Elevator Pitch No. 4

I have always gotten good feedback in my elevator pitches so for the last elevator pitch, like in my other pitches, I did not change much. Some people pointed a few things which are the things that I changed, but they are mostly presentation related and not related to the pitch itself. I dress up for this pitch and try to get a steady shot while it being nicely lit, unlike my other elevator pitches. I also added the price of my product which I did not have on my other pitches. I also expanded the places in which I was going to sell my product so I changed that in my pitch. Other than those changes my pitch is the same as before. I hope you enjoy the last elevator pitch:

Final Reflection

      After going back all the posts and everything I did for this class, I have to say that the experience that I will always remember is the time that we had to give free money to people. I will always remember how doubtful people look and untrustworthy. Especially when there is a camera around, they think it is a prank or something and because they are that way they lost the opportunity to get a free dollar. My most joyous experience was "My Secret Sauce" since I heard what the people closest to me think about me and that made me happy. It made glad that I surrounded myself with awesome people. The experience I am most proud of has to be the creation of the business we had to do. Even though I did not put as much time as I could have put into it, I think I did a great job with it and I am proud with the end product, and it also thought me a lot and that is why I am the most proud of that experience.

       "Entrepreneurs don't wait. They act. And they don't quit. Entrepreneurs fail. A lot. But in this forge of failure, entrepreneurs sharpen their edge, ready to face the future. Entrepreneurs thirst for negative feedback. Too much praise leads to complacency, while criticism provided clues to improve. Entrepreneurs work harder. To pursue their own lives. To improve the world around them. To build a better future for themselves, their families, and communities. I am an entrepreneur." This is the mantra that started everything and it is what will keep me going as an entrepreneur. After doing everything we did in this course I do feel like I have become an entrepreneur and I will always be an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur not only means to be a business owner but I has a whole new meaning now and whatever I do in life I will always be an entrepreneur.

       For future students who down this path I do recommend to do their best. To learn from everything, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. I recommend that they do their assignments ahead to be able to do their best and to not end up with a big load of work at last minute. Enjoy the class and keep in mind that you are an entrepreneur.

Week 15 Reading Reflection

  What surprised me the most of this week's reading was honestly the whole reading. The story of the extortion and the then the spread of false rumors against her company. And then how her company help other people. And how she had no money or investors when she started the company but still was extremely successful. It was a great read.

I was not confused about anything in the reading, I was just hooked and enjoyed reading it.

The two questions I have for the author are:
1. If there was anything different she could have done beginning her business, what would it be?
2. Is it better to set up customer loyalty even if it makes a small loss of profit than to just not take the customer?

I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this week's reading

Week 14 Reading Reflection

In this week's reading the thing that I found to be the most surprising is corporate entrepreneurship. I never really thought corporations to be entrepreneurial. I was thought of entrepreneurship to small business or new business.

I didn't really find anything confusing in this week's chapter.

The two questions I would ask the author are;
1. How easily do large corporations, that have been doing the same thing for years, accept change like corporate entrepreneurship?
2. What are some repercussions to NATA?

I did not think the author was wrong about anything in this week's reading.

Venture Concept No. 2

OPPORTUNITY:

              I found an opportunity in the area of skateboards. The opportunity that I found, after overhearing someone complain about it, is that people who use boards to get around do not like to carry their boards with them whenever they are not using them. I find myself in that same boat as those people, because I do not take my board to class because of having to carry it. I asked both friends and strangers and they both agreed that something to carry their boards on their backs would make their lives easier when taking their boards places, and some even said that they would probably use their boards more. The customers that meet this need is anyone that uses a board and uses a backpack on a daily basis. This description fits mostly to high schoolers and college students but the potential customer could be virtually anyone in any part of the world. As more people, college students, realize the difficulty to get cheap and easy transportation in a college campus they also realize that using a board is both cheap and easy to transport in. It is efficient and you go faster than walking, you also don’t have to worry about parking with it and it is small compared to a bike, making it the best way to transport oneself in a college campus. These changes create the opportunity that I found. As I was saying before this opportunity has no definition geographically or demographically since it is targeted mostly to college students that use any type of board, and you can find college students with that need anywhere in the world. Some customers satisfy this need by buying a backpack that already has straps included to carry your skateboard, and they are mostly loyal to this backpack. I believe that the window for this opportunity will stay open for a while considering how long it has been open. This a great opportunity which a few skateboarding companies have tried to tackle too so I would have some competition.

INNOVATION:

              My innovation that came for the opportunity described above is an adjustable strap that hooks onto any backpack, which allows the user to carry any type of board, whether the board is a skateboard, a longboard, or a pennyboard. My product is both simple and innovative since it allows the users to carry any board and keep using their favorite backpack, therefore not adding extra expense for a backpack you don’t need. The strap is made of fabric and it has to hooks on each end, which is where you connect them to the backpack. The strap then separates in two in the middle and that’s where you would put your board which then you would tighten the strap and therefore hold the board on your backpack. The board would be vertically attached to your backpack and it will be tightly secured that way it does not hit your legs as you walk from place to place. The best way to strap the board would be with the wheels of the board facing away from you but you could do it the other way around too. The strap wouldn’t be hard nor expensive to produce, the materials for it wouldn’t be expensive to gather either. So I would be selling my product on stores that sell any type of board and they would be selling around $5 - $10. This innovation can easily expand to being more than just straps for boards. With a little of creativity this business could expand to make straps for the things that people do not want to carry that do not fit in a backpack.

VENTURE CONCEPT:

            The innovation I described above will solve the opportunity by allowing people who use boards and that don’t want to carry them with theirs hands by giving them the choice to carry them on their backpacks with straps that hook onto one’s backpack. Customers will buy my innovation because it facilitates their life and allows them to do carry their board on their backpacks freeing their hands. I believe that customers would switch to this product because it is cheap, they don’t have to buy a new backpack so they can keep using their favorite backpack and they can carry any type of board without any problems. I don’t think it will be hard for customers to switch to my product since the other products that exist in the market are straps that have backpacks attached to them, without being able to remove those straps, so my product will allow them to use any backpack they want to carry their boards and not only the one with the straps. The competitors are the business that create the backpacks with the straps already on them, and I think that in itself is already a weakness, since people want to use the backpacks they already have and don’t want to spend more money to buy a new backpack. I think that price point plays a huge part in defining my business concept since my product is both simple and cheap, that way appealing more to the customers than my competitors

             I believe what will make competitors to copy my success is my adaptability and open mind and my also my products adaptability. I think that with my open mind and adaptability, I will be able to take feedback easily and constructively and keep improving my product as it goes and I will also be able to improve my business. And as I improve my business I can keep going to create the next product. As I was reading some of the comments on my elevator pitches, a person suggested to create straps or something to carry textbooks, and I liked that idea. I think my next product would be to create like an expansion to small backpacks that something can’t fit big textbooks, so that way the customers doesn’t have to carry the textbooks every time they go to class or a library or something. And if this all works and it is successful, I actually don’t think I see myself working with this venture in five years. If it’s successful, I would most likely sell it and create another venture. And that’s where I see myself in the next decade, with a few ventures sold and with enough money to follow my own personal dream.

            Most of the feedback I receive was good. A lot of people like my idea, even if they have never skateboared or used any type of board before in their life, and they think it could be very successful. A few said that since it was simple it could be easily modified to fit any of the customer’s needs.  A few comments did question a few things of my product that I have not thought about before. About how the board would hang on a backpack and what material the strap would be made of. Since I received a lot of good feedback and very little bad feedback I did not change my venture concept that much. I added a few things to clarify my idea and added a few new things to the idea itself. But overall I did not change almost anything, because of all the good feedback that I received.

Google Gold

    My general approach and strategy that I used for search engine optimization (SEO) is that I put my URL for my blog in every comment that I wrote for other blogs. This allows my blog to be optimized by search engines like Google or Bing. Hopefully reaching the first page of Google search when searching for my blog or in the first few pages. This searches are found by keyword that are used in the blog and then searched for. I did not have any particular set of keywords that I used in this blog to optimize the searches. I never really thought about it until now but I guess the keywords that I keep using that help search optimization are "journey", "boards", "straps", and "business". I did not use any social media to to enhance the search engine optimization although I think that using social media would improve the search engine optimization greatly since social media is used everywhere all the time.

   My most viral post was my second elevator pitch, "Elevator Pitch No. 2". It got a total of 21 views minus 2 views that were viewed by me. It was the post that got the most comments with a total of 5 comments. I do not really know why I got so much traffic on this post than I did with the other posts which averaged in in 9 views per page. Unfortunately I did not make it to the first page of Google using my keywords and I got bored of going through the pages, but I did not make it in the first 10 pages of Google. But now that I know better about SEO, I can be more successful for future blogs or websites that I create.

Very Short Interview With Customer, Part 2

My impression from the first interview I had with Wendy was that she was right about almost everything she told me. And now I understand the answers that she gave me and why she gave me those answers. She focused mostly on the risk factor on being an entrepreneur. So you can say that she mentally prepared me for taking risks which happened a lot in this class.

So the entrepreneur I interviewed last time and this time is my Guatemalan best friend's mom and her name is Wendy Cifuentes. These are the questions and answers from the second interview:

1. Q: What was the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?

    A: The beginning is always the hardest part. When you start a business, it usually takes a while before you start to get back what you put in. So in the first few months, or maybe years, you barely make any money. That beginning part might have been the hardest but there were a few times where I needed to change my business and that also took a toll. So I guess the hardest part is when you are not making any money.

2. Q: Did you ever fail and had to start form scratch?

    A: I did fail a few times in the past but luckily never had to start from scratch again. I only really started one business, which is the one I have right now, and I have had to change every so often, but stuck to the basic idea. So I guess I have never had to start from scratch all over again.

3. Q: If you could do anything you could, would you still be an entrepreneur?

    A: Yes, definitely. Being an entrepreneur gives me the freedom to attend to my kids' events and help them whenever I need. It has also keep my well financially, with a few dips along the way.

(These might not be the exact answers since they were translated from Spanish into English.)

It was easier to talk about entrepreneurship this time around. I was able to ask more personal questions and found it as we were just talking from one entrepreneur to another, instead from it being and interview between a student and an entrepreneur. She did remark about how much more confident I sound and how I could make connections with her better than before.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

After reading this week's reading I have to say that the thing that surprised me the most was the difficulty and how complicated the valuation process was.

One thing that confused was the relationship between buyer and seller. How the buyer thinks a seller's business is less but the seller thinks his business is more. It can't always be that extreme. I wonder if it's ever viewed in a less extreme view.

The two questions I have for the author are:
1. How can the relationship between buyer and seller be improve?
2. Is it possible for the buyers to avoid all the start-up costs?

I do not disagree with anything in particular in this week's reading.

Celebrating Failure

I have failed many times in this past semester. Although I can't think of something in which I have failed multiple times (unless its a video game). I am a quick learner and tend to fix my mistakes and make my failures into lessons, where I know what not to do in the future again, pretty quickly. But one specific time I failed this semester was when I slacked for a class and then tried learning everything for an exam the day before. I failed the exam and I failed myself but I do not cry for spilled milk. I made that failure into a lesson and now I am keeping up with my class and every class, so I do not repeat that mistake. Failure is a lesson and that is why people should not worry about failing anything in life. You should not be stressed, enjoy life and learn from it but not pout and complain, and don't back down. Keep trying, even if you fail a million times because where there is a will there is a way.

My Exit Strategy

The exit strategy that I intend to take for my business is to sell it in the next five years for a large return. I decided to take this exit strategy so that I can create other ventures through out my life and then make more. I think this would be the strategy I will take for most of my ventures, since I believe it is the plan that will make the most money of all, unless the venture becomes extremely successful. I think that my decision on my exit strategy hasn't influenced my other decisions that I have made for my concept. I think this to be true since I never really thought of an exit strategy until this very moment, so the decisions I previously made wouldn't be affected by the decision I made today. Although I can't say that my decision on the exit strategy I made today will not have influence on future decisions that I make for my concept, or any future changes.

Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity that I found is that people that use skateboards or any type of board, a lot of times, did not like to carry their boards on their hands when walking to one place to another without using their board. I asked both friends and strangers and they both agreed that something to carry their boards on their backs would make their lives easier when taking their boards places, and some even said that they would probably use their boards more. The customers that meet this need is anyone that uses a board and uses a backpack on a daily basis. This description fits mostly to high schoolers and college students but the potential customer could be virtually anyone in any part of the world. As more people, college students, realize the difficulty to get cheap and easy transportation in a college campus they also realize that using a board is both cheap and easy to transport in. It is efficient and you go faster than walking, you also don’t have to worry about parking with it and it is small compared to a bike, making it the best way to transport oneself in a college campus. These changes create the opportunity that I found. As I was saying before this opportunity has no definition geographically or demographically since it is targeted mostly to college students that use any type of board, and you can find college students with that need anywhere in the world. Some customers satisfy this need by buying a backpack that already has straps included to carry your skateboard, and they are mostly loyal to this backpack. I believe that the window for this opportunity will stay open for a while considering how long it has been open.

              My innovation that came for the opportunity described above is an adjustable strap that hooks onto any backpack, which allows the user to carry any type of board, whether the board is a skateboard, a longboard, or a pennyboard. My product is both simple and innovative since it allows the users to carry any board and keep using their favorite backpack, therefore not adding extra expense for a backpack you don’t need. The strap is made of fabric and it has to hooks on each end, which is where you connect them to the backpack. The strap then separates in two in the middle and that’s where you would put your board which then you would tighten the strap and therefore hold the board on your backpack. The strap wouldn’t be hard nor expensive to produce, the materials for it wouldn’t be expensive to gather either. So I would be selling my product on stores that sell any type of board and they would be selling around $5 - $10. I also believe that I could expand my product and produce straps to hold other things and maybe create backpack expansions.

              The innovation I described above will solve the opportunity by allowing people who use boards and that don’t want to carry them with theirs hands by giving them the choice to carry them on their backpacks with straps that hook onto one’s backpack. Customers will buy my innovation because it facilitates their life and allows them to do carry their board on their backpacks freeing their hands. I believe that customers would switch to this product because it is cheap, they don’t have to buy a new backpack so they can keep using their favorite backpack and they can carry any type of board without any problems. I don’t think it will be hard for customers to switch to my product since the other products that exist in the market are straps that have backpacks attached to them, without being able to remove those straps, so my product will allow them to use any backpack they want to carry their boards and not only the one with the straps. The competitors are the business that create the backpacks with the straps already on them, and I think that in itself is already a weakness, since people want to use the backpacks they already have and don’t want to spend more money to buy a new backpack. I think that price point plays a huge part in defining my business concept since my product is both simple and cheap, that way appealing more to the customers than my competitors.

              I believe what will make competitors to copy my success is my adaptability and open mind and my also my products adaptability. I think that with my open mind and adaptability, I will be able to take feedback easily and constructively and keep improving my product as it goes and I will also be able to improve my business. And as I improve my business I can keep going to create the next product. As I was reading some of the comments on my elevator pitches, a person suggested to create straps or something to carry textbooks, and I liked that idea. I think my next product would be to create like an expansion to small backpacks that something can’t fit big textbooks, so that way the customers doesn’t have to carry the textbooks every time they go to class or a library or something. And if this all works and it is successful, I actually don’t think I see myself working with this venture in five years. If it’s successful, I would most likely sell it and create another venture. And that’s where I see myself in the next decade, with a few ventures sold and with enough money to follow my own personal dream.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

After reading this week's reading I found most surprising was the main that the author talks about and that is the innovation strategy. Most people, me included, don't think innovation really need a strategy and so they don't come up with an innovation strategy, which leads to failure in their innovation.

A thing that I found confusing of the reading was that the different types of innovation that there are, I always thought it was just innovation and I don't I really don't understand the differences.

The two questions I would ask the author would be:
1. How much of a difference does it have to have a very good innovation strategy to a not so well strategy to not having a strategy at all?
2. How do you see innovation evolving in the future?

I didn't disagree with anything the author had to say and I think he was right about everything.

The Amazon Whisperer

Since my business concept currently only sells one product my revenue drivers are the sales on the product I have and that is about it. Since my product is a strap to carry like longboards, or skateboards, or other type of boards on your backpack, I think what my customers would want are straps designed to carry different things on your backpack, for example a strap to carry a sleeping bag for those who love camping, a strap to carry a helmet for the bikers and many more. I could also make various backpack attachments that can be attachable to virtually any backpack. It will enhance product offering because I could attract many more customers for all sorts of things, and increase customer loyalty because of the quality and price of the straps, and that way they don't have to buy unnecessary products that cost a lot. 

Similar Product from Amazon

After a few minutes searching amazon I found a few products that are kinda similar to mine. It is a backpack that already includes straps to carry boards on it. The difference between that product and mine is that mine, is just the strap and you don't have to buy a new backpack. This backpack has very good reviews but in the few reviews that I found where people said stuff that they dislike of the product is that it can't hold every size board, like a pennyboard for example, and some customers had a hard time taking their textbooks and other things from the backpack. Some also complained about it being too small. Well the changes I would make to that product is to make the straps more adaptable to different type of boards and increase the size of it making it more user friendly. I don't think this product would be a good addition to my product offering since what I offer is the idea of the straps without the need of buying a backpack. That way one can keep their backpack.

My Unfair Advantage

1. Computer Skills

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - N

2. Innovation

V - Y
R - Y
I - N
N - Y

3. Adaptability

V - Y
R - Y
I - Y
N - Y

4. Leadership Skills

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - N

5. Knowledge about the market

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - N

6. Low Cost of Producing the Product

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - N

7. Simplicity of Product

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - Y

8. Business Idea

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - Y

9. Open Mind

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - N

10. Good Understanding of my Customers

V - Y
R - N
I - Y
N - N

I think that my top resource after conducting a VRIN analysis is the adaptability of my product and my own adaptability. Adaptability is one of my top strengths, according to strengths finder, and I think that allows me to expect the unexpected. Also my product is very adaptable and because of the simplicity of the design, it allows me to make changes on it according to feedback that I would get from customers.

Reading Reflection Week 10

The biggest surprise in this week's reading has to be that cash-flow budget was more that I used to think it was. I thought it only included sales that a company did but after reading I learned it also includes cash payments and loan proceeds.

I had a hard time comprehending all the procedures that went into obtaining copyright protection. I understand the general gist of it but I just had a hard time following all the exact procedures explained.

The questions I would ask are:

1. When should entrepreneurs seek out professional help or professional services?

2. What is the most important financial ratio a new business should consider?

I did not disagree or thought the author was wrong about anything in this week's reading

Elevator Pitch No.3

As my previous pitch I got a lot of positive feedback and I enjoyed reading it because a few people were saying that this is a great idea. One thing that stood out to me about the comments was that I should be more formal in my elevator pitch, and I understand as to why one would say that, I don't necessarily agree with it because of what my product is. And one this is that was silly is that one comment said that I should put what material my product is in the pitch but I don't that is necessary. I, again, did not change much in my pitch since I keep getting good feedback, I keep assuming that my pitch is good as it is and I don't really know how I would change it to make it better. So I basically kept it the same.

My Secret Sauce

What makes me different?

• I lived in a different country giving me the ability to be open minded
• I also believe I am empathetic 
• I accept everyone for who they are 
• I can take ideas and see them from different point of views
• I try not to judge

Other people's opinions:

• My best friend from high school, Otton, thinks that I am an accepting person and that I can adapt to other people interests.
• My friend Logan thinks that I am a nice person and that I am always there for everybody, also that I can make almost any situation into a humorous one.
• Kelsey thinks that since I am from Guatemala, I am more mature and that I can understand other people's points of views.
• Jason just thinks that since I am Guatemalan, I am cool.
• Niamh thinks I am a person that will never say no to try to new things and that I love adventuring. 

Reflection:

• People think that I am there for other people and that I am nice and accepting while I never thought about that much when I think about myself. Also I think what I think about myself and what other people think about me are very close together. So I think that I know myself pretty well.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise in this week's reading was that most entrepreneurs use a different of marketing logic, the new marketing requires fundamental rethinking of old rules.

I wasn't really confused about anything in this week's reading which surprises me a little bit.

The 2 questions I would ask the questions would be:
1. Why are most entrepreneurs not carry marketing research?
2. How much are social media startups increasing compared to other startups?

I didn't think the author was wrong about anything in this week's reading.

Week 8 Reading Reflection

What surprised me the most in this week's reading might be venture capitalists. I never really knew what they were and I have heard that term before. After reading the assigned reading I learnt what they were and to my surprise they were not what I thought they were.

As to what was confusing to me, I have to say that the section about "Equity Financing". Since I did not know any of the terms that were used in that section, I was confused most of the time while reading it.

The two question I would ask would be:
 1. What are the exact requirements involved in a private placement according to SEC's Regulation D?
2. Why has there been a recent increase in entrepreneurs who are unable to secure financing through banks or through private or public stock offering?

I did not think the author was wrong about anything he talked about in this week's chapter.

Half-way Reflection

1. The behaviors that I mostly used in to keep up with this course is consistency and inspiration to actually to do the assignments (super necessary) and don't forget friends.

2. There are so many moments in which I have actually felt like "giving up" (and I still have those moments). I happens almost every week for almost every assignment but most times I pull through, but mostly because of my friends that are also taking the class since they help me and we do the assignments together. Without them I don't know what I would do. I do not feel like I have develop a tenacious attitude but I have become more tenacious than I was before. One thing that contributed to this was after the first few times talking to strangers when I decided that I didn't really care what people said.

3. The three tips I would give to future students in this course about tenacity would be:

• To not care what people think, whether it be a fellow student, friend, TA, or professor.
• Keep in mind the end goal.
• Don't give up (support yourself with your friends).

Week 7 Reading Reflection

One thing that surprised from the reading was that demographics is no longer a strong base for marketing strategy. I was surprised by this because my dad uses demographics all the time for marketing strategy in his business so I always thought it was a strong base.

This week's reading was a hard one to read, but one thing that confused me was the jargon that he used that I didn't really understand like divergent psychodynamic segmentations.

The 2 question I have for the author are:

1. What do you think is the best tool to create an advertisement environment?

2. How would one switch from using demographics as a base for marketing strategy to a better base?

I didn't disagree with anything the author said in this week's reading.

Free Money

I went outside, near a small open field that has a half basketball court, in my friends neighborhood. I approached people that I thought would be more willing to listen to me. I started my conversations by asking them if the wanted a free dollar. My plan of conversation was just to convince to take my dollar because I thought it was a nice thing to do. Out of five attempts I was able to give away 4 dollars. Most people won't reject a free dollar although they usually do question it.

Giving a dollar was pretty easy but I think that it was a little awkward. My predictions were mostly correct in that people would be awkward and that they would question as to why I was giving them a free dollar. I think most people would accept a dollar for free, because it is a free money, I mean who wouldn't take free money.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

I liked reading the feedback from my last pitch. It was mostly good and some people did point out a few points that I should have focused on like a better explanation of where I am gonna sell my product and who am I gonna sell it to and also competition. There was one point which I thought was simply silly and that was to explain how was I going about to create and manufacturing; I believe that was silly since it would take to much time and I was not actually important to say in an elevator pitch.
I didn't actually change much from the last elevator pitch, I added a few points like where I plan to sell my product and to who and also added a better explanation of what it was. So here is my second attempt at an elevator pitch:

Week 6 Reading Reflection

One of the things that surprised me in this weeks reading was that high rivalry can actually negatively affect the businesses that are competing. It can drive down a company's profit potential and it also limits the profitability of whatever industry the high rivalry is in. This came to a surprise because I always believed that the more rivalry there was between companies, the better it is.

A thing that was confusing to me is the relevant industry. I din't fully understand what the relevant industry is and it is defined.

The two question I have for the author are:

1. Do different industries require a different amount of rivalry to be able to amount to the best profitability of that industry or are they all about the same?

2. How commonly do people make mistakes in defining the industry?

I did not see anything wrong in what the author wrote, especially since this the first time I am learning about this.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. Who am I? I am a student and I am good with computers. I am also good at solving problems and I love riddles. I have programming skills, also language skills and quick problem solving skills. I have many experiences in my life that give me different skills. My aspirations is to see my product in the market and doing well. I see my business being a big part of my life. 2. I am offering the customers an easy way to carry their boards without having to buy a new backpack or anything else. 3. I am offering my product to anybody who uses any type of board. Specifically college students that use boards for transportation and end up having the hassle the carry their board when just walking. 4. The customers care because a lot of times when people use their board for transport they end up just carrying their board when there are walking with other people of there's too much traffic. So with my product people will can enjoy carrying their board hassle-free. 5. What sets me apart from other businesses that sell things to transport boards is that my product can work with any backpack and any board, you don't need to get a new backpack or buy more than one strap depending on your boards.

I feel like the elements above fit together but at the same time I feel like there are a few weak concepts in there too. Especially the customer, I feel like I have a weak description of who the customers will be, but at the same time I don't think I have to be very specific about it since there is a broad range of people who own boards and use them daily. Other than that I don't there are many weak concepts and it all fits together very well.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

In this week's reading, what surprised me the most was the amount of different forms of business there actually are. I only knew of partnerships and corporations but after I read the chapter I learned that there many variations for each and each of those variations has its unique characteristics. Depending on the form of business one has they have their own advantages and disadvantages.

One thing that was unclear to me is how information actually becomes a trade secret. I wasn't sure if there is something a business has to do to make their information a trade secret, in relation with the government, and how they keep it a secret.

The two questions I would ask:

1. How do trade secrets become trade secrets? And what happens if competition finds out a trade secret?

2. Is it better to have a partnership or sole proprietorship when have a small or medium family restaurant business?

I did not disagree with anything the author said in this chapter. I believe the author was right about everything.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Short Description:

The opportunity that I saw was that people who like to use boards for transportation get annoyed to have to carry their in their hands when they are not using it. My solution to this opportunity was to make straps that connect with your backpack that will hold your board. You can use this straps on any backpack to hold any board. My business name is BoardStrap.

Elevator Pitch:

Week 4 Reading Reflection

In this week's reading, the biggest surprise to me was the misconceptions of what creativity and innovation really are. Before the reading I believed some of those misconceptions but now I have a clearer understanding of what they are and that every single person has the ability to be creative and innovative.

One thing that confused me abut the reading was that the author said that the phases for a creative phases did not have to occur in the same order but the way he explained the phases it seemed that you couldn't just go to phase 2 and skip phase 1. You need phase 1 to be able to do phase 2 and respectively with all the other phases of the creative process.

Here are the two questions I would ask the author:

1. We hear many idea killers every day, which in turn kill our creative ideas. How do we go about to ignore these phrases or words? How do we stop using them ourselves?

2. How do different mindsets affect creativity and innovation? And how would one go to changing their mindset to be able to achieve better creativity?

I agree with almost everything the author wrote about in this week's reading but I feel like the sources for innovation and creativity are a little scarce and that almost everything can become a source for either creativity or innovation.

Top 5 World Problems

This is a rank-order of the top 5 world's biggest problems and top 5 most implementable solutions.

Most Serious Problems	Most Implementable Solutions
1. Corrupted Governments. There many corrupted governments in the world in which they take money and use their power for their benefit instead of doing good things for the people of the country. This prevents the development of the country and of its citizens.	1. Energy. Solution: Putting more money and time into research to find a clean, green, and efficient source of energy.
2. War. This should be obvious as to why it is a big problem. Conflict between countries arises to war and war ends with many people hurt and dead (both civilians and military). Also many things might get destroyed during the war which will hurt whichever country financially.	2. Poverty. Solution: Creating more jobs and making the education more easily obtainable all help to reduce the poverty of that country.
3. Terrorism. Recently terrorism has been a a big problem especially with all the religious extremists that are killing people. Many innocent people die in these incidents making people fear even their homes where they should be feeling safe.	3. World Hunger. Solution: It is difficult to completely eliminate hunger but we could reduce hunger by having places or giving benefits to those that can not eat which will allow them to eat. In countries, like Africa, we could give them resources which will allow them to produce their own food.
4. Hunger. A big portion of the world is suffering from hunger. Many areas in every part of the world, even the United States, suffer from this. World hunger goes along with poverty too, since one of the biggest reasons people go hungry is because they don't have the money to get the resources need to eat.	4. Over Population. Solution: It is difficult to completely eliminate hunger but we could reduce hunger by having places or giving benefits to those that can not eat which will allow them to eat. In countries, like Africa, we could give them resources which will allow them to produce their own food.
5. Climate Change. Climate change is a big problem since the weather and temperature of areas in the world change. This change could lead to extinction of many species on Earth. I also harms humans in many ways since the environment in which they live in will change.	5. Climate Change. Solution: Eliminating the greenhouse gases that humans keep putting into the atmosphere would help to solve climate change but how do we completely eliminate these greenhouse gases.

• I choose corrupt governments as the top problem because coming from a third world country which has a corrupt government I know what a corrupt government can do to its country. Corrupt governments usually stop the progression of their country and do not allow it to develop. Without corrupted governments it would be easier to solve other world problems and it would make it easier for humanity to develop and evolve.
• I choose energy as the most implementable solution since I believe that to find a clean and renewable energy, all you need is money, time and research. Even if we can not find a 100% clean and renewable source of energy, anything close to that would work just as fine. Especially as technology advances, the chances of finding the energy source increase.

Identifying Local Opportunities

1. Miami-Dade healthcare operator convicted of $56 million Medicare scam
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A8E3CAA2D7D0A8?p=AWNB
• Khaled Elbeblawy had three agencies in which he falsely billed Medicare treatments and services that patients did not need. He bribed crooked doctors so that the patients could qualify for the services which were then billed to Medicare, a tax-payer funded program.
• The problem is that there are some people who are taking money from Medicare which could lead to loss of many people medical help. It is also a waste of the hard earned money of tax-payers
• Medicare has the problem but the problem affects more than Medicare, it affects both the tax-payers and all of the people on the Medicare program.
2. Andrés Oppenheimer: Latin America's time bomb: the "ninis"
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A83B0B214F5418?p=AWNB
• Ninis are youths in Latin America that neither work nor study and they are increasing at alarming rates with 20 million of them in the past decade. They are expected to bring a greater inequality, crime rate and poverty in the Latin American countries. These ninis are also unlikely to get jobs in the future.
• The problem is that these male ninis usually join gangs or crime syndicates which in return incresed crime rates and homicide rates and the female ninis (which is two thirds of the ninis across Latin America) are getting pregnant which increases the amount of ninis.
• Kids who have no education or a very short education and that have no jobs, which in terms making it unlikely they will ever get a job which might lead to a life of crime.
3. Apartment demands prove costly
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A9366D47EFAD60?p=AWNB
• Apartment mortgages have increased to whooping $1.002 trillion at the end of 2015, which is the highest since 2007. Most of the renters in the nation are what is considered "cost-burdened renters" which means 30 percent of their income is used on housing. And the reason for these increased rental prices is the demand for apartments.
• The problem is that the demand for apartments keeps increasing, so the price for rental will also keep increasing making it harder for people to pay their rent.
• People who do not make that much money and can not afford a home so they have to rent an apartment.
4. Historical site being neglected
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A9366CBAAA0160?p=AWNB
• There is a historical site in Miami called the Miami Circle. It was discovered 17 years ago and it is a 2000 year old landmark. Except people are not respecting it and no one, but a few, are trying to save it and the government not the state are like putting fences around or even trying to maintain it.
• The problem is that if we do not do anything for it we will loose a piece of history and also that people need to learn to respect the past and care for it.
• Kids and adults who will never get to see the historical site because of the disrespect and ignorance of other people.
5. Jobless claims hit 6-month high
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A8E37879B1BEB0?p=AWNB
• The amount of people looking for unemployment benefits rose to a high last week since July but the amount of applications is at an all-time low. Applications for aid rose from 10000 to 293000 but these always rise since the holiday temporary workers get laid off.
• The problem is that more people are looking for the unemployment benefits even when not looking for jobs.
• The people affected are the one giving the unemployment benefits and the people who are unemployed too.

A Very Short Interview Of A Guatemalan Entrepreneur No.1

I had a very short interview with a Guatemalan woman named Wendy de Cifuentes, my best friend's mom. She is a very hard working and smart person. She can be both ruthless and kind. What makes her an entrepreneur is that she looks for products from other countries that don't exist in Guatemala and sells them there.

These where the questions asked during the interview:

1. Q: What should my expectations in becoming an entrepreneur?
   
    A: There are many things you will never see coming when you are an entrepreneur but there are a few things which you can most likely expect and that is taking big risks and a lot of failure. Just know that if you work hard and never give up it will eventually work out for you.

2. Q: What does it mean to you to be an entrepreneur?

    A: Even after all these years of being an entrepreneur this is still a hard question to answer. Well I guess that to me being and entrepreneur is when your willing to not to be afraid to take big risks and to frequently fail while working hard to make the business you have in mind a success.

3. Q: What do you wish you would have been thought before becoming an entrepreneur?

    A: I wish I would have known how to better manage a business. After awhile you learn by yourself but I wish I would have known from the beginning because I would have made my life a little better.

(These might not be the exact answers since I translated them from Spanish into English.)

I learned that every entrepreneur is different and that they all see the world from a different point of view. There is one thing they all have in common though, and that is the ability to take risks for their business without the fear of failure or success. I also learned that you can't fully expect everything that is gonna to happen because they where will be many unexpected events that will happen.

World's Biggest Problems

Trying to figure out what are the world's biggest problems are is hard since there are too many problems in this world. Here is the list of what I believe to be the world's biggest problems.

1. Hunger.

A big portion of the world is suffering from hunger. Many areas in every part of the world, even the United States, suffer from this. World hunger goes along with poverty too, since one of the biggest reasons people go hungry is because they don't have the money to get the resources need to eat.

Solution: It is difficult to completely eliminate hunger but we could reduce hunger by having places or giving benefits to those that can not eat which will allow them to eat. In countries, like Africa, we could give them resources which will allow them to produce their own food.

2. War.

This should be obvious as to why it is a big problem. Conflict between countries arises to war and war ends with many people hurt and dead (both civilians and military). Also many things might get destroyed during the war which will hurt whichever country financially.

Solution: I believe that the only way to solve war is to find another way in which governments can fight without risking the lives of people. And maybe, because of advancement in technology, it will be by virtual means.

3. Corrupted Governments.

There many corrupted governments in the world in which they take money and use their power for their benefit instead of doing good things for the people of the country. This prevents the development of the country and of its citizens.

Solution: The only way to stop corrupted governments is for the citizens of the country to rise and eliminate the corrupted government. This can also be done peacefully if done correctly, without risking lives.

4. Climate Change.

Climate change is a big problem since the weather and temperature of areas in the world change. This change could lead to extinction of many species on Earth. I also harms humans in many ways since the environment in which they live in will change.

Solution: Eliminating the greenhouse gases that humans keep putting into the atmosphere would help to solve climate change but how do we completely eliminate these greenhouse gases.

6. Terrorism

Recently terrorism has been a a big problem especially with all the religious extremists that are killing people. Many innocent people die in these incidents making people fear even their homes where they should be feeling safe.

Solution: There is not much you can do about terrorism, other capturing and sentencing the groups which are causing terrorism.

7. Poverty

Many people in the world live in poverty. They don't have money to buy food, water or to buy a roof over their head. These people easily die of infections since they don't have access to medicine and doctors or they simply can not pay for them. In some parts of the world they die of hunger and lack of clean water. Poverty is one of the reasons of world hunger.

Solution: Creating more jobs and making the education more easily obtainable all help to reduce the poverty of that country. 

8. Energy.

There are many ways to get energy but none of them are 100%  clean and the more effective one are not clean at all. The vast amount of nuclear energy there is bad because of the amount of nuclear waste that is created. The other forms of energy are not as efficient as nuclear energy but slowly we are heading over to the direction of clean sources of energy.

Solution: Putting more money and time into research to find a clean, green, and efficient source of energy.

9. Over Population.

Humans have been reproducing at an astonishing rate in the past decades. The more humans there are the more resources we consume and the faster we kill ourselves by destroying nature. Also with more people there will be more conflicts which might lead to wars or terrorism.

Solution: Regulation into the amount of babies people can conceive is one the only peaceful solution, in which people are not killed or harmed, I could think of.

10. WMDs.

Weapons of Mass Destruction are a problem since they can easily destroy necessary resources and kill humans. Nuclear weapons fall into this category. Many countries have their nuclear weapons and many more are beginning to make their own, which is dangerous for both humans and for Earth.

Solution: If we can eliminate war there would be no reasons to have weapons of mass destruction but unfortunately we can not simply dispose of these weapons. 

Week 2 Reading Reflection

I think that the biggest surprise for me from the reading was the term of Gazelles especially since I did a study abroad in Ireland and the focus was entrepreneurship but I never heard of the term, but I liked it and it is interesting how impressive the business the businesses that are Gazelles are.

One part that was confusing is how the author says some contradictions in which he says that entrepreneurs organize, manage and assume risks but he also says that entrepreneurs take risks beyond security and as I came to understand this is that they both calculate risks and take huge risks. To me those two do not go together because once you calculate a risk you might become afraid of it so it is better to just take the risks without calculating them.

I think the author was wrong in the part that the he says that small business owners and entrepreneurs are different but I believe that small business owners can also be entrepreneurs and many actually are. I am not saying that every small business owner is an entrepreneur but they are more closely related to each other than them being different.

The two questions I would ask the author would be:

1. How did he came up with his definition of an entrepreneur? Out of the many people I have talked about entrepreneurship, they all have a different idea and definition of what an entrepreneur is, so I would like to know how he came up with his definition.

2. How many of the start-ups actually become large corporations or business? (I am not sure if I missed this when reading) 

My Bug List

Here is the list of things that bug me:

1. At random times the internet in my apartment drops suddenly and I feel like it happens more while I am watching Netflix or video on YouTube.

Why: Because I get annoyed by slow and laggy internet.

2. There are only 2 buses for the route I take on Sundays, so I usually have to wait a while for one of them to arrive and it takes forever.

Why: Because I feel like I waste too much waiting for the bus and then time taking the bus.

3. When you buy avocados that are not mature and you leave them out, so that they mature and are ready to eat the next day, but you forget one day later but they go bad.

Why: Because I like to make guacamole to make either my lunch or dinner tastier.

4. When I go to a friend's house but he/she is not there and then they don't answer their phone or their text messages.

Why: Because I get bored when waiting for people who might not come.

5. Bagel and Noddles has a 10$ minimum for credit cards and my meals usually cost less than 10$ there, but I don't usually carry cash.

Why: Because I don't carry cash and use my credit card to pay for most things.

6. When the people living around me start to what seems to me running around loudly and it is late at night.

Why: Because I can not either sleep or just relax because of the loud noises.

7. After it rains and the ground is wet, and I go either skateboarding or long boarding but the wheel hydroplane and I fall.

Why: Because I do not like to fall, it hurts.

8. How windows 10 crashes sometimes on my desktop and I have to restart it like 3 times.

Why: Because it usually takes like 5 minutes to get it working again and I could have used that time for something else.

9. When the day is sunny when I leave my apartment but then suddenly as I walk to class it starts pouring.

Why: Because I do not like getting wet when using casual clothes.

10. Coding a program and the code does not work, but you can not find where the problem is.

Why: Because I takes a lot of time to find the problem and when you do, you feel stupid.

11. Programming in C++ and missing a coma at the end of a line but not realizing it, so your code does not work.

Why: Because it is such a small thing but it can create many problems.

12. Ants in general, but especially when I am just working in my desk and an ant appears out of nowhere and climbs into my keyboard.

Why: Because I hate ants.

13. Netflix has different shows in different countries, so I can't see the shows I like when I travel.

Why: Because I travel to Guatemala often since I have family there but I can not see the shows I like in my free time since they do not show them.

14. The break that TV shows have for the holidays that last for more than a month.

Why: Because I would like to know what will happen next in the shows and I do not want to wait so long to know.

15. When my roommates have a few friends over and I am sitting in the living room, but I don't know any of his friends.

Why: Because it gets very awkward and then I end up going to my room instead of enjoying the living room.

16. Video games in which when you die you loose all of your items and never get them back.

Why: Because sometimes you have really good items, which took you some time to obtain.

17. When you finish watching a show and the last episode does not end correctly and you end the show confused.

Why: Because I like ending shows with full clarity of what happened and why.

18. When I misplace my keys and have to turn my room inside out to find them.

Why: Because I make a mess and then I have to clean it.

19. People that do not respect the ideas and beliefs of other people around them.

Why: Because they should respect everyone's beliefs and ideas even if they don't agree with them.

20. I have long so hair, so it bugs me when there is wind as I walk somewhere and the hair gets in my eyes so I can not see where I am going.

Why: Because I can't see what is in front of me and I like to see but I like my hair long.

Reflection: Finding what bugs me was not as hard as I thought it would be but it still took a considerate amount of time to do and at the end it was beginning to become difficult to think back and find what bugs me.

My Entrepreneurship Story

   About a year and some months ago I went to Ireland on a fall connection program for IA students at UF. Around the end of the Ireland trip I got to meet two girls who had made their own business called Improper Butter. These girls (Hannah and Elaine) told me and my group about their business, how it came to be and how they made it happen.

   Improper Butter makes flavored butter which is natural and clean. They got the idea for Improper Butter after Elaine went on a trip to France to cook and while she was there she spices into the butter to make it more flavorful. Since they were best friends form college, once her trip was over she talked to Hannah about the butters and to help her market it, and Improper Butter was born.

   They worked hard afterwards and putting all the money they had into this business. I remember them telling us how they barely had any money to do anything they wanted to do, but their business was doing better than what they expect and it is still now becoming more know in Ireland. They also told us how they went on Dragons' Den and got offered money but they decided to turn it down. One of the things that learned from them is that is you want to be successful you have to be willing to take risks and makes sacrifices and to never give up, because you will fail in one way or another.
   After they shared with us their stories they let us try their flavored butter (which was amazing) and then we had the opportunity to ask them individual questions. I learned many things from them about entrepreneurship and I am glad I had the opportunity to hear them speak.

  I enrolled in this course as it is necessary for my Innovation minor and also because I am interested in furthering my knowledge in what entrepreneurship is. What I hope to get from this course is knowledge and insight in how to become a successful entrepreneur.

My Introduction

I am Christian Van Sickle and this is my introduction. I was born on August 3rd, 1996 in Guatemala City. I lived in Guatemala for about 15 years before I moved to Weston, Florida. Growing up in Guatemala, a Spanish speaking country, required me to be fluent in Spanish. I was however also practically fluent in English thanks to my dad, who was born in Ohio and insisted that my sisters and I speak English just as well as we could speak Spanish. We had to talk to my dad strictly in English and my mom in Spanish.  If we spoke the wrong language to either one of them, they would act as if they didn't know what we said (even though they are both bilingual in Spanish and English). Living in Guatemala also taught to me to appreciate many things that a lot of people take for granted.

I moved to Weston, Florida when I was 15 years old. I started half way through the school year since Guatemalan schools have a different academic year compared to American schools. In Guatemala school runs from January to September instead of August to May like in America. I started half way through sophomore year and school was a lot tougher than what I expected it to be. It wasn't tougher academically but I had a hard time making friends in high school. After a few months I finally made a friend and then everything started to get better. I joined the robotics club with my friend and made more friends there. By the time graduation came I had memories and friendships worth their weight in gold. But just as Robert Frost said in a poem, "nothing gold can stay" and I closed one chapter of my life and turned the page to a brand new exciting chapter.

Through the Innovation Academy at the University of Florida, I had the chance to go to Ireland as a fall connection program for IA students. Being on a plane heading to a country which you know absolutely nothing about and no one absolutely no one there, is something very exciting and thrilling that I recommend everyone do.  I arrived in Ireland, my heart beating rapidly, excited to see the other people who had also decided to take this trip but unknowing that what was to come would be the best time of my life. There are too many stories from this trip to tell them here but I made many friends of which many I still hang out with as much as I can and I got to see the beauty of Ireland, someday I will go back to enjoy it once more. 

 After returning from Ireland I had a few months where all I did was wait until school started, so that I could see everyone. Time came to move to Gainesville, Florida and start college. The first year I lived on campus in a hall called Beaty Towers. I had many adventures with the people that lived there. My first year was very exciting and memorable. Starting my sophomore year I have moved off of campus in an apartment complex called Pavilion on 62nd and this where this story catches up with my real life. Currently majoring in Computer Science, still having adventures and hoping that the fun never ends but nothing gold can stay, so I will enjoy everything while it lasts, and hope the next chapter is even better than the last.

The Entrepreneur's Mantra

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