Identifying Local Opportunities

1.       SUIT: VALET GAVE FERRARI TO THIEF

a.       http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/169A8590178C7910?p=WORLDNEWS

b.       The article talks about situation in St. Petersburg where a valet worker gave the key to a man’s sports car to a thief. The thief took advantage of the fact that the valet did not know who owned the car and assumed that the person wouldn’t be lying.

c.       The problem in this story is that the valet workers had no way of checking to see that the person that is coming to pick up a vehicle is 100% positively theirs. People who have these problems would be high end hotels or businesses that decide to offer valet services to their customers.

2.       REDNER WINS EARLY LEGAL ROUND IN BID TO GROW POT

a.       http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/169A858F96471060?p=WORLDNEWS

b.       There is a local entrepreneur in Tampa that is known for entering business segments that are seen as questionable in the public eye, such as strip clubs. He was looking for the opportunity to grow marijuana legally and there was a win in his legal battle to do so.

c.       The problem is that there are not a lot of suppliers of marijuana in the Tampa Bay area and the people who have that problem are the people who try to sell and use marijuana.

3.       TREASURE, THEN TRASH

a.       http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/169A85911D149868?p=WORLDNEWS

b.       This is an article explaining the market for beads used at the Gasparilla parade in Tampa. There is easily a million dollars worth of beads at the parade and they usually get thrown away before the day ends.

c.       The problem is that the beads are so integral to the parade because people want to be given beads from a float at least once during a parade. At the end of a parade they become worthless to the people and get wasted.  The people who have this problem is the city because they are left on the ground.

4.       ENJOY AVOIDING THE CROWD

a.       http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/169A858F8853A338?p=WORLDNEWS

b.       This article describes the crowds that are going to be present as a result of the yearly parade that will be taking place the next weekend. Also, the article includes things they could do in order to avoid the crowds.

c.       The problem is that there is a lot of traffic in a certain part of town and keeps people from doing the things that they need to do. The people facing this problem are those living in that area.

5.       SEWAGE PLANT SPRINGS A LEAK

a.       http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/1699DD652772A200?p=WORLDNEWS

b.       This article discusses the leak in a public sewage plant that severely affected a local community.  There were two sewage spills that took place.

c.       The problem is that there is a community that had a local Bayou heavily polluted because of the carelessness of a sewage plant.  

Forming an Opportunity

1.       I believe that there is a market for convenient, last second flights, from major airports for people that can’t make connecting flights. In large airports there are a great deal of missed connecting flights and when people miss their flights they are desperate to get where they want to go.

2.       The unmet need is a fast alternative to people having their flights cancelled or not making connecting flights. People who need this are in distress travelers that will potentially be stranded in airports at night or need to get home for the holidays. The need has come from the fact that airlines commonly have to cancel flights or delay them to the point that people can not make other connecting flights. Not much has been done to meet this need at the moment because flight know that there is nothing that you can do and they already have your money.

3.       The prototypical customer would be someone who travels a great deal, or anyone who has a connecting flight.

4.       Iteration No. 1: The first “customer” I talked to was my good friend Logan that has a father who is a pilot. When speaking to him he mentioned that this problem partly exists because there is slight oligopoly amongst all of the airlines. There is no incentive for airlines to help people get home faster and there is little chance that you go and buy a brand new ticket. This need has been around for a while and will only increase as the airline industry grows and globalization spreads. Logan mentioned that he notices that he has this need at very inconvenient times and the situations give him very high stress.

5.       Iteration No. 2: This next interview is my mother. She travels often for work and has been put in bad situations within the travel industry. When asking her about her opinion on the nature of the need, she mentioned that it is primarily because of the high cost of entry to get into the airline business. The big airlines could push up and coming airlines out the way and the regulations in this industry could make it close to impossible to offer a solution in this industry. Additionally, she mentioned that if this service was offered it would be able to charge very high margins.

6.       Iteration No. 3: My last interview was with one of my coworkers from my past internship. His name is James and he lives in Dallas but travels home on the holidays. When he travels home he has run into cancellations and missed connecting flights. The conversation that I had with him was very constructive because he talked about how he felt in that situation and what he would do if he was confronted with a service that could have gotten him home.

7.       The biggest thing that I learned is that there are a lot of barriers to entry for this industry. This is the greatest reason for this problem existing. In a purely competitive market there is no chance that travelers would be treated the way they are when they are stranded in a random city. My biggest surprise was being told that the prices I could charge for a business like this would be huge. For some reason I felt that the best business models are cost leaders.

8.       In summary, not too much of my original idea is there. There are a lot of things that would keep me from doing what I wanted to do. Along the way I thought of a ride sharing service for planes going to different cities which would give people with planes the opportunity to make money for flying people when they go different places. But most people who own planes don’t care too much about more a few extra bucks because they already must have a lot of money. I think my original idea would be better than my ride sharing idea because it would be an airline making use of people needing last minute flights to certain places. Entrepreneurs shouldn’t completely compromise their business plans based on the feedback of a single customer. But, there is no doubt that if there is a trend in what customers are saying then the company should work hard to fix the problem. That way they can keep growing as a company and provide value to customers.

Bug List and Reflection

Bug List

1.       Whenever I go shopping, or am bringing things into my house, there is an obnoxious walk from my car to my room.

a.       This bug exists because there is no room behind the house for all of the people who live there to park. Essentially a lack of parking in the vicinity of the University of Florida.

2.       The Bluetooth on my phone constantly goes in and out whenever I try to use it.

a.       This bug exists because Apple has made their phones so that they start to deteriorate as they get older.

3.       My room gets extremely messy at the end of each week and makes being in my room unbearable until I clean it.

a.       I don’t have the time, will, or space in my room to keep my things in my room organized.  

4.       Whenever I go to the McDonald’s by my house on University Ave. there is always a twenty-minute wait for my food and a crap ton of drunk people yelling inside.

a.       This location has a very unmotivated group of people working there and is located within walking distance of the bars by campus.

5.       During the day the entire campus is flooded with people and I can’t find a relaxing place to study

a.       There are 50,000 people who attend the University of Florida and there are only so many locations to study on campus.

6.       Whenever I go to fill up my water bottle the tube that is connected to the mouth piece always come of and I must get my hand wet to attach it again.

a.       The tube is supposed to stay on by suction and as the bottle gets older the suction begins to wear off.

7.       The air conditioning unit in my room is either spewing out the coldest air imaginable or not doing anything which leads to my room getting stuffy.

a.       My house is old and gross, meaning that the A/C unit in my room is probably thirty years old and completely outdated.

8.       There are a lot of times that I want to go do or buy something but the place I am thinking of is actually closed at the moment.

a.       I have a really bad sleeping schedule which makes me stay up really late, so my days start later than most.

9.       When I’m reading in my bed at night and I am laying down there is never a good amount of light for me to see well.

a.       I read laying down and holding the book in the air so the book blocks the light on the ceiling.

10.   Whenever I have to do laundry at my house I have to walk up two flights of stairs with a huge bin of clothes in order to do so.

a.       The washer and dryers at my house are located on the third floor and I live on the first floor.

11.   The gyms on campus are always extremely crowded and make it super uncomfortable to go there and workout

a.       All of the students on campus are using these facilities because they are free to them. Also, there are a lot of people that make New Year’s Resolutions which makes the gym much more congested than usual.

12.   For some reason I get notifications on Facebook about random people and it makes me angry because I thought that I had an important notification when I didn’t.

a.       I probably did something stupid when I was much younger and created my Facebook that causes these notifications to keep happening.

13.   When I go shopping for shoes and for clothes at retail stores I find it difficult to find my size in most items.

a.       I am much bigger than most people and stores don’t tend to carry the sizes that fit me the best.

14.   Whenever I go to Chic-fil-a and accidentally spill Chic-fil-a sauce on my shirt it leaves a stain that will never come off and completely ruins my shirt.

a.       When I am eating I am usually in a rush and don’t take the time to put napkins all over the place to protect my clothes.

15.   When I drive home for weekends or vacations there are people that drive in the left lane very slowly, sometimes below the speed limit.

a.       People are required to do very little training in order to get their licenses and knowledge on road etiquette varies vastly from driver to driver.

16.   My phone can only get notifications on emails that come from one of my accounts.

a.       I don’t have the knowledge on how to fix the issue that I am facing with my phone.

17.   The top of my car is beginning to rust and the body shop said that there was nothing that I could do for it at this point.

a.       The model of Corolla that I have is prone to having the roof rust and my car is over ten years old.

18.   I have a tendency to lose my socks on a regular basis and it makes me angry whenever I am in a rush to get ready in the morning and I can’t seem to find a sock anywhere.

a.       My room is very messy and unorganized, so finding small objects, like socks, is relatively difficult.

19.   Whenever I decide to go on campus and study for a prolonged period of time, I always bring my chargers, headphones, etc. These wires get tangled in my backpack and the first ten minutes of my study sessions consist of me untangling them.

a.       I have a lot of technology in my backpack and in order to use it I have to carry around accessories that require wires in order to work. The storage that I put them in makes it easy for them to tangle.

20.   Sometimes when I am walking down the street in my dress shoes I will get blisters from the leather rubbing on my heels for long periods of time.

a.       The shoes don’t fit my feet correctly and therefore slide up and down on my ankle leading to the friction.

Reflection

              This process was rather difficult because it made me think long and hard about the things that I do, and use, on a day to day basis. Once I started thinking of things on a very granular level I began to realize the little nuances that piss me off. However, as time went on I just accepted these things and thought that it couldn’t be changed. This mindset is really amazing because it allows you to be open to the idea that things can be changed and don’t have to remain the same for the rest of time. Being able to think analytically and provide improvements for day to day life is one of the coolest things about entrepreneurship.

Nicholas Gunn's Entrepreneurship Journey

              One of the most random and spur of the moment things that I have done during my time at the University of Florida is form the Galleon Fund. What the hell is that? I would love to fill you in on it 😊 There are a crap ton of investment clubs on campus for people that have an interest in the financial world and want to learn even more. I have had the chance to sit in on a few of their meetings and have noticed that they all have one thing in common. There is always at least one person who looks like they are drowning in the fact that they don’t know a thing about anything that anyone is talking about. It’s hard to learn a useful skill like investing when you can’t understand the acronyms or jargon that everyone is using. My goal was to start a fund that is geared towards the person who knows absolutely nothing about the finance world.

            My entrepreneurial adventure is currently taking place within the confines of my fraternity on campus. We use fake money and I have picked a few brothers who know what they are talking about in order to divvy up the work. It took me a long time to materialize my initial idea because there were so many variables that I had to decide on before I could begin marketing to my brotherhood. The reason that I think of this as an entrepreneurial endeavor is because I had to convince a group of relatively unmotivated college students to participate in something that would have probably little importance to their career or lives for that matter. BUT I WAS NOT DISCOURAGED!! I made sure to hype it up as much as possible before my first meeting, so people would get excited and decide to invest in their futures. Sadly, no one showed up to the first meeting and left me and my crew broken hearted. However, I chose to have it on a Friday afternoon during Homecoming. So, it was probably my fault. BUT WE WERE NOT DISCOURAGED!!

What I learned was that I needed to make the entire fund require as little effort from them as possible, while giving to them as much as possible. That way they would notice that they would gain a lot of cool experience without having to cram their schedule. For this reason we decided to have one introductory meeting and then have remote meetings with our respective groups. After this decision the fund began to flourish and people decided to give it a chance (also could be because I begged people). Now we have approximately 25 people in the fund and they have learned a bunch of brand new stuff. HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

The reason that I decided to take this class is because I feel that I have a few decent ideas on future business ventures and I would really like to have a little guidance in the world of entrepreneurship. There are a lot of variables in starting something brand new and I know that I don’t have all of the skills needed to succeed in the things that I want to do. So learning about the principles and foundations of entrepreneurship will hopefully aid me in taking a leap of faith later in my life.

Test Post for Class

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