Elevator Pitch No. 3

Link: https://youtu.be/W1ZQDZQurDg

Feedback:
I didn't actually receive any feedback since my last video but I made sure to make a catchy but concise hook and to also have different levels in pitch to show interest in the product.

What did you change:
Initially in my first video I was very frantic when talking and had a long intro but have since reduced the duration of the introduction and made sure to talk fluently and clearly while also remaining interesting in my tone and refraining from becoming monotone.

Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1. 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.) Conduct a "VRIN" analysis for each resource. That is, describe, for each resource, how it is valuable, rare, inimitable (how hard it is to copy by others), and non-substitutable (are there other resources that can provide the same benefits?). Remember, not ALL resources will measure up well. That's OK. You just need one. 

1. Drive
V - A strong drive makes you work for what you want and make whatever decisions necessary to meet your goal.
R - Not super rare the degree of the drive does definitely differ among people and the strongest of drives is extremely rare and brings success.
I - Drive is not imitable, you either have a drive to succeed or you don't.
N - There is no substitute for a strong drive, without a strong drive you will try the utmost to succeed.

2. Organization
V - Strong organizational skills allow a business to be organized and keep up with a hectic schedule without letting something fall through the cracks.
R - Not very rare since many people have the skill.
I - Is imitable since anyone can decide to dedicate time to increasing their organizational skills.
N - There is a substitute since you could hire someone to help with the organization.

3. Financial Knowledge
V - As a Finance major I will have extensive knowledge of the Finance field which is a huge plus in the development of a business.
R - Fairly rare since not many people graduate from college especially with a Finance degree.
I - Is imitable if someone dedicates the time to learning finance which can take upward of 4-8 years.
N - No other substitute exists for having strong Financial knowledge unless you hire someone who has gone through the training.

4. Strong Contacts
V - It's not what you know but who you know.
R - Not extremely rare but still rare enough to have a strong impact.
I - Is not imitable because it depends on the person and the connections they have made through past experiences.
N - There is no substitute for having strong connections. You can be the smartest person in the world but if you have no good connections than you will not go as far as you could.

5. Creativity
V - Creativity makes products stand out and show a certain level of inventiveness which customers value.
R - Not everyone has a level of creativity that allows a company to really show off its differences among the competitors.
I - Each person's creativity is not imitable because everyone's brain functions differently.
N - No other substitute exists for a person's creativity when it comes to a business viewpoint.

6. Stock Experience
V - Allows to know which markets are being valued highly which helps when deciding advertising goals for the business.
R - Pretty rare since most people do not work with or have experience with stocks.
I - Is imitable by other people who also have experience working with stocks.
N - No substitute exists for having experience predicting the stock market.

7. Charm
V - Having good charm allows for making better connections and therefor relationships which is important for any business.
R - Most people do not have good charm and having this is a huge advantage in making relationships.
I - You can't imitate charm because you either have it or you don't.
N - Charm cannot be substituted when trying to form relationships.

8. Can remain unattached emotionally
V - Although it is good to get very involved if you get too emotionally involved with people you have worked with than it can take a toll on your success.
R - Very rare since most people grow fast emotional connections when working with people.
I - You can't imitate this quality since it is a personality trait.
N - Cannot be substituted.

9. Strong Advertisers
V - Having strong advertisement makes your product stick up among others and makes people choose your product over your competitors.
R - Only some companies really stand out as having great advertisement campaigns.
I - Can be imitated by other companies that decide to follow a similar advertising campaign.
N - Can be substituted with other ways of bringing attention to your product.

10. Organizational Culture
V -Intend to have  a culture organized around having success while also seeing failures as a stepping stone into finding even greater success as a business.
R - Somewhat rare since many companies implode when success isn't immediately achieved.
I - Can be imitated by other companies who adapt the same approach to the culture of the organization.
N - Can be substituted by other cultures but may not prove to have the same levels of effectiveness.


2. 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.
The most important resource would be my personal drive. Having a strong drive is the key to achieving success in a venture and nothing is truly more valuable. With a strong drive you can make sure that nothing gets in your way and that you will take whatever paths necessary and dedicate as much time as necessary to achieve the desired results.

It's Who You Know, Not What You Know

Person 1

1) Who they are and what their background is.
Shannon Richardson who is a manager at the Target back where I live at home.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
She would be the domain expert since a retail outlet such as target is where I would plan to sell my product to the public.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
My aunt knows her through work and gave me her number which allowed me to come in contact with her.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
I called her and asked her about the basic stuff such as how many typical hangers they have to go through and how many a typical person would buy at a single time.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
It would help give me a contact who is involved at Target which is a retailer that I could see my product being sold at.

Person 2

1) Who they are and what their background is.
Bill Springs

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
Bill would fill the slot of market expert since he works at Amazon in the Finance department and would bring knowledge to me about customer research for the majority of my market.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
I called Amazon and asked if there was any way they could get me in contact with anyone who knew something about hangers and they politely gave me Bill's email address which allowed me to make contact with him.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
I emailed Bill asking him about the sales generated from selling shorts hangers and the average amount of shorts hangers sold per customer to allow me to see if the people need a sturdier shorts hanger.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
Having a big contact at Amazon is always great to have since Amazon is one of the fastest growing companies and has recently dominated the market.

Person 3

1) Who they are and what their background is.
Sasha Ibrahem and she is the account manager over at storesupply which is a major shorts hanger supplier.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
Sasha definitely fills the slot of supplier since she is the account manager at a major supplier for shorts hangers.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
I found the person by researching the web for people involved with the supply of shorts hangers and I found her email address listed on her websites page.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
I emailed her asking about how well she thinks the new product would do in the market and she said she was doubtful since there are just so many different people who produce clothing hangers but there was an off chance that the product could work.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
This gives me a clear contact to a person involved with shorts hangers which is a big boon for my business plan.

This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?
This experience gave me some valuable contacts and some courage I needed to be able to spread myself out and make new and valuable contacts. It differed a lot since I had no prior connections to the majority of the people I interviewed so it felt pretty strange going into open waters with no knowledge of what was gonna happen.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) 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?
My name is Andrew Szatkowski and I am a third year Finance major at the University of Florida. My talents involve having a very fast learning curve, extensive knowledge about computers, and also have a talent for recognizing a good idea when it is mentioned. My skills lie with computers and also I have some experience swimming and working out at a nationally competitive level in the past back in high school. I also have experience with working in a restaurant and teaching swimming to people of all ages along with life guarding since I have been guarding for the past three summers down at an Olympic training facility in Coral Springs, Florida. My main aspiration has always been to be monetarily successful in life and a lot of decisions I have made have been in an effort to meet this aspiration. I also aspire to be the best at whatever I do when I do go out into the work force since I want my name to be known when talking about a certain profession. I mainly see this business being a secondary thing in my life and serving as more as a hobby rather than the main source of work for myself. My intent is to make the majority of my success through successful financial analysis rather than this business idea but of course if the business took off I would transition my resources over more towards the business rather than my main job at the time.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 
The product that I am offering to customers is a new type of shorts hanger that does not snap or break when shorts are ripped or pulled off the hanger when the release clips are not being pressed down on. The shorts hangers of today are extremely flimsy and often when pulled on break without much stress being put upon them. The idea of the new design is to allow customers to spend slightly more money when buying new hangers but having to go out and buy new replacement hangers less often thus saving money for the customer in the long run.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psycho-graphic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?
The main demographic that this product will be offered towards is parents who have children. These parents value saving money in the long run and do not mind spending a little bit more money to get a better product that will save money in the future. These parents also value their time since they do not want to have to be going out to the store getting hanger replacements.

4) 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. 
As explained in the previous question the customers will value their time and money when purchasing this product. They will see the long term benefits of purchasing a more durable product and will not mind spending a little bit more money initially in order to save money and the hassle of going to the store in the long run.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 
My core competencies are my strong drive to succeed when I am very passionate about something I am working on. Usually I do not put all of my effort forth but when I want something I give it my all and usually find success in it. A strong drive is necessary to succeed in the world and I believe that I have one of the strongest drives out there when it comes to finding success in what I am passionate about. I have my own pride and nobody else can know what that kind of pride is and this pride helps me find success.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 
I believe all of these five elements gel quite well together into one cohesive business concept that I actually believe has a lot of potential for success. In order to succeed in an entrepreneurial venture there needs to be a good business idea along with a strong drive to see that idea find success and I personally believe that both of these aspects are present in this concept. Success relies heavily on the drive of the person behind the concept and I see myself as someone who has all the right qualities to find success in a business venture. I am not scared to break out from my norms and take risks in order to see results and this will put me ahead of others.

Reading Reflection No. 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big - by Scott Adams

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The book talked a lot about being selfish in a good light. Adams explained how energy was the most important way to find success in life whether this be eating healthy and correctly or exercising daily. Another way to increase the energy to help yourself is getting plenty of sleep and avoiding unnecessary stress. Adams also explains goals vs systems and says that goals are demotivating because you are in a constant state of failure until that goal is reached. Adams suggests to work on a system where you make sure to follow a routine and just succeed at following the routine rather than reaching a goal. The last main point that he makes is about the levels of selfishness and that the number one person you should be focused on taking care of is yourself through proper health and keeping up good finances. If you don't take care of yourself first through health or finances than you will just end up being a burden upon others. One of the last points he makes throughout the book is to always look to acquire new skills because the new skills can help increase your chance of success in life.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
This book actually ended up being a lot more useful for me than I thought it would be since I was just picking a book at random and reading it for some assignment. Adams really made some solid points about life being a bulls-eye with you in the middle and then everyone else spreading out around you. I've always been taught to put others ahead of myself since I grew up through the Catholic education and I never realized that if I didn't put my own health first that I could end up just being a burden upon others. By putting myself first I can better my own life and then proceed to affect those around me in a positive way. This new way of thinking will really help me out and definitely enhances the class.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
The exercise would involve first asking whether you tend to plan goals or systems in most of your every day life. Then ask the students to plan a system out for a routine in their lives and have them talk about how they intend to follow that routine and how they see the system improving their own health or lessening the stress in their day to day life.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
Be selfish. When I started reading the book and kept reading about how being selfish is important to find success I was honestly shocked but Adams went through great lengths to explain his reasoning and by the end of the book I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points he was making. Not only this but when he started to talk about passion I was also surprised. Adams explained that passion does not lead to success but it more being the other way around. If you continue to find failure in what you are passionate about you will lose that passion over time and I found that to be really true.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

Elevator Pitch

Link in case not working: https://youtu.be/d4NgshynqQQ

Reflection
I did not get much in the form of negative feedback but one of the few critiques I did receive was that in my original pitch my intro was too long. Too long of an intro can bore audience members and lose the appeal of the product since most people do not enjoy listening to a man ramble on about nonsense and hangers. They want to hear the meat of the subject and what the goal of the product is and how it will improve their lives.

Changes
Due to my previous critique my goal was keeping the intro shorter but also the same effectiveness. I also made sure to maintain a slow and steady speaking pace while also delivering all of the necessary information to the audience members.

What’s Your Secret Sauce?

Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique
1. Skill with technology
I am very handy with the computer and have even built two computers of my own and am also very familiar with the most popular compute applications such as Microsoft office and some of the adobe products such as Photoshop.

2. Easy Going
I try and not take things too seriously which gives me an easy going attitude and this makes me very open to some ideas along with laughing about mistakes that are made.

3. Strong Drive
I find myself having a stronger drive than most people but only when it comes to stuff that I am passionate about. I could care less about things I don't find important but when I have a goal in mind nothing will stop me from achieving it.

4. Likable
This one is hard to explain since some people just have this quality to them and I think I am on of them. People just seem to like me and maybe its because of my easy going personality or I don't know what but most people just seem to not feel worried about me too much.

5. Strategist
I think I plan out stuff a lot before I go and actually do something and sometimes this is good but other times bad. Having a good strategy is usually a good idea in the business area though and I think I excel at analyzing the situation at hand and thinking about the best solution for myself even if others may have different ideas.

Interviews
Interview 1: Nick
In my interview with Nick he explained how some of my unique human capital involved my analytical skills and basic general knowledge of stuff. He also went on to explain my skills with computers and how that sets me apart since he sees me as very technological. He said how I built my own computer even though I am not a computer science major and how that shows good things about my handling of technology.
https://soundcloud.com/user-781625843/interview-1

Interview 2: Alex
In my interview with Alex he opened up by saying how I could talk to anyone and always be nice and open with anyone I talked to. He went on to explain how I am a good leader and always make sure to include everyone while considering their strengths. Along with Nick he expressed my analytical skills and skills with building computers.
https://soundcloud.com/user-781625843/interview-2

Interview 3: Mom
My mom started off explaining how I had an exceptional memory and how it helps with my knowledge base. She also went on to explain how I am unique in that I use both side of my brains using creativity and scientific. She then said I was naturally curious and explained how I resourceful in finding the answers to my questions. Then she continued talking about how I could keep my emotions in check and how I have a good poker face and play my cards close to my hand which is good for the business world. Very driven once I set my mind to something including both my swimming and my school work.
https://soundcloud.com/user-781625843/recording-2

Interview 4: Aunt Cathy
My Aunt Cathy took the question through a more business mindset since she is a bit of an entrepreneur herself and runs the business. She saw some of my potential and explained that one of the most important parts of being an entrepreneur and a quality that I have is a strong drive. She went on to explain how I have certain qualities that make me likable to some people. She also said how I don't commit myself too emotionally which is a good thing since you want to be personable but not too emotionally attached.
https://soundcloud.com/user-781625843/recording-4

Interview 5: Brother
He explained how I was very smart and kind of a role model for him while going through school. He also explained how I can be headstrong and even a bit stubborn at times. He was quick to mention that sometimes being stubborn isn't a bad thing since when I put my mind to something it will get done.
https://soundcloud.com/user-781625843/recording-3

Differences
There are a few differences between the way I saw my human capital and the way the people I interviewed saw my human capital. The most noticeable was probably my reserved emotions and my really headstrong attitude. Both my mom and aunt said I could be reserved at times which isn't a bad thing but can actually help out in the business world. My brother made sure to mention how headstrong I could be because I am sure he has been on the opposite end of an argument with me more times than I care to count. I would change my list and make sure to put reserved and extremely headstrong since the majority of my family came to an agreement on the subject.

Create a Customer Avatar

Customer Avatar

The prototypical customer for the selected market segment would be a parent this case a father. This father is 40 and has two teen boys living at home, non of which are adopted, and hes an average middle class worker. This dad enjoys getting off of work and having a drink or two when he gets home and sometimes will play some video games with his kids. He drives a silver 2015 Toyota Camry to and from work and enjoys watching Game of Thrones. He is a Trump kind of man although he doesn't agree with everything he does. He enjoys reading Stephen King novels at night after his wife falls asleep. He feels pretty bored since he is doing the same thing everyday but he also loves the decisions hes made and wouldn't do it any other way. 

What do you have in common with the customer avatar? 

Both me and the prototypical customer have a couple of things in common. We both enjoy watching Game of Thrones and I slightly enjoy Stephen King novel's even though I usually do not read or want to spend the time reading very thick novels.

If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think that is a coincidence? Why?

No it's not a coincidence considering I just made up the avatar on the spot based on my own personal experiences. Since it is based on my experiences I just wrote down what I felt was right and therefore some common things exist between me and the avatar.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

1) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them.
Person 1: A mother of age 56 who has to raise two sons on her own.
Person 2: A father age 46 with four daughters and a son.
Person 3: A mother age 35 with one son.

2) Begin with alternative evaluation.
I already found out from my past interviews that the majority of people would have found out about the new hanger product by doing research while looking for new hangers on the internet. All three of the customers interviewed did not care too much about the style of the hanger since the only thing its used for is to hang shorts. The father with four daughters and a son showed a lot of concern about the price of the product since he explained that he had to shop for so many people that cost was the main concern for him. The other two customers were split between quality and price since they wanted a durable hanger but explained how they didn't wish to pay an absorbent cost just for a replacement hanger.

3) How/where do they buy?
The interviewed customers on how they would go about purchasing the items. They all agreed that it would be convenient to have them at local stores such as Target and Walmart so they could just pick them up while getting other groceries or items for school. They also thought the internet and more in particular Amazon would be a good place to purchase the product. With Amazon Prime free shipping many people do easy shopping online and with the delivery only taking two days it saves the time of having to drive out and go to the store.

4) Post-purchase evaluation. 
Since the hanger is aimed to be more durable towards shorts being pulled off the hanger the customers all agreed that the products longevity and usefulness would be the main factors when determining the rating of the product. If the product broke just like any other hanger than they said that they would feel cheated out of spending extra money on a hanger that broke doing what it was supposed to do.

5) Report the findings.
Customer one was very aware of the issue that the shorts hangers break when her sons would pull the shorts right off the rack. She explained how she wanted a more durable hanger and wouldn't mind paying a little extra for a working hanger. Customer two was more concerned with the cost savings he would receive from purchasing the new product. Customer three pretty much agreed with customer one.

6) Draw conclusions.
In conclusion the majority of people would prefer to purchase at a brick and mortar store and have the product be a mix between durable and cheap.

Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 
The biggest behavior I have developed to help keep up with the course is the better use of time management skills. The class actually takes a lot of time between the lectures and the weekly BLOG posts along with the comments on your fellow classmates blog posts. I have had to learn how to divide my time between this class and other classes. This is a great skill to develop since time management is important at all points in life even outside of this course and can be applied to future courses or even future jobs and endeavors.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?
The main moment throughout this course that I thought about giving up was during our most recent assignment regarding the reading reflection. I did not realize we had to read an entire book about an autobiography of a person of our choice until about two days before the assignment was due. I was freaking out cause all I could think was that it's impossible to read a book like this in two days and so I almost took the 0 for the points that week. But once I read through the list I recognized Steve Jobs and having seen the movie about him already I felt a pull to learn more about this entrepreneur that has started one of the most successful companies in the world. I buckled down and started reading and I actually found myself enjoying the book and I was actually able to finish the book in about one day because I just enjoyed it that much. Being able to sit down and really kick out a problem is something I have had to learn to be able to do at my time at UF since so many classes require massive amounts of work to be done with either homework or constant studying.

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?
1. Sit down and get it done:
For me, I personally found it to be the best when I would just sit down and do all of the assignment for the weeks at the same time. Just sit down and get it done with.

2. Think for yourself:
Your ideas are your own and you should use them to benefit yourself. If everyone had the same ideas and cared about what others thought than many entrepreneurs would not be where they are today. If you have an idea and you think its awesome and can find a group that would want your idea then pursue it.

3. Get out there:
During your assignments some may ask you to go out and interview a number of people. Go out there and ask real people about your ideas and get honest opinions so you can help better shape the idea that you have created.