Final Reflection 30A

1. The experience I will remember for years will definitely just be the process of this whole class. The way we started off with a simple product idea and expanded it into so much more. My most joyous experience was probably just the finishing product. After all the work and interviews and knowing that this is a legit idea and possible product. The experience I’m most proud of is probably just the fact that I created a whole business model based off a simple idea.

2. I don’t think I have a complete entrepreneurial mindset yet, however I do think it’s has moved me closer to it. We have gone over every step thoroughly and it has definitely helped me understand how to think like an entrepreneur and how to make a complete business model.

3. I would recommend to just stay positive. Not every idea is going to work out, but continue to work on it and everything will work out. To do well in this course, just do the assignments honestly, they aren’t that hard, just put solid effort and time in and it will work out. To foster that mindset, I think a good way is to just try and think about making the most money, like a seller and how the best way to sell a certain item.

Venture Concept No. 2 29A

1. I believe there is an opportunity for a product that is able to serve as a filtration water bottle, and people can literally scoop up water from the ground and with .01 infiltration, it becomes drinkable and safe. Furthermore, with the price being comparable to regular water bottles, it is far more superior, not even including the idea of creativity and how the designer will stand out more.

The people who are in most need of a product like this are people who are often involved in outdoor activities or people in general who don't trust public places water fountains. This is a regular water bottle that is able to make you feel comfortable drinking from wherever you are. For example, people who hike and camp, are able to pick up water from a stream and once filtrated, are able to drink it. This also allows people to not have to worry about binging their own water, as long as they have the bottle. They also don't have to drink their water thats been in the heat all day, when they can scoop up fresh cold water from the river.

What is helping this product is it is also good for nature and the environment. No more plastic water bottles, which also helps with the littering problem and getting the rivers and streams polluted with garbage. This market is defined geographically and demographically by people who are most likely in their 20s or 30s. People who are active a lot. The best part about the product though, is that anybody can use it. It is literally a water bottle, it just has features that others don't such as the .01 infiltration. Customers are currently satisfying their needs with regular water bottles or a brita, but britas are not made to be walking around with. It is more for at home and sitting in the fridge. Also, it does not have the ability to pick up ground water and make it healthy and clean. The opportunity is pretty big, as their are no other products like it. The customers are also loyal if the product is high quality. A prime example is the company yeti, they are the high quality water bottles on the market, but they also do not have the ability to filtrate water from the ground and make it drinkable. The window of opportunity is most likely going to be open for awhile. While technology is increasing at a devastating rate, this product will take multiple attempts to perfect. With that in mind, it does sound quite impossible to be able create a product with this ability with no imperfections. And with that being said, there is a great chance this product will not be available for a long time.

The product is essentially your typical water bottle. Take it to class, take it to the gym, take it when you just leave the house. The product however, is also special in the way it is able to scoop up ground water and make it perfectly healthy and clean and drinkable. I would most likely try and sell it online and through sports stores. Stores that sell not only stuff for sports but also outdoor and recreational activities. The goal is to sell it comparable to the other water bottles in the market. That way, not only is the price relative to what they would buy anyway, but my product is superior and provides more functions and would therefor be the best option on the market.

My product solves the opportunity I have identified because it is a multipurpose product that can be used for anything. There will no longer be a need to prepare water for when you leave the house. As long as you have the bottle with you, you will be able to obtain fresh water wherever you are, that is unless you are in a desert. Customers will buy my innovation because it will be the most superior product on the market, with a fair price. When comparing the price to other products, and then factoring in the benefits and features my product provides, it is an easy choice. The reasons customers would switch is because there is no product like it. Like I said, it would be the most superior product on the market, and if I am able to hire a great design person, and the designs on our water bottles are also better, it would be quite easy to make the switch. The competitors are people who sell water bottles. While there are none that sell products with the same features,  there are loyal customers to companies like yeti. Their weakness would be that they do not sell filtration water bottles. I believe price distribution will be huge, because no matter the product, people will always look for the cheapest outlets. In the end though, I believe customer service and support will be most important, making sure customers are getting what they are saying for. I would need employees to help manage online sales and some to manage in store sales. Also, employees to help with creativity and innovation ideas and also people with just organizing and helping keep the profits on track.

My "secret sauce" would be my connections. I have very bright people with very high educations that would be able to help get me started and also run the business. Through them, I know many people who would be interested in helping with the business or people that would give my product a try. Also they have connections who may even be interested in investing in the company. The next thing I would like to tackle would be the the design and creativity. I believe creativity is very important in this market. Assuming the launch, I would like to continue improving the product, but also innovating on other products in the same field so I would be able to sell family products that all attract the same audience, that way customers would be lying more than one item from the company.

2. I didn't receive much feedback, only one person commented on that post, but they stated how such a product will be very difficult to create and actually produce, but overall, if the idea is able to come to fruition, it would be a one-of-a kind product.

3. Basically, the only thing I changed, was the window of opportunity. This product has a quite simple concept, it is just a matter of how hard this product will be to create. I received feedback on how hard it may be, and it made me realize, this window will probably be open for awhile, considering how hard it may be to actually create the product. 

Your Exit Strategy 28A

1. My exit strategy would be to sell in the next 5 years and to hopefully get as much money as I can from it.

2. I have selected this exit strategy because my goal has always been to go to law school. That is something that is more important to me and my family has multiple lawyers in it. To be able to sell this and gain money that would be able to put me through law school would be a dream come true.

3. It probably has made an impact on the way I have thought about it. I subconsciously have had it in the back of my head the whole time that this is just something small in the grand scheme of things, and that this would be a fantastic way to just boost my career from the start.

Reading Reflection No. 3 27A

The Reading I chose was Innovation and Entreprensurship by Peter Drucker

1. The general theme of this book is obviously about innovation and entreprensurship  but also how it involves discipline and the best ways to practice them.

2. This book has connected with this ENT class in the ways we think. This whole class has been about innovation and ways to make our product better. Combine that with the entrepreneurship part and learning how to market products and classify them is literally what this class is about.

3. An exercise would be at the end of the class, describe how the original product has been innovated and changed, and how the original market and target audience has changed over the course of this class.

4. I think part 2 was where the "aha" moment hit me. It wasn't necessarily a particular moment, but it talks about the managerial strategies and entrepreneurship strategies. From what he was saying, it seems as if he almost think entrepreneurship competence may be even mire important than the product and innovation itself. Obviously the product must be quality, but without any entrepreneurship skills, the product is worthless.

Celebrating Failure 26A

1. The time I have failed this past semester has been in another class. I am currently working full time and have an internship as well, while managing two classes. In the other class, which has exams, it is hard to find time to study a lot. So for the first two exams, I was a bit too confident in how easy the exams would be and with work and whatnot, I did not find myself studying a whole lot. That first exam did not end up too well. The second exam, I found myself studying more but still, not enough. That exam ended up just alright. With that being said, for the third exam, I found myself studying a lot to prepare myself for the exam. Even bringing in study notes to work to look at for when I'm on break. And the result was much much better.

2. I learned that it just takes time and patience. Everything will come with time. I also learned that failure doesn't mean you're bad or not as smart or worth less than others. It is just a lesson we learn from and that helps make everyone better.

3. Failure is just a lesson. How will we ever learn anything if we don't fail? The best way to handle failure is just to encourage yourself, stay confident and know you will learn from it and do better next team. This class has helped me realize to embrace failure. Use it to motivate yourself, and also to continue and strive to do better. I have always been a risk taker, but this class just encourages it even more because you should never be sacred to fail.

What's Next? 25A

Existing Market:

What is next for my products and services would be to put my product in stores and also have them available to order form online. Hopefully if it becomes popular enough, I could have them sold through mass distributors such as Amazon.

After speaking to the three interviewees, what they suggested I do next is to be planning for what customers might want next. They said my product is a great idea, but what about when something goes wrong and say someone gets sick, I will need to be ready and prepared to defend the product not just to potential customers, but also to make sure it is safe and able to keep being sold. They also said customer may next want products in the same field with benefits. Like for example, someone who may hike and use this water bottle, may want a different product they can use for hiking such as some sort of knife or any object that can be potentially innovated and made better. That way, the customer can shop my brand and that also expand my company.

Based on my own expectations, I would hope to be one of the top selling water bottles in stores. The idea would be to place them in stores that sell sports equipment but also outdoor and recreation activities. An example of a store would be like a place near me named "Modell's" which sell sports stuff but also stuff for hiking, hunting, etc. Another thing I would hope, is to sell enough through my website, that I would be able to start mass distributing them to companies like Amazon.

New Market:

A radically different market would be to try and introduce products that would be specific to certain audiences, such as sporting equipment. I think it would allow me to branch out and to attack a certain audience with new products.

After interviewing two people, I found that is is probably not the best idea. I have no clear product that would be able to stand out in a specific market like sports equipment. Because the market is so big, sure, there is opportunity, but it will require something special. Both interviewees explained how it is pretty pointless to attack a specific audience like that because my product is so universal and that market probably isn't the best market to begin with. They both agreed that customers from that department will most likely not be my best customers in terms of sales.

I have learned that it would be a bad idea to try and adapt my product to a specific department such as sports. With them not being my main customers to begin with, it would be hard to get them to buy more. My product is more designed for outdoor actives, not so much team sport activities. That is what gatorade bottles are for, where teams carry like 12 of them for the team. My product is designed more for people to use in recreational activities. I realized the existing market is the market to continue to try and impress.

Venture Concept No. 1 24A

I believe there is an opportunity for a product that is able to serve as a filtration water bottle, and people can literally scoop up water from the ground and with .01 infiltration, it becomes drinkable and safe. Furthermore, with the price being comparable to regular water bottles, it is far more superior, not even including the idea of creativity and how the designer will stand out more.

The people who are in most need of a product like this are people who are often involved in outdoor activities or people in general who don't trust public places water fountains. This is a regular water bottle that is able to make you feel comfortable drinking from wherever you are. For example, people who hike and camp, are able to pick up water from a stream and once filtrated, are able to drink it. This also allows people to not have to worry about binging their own water, as long as they have the bottle. They also don't have to drink their water thats been in the heat all day, when they can scoop up fresh cold water from the river.

What is helping this product is it is also good for nature and the environment. No more plastic water bottle, which also helps with the littering problem and getting the rivers and streams polluted with garbage. This market is defined geographically and demographically by people who are most likely in their 20s or 30s. People who are active a lot. The best part about the product though, is that anybody can use it. It is literally a water bottle, it just has features that others don't such as the .01 infiltration. Customers are currently satisfying their needs with regular water bottles or a brita, but britas are not to be walking around with. It is more for at home and sitting in the fridge. Also, it does not have the ability to pick up ground water and make it healthy and clean. The opportunity us pretty big, as their are none like it. The customers are also loyal if the product is high quality. A prime example is the company yeti, they are the high quality water bottles on the market, but they also do not have the ability to filtrate water from the ground and make it drinkable. The window of opportunity is most likely closing. With technology these days, it probably will not be long before someone is able to invent it.

The product is essentially your typical water bottle. Take it to class, take it to the gym, take it when you just leave the house. The product however, is also special in the way it is able to scoop up ground water and make it perfectly healthy and clean and drinkable. I would most likely try and sell it online and through sports stores. Stores that sell not only stuff for sports but also outdoor and recreational activities. The goal is to sell it comparable to the other water bottles in the market. That way, not only is the price relative to what they would buy anyway, but my product is superior and provides more functions and would therefor be the best option on the market.

My product solves the opportunity I have identified because it is a multipurpose product that can be used for anything. There will no longer be a need to prepare water for when you leave the house. As long as you have the bottle with you, you will be able to obtain fresh water wherever you are, that is unless you are in a desert. Customers will buy my innovation because it will be the most superior product on the market, with a fair price. When comparing the price to other products, and then factoring in the benefits and features my product provides, it is an easy choice. The reasons customers would switch is because there is no product like it. Like I said, it would be the most superior product on the market, and if I am able to hire a great design person, and the designs on our water bottles are also better, it would be quite easy to make the switch. The competitors are people who sell water bottles. While there are none that sell products with the same features,  there are loyal customers to companies like yeti. Their weakness would be that they do not sell filtration water bottles. I believe price distribution will be huge, because no matter the product, people will always look for the cheapest outlets. In the end though, I believe customer service and support will be most important, making sure customers are getting what they are saying for. I would need employees to help manage online sales and some to manage in store sales. Also, employees to help with creativity and innovation ideas and also people with just organizing and helping keep the profits on track.

My "secret sauce" would be my connections. I have very bright people with very high educations that would be able to help get me started and also run the business. Through them, I know many people who would be interested in helping with the business or people that would give my product a try. Also they have connections who may even be interested in investing in the company. The next thing I would like to tackle would be the the design and creativity. I believe creativity is very important in this market. Assuming the launch, I would like to continue improving the product, but also innovating on other products in the same field so I would be able to sell family products that all attract the same audience, that way customers would be lying more than one item from the company.