Final Reflection

My most formative experience was probably when I was reading about Elon Musk. I loved learning about all of the risks that he took and how he didn’t know until the very last moment that he was going to pull through or not. This is the kind of mindset that you have to have as an entrepreneur. The thought that you are going to do this whether you will be successful or not. It takes a lot of motivation and trial and error and being able to read about it from someone else’s perspective is an amazing learning experience.

At this point in time I do not see myself as an entrepreneur. I am not motivated about the concept that I have brought forward for this semester and it takes a crazy amount of hard work to be a successful entrepreneur. I am not ready to put that work in because I haven’t found something that I am passionate about. I have definitely moved closer to being in that mindset though.

I would make sure that you find a concept that you are really interested in. There is nothing worse than putting in a lot of time for something that doesn’t interest you in the slightest. The decision had to be made early, but it was an important one. So, make sure your idea is solid and something you want to really dive into. 

Venture Concept No. 2

1)      The concept that I have is to provide people with a type of insurance when they travel. There are a lot of times that people get stranded in airports and they have to deal with the consequences themselves in a city they aren’t used to being in and pay for all of it out of pocket. With the ability to pay for an insurance plan that will allow them to protect themselves from that situation, travelers will be able to rest easy.

2)      A lot of the feedback that I have received has come about how I would be presenting my idea to the consumer. I wanted to be leased out by major airlines so my product would be available on checkout for people buying airline tickets. Therefore, I decided to make sure that I don’t simply limit myself to this kind of business model.

3)      Moving forward I want to make sure that I am thinking of innovative ways of bringing my product to consumers.

Your Exit Strategy

1.       My ideal exit for the idea that I have developed this past semester would be to sell it to a major airline. I am not attached to it and ultimately the business would run better being run by a major player in the business. This arm of the business would prove as a diversified arm for their business.

2.       I wanted to do this because I would like to spend my life doing other things than running an insurance company. The money would allow me to do other things that I want to get done with in my life.

3.       I think the fact that I want to sell it has made the concept much simpler. I don’t want to put that much capital into the business because I want to flip it as quick as possible. The lease amount of risk possible is what I am hoping for in the long run.

Celebrating Failure

1.       I have failed quite a few times this semester. There have been a great deal of things that I have applied to and interviewed for but was denied from. They were for leadership positions in the school of business.

2.       I learned that what people think of you is critical in deciding how you will progress in your future career. I am the author of people’s opinion of me and I need to make sure that I am painting a strong enough image that can help me gain the positions that I want in order to be successful.

3.       I allow myself to be down about something for less than a day. Anything more than that is hurtful, and anything less doesn’t give you enough time to be human.  I never want to be the victim either. Blaming my failure on others is not what I want to be doing. It is easy to begin to blame everything else on others and not grow from these experiences.

Reading Reflection No. 3

Steve Jobs

1.       The thing that surprised me most about Steve Jobs was that he created Pixar Animation Studios after he was ousted by the board at Apple.

2.       I admired how even with a lack of direction in his life he was able to do something incredible that was greater than himself. Not everyone is given great opportunities but I believe that you can be anything you want to be if you give enough effort.

3.       I really don’t like arrogant people and Steve Jobs was known for being a huge asshole. I don’t think he needed to be that way in order to be successful. I think he could have been much more influential if people liked him.

4.       Jobs was amazing at pioneering innovation. The design of the things he made was essential in shaping the future of how technology would go on to shape the future.

5.       I am still confused as to how he was able to be kicked out of his position at Apple. He was the creator and figure head.

6.       How did you gain the courage and how did you learn that this was an option that was available for you. These are things that I want to know about me and my passions and hearing someone else talk about it would be beneficial.

7.       Like all motivated people I believe that Jobs would think that hard work was essential for being successful in any facet. There are no amazing things that would have been done without hard work.

What's Next?

Existing Market

1.       The next steps for my venture would potentially be annual packages for people that travel very often. This would help them save money and confirm cash flow for the company in advance.

2.       When talking to the people that I interviewed they mentioned that the next steps for any type of insurance company is to raise a great deal of capital. So I would need to talk to investors and make sure that I have enough money to support claims in the early stages of my process.

3.       To grow in the existing market I will need to make sure that I am constantly doing research. By researching and interviewing with customers I will learn all of the things that are available to improve upon. Without doing this there is very little chance that I can grow the company in its existing market.

New Market

1.       As of now I am targeting everyday people. I could potentially target very affluent customers.

2.       I could offer safe and private flights to people that want privacy. These people could be famous but not wealthy enough to have their own planes. We would allow them to keep to themselves and get to where they need to go.

3.       The people that I interviewed that the main thing that I would have to adapt is people’s opinion on insurance for a one-time flight. I would need to make sure I showcase the benefits that come with a situation like this and how it will help people.  

4.       I learned that people that are more affluent are more willing to pay money for comfort. The scope of my business is providing that comfort to people and I could definitely provide it to this group as well.

Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity that I am describing pertains to all those travel on major airlines at any point in their lives. There is a huge gap in the customer service that people expect from airlines and other businesses such as restaurants or professional services. The reason this exists is because airlines have a very tight grip on the market that they operate in and despite how they treat travelers sometimes there is little that is going to happen if your experience goes poorly.

Forces changing the environment that this venture would operate in would be the massive area that social media can cover in a short amount of time. People who have unpleasant enough experiences will take to the airwaves in order to voice their discontent with how they were treated by the airline they were traveling with. Whether it be a dog dying or a man being dragged off against his will, people will make sure that the PR of a company is tarnished. So that they can have a nice settlement from the company. With consumers having the potential power to seriously hurt airlines it is critical for airlines to begin stepping up the services they provide for distressed travelers. Airlines are great at being nice when things are going smoothly, but when you miss connections or get massive delays they do nothing to mitigate the damage that is done to people who are extremely far away from home.

The customers in this market are currently not having this need satisfied. The need of the peace of mind that you will be taken care of when you travel. Even if something completely out of your control takes place. People will pay money in order to help them in the future from something they can’t control. This way they feel like they have some kind of control over the situation. This opportunity isn’t a ground breaking discovery that will change the world. It is something that would potentially become an industry norm and be considered necessary when purchasing an airline ticket. A form of insurance that makes sure they get home safely and comfortably when things go wrong. The window of opportunity probably will not be terribly long because it will be difficult to put barriers to entry for competitors.

              The innovation that I have come up with in order to help distressed traveling is an insurance plan that they can purchase before they go on a flight. There might be things that are similar to this offering in the marketplace at the moment, but I want to make it a little different. My competitors currently sell insurance separately and not at the point of sale when people buy their  plane tickets.. For this reason they are missing out on huge revenue sources that I would be gaining.

              By positioning my product in a convenient place for the customer to purchase I can expect my service to be used over others that offer similar plans. If people simply just have to hit a button in order to get the insurance that they won’t be stranded in an airport when they are traveling. In order to make this a reality I would have to be in communication with the airline companies and integrate our payment plans into their payment processing interfaces. I know that airlines will be inclined to do this because my services would take the stress of caring for disgruntled passengers off of their hands. If people had the option to buy the insurance and they didn’t then the airline could avoid all liability for the situation that the person is in. This is a win-win for the airlines and would be the prime location for marketing my services to the target market that would be looking for it.

              I would be selling an insurance bundle plan that would calculate the cost of the plan (per flight) by taking a percentage of the total cost of the roundtrip tickets or how many miles a person is traveling. The farther a person is traveling, or the more expensive their ticket is, the more money you could charge for their plan. A thousand dollar trip could have an insurance cost of $100 because of how far a person must be going if they are paying a thousand dollars to get there.

              My innovation will provide for the opportunity that I am speaking about because it will provide travelers an option that they didn’t previously have. A lot of people probably would not have even known about any kind of travelers insurance because it is so uncommonly used nowadays. By using my innovation, and putting the option at the point of check out, I will increase the number of people traveling insured and potentially make it the norm to travel with an insurance plan.