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 plan to sell my business in the next 5 years. I want to start many businesses and sell them for a large return. The plan was always to sell the business.  

2)      Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I have selected this strategy because I want to make a lot of money. I love my business but sometimes if you love something you have to let it go.

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 don’t think that my exit strategy has affected  or influenced the way I chose to do business. If anything I think it has helped. It helps remind me that this is a long term business and that I have to take care of it.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

1)      What was the general theme or argument of the book?

This book focuses mainly on the psychological processes and how our brains work. I really enjoyed reading this book. Knowing more about how I think helps me understand how and why I make decisions.

2)      How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book definitely connected with ENT 3003. Learning about how people think can help you start and grow your business. I will take this knowledge with me into the business world.

3)      If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would have the class read the book and then do a project on the processes of the mind. I think that this would help the class take in the information better.

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?

My biggest aha moment was learning about the processes of the mind. I want to read and learn more about this subject.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1.       This semester I failed business finance. I did not work as hard as I needed to and now I have retake it. It was by far the hardest class I’ve ever had to take. I came into the class and underestimated it. I will not do that again next semester and will be able to pass this class.

2.       I learned that you cannot be lazy about upper level finance classes. They are not the same as basic macro and micro economic principles classes. I also learned that if you drop a class you have to pay a lot of money too.

3.       This class has taught me a lot about failure. I learned that it is not the end of the world. Next semester I will do better in that class and get an A. I am much more likely to take a risk now than I was at the beginning of this class.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1 (Gator Umbrellas)

Every student who has to walk to class probably experiences the unpredictable weather patterns. I am one of those students who walk to class and have to deal with the unpredictable weather patterns of Gainesville. The forces that create this is the ungodly beast known as mother nature. She is an unstoppable and predictable force of great power. “When it rains, it pours.” – ASAP Rocky, 2018. This market is geographically isolated being only in Gainesville and only relating to college students who walk to class from their homes. Customers currently satisfy this need by either carrying around an umbrella or having their rain jacket on them at all times. Umbrellas are a hassle to carry around and more often than not it is too hot to be wearing a rain jacket in Gainesville. Customers are most certainly not loyal to these options now which is why I believe my innovation will be a big hit. This opportunity is big. I’m talking like google and amazon big. Like Andre the Giant Big. This window of opportunity is forever. There will always be a need for my business in Gainesville.

My innovation is a business where you can rent umbrellas from all over campus and have locations to return them to. This would be like a zip car for umbrellas. I think that this idea would work very well because they would be connected to a student’s gator one card. All students would use this system.

Customers would definitely switch to this system because it is much more convenient that their current methods. There are no competitors for this market either which means I would have a monopoly and make a lot of money. There is no packaging required and I have a team of employees that can handle all the marketing aspects of the business.

My most important resource is my human capital.

The next business opportunity is expanding the business to other campuses.

My personal next opportunity is starting another business and finishing my degree here at the University of Florida.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

·       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.) 

1. Human Capital

2. Social Capital

3. Financial Capital

4. Teamwork

5. Communication

6. Investors

7. Friends

8. Family

9. Employees

10. Technology

I intend to create a great organizational culture that is good. My organizational culture would be friendly and collaborative. This will be a great company to work at and everyone will want to work there.

·       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?). 

1. Human Capital – very valuable, not imitable, non-substitutable

2. Social Capital – sort of valuable, kind of imitable, non substitutable

3. Financial Capital - very valuable, not imitable, non-substitutable

4. Teamwork - very valuable, imitable, substitutable

5. Communication - valuable, imitable, non-substitutable

6. Investors - valuable, substitutable

7. Friends - very valuable, not imitable, non-substitutable

8. Family - not imitable, non-substitutable

9. Employees - very valuable, not imitable, non-substitutable

10. Technology - very valuable, not imitable, non-substitutable

·       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.

My most valuable resource is my human capital. This encompasses most of my other resources. I really would like to expand my human capital even though think that it is already pretty good. I am excited to see how my human capital grows along with my business.

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/HqcrAqlEi9I

2. I received good feedback from my past video. People really loved how dynamic I was and appreciated my intensity.

3. I changed nothing I did it better this time.

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

1)    What was the general theme or argument of the book?

I chose to read Innovation and entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. This book is interesting because instead of having one theme, it is broken up into 3 parts each focusing on a different aspect of entrepreneurship. Part 1 focuses on innovation. Part 2 highlights managerial strengths. Part 3 looks at practices and policies and how they affect company.

2)    How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book should be the textbook for this class. It highlights the exact themes we talk about every week and explains them in a very understandable manner. I think that it was a nice add on to the course and allowed me to further my understanding of the themes presented in this class.

3)    If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

My exercise would involve the students each presenting on a part of the book in their groups. They would make a video presentation and talk about the specific aspects of that part of the book and why they think it applies to this class.

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?

My biggest aha moment reading this book was when I read that entrepreneurship never stops in a company. Even after you have an established company you still have to constantly work to make sure that it stays successful and continues to grow.

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1)    One person must be a domain expert in your industry.

For my contact in my industry I reached out to a fellow young entrepreneur Dominick. He owns a similar business to my idea and wanted his help in figuring out the best way to go about starting a business. I found Dominick through a mutual friend here at the university of Florida and sent him an email. Dominick has been very helpful to me through his knowledge and wisdom and in return he expects me to help his brand awareness by networking. Dominick is a great ally who has a lot of contacts in the industry. They say its not what you know but who you know.

2)    One person must be an expert on your market.

My market contact is named Scott. He is a real veteran who has run his own business locally for over 30 years. As someone who has lived and operated a business in Gainesville for so many years, Scott knows my target market well. I found Scott through an online ad and reached out to him over email. Scott is a very genuine person and did not want anything in return for helping me. He is a great contact to have because he has been around the city so long that he knows the ins and outs of running a business in Gainesville.

3)    One person must be an important supplier to your industry.

For my supplier I reached out to a fiend Michael who orders large quantities of umbrellas on the Internet. He has been doing this for years so his knowledge is vast. I contacted Michael by talking to him because I live with him. He is going to be a part of the business with me so he will get to split the profits with me. Including Michael will be a huge help and will allow me to focus on the marketing while he focuses on the supply.

Reflect

This experience will definitely help me down the line when trying to network. This was different to networking in the past because I had never had to look for such specific people. I cannot wait to network more and grow my network.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. My name is James Davis. I am a third year finance major here at the University of Florida. My talents include communicating, teamwork, and the ability to speak 4 languages. My aspiration is to own my own business one day and make it successful. I see my business playing a large role in my life.

2) What are you offering to customers? I am offering a solution to students who get rained on walking to class here at the University of Florida.

 3) Who are you offering it to? These are students who walk to class at the University of Florida.

 4) Why do they care? They do not want to carry around an umbrella nor do they want to have a rain jacket on them at all times. Students will care because they will appreciate the business.

5) What are your core competencies? I’ve ran the numbers and it looks like my business is unique so I think what sets me apart is that no one else has this business.

I truly believe all of these elements fit together. I think my skills and business knowledge will be helpful getting investors to invest. I also think that what I am offering is so unique that the business will be successful. Students would benefit greatly from this solution.

I took the appropriate feedback from my last napkin idea and applied it to this one. I appreciated everyone who gave me feedback because I was able to really see where my first Napkin idea lacked and how I could improve this one. This was mainly in the way that I saw the business and myself.