Week 8 reading reflection

Considering how little I know about financing, this reading helped a lot in my understanding. I learned that good finance management is important for a new venture. The two means of finance management are debt financing and equity financing. The first involves a payback of the funds, plus a fee for the use of the money, while the second one involves the sale of some of the ownership in the venture. In my point of view, the second method of financing is better, even if it means you relinquish some of the ownership to another company. If your venture is successful, everyone wins. If your venture fails, at least you don't have to worry about finding the money to pay back the people who loaned you the money. Of course, with equity financing you need to be careful not to give more than half of your business' rights to the other company, in order to keep control of my company. 

If someone, however, chooses to get loans from a bank, it is important to understand that one has to plan ahead. One has to consider why, how long, how much and when he will need to borrow the money. More importantly, one should know how he will you pay back the money. What if something unexpected happens? You have to have a plan B. Is there maybe another income that can make up for the money lost? You can't borrow money when you know you can't pay it back, which is true for any loan. That's why banks often require collateral.  

Social lending is another alternative solution that many start-up companies consider. Social lending uses Internet-based sites to pool money from investors willing to lend capital at agreed-upon rates. These loans can reach a maximum of $25,000, which gives the entrepreneur the opportunity to start their ventures at a low-risk cost. Social lending is also a great solution for entrepreneurs seeking quick capital without the administrative overhead of traditional lenders. Again, as with most things, entrepreneurs need to do their research to choose their lenders with caution, and to not take high risks. The disadvantages that need to be taken into account are that the entrepreneur's business plan is released to the public domain and that most loans are not completed because of the 10% funding success rate, which is considerably low. Finally, these are some things someone has to consider before lending money for the first time. 

I got a lot out of this reading. The one thing I would ask the writer would be, what would he have as a plan B in case he didn't have enough money to support his company. The terms unfortunately are very new for me so I had difficulty understanding some of the concepts.

Half-way Reflection

Two months have passed by since the beginning of the class and we're still here learning on what it means to be an entrepreneur. I have learned many things so far, such as how to identify and solve problems that me or other people may have as well as how to identify my target costumers and how to approach them by engaging them in my idea.

So far, I have been working hard to keep up with the requirements of the class. The behaviors that I have used to remain tenacious, is being positive and self-confident. While completing the assignments of talking to other customers and experienced entrepreneurs I didn't feel intimidated because I would tell myself that it's like talking to a friend. Talking to a camera is something new for me as well, but it is also exciting because I always wanted to do that. I have never really challenged myself a lot and now that I experience these challenges, I want to show others that I can accept anything from a failure to bad/good feedback. In my opinion, the most difficult challenge for me would be to talk to an entrepreneur and in a way "sell" myself so that I can get a position in their company.

The only time I felt like giving up is because of the overwhelming number of assignments I have to complete. Sometimes it becomes a lot of work for one week, since I have other difficult courses to worry about, too. Nevertheless, the assignments are not really difficult, rather time consuming (especially the reading reflection we have to do once a week). However, I understand that one of the purposes of this course is to find a way to deal with this challenge. Because most of the assignments have to do with experiences, they are more or less fun to do. So, even if they are time consuming I look forward to doing them.

3 tips that foster the skills that support tenacity or develop the 'tenacious mindset' are:

1) Keep positive. If someone can complete a task that you are afraid of completing, you can also do it and maybe do it even better than others.

2) Work on your assignments in advance so that you get the most out of them.

3) Even if you feel rejected when completing your exercises, it doesn't mean you can reject yourself/ give up.

Having the RIGHT attitude and WORKING hard to become better is the key to develop the 'tenacious mindset'.

Elevator Pitch No.2

Since I wasn't able to upload my first elevator pitch, this is my first official elevator pitch! Enjoy! Can't wait for your feedback :)

As I mentioned in my pitch MultiCook is your answer if you are a student or someone working at UF that is tired of eating the same and the same or just wants healthier and more diverse options on campus. My business idea is a new on-campus dining hall. Cooks from different restaurants around Gainesville get to cook on campus for students- one different cook each day and different menu every day. The menu is going to include all available options, such as vegan, vegetarian and meat. In addition to that, if students want to save one more plate they can order one from the MultiCook app for half price and take it “to go”. If that is not enough, with every meal you will get discount cards on different local supermarkets so that you can buy groceries for cheaper. Now you get different food options made by your favorite restaurant cooks, in a reasonable price and many other benefits that you’ll never get bored of.

A few things I noticed from my attempt to do the pitch is 1) I couldn't memorize a text of my idea so I just described my idea in my own words and 2) I had to put the different features of the idea in a logical order so that the viewer doesn't get confused or lost in what I was saying. In addition to what I noticed, I also tried to improve my pitch by watching others' pitches. What I didn't want to do that others did is: exceed the time limit, use a webcam and read my speech or say it by heart without emotions. Hope I achieved that!

Week 6 Reading Reflection

This week we read the article of Michael Porter: The Five Forces that Shape Competitive Strategy.
 It was really interesting. The reader's major focus was how the five forces - profits, costumers, suppliers, potential entrants, substitute products - define an industry's structure and its competitive relationships with other industries. An industry determines its own strategic positioning based on the industry's structure. The more the industry understands its structure the more effective its strategy is. Industry structure grows out of a set of economic and technical characteristics. These characteristics determine which of the above competitive forces is a major contributor to the industry's strategy. The first thing that the author talked about more in depth was the threat of entry. This is the threat other industries "feel" when a new industry or an already existing one introduces something new into the market, just like Apple did when it entered the music distribution business with iTunes. When the threat is high, other industries are forced to keep their prices low or boost investment to deter the new competitors. The threat, in this case, becomes a barrier in the potential profitability of an industry, especially when the competitors have pretty much a stable position in the market place. I wasn't very sure about what the "threat measurement" stands for because I'm not very accustomed to business terms, but this is what I got out of the whole concept.

Another issue discussed in the article is the sources of barriers of a new entry into the industry. One of the sources is the "demand-side benefits of scale"(also known as network effects). These are benefits that arise in industries where a buyer’s willingness to pay for a company’s product increases with the number of other buyers who also patronize the company. These benefits discourage entry by limiting the willingness of costumers to buy from a newcomer and by reducing the price the newcomer can command until it builds up a large base of customers. In my opinion, this isn't always true. People may have chosen to be devoted customers for a specific company that satisfies their needs. When another company, however, creates a whole new experience for them and takes what they already knew to another level then the competition will be really high. In this case, the new company is taking a risk of introducing something new that they do not know how the people will react to. Of course, the prices have to be low at first to attract costumers, but if the quality of the new type of service is much better than the previous one, the profit of the new company will rise more quickly than that of the older company.

Idea Napkin No. 1

I'm Artemis Magliveras and was born in Greece. As a student majoring in Chemistry I was always interested in learning about food chemistry. I got more aware of how important having a healthy lifestyle is when I went through a period in my life where I wasn't as healthy as I wanted to be. I would exercise more than usual and, thus, lost a lot of weight. I didn't understand how important it was to keep a balanced diet with a balanced exercise. That deteriorated my health in some way. From that day on I was more aware of my limits and the food I was eating. This means I started to eat more, even if I didn't feel like eating, because I knew my body needed more energy than I thought it did. My father would also cook Asian and Indian food, which made me more interested in other cuisines. My aspiration is to raise awareness on how to eat more healthy and how important exercise is for one's health. So far, I have good communication skills and have gotten more involved with food, through cooking and winning an award for a recipe database I came up with some friends.

Since last year, I've been concerned about the food that is served on-campus and believe that students' choices are very limited. I think that my business idea of creating a new restaurant on-campus would make a lot of people happier. It will improve their college experience by offering them a more diverse menu, including meat, vegetarian and vegan options. Each day there will be one different cook from a different restaurant in Gainesville, cooking for UF students. The menu will be accessible on-line, as well as the option of ordering one extra plate for half price to-go. Students that get their meal will also get coupons with discounts from different supermarkets in Gainesville. This will encourage them to buy groceries and cook for themselves, too. In all, my service will provide students with healthier options at lower cost. This is the reason why students will pay for my service.

The cooks will be cooking for students during lunch and dinner, so that if students miss lunch and get there later, they can still get dinner. The restaurant will serve people of diverse backgrounds, especially vegans and vegetarians. All students need food that will boost their energy instead of depriving them of it. And healthy food does exactly that. As an international student, I always missed my homemade food so I really like the idea of multicultural food.

Although the service that I provide can be copied by anybody, the combination of my service and the environment is what makes my product unique. Young people in Gainesville have created a healthy lifestyle spirit by exercising a lot and cooking at home. This means that the community is very much aware of what means to be healthy. The campus, however, does not provide them with the appropriate supply to meet the demand of the students.

My goal is to get service from cooks in Gainesville, while at the same time sponsor their own businesses and, thus, create a collaborative relationship between us. This way both UF and other food services in Gainesville will benefit. My business idea would work upon UF's approval and funding.

Interviewing Costumers No.2

After the first interviews I went over what my costumers had told me about their on-campus dining experiences and tried to identify an opportunity. The majority of them mentioned that on-campus dining lacked quality and diversity, so I brainstormed over those points. I thought that since a lot of them would either cook their own meals or eat off campus. These two things would provide both healthier and more diverse options. So, I came up with the idea of creating a new restaurant on-campus. This restaurant will host cooks from all around Gainesville. A different cook will be cooking for us each day, with a different menu each time. This menu, however, will include all kinds of food for vegetarians. vegans, meat-lovers etc. The restaurant will serve both lunch and dinner. Another feature is that students will be able to see the menu on-line and will have the opportunity to order an extra plate online to-go for half price. This is another way for students to start investing money into food they actually like. Finally, there will be supermarket (discount) coupons distributed to everyone who gets a meal, so that people get the extra motivation needed to go and buy their own groceries. This is my business idea, at the moment.

I realized, however, that in order to get important feedback I would have to interview people that have diverse experiences of on-campus dining. The only thing I changed in my questions was that I made them more focused on asking about the quality of food and asking them how on-campus dining can be improved - to also prepare them for my business idea. Luckily, a lot of people liked my idea and especially the fact that you get an extra plate for half price.

Since I've become an "expert" in interviewing costumers my three tips are the following:

1) Warm the costumers up with questions about themselves. If they are really nervous try to be extra friendly and ask them more about themselves.
2) Pay attention to what they are saying and reflect briefly on their opinions, as if you were having a normal discussion. Don't keep asking questions because this shows you don't care about their answers.
3) Thank them for their time at the end. This way they'll will comfortable and satisfied with the interview overall.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

This week we had to read about "Assessment of Entrepreneurial Opportunities".
This reading was very informative and a little complex, since I have never learned how businesses work after one creates a new product/idea.

The first thing that stood out for me was the few steps the author outlines to protect a patent.
Securing a patent is really important, since competitors "track down" your steps and may steal your ideas/rights. Securing your own creation can solve a lot of problems.To make a patent valid, one has to consider a lot of stuff, such as the cost to develop and market the innovation. In addition, one has to analyze their competitors and their technological similarities to their idea. Another important step is to prepare a realistic budget that would cover unexpected situations, such as the persecution of patent violations. Furthermore, something that has to be considered is this question, "Will the patent be worth defending in three years, or will enforcement cost more than the damages collected?" All these are essential for protecting a patent. The basic tip is to plan ahead and ensure your idea is going to last and will be worth protecting for the upcoming years. 

The reality is that the cost of the patent process in combination to the amount of time and resources needed for that process is so large that many inventors don't think it is worth it. So they invest more into licensing a patent, instead of marketing it. For the marketing process, they hire people that have the necessary knowledge in doing it, so that they save time and money at the same time. In fact, in any business, an inventor has to employ people capable of working in different sectors. This will definitely relieve the inventor by many roles, reducing their responsibilities and stress to an extent, as well as leading them to more successful outcomes. If the inventors were doing the same tasks as marketing agents or finance managers, they wouldn't know better than the actual people that have experience on working in these sectors. As a result, the patent would be marketed poorly. 

Nevertheless, I would still think that patent is worth protecting if it is going to affect a big percentage of the population positively, such as medicine.