Week 8 Reading Reflection

I thought it was surprising that obtaining VC funding is difficult and VC firms expect very high returns, yet aren't interested in controlling the business or having say in day to day decisions. The most confusing part of the reading was in regard to "equity debentures." I'm not exactly clear on what an unsecured loan is. Although this isn't the focus of the class, I would still like clarification to better understand equity financing. If I could ask the author two questions, I would ask what the most popular type of equity financing is. Moreover, I would ask for more differences between accredited purchasers and sophisticated investors. I disagree that debt financing is not a choice, since debt securities can have less risk on average than equity investments, due to equity investments' volatility with the market.

Half-Way Reflection

1. To keep up with this course, I've had to step outside my comfort zone, something that was inevitable with the real world approaching. Moreover, I've had to work on getting assignments done earlier than I've been used to. I'm somewhat of a night owl, but since the assignments are due at the slightly inconvenient time of 9 PM, I've had to adapt my schedule.

2. The only times I've ever felt like giving up were directly related to stress imposed on me by my other classes. As a finance major, I tend to focus a little bit more of my attention on my major courses. Although the content of this course is very useful and interesting, my other upper level finance courses are geared more towards where I see myself after graduation and are a bit more rigorous. However, I've come to realize that the stress I face now is minimal compared to the stress I'll face when I start my career, and having the interpersonal skills, among others, that this class will teach me will help me to be better off and potentially ameliorate some stress down the road.

3. 3 tips I would give next semester's students would be:
    1. Get organized and put all of your assignment due dates on an iCloud calendar; this way you'll be         reminded on all devices of upcoming deadlines.
    2. Take advantage of your surroundings; if you're on campus and happen to be walking through               Turlington and have a customer interview-type assignment due, go ahead and get it done.
    3. Don't be afraid. People don't bite and awkward interviews will become easier with time.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

The most surprising part of this article was how unpredictable consumer behavior has become over the years, with regard to segmentation based on demographics. I was confused by the author's stance on phychographics because it seems like they work in some ways but still provide little useful information. I would ask the author what the best kind of segmentation is since he didn't seem to make it clear. If demographics and psychographics aren't good enough, then should marketers only explicitly look to behavior? I would also ask if he believes there is any potential bias in consumers' behaviors if they were in a simulation, being aware that they are in said simulation. I disagree that psychographics don't shed light on consumers' behavior because some behavior could be impulsive or anomalous whereas attitudes are maintained over a persons' life and shape how individuals make decisions.

Free Money

1. I will be going on and around campus.
2. I will be approaching students.
3. I cut right to the chase and offered them the free dollar.
4. Since we're offering "free money" with no strings attached, I will offer the dollar and the conversation will go based on how they react.
5. I saw something similar to this on the show Brain Games where they put a box of money in a booth and used hidden cameras to record bystanders' reactions. The recordings showed people being overly skeptical and reluctant with nearly all of them walking away empty-handed. Because of this, I don't think I'll give away all $5, but since I'll be approaching students who could typically use some extra cash I think I'll be able to give away $3 out of the $5.

I gave away $4 out of the $5. Giving a dollar away proved to be easier than I imagined. While a few people seemed skeptical, they didn't question it as much as I thought, and accepted the dollar rather quickly. The only person that did not accept the dollar was a student whose phone conversation I interrupted. They were much more interested in their conversation and annoyed that they had been interrupted to entertain the idea of free money. I assumed most students would accept the dollar because what college student would turn down free money? Moreover, I think being approached by a fellow student made things more comfortable. I think giving away free money would have been more difficult had I approached an older crowd, such as college graduates with a job/income because they would be more inclined to question why a stranger is offering them a dollar they don't necessarily "need" relative to the typical college student. Moreover, if I appeared older and more professional and approached the same students, I think I would have gotten more skeptical responses.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

One important piece of feedback I received was that it's not as comprehensive as other outside study resources. While I'm not saying StudyBuddy could replace them, I learned through my interviews that a big reason why people weren't currently using them was because their classes weren't offered. I also received feedback that it's too similar to Quizlet. However, although Quizlet offers flash cards, they can become outdated as different professors teach different semesters, and sometimes they come from the same class, but at a different university. Because of this, I made the change that StudyBuddy's subjects will be each course's code. For example, instead of "Finance" there will be resources for FIN4243 and FIN4504. This makes it so that those in introductory-level courses won't be bothered with more complicated material from upper-level courses and vice versa.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

The thing I found most interesting from the reading was that a fast-growing industry is not necessarily very profitable because normally, the fast-growing industries are the most popular to investors, which implies profitability. One thing I found confusing was the bargaining away of value through the power of suppliers. If I could ask Michael Porter two questions, I'd ask which of the five competitive forces is most influential in determining a company's long-run profitability. I'd also ask him to give more information on his classic work of strategy formation. I don't agree that eliminating competition through mergers/acquisitions can reduce profit potential because, in one given industry, the loss of competition would be absorbed as increased market share and therefore more profit.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

For my interviewing strategy, I interviewed younger, potentially  tech-savvy individuals. I asked the following questions:

1. Are you a student at UF?

2. Do you use outside study resources, like study edge or tutoring zone?

3. Do you like playing games with your friends on apps, like QuizUp?

4. If there were similar games that focused on your class's content do you think that would help you study better for exams?

5. Do you think other people would find this useful?

I asked these questions because I want to create an app that has various types of trivia games, single and multiplayer, that help students with their specific course material. What differentiates this from an app like QuizUp is that while QuizUp has general categories like "science" the categories featured on my app will be the course code of a given class, so it's that much more specific and more helpful for each individual student. 

 

What I learned is that this wouldn't be applicable to a lot of classes, such as the hands-on architecture and graphic design classes, but would be better suited for content/vocabulary heavy classes. However, for the people who could use this, it seems like something they'd definitely be interested in at least trying. After conducting these interviews, I'd like to brainstorm a way to make at least some type of study game applicable to other majors, such as architecture and graphic design. 

Idea Napkin No. 1

I'm Hayley Milam and I'm great at keeping things organized and taking notes. For nearly all of my classes, I spent so much time writing study packets, making flashcards, etc. I'd frequently share all these with my friends and peers to help them prepare for exams. I could see this business playing a role in my life because it involves sharing study materials with as many people as possible. I am offering to customers an app that has games specifically centered around their courses' content. For example, students could play trivia games against each other to help them learn vocabulary terms or other important information. This information will come from pre-existing, accessible test banks, or information that is provided by people who track and take notes on classes. This app would be free, but could have some low-cost in-app purchases. I'm offering this to UF students, especially those in larger classes, such as critical tracking courses for each school. I believe customers would be willing to pay for this service because it's a fun and easy way to study, or brush up on some topics on the bus before class. I have the focus to stay on task and take very thorough notes on various subjects and can summarize complicated concepts well.

I believe these elements fit well together, but this would not be something I'd be able to accomplish alone. I may be able to help other finance majors, but I would have to expand my pool of study materials to other majors/colleges.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

The most interesting thing from the reading was about S Corporations, since that's what type of corporate structure my family's business embodies. It was cool to learn what the provisions and qualifications for S Corporation status are. The reasons for the Bankruptcy Act were slightly confusing to me. If I could ask the author something, I'd ask what corporate structure he thinks is the best and why. I would also like to know a couple examples of B-Corporations. I don't think lack of continuity is a real disadvantage of partnerships due to the options to allow for continuous operation if one of the partners dies or leaves the partnership for another reason.