Week 8 Reading Reflection

There wasn’t much that surprised me during this chapter reading. Everything I read, I found interesting and useful. It taught me some things that I was unaware of before.

I was not confused about anything in this chapter. Everything was pretty straightforward, so it was easy to understand what the chapter was about.

If I could ask the author a question, I would ask where they came up with the numbers under the Informal Risk: Capital Angel Financing paragraph. Since people choose what they want to do with their money based on their personal lives, the statistic doesn’t exactly fit very well. People come from all different levels of income and one person may not be willing to make certain investments that others would.

As I stated above, the statistics show that there are a lot of opportunities to be made with these angel investors but it does not necessarily mean that every person with that sort of capital is interested in investing in these unproven companies.

Half-way Reflection

For this course, I have had to be very proactive and plan out all of the work that must be done within the week. As I've learned, not all of these assignments are something that can be submitted 5 minutes before the deadline, as you usually have to go out and take videos. I definitely think this course has helped me to better my time management skills.
There have been a few times throughout this course where I simply just don't do the assignments because I'm too nervous to go out and talk to random people. I'm very talkative and generally wouldn't mind this, as long as I'm in my comfort zone. However, some of these assignments have made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. The main thing keeping me going and not stopping this course altogether, is that I want to be able to do that. I want to be able to walk up to anyone and spark a conversation, no matter what it may be. I feel like I'm starting to develop a tenacious attitude, although I was not before. This is mainly because I'm now realizing that some of my friends are taking courses similar to this one, where they must go out and speak to strangers. They said it's very uncomfortable at first but after they feel a sense of accomplishment. I figured, if they can do it, then I can as well.
To anyone taking this course next semester, I would advise them to come in prepared. I can't say I was fully prepared because I didn't expect this course to be like this, so definitely know what you're getting yourself into. Secondly, don't hold back. Do not be scared (like I am), to complete an assignment, because it only ends up hurting you in the end. And finally, do the extra credit. It'll help a lot when you forget to turn something in or chicken out of an assignment.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

In the reading, the thing that stood out to me the most was about how a person's lifestyle can be captured through psycho-graphics but could be weak at understanding what they buy. It's hard to understand the difference between the two of these things because I assumed that a lifestyle would greatly influence ones buying preferences. If I could ask the author two questions, they would be "Do you think that a person's lifestyle determines their buying preferences? Why or why not?" and "Are customers only segmented into the three types that you mentioned in the reading or can there be a hybrid of the different segments?" There wasn't anything the author said that I disagreed with, I simply just considered more ideas.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

1) I asked my customers whether or not they think my concept would actually work. I wanted to know what flaws they think could occur, what they thought the benefits would be, and if it was something they would like to see be implemented.

2) So of course something always goes wrong, and I am having trouble uploading my videos. Rather than posting nothing, I'll write what my interviewees responded.

• Savannah Hyatt- "I would love this! I think tracking where people sit in the library would make it much more convenient for everyone and save a lot of time when first getting there. I can't think of any flaws off the top of my head but I definitely think people would benefit from this."
• Kyle Campbell- "I'm not sure how I feel about this. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea. I just think it can go wrong in multiple ways. Like if people get up and move and don't mark that they changed seats. I just don't think it would always be as accurate as you'd want it to be."
• Brianna Connell- "I specifically never go to the library for this reason. I hate having to find a seat. This sounds good but I there could be an issue with people actually checking in once they get there. A lot of people probably won't think about doing it and then it'd ruin the whole purpose."
• Elise Fischel- "I've thought of something like this before and have always wished that there was some sort of thing like this. It would absolutely benefit everyone that goes to the library and I would love to see something like this go through, especially if it actually works properly."
• Eric Simpson- "There's a lot of things that could probably go wrong with this. Not saying your idea is bad! I like it but I do think it'd be hard to keep up with the amount of people coming in and out. The whole process of getting people inside would take longer and it'd be hard when huge crowds come in at once."

3) I loved getting feedback from people! Hearing ways in which I can improve always interests me. I was surprised that everyone seemed to have the same concern. The main issue was them not thinking it would stay accurate and that not everyone would care enough to help this be effective. In order to perfect this idea I definitely plan on figuring out a way to keep it up-to-date so there wouldn't be holes in the system. 

Week 6 Reading Reflection

One thing that surprised had to do with eliminating today's competitors through mergers and acquisitions. I never knew much background information about it, but I thought participating in mergers was always beneficial, because if it were not then why do it? I wasn't aware that it can actually reduce an industry's profit potential.

I'm confused as to how the value can be drained through the rivalry among existing competitors. If you are competing with someone, it is because you both have something good, so wouldn't that make both of the competitors valuable?

If I could ask the author a question I would ask him what made him select these five forces specifically, rather than making it more than just five. All reasons are very good but I was wondering why theres no other forces other than those five.

There's nothing that I think the author is necessarily wrong about. However, like I stated in the beginning, I'm just confused as to why mergers aren't always beneficial. I feel like the whole point of a merger is to benefit from its results.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) Me. I am a dedicated, hardworking person, who for some reason has always loved to find the needs of others and satisfy them in the best way I possibly can. I've always been good at listening to what others have to say and loving offering advice and help, although it may not always work. I ultimately aspire to make others happy. I have never felt something so rewarding as seeing a smile on someone's face and knowing that I'm the person who put it there.

2) What am I offering to customers? I want to offer students a service that shows how many tables/which spots are taken up at the library so they know exactly where to go/where not to go. I know I've spent up to 45 minutes looking for a spot at Lib West and it is the most frustrating thing ever. I hope to create a system of checking in when one sits in a certain location, allowing all others to see that a specific spot is now taken.

3) Who am I offering it to? I plan on offering this to college students. Specifically starting at UF, in Lib West, and then eventually expanding it to all libraries that University's have. Personally, there have been numerous occasions where I don't even go to the library, simply because I do not want to waste my time trying to find a spot.

4) Why do they care? Students care because when finals week comes around and they are stressing out, wasting their time looking for a place to sit is going to be the last thing they want to do. It would be much more convenient to know how many places/which places are or are not available prior to deciding whether or not they would like to go to the library that night.

5) What are my core competencies? The one major difference that I see in myself is the fact that I love doing things specifically for others. Yes, this service would also benefit myself. However, I'd mainly be doing it to see the happiness and satisfaction in the faces of all of those who enjoy this service.

I think this service could work very well. However, as with most things, there certainly are issues that could occur with this. There could be issues with people forgetting to sign in, or simply not caring enough to, which would make the chart of available spaces inaccurate. Although this could cause problems, I feel as though for the most part many people would understand how useful this service would be and take advantage of it.