29A – Venture Concept

Venture Opportunity

Opportunity

Every year there are a few hundred thousand students that take standardized tests such as the GRE/GMAT/MCAT/LSAT in order to gain admittance into graduate schools and programs. Most of these students are undergraduate college students between the ages of 18-25. Additionally, there are more college students than ever before, and the number is projected to increase in the next few years. With an increased competitiveness in the job market today, more students are looking than ever before to continue their education beyond a bachelor’s degree. This leaves an opportunity for companies to create products that help students prepare for graduate level exams.

This market is not geographically locked to any area, as there are college graduate programs all across the nation, and there are students from each state that take the GRE/GMAT/MCAT/LSAT. However, there are states which are more populated with colleges and students that we will be focusing on: Namely the West, the Northeast, and the Southeast.

The market is constantly renewing itself with inflows of new college students and graduate applicants every year, and the window of opportunity is likely to stay open.

Innovation

The product that I am selling is a software called TestKits and will help students in their preparation for taking standardized tests for graduate program admittance. TestKits will be sold in four editions:

1.       GRE TestKit

2.       GMAT TestKit

3.       MCAT TestKit

4.       LSAT TestKit

Within each TestKit are numerous practice exams that draw from a large testbank of questions that are similar to the standardized test.

However, the real value of TestKits is the feedback loop that not only grades completed practice exams, but also tracks the user’s right and wrong answers and shows them statistics on areas they need to improve on. The feedback loop provides value for students because it allows its users to know which question types they struggle on, where they need to work on time-management, and how to answer questions they got wrong.

TestKits will all be sold at a flat rate of $199 online as a downloadable software purchase. Each TestKit will come with 8-10 fully equipped practice exams, however customers will have the ability to request an expansion of 5 more practice tests for an $49 fee.

Venture Concept

The value added in my TestKits innovation lies within the feedback loop. It solves a problem that many students studying for these standardized tests face somewhere along there exam preparation: “What areas do I really need to improve on and how can I maximize my study time so I’m studying efficiently”? So many times students who are preparing for these exams will only practice the areas that they are good at, or they don’t realize the areas that they need to improve in.

For example, let’s take the quantitative section of the GMAT exam. The quantitative section of the GMAT is made up of math and logic questions that range from algebra to geometry. It’s also split up into two types of question types: Problem-Solving and Data-Sufficiency problems. If a student completes a practice exam on his own and finds out that he missed many answers on the quantitative section, he has to go back by hand and check each question to find out which he got wrong, what the subject of it was, and what the question type was. However, the feedback loop on TestKits will automatically do that for its users, as well as keep track of their scores over time to show them their progress over time.

The main reason that customers would switch to TestKits compared to a traditional tutoring or exam preparation service is because it is offered at a cheaper price than 1-on-1 private tutoring and that it allows students to study at their own pace rather than following a schedule. It also provides value because it allows students to actually practice taking standardized exams in a simulation that is real as can be.

Three minor Elements

1.       My most important competitive advantage, or “secret sauce” is that I’m still a college student, and so I sympathize more with the needs of students my age. As a student who just went through his own period of exam preparation for the GMAT, I know that this product will benefit many students preparing for Grad school

2.       What’s next for my venture is to expand internationally. India comes first to mind and is the first area that TestKits plans to branch its marketing efforts towards after it achieves success domestically. We chose India because the number of people taking the GRE and GMAT in India is increasing at a growing rate every year.

3.       If possible, I would like to stay with TestKits as long as possible. I believe that the value for me is that I’m helping students achieve more in life, and that is worth more than money to me.

Feedback and What I changed (Reflections)

My final venture concept changed a lot from the beginning of the semester. Instead of targeting Universities and College classrooms, I instead chose to transform my product so that it would target students who are preparing to take standardized tests for graduate school admittance. I chose to do this because it makes a lot more sense logistically wise, and because my market became more defined. Additionally, I KNOW that every student in their exam preparation phase would benefit from the feedback loop implementation because they are practicing the same TYPE of questions over and over again in preparation for these exams.

I have my feedback to thank for giving me the idea for this product shift. I had never considered it until a few people that I’ve interviewed brought up the idea and some of my peers in my group thought it was a great idea too.

30A – Final Reflection

1) Reflecting through my posts from this semester. 

It was really fun to read through my posts throughout the semester. I had a lot of fun thinking about my venture concept every week and also reading through the concepts of my peers. The blog-style assignments worked as a great format for the class - even though ENT3003 is offered as an online class, I still felt engaged with my classmates. Together, we helped each other out with our individual ventures. 

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? 

It was definitely finding and conducting interviews that made up my most formative experience. Before, I've taken classes where I've had to survey people across campus. Usually this requires only a quick exchanging of words. However, this semester was the first time that I've had the opportunity to actually sit down, interview, and get to know some of my interviewees. I've even picked up a friend or two that I still talk to today thanks to ENT3003.

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?

Sort of. I feel like I have a great understanding of what the entrepreneurial mindset is made of thanks to ENT3003, however, I don't think my own entrepreneurial mindset has developed much nor do I see myself much as an entrepreneur. I believe that the only real way to forge this mindset is to go out and practice it in real life. 

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

For you future students - try to keep up with this class as best as possible, and don't let it sit on the backburner of your mind until the last minute. Its easy to forget assignment due dates, so foster the mindset of completing your assignments early in the week rather than waiting till the last minute.

28A - Exit Strategy

I plan to stay with my business until it fails or until I retire. I strongly believe that my vision to change the test-taking experience is more valuable to me than money. The feedback loop for exams will help hundreds of thousands of students and teachers across the nation. My product will help students realize their needed areas of improvement and simultaneously allow teachers to evaluate their teaching effectiveness as well. My updated version of the scantron test will ultimately make the original scantron's obsolete, and I predict that it will eventually take over the market share.

I chose this particular exit strategy because I believe in my product, and I want to be apart of its growth. I stand strong with my vision to improve the college education experience across the globe by adding value for both students and teachers. Although I do have the option of selling my product to Scantron Corporation itself, I think the company will eventually be successful on its own, and that it can directly compete with Scantron Corporation.

My decision to keep the company will definitely influence the path I will make in my concept. As far as growth intentions, I will think more about how my decisions will benefit the company in the long-term.

27A - Reading Reflection 3

For my 3rd Reading Reflection, I chose to review Grinding it Out: The Making of Mcdonald's by Ray Kroc and Robert Anderson.

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?
• Ray Kroc was not the one who founded McDonald's, but he was the one that turned it into the monster franchise that it is today. McDonald's was originally founded by the McDonald's brothers - Richard and Maurice in San Bernardino, California. 
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• His ability to recognize the franchising opportunity of McDonald's and his risk-tasking personality. I also admired his dedication to up-keeping the consistency in quality within each McDonald's franchise.
• 
  
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• Ray Kroc was a risk-taker, but he was also somewhat of a shark. He was a ruthless opportunist, and eventually drove out the McDonald's brothers from their own business. 
• After selling the fast-food franchise to Kroc, the brothers were allowed to keep their original store in San Bernardino. Yet, Kroc was annoyed by this and sought out his revenge by opening a McDonald's right across the street that eventually drove the brother's restaurant completely out of business. 
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• Yes, Ray Kroc took huge risks to pursue his dream, even risking his personal life to do so. In the beginning, Kroc leveraged his house as collateral for a bank loan without telling his wife, in order to start franchising. 

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

I was very impressed by Ray Kroc's ability to see the massive opportunity within McDonald's. The McDonald's brothers transformed fast-food into a whole new concept that was based on speed, lower prices, and volume. The brothers developed a more efficient internal operations system, known as the "Speedee Service System", that allowed McDonald's to prepare its food quickly and even ahead of orders. 

Immediately upon his visit to the San Berardino restaurant in 1954, Kroc was impressed by the business model and saw the opportunity to franchise the restaurant across the nation. Kroc didn't wait - he bought the rights to franchise McDonald's within the next year.

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

There was a lot of strife in the relationship between Ray Kroc and the McDonald's brothers once Kroc expanded the McDonald's with his franchising efforts. The friction between the two parties only grew worse overtime. On a basic level, Kroc and the McDonald's brothers held different philosophies about how to run the business. Kroc, an aggressive salesman, wanted to expand the business across the nation opening as many franchises as he could. The Brothers, who were more conservative, wanted less franchises in order to ensure quality in each franchise. In Grinding it Out, Kroc even wrote that "it was almost as if they (McDonald's brothers) were hoping I would fail". 

The reason why I found this confusing was that I wanted to know why it was so difficult for them to see eye-to-eye. Had there been more face-to-face meetings between the two parties, they could have come to some sort of compromise.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

1. What are the traits that made you so successful as a franchisee salesman?
2. Do you have any regrets?

I want to ask these 2 questions because I think they are related. I believe part of the reason why Kroc was so successful as a salesman was due to his ruthlessness. Kroc has definitely made decisions that are controversial, but many of them were key decisions towards his success

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think Kroc's definition of hard work is to never stop working. Once Kroc recognized the opportunity, he was working nonstop around the clock to grow the McDonald's franchise. Even taking risks to his personal life, Kroc completely tunnel-visioned in his goal.

While I don't agree with all of Kroc's methods, I do believe that in order to achieve the level of success that Kroc had, one must be as completely focused on achieving a goal as Kroc was.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed 

This past semester I've experienced my fair share of failure both inside and outside the classroom.

Within ENT3003, there were several times where I missed an assignment due date. I think it was because I underestimated the class. Originally, I thought keeping up with a blog would be a simple task. However, I often found myself in situations where I would either forget to write a post or stress out on a Friday night trying to write all of my blog posts at once. Each time this would happen, I would make a promise to myself that I wouldn't make the same mistake the next week and that I would complete the assignments once they were released. Yet, I failed to uphold this promise to myself multiple times throughout the semester, and my grade has likely suffered because of it.

I've experienced failure outside of the classroom as well. This semester was a stressful period because I've been applying to companies to find a summer internship. I've managed to lock down a few interviews, but I've yet to receive anything positive from any of the companies I've applied to. It's a difficult period filled with self-doubt and worry, but I'm determined not to give up.


2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

From my failures within ENT3003, I've learned the importance of being proactive and managing time. I would have missed assignments less frequently had I planned ahead and budgeted time earlier in the week to complete blog posts. I've also learned that I tend to underestimate tasks that I think are easy, and that I leave these tasks on the back-burner of my mind until the last minute. 

From my failures outside of the classroom, I've learned a lot about myself and the way that I present myself to other people. Specifically, I need to improve my engagement within an interview setting. Additionally, I've learned the importance of never giving up - my performance in every interview is better than the last, and I know that I'll eventually land an internship with this trend in improvement. 


3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. 


I've never been the type of person that takes failure to heart. For example, I never try to beat myself up for my shortcomings, and I always try to view every failure as a learning experience. Of course, each failure stings in the beginning, but I've learned over the years to view failure as inspiration to improve. This class has definitely made me realize that my mindset on failure is healthy and productive. 

25A - What's Next

Existing Market

Currently, my Scantron Feedback product is only targeted towards Colleges and Universities within the state of Florida. The next logical step is to target Colleges and Universities throughout the nation, starting with introducing my product to schools throughout the Southeast region of the United States.

Some have asked me why I don't target the K-12 market within Florida instead. The reason is because I think it would be difficult to convince the schooling board that governs K-12 spending throughout Florida.

In the past few days, I've interviewed 3 of my closest friends who also happen to be vested customers of my product. Together, we agreed that targeting other Colleges throughout the Southeast region would be the next best plan of action. They also gave me the impression that targeting K12 in Florida would be a difficult process with great costs.


New Market

Since my product is currently a B2B product (targeting Colleges/Universities), the new market would be turning my product into a B2C product.

I've interviewed 2 people at the University of Florida that helped me decide how pivoting my product into B2C would work. Here's what we came up with:

The feedback loop could be applied to standardized tests that College students have to take in order to pursue graduate school. For example, there are hundreds of thousands of students across the nation taking the GRE, GMAT, MCAT, LSAT throughout the year. If I can apply my feedback product to practice exams for these standardized tests, I could create value for all of these students.


Reflection

I'm really glad that I went out to interview people for my "New Market" segment of this assignment. It was a difficult task coming up with an idea of my own to pivot my product to a B2C. However, I like the idea of shifting the feedback loop to standardized tests a lot. Instead of selling my product to Universities, I can target a larger audience if I target individual students. This market never runs dry since there are students who take the GRE/GMAT/MCAT/LSAT every year.

23A - My Venture's Unfair Advantage

My business idea is a great opportunity, and I believe that I possess the necessary resources to realize my venture.

10 Resources that I already posses

1. Network
• V: 
• A strong network will always benefit an entrepreneur in his/her venture, my strong network will allow me to reach out to others who posses skills that I don't have and can help me with my venture
• R:
• Rare because not every individual has a strong network. Networks take a long time and a lot of effort to develop
• I
• Every individual will have a different network
• N
• A strong network is non-replacable
2. Human Capital
• V
• For my feedback idea, I would need human capital to compensate for the skills that I lack, including test knowledge and programming skills
• R
• Every individual has a certain set of skills, and no one is an expert at everything
• I
• Same as above: people have different skills that contribute to a team
• N
• Replaceable if I could learn all the skills myself, but it would require a lot of time and effort
3. Leadership
• V
• The success of any company or group falls upon the strength of the leadership. I strongly believe that I hold the experience and knowledge to be a good leader for this type of venture
• R
• It takes a certain personality and level of experience to become a leader
• I
• Same as above
• N
• I could hire a manager for my company, but he/she would have to share the same vision as I do, and I would have to train him/her which would take time and effort
4. Work Experience
• V
• Work experience is important to develop a good work ethic. Entrepreneurs often have to work around the clock. Work experience is also important because it develops empathy for the entrepreneur's employees
• R
• Work experience is not as rare as the other skills
• I
• Not important
• N
• Mostly everyone that I work with will have previous work experience
5. Access to Consumers
• V
• I have direct access to my main consumer base of college students since I'm still an undergrad student at the University of Florida
• R
• Only a certain percentage of the US population are in college right now
• I
• I will naturally relate better to the needs of College students
• N
• Most of all workers will be college aged students
6. Corporate Culture
• V
• A corporate culture is, in my opinion, the most important aspect of any company. Corporate culture unites all workers under leadership working towards one goal and vision
• R
• Its extremely rare for a company to have a good corporate culture where every employee feels their impact and contribution
• I
• A good corporate culture is irreplaceable and changes over time with leadership
• N
• Good corporate culture cannot be bought, it has to be taught and practiced
7. Large market 
• V
• Since my product is targeted towards college students, my market is large and growing. More families are sending their kids to college than ever before, meaning that more students will be looking to use my services
• R
• I'm fortunate that my market is large, as other companies target cannot capture that big of a market
• I
• Same as Above
• N
• Market is not something that any individual or company can influence 
8. Communication Skills
• V
• Important in order to network out to schools, professionals, and workers
• R
• Communication skills are rare these days, and it takes a certain personality and experience to have developed communication skills
• I
• same as above
• N
• Communication skills are the most important for the leadership roles
9. Ability to recognize opportunity
• V
• Important in order to take advantage of situations and take the company further than originally planned. 
• R
• Rare skill not found in many individuals, but found in almost all entrepreneurs
• I
• Same as above
• N
• Required for all leadership roles, not as important for low level workers but would be an added bonus
10. Able to acquire financial backing
• V
• Project cannot get launched unless there is initial financial capital available
• R
• Not as rare
• I
• Can be found from many sources
• N
• Not rare but needed

Out of all of the resources that I have listed above, I believe that #6 is the most important. All of the others are either replaceable or can be taught, but corporate culture comes from me as a leader, and takes a lot of time to develop. I have to be able to start the company off on the right foot, and unite all my workers under one vision from the start.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

About Me:

I am a fourth-year Finance student at the University of Florida. As someone who has been a part of Florida's schooling system for the past 16 years, it is safe to say that I have taken a fair amount of Scantron tests throughout the years. Through my experience, I've noticed that there are many aspects of Scantron-style tests that could be improved upon to enhance the test-taking experience for both students and instructors. One of these aspects is the addition of a feedback loop, and I plan to capitalize on this opportunity as the center of my business model. I will use the skills I have learned in my Computer Programming class as well as my Excel certification class to create the software needed to run the feedback loop.

Whether my Business plan fails or succeeds, I believe that the plan will play a role in continuing my understanding of starting a business and understanding of the mindset of entrepreneurs, both of which will contribute to my dream of pursuing a career in Management Consulting.

What I am offering to Customers:

I am offering to students a new test-taking experience. Students will no longer have to wait days to receive their Scantron test scores, nor do they have to check their answers to know their weak test-taking areas. My product also helps to eliminate student's need to visit Professor office hours to review test answers.

-

I am offering to Instructors more demographics of their students' performance. Such information is invaluable to instructors as it tells them which subjects their students are struggling to understand and thus which areas the instructor needs to focus on.

Who I am offering to:

I am offering my product to students and instructors who are driven in their personal improvement and invested in their teaching and education. Students who care about getting the most out of their education will find my product valuable as it tells them their needed areas of improvement. Instructors who care about improving their teaching style and maximizing student performance will also find value in my product through the statistics and demographics it provides.


Why do they care:

Schools and Universities will be willing to pay money for my product because it will improve the test-taking experience for both students and instructors. As a result, my product may potentially improve a school's rating by increasing the performance and engagement of students and instructors.

What are my Core Competencies:

Since I am still a College student, I sympathize with the needs of my peers and instructors more-so than one who is not currently enrolled in University. Therefore, I have closer proximity to my consumer base. Rather than using channels to collect consumer data, I can directly communicate with my consumers simply by scheduling professor office hours or talking to students in Turlington.


Feedback Memo

I didn't receive any negative or critical feedback from my last napkin post; however, for my own personal feedback, I think it is necessary for me to figure out whether I will be selling to the teachers/students themselves or the University/School. I will need to do some research in seeing how difficult it is to sell to teachers/students directly as opposed to a University/School as well as how many target customers are in each

I believe that my core competencies, my skills that I've learned at my time at UF, as well as my driven mindset will give me all the tools I need to figure these steps out moving forward.

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

I believe I have a strong grasp on what my target customer looks like and what his/her values are.

The main users of my products are College students who are passionate about learning and achieving high marks on their tests and classes. These are the students who want to know what they got wrong on their tests and learn as much as they can from their mistakes.

On any average day, you'll find most of my customers at a campus library, nose deep into a textbook studying for a test and writing notes (or past out from exhaustion like Ross below)

I have most things in common with my Customer Avatar - in fact, I would even consider myself part of my target customer market since I am a student at the University of Florida that is passionate about learning and growth

17a Pitch Round 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rchyi5TCvg

I did not receive many criticisms on my original pitch; however, I improved my pitch by being more clear about my product as well as mentioning the value that the feedback loop provides for instructors. I also worked on improving my hook. Let me know what other areas I can improve!

16A - What's your Secret Sauce

My Unique Qualities

1.  Goal Oriented

•  With everything that I pursue in life, I like to set short-term and long-term goals while using some sort of measurable benchmark to make sure that I'm on track. I believe that this is my strongest trait that I carry as a leader

2. Organized

• Through serving many leadership roles in the past, I've developed my organizational skills. I incorporate my organizational skills in my daily life by using multiple planners to stay on top of obligations

3. Tunnel - Visioned

• This is a trait that has a good and bad side. While its easy for me to tunnel-vision on a task in order to quickly finish, its difficult for me to focus on multiple tasks at once

4. Competitive

• I believe a sense of competitiveness is healthy and necessary in order to succeed in the business world - and especially when pursuing entrepreneurship. At the end of the day, an entrepreneur's company has to beat out its competition in order to stay ahead.

5.  Open Minded

•  Its important to always keep the mind open to new ideas. Stagnancy and complacency kills companies as they fail to innovate. I'm never the type of person to religiously stick to one view point.

Interviews - 5 UF students

I asked each interviewee: "what is 1 character trait that I have that makes me a good leader"

Interview 1 - Male

• This interviewee responded with "Confidence". He expressed that I come off as a very confident person, and my confidence draws others near me and makes them want to listen to what I have to say

Interview 2 - Female

• This interviewee responded with "Charisma". She expressed that I have a natural charm as a leader and that it was almost natural that I achieved a leadership position in the organization that we're both involved in

Interview 3 - Female

• This interviewee responded with "Personable". She expressed that I'm approachable and easy to talk to. In her interview, she mentioned that I have an ability to make light of dark situations, an ability that is useful for keeping group morale high.

Interview 4 - Female

• This interviewee responded with "Objectivity". She expressed that I'm able to remove myself emotionally from situations in order to think objectively and rationally to come to a conclusion. She said that this a trait that she rarely finds in people and that it is a trait necessary to succeed as a leader.

Interview 5 - Male 

• This interviewee responded with " Persistent". He expressed that through the years he has known me, he has always been impressed by my inability to give up in pursuit of a goal - no matter how many times I've been knocked down.

Reflections

I believe that all of the traits listed either by me or those interviewed are accurate, and I would not go back to my original list to make any corrections. However, I was surprised that there were no similarities between the two lists. I found it interesting that most of the traits listed by the interviewees are traits dealing with my personality or behavior, whereas all of the traits in my own list are skills that I believe I carry