30

1) Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

The part that sticks out to me the most is my unpleasant experience in this course. I do not like being creative nor do I like busy work that doesn’t serve a purpose to me. Joyous experience? This assignment being the last one of course. My most proud experience in this course was remembering to do some of the assignments.

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

Before this course I saw myself as an entrepreneur and I still do and don’t think this course is helpful to becoming and entrepreneur.

29 Venture Concept No. 2?

Opportunity and innovation overlap creating the venture concept but in order to get to the venture concept I must discuss the opportunity and innovation first. The opportunity of IT work is created by the shift towards the modernizing of business to stay relevant and to keep up to date with shifting trends. This market exists worldwide and is continuously growing. I believe this opportunity will continue to be around for many more years as technology dependency is constantly increasing. While this idea is not innovative it is an area in which there are not enough business to fill the entire demand of this service. To be honest I don’t know how this assignment corresponds to what I want to do and therefore creating a venture concept is difficult.  

28

Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

In the next 5 years I wouldn’t plan on selling my business as I enjoy this line of work. I would most likely keep it, assuming it is profitable still down the road, until I decide to retire. I wouldn’t keep it as a family business as I’d want my kids to choose their own future and not feel pressured into a specific line of work.

27

For this reading reflection I read Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc. The thing I admire the most about Ray Kroc, the entrepreneur, was his motivation and drive to go from a traveling salesman barely making ends meet to a massive success and a visionary. It is hard to say what I least admired about Ray Kroc as he was not a great person and, in a way, swindled the original creators of McDonalds out of their own business/idea but his business always came first which is admirable in its own right. A core competency that Ray Kroc had, going back to his roots, was being an excellent salesman. Ray Kroc was able to sell the idea of McDonalds to millions of people, customers nationwide and the franchise owners who invested in him and his idea of what a fast food burger joint should be. I highly recommend this book and the movie The Founder if you are interested in the story of McDonalds and being an entrepreneur.

26

Over the course of the semester I have been going to the climbing gym twice a week. Climbing requires many skills and the ability to plan how to climb routes. Almost every Tuesday I’ll work on new routes that were set and continuously fail each time leaning something new about it and how to conquer the task at hand. Each time you get on that wall you improve your footwork, hand placement, grip style, the dynamic and static motions, and the overall pattern you should climb. Then Fridays I’ll go back and combine all the nuances for that specific climb and attempt to finish it. The failures on Tuesdays always hype me up to get the climbs done the next time I climb. Also, every failure results in a learning experience and you can continuously clean up and improve your technique.

Personally, I find my own failures amusing and always strive to improve and correct them. For example, freshman year I was in chm2045 and I absolutely hate chemistry and am awful at it and I’ll be honest I didn’t put much work into the class and didn’t study for the final because my calculus final was more important to me. But to get to the point here I got an E in the course, E is not exceptional but rather an F, and I honest was amused when I got that course grade and am perfectly fine telling people that. I retook the course and studied much harder and got a B. Failure is inevitable, but it is just how you deal with it and correct it.

25A?

Existing Market. 

In terms of products and services, I don’t know what’s next. Each customer has different needs and will need different hardware and or services provided.

To be honest I have no clue who to interview or where to find people to interview. I’d assume they would tell me to begin marketing myself and business to my target customers.

New Market.

Again, I don’t know what to write about. I am not an imaginative person nor am I creative. I like many things but thinking up new ideas is not for me.

23A

• Generate a list of all of the resources in your venture (produce a list of at least 10 resources that you already possess). This can include your human capital, social capital, financial capital, and capabilities. You may also discuss the organizational culture you intend to create (but, obviously, it's not a resource that you have, now.) 

  Human capital because I have the skills, knowledge, and experience in the IT field from internships and previous jobs. This is extremely value in todays business world since many people do not have very good computer hardware and software knowledge.

  Financial Capital from friends and family. Every few weeks a good friend of mine calls me and asks what ideas I have and when can he fund them. This is replicable if other people want to start this business, but they might not be able to gather funds as quickly and easily.  

  I have the necessary equipment needed to start an IT business. This is very important because you need high end computer hardware to run an IT business.

  (Insert 7 more) yeah I got nothing else 

  After conducting the VRIN analysis, determine what your top resource is. Explain why it's more important to your venture than all of the other resources.

  My top resource is readily available funds to start a business. Sometimes the most challenging part of starting a business is gathering the necessary funding to begin and absorb the startup costs without being in debt.

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

For this assignment I read Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker.

• What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The book has a general theme of how innovation and entrepreneurship are fueled by failure, risk, and achievement.

• How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book had many important key points that will help enhance my entrepreneur skills. This is one of the best quotes from the book, “The unexpected failure demands that you go out, look around, and listen. Failure should always be considered a symptom of an innovative opportunity, and taken seriously as such.”

• If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

 

The book greatly discusses the risks associated with being an entrepreneur as well as how many entrepreneurs don’t know what it really means to be an entrepreneur. So the assignment would be to outline the risks associated with being an entrepreneur and your thoughts on how some of those can be avoided.

20A

Who they are and what their background is.

Mark – Head of IT at CUNY in NYC – Domain Expert

Matt – Possible business investor – Market Expert

A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

These people are not new people like the assignment called for but they are both well connected and great sources of networking.

How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

Including both of these people in my network will greatly improve my odds of starting a new business. Knowing an IT person that is very high up the chain will help teach me things that I am still new to in this field. Also, knowing someone with cash ready to invest and with thousands of local business contacts will help spread the word about my business allowing me to expand faster than many other small companies.

19A

You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically, regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

Who am I? I am a person with an affinity towards tinkering and problem solving. Ever since I was a young kid I was taking things apart just to see what’s inside and why/how they work. Over the years I have taken apart and fixed boat and jetski engines among other various problems, fixed broken electronics, built pcs, and became a self-taught IT guy. All of these skills show my natural ability to problem solve and learn something new. Furthermore, these skills greatly help with my plans to start an IT business.  

What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

I would offer a wide variety of services for my customers ranging from simple IT tasks to complex tasks.

Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Customers will pay for the service I will offer for a simple reason, growth. Modern information systems are more important than ever for growing a business.

What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

One key point I believe sets me apart from others in the IT field is my natural passion for it. Another thing that sets me apart is my college degree. I am not majoring in ISOM like most other IT students. I am getting an economics and marketing degree which will help me run a successful business and help my customers. I have interned for 4 years at an IT firm to show that I am qualified for the IT field without the specific college degree.

13A

1.

What surprised you the most?

The thing that surprised me the most about Elon Musk is how dedicated he is to his companies. There were many occasions that he has slept in the tesla factory to be there if there were any problems that needed to be addressed immediately.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

The thing I admire most is his ambition. He is always pushing the boundary with his ideas and innovating along the way.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, Elon Musk encountered adversity and failure on many occasions such as the model x falcon wing doors not working properly and delaying the cars release by an entire year and also the falcon landing that failed and exploded many times. He was able to solve these issues by constantly trying new approaches to fixing the problem as well as receiving help from the engineers around him.

 

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

I noticed all these entrepreneurship competencies

Initiative.

Systematic planning.

Creativity and innovation.

Risk taking and Risk Management.

Problem solving.

Persistence.

Quality performance.

Information management.

 

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I personally thought the reading was very clear and don’t recall anything confusing me.

14A

1. In order to be successful in this course you must exhibit certain behaviors. This course mainly requires you to be disciplined. Every week you need to remember to do your assignments and try not to leave it until the day it is due every week as I have done. Another behavior you need to develop would be the ability to think differently to set you apart as an entrepreneur. This allows you to have creative answers, good ideas about business opportunities, and how to act on your ideas.
2. I can not speak about this portion as I have not developed a tenacious attitude towards course work for this entrepreneurship course. For the pitch video assignment, I read it and then decided it was too much work to get done in the short time I had left to get it done. This is why I can not speak about this.
3. Three tips to take this course:

Leave time to generate ideas before completing the assignment

Stay disciplined on watching lectures and doing assignments

Develop a tenacious mindset anyway you think you can for this course

12A

For this assignment I was unable to interview people as I have been sick all week.

If I did interview people I’d imagine many small business owners would be aware of the need of IT services for their business. I believe many small business owners have looked into setting up many of the services I’d offer to do and have not gotten around to it or have Googled it and determined they cannot or do not want to do it themselves. Most of what I offer is easily found online but reading instructions and actually being able to perform many of the tasks are two different things. Therefore, I’m sure many business owners are aware of the need in this field.

11A

1.    Who am I? I am Matthew Ilich from Long Island, New York. My skills range from handyman to boat mechanic to IT guy. Anything hands on with the problem I enjoy, problem solving on the spot. Along with my affinity to problem solve, I have always loved tinkering with computers and am a self-taught IT guy. I have worked many summers as an IT intern for a local firm back at home doing local IT support services. My aspirations include starting a small IT firm for local business to use and growing my small business idea into a thriving one.

2.    I am offering a variety of services to small business to allow them to be in the modern age and help them grow. Services ranging from simple network setups for customers to use in the store to installing modernized operations equipment and software.

3.    I will be offering this service to anyone in the general are of where I decide to move after I finish school in a couple of months.

4.    Why do they care? Running a small business is a matter of fine margins and modernizing your business is integral to success in these days.

5.    Something that sets me apart from others in this field is that I have been doing this since I was 7 years old for my dad’s business. I did things such as building him a new website to help generate more interest in his products, built him custom desktop computers that allowed him to run the latest versions of cad software’s to sketch product renders in a faster manner for his customers and employees to make dies for. I also setup up his local network with a server for all the employees to be able to access the files from any computer around the office and in the factory. This is what I believe sets me apart from others in this field.

8A – Solving The Problem

A solution to the opportunity mentioned in the previous post is simple. Start small with some business that you know the owners and show them what you can do. Then grow your business from there. Once you have a business send flyers to all local business to see if you get some interviews. If you get some calls then you’ll need to sell them on the idea of modernizing their business.

7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

The opportunity I would like to peruse as mentioned in a previous assignment is onsite and offsite IT services for small and local businesses. This is needed because many small and local businesses do not have the proper training and systems in place to modernize their business. This includes wifi for customers, pos systems, crm software, etc. These systems mentioned are integral for a small business to grow, succeed, and stay organized. For this assignment I spoke with two friends of mine about how the systems I put in place for their small business have helped them grow. Mr. Shane mentioned that his real estate business is now the top realtor on Long Island. I set up crm software for his business allowing him to send out hundreds of thousands of email with a single click promoting his current listings. I also spoke with a friend who runs a small business that makes custom invitations and party goods for the massive long island bar-mitzvah and sweet 16 scene. A couple of years ago I set up a central server for them to use to have all employee’s data stored in one location. I also setup their routers and ethernet switches to make sure everyone was properly connected to the network. These are just two examples to further my thinking that this is a valid business venture that could present a great opportunity.   

5A

·       N.C. may regret weakening its building codes in 2013

·       https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=stp%3ANewspaper%21Newspaper/country%3AUSA%21USA&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=1&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=problem&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=or&val-base-1=trouble&fld-base-1=alltext&docref=news/16E6CE432991CCC8

·       This story discusses the reasons why North Carolina has not updated its building codes to keep process on homes down, increasing demand, as well as how this can be a bad thing. It goes on to discuss the International Code Council, a Washington-based nonprofit that releases new guidelines every three years to improve safety in homes.

·       The state and homebuyers are the ones who have the problem. The state wants to keep costs down as an incentive to live there but are feeling the pressure from advocate groups for building safety. Furthermore the people have the problem because they are the ones buying the homes lacking the latest safety guidelines.

 

 

·       Study shows BPA substitutes may cause same health issues as the original

·       https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=stp%3ANewspaper%21Newspaper/country%3AUSA%21USA&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=2&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=problem&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=or&val-base-1=trouble&fld-base-1=alltext&docref=news/16E6E76E316CB9A8

·       The story talks about the problems associated with BPA and why it is not used anymore. Then it goes on to talk about the alternative that is now used BPS, and how it is still leaking chemicals into foods and drinks and has not solved the problem of BPA packaging.

·       This is a big problem for companies using BPS packaging for food and beverages as well as consumers who are unknowingly putting chemicals in their body.

 

 

·       Shaky South Carolina dams haven't been repaired since 2015

·       https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=stp%3ANewspaper%21Newspaper/country%3AUSA%21USA&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=2&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=problem&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=or&val-base-1=trouble&fld-base-1=alltext&docref=news/16E6E18443424A20

·       This article discusses many problems associated with the condition that dams in South Carolina are in. “Potentially thousands of S.C. dams are vulnerable to damage or failure as Hurricane Florence approaches.” Furthermore, it says the “2015 flood exposed South Carolina as having one of the nation's worst dam oversight programs.”

·       The people of South Carolina have this problem because many dams in SC hold animal waste from entering the waterways. If that happened it would be detrimental to the environment and the water supply of SC.

 

 

·       Should Realtors’ ethics violations be revealed to the public?

·       https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=stp%3ANewspaper%21Newspaper/country%3AUSA%21USA&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=8&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=problem&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=or&val-base-1=trouble&fld-base-1=alltext&docref=news/16E6EEE082A49AF0

·       This article talks about problems associated with some realtors. It goes on discuss how there should be a way to check a realtors standing and see if they have committed any violations to effect their clients.

·       This is a problem for people buying and selling property with realtors and finding out after the fact that their realtor didn’t act in their best interest.

 

 

·       Legal battle brews over 2017 clean energy funding sweeps

·       https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=stp%3ANewspaper%21Newspaper/country%3AUSA%21USA&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=12&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=problem&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=or&val-base-1=trouble&fld-base-1=alltext&docref=news/16E6C8406ED5E9F8

·       This article discusses how there is inquiry into where funds designated for clean energy went. They mention that funds may have been improperly used to address the energy company budget deficit. 

·       This is a problem because part of the money that people paid to the energy company was supposed to go to clean energy implementation plans in the area.

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

The first opportunity related to regulatory change is the generic EpiPen market. (https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm617173.htm) This topic is well reported on due to the lack of availability of name brand epipens.  (https://abcnews.go.com/Health/epipen-shortage-generic-version/story?id=57288176) These reports made me believe there is an opportunity here because the shortage needs to be filled. While I do not need epipens I have done research on generic epipens, for investing purposes, and found that the FDA has started approving generic epipens which will increase the opportunity in the market. The protypical customer for the product will be epipen users.

Another good opportunity related to regulatory change is the marijuana industry. With Canada set to legalize recreational marijuana in October, there have been many economic and regulatory opportunities associated with it. An example of this would be Constellation Brands heavily investing in Canopy Growth Corp since it is set to become legal. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2018/08/20/what-constellation-brands-massive-investment-in-canopy-growth-corp-means-for-both-companies/#6ced610373df) Furthermore, anyone can invest in marijuana companies on stock exchanges, giving people a great economic opportunity. I see the opportunity in this as well because it is a new market with massive potential to rapidly expand.

The second opportunity relating to economic trends would be the current bull market that we are in and should continue to be in. (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/11/jeff-saut-bull-market-should-have-another-7-to-8-years-left.html) This gives people a great opportunity to invest in stocks and take advantage of this economic opportunity. I know this opportunity exists due to my personal stock portfolio being up more than 60% in the last 10 months.

4A – Forming an Opportunity Belief

1.       I definitely believe that an opportunity exists in many fields including the local business IT field.

2.       The unmet need I will be writing about is technology services for smaller local business that don’t have their own “tech guy” for their business’s. The need comes from modernization of business, keeping digital records, running websites, the general need for technology upgrades, etc. This need has existed for the last 20 years or so and is continually growing as more and more people become reliant on technology. 

3.       The prototypical customer is a small local business owner that wants to modernize their operation.

4.       One prototypical customer I spoke with runs a commercial real estate company on Long Island.

What is the exact nature of the need?

They needed a customer logging software set up to keep a record of all the people they spoke with as they are always potential customers to buy commercial real estate.

When did they become aware of the need -- that is, do they experience their need all the time or only sometimes?

As the business grew they realized keeping all the people logged in the memo app on their phone was getting increasingly difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, every employee would have a different list of clients making it difficult to actually know the total number of contacts they had. That being said they need the customer relations software all the time to keep the business organized.

How long have they had the need?

They have had the need since their business has grown from a new business venture into the top realtor on Long Island.

When did they first become aware of their need?

According to Mr. Shane, the owner, they first became aware of their need for a CRM software when they tried making a shared document between the office for all their contacts to be put on and it turned into a giant disorganized mess.

Why? How are they currently addressing their need?

The current solution in place for the business is a cloud CRM software that is accessible for all employees and is cross platform so it’ll work on all devices.

How satisfied are they with this solution?

They are very satisfied with the CRM software that I set them up on and are continually adding new contacts to it. Furthermore, they were extremely happy with the email blast feature that automatically sends new listings to all their contacts.

5.       I learned that there is always something within a company that can be improved no matter what area it is in. The most surprising thing I learned is how desperately some companies need someone to just come in once in awhile and make sure all their computer systems are running smoothly.

7. How much of your original opportunity is still there?

                The original opportunity I mentioned is still there at the same level.

Do you believe that your new opportunity is more accurate than when you started?

                I mentioned a business I currently operate in so I believe my original opportunity is accurate.

How much do you think entrepreneurs should 'adapt' their opportunities based on customer feedback? (In other words, is there a trade-off between adapting and staying firm?)

Entrepreneurs should always listen to their customers’ feedback to constantly improve their service and make sure they are giving their customers exactly what they need.

3A – Your Entrepreneurship Story

There have been many times in my life where I have been exposed to entrepreneurship and been an entrepreneur myself. I have had many small business ventures myself and for this assignment I will mention one of them. While in high school I began doing computer work for my family and friends’ companies.  This what the beginning of my small computer consulting business. While I only worked for a hand full of local places I was able to help them with their technology needs. This included a range of tasks including building custom desktops to tackle a certain work flow, setting up new computers, setting up their local area network and servers, and on two or three occasions setting up CRM software to help them grow their business. The companies I worked for ranged from commercial real estate firms to steel manufacturing business which shows that there was a niche market that needed to be filled there. To this day, even being a thousand miles from home, I get phone calls with questions about how to get something working or set up. This may be a very small personal computer consulting business, but it is still a great example of entrepreneurship.

I enrolled in ENT3003 due to the simple fact that it was listed as one of the approved electives for my major and it is online making it fit my busy schedule.

Custom PC built for a client Summer 2018

2A: Bug List

1. Floridian Drivers (I’m from New York)

a. Not sure why this “bug” exists but it does. 

2. Assignments that are tedious with no purpose.

a. Professors feel they have to assign work even if there is no purpose to it

3. The cell data service on campus is slow in saturated areas such as the stadium on game day.

a. This bug exists due to the underlying cell technology. As a cell tower has more users connected to it, the service gets slower/worse for everyone using it. 

4. Going to a doctor’s appointment and having to wait awhile after your appointment time to see the doctor

a. This exists due to the overbooking of doctors to increase the bottom line

5. Going to the DMV because you’ll be the for hours and accomplish a simple task that should take 5 minutes

a. This happens because they are under staffed and the staff they do have tend to have no clue what they are doing

6. When your flight lands and there are no open gates to park at

a. Poor planning at the airport and by the airlines 

7. Driving somewhere and being stuck at a dead stop in traffic and you can see your destination

a. Overcrowding of the roadways and poor infrastructure 

8. Food delivery fees from restaurants

a. Not sure why it exists…maybe a lack of competition. In New York most places offer free delivery unlike Gainesville which has delivery fees up to $6.49

9. The chair lift stopping when you are on your way to the top and you sit there freezing

a. This exists because incompetent people fall while getting off the chair lift.  

10. Overpriced resale tickets for a sporting event. 

a. People buy up tickets at face value with no intention of going and then sell them for a profit. 

11. Tickets for rolling through a stop sign when no one is around. On Long Island stop signs are “stoptional”

a. This problem exists when people are very impatient. 

12. The weather is completely wrong and says it will be sunny out and it is a complete downpour.

a. There are many variables that are hard to predict making a weather forecast inaccurate many times. 

13. Waiting for people who were supposed to be ready at a certain time and can never actually be ready on time

a. Some people are terribly slow and can never be on time

14. The Gainesville busses never arriving at the time the app says they will

a. There are many factors why this happens

15. Working on a climbing route and the next time you are at the gym the wall has been re-set

a. Rock walls are re-set on a random unscheduled basis most of the time. Therefore you don’t know how long you have to work on certain routes.

16. Thinking of things that bug me definitely bugs me

a. This exists due to this assignment. 

17. Walking to the kitchen and finding out someone drank the last cup of coffee in the pot

a. Lazy roommates not wanting to make their own coffee

18. ProctorU technical difficulties during an exam

a. This exists because ProctorU is a terrible product 

19. When there are numerous checkout lines and only a few are open

a. Understaffing 

20. Ordering something on Amazon prime and it doesn’t show up in 2 days

a. Shipping logistical problems tend to cause this. 

I definitely found this assignment to be tedious and difficult. I never actually think of things that bug me until something actually happens and I decide it is bugging me.

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