Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

My group of customers with unmet or under-met needs is UF students who are pursuing a business or accounting major, or a business minor. Over time, depending how successful my business idea is, I’d like to expand my opportunity to include other UF students pursuing different majors in the other colleges. The market is somewhat undefined geographically, and typically defined demographically by students aged 18-22. While most users would be located in Gainesville during the fall and spring semesters, there are students that go abroad or take classes online over the summer from other locations.

My market’s needs are both unmet and under-met, depending on how much coursework a student has completed. Students enrolled in prerequisite courses, such as Principles of Marketing, Principles of Management, and Intro to Financial Accounting have their needs under-met, while students taking major courses, such as Equity and Capital Markets or Consumer Behavior have unmet needs. Study Edge and Smokin’ Notes are good for learning the material, but Study Edge focuses more on the mathematical portions of the classes they offer. The conceptual portion of the curriculum that is still tested on isn’t touched on very much during the review sessions, leaving opportunity to better meet this need. Moreover, Smokin’ Notes are useful for understanding the material since they present it in laymen’s terms. However, they’re very lengthy and therefore not as useful for memorizing key terms and concepts because of the time it takes to find a particular term or topic amongst their 90+ pages. Although students are loyal to these programs, not all of their classes are offered by them, leaving a huge opportunity to fulfill a completely unmet need.

Innovation

I am providing a service in the form of an application where students can play various study games, single-player or with their classmates, with content specific to their professors’ curriculums. These games include trivia (similar to the format of QuizUp), Jeopardy, mix & match games (rearranging things to put them in the right place; good for accounting, equations/ratios, graphs/charts, and pneumonics), and crossword puzzles. Students can play against their friends by sending each other special links to their games, or they can be matched up randomly with another student using the app.

The app will be free to download, but access to the app’s content will be available for a $9.99 annual fee. This fee will include 25 free tokens. Moreover the app will feature in-app purchases, namely tokens. Single-player games and random match-ups will cost 5 tokens each, but not games against friends. When students play these games, they’ll earn tokens for the questions they get right, which can then be used to purchase single-player or random match-up rounds. Because students would most likely want to avoid using up tokens, they might invite their friends to play first, who would have to pay the $9.99 fee. Moreover, when tokens are used up students will be willing to pay for more because they’ll be inexpensive, and students may really need the extra review.

Venture Concept

My innovation will address the opportunity identified by providing students with quick, fun study games to promote memorization of key terms and concepts, equations, charts and graphs, etc. This service alone isn’t provided to students through Study Edge or Smokin’ Notes. Moreover, my service will provide material for all UF business courses, rather than just the ones with large enrollments. Customers will purchase this because it’s affordable, compared to the $200+ other resources cost per semester. This is especially important for students that are paying their way through school or have to worry about various other expenses, like rent, and can’t afford Study Edge or Tutoring Zone memberships. Moreover, it’s a great and entertaining way to review and help process information after learning a hefty amount of material, and it promotes memorization.

My competitors are technically the popular study resources, like Study Edge, Tutoring Zone, and Smokin’ Notes. Their biggest vulnerability is that they only offer review material for the very large classes. However, my intention isn’t necessarily for students to cancel their Study Edge/TZ memberships and to stop buying Smokin’ Notes; my service is supposed to be a supplement to these resources. The reason being, that these services teach students the material, and my service helps them apply what they were taught so it sinks in better.

My venture would require a team with the IT skills to create an app and be able to update and make changes regularly. Moreover, I’d need around 15 employees (subject to change) to and take notes on professors’ lecture slides and the class textbook(s), and be able to update them regularly; keeping in mind each employee could be responsible for more than one class.

Three Minor Elements

1.    I have a large market with a potentially high level of demand, very competitive pricing, and the networking capabilities to spread the word.

2.    The next step for my venture would be to expand to the courses of the other majors and colleges, and perhaps even move on to graduate-level courses.

3.    In all honesty, in the future I could see this as maybe being a side-gig since I’m in school to study finance, and information systems and operations management. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t really coincide with my vision, which is having a desk job and job security (riveting, I know).

Week 11 Reading Reflection

What I found interesting from the article was the idea of business model innovation. While it seems very logical and important, it's not typically what most people think of when they hear "innovation." To me, innovation was something like adding sensors to your car to let you know when another vehicle is in your blind spot. I'm not entirely sure why "centralizing R&D" is a good strategy or how it led to Corning's success. If I could ask the author two things I'd ask if centralizing R&D would be a smart move for most companies, despite the need for company-tailored innovation strategies. I would also ask, if invested in properly, which type of innovation could yield the best results. The author states only senior leaders can make choices that are best for the whole company because each function will naturally want to serve its own interests. While I agree big decisions should be left to senior staff, and acknowledge they're at the top of the company for a reason, I disagree with the reasoning for this belief. I'd think that the functions would want to work with synergy and make the company as profitable as possible, not out-perform another function at the expense of the company's overall success.

Amazon Whisperer

1. Revenue drivers are the flat annual fee of $9.99 per student. Students can earn points playing against their friends, and those points can be used to play single-player, or against other "random" students in their class. If a student doesn't have enough points, they can be purchased. For students in online classes where they don't know other students in the class, this could be a huge revenue driver. Moreover, given the size of these classes, the rate of $9.99 is reasonable, especially since it's a relatively small annual fee (compared to CourseHero at $100/year).

2. Since I'm starting with business classes, the next thing students would want would be classes outside of the business schools. Current customers would want this for their gen-eds or for their other major courses if they're pursuing the business minor. If my business were to grow enough, we could even expand to some graduate-level courses. Moreover, the app could introduce an algorithm to pinpoint what students' collective weaknesses are and alert our team to provide more material and trivia questions on those topics.

3. This will enhance the service I'm offering by appealing to even more students. It will improve users' experiences by giving them a thorough, entertaining study service for as many of their classes as possible. As a result it might give them more for the annual fee they pay and foster customer loyalty. Moreover, by identifying collective weaknesses, the app's content will pander to the needs of the majority of its users and improve overall student performance in their courses.

4. Amazon has an app called StudyStack that allows students to make their own flashcards and the app creates games like crossword puzzles, hangman, etc. out of the information they provided.

5. There's only one customer review. The customer liked that it provided different games to study with, but did not like the app's look. 

6. I'd change this product by making it more aesthetically appealing, with better graphics and smoother transitions. My app doesn't make the student put in their own information, but I'd like to include a feature where students could create their own flashcards for their personal use and submit them for approval to be used app-wide.

7. I think this product would make a good addition to my current service offering because of its ability to take submitted material and convert it into different study games instead of just presenting it as digital flashcards. 

My Unfair Advantage

1. Attention to details
Valuable: it contributes to the quality of the app's content
Rare: most people rely on pre-made outlines and don't pay as close attention to their book/lectures
Inimitable: it would be time consuming for others to copy
Non-substitutable: While Smokin' Notes provides this, their medium is much more time consuming and boring

2. Knowledge of general business courses
Valuable: contributes to the quality of content
Rare: some people just take classes to pass, not to understand content in depth
Inimitable: it would require the amount of work I put into my classes to copy
Non-substitutable: Smokin' Notes does a great job of giving students an understanding of key concepts, but is inconvenient for brushing up or studying quickly

3. Location
Valuable: being on a college campus where these classes take place makes it more relevant
Rare: Not super rare, but I'm better off than someone stationed in a different college town
Inimitable: Only another UF student with this idea could imitate this
Non-substitutable: you can't really substitute the location for somewhere else

4. Accessibility
Valuable: easy access makes it more available and appealing
Rare: there are tons of apps, but none like this one
Inimitable: Study Edge or Smokin' Notes could release an app like this (but they haven't)
Non-substitutable: while local tutoring services usually require frequent visits to their locations, this app doesn't confine users to a location

5. Widespread demand
Valuable: tons of students in the business school would like this app
Rare: --
Inimitable: --
Non-substitutable: --
**not a resource that can be "supplied" or "copied"

6. Networking opportunities (sorority, student groups)
Valuable: helps get the word out
Rare: not rare, but it doesn't need to be
Inimitable: --
Non-substitutable: --
**In this case, the more "available" this resource is, the better my networking opportunities

7. Notes to convert into the app's content
Valuable: Already have some means towards making my app real
Rare: while there are outlines out there, my notes are more succinct
Inimitable: pretty imitable
Non-substitutable: pretty substitutable

8. Specificity
Valuable: differentiates me from things like Quizlet
Rare: pretty rare; things like CourseHero and StudyBlue are somewhat unorganized and can be expensive
Inimitable: somewhat imitable
Non-substitutable: Smokin' Notes or Study Edge could provide this

9. My cousin's an app developer
Valuable: vital in making my app real
Rare: most people don't have family members with these skills
Inimitable: very hard to imitate
Non-substitutable: other resources could provide this service, but probably for a high cost

10. Ability to finance
Valuable: important to making my app real
Rare: not rare
Inimitable: very imitable
Non-substitutable: very substitutable

I think accessibility is my best resource, because it differentiates my idea from things like Smokin' Notes, which aren't available on a phone or other device. Moreover, it makes networking easier (people can easily just download a free app).

Week 10 Reading Reflection

I thought it was surprising that start-up companies have issues with delays in their accounts receivables, especially when large companies usually offer discounts for early payments, such as 2/10/n30. Despite being a finance major, I still tend to get confused between the different types of activities (investment, financing, operating), though the author explained them well. If I could ask the author two questions, I would ask for a special way to remember which activities are which. Moreover, I would ask how much liabilities tend to be compared to stockholders' equity as a portion of a start-up company's assets. I did very well in my basic accounting and finance courses, and given the nature of this chapter there's nothing I really disagree with the author on here.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

The feedback I received was predominantly positive, the students commenting really seemed to like my idea and how I clarified how it is different from another popular site, Quizlet.

This time I tried to have the camera in a better place than last time so the video quality (or lack thereof) wasn't distracting. I also tried to be more fluent in my speech and sound less nervous. Moreover, I tried to show students what it would be like to use StuddyBuddy, rather than just tell them what it's about.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

I was surprised by the fact that entrepreneurs tend to not use marketing research due to cost and the notion that data could be mostly irrelevant. I could understand the costliness of conducting such research, but was also surprised to read that it can be inexpensive. I was a little confused by the explanation of the visible nature of pricing. If I could ask the author two questions, I'd ask why many ventures do not adopt a a consumer-driven orientation, despite its effectiveness. I would also ask which type of innovative market research tactic yields the best results. Of the survey research techniques, I find it hard to believe that door-to-door personal interviews with customers are the most costly, especially being compared to other methods that could require more money to fund, such as Internet surveys.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. I'm a finance major, hoping to pursue a career in business analysis. I have exceptional organizational and note-taking skills. I'm good at knowing what's important from what's more tedious and I'm good at listening and interpreting what I read. This business would play a huge role in my life, since I would also greatly benefit from it.

2. I'm offering an app that lets students study with their their classmates through the availability of trivia games. With the ability to partner up with an outside organization that provides high-quality notes for a variety of classes, the material will be specific to classes, instead of broad subjects. This makes studying easier, and more fun. It can also be used to just brush up on some key concepts before class or while waiting for the bus, etc.

3. I'm offering this to UF students enrolled in the courses for which content is offered.

4. Studying, especially terms and concepts, can be very monotonous and without the material provided through the app, students may not have thorough enough notes to study from. With StuddyBuddy, students can study with each other, have a better time studying, and have better, more thorough material to study from.

5. What sets me apart from others is my patience, diligence, and attention to detail, along with my strong work ethic that allows me to work for long periods of time.

I think these aspects all work together nicely. Without my work ethic, I wouldn't be able to help develop my idea and make it a reality. Moreover, I'm offering something that not only benefits me, but would also benefit many other fellow students. Because I'm appealing to a somewhat homogeneous audience, it'll be easier to meet most of their demands.

5 Points of Feedback
1. Could take a few semesters to develop
2. Would have to reach out to professional note-taker
3. Would be difficult to cover every class offered at UF
4. Students might be willing to pay a per-semester or lifetime membership fee
5. Start with a small group of classes

Because of the time it would take to develop and the scope of course material, it would probably be best to start small, with only business classes, since I could provide some of my own notes to help get that started. Depending on how it goes, I could reach out to more skilled notetakers, and perhaps collaborate with a company such as Smokin' Notes to have higher quality material for a greater range of courses. Because of this, and because of the feedback expressing a students' willingness to pay, I could charge a small fee to cover the cost of outside help.