29A – Venture Concept No. 2

My product is a hardware device that is small enough to be on a key-chain, fit in a wallet or place in a belonging that reminds you where they last were and when you are about to leave them behind. This product will make it so no one will ever lose their keys or wallet again, with just having to look at their phone with the app that comes along with the hardware device. The app will show you the last place your keys or wallet was and send you a notification when leaving without either one.

The people who I am making this product for are the people who are forgetful or lazy about the management of their keys and wallet. These people don’t feel like keeping track of their things and would want an easier way to know where their belongings are at any time they need to know.

They care about my product because personal belongings especially keys and a wallet are things we need for everyday activities from driving, riding the bus, or paying for food. Most people who need their belongings are in a hurry and must look for them in a rush before they leave their home and it causes people to be late.

My main competitor would be the company tile who shares most of my idea; however, theirs does not notify you when you have gone away from your belongings reminding you to not forget them.

My secret sauce is the use of notification to tell someone when they are forgetting something before they lose them. What will make it hard to copy is the coding that goes into my product making it more efficient and easier for customers to find their things. Next for this opportunity is the making of a version of the previous product but for living things. Like animals and small children in the form of collars and jewelry respectively. After five years or so I think I would like to sell the company for a large amount and have royalties for the products I have patented and made. Then going on to invest in other opportunities that I am interested in.

I did not receive feedback on my original post, so I changed two things that I thought needed improvement on. I first improved what I am offering by changing the wording of how it is designed. Secondly, I made it clearer on why my customers care about my product more than the competitors.

30A – Final Reflection

Throughout all my posts I seen the development of how I write and how comfortable I am now writing blogs about an idea I have or an opinion I have made about something. I see all of the mistakes I made and the growing of an entrepreneur I have become while taking this class.

The most formative experience was probably reading the biographies of famous and successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. The experience I will remember for years is the interviews of people about what they think is special about me. The most joyous experience is making this final reflection and seeing how far I have come in this course. My most proud moment was when I pushed myself to complete assignments I knew would take most of my energy and time when I could have been doing other things I enjoyed. This course was definitely my busiest course this semester.

  

At the end of this course I do feel as though I am an entrepreneur. I as well think I have created an entrepreneur mindset that will help in future endeavors with opportunities I can take advantage of.

The one recommendation I would make to a future student taking this course if to do the work a week in advance or at least plan for the work a week in advance. I recommend they have mindset of preparedness for how much work they will be given to do each week as an entrepreneur in the making.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

I intend to sell my business in the next five years for a large return. Then probably move on to another idea. The idea and concept were my own and I started this opportunity, but I feel as though it isn’t a long-term opportunity for decades to come. I honestly do think it influences my decisions on this product other than identifying the problem because I feel the opportunity was a simple problem that I found and thought it could be resolved with the technology we have today. The growth intentions were altered a little when thinking of selling this company after only a couple of years because you do not have to fully develop an opportunity into a company to sell it and make money off it. You can sell the rights and get royalty off your idea if it patented. It effects how I plan to acquire and use resources because of the risk of not selling the idea and opportunity so I should not put a lot of money into physical resources but to make it work and proof of concept be enough.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson

What surprised me the most of Steve Jobs is that he quit college to only go back and listen in on college class that he then did not get credit for. The most admirable thing about Steve Jobs is the philosophy he brought to apple which was to make products anyone can use no matter the age or experience with technology while making it elegant enough to appeal to the masses. The least admirable thing about Steve jobs is the fact that he pushed people away more than he let them in while both in his personal life and career. Steve Jobs was met with adversity and failure most of his life. From the startup of apple, the kicking of him out at the CEO position, to the family issues he had especially with his daughter.

Steve Jobs was one of the most competitive and influential tech speakers of all time. He was the perfect salesman for computers and knew it. He tried so hard to be competitive that he was even competing against his own company with other project teams to make something better and more successful.

One aspect that was a little confusing was when the author, Walter Isaacson, would dwell on and on about the temper and anger that Steve Jobs had.

Two questions I would ask Steve Jobs would be What did he think before he died apple would achieve like they did with the first iPod? and What was his favorite project throughout his time at apple?

I think that Steve Jobs’ opinion on hard work is that it is necessary and not replaceable to be successful in life. I share this opinion with Steve Jobs, but I do feel as though he made the bar very high.

26A – Celebrating Failure

I have failed multiple times while cooking this semester. It might not sound like a big deal, but I do think of myself as pretty good at cooking so when I mess up a dish or improperly cook something it resonates with me as being a failure. The two times that stick out for me when I failed at cooking was when I messed up a soup and when I did not cook potatoes fully.

The soup was going to be a cheesy and creamy soup with diced chicken, onion, carrot, and pasta. I had everything done by scratch and ready for the milk and cheese to go in. My first mistake was getting low moisture cheese which is harder to make melt. So, I added in the milk and then finally the cheese. The second mistake I made was having the temperature too high causing the already hard to melt cheese to start clumping. The fats had been boiled out of the cheese which then made the cheese into a rubbery sticky consistency. All these mistakes turned into a failure that I learned from.

The potatoe situation was a different failure this semester. Firstly, I had chopped the potatoes into a dice so that they would be easier and quicker to cook. However, I made a rookie mistake and tried to put way too much of the potatoes in the pan with onions and chopped bacon. I thought the bacon would cook down while the potatoes were cooking, and the onions would caramelize while all at the same time. Next mistake was putting paprika as one of the spices on it all making the not cooked potatoes have color. Which if you know how to cook things, you know that color means cooking. So, the combination of darkening the potatoes with paprika and the over filling of the pan made most of the potatoes not fully cooked by the time the main part of the dinner was done being made.

I have learned to not get low moisture cheese for soups, or if you do use it you need the right temperature and enough acidic elements in the soup to keep the cheese from clumping. I have also learned to not fill the pan up with a lot of something and the color should be a dark brown for potatoes not just slightly brown from spices.

I think failure is the only way we learn because if we never failed then we would go on with our day doing things that we never knew fully about. I think I handle failure emotionally and behaviorally in the sense that I become persistent in trying to fix a failure and do not like when people tell me to let a failure go because I want to learn how to fix it and better myself and change. I don’t think I am more likely to take a risk because of this class but I do feel like I can understand those risks better now that I have learned about changing and evolving one self or a product.  

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

"Have you ever forgot about your keys, or wallet while walking out to your car? Have your kids ever whined that they can’t find their stuffed animal? The stuffed animal that they take everywhere with them. My name is Zac Hoeper and my idea is a hardware device that will allow you to never lose or forget about your keys, wallet, or personal belonging ever again. It works off a Bluetooth signal that identifies exactly where the object last was. It makes it easy for you to understand that you are about to forget about your belonging. The app that comes with the hardware will push notifications to your phone when you get too far from belongings. This will help in reminding you not to forget about it. It is for those people who always misplace their things. it is easily installable to all objects, it will have a hole for key chains, it is small and thin enough for wallets and lightweight enough to not weigh your personal belongings down. Other competitors have noises that let you know exactly where your hardware devices are but my idea it will just give you simple notification with a location that doesn’t disrupt or make inconvenience. My idea is the best way to bring back the things you love."

I changed some of the wording that felt lengthened my pitch and also gave it more depth. The comments on my last last pitch was all positive and so nothing really changed from that. Even though I still feel a little nervous while making these, I do feel more confident in speaking in this last pitch than the others.

https://youtu.be/0ps0EHuU4sw

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1.       Coding experience

a.       Need it for operation of programs

b.       Not rare and inimitable

c.       Non-substitutable

2.       GIS experience

a.       Need it for operation of device

b.       Not Inimitable and not rare

c.       Non-substitutable

3.       Computer parts experience

a.       Need it for operation of device

b.       Not rare and not inimitable

c.       Non-substitutable

4.       Money for parts to prototype device

a.       Need it for starting point

b.       Not rare and not inimitable

c.       Substitute with loans or investments

5.       A college full of people to test prototype

a.       Will help with production of device

b.       Not rare or inimitable

c.       Substitute with other groups of people

6.       Professors who could help make the device

a.       Help fine tune the ideas and concept

b.       Not rare or inimitable

c.       Substitute with any higher educated people

7.       Opportunity for research grant from school

a.       Help fund making of device and labor

b.       Not rare or inimitable

c.       Non-substitutable since it is free money

8.       Engineering club that would help design / create

a.       Help with labor and ideas

b.       Not rare or imitable

c.       Substitutable for any engineering club

9.       Inventors I know can help

a.       Help with ideas and patenting

b.       Not rare or imitable

c.       Substitute with any inventor

10.   Friends and family that can invest

a.       Fund product

b.       Rare but not imitable

c.       Substitute with any money source

After conducting my VRIN analysis, I have determined that my coding experience is the most valuable and my top resource. It is my top resource because it is different for all coders depending on what coding languages they are familiar with and the style of coding they prefer.