Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept Description

Opportunity

My venture opportunity is a phone based application called Sports 4 U, abbreviated S4U. The app is meant to organize intramural sports games for college students, I would start it here at the University of Florida, to get together and have fun whenever they are available. The need lies in athletic or sport-loving college students who want to be active, have fun, and meet new people. The nature of this need is more casual. It is not a necessity in anyway but rather a commodity or an extra benefit of being a university student. With the increase in technology in today's age, almost every college student has a smartphone. Using this app they can connect better with other students and play more sports beyond what the UF intramural program offers. This app has a strong demographic because of both the widespread use of smartphones, and the push towards people leading healthier and more active lives. This market is geographically located in Gainesville and includes college aged students, both graduate and undergrad, so ages 18-22 roughly. Customers are currently satisfying this need by using the vast amount of intramural sports offered by the University of Florida. I would assume they are loyal to intramural sports but this app can only add to their experience, they do not have to stop doing intramurals through UF to use S4U. S4U works on a day-to-day basis so students can work their intramurals around playing pick-up games through the app. This is a pretty big opportunity. I have had plenty of students mention that this idea would be popular and fun. This window of opportunity should be open for a while I believe. Although there is a good demographic, it is somewhat niche.

Innovation

So my 'innovation' is a smart-phone app. It is an app made to organize intramural sports games using the sports facilities made available for use by students. You will link your profile on the app with your UF ID and can connect with students from there. Field availability will be listed and you can organize and join events on a daily basis. The revenue made from this application will come from advertising on the phone app. I will go to local Gainesville companies once the app gets big enough or use ads through the internet to make revenue.

Venture Concept

This app will solve the unmet need for sports at a moment's notice. Many intramural sports are offered only in one semester of the year, like outdoor soccer. With this app, however, you can play whatever sports you want almost any day. Students already use many fields for pick-up games but this app will help organize them and help make the process so much easier. The only competitor I can think of would be UF rec sports. However I would encourage users to get involved with both UF intramurals and the application. This app offers sports whenever while UF rec sports have them on a schedule. This app could eventually be adopted as part of the UF intramural program and then be sold to different universities! I believe I would have to enlist some employees for the technical creation and maintenance of the application, but I would hope I can learn how to manage most of the app myself, eventually.

The Three Minor Elements

I believe the idea in its self is my most important resource. It is a relatively unique idea and I should not be troubled with too much competition. Plus, it will be free for users.

The next step for my venture is to market it to additional universities in the state of Florida and beyond. I believe once this app catches on it will be super popular. First I want UF to adopt it, then I can look forward.

I hope this venture will be well established and spread across most of the country in 5 years. Maybe at that point I look internationally to Europe and beyond. This venture will be a good test for me as an entrepreneur, and depending on how it goes. I might continue as an entrepreneur into more ventures.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

1) The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the section titled 'how will innovation create value for potential customers?' The opening sentence of the section was very suprising and interesting to me. It essentially stated that even if something is innovative, if it does not induce potential customers to pay more, save them money, or provide some larger societal benefit like improved health or cleaner water, it is not creating value. This brought to my attention that not all innovation creates strong value, a very interesting idea!

2) At first the innovation landscape was a tad confusing to me. After reading the four different squares on the 'map', the idea became more clear to me. A business can either focus on technological innovation or business model innovation. This map identifies where they put their most focus out of the two. Also, the matrix can show how innovation fits with a company's existing business model and technical capabilities.

3) The first question I would ask the author is in regards to the Innovation Landscape Map. I would ask, in today's world, although it may be somewhat subjective, should a business focus primarily on business model innovation or technological innovation? Secondly, I would want to ask when crowd-sourcing becomes an issue. Because although it is a great solution to problems, I'm sure it has its downsides.

4) I believe the author did his research on innovation strategies. He also consulted other experts n the area, like the research by his Harvard Business School colleague Karim Lakhani and Lakhani's collaborate Kevin Boudreau, from the London Business School. His information was backed and throuough and offered a plethora of steps and approaches for an effective innovation strategy.

The Amazon Whisperer

Here's what you need to do: 

• Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 

The largest revenue driver for my business concept is ad revenue. Advertisers will pay me to place their ads on my intramural sports application. These advertisers will target college students.

• Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?

I believe my next product offering could be rent able pennies. So you could distinguish between teams. It could be something like a really low flat rate per game to use them. They could want this item because it would be easier to differentiate between teams. 

• Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

This next thing will enhance my service I am offering. It improves user experience  to make the intramural experience more enjoyable. Additionally, it increases customer loyalty because they will have a much better time playing and want to play again and tell their friends.

• Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.

I found some adult training mesh pennies on amazon. They come in a variety of colors and can purchased individually, in 6, or 12 packs. 

• What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?

The customer reviews place the product at a 4 star average. The majority of the product reviews are positive overall. For the lower reviews, people said the pennies were too small and not adult size and that the colors on amazon are not representative of the color pennies you will receive. For the better reviews, users claimed the jerseys were large enough for all their players, and they were comfortable. The color was described as nice and bright, and they believed the quality of the bibs were top notch. 

• Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. 

I would maybe make the pennies range in size because apparently there were some sizing issues. Other than that the pennies seem useable and good quality.

• Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.

This will essentially enhance the service I am offering to customers. It will make a solid addition to the intramural sports program. I believe this will make teams easier to organize and make the whole process more smooth. 

My Unfair Advantage

List of Resources

1) Proficiency with a smartphone
V: This resource is very valuable considering my idea is a phone app.
R: Not rare in the least
I: Not too hard to copy
N: This is a very non-substitute-able resource, my idea is smartphone-based.

2) Great People Skills
V: Very valuable as I can talk to people to advertise the app and gauge their interest
R: A relatively common resource, however some people are better at this than others.
I: Again relatively common, but sometimes hard to imitate.
N: I could substitute this resource by web-based advertising like emails or flyers

3) Good network
V: This is extremely valuable because the network of people I am in communication with from rec sports can help me immensely.
R: Not common in the least
I: Hard to imitate, a good network takes time to build
N: This is a very essential resource, no real strong substitute.

4) Financial Capital
V: Very valuable to start up the application by paying someone else to do the technical work
R: Not rare
I: Very inimitable as my idea is not that expensive
N: Non-substitute-able, unless I find a friend with the capability to do it for free.

5) Hard Work Ethic
V: Extremely valuable to produce the product efficiently and effectively
R: Can be rare
I: Hard to imitate but many people have good work ethics
N: This is a very non-substitute-able resource

6) Knowledge of Recreational Sports
V: Perhaps the most valuable resource, helps me understand my demographic and how to design my app
R: Can be relatively rare however many people at UF participate in intramural sports
I: This is not too hard to imitate
N: Very non-substitute-able, this is a vital resource

7) Student at UF
V: Very valuable to understand my demographic as well
R: Not really rare in Gainesville
I: Unless you're a student you cannot really imitate this
N: Non-substitute-able to an extent, as only UF students will most likely be using the app

8) General Business Knowledge (learned from class)
V: Quite valuable to understand how to function a business, generally
R: Not quite too rare
I: Relatively easy to imitate and learn
N: Not really substitute-able, a vital resource for a new entrepreneurial venture

9) Research Skills (learned from school)
V: Valuable to search for similar ideas and do research into my demographic
R: Relatively rare
I: Hard to imitate, takes time to learn
N: Somewhat substitute-able

10) Good knowledge of Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel
V: Very valuable to running a business. I can make presentations and flyers. I can also use Excel to keep track of number of users of the app and finances.
R: Not rare
I: Easy to imitate
N: Other applications like Photoshop could substitute, along with something like quick books to substitute for Excel

My top resource is for sure number 3, my good network. I need to thoroughly understand the demands of my demographic and I can learn this from the people I communicate within intramural sports. I can also determine the viability of the idea from hearing about their past experiences with rec sports on campus.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1) The biggest surprise for me in the reading was that there is a large preparation, perhaps the largest out of any other category, for finance. This does make sense however since the business world revolves around the management of money.
2) One part of the reading that stood out as confusing to me was the beginning part of the chapter. The introduction to how financial decisions applied to entrepreneurial ventures, as opposed to normal business endeavors, was interesting. It was crazy to me that finance is very different when delving into entrepreneurship.
3) I would ask first, what portion of financial prep is the most important for an entrepreneurial venture? Secondly I would ask how much emphasis should be put on finance as opposed to the idea itself. If the idea is innovative enough, can I focus on developing that instead of more effort put on monetary issues.
4) I do not believe the author was wrong about about anything. I agreed with the effort the author put on finance when it comes to entrepreneurship. Even if an idea is extremely innovative and effect, financial issues must still be considered.

Growing My Social Capital

1) Domain Expert
a) I chose to interview my friend Daniel who works as a referee for both intramural flag football and soccer.
b) Daniel fills the domain expert slot. Daniel fills the slot because he is familiar with recreational college sports. He understands the industry I am trying to enter and the demographic I am trying to target. Many people that play intramural sports will be very interested in pick-up sports.
c) Daniel is in my business speaking class and he actually refereed one of my intramural flag football games. I told him about the assignment and he agreed to help me out after class one time.
d) We are friends. He said he would be glad to help with my assignment. He did not expect anything in return. We also cooperate together in our business class.
e) Daniel can get me connections to talk to people higher up in the intramural program, like the director for all intramural sports. This would allow me to test if my idea would be successful with the athletic demographic I am targeting.

2) Market Expert
a) For this area I contacted another friend, Jose, who works for the Southwest Recreation Center as an athletic adviser of sorts. He helps out in the weight room and around the facilities. He knows many athletically-focused people that attend UF. Essentially he is very familiar with my target customers.
b) Jose is my market expert because he has a great understanding of my target market. He also has done 'research' with the customers interacting with them daily and finding out some of their interests and needs when it comes to athletics.
c) Jose is in my professional fraternity and I've known him and been friends with him for over a year.
d) I just talked to him about my assignment and made him aware of it. We are already friends so I did not have to do too much networking!
e) Being in contact with Jose gives me an insider look, similar to Daniel, into the market I'm trying to focus on.

3) Important Supplier
a) So I emailed a supervisor for the website IMLeagues which serves as the platform for intramural sports for colleges across the country. I asked them if they were familiar with something similar to what I wanted to offer in my app, and their opinion on the viability of the venture.
b) They fill the supplier role because they are the provider for over 1000+ intramural partners across the US, they are familiar with how to organize and provide intramural sports to people everywhere.
c) I found the person through IMLeagues and have contacted them through email.
d) I just asked if they could take some time to give me their opinion. I told them I went to UF and was active in many intramural sports. I admire the program they have, it is very useful to organize sports and I could use a similar platform for my app.
e) Including this supervisor in my network will give me an idea of how to format and go after my market. It will give me the 'supplies' to start-up my idea

Reflect:
This was a great networking opportunity to expand my knowledge into my target market. This experience will give me both great information on the customers and how to enter the market. My networking with the supplier will give me a good idea how to format my app to be effective in supplying it to my customers. This was pretty similar to my past networking experiences.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

1)

2) From my last pitch I received a lot of positive feedback. All three people who commented on my post thought my idea was viable and fun. The most important and I really think only feedback I got was to clarify my introduction a bit more. The body of my pitch was good, as peers suggested, and gave a lot of information. People said I seemed 'knowledgeable' about my app idea, Sports 4 U.

3) I adjusted my introduction to be more informative and give the viewer a more clear idea of what my entrepreneurial idea entails. I was happy to receive the positive feedback and hope to continue to develop this idea!

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1) The biggest surprise for me reading chapter 10 was that there were such a great amount of marketing challenges for the entrepreneur. Essentially, there are steps to almost every type of marketing. The author had listed over 7 steps to develop a social media marketing plan. Marketing is more complex than it may seem.

2) One part of the reading that was a bit confusing to me was the section on market research. In particular I did not fully understand the idea of guerrilla marketing until I read more into the section.

3) I would ask the author first, what section of marketing he thought was the most effective? (e.g. mobile, social media, etc.) This would allow me to develop a strong marketing campaign. Secondly I would ask, more into the mobile marketing as there are 4 steps and it is somewhat complex.

4) I believe everything the author said was accurate and was backed with research. All the sections he discussed were in depth and provided great and useful information.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) Hello! I am Austin Ham a second year Finance major at the University of Florida. I believe I have strong interpersonal and leadership skills. As for technical ability, I am well versed much of the Microsoft program realm. I have been President of both my student body and the National Honors Society at my high school. I am also in a professional fraternity on campus. My aspirations are to be in the marketing or sales department of a company to enable myself to both conduct business and interact with others. My aspirations for my app, or entrepreneurial opportunity, are to get it implemented to benefit athletic UF students and to help them meet new people and have a great time. From the feedback I received, I would want to move my app eventually to other college campuses to expand my business. 

2) I am offering an application to UF students to play pick up sports games across campus. The app would work on a day-to-day basis and serve to provide sports year-round since some intramural sports are only available during certain times of the year.

3) I am offering it to athletic UF students or anyone interested in playing pick-up sports on campus.

4) This solution will provide them with the ability to both have fun and meet new people. There are thousands of people who do not play a sport for UF but played sports in high school. This huge demographic will be very interested in this app, I believe.

5) This app is a relatively new idea and I have not heard of it in the past. It is essentially a social app for people to get together and play the sports they love. It promotes a healthy social and active lifestyle to help students meet each other and stay in shape.

I believe that the elements of my business idea fit well together. Essentially I have a large demographic, that can be found at the University of Florida, and in colleges across the country, and I have an idea to bring students together to have fun and be active. In addition the app will be free for students, giving them an even greater incentive to download and use the app. The revenue will be made through ads put on the application. 

"Feedback Memo"

The great majority of the feedback I received was positive. Everyone commenting thought it was a good idea to bring together people. Some good points were as follows. One, people thought it would be great to meet new people. Second, this app would allow people to be active and healthy. And third, they thought there was a great demographic for the app. Finally, one peer suggested to expand this to multiple universities, which is something I added to my second idea napkin. Most of my napkin was the same but I added that I would expand this idea to other areas since there is such an evident demographic.