Elevator Pitch No. 4

For this elevator pitch, I talked about how in my interview I learned that people are concerned about the price of the food/drinks at the restaurant, and how parents would be motivated to come if there was a day where kids can eat free. I have incorporated both of these ideas into my latest venture concept!

https://youtu.be/w-73DdjEv2I

Venture Concept No.2

Opportunity. An opportunity may be defined as a group of customers with unmet or under-met needs. When you describe the opportunity you have identified, you need to be sure to describe both (1) who has the need (i.e., who are the potential customers?) and (2) the nature of the need. Other questions you should address in this section:

My venture concept opportunity is a restaurant in midtown Gainesville that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and also turns into a bar at night. I think the major target market is the students at the university, as well as other young people in the city. They have this need because there aren't very many good restaurants in Gainesville that serve food throughout the day, and there aren't very many bars to choose from. This window of opportunity will be open for as long as midtown is a popular place to hang out in Gainesville. 

Innovation. An innovation may be defined as a new or creative service, product, or process that may be applied in the marketplace to address customer needs. The service, product, or process you develop in this class may be radically innovative or it may be incrementally innovative. In this section, I would like to you discuss your innovation in moderate detail. Explain what it is, what it does, and how it works. You should also describe how you will make money – in other words, what, exactly, are you selling and for how much? For instance, if I was starting a business to teach people how to play the piano, I would be selling an hour of my time for $50.

My innovation is only moderately innovative because there are already restaurants in Gainesville, but there are not any that serves all three meals and also turn into a bar. I will make money off of the food and alcohol I sell at the restaurant. Food will range from $5-$20 and alcohol will range from $3-$20. 

Venture Concept. A venture concept may be defined as the application of a specific innovation to address a specific opportunity. In this section, describe how your innovation will solve or address the opportunity you identified. You also want to explain why customers will buy your innovation. In describing the concept, you also want to be sure to cover issues such as:

·      What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch? 

·      Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities? 

·      What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?

·      How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture? 

My innovation will solve the opportunity by creating a new place in midtown to eat and go out. Customers will definitely buy my food and drinks because from my experience, a new restaurant/bar is highly needed and people would love a new one. I think that as long as I serve good food and have all my products at reasonable and affordable prices, it will be very successful. I don't think it will be hard to get people to come because people like a variety of restaurants to go to anyways. They don't just go to one all the time. 

The three minor elements

I also want you to cover three final elements in your description. Your treatment of these questions can be relatively short. Please focus most of your time on the opportunity, innovation, concept descriptions above.

First, describe what you think your most important resource will be. You might call this your venture’s “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage.” Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?

Second, what’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers.

Third, what’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision?

I think that my most important resource will be the connections and friends that I have made in Gainesville, because they will help me promote and spread the word about the restaurant. I think the next venture I want to tackle with my existing customers is having Sunday brunches. In five years, I want the restaurant/bar to be thriving, I want to still be the owner, and I want to have kept innovating and listened to the customers' needs. 

Feedback:

I received a lot of helpful feedback on my restaurant/bar idea. All of the students that I interviewed really seemed to love the idea and they all told me that they would come to the restaurant. The only problem that I ran into with students was their concern about prices. When I interviewed families, who were my new target market, they told me that kids menu deals would be a motivator to come to my restaurant, but I still think it will be hard to get families to come eat at midtown because of all the kids that are around. 

I am going to modify my venture concept in order to accommodate this feedback by making sure that having economical prices is one of my priorities for my restaurant, and by making sure that at least one day out of the week, meals are free for kids. This will motivate both of my target markets to come to my restaurant more frequently.

 

Google Gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO?
For each blog post I would label each week, and I would share my blog posts with my classmates when I would comment on their posts in order to generate a following.

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?
The keywords I used included the ones we were told to use, which were the week labels. I didn't change this throughout the semester. I probably should've started adding more.

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?
I would post my blog posts on my facebook sometimes so that my friends who aren't in the class could read them. I didn't get much of a reaction, but I think a few friends read them. I think social media pretty much ignored the posts.

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?
I think that my first post obtained the most traffic, because people were curious what I was starting a blog about.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?
I didn't make it to the first page. I was around the 5th page.

Very Short Interview Part 2

Reflecting on the answers that the entrepreneur gave me during our first interview, I think that I can really relate to all of his answers. I understand why he is so passionate about his business, because he grew it, and why it can also be really frustrating.

I asked him the following questions:

If you could go back and do everything over again, what would you change?
I wouldn't change anything. I'm really happy with the business I've created and the employees I've hired, and I think we're going to be really successful.

Do you ever feel like your job is overwhelming or too time consuming?
Sometimes. But that can happen with any job, you have to remember. So when things get crazy I just have to be thankful that I don't have a boss looking over my shoulder.

What are you plans for the future?
Definitely just plan on keep growing the business, hiring new people, and thinking of new ideas. The clothing industry is huge, and I'm excited to keep growing.

I think I have definitely learned a lot in this class and I'm more comfortable talking about entrepreneurship and the processes behind it. Having said that, I think that there is still a ton to learn and I'm excited to keep learning.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

Surprise: I was surprised to learn that goodwill and patents are both considered assets.

Confused: The most confusing part to me from this reading was probably the part that had the table on due diligence. It was a little confusing to read, but I think I got the gist of it.

Questions: How often to entrepreneurs overvalue their company because of an emotional bias?
Do entrepreneurs use all of the valuation methods available or just a few depending on the circumstance?

Disagree: I do not disagree with anything the author said this week!

Celebrating Failure

I have had a rough time finding an internship for this summer because I have failed to impress the interviewers. This has happened a few times this semester and it has definitely been pretty discouraging, because you finally get to the point where you get an interview and then you don't get the internship. Failing makes me feel discouraged and upset, and mostly makes me feel less intelligent compared to other people applying for the same position. I generally consider myself a pretty qualified applicant, so getting denied is definitely a reality check. This class has helped me realize that a lot of people fail and it's a necessary step on the path to success, so it makes the failures a little more bearable!

My 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 sell my business in the next 5 years for a large return. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I have selected this particular strategy because Gainesville is a young and fast-changing place, and I think there always need to be new, young minds in management. 

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 really influence the other decisions I've made in my concept design. Either way, I want to create the best restaurant with the best food possible for the best value.