. Highschools and colleges will want to buy this curriculum because they care about their students and they want them to be successful. It may be difficult to get schools to switch because they have taught many of the same courses for decades. However, there are no major competitors for my business it is mostly untapped. I will not have to worry much about packaging or customer service but my price point will be important. It needs to be the perfect price so that schools will buy it and I will make a profit. The only employees i would need for my business would be those I hire to create the e-textbook. I would personally go to schools and try to sell them on the curriculum.

My biggest resource is my passion about this topic. Many others are more knowledgable than me about investing but they haven't cared enough about young adults to penetrate this market. I think I am unique in this aspect and it shows in the lack of schools that teach investing to their students.

The next project for my venture would be to create an intermediate investor course that individuals could buy online. After school's adopt my curriculum there will be a drastic increase in intermediate investors. This new course would allow them to continue their journey to becoming an advanced investor.

Assuming this plan goes well, I would continue my mission to teach others about investing through a variety of methods. I would create more courses, further develop my website, and possibly make a youtube channel. This first project would give me a reputation in the industry and would give me a good basis of knowledge on how to sell.

My Venture's Unfair Advantage

List of resources for my venture

1. I have an education from the University of Florida

• V- This is valuable because it is one of the top ranked universities in the U.S.
• R- This is rare because the acceptance rate of UF is under 40% making it hard to get into.
• I- This could be copied by others if they are intelligent enough to get into UF.
• N- This is substitutable with any other school that is ranked higher than UF. 

2. I have over 2 years of investing experience

• V- This is valuable because it means i have a basic knowledge of the stock market.
• R- This is rare among college students because many people don't invest until they are older.
• I- This can be copied by others if they are willing to invest their own money.
• N- This isn't substitutable because investing in the stock market provides a unique experience.

3. I have my own website about investing

• V- This is valuable because it adds to my investing knowledge and ability to build social capital.
• R- This is rare because not many people own and manage their own website.
• I- This can be copied by anyone if they put in the effort to create their own website.
• N- This isn't substitutable because having a website grants unique benefits.

4. I had a short internship at BlackRock

• V- This is valuable because BlackRock is the largest Asset manager in the world so I learned a lot about finance and made great connections.
• R- This is very rare because only a select amount of people have had a similar opportunity.
• I- This is very difficult to copy because it is a hard opportunity to land.
• N- This is not substitutable because there is no better company to learn from in the asset management field.

5. I have many connections in two different states (NJ and FL)

• V- This is valuable because I have a strong network in two very different geographic locations.
• R- This is somewhat rare because it only applies to out of state students.
• I- This can be copied by anybody who chooses to attend school in a different state from where they grew up.
• N- This could be substituted by a very strong network in one location.

6.  I have a passion for investing

• V- This is valuable because it means I will love my work if it is related to investing.
• R- This is not very rare since a ton of people are passionate about this.
• I- This can be copied by anyone who has a love for investing.
• N- This cannot be substituted because passion plays a big factor in success and happiness.

7. I was a member of the Florida Wealth Management Association

• V- This is valuable because it taught me a lot about wealth management.
• R- This is rare because there were only 30 members in the FWMA.
• I- This can be copied by anybody who has an interest in joining the club.
• N- This can be substituted with any other club that teaches you about wealth management.

8. My Dad works in banking

• V- This is valuable because banking is closely related to the field I am interested in and my Dad has a lot of connections.
• R- This is somewhat rare because not the majority of people do not have an immediate family member that works in banking.
• I- This can be copied by anybody that has a parent that works in banking.
• N- This is not substitutable because a career in banking gives you unique skills and connections.

9. I live less than an hour away from New York City

• V- This is valuable because I am very close to the financial capital of the world, which has allowed me to witness and connect to people in the finance industry.
• R- This is rare because only a small portion of the U.S population lives near New York City.
• I- This can be copied by anybody willing to move to the NYC area.
• N- This can be substituted to a lesser extent by living near other large cities.

10. I care about the mission behind my business not just the money

• V- This is valuable because it means I will do whats best for the students not only what makes me the most money.
• R- This is rare because many people put money as their top priority.
• I- This can be copied by anybody who has a genuine care for their business.
• N- This is not substitutable because if you don't care about the people receiving your product, they will not be as satisfied with the product. 

I think my most important resource is my short internship at BlackRock. Not only did a learn a ton about asset management, but i made great connections that will come in handy in the future. I found that this resource was the most valuable after conducting a VRIN analysis on all 10 of my resources. It seems to be the hardest to copy or substitute.

Elevator Pitch Number 3

https://youtu.be/hphQ98RS6n0

I got mostly positive feedback from my last elevator pitch. The feedback that stood out to me was the fact that i need to project more and put more passion into some of my words.

I tried to be louder and a little less monotone in this pitch however I don't think there is a drastic difference. This is something i struggle with during presentations and I will continue to work on it in the future. I also think my hand placement/movement was a bit better in this pitch than the last one.

Reading Reflection Number 2

I read The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, by Guy Kawasaki.

1. What was the general theme or argument of this book?
Guy Kawasaki has been a social media guru for decades. He invested into many social media platforms early on and has mastered how to utilize these platforms. The three main lessons from the book include

• Treating your social media like a business
• Make content that your followers want to see, not only content that you want to make
• Let your many accounts talk to each other for cross-platform promotion

2. How did the book enhance what you've learned in ENT 3003?

Learning about social media relates back to what we have learned about building social capital in this class. Building an account on social media is a great way to broaden your network and make new connections. The larger your audience becomes, the greater your social capital becomes. On top of this it can increase your knowledge. For example if you have a social media account about investing, you will be forced to research in order to create relevant posts for your social media account

3. If you had to design an activity for this class after reading this book what would it be?

I would design an activity where everybody in the class has to create a social media account about something they are passionate about. In today's world, social media is an amazing tool for building your network. Many students would continue to build this account after the class and the ones that don't would still learn valuable lessons along the way.

4. What was the biggest surprise in this book?

One tip that really stood out to me was treating your social media like a business. Many people will treat it like a hobby which will decrease your chance of success. By treating it like a job, you will be more likely to continue working on it and improving it. This seemed like a very valuable tip.

Growing Your Social Capital

Person 1: George

George is a financial advisor who went to school at Penn State. He studied finance and is similar to me in the fact that he has always had a passion for investing.

George is my "domain expert" because he is in the exact field that I want to be in. He likely has a lot of valuable information about investing and teaching people how to smart with their money.

I found George through my Cousin Chris. I knew my cousin had a past roommate that become a financial advisor so I got George's number through him.

Our exchange took place over text message. I did not need to give him anything in return because he is close with my cousin and was happy with doing me a favor.

George will help my network because I can go to him whenever I have questions about investing or financial advising. He may be able to provide some valuable nuggets of information for my curriculum if I choose to pursue it.

Person 2: Scott

Scott has a website aimed at teaching individuals about investing just like I do. He went to college at Loyola Marymount.

Scott is my "expert" because he is targeting the same market as me. He wants to educate people on how to invest their money.

I found Scott by looking up websites focused on teaching investing and then emailing him.

Our exchange occurred through email. I mentioned that I wanted to connect with him for a college assignment and he was happy to help. He did not expect anything from me.

Scott will help my network because he is in almost the same position as me. I can ask him advice about creating a website and also what methods he uses to teach others about investing.

Person 3: Preston

Preston works for a company that has a paper trading platform. He went to school at NYU.

Preston is my "supplier" because he works for a company that is vital to the success of my curriculum. I would need a reliable website for paper trading and he can offer that.

I found Preston by searching LinkedIn for people that work at a specific company.

Our exchange took place over LinkedIn messaging. Once again he did not expect anything from me because I am just a college student at the moment.

Preston will help my network because if I were to go through with my business plan I would need connections with somebody within a company that offers paper trading.

Reflection
I found this to be a useful exercise because it showed me just how many ways you can connect with like-minded individuals. I used personal connections, Google, and LinkedIn to find these three people. In the future I will continue to use these avenues to get in touch with people that could be potentially helpful to my career. Other networking experiences I've took part in occur in person. This shows that networking over the internet can be equally as effective.

Idea Napkin #2

1. You
I am a senior finance student at the University of Florida. My talents include math, sports, and investing. I have experience as an investor using applications such as Robinhood and Betterment. I enjoy teaching people how to invest and save money. My aspirations include becoming a financial advisor and becoming my own boss. I want to have a family and I would like to live in San Diego or Charleston. If I were to focus on selling an investment curriculum to schools, I would have to put the rest of my life on hold for a while.

2. What are you offering to customers?
I am offering an investing curriculum to highschools and colleges. This will give students a better understanding of investing before they reach adulthood. My curriculum will include an electronic textbook and a paper trading course.

3. Who are you offering it to?
I am offering this product to any highschool or college that does not currently offer a course on investing. These schools all want the best for their students so they will likely be open to adding a practical course to their school system.

4. Why do they care?
These schools care because they want to set their students up for success. Additionally, by giving their students the best chance to be successful, they are indirectly helping themselves by increasing the potential for alumni donations in the future.

5. What are your core competencies?
I think I have found a great opportunity here because of how few schools offer investment courses. I also think I am a hard worker with a good base of knowledge and a passion for my product. This combination puts me in a good position to be successful.

Conclusion
I think all of the elements of my business plan work well together. The only factor that could compromise my plan is whether or not I am willing to pursue this instead of becoming a financial advisor. I am also unsure as to how willing schools will be to adopt my curriculum.

Feedback from last time
- I should offer a way to make the curriculum appeal to more people. The addition of Paper Trading was a good start on this front
- I found a good reason for schools to care about teaching investing. If students make more money after graduation, they are more likely to donate to the school.

Overall there was little negative feedback so this idea napkin is pretty similar to my first one.

Customer Avatar

My customer avatar is a 53 year old school superintendent that drives a black Acura and cares about the prestige of his/her school system. This would be the type of person that I would sell my investment curriculum to. I would envision my customers looking something like this:




He would have 2 kids of his own. His favorite show would be The Wire. He would like reading about history and presidents. His favorite politician would be either Abe Lincoln or JFK. I picture him feeling younger on the inside. He would think of himself in the kid's shoes when making decisions for his school system. He would want to learn about investing as a young adult so he will be very open to buying my curriculum for the betterment of his students.

We both have the best interests of young American students in common. I don't think this is a coincidence because his job is to take care of his students and my job would be to teach students about investing. Although our care for students has to do with our jobs, we both have a legitimate desire to help young people be successful.

Elevator Pitch Part 2

https://youtu.be/nmcFGo6WlVk

The feedback i received from last class included the possibility of adding a paper trading aspect to my investment curriculum. There was no unhelpful or silly feedback. The other feedback I received included approval of my business idea.

I incorporated this paper trading aspect and I also specified that the textbook I would be creating will be an E-book. One thing I still need to work on in my pitch is the placement of my hands, especially at the beginning.

Halfway Reflection

This course has already taught me a great deal about how to become an entrepreneur. Not only in the material I have learned but also the behaviors I have adopted. To keep up with this class, I have gotten into the habit of laying by the pool on Thursday afternoons and grinding out my assignments for the week. I have found it helps me focus and gets my creative juices flowing when I am outside surrounded by nature. I have also found myself looking for "bugs" at times in my daily life. This is a good step in becoming an entrepreneur.

I definitely felt like giving up after missing a noon deadline for the first set of peer reviews. I am used to midnight deadlines so I was devastated when i realized I had missed the assignments and therefore lost 4% of my final grade. There is no worse feeling than inadvertently missing a deadline. However instead of letting that mistake snowball I showed tenacity by making sure I didn't miss another deadline.

Three tips to next year's students:

• Do not purposely skip assignments. It is very easy to excel in this class if you keep up with all of the work. If you skip assignments you are not only building bad habits but you aren't leaving yourself room for mistakes (like missing a deadline accidentally).

• Do not overthink your ideas. The point of this class is to flesh out your thoughts, there is no right or wrong. Completely open yourself up and allow your ideas to run free.

• If you actually want to be an entrepreneur, adopt the things you learn immediately. Start making your own bug lists, writing out potential business plans, and interviewing potential customers. If you aren't willing to start practicing those things outside of class, it is unlikely that you will make it as an entrepreneur.

Reading Reflection No. 1

I read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

What surprised you the most?

I was the most surprised by the fact that Steve Jobs became a billionaire through Pixar not Apple. Steve bought 80% of Pixar shares for 5 million dollars. The company then had an IPO after the hit movie Toy Story came out and he made over a hundred million dollars. Most people assume he accumulated all of his wealth through Apple.

What do you admire the most?

I most admire Steve Jobs for his incredible work ethic. He would work tirelessly to continue building his brand and expanding his products. He also had great leadership abilities. He had a way of inspiring his team to work overtime on things such as fonts for the Macintosh computer.

What do you admire the least?

I do not admire admire Steve Jobs for his selfishness. Although his partner had a MAJOR role in Apples success, Steve Jobs gets 95% of the credit for it. Many people do not even know who who Steve Wozniak is even though he was responsible for a lot of the coding and technical work behind Apple's products.

Did he face adversity?

Steve Jobs faced adversity many times throughout his career at Apple. Aside from having multiple product failures, he was ousted from the company in 1985. After working on a few other projects he ended up back at Apple and continued to grow the company to where it is today.

What Competencies did he exhibit?

Two of Steve Job's biggest competencies were his dedication and leadership. Although some say he was demeaning at times as a leader, it proved to be successful. I do not believe he had malicious intent with his leadership, it seemed like more of tough love to continue progress on his product.

Was there a part of the book that was confusing?

I am confused as to why Steve Wozniak did not get more credit. Without his brains, Apple would have never taken off. I feel like he should have gotten more recognition for his work within Apple. 

Two Questions for Steve Jobs:

• At what age did you know you wanted to become an entrepreneur?
• If you could go back to 1980 would you do anything differently with your company?

What was his opinion on hard work?

It is clear that Steve Jobs was a big believer in working hard. Apple was basically what he lived and breathed for decades. Without his dedication, we would not be walking around with iPhones today. His work ethic is very admirable and is a good template for young entrepreneurs.  

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment
College students that want to learn about investing

Need Awareness
The three people that I interviewed said they become more aware of the need to learn about investing the older they get. When they were in high school they rarely thought about investing because their parents handles most of their finances. As they get closer to graduating college, they feel that a base knowledge of investing would be beneficial because they would feel comfortable investing their money once they get a steady stream of income. One said he realizes the need to learn about investing whenever he checks his bank account.

Information Search
The first thing the interviewees do when they become aware of their need is tell themselves they will learn about it in the future or that they will start investing soon. It is difficult for them to teach themselves a complex topic like investing with their busy college schedules. One of the interviewees said he has done some research on it but has not gotten to the point where he would be comfortable investing. He said the first thing he searched in google was "how do i start investing". None of the interviewees have asked family about this need but they have asked me about it.

This tells me that although these people are aware of their need to learn about investing before fully transitioning into adulthood, they have not been proactive in teaching themselves. A course offered in school would alleviate this need to self-teach. This segment is definitely self-aware of the need to learn about investing.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You
My name is Sean Cole. I am a finance student at the University of Florida. My talents include basketball, football, darts, video games, and managing money. I have over two years of experience with investing using tools like Betterment and Robinhood. I also have a website aimed at teaching people how to invest. My aspirations include becoming a financial advisor and being my own boss. I want a family and I want to live comfortably in either New Jersey or South Carolina. If I were to execute this business plan to sell an investing curriculum to schools, it would be a side job or I would do it before getting a job as a financial advisor.

2. What are you offering to customers?
My business plan is to create a curriculum about investing that I can sell to high schools and colleges. This would include the creation of an investing textbook with the help of experienced investors and equity professors. I would also add a paper trading aspect to the curriculum (idea courtesy of one of our fellow classmates who recommended that). This curriculum would give students a solid base of knowledge to begin investing.

3. Who are you offering it to? 
My customers for this idea would include high schools and colleges that do not currently offer investment courses. These schools have a few things in common. School's are full of students who want to learn more useful things. The combination of students wanting to learn about investing and school's tendency to take their students opinion into account creates a good opportunity for my business plan.

4. Why do they care?
High schools and colleges will care about my product because it puts their students in a better place after graduation. Aside from the fact that caring about others is the right thing to do, there is another reason why this may be enticing for educational institutions. If the school's alumni are proficient in the principles of investing it will likely lead to those alumni becoming financially stable. More financially stable alumni will result in more donations to the school so it will be beneficial for the schools to offer investment classes.

5. What are your core competencies?
Investment curriculum has been implemented in a very limited amount of schools. I am very passionate about the benefits of investing and I also have an entrepreneurial mindset. This combination puts me in a good position to pioneer this area of education, although it will not be without it's challenges.

Conclusion
I feel that most aspects of my business plan gel together well. The only doubts i have about my business plan is how willing schools will be to adopt this curriculum and when I will have time to work on this plan. If I were to focus completely on this idea I would have to push back my aspirations of becoming a financial advisor. Even if I were to do this, the success of my plan would be contingent on the openness of school's to change their course offerings.

Elevator Pitch Part 1

https://youtu.be/G6WJlmk8Aoc

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interview Conclusions:

The few high schools and colleges that do teach investing are outside of the boundary in this case. They are outside the boundary because they are already fulfilling this unmet need. These institutions are in the minority. According to those i interviewed, this need is different from basically every other need. It is closely linked to the need to save and accrue money but it is different because it involves the teaching of investing not the practice of it. The need of those outside the boundary is not the same as those inside because those outside the boundary do not have the need at all.


Inside the boundary

Who is in:
Educational institutions that do not teach investing

What the need is:
Teaching students about investing

Why the need exists:
Investing is an important part of financial stability and therefore needs to be taught

Outside the boundary

Who is not in:
Educational institutions that teach investing

What the need is not:
Not teaching students about investing

Alternative Explanations:
These educational institutions already fulfill the need because they are practical and progressive in teaching.

Solving the Problem

Problem: High schools and Colleges do not teach students enough about investing.

The solution I have come up with is to create a curriculum to sell to high schools and colleges so that they can begin to teach students about investing. The first step in creating a curriculum would be to write a textbook. I would hire a team of equity professors and investors to make a balanced textbook about investing, teaching students topics such as:

• Why investing is important
• How securities and bonds work
• How much money you need to start investing
• How to start investing (Which firms, apps, and websites are ideal for beginner/intermediate/ and advanced investors)
• What to look for when buying a stock (indicators such as volume, EPS, MACD, and RSI)
• How compound interest works
• How to invest during a recession
• What percent of your income you should invest

The textbook could be updated every 3 years to include new information about indicators and stock trading platforms. I would also create a homework plan for each chapter of the book with answer keys available online. 

If it is too difficult to get high schools and colleges to adopt this curriculum, my backup plan would be to offer the course online and partner with educational institutions so that they could endorse the class to their students.

Testing the Hypothesis

1. The opportunity I want to pursue is that Colleges and Highschools fail to teach students the importance of investing because they focus too much time on teaching other things that have less value in the real world.

2. Who: Colleges and Highschools, students
    What: They do not teach students about investing
    Why: They spend too much time teaching other subjects with less importance

3. Hypothesis: I believe that teaching students about investing will have a larger impact on their future then subjects such as foreign language and history. Although those subjects are important and have their place in the curriculum, investing is relevant for all people.

Testing the who: There are a select amount of highschools that teach financial literacy however the vast amount do not. The same could be said about colleges. All students should have the benefit of knowing about investment so they are prepared later in life.

Testing the what: High schools do not talk about equity or debt at all unless they offer a financial literacy course. Colleges offer courses about equity and debt however most of them don't go past basic definitions and concepts. It would be more helpful if they offered advice and walked students through how they could actually begin investing.

Testing the why: Educational institutions have always focused on the 4 basic subjects of learning. Math, Social Studies, English, and Science have always dominated school. These provide a well-rounded view of the world but they do not offer much real life value unless you work in one of these fields. These subjects should continue to be taught, but room should be made for more practical subjects such as investing.

4. After interviewing five people about this subject, I found that the results were very consistent. All five people agreed that there is a lack of teaching about investment in High school and College. They also agreed that educational institutions focus too much on the core 4 subjects. While these are important, there are missed opportunities to teach more useful things. Two of the five people had financial literacy class in highschool but it was only for one half of one year. It seems everybody i talked to is in agreement that this is an opportunity.

5. The interviews reinforced my beliefs about this opportunity. Investment should be a bigger topic in education as it has the power to change people's lives for the better.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Opportunities in economic trends:

I found both of these economic trends at this website- https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666

1. With global warming becoming more of an issue, natural disasters are becoming more common. Each year there are at least a few major hurricanes. These hurricanes decimate communities and end lives. I know this is an opportunity because I have seen the damage that hurricanes have done within our country. Science has shown that global warming exists and that it affects the variability of our weather. My solution would be to install a 5-10 foot waterproof retractable seawall in areas that suffer from frequent hurricanes. This seawall would possibly prevent and at least delay the influx of water that comes with a hurricane. The typical customer would be a community on the coast that has to deal with a lot of hurricanes. This solution sounds good on paper but may be a bit expensive to employ. A cheap yet sturdy material for the wall would have to be found.

I thought of this opportunity because I have seen countless horror stories in the news about communities being destroyed and lives being lost. It seems that no matter how much people prepare, they are never quite ready. I want to set up an extra wall of defense against hurricanes.


2. Another economic trend is the fact that people between age 45-75 are not retiring as early as expected. The main reason for this is the life expectancy rate is increasing which means people have to work longer to be able to support themselves throughout retirement. This is making it harder for younger people to find jobs out of college because many jobs are taken by this older population. The solution I have to this problem is to create a company that hires older workers to do cheaper and less intensive work. They can be employees of this company during their transition from full-time work to retirement. This would allow them to continue to make money while beginning to adjust into a more relaxing lifestyle. It would also open up more jobs for students coming out of college. I am still unsure of what kind of work the company would do. Customers of this opportunity would be 60-75 year olds that want to start living more comfortably while still making money. The most difficult part to this opportunity would be to come up with a meaningful purpose for the company that allows workers to work part time and still be productive.

I thought of this opportunity because I have heard a lot about people having to work later into their lives in order to fund their retirement. Not only does this negatively impact them, it negatively impacts young adults that want to begin working. This idea would help both parties.


Opportunities in regulatory trends:

I found regulatory trends at this website-
https://www.workcompwire.com/2018/11/partner-post-4-current-regulatory-trends-and-what-they-mean-for-pharmacy-management/

1. One very large regulatory trend is the legalization of marijuana. Many states are decriminalizing and legalizing medicinal and recreational marijuana. However even in areas where marijuana is becoming legal, dispensaries can be very scarce. My solution is to create an app where customers can pick different strains and have the marijuana sent to them. In the age of convenience I feel this idea would have a lot of success. Customers would be marijuana smokers that do not live near a dispensary. This opportunity would be difficult to implement because of the legality of shipping marijuana. If that barrier could be worked around, this would be successful in my opinion.

I thought of this opportunity because I know people that have medicinal marijuana cards. If no dispensaries are nearby it can be a hassle to drive all the way there.

2. Another big regulatory trend is the lack of privacy Americans are experiencing in the last few years. Many scandals related to hacking and consumer privacy have surfaced recently. The solution I have is to create a company that charges a fee for services related to privacy. The company could provide vpns for secure browsing, robot call blocking, firewalls, and other things. Although companies like this exist they are usually specialized into one of the aforementioned categories. Having a go to company for all cyber security needs would likely be a profitable enterprise. Customers for this opportunity would be any American that feels unsafe using the internet. This opportunity would not be difficult to implement because all of these services already exist.

I thought of this opportunity because I have heard a lot about cyber security and hacking. Being around the internet and computers constantly, securing your information and identity is very important.

Identifying Local Opportunities

Article 1

Title: Settlement money won’t restore Ohio city upended by opioids

Link: https://www.gainesville.com/ZZ/news/20190912/settlement-money-wont-restore-ohio-city-upended-by-opioids

Akron Ohio had a large opioid problem in 2016. 340 people overdosed and died that year from the widespread drug use. The city of Akron is set to receive a settlement from the creators of oxycontin. However, the money that Akron will receive could not possibly remedy the situation. Akron is unsure what it will do with the $3.7 million it gets from the Purdue Pharmaceuticals settlement.

The problem in this story is the widespread use of opioids. Akron was experiencing almost one death a day to hard drugs in 2016. No amount of settlement money will fix that issue, it must be prevented in the first place. This problem was experienced by all the residents in Akron. Those that weren't directly impacted still felt the aftermath within the community.

Article 2

Title: Vaping-linked lung problems surface in Florida

Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190910/vaping-linked-lung-problems-surface-in-florida

Vaping has become an epidemic in Florida and across the nation. With reports coming out that people are being hospitalized for vaping, there is now a sense of urgency around reducing and regulating their use. 450 people have become ill and 5 people have lost their lives because of vaping. Many people have begun calling the vaping problem an epidemic.

The problem in this story is that vaping has now been uncovered as a dangerous alternative to smoking. The whole purpose of vapes was that it was a healthier way to consume nicotine. Now people are addicted to vaping nationwide and it is proven to be a dangerous consumption method. This problem affects teens across America. Many people including myself are addicted to vaping which may have detrimental affects on our health. It also affects the family members of the people that vape.


Article 3

Title: High-priority violations: Alachua County restaurant inspections (Sept. 2-7)

Link: https://www.gainesville.com/photogallery/LK/20190910/NEWS/910009985/PH/1


Many restaurants in Alachua County were found to have major health violations. While some of the violations were minor, a good deal of them present real health issues to anyone that would decide to eat at one of these restaurants. Issues like the presence of rodents and improper storage of food are  unacceptable from a place that serves food to the public.

The problem in this story is that many restaurants lack the proper level of health safety. Many restaurants become lazy and let their kitchens because cesspools for germs, rodents, and unsafe food. This problem affects anybody that lives in Alachua County. Anybody that visits a restaurant like this is in danger of becoming sick.


Article 4

Title: Tomorrow is Hunger Action Day, a day to help those who go hungry

Link: https://mycbs4.com/news/local/tomorrow-is-hunger-action-day-a-day-to-help-those-who-go-hungry

50,000 people in Alachua County don't have proper access to food. Many children in Alachua County go to sleep without knowing when there next meal will be. Many people help out through donations but that is only a temporary solution.

The problem in this story is that many people in Alachua County are dealing with hunger. When tens of thousands of people are going hungry every day, there is a pretty sizable poverty issue. This affects any of these 50,000 people that have to go to sleep hungry each night.

Article 5

Title: GPD: Steady uptick in car break-ins in Gainesville

Link: https://mycbs4.com/news/local/gpd-steady-uptick-in-car-break-ins-in-gainesville

Recently, there has been a rise in car break-ins in the City of Gainesville. People have been walking through parking lots and apartment complexes checking doorhandles looking for open cars. The best and only way to prevent this is to lock your car.

The problem in this story is that people have resorted to stealing items from cars or stealing cars themselves. This is a sign of a deeper poverty issue in the City of Gainesville. This problem affects anybody in Gainesville that owns a car.

My Opportunity Belief About Investing

I believe that an unmet need is the lack of knowledge people under the age of 25 have about investing their money. This is caused by the lack of teaching about investment in high schools and colleges.

The unmet need I have found is a lack of knowledge about investing money among young adults.  This need has existed for decades but is more prevalent today then ever before because of how expensive student loans currently are. This need affects any young adult that has a savings account or plans to have a savings account in the near future. A well put together stock portfolio returns an average of 8% per year, which is much higher than the interest you receive from having a bank account. This need is being met by a very niche group. Young adults are forced to teach themselves how to invest if they are interested in it. This typically includes individuals who study finance, when in reality everybody can benefit from investing. I am 95% sure this opportunity exists. My proposed solution to this unmet need would be to sell an investing curriculum to private high schools and colleges. That way students would have an opportunity to learn about investing in school which would benefit the students while also stimulating the economy.

A prototypical customer would be a 20 year old college student that works during the summers and has a few hundred to a few thousand dollars in their bank account.

Interview 1: I talked to my friend Nick about this opportunity. Nick said that he agrees more young adults should learn about investing. Being a finance student, Nick has a good knowledge of how investments work. However, he was never taught in school how to create a portfolio. He was never taught what to look for when picking a stock to invest in. When asked how often he notices this need, he said pretty often. Nick said he realized there was need of investment teaching in high school since he was 16. He has been addressing this need by teaching himself about investing. He joined the Florida Wealth Management Association in hopes of learning what he did not learn in school. He thinks this was a good solution for him but he agrees that it would be beneficial if all students learned about investing.

Interview 2: I talked to a journalism student named Brett about this opportunity. Brett has very little knowledge about investing because he was never taught about it. He realizes often that this is an unmet need and he has the desire to learn about investing, however he has never gotten around to it. He realized around age 18 that he should learn to invest and he agrees that investing is neglected in high school and college curriculums. He has yet to address this need but he plans on doing his own research at some point.

Interview 3: I talked to my friend Ryan about this opportunity. Ryan is a general business major. He has learned about equities in class but just the basics. He has limited knowledge and no experience with investing his money. He is aware of the need for young adults to learn more about investing. He agrees that young adults would be better off down the road financially if they knew how to invest. He realized when he was 16 that learning about investing was important. He doesn't think often about his need to learn about investing though. He said it would be a good idea to have high schools and colleges teach students how to invest.

Reflection: After interviewing three people, I have learned a lot more about this opportunity. Out of the three people that I talked to, all of which are intelligent individuals, none of them have experience with investing. I also learned that many people don't even realize that learning to invest is a need because they do not know about it's potential benefits. This tells me that it is even more of a need then I originally thought. If people do not even know what investing can do for your financial security, they will never teach themselves. We need more teaching about investment in high school and college.

Summary: My original opportunity still exists after interviewing those 3 people. The one thing that changed about my original opportunity/solution is the fact that the investment curriculum should also be sold to public high schools and university's. I truly believe that all people should be more knowledgable about investing especially in their young adult lives. Investing when your young is paramount because of how compound earnings work. Investing at age 24 instead of investing at age 34 can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of realized gains that you would have otherwise missed out on. I think it is very important for entrepreneurs to change their ideas based on the feedback they receive. Although, i believe you should consult over 50 potential customers before changing your business plan. Three people is not a large enough sample size to warrant changing your ideas.

My Entrepreneurship Story

I have always looked fondly upon entrepreneurship. Ever since I could remember, the thought of creating something new and unique excited me. The thought of having no boss and no ceiling to the amount of money you could make was another aspect that drew me in to entrepreneurship. However, I didn't act on this desire to create something and monetize it until freshman year of college.

My first experience with entrepreneurship was when i decided to create my own website. I had gotten ACL reconstruction surgery during the Summer going into Sophomore year of college. I wanted to get a job but I was immobile, so I thought of a way I could be productive from home. That is when I decided to take my passion for investing and turn it into something tangible. Using the service Wix, I created a website aimed at educating beginners on the topic of investing. After designing the website and picking the color scheme, I began to post articles about investing. Some examples of articles I wrote include "The Importance of Investing Early" and "Building Your Investment Knowledge".  My grand plan was to monetize the website through Google Adsense which is when I hit a roadblock. My website had to meet specific criteria to be eligible for Google Adsense, which it did not fulfill. Instead of changing my website to meet the requirements, my focus was drawn away from the website. Since then, I have made a couple more posts on the website but that original fire I had about the idea has dissipated. I would like to eventually get back into building the website, as I am still passionate about investing.

If you would like to visit my website, the address is www.invest-a-bit.com. Here is a picture of the front page.




I am very glad I enrolled in Principles of Entrepreneurship as there are many things I wish to learn. One of the main things I want to learn more about is how entrepreneurs stay motivated and stick with one idea. With the amount of effort that goes into bringing an idea to fruition, how do you know it will be worth the time. That doubt is part of what held me back from going all in on invest-a-bit.

Another thing I want to learn more about is how to come across more ideas. The bug list assignment provided a great basis of information on that topic but is there anything else that will facilitate the creation of worthwhile ideas?

I am very excited to learn more about these topics.

Bug List

Here is a list of things that bug me and what causes these problems to exist.

1. When my laptop dies and I am not near an outlet

-This problem exists because electronics need a power source and battery life is not infinite

2. When I have to wait at a traffic light for more than 3 minutes

-This problem exists because a lot of people commute to work and school. Also traffic lights must keep the flow of traffic going in all directions which can result in long waits.

3. When a shower head has low water pressure

-This problem exists because of subpar plumbing/piping.

4. When I have to drive my scooter in the rain

-This problem exists because there is no way to regulate the weather and a scooter is my only mode of transportation.

5. When there is a bug in my bedroom

-This problem exists because bugs are a part of nature and can make their way to any area, no matter how remote.

6. When my clothes are still damp after going through the dryer

-This problem exists because airflow into the dryer is poor or the dryer is overfilled.

7. When I have to wait at the DMV for multiple hours

-This problem exists because the DMV constantly has a high volume of people waiting for service.

8. When people do not tip waiters/waitresses

-This problem exists because of greed or a lack of empathy.

9. When drinks and food cost 4x what they are worth (sporting events/movies)

-This problem exists because the demand for food and drink is very high at these venues and there are no alternatives.

10. When one of my flights get delayed

-This problem exists due to plane maintenance and the unpredictability of weather.

11. When my feet get burned on hot cement or pavement

-This problem exists because materials like asphalt and cement get hot very quickly.

12. When my alarm does not go off in the morning

-This problem exists because of a faulty phone or because i forgot to set the alarm.

13. When a water fountain shoots out warm water 

-This problem exists because of a poor water cooling system or a suspect water supply.

14. When a new pair of shoes gets dirty within the first week

-This problem exists because shoes are made out of perishable materials that are prone to getting dirty.

15. When somebody at the beach is blasting music in a crowded area

-This problem exists because most beaches do not have rules about playing music.

16. When I have to wait in a long security line at the airport

-This problem exists because the U.S. takes national security very seriously.

17. When people leave negative comments on Youtube videos or Instagram posts

-This problem exists because of poor regulation on these sites and a lack of human empathy.

18. When all the machines I want to use at the gym are in use

-This problem exists because a lot of people use the gym and it is more prevalent in smaller gyms.

19. When I have to get out of bed to turn off the lights before sleep

-This problem exists because lights need human input (flipping of a light switch) to turn on or off.

20. When a towel is still wet from a previous shower

-This problem exists because the towel is hanging in a humid room with poor air circulation.

I found this exercise to be difficult but very useful for getting into an entrepreneurial mindset. I can imagine how this type of thinking could lead to ground breaking ideas and inventions. It was difficult because I had to think about myself in a variety of environments to come up with all 20 bugs. One thing I did notice is that a lot of my bugs could be attributed to the weather or overpopulation. While these problems may be improved by inventions, the root problem is unavoidable and may get worse with global warming and a rising population. I also realized that some of my bugs already have been addressed. For example there are portable chargers for laptops and there are inventions like the clapper which eliminates the need to get out of bed to turn off the lights. However they are still bugs for me because the cost or purchasing these things is not worth the benefit. Overall this was a very eye-opening and valuable exercise.

Test Post

My name is Sean Cole. I will be posting here about my experiences with entrepreneurship.