28A - Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I intend to keep my business as a side venture along side what I do during my day to day. An additional source of income that'll run beside me and be another incoming flow of income. Eventually, I'd probably sell it off in the next couple of years or so if I feel like that's what is best. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

Similar to other social media platforms, they get bought by bigger companies all of the time. I'd stick with it for as long as I'm wanting to but if a bigger company wanted to take it over, I wouldn't stop the limitations of the app. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I guess in the sense of wanting to accumulate more income, you can say that it has influenced plans on how to acquire and use resources. Everything thought of through the app has been authentic and comes from a place of passion and I'd love to prolong my involvement with the app as long as possible but I would be willing to pass it off if the opportunity seemed right enough. 

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

 I decided to read Elon Musk's biography by Ashlee Vance. Before reading this, I didn't know much about Elon besides him owning Tesla, wanting to send people to space, and has basically been labeled as a weirdo. After reading this, all of these statements seem to stand. What surprised me is all of the troubles Musk went through. Getting forced out of business settlements, bullying as a child, bad parenting, getting malaria, having his first born die, poverty - I always assumed he had a good upbringing. There's a couple default things to admire about Musk. He's intelligent, innovative, and determined. From an early age, he was thinking about how to prolong human existence, so I'd say he's definitely an individual. I admire his business ethic and his confidence to succeed despite the obstacles he went through. I least admired his attitude. I don't think he remained with his feet on the ground throughout the process of becoming successful. He did encounter failure, mainly in his younger years - and was able to make up for it every time. At one point he only had enough money for either Tesla or Space X to remain running but he was able to end up funding both with just a day to go before he'd be short on payroll. 

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

He exhibited the ability of leadership, intelligence, and being an overachiever. It's obvious that his work means a lot to him, and he lets it take up a majority of his headspace and life itself. He didn't even allow himself to mourn his child's death because he was too caught up in money and business. 

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

I guess what I find most confusing is how emotionally unavailable he is. He doesn't touch much on what happened with his father during his childhood, only stating that his dad knew how to make life miserable. I find it ironic for him to say that when he's quite frankly made a lot of other people miserable. 

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

1.) When did you realize you wanted to prolong human existence/send people to space? What is it about space that attracts you? - I think his thought process is very unique and to be so young and be thinking that advanced, I'm curious to where this originated or if it was inspired by something. 

2.) Do you think people will ever live on Mars? - I think I know Musk's answer but I want his reasoning. 

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

I think his opinion is that it should consume you. You don't give up. You work hard. And you work smart. I believe intelligence is very important to him and if you lack the logic of something, you have nothing at all. 

26A - Celebrating Failure

When I was 15 I started experiencing my mental health beginning to interfere with my every day life. I was entering a huge high school of 1,000 kids compared to my very small middle school and I immediately felt out of place. I lost track of how many times I cried on my way to or from school. I felt inferior to everyone around me, and the feeling was enough to make me want to rip my skin off. Getting the best of me, I dropped out of high school and was much literally a hermit for many, many months. I barely left my house, nor my room at that. This was definitely the biggest failure of my life. I left behind a schedule packed of AP and honors classes, friends I knew since I was little, an active lifestyle, to enter a world of isolation.
I'm still learning from this, I think. Mental health isn't something you can step away from but it is something you can try to learn to handle. I always knew that there was better for me but it took awhile to come to a place where I thought I deserved more than what I was given in terms of quality of life at that time. Obviously I've grown from this and I'm now here at UF which means everything to me.
Failure is necessary for growth. Unfortunately, I tend to beat myself up about these kinds of things and I expect a lot more out of myself these days. I work 50 hours a week and I'm a full time student. But I've been working/going to school full time for a couple years now. I think the failure I experienced as a teenager is what fuels me now, in a way. Lord knows I still have my days where my mental health wins but I don't let it stop me. I can't.
This class has opened my mind when it comes to taking business risks. Before this class, I had always thought about wanting to venture out in the world of music but I didn't think it was possible. Through our exercises and learning how to expand our ideas, I started seeing it as possible.

25A - What's next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1: What's next is to make a prototype of the app, test it out on potential customers, generate feedback, and improve where needed. 

Step 2: From who I talked to, they also agreed that they'd want to try the app out. One of them mentioned that they would want to know how ad-heavy the app would be which is a generous question considering some ads are absolutely covered in ads and we all know that isn't something that's exactly enjoyable to see. 

Step 3: Moving forward, the path that needs to be taken is actually making "The Queue" tangible. I need to get a team of indivudals together who can see my idea and bring it to life. Hiring an app creator, designer, promoter - a team of creators who can execute this properly is step one of figuring out if this app can be as great as I want it to be. This makes the most sense because no matter how good of an idea it sounds, I need to make sure this is possible. 

New Market.

Step 1: If I were wanting to reach out to people beyond music, that'd be a market that I haven't necessarily been paying attention to. Other people could be searching for other forms of social media but "The Queue" only caters to active music listeners. 

Step 2: Maybe the added benefits that come with the app would be enough for people who aren't necessarily music fanatics to want to check out what I've created. In the beginning Tumblr was specifically for pictures and it branched out to much more than that. At the end of the day, an app could be what the consumer makes it. 

Step 3: When I talked about it with people who I originally wouldn't think would be interested in an app like The Queue, they all agreed that my app isn't something they'd go out and look for but it is something they'd try if easily accessible. I would need a lot of promotion to reach out to people beyond my market so more people, music lovers or not, can give it a chance. 

Step 4:  It didn't really surprise me that the people who aren't interested in music to a higher degree wouldn't go out of their way to be on app that centers itself around music. Although, I do think curiosity can get the best of people and if The Queue was doing well on the charts in a mobile store, people outside of my market would definitely give it a try.  

24A - Venture Concept No. 1 The Queue

                                                                The Queue



Opportunity: 
The forces and changes that is creating the opportunity for "The Queue" to come to life is the ever-changing world of technology. As we grow and become more engulfed in social media, the internet, and more consumed into the lives of celebrities, people are going to be looking for more ways to find information on them. Specifically to my venture, music artists. We have social media platforms that are wildly successful just like we have music streaming platforms that have come to the front line in these last couple of years as streaming as become the most popular way to consume music. What we don't have is a combination of both that serves as not only a social media and music streaming platform but also an area that allows you to connect to people who are also interested in the same areas of music you are, connects you to local events in your area, specific artist recommendations (some local), ticket selling platforms, chatrooms, etc - all things that will not only benefit the consumer individually but will also boost the streams of people in the music industry, bring exposure to local and upcoming talent, and potentially boost sales of concerts and local events due to this app making these events more known. This market has the potential to be worldwide, just as music calls for. It attracts people of all ages, anyone interested in expanding their horizons in the world of music. They're satisfying this need by expressing themselves on platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram while using the services of Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. They're very loyal to these platforms but I believe it's only because they don't know that something better can be done. It can. It's a potentially big opportunity because if executed properly it could be one of the biggest platforms utilized by music fans, which comes in the millions every day.

Innovation: 
What "The Queue" is, is an app that takes the benefits of a social media platform and a music streaming platform, combines them, and essentially has the duality of both. It's innovative because it's taking something that is already in the market and is elevating it to a new level. This app is something that I'm wanting people who are lovers of music to join and find new friends, new adventures, and most importantly - new music! It is needful that "The Queue" would not only have the traits of a normal social media or social media platform but also the added bonuses like chatrooms, ticket selling platforms, a connecting platform that syncs your music to help you reach other people with similar listening patterns as you, a calendar personalized by your location to help you find local music events, and more. How it works is when you sign up, you'll have an option to connect your music streaming platform to the app where it will then process it and automatically show you people who listen to the same music you do. From there, you'll automatically be released into a community where you can follow other people, create groups, talk in the chatroom, browse events, buy concert tickets, listen to music, and more all in the same app. Like most online and application ventures, I'd be making money from ads throughout the app.

Venture Concept: 
 It'd be hard to get people to switch initially, people are pretty loyal to their social media or music streaming platforms, but what I do know is that a lot of people, especially younger people, are always willing to try things. It may be a slow beginning, but Tik Tok also had a slow beginning and it's now, huge. I think people would switch once they realize everything they need is sectioned into one app instead of having to bounce between two, plus the added benefits would be enough to make them want to stay. The competitors are huge ones. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Spotify, Apple Music - But there's always room for more, right? Their vulnerabilities would be a lack of innovation. Besides Instagram, none of these platforms really change or adjust to consumer needs in terms of broadening their walls in the world of social media or music streaming. It's pretty black and white. I haven't thought much of the employee side of my venture. I of course would need someone to design the app, someone to execute the app, someone to handle customer service, someone to set up ads and promotion, and I would manage.


Minor elements: 
My venture's "secret sauce" is the pure innovation that comes from combining what we already have and making it better. I honestly don't think the big dogs in the online industry would be bothered with trying to imitate "The Queue" because it's so different. Next, I would want to make a prototype, or a beta version of the app and test it out on potential costumers, get feed back, and see how it can improve. In five years, I'd love to see it among the stars of Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, etc. A sibling of these platforms would be an awesome goal.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

      Social Capital

Valuable: One of the most valuable things you can have when being an entrepreneur is your network and the people around you who could help you. 

Rare: Every person has a varying social capital, so I believe that everyone's social capital is unique to them, their life, and their venture. 

Inimitable: Again, a unique attribute for anyone. 

Non-substitutable: If you had a different social network, it could change where you're at in terms of opportunities and advantages. 

Human Capital

Valuable: Investing in yourself and your resources is a really important aspect to not only entrepreneurship but your life itself. 

Rare: Working hard to grow whether that be academically, financially, self care, etc. is a hard balance to prosper in multiple areas. Not a lot of people can reach that point. 

Inimitable: Could it be followed? Yes. Will it work? Maybe. 

Non-substitutable: You can't substitute knowledge. 

Experience in "Field" 

Valuable: Being in the same spot as the person who I'm trying to cater to, I have an authentic idea of what my market genuinely wants and is lacking. 

Rare: A lot of people work on projects that they haven't been involved with first hand. 

Inimitable: If you're willing to put the work in, it could be. 

Non-substitutable: You can't substitute experience. 

Actual interest in my idea

Valuable: Being passionate, I think, boosts anything. I have a genuine love for music and that faith I have to make music more tangible for people is everything. 

Rare: People start ventures with money on their mind only.

Inimitable: Fairly inimitable, though you can't imitate authentic passion.

Non-substitutable: If you try to like something when you don't, it'll show eventually. 

Social Media

Valuable: I know how to tend to social media platforms. I once had 30,000 followers on tumblr which I grew on my own. It was a blog that catered to music fans. 

Rare: It takes time and effort to grow a following on any platform.

Inimitable: If you have what it takes without buying followers.

Non-substitutable: Having an audience or following can't be replaced.

Innovated Thinking

Valuable: In the world today, you have to be thinking three steps ahead. I'm able to think of what I want as a fan and apply that to the future of what could be. 

Rare: Thinking in the moment is first nature and convenient. You have to push the boundaries to think of what people are lacking a year, 5 years from now. 

Inimitable: It could be. 

Non-substitutable: I don't believe innovation can be replaced, because it's what you need to change and grow. 

Business Education

Valuable: Having an education is very valuable in the world today. It sets you above others and shows that you have expertise in a subject. 

Rare: Depending on where you are, it could be rare. Having a degree is a special thing. 

Inimitable: An education is imitable, but what you do with it isn't. 

Non-substitutable: Can't substitute for a degree. 

Management Experience

Valuable: Going into this venture and having people work beneath me, I already have experience and know how to run a ship. 

Rare: Experience isn't something that can be bought or taken. It has to be learned.

Inimitable: If you take the time to learn it can be.

Non-substitutable: Cannot replace experience.

Social Media Advertising

Valuable: Advertising through media would give me a leg up in getting potential customers.

Rare: Not rare, but could help a lot.

Inimitable: If you hook enough people to use your app. 

Non-substitutable: It could be substituted for other forms of advertising but probably wouldn't work as well as using online platforms. 

Human Resources

Valuable: If idea were to be brought to life, I would want excessive HR done not only throughout my company but throughout my app to ensure that it is a fair, equal environment not only for my employees but for people using the app comfortably and freely. 

Rare: Shouldn't be rare, but a lot of social media platforms let a lot of offensive things slide.

Inimitable: I'd hope others would imitate this measure. 

Non-substitutable: No, this can't be substituted. 

Human Capital
Valuable: I have the motivation and determination in me to pursue this head on. It can be easy to lack motivation but when you're passionate about something it comes a lot easier.
Rare: Pure passion and motivation can be rare. Not wanting to halfass something and having the perseverance to keep going despite road blocks or failures takes a strong person.
Inimitable: You can try. 
Non-substitutable: Without motivation, how will you continue?   

I think my motivation/determination is the most important aspect because without that fire in you to do something, what will be done? More important than money, resources, connections - starting within yourself and acknowledging what you can do is powerful. 

22A - Elevator Pitch 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phtp3JiBh8A&feature=youtu.be



My feedback was that I improved from my first one. Bailey mentioned that I was more animated which was good.
I definitely almost had it memorized compared to the first time around, and I was way more comfortable talking in front of the camera. I hated it the first time I did it and this time I wasn't really bothered, but that could've been the fact that I just got home from an 11 hour shift. No, but I did grow a lot from this exercise. I was very hesitant to record myself but it's a great way to improve.

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose to read is "Thinking, Fast and slow" by Daniel Kahneman.
1.) What was the general theme or the concept of the book?
The general concept of the book is that your mind is split into two "systems" System 1 and System 2. System 1 is the part of your mind that automatically processes things and basically thinks FOR you without you actually trying. For example, what's 2+2? Or, finish this fragment.. "bread and _____." System 2 is a bit more complex and it takes more time for this part of your mind to process it. When System 1 can't handle it, it's passed on for System 2 to handle. Basically in situations where you have to focus more like if you were trying to heighten your awareness on something specific in a moment of chaos.
2.) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT3003?
Although it didn't precisely link to entrepreneurship, there was a part that discussed how System 1 doesn't digest "doubt" while System 2 does. I could automatically relate this to the risk it takes to start a new venture in business. Automatically, you may think of this great idea but then System 2 comes in, reminding you of judgement and choice and you start to DOUBT. In the world of entrepreneurship, you don't have time to doubt. There was also other instances that discussed how the systems contradict in the subjects of risk and failure that connected to the class as well.
3.) If you had to design an exercise for this class based on the book what would it be?
I'd first probably have the class watch the "awareness" video that can be found online of the people playing basketball with the gorilla in the middle to see if anyone could realize the gorilla was there. Then, I'd have the class do some System 1 actions and System 2 actions to see if they can see a difference.
4.) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book?
I was hesitant to read an entire book that discussed just one concept but honestly, my biggest aha was that what he was saying actually made sense. It's like a front film of your brain that catches things quickly and is able to immediately spit them back out, but sometimes your brain needs to open that back door and allow the rest of your brain to do the work.