Final Reflection

1) Looking back, I have had a lot more fun than I though I would with this course. It was much more informative than I thought and I am thankful for the outlook it gave me on making a venture in anything from business concept to investing. Sometimes, the assignments were a little annoying when I was really busy throughout the week but overall I liked the format of them.

2) I think interviewing people and having them drill my ideas was the most formative experience.I enjoyed and I am proud of being able to think of ideas to make up for and get around the things that was week in my idea.

3) I definitely think I have improved my entrepreneurial mindset with some good thought processes and outlooks on how to make certain businesses more viable and successful.

4) I recommend that people actually try to take these a little more seriously and learn from them. Try to apply them not just to this, but other ventures in your life. That way you can walk away with a very worth while experience.

Venture Concept 2

Opportunity: The world needs to be cleaner and recycle more to be able to be sustainable. Also smaller businesses need better advertising that can be delivered to customers more efficiently. I think everyone needs it and overall it would really help, both the businesses and the environment. This will also label the businesses as do well companies that work hard to help the world.

Innovation: My business partners and advertises for small companies are tries to get more representation around Gainesville and hands it right into the hands of the customers in return for coupons and things like that. This also allows us to hire volunteer work by students or offer internships.

Venture: It aims to help the world by starting in gainseville and taking off from the ground by the help and donations from companies. I could extend it and include some more established companies because they would give more support and money.

Final Points: Our advantages include being a do good company and having cheaper work. Advertisements is always needed so the service provided efficiently with a good message behind it. I think there is a lot of potential behind stronger more established companies and it would be very beneficial for me.

Final point: My advantages include good marketing skills and experience in this area across many stores and companies. I also have good connections with alot of places and students so I could run it and get it started quickly.

Whats next: to expand to possibly other cities and places to make this better known and a more famous company. In like 10 years I would want to hand the ownership to someone else but retain intellectual property and check in to make sure it is running at full potential.

Based on my feedback, I have seen that there is alot of good and opportunities in partnering with other bigger companies and utilizing their connections. I also think they could better support the business.

Exit Strategy

My exit strategy is to hand over command to someone but retain rights and control of majority of the company. This kind of venture could continue growing. I learned that a small bug could turn into a huge opportunity. I also learned that both social and human capital together can make a venture very important and loving to people.

Reading Reflection 3

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

-What surprised me greatly is how long the wright brothers pursued their dream of flying. 10 years is so long. Anyone doing that for 10 years is very admirable.

- What I least admired was the fact that they isolated themselves for so long. That couldn't be healthy.

- Wilbur's accident set them back and had them a little unattentive to studies and other issues. Even still, they did not see any kind of goal as unattainable. I love that mindset and outlook.  I also cannot believe how much people fought the wright brothers' dream about flying.

- I would want to ask the wright brothers if they felt the time go by slow or fast. Was it boring or did they feel the time fly by. Also, I would want to know what it took to convince people of their product after it was finished. I would not want to work for so long for no one to believe in what I made or fight it.

- they're opinion on hard work must be that dedication is one of the central and most powerful factors.

Celebrating failure

Car confusion

1) This semester, my car's clutch system stopped working and I realized that there was a leak somewhere after research. I had someone take my car taken to someone and fix it when I was overseas to come back and find that the issue was not resolved. One day it would not work anymore, so I decided I would learn and fix it on my own. I could not afford the Honda shop price, and I do not trust mechanics anymore. After more detective work, I found the master clutch cylinder leaking. I bought a new one and began the annoying process of replacing it. It took hours or learning what went where and how to fish it out (my car is annoying). After putting the new one in, I learned I missed a crucial step, bench bleeding it. I had to take it back out and rig a home made tool to bleed it and install it back in the car. Throughout the process, I also hated how many runs to stores I had to make because of missing parts.

2) I learned everything there is to learn about my hydraulic clutch system and how to take out a majority of it. The actual clutch is in the transmission and it was not necessary to fix it.\

3) Throughout the process, I had gone back and forth so many times and learned so much about cars, how they work, and hydraulic clutch systems. In the process, I got super frustrated and angry, and I was running out of time as well because I had exams coming up. I took a break from it and came back later and finished it almost immediately, especially because I knew what to do and what I needed. It did not take too long after. This class and its lessons taught made me analyze opportunities better and how to analyze my risk better.

What's Next

The existing Market:
 Advertisement otherwise is on tv, radio, newspaper, and flyers. None of which have the same ability to directly market like my company. Everyone I interviewed said the same thing, they do not use any of those and when they do they get frustrated and stop using it. Coupon books and things like that are much better.
Everyone I interviewed said the same thing. Lord knows no one is scouring a newspaper, we stream music so the radio is a waste, and flyers get thrown out and are not as constant. People want to see a company that can come at set times to bring them the advertisement coupons and possibly offer other kinds of rewards for the recycling they do
Based on that we know that we need to innovate to get more than just coupons and advertisements with us. Maybe loyalty and reward programs for both people and companies.

The new market:
A very weird venture would be to target established and powerful entities that do not need help with marketing. This means things like Dominos, Verizon, Netflix etc. These companies could be better reaching to less affluent places and possibly hooking them up with discounts they need and that could help them get influence on a broader range of people.
For this to work better though, the targets have to become richer. This program would have to reach out to more rich areas that can take advantage of more expensive products. My interviewees said that a partnership with a large powerful company to bring them better deals would be amazing. It would be highly sought after to receive the deals.

I learned that this idea could be reached out to bigger companies, but has to get traction first and build a name for itself and climb the ranks. It is not impossible but pretty difficult to achieve overall. The new market seems to have a larger appeal if I could reach it. More money from bigger companies, with more drive from the people I deliver to. It sounds amazing, but again I need to be good enough so that I am a viable option to them.

Venture Concept 1: GreenVille

Opportunity: The world needs to become more sustainable and cleaner, and to drive this mission, companies invest in us in return for advertisement with a good message. The world has a need to be clean and business owners need widespread and good marketing. It is critical. The opportunity is large and will be open for a long time because this world needs to get cleaner and change soon.

Innovation: This service will bring people marketing in the form of usable coupons in return for recycling, and those who want to be marketed invest in us in order to have their company marketed and spread with good message. I would be selling a marketing service to a company ranging from 500-1000 a month, and extra charges to put company name on our cars.

Concept: The big point of this company is being a do good brand that markets for local companies to bring them in customers through our amazing direct marketing. A topic that has worldwide importance and attention can surely catch and take off pretty quickly. I do not doubt that it will get all the support and popularity it needs, with it being first of its kind here.

Whats next for the company is to make it more popularized and spread it to more regions and places so that it can receive even more support. Whats next for me is to make sure the finances are used to maximum capacity, make sure the volunteering sector is filling properly, and to continue making more deals with more businesses.

My Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources that I possess and their VRIN rating is below:

1) Me as an Experienced Leader: I have worked in many different levels of customer service and selling and know how to market. My knowledge human interpersonal skill, interaction, and selling anything is hard to find. Rare, but imitable.
2) Help from so many people here. from my involvement in organizations and other things at and outside UF, I have so many connections and people ready to help me out and assist me.
3) Intel on how large companies run and manage fund. I have run a small business of buying and selling. Also, I worked with MetroPCS corporate as marketing assistance.
4) I have many organizations at my disposal to fund-raise and spread the word. Fundraising is free money that I do not have to repay. That is not very rare though.
5) Connections to many franchises. I think many rich kids have this though with family connections.
6) Message and connection to people that care about this world while also still applying to monetary benefit. This is value, rare with what this company is doing, and could be imitable but is hard.
7) I could have alot of free labor as volunteers from university or college. This is rare for a startup to have so many possible volunteers right away, and hard to imitate and is very valuable
8) This has capability of spreading to many places that hear about it because it benefits LOCAL companies with a good message on top of that. Rare, not very imitable, and is very valuable.
9) Capability of hiring many people to the different branches of this company. This means that we can have so many different backgrounds and disciplines helping us in so many different sectors right off startup. Valuable, rare, but imitable.
10) Worldwide effect with some of the goals it accomplishes. Rare, very valuable in eyes of many, not imitable and not disposable.
None of there are really disposable.

Most resourceful asset is being a company that has a mission that is so appreciated and one that people will get behind.

Elevator Pitch 3

https://youtu.be/D8A0Uk2r53A

I learned that with these things I need to get to a the point quicker and in a more concise ways with emphasis on the overall plan rather than the hook. That is what I did this time. I should just stop changing it so much.

Reading Reflection 2

1) How to Fail Almost Everything and Still Win Big. It essentially tells us that you cannot be successful by following a step by step guide. It comes from making mistakes and watching others helps you minimize mistakes.

2) A large point in the book is that failure is normal and essential to learning and to growth. One cannot always be winning over and over. I applied this to my business that we started because when you get bad criticism you just take it and help you to make a better plan.

3) This book highlights some of the basic skills needed for success of a business, and I would make an assignment that talks about ones strengths and weaknesses and whether they can help or not in a real setting.

4) The biggest moment in the book was how Adam said that passion is not it to be successful. You need the energy in you so that you can turn that passion into more than just a feeling. I agree because although I am passionate about my sciences, sometimes I do not want to get ready for an exam because those are not in my interest.

Growing Social Capital

Person 1:
- Marketing manager for MetroPCS. Has been working for corporate for 10 years and overseas it for multiple sectors in South Florida.
- He is the domain expert
- I know him from working with MetroPCS
- He used to help us with bringing people into the store and selling properly to maximize profits. In return MetroPCS used to pay him generously and we used to help him out with his phone or getting discounted products.
- Including this person will allow me to understand how to properly market and get close with company execs to make the partnership official. He also could teach me how to go over customer reviews.

Person 2:
- Owner of a company that advertises the different businesses I will partner with.
- They are the important supplier
- I found coupon books and other things like that to see who prints them all together
- No favors have been done, but to bring more people to print on their paper, the will give me the coupons for free
- This person helps me provide good product

Person 3:
- A charity worker back home that partners will local companies and franchises in the area.
- she is the domain expert
- I knew the person long ago because I worked with the rotary club back home and I met her at the meetings
- I used to tutor her kids at school by coincidence and she assists me in learning how to run a multipoint network and also reach more people through her network.
- Including this person will help me gain knowledge on how this is run and also to reach more potential partners.

This will help me target partners who will assist me more and allow me to bring this easier from paper to real life.

Idea Napkin 2

1) My talents range widely. I have great social and interpersonal skills. I can get close to people with ease, as I have many different cultural backgrounds and came up in many different environments as a kid. I also have a lot of experience with buying and selling with maximum profit in mind, as well as customer relations when working at metro PCS. I could see this business establishing itself in Gainesville and taking off and hopefully spreading around to other university areas while I finish medical school and begin my career. I would want it to become an opportunity for kids to get involved and take bettering the world. I would also like to provide working opportunities or scholarships to those in need in college towns.

2) To the health in the area, we are providing a service that is immortal and stays with them forever, while also providing people with coupons are a product. To companies, we provide them marketing and brand promotion.

3) On the side of residents, we are providing to everyone because everyone can use coupons to save money, especially students and the poorer areas around here. Also, the companies that are smaller and need better, more direct marketing would partner with us.

4) Residents care because they can save money in a very easy way and the small companies care because they need help with the marketing because they may not have the money to spread their brand out, while also being seen as doing good for this world.

5) My skills to sell my idea and connect people from a large diversity of backgrounds sets me apart from everyone else. Also, we as a company are doing this from a morally good and beneficial angle, so support is both capitalistic and idealistic.

All these together is why my business idea should work and has good traction. I would wanna think of more ways to generate revenue though.

Feed Back memo: I do not think much has changed because these values that I highlight are what place me in a really good position compared to other people to run the same business. Although they may not seem unique, it is the unique combination of who you are that what makes you unique.

Pitch 2

I think people saw my enthusiasm and that was good. This time, I tried to squeeze it into a shorter time frame and get to the point better. Talk more to the investors.

Video: https://youtu.be/iaspMkPo9Fc

Customer Avatar

A prototypical customer would be someone that is young and still being established, or has a busy day and want to eat out with and save money at the same time. It could also be someone that goes out with friends often and still wants to save. Overall I guess, they all share the desire to save money and eat out in nearby areas. I think what I have in common with the customer avatars is the most of them are expected to be in higher education or in that atmosphere. That does not limit me though because people of all backgrounds want to save.

My Secret Sauce

I think I have a very retrospect view of life, coming from very different backgrounds. I came here as a refugee, came up in less served areas, came to a better areas, and I am now going to a university and applying to medical school.

I can talk to and connect to all kinds of people. I speak three languages and also come from a different religion and community.

I have alot of experiences and can give advice on many aspects on life.

I have connections to many people in different industries and in many different countries.

I have a great mindset that is very flexible to accommodate for other ideas and viewpoints.

interview one:
You are an aggressive guy that really likes to get things done the right way. I know when I am doing something with you that a plan will be devised and the project will be done very effectively. You are one of the best young leaders I have ever met.

Interview two:
One of the best story tellers ever, with story, emotion, and characters. I think you are so charismatic and thats what makes you a strong leader. You crush everything you do when you desire to do it.

Interview three:
Mixing intelligence with charisma and social skills makes you so effective at everything you do. I do not thing there is anything I cannot come talk to you about for help.

Summary:
From the summaries, I am a good leader, and my approach to communication is one of the best qualities. I do not think there are differences in my list, I just did not notice that I usually lead things I am involved in. I would only include good leadership in this list.

Figuring Out Buying Behavior Pt2

With an idea like this, there aren't really alternatives that provide the same service and product. The only other alternative would be giving the recycling to UF at their recycling bins, but they would not get anything in return.

The companies though could use other options for advertisements, so I decided to interview employees and local business owners. When they search for advertising their brand, they would probably be directed to facebook or something like that, but I would go and advertise by hand. Post purchase, companies will be able to see people coming in with those coupons and know it is working. Therefore they would see how effective it is.

After the interviews, I got the same kind of information back as the last interviews, but since it was more involved with the business side of the plan, I got more insight on advertising. I was told that this kind of advertisement is very effective and sought after because of its implementation right to the hands of the people. The main problem with this idea is that I am not established enough for a business to invest in me like that.

My biggest takeaway is that I need to be established or have more connections before a company can faithfully invest in me. To get around that I would need goo connections and partners.

Halfway Reflection

1) A behavior I developed to keep up with this course is definitely consistency and assessing my target to see whether my idea will work or not. These together helped me to stick to my overall goals this semester whether its in this class or my others. An entrepreneur has these behaviors and tenacious attitudes that help them succeed everywhere in life.

2) With this course comes alot of work, and with my heavy school load, I had to deal with alot. Sometimes I got angry and wanted to drop but I stuck through because medical school is around the corner. My tenacious attitude made me drive hard toward the end goal.

3) I would tell next semesters student to have a goal in mind that means alot to them, sticking to it, and making sure to always learn from you surroundings and people around you. I took these and turned them into my drive to stay ahead of the game.

Reading Reflection 1

Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

1) I would have assumed Elon Musk to have a very outgoing and loud personality, as I have seen with many entrepreneurs. I was surprised to see that they described him as sheepish. I was also surprised to see that he was not the top of his class and his mentality was to apply himself to get where he needs to go. I admire the way he applied himself where it it gave him maximum benefit. He had to also overcome the struggle of being from a foreign place.

2) Elon Musk does not give up and shows that willpower means the most. When he learned to code and what was important in his goals, he took them to the next level and made them into a fortune.

3) The book is vague in describing other ventures that Elon Musk took part in, while describing his main escapade, Tesla, very thoroughly.

4) 1)  Were there times when this plan seemed like it was going to fall through?
    2) If you were given the chance to go back and redo something is there something you would want to redo the most?

5) Elon Musk focuses on hard work and dedication, but he looks for the most effortless way to succeed and get where he needs to be. I share in that because I like efficiency.

Figuring Out Buying Behavior 1

My business plan is to make partnerships with local businesses around Gainesville to be able to gather recycling and give residents coupons for businesses as a form of marketing and advertising. 

After interviewing people, I realized that they mainly thought those off campus would use it, and that it could possibly be extended further out of the general radius I was planning on holding it. The need exists all over. Both recycling and advertising is so important. Also, a large amount of college students look for where to eat by checking if they can find deals on apps or in coupons books, showing me that these will be used. Although there are other places to look, sometimes the deals were sub par and also were for places that they knew were not that good. 

Overall, people know that they have the need and when they look for ways to solve that need, it is not enough. This can help the resident get deals to desirable places, and also is direct marketing to all kinds of people for the company. 

Idea Napkin 1

1) My talents range widely. I have great social and interpersonal skills. I can get close to people with ease. I also have a lot of experience with buying and selling with maximum profit in mind, as well as customer relations when working at metro PCS. I could see this business establishing itself in Gainesville and taking off and hopefully spreading around to other university areas while I finish medical school and begin my career. I would want it to become an opportunity for kids to get involved and take bettering the world. I would also like to provide working opportunities or scholarships to those in need in college towns.

2) To the health in the area, we are providing a service that is immortal and stays with them forever, while also providing people with coupons are a product. To companies, we provide them marketing and brand promotion.

3) On the side of residents, we are providing to everyone because everyone can use coupons to save money, especially students and the poorer areas around here. Also, the companies that are smaller and need better, more direct marketing would partner with us.

4) Residents care because they can save money in a very easy way and the small companies care because they need help with the marketing because they may not have the money to spread their brand out, while also being seen as doing good for this world.

5) My skills to sell my idea and connect people from a large diversity of backgrounds sets me apart from everyone else. Also, we as a company are doing this from a morally good and beneficial angle, so support is both capitalistic and idealistic.

All these together is why my business idea should work and has good traction. I would wanna think of more ways to generate revenue though.

Elevator Pitch

https://youtu.be/VOlOGX8TleI

Testing the Hypothesis part 2

I realized that I do not have to include what all the interviews said, but I will summarize it all.

The Who: The university of Florida, although they do generate the most waste, and are not thinking much about recycling,, fall outside the boundary. Some trash generated that is plastic is a biological hazard and cannot be dealt with like normal plastic waste. Also, they generate a large amount of waste that would require a way to move and process insanely large amounts of trash. Also, they probably already have those needs met by some company. Large companies will also fall outside the who. They also would not have incentive because they would not care about coupons or vouchers.

The What: The point of the need differs in terms of amount and type of trash generated, and whether there are options for dealing with it or not. Big companies or entities with a lot of waste cannot be satisfied efficiently and will have the resources to contact other companies to meet those needs for them. 

They Why: The underlying cause for the need for those inside the boundary vs those outside the boundary is mainly on amount of waste and their resources to reaching larger companies to deal with their waste.

In the box:

Residents

Students

Small restaurants and companies based here

Hotels?

Outside the box

The university of Florida

Large companies that are corporate

Departments tied to the city or to the university 

Solving the Problem

So we found the problem

Now the solution:

I have spoken about the solution in the past with my other blogs, but I will reiterate my solution. I propose a service in which recycling bins are disbursed around gainesville at locations with college and residential housing. This way, we can target multiple kinds of people. Those who generate decent amounts of recycling and reduce trash, will be given vouchers or coupons of some kinds for companies and restaurants all around gainesville. To advertise and hand out the coupons for specific restaurants, they can sponsor us, or form a partnership. This way, they pay to have mobile and direct advertisements, and people get in the habit of tossing out recycling and trash. It both helps businesses and communities. On top of that, collection would be done with volunteer or efficient vehicles that do not require much maintenance or power. As a startup, it could help to enlist volunteer help through working with campus organizations. Finally, the recycling would go to a large recycling business like Waste Management or Republic Services.

Testing the Hypothesis: Part 1

1) I feel like the recycling idea is an important aspect that I would like to pursue and monitor.

2) The city of Gainesville (Florida's city of trees) does not have a very efficient or powerful recycling program to decrease waste because overall, communities in America do not have one. People do not care enough.

3) People that have this need are all over the industrialized world, because we need to world to live and not having a sustainable or green lifestyle will accelerate the process of losing the planet. Focusing on Gainesville though, a wide variety of people can benefit from recycling. People can be rewarded for recycling per my plan, and businesses can get advertisement for those that partner. On top of that, helping the environment helps create a better environment for residents, students, professors, and researchers that base their work off of Gainesville wildlife. The needs extend to past just recycling, but also having the option of biodegradable or reusable material. This is a need because every attempt to try and clean the world helps us. Establishing a good environment in Gainesville could be the first step of many to do good around the world.

Below are the interviews of the 5 people. They were asked if they think this problem in Gainesville exists and how big it is, who it influences and why, and what they would like to see being done:

1) I do think this problem exists in Gainesville, and especially where I live, there is a lot of waste produced that all goes in a trash bin. There is not a single recycling bin in my neighborhood or nearby neighborhoods. I have seen trash bins overflowing with garbage before, so I know that people definitely produce a significant amount of waste. Having an efficient recycling program could possibly make the trash bins fill slower and use less plastic for trash bags on top of having plastics recycled. It makes garbage mens life easier too because they deal with a less packed trash bin and less mess. I really just want to see them start off with a recycling program and place recycling bins wherever they can.

2) I think its a problem because first of all, students are careless, and two there are not many bins. This adds together to complete waste. This hurts environment in and outside of gainesville. Its not a crazy severe problem, maybe because I do not see much in the way of waste management. I think it is safe to say that this problem influences all of us and everything on this planet. If we continue to go how we are, we will end up killing so much of life and ending the beauty we see around us. The main thing I want is to see a plan set in action and possibly distribution of recycling bins around for apartment complexes.

3) I think it is a huge problem because I know that corporations here will fight to keep their nongreen practices. Publix filed a lawsuit because they were told to switch to paper bags and it would not be good for their overall profits to switch. So if the some of the largest sources of plastic do not want to help us, maybe the people of US will help. Having a recycling program would only help all of us, from businesses to the resident. I would love to see education take place so that people understand what a problem they are causing and what they can do to help. With the education, I would also like to see implementation of what is spoken about in terms of collecting recycling and so on.

4)I personally do not see it as a problem because gainesville is producing less trash than other places. It is smaller and less populated, so we do not actually toss much out compared to a big city. Recycling would sure help though, and it could set an example for others to do the same. This could branch out from just Gainesville, which would make this effort a lot more fruitful. Outside, it could effect whole states and attitudes. Like I said, I would like to see this effort outside of gainesville for sure.

5) Recycling is a problem worldwide, not just in Gainesville. People still do not seem to pay it much mind, which is a little depressing. Incentives would surely help, but I think the intrinsic motivation is lacking a lot. When that is lacking I doubt this has a solid foundation. I think people everywhere should realize it is affecting them, but until they do, I do not think it is effective. I would like to see education on this topic spread around so people really understand the importance and depth of a project like this.

What I learned:
I did not learn anything that I did not know, but I did get some new insights. Someone said that this problem is bigger outside of Gainesville, and that maybe outside it would effect people alot more. Application outside or growth to other cities should help tackle an opportunity like this to the max.

Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory trends

1) Marijuana legalization in more states is still under way.
a) https://www.mpp.org/issues/legislation/key-marijuana-policy-reform/
b)I believe that an opportunity exists because Colorado passed a $1 Billion mark of state revenue of taxation in June of 2019. I think a venture into sales or an investment in companies involved in sales.
c) The prototypical customer is the vast majority of adults living in the united states.
d)I think venturing to sell it directly is relatively difficult, while investing in those who will or those established in its sales is easier.

2) Robots and AI is becoming very popular and getting more attention
a) https://www.vistage.com/research-center/business-financials/economic-trends/121202-technological-trends-in-business-2020/
b) I believe and opportunity exists because the AI can take the place of humans and you do not have to pay them. They can also be more efficient due to lack of human error and daily problems. Creating efficient and customizable robots with distant control.
c) The customer of this would be companies interested in providing robotic services.
d) Venturing to sell directly would be difficult without a team for creation and design, or capital to buy material. Investment in established companies would be easy.

3) There is a trend toward green material and biodegradable products
a)https://www.greenamerica.org/blog/green-and-eco-friendly-trends-reflecting-2019
b) I believe the opportunity exists because the world is on high alert that we do not have much time left to reverse the destruction we have caused. Every company now also tries to advertise any type of "green" behavior they use. Materials made from recycled parts and ones that can be recycled or degraded would be desirable.
c) Customers would be anyone who uses the variety of materials that would be provided (water containers, alloys for building different materials, etc). Businesses would also buy to incorporate in their products to create a better image for themselves.
d) Venturing to sell directly would be difficult without a team for creation and design, or capital to buy material. Investment in established companies would be easy.

4) The regulations protecting privacy and data still have some areas where companies can use some of our information.
a) https://iclg.com/practice-areas/data-protection-laws-and-regulations/usa
b) I believe this opportunity exists because the regulations updated still do not protect data that is used to advertise products to us. I think a browser or VPN that encrypts everything could be useful.
c) customers would be anyone who uses the internet a lot and likes privacy.
d) Venturing to create would need a team but that is the hardest part because it would be a software to sell. Investing in a company that specializes in these products would be easier.


2) Seeing these opportunities are probably easy for anyone that can look up the news and information. I am good at reading into these things so it opens doors. I also like the option of investing because it is a way to get profit off of valuable ideas or products I believe in without having to manage.

Identifying Local Oppurtunities

1) Gainesville Sun

2)  a) 20th avenue is not monitored enough so people are reckless. I propose a camera surveillance system by contract with the city or police department

      b) selling health products at a local talk about "How Florida is trying to Kill You"

     c) Have a coffee shop with better coffee by gathering customer opinions on what could be better and styling the shop to be themed in a very different way than most coffee shops.  Whether it be dark and relaxed, or bustling and active with alot of networking. 

     d) hold an event explaining the solar system and the stars. people can get tickets for event

     e) There should be training programs or linking programs between high school sports and UF

      

3) -title of article

     -Link to article

     -Description of Story

     -Description of the Problem

     -Who is affected by problem

a) Pedestrian, 16, dies after being hit by car

         https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200130/pedestrian-16-dies-after-being-hit-by-car

        A kid walking home after school was hit by a car that swayed off the road in front of my house, ended up dying in the ICU.

       That road gets crowded or busy and is not monitored much by police officers. It should have more control on it.

       The city and the police department have the problem, and so do the residents. The fatalities affect all of them.

 

     b) Is Florida trying to Kill me?

https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200129/is-florida-trying-to-kill-me

         At a museum in Gainesville, a researcher from the entomology department is giving a talk about the importance of mosquitos, wildfires, and other nature related topics.                                       There a lot of things in florida that can harm you from bugs, to the sun. Being educated about it can help you greatly                                       Every Florida resident that does not know how they are affected by these factors.

c) Espresso, yourself. How to get the best brew at home.                                                                https://www.gainesville.com/lifestyle/20200131/espresso-yourself-how-to-get-best-brew-at-home                                                                        People do not go to coffee shops for the coffee and that they go for networking and studying.                                                                    Coffee shop coffee is not good enough to go there just for coffee, and you can make a better espresso at home, here's how.                        Coffee shops and their customers experience this problem.

d)  Looking up: Betelgeuse, dimmer but no less awesome.                                                                   https://www.gainesville.com/lifestyle/20200131/looking-up-betelgeuse-dimmer-but-no-less-awesome                                                                    A very beautiful star in the sky has dimmed and people all over cannot see it as well.                     Gainesville is a beautiful place to see the stars when far away from the university and downtown, but there is not much to aid people in doing so or appreciate the sky.                                     People who like stargazing or appreciate how clear the Gainesville sky is have this problem.          

                                                                                                                                                        e) GHS boys soccer rolls into district finals            https://www.gainesville.com/sports/20200129/ghs-boys-soccer-rolls-into-district-final                     The boys of the gainesville soccer team roll to distric final but many high school teams in gainesville are inspired by the University presence and strive to play there.                            The problem is that they do not recive much attention from a lot of these kids work really hard and need attention                                            Students and family have this problem

Opportunity Belief

          1) I believe that Gainesville could be a lot more green by establishing some kind of recycling program.
          2) There is no efficient and effective recycling program and that is evident by people randomly tossing objects in the garbage bin without second thought and not enough recycling bins. Apartment complexes, and restaurants have a need for this service. This need existed because populated areas produce a lot of waste and we do not want it to get worse. Entities like the university of Florida are trying to help by placing recycling bins around campus and the city of Gainesville picks up recycling I am pretty sure. The problem with those is that there is no incentive for people to actually recycle, which I guess is important for college kids. Maybe partnership with local restaurants and bars would give incentive. Coupons or vouchers given for the waste recycled. I am less than 50% sure this is an opportunity as of now but I would have to think it through more.
          3-6) a) Student living at Canopy Apartments (asked to keep name private). She cares about doing her part with the environment:
Q1: Do you feel like there is waste problem in Gainesville?
A1: Yes I feel like the people who are not involved with the university do not really care and even those who are involved only recycle when they directly see a recycling bin.

Q2: Who is aware of this problem and can awareness be increased? How long do you think people have been aware of this issue and how long has it been around?
A2: I feel like students are mainly aware of this problem because they see it around, and they are more educated about the waste issue on earth, but I am not sure residents of Gainesville around where I live care, or can afford to care. I definitely think an initiative can be taken to bring awareness to people through education and extension of programs to areas where this waste is abundant. This issue of increasing waste has existed in any developed area but has become addressed more in the recent years as global warming and destruction of habitats and species of animals increased.

Q3:  Is anything being done about this need?
A3: There are things being done about this need but not in Gainesville in an effective way.

Reflection: I did expect people overall to not be very attentive to this problem because I myself at times find myself throwing away a water bottle in moments of hurry. I do think incentives would help more.

           b) Student living in a townhouse in a normal neighborhood (asked to keep name private). This is a Santa Fe student.
Q1: Do you feel like there is waste problem in Gainesville?
A1: There is somewhat of a problem, but not very serious. Gainesville is not as large as other cities which have it a lot worse.

Q2: Who is aware of this problem and can awareness be increased? How long do you think people have been aware of this issue and how long has it been around?
A2: To be honest I do not think anyone, or very few, are aware of this problem. People in Gainesville either do not care or are worried about so many other things that the waste production is worth the time it saves. You can definitely educate people about the issue, but it does not mean they will care. This issue has been around for quite a while but I do not think the average US citizen notices it in their daily life.

Q3: Is anything being done about this need?
A3: Outside of Gainesville, yes. Where I come from in Michigan they used to pay people for recycling plastic water bottles, and they might still be doing it.

Reflection: I guess whether people are aware or not, they may not care enough to do anything about it.

           c) Gainesville local working in multiple food service stores (name private):
Q1: Do you feel like there is waste problem in Gainesville?
A1: Definitely. In the places I have worked and still do work, there is a crazy amount of trash. Much more plastic than people think. I heard that's the worst.

Q2: Who is aware of this problem and can awareness be increased? How long do you think people have been aware of this issue and how long has it been around?
A2: I mean, to be honest, I wasn't even thinking about it until you ask. I kind of just do my job. It would be cool if recycling happened more. I believe that until people are told they really are not giving it thought. The incentive you talked to me about is a good idea thought. For just throwing a bottle in a recycling bin someone can save money. Sounds good to me. Trash and global warming have been a problem for a very long time. It would be good for something to be done. Every action helps.

Q3: Is anything being done about this need?
A3: I have not seen anything in Gainesville being done but I think there are recycling services. How good they are, I cannot tell you. In my neighborhood on 75th street no one recycles at all.

Reflection: As I thought, locals care about recycling very little. An incentive can help people think about it more often and try to commit more to recycling.

          7) Summary:
The idea has good intentions, and after talking to people I think it could work with good leadership and design. Getting funding would have to come from sponsors, in exchange for bringing customers to them. I do not think the margins of profit are large, and on top of that, companies would really have to buy into the idea. Most of my idea is still intact, but there are more problems with it than I thought. (means of picking up the recycling or partnering with services to carry the idea forward.) These problems have decreased the percent chance of it working, but it is not so unlikely. I think examining the view of potential customers is so important to changing to design of a plan because the success of the idea is largely due to their participation and investment in it.
                 

Brush of Entrepreneurship

  I do believe that entrepreneurship and ideas come up to us in times of need. When a problem arises, we need to create a solution. For me, the first brush with the concept of entrepreneurship arose during my first year of high school. As I began approaching 15, and getting my permit, I realized that I needed to begin saving up for a car. I ran through many ideas in my head, but I could not figure how I was going to raise a significant amount of money to get a good car.

          The idea came to me one day while my friends and I were sitting on the bleachers during gym class. My friend looked at my shoes and asked me how much I wanted for my shoes. I didn't realize I had been wearing very coveted shoes. I always buy my clothes and shoes at outlets, and I do not really care about what I wear. The guys around me offered me prices far above my cost for them and that's when it came to me, I realized how I was going to make the money for my car.

          I started with shoes. After doing research on desired brands and versions, I would go to multiple outlets and buy what I could with my revenue at the time. I would then sell them at my school, online, or anywhere I could effectively and safely market them. I eventually moved onto some clothes, speakers, and anything that offered me good margins. When is was time to finally buy my car, 2 years later, I had amassed over 5 thousand dollars I had put aside for the car.

          This experience opened my eyes to the importance of understanding product and audience. The skills and knowledge I gained carried on with me and I continued this model with more risky ventures, such as technology and cars.

          I took this class because I am an entrepreneur at heart and would like to see a more in depth view on the lifestyle and ideologies. I hope to learn good habits and views on life (like having a bug list and the who what who when how).

This is salesman suitcase. Kinda oldschool.

The Bug List

The following 20 items are bugs in my life and I attempt to explore why they exist. They vary from small personal issues to a broad view of the world. The underlined sentence is the bug and the explanation of WHY is under it. After this list, a reflection on making this list is discussed. Here it goes:

1)  Maintaining and keep fixing different parts of my car.
 My car is about 13 years old has over 160k mile in it. On top of that I am broke so I can't go out and get another one or just do everything in one shot.

2) I keep having to charge my phone.
 I should probably learn to let it charge all the way before I take it off and get carried away and forget to put it back on the charger.

3) The super creaky chairs in some of the lecture halls.
 Some of the chairs and desks are really old and there is no maintenance on them so the problem continues to develop and get really bad over the years.

4) My closet becomes a mess at times and organizing it is annoying.
 I do not get rid of old clothes as much as I should and I have clothes that have been there for many years.

5) Pools are always way too cold whether it is super hot or cold outside.
 The heat capacity of water is very high so it takes a lot more to warm a pool, even when there are heaters.

6) The process of getting into medical school in the United States is overdoing it.
 I have no idea why this problem exists, but people say it has to do with seeing whether you really want to be a doctor or not. I think there are other ways in achieving that than gladly becoming a slave during undergraduate years and stressing like crazy.

7) Staying and eating healthy in college becomes a bit difficult at times.
 While maintaining a busy schedule and many responsibilities, making time to cook and exercise becomes difficult and constricted.

8) Plastic and trash is generated so much in college areas.
Students like to deal with situations the easy, cheap, and quick way, so plastic and garbage is produced copiously. (ex. parties with solo cups, students using water bottles and paper plates, etc)

9) Lists of cooking ingredients give measurements that require a measuring tool, like "one cup of spinach".
 I feel like the people sharing this ingredient are people who actually cook a lot and have many measuring tools and just make the statement without thinking twice.

10) The WiFi in my apartment is horrible and a lot of videos are interrupted and buffer.
I actually contacted my WiFi company and they came and told me that the wires that run through the building that supply the WiFi are old and outdated. They need to be replaced but I would have to take that up with management.

11) People pointing fingers and blaming others for their problems.
Some people just have that bad trait and cannot accept or take the responsibilities of their mistakes.

12) The route 20 bus is so packed in the morning and sometimes it cannot even pick me up.
 This route is very important and runs through very important and busy stops.

13) A lot of people are horrendous drivers and are more of a danger when given a car then anything else.
 The drivers exams vary all over the country and can be ridiculously easy at times. There is no real experience needed to drive a car and it cannot really be tested and/ or quantified efficiently.

14) People either do not re-rack their weights or put them back in the wrong places.
The gym is a hot spot of "the bystander effect" and some people probably never cleaned up after themselves as kids.

15) Sidewalks that was extremely uneven. How does that even happen when cement is liquid first?!
 The creation was either flaw or the integrity of the design was horrendous.

16) When doing research and a useful article is restricted and you need to pay a ridiculous amount of money to be able to use it. 
 I assume the journal needs to make money and so does the author.

17) The printing fee at UF libraries.... in all that tuition and patents I guess colored ink puts a serious dent in the accounts.
 If printing was completely free then people would probably abuse it and it would become a problem. It is annoying when printing a lab report and it ends up costing an insane amount.

18) News sources are not trustworthy. 
 Politics is too strong of a force.

19) Constant lateness.
 Bad timing and apathy for what is going on and others' time.

20) Bad grammar in everything.
 Some people do not know and then some are too lazy to type out the correct grammar and it ends up a habit.


I didn't find this list very difficult to make because interacting with so many people and things in college gives me a very large repertoire. Whenever I hit a block, I walked around or thought of how my day goes and the thoughts that come to my head throughout. 

The Startup

My name is Hassan Moussa and welcome to the blog.