Laura Mena's ENT3003 Blog

Final Reflection  1. When thinking of this class, what sticks out to me the most would have to be the thoughtfulness of coming up with a whole idea of a product and company, while it was fun to create, it was also very stressful at times like having to give the pitch. I think the pitch was the most frustrating assignment because it took various times to get right.  2. I think the most formative experience I had was trying to create the avatar and life of an ideal customer. It made me think about things way more than I usually do. It was a very fun and enjoyable experience because the avatar resembled me.  3. One of my biggest accomplishments in this class I believe is having that mindset at this point in the semester. When I started out I thought I would not have it by the time I was finished but this class has taught me a lot and I found it very interesting and intriguing.  4. In this class, they will have lots of work but if organization and time i...

1.  Opportunity My product is a computer adapter that can be used on any type of MacBook depending on the model. The adapter will be built for each specific model of MacBook’s. The adapter will bring various of the ports needed to watch movies, use USB’s, and connect phones. It will include a tuck in chord that allows it some protection against dust and will have a sleek metal case along with a case to place it in after every use. The adapter will be more affordable than other adapters which a higher quality as well. I will be making money by selling this product in the amazon market which attracts a lot of people to buy it once it is Amazon prime certified and sell it on other platforms. Venture Concept I believe the reason customers will end up buying my product instead of other adapters and such is because we will provide insurance for the product for up to 30 days after purchase which most companies do not provide. This will prevent mad customers and provide high q...

My exit strategy 1.        Although I loved coming up with this idea and creating a whole hypothetical company and product, I think that in five years I would end up selling the company. This is because I have no sentimental value to it and I purely did it out of making money out of an unmet need. It also depends on how popular and successful the company is. If the company is very successful then I will most likely keep it because of the amount of money it produces. 2.        I’ve selected this particular exit strategy because I believe that from this first company experience I will learn and with the money I receive from it I will be able to start another company with more sentimental value to me. I wouldn’t want to spend my whole life selling and improving adapters even if it is a good unmet need. 3.        My product and company definitely has helped me understand how the world o...

Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Roy Kroc  1. I chose to read grinding it out because I’m fascinated by how McDonald’s became one of the most popular fast food chains in the world. The book starts out by Kroc’s humble beginnings and him wanting to make a business and become a great entrepreneur. One of the things that stuck out to me the most would have to be how humble he started off. It’s incredible what you can achieve if you just dedicate time and effort into something.  2. I believe that Kroc is a very resilient man because of how he went from small jobs and bad mistakes to getting his life together and building a huge fast food chain. His determination to be the best businessman did not stop and he never gave up his dream.  3. I never knew the backstory to McDonald’s so I came into this believing that Kroc was the founder of McDonald’s when in reality McDonald’s already existed but Kroc made it into this big fast food chain. This is was conf...

Celebrating Failure 1). My last semester was my first semester here at the University of Florida. It was a very stressful semester involving many breakdowns and days of continuous stress. One thing that I really wanted to succeed in was in getting an additional scholarship. This was a very stressful time because I wanted more scholarships and the more I kept applying to, the more I didn’t hear back from any of them. It was very disappointing and I didn’t feel like I was good enough to win any. Then I applied to one that my friend told me about and I ended up getting it. It was many weeks of non-stop applying that led to this moment of happiness.  2. From this experience I learned to be patient and have hope that everything will work out for the best. If I would have given up then I wouldn’t have ended up with the scholarship I wanted in the later future. It is always important to keep trying and never give up on what you want.  3. Failure is hard and it hurts ou...

Existing Market  One of the most interesting things that come up when interviewing these three people was the questions “how will you prepare for failure, if any?”. This is a point that I hadn’t really thought much of. If we fail with the first product, I would like to try again. Maybe go back to the drawing board and start planning again from scratch. Something in my creative process had to have been wrong.  Another question that caught me off guard was “How will this product be made?”. This a question that even I do not know how to respond to because all this time we’ve been creating an overall and general view of the product that I haven’t really thought of it. I would have to go back and think of each and every single aspect to the product if I ever decide to try to make it work. New Market From the information gathered from the three interviews, I can conclude that I will definitely meet customers like them. This is because this product is very unmet need esp...

Opportunity One day I was sitting in my couch trying to look up movies to watch. My roommate comes up to me all mad and ranted about how annoyed me was at the fact that her brand-new adapter had stopped working. I went to go see her adapter and it looked very expensive. This is when she told me that she bought it one day ago at the bookstore for forty dollars. I was shocked because it was such an expensive adapter and it was also brand new. Later that week my class for entrepreneurship gave us an assignment that included making a product and company out of an unmet need. Automatically, I remembered the adapter situation from earlier that week and started to do my research.  My opportunity came from personal experience which I’m very sure many other people relate to everyday, especially college students. The advancement of technology has caused these unmet needs because of its lack of quality adapters. Although this issue is a one and second world issue, it is seen across t...

List of resources:  ·          Languages Spoken ·          Access to money ·          Lots of connections ·          Ability to sell ·          Social Media Expert ·          Expert team ·          Branding ·          Experience in the field ·          Experience with computer software’s ·          Internet Recognition 1.        Languages spoken- I speak three languages which does give my company an advantage because I am able to reach a wider audience when connecting with other higher level companies. Most of the members in my compan...

2. From my first elevator speech to my last, I’ve learned that showing the product  helps the customer want the product because of appearance and mainly price. The feedback I received from my last elevator pitch was very informative and relatable because we both needed to manage our times on the videos and make it directly to the point without shuttering and going off topic.  3. What I changed the most was making my video more direct to the point and also being more informative about the product I wanted to sell. I tried my best to not go off topic and to not stutter but practice makes perfect so I definitely will continue to practice on this skill. Other than that, I believe I did a better job on this pitch than I did with previous ones so I am happy with the outcome of this final elevator pitch. 

First person 1. My first person would be a man by the name Fred Garvett. He owns his own law firm and is very big on entrepreneurship.   He has been very successful in his field and will be a great addition to my company. 2. He would be my domain expert because he is probably the person I know that has the most experience in the field and can give me some good advice.  3. I met Fred through my uncle who is an architect. We talked on the phone and met in person and ever since, he has been one of the people I look up to the most because of how involved he is with his work.  4. He has a lot of potential for the company and would be a great addition. We would have no exchanged of favors because of the fact that we are friends.  5. I’ll be able to exploit an opportunity by receiving advice and wisdom from a man who has years of experience in this area.  Second person 1. My second is a woman named Josie Weston who owns her own company and has als...

1.  When reading  How to almost fail at everything and still win big  by Scott Adams, I learned that putting yourself first is a very important point in being successful in life. Also looking out for your economics is an essential point as well in living a successful.  2.  The book had many things relating to ENT 3003. To start off, the author Scott Adams himself is a big entrepreneur which is basically what the class teaches us to be. His advice is not exactly what you would expect from a very successful entrepreneur but it definitely opens your eyes to important things like looking at the bigger picture than being close minded and just wanting to have one goal and make money.  3.  My exercise would involve making a poster or a drawing of the overall structure of the product/companies we spent so much time creating. This would help customers see the system of the product and help campaign for the company you built.  4....

-Even though I did not receive feedback on my last video, I can definitely say that an area that needed improvement was making the video straight to the point. Another point of improvement is that I got to show two types of adapters that my prototype is being based off of (but improved). Another point that I would change is describing everything in less than 90 seconds just because it is very hard to do so. Overall, these pitches are very hard to make because you have to explain everything in less 90 seconds and be very professional without stopping or stuttering which is something I did a lot of in my last elevator pitch.

1. As a future Veterinarian, I’ve always aspired to know more about the business aspect of things because I one day want to own my own clinic. I’ve has very little experience in the business aspect of the job but I have done vet internships, where I’ve learned a lot from. As an innovation minor, we’ve learned many skills involved in the entrepreneur aspect which have helped me a lot in this class. I see this product solving my own personal unmet need which many other people will also relate to.  2. I am offering this product to any young people who use MacBook computers a lot. The unmet need would be the adapters made now-a-days that don’t provide enough qualities for the customer’s needs. This product with do everything possible to need the needs of the customer.  3. I am offering this to young people all over the United States. The product will be sold on Amazon by my company and will be unique to every model of MacBooks. I believe it will make more money in cities ...

My Ideal Customer Using the software Blue Robot, I was able to create my ideal customer as shown below. In the picture displayed, you can see that the avatar is a young lady (in her teens or early 20’s). I intended it to be a college student or someone in their teens/young adult years. Their hobbies would include watching a lot of movies or being on the computer a lot. The customer that I created and I have many things in common but the biggest thing would have to be the frustration of adapters. We both enjoy watching movies on the TV rather than the computer. The reason we have so much in common would be because I made this product because it was something that I personally get frustrated a lot with and I’ve seen many college students with the same problem. The avatar looks very similar to me and it’s because I intended it to be me due to the fact that I created this product as something I would buy.