Final Reflection

1. This course over the summer has flown by faster than I expected. Reading back to the first few posts that I did, I can really see a change in how I approach new ideas and how I formulate thoughts to fit into this entrepreneurial mindset that this class has been teaching me. This class definitely had its ups and downs. From the thought-provoking assignments of creating your own opportunity, to the dreadful interviews with tons of people, this class has definitely been an experience that has made me a better student and person.

2. The most formative experience was the actual process of identifying an opportunity and someones unmet need, and slowly develop that into my own business idea. One experience that I will for sure remember is practicing my elevator pitch to my family. A joyous experience was all the positive feedbacks I received from my peers at the end of the class where I presented by finalized business concept.

3. I definitely think I have developed more of that entrepreneur mindset. I have learned to think things outside the traditional way and to embrace failure. Overall I have developed a way of thinking that I did not have before taking this class.

4. Some recommendations for future students in this class is to be prepared. There have been times where unexpected events pop up that will hinder you from doing the assignments. Since this class is structured in a unique way where everything can be done beforehand, use that to your advantage. Also, to have fun and don't be afraid to be unconventional with your ideas. One thing I enjoyed the most about this class was that most of the assignments gave the students the freedom to take it to whichever direction they wanted. This class provides you with opportunities to receive feedback on your wildest ideas, so definitely free feel to think outside the box.

                                            

Venture Concept 2

Venture Concept for EZPark v.2

Opportunity 

• The group of people that has the need that my idea is seeking to meet are people that drive on college campuses are often run into the issue of having a hard time finding parking spaces. This can be students, professors, staff, faculties, etc. The nature of the need is based on the person's desire to spend time and allocate the time spent looking for open spots on something that they find more meaningful. 
• The forces in the environment that are creating this need are the increasing amount of population and the limited amount of land for parking spots to be created. 
• Geographically, the market will be defined within the boundaries of populated areas, specifically college campuses. Demographically, the market will cater towards typical college students age from 18-28.
• The customers are currently satisfying the need by doing short cups such as risking a ticket to park somewhere illegally, or paying a lot of money for a spot near by the school and walking. They are not loyal to their current situation and are very willing to look and adapt if new ways occur. 
• The opportunity is fairly big as the issue of parking will only continue to get worse if the status quo remains the same and nothing changes.
• The window of opportunity will be open as long as people are still struggling to find parking in the traditional way.

Innovation 

• My innovation that seeks to meet the customers need about parking is an application that allows the users to see near by vacant parking spots that are most recent. By utilizing locational services as well working with the school to log all the parking spots on campus, the app will have a system where users can mark a spot as either taken/vacant. The app will also utilize a time stamp as to how long ago the spot was marked vacant to provide users the most accurate and updated version of the parking spots. Users to encouraged through a reward system to mark the spots as they use to app as a way to self-maintain the system and keep it updated. I have surveyed the main group of people that I want to cater this app to, and overwhelmingly the people liked the idea but they said they wouldn't want to pay for the app. The way for my idea to make money is to have brands such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Nike, Chipotle; brands that are popular among college students to have their ads as well as their brand being part of the rewards to pay the business to advertise as the main source of income. Although it might be difficult for a start up business to gain the attention of big brands like those listed, that is where my social capital in having connections would help.

Venture 

• My innovation will address the opportunity I identified because people are tired of looking for spots by just driving around and wasting their time. It provides the users with a faster and easier way to find parking. Especially in a period of time where technology is so accessible for everyone, an application that seeks to solve one of the most common yet traditional issue in a modern way that also provides the users with rewards is the reason why customers will want this application/ 
• Customers will want to switch to this method because it will save them time and is overall a more conventional way to solve their problem. It won't be hard for them to switch at all because all they need to do is download the app. 
• The competitor could possibly be the city of Gainesville and their street parking decal. The weaknesses for those is that is costs quite a bit of money and street parking is sometimes far from campus. 
• Only customer experience play in my business concept because the application is reliant and the users to follow the mechanisms. 
• I would organize the business in a small but cohesive way. Few technician and programmer to ensure that the application is running efficiently at all times, as well as a few people catered towards getting sponsorships. When hiring, I would prefer those people to have access to cars and be able to drive just for the times where we need the application to be accurate. 

Reflection 

• I think my most important resources are the human/social capital, the large amount of customers that are ready and present for the idea to launch, as well as my personal connections that will make the process of branding and reaching out to other businesses so much easier.
• I want to tackle cities if the idea works well first at college campuses, and then keep moving on to larger populations.
• I want to continue to develop ideas despite if this current one succeeds or fails. This first venture provided me with great background and backbone to how businesses work and what mindset is needed to do well.

Feedback reflection/Changes 

• One major feedback I received from people was that my approach of hiring drivers to go around campus and help the application be as accurate as possible in terms of parking spots wasn't the most cost effective approach. I thought this opinion was extremely valid so I reflected that change it in the business structure part. I took out hiring drivers but instead would prefer to hire people in the positions that I need such as programmers to have the ability to drive. This way if I really need people to drive around campus, I wouldn't have to spend an extra paycheck just for people to drive.
• Another concern that was voiced was that although my idea of having sponsorships and ad was a good idea, it will be hard to get those brands to work with a new business. To fix that, I added the social capital that I had listed for the growing your capital assignment where one of my experts had direct connections with big corporate brands.