30A

1)    At first I was not sure what to think about this course, the bug list made list casualties from life which I did not know would have anything in common of entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the format of blog posting, since it is something different to other courses. I liked reading through other peoples ideas and finding out about their backgrounds and where they come from. Some of them had cool experiences as an entrepreneur to share, which widened my horizon.

2)    Definitely the video pitches. I am not used to do such an exercise and moreover I am not familiar with the English language since I am an exchange student from Germany. This I will remember for a long time. I could also see the progress that I made in this regard which was the proudest of my moments.

3)    I think I definitely am an entrepreneur, because I could imagine myself gradually developing and learning more about the foundation of a business. I especially am certain that I have the mindset it needs to incrementally foster my ideas.

4)    To always remind them selves why they chose this path. Never give up and always keep out trying new things. To have fun doing these exercises. To foster your mindset the books from the reading list really help.

29A

Opportunity

Most recently and also in the last decades, climate change has been of the most important topics not only in politics but in general discussion all over the world. This topic has the perfect background for the opportunity that I saw. Almost everyone in our society is concerned that he or she cannot do much to change the world for better. At the same time many of the same people use plastic in their life. For instance, when they use plastic bottles that they throw away but also when they go to the supermarket and use many plastic bags. For this reason I have come to the opportunity at making reusable bags for supermarkets. This idea came from the fact that I am an international business student from Germany. Back home we have a way better policy regarding plastic bags. Either you have to pay for the plastic bags or the super market offers no plastic bags at all. The market for this is huge since the market is all over the world and for basically anyone who cares for the environment. This can be anyone from young to old. My special targets are young teens or millennials who highly care for fashionable environmentally friendly bags. Customers are currently satisfying this need by living irresponsible and comfortable using non degradable bags that they get for free in the US. They might be very loyal to this current solution since it is easy and cheap for them. The opportunity is huge in my opinion and can grow very big. The window of opportunity will be open as long as people do not change their behavior in this solution.

Innovation

Since the need is there and has not yet been successfully served I innovate in this market and it solves the problem of not doing enough for the environment. It works because it will make people feeling better about shopping and just generally about environmental friendliness. What I am selling is a solution for a better conscience, while helping the environment. This will reduce the use of plastic bags and save countless tons of undegradable waste. It will also be innovative because unlike other producers of plastic bags the company will offer unique and fashionable designs. This will lure customers to the brand, since they difference themselves. The designs will have a wide range of options to be sure that everybody finds something that suits him or her. By combining fashion and helping the environment we will create something that has not yet been fulfilled. Some customers might not even know that they need this. Therefore we will also charge a premium price on our products, which is also one of the differentiations from other brands.

Venture concept

Customers would switch to this product because is combines two things. It is fashionable and helping the environment at the same time. This will make customers twice as likely to choose our products over those of competitors. They will agree that the idea makes sense and through interviews and surveys this has been shows. We asked many people what they think about this idea. Their response was that this is exactly what they would need to change their behavior in grocery shopping and plastic bags. One of them even said that they would tell all their friends and show them how important this idea this. Those opinions have showed that this makes indeed sense, since we found support for our hypothesis that this will lure customers. It will be hard to switch some of our customers but through strategically implemented marketing there will be a way. Since I have taken various marketing courses previously I am certain that I will achieve this goal. Moreover, mouth of word and hearsay will play a big role in our business. The most important marketing strategy though is social media. Getting many influencers wearing our shopping bags and representing them on platforms such as Instagram will make it possible for our brand to grow. However, this might be costly since influencers charge high fees. Therefore, our idea is to send them out to many of them for free and hoping that they will wear it during one of their Instagram posts. After seeing them online, many customers will find their way to us. Internet is one of the most important developments in the entrepreneurial culture.

Our most important and strongest competitors are supermarkets who do not want to sell our bags, and other bag producers who are simpler, cheaper and sometimes even free gifts. Their weaknesses that they all have in common is the fact that they are not fashionable and often made of low quality materials, such as cotton that easily gets destroyed. One feature that we also want to implement is a coating that will make frozen and hot products stay that way until the customer gets his groceries home safely, which is most often between 1 and 1 and a half ours. They are also vulnerable because none of the manufacturers of shopping bags is present on social media just yet. Moreover, normal bags such as backpacks are often used by people who do not want to harm the environment by using plastic bags and hence we will lose plenty of market share. Packaging will be kept simply, by just providing the bag and some paper with our brand and our mission statement which is : To make shopping experience more environmentally friendly. Simple packaging is good to attract our market as said by many interviewees of us. Price point will be at around 5-10 $ depending on size. This premium price will make customers curious about the benefits which have been outlined before. Distribution will happen through the company that my dad works for, which is a global supply chain company who have their customers such as supermarkets anyway. Hence, it will also be easier to talk to executives at the supermarkets that I am targeting, since they are already familiar with the company. Customer support will happen online and will be completely free. A respond will come within 1 to 2 working days which means that customers will quickly be helped. The business location will be home office since renting an office will be very costly. This cost can be used otherwise, such as travelling to asia to find manufacturers for our bags. This place will most likely be Vietnam, since this is my families home country, I speak the language and know the culture. The bags will first be offered in Gainesville and depending on the reception we will expand nationally. Human capital is our most important concern, because in my opinion start up success depends solely on the capability to form a business with an open minded culture which needs highly talented employees. Me as a finance student can deal with financials, convey investors my idea and manage funds. Next to that I am hiring my best friend who I think is one of the smartest people I have met. He will support me in any way possible. He would be like the second founder and also responsible for all employees. Next to that we need a designer, who in my case will be an art student. This is important to get the most wanted design that people expect from my company. To do so you have to know demographical differences, which means that surveys and interviews are most definitely important. Most importantly, my dad will be the advisor for all concerns. He knows how to deal ad hoc with problems and provide me with connections that I need for my supply chain. This for now is the team to launch the prototype in Gainesville supermarkets. Especially in higher priced supermarkets such as publix or whole foods people also want to help the environment which is why this is the first target for us.

My secret sauce will for sure be human capital and my dads knowledge in supply chain. Moreover, the opportunity of an underserved market!

Next for the venture is expanding to different areas. Because we will have a small margin, size will make the difference.

I will put all my energy in the idea for the next five years and try not to sell my venture.

Based on the last venture concept I solely got positive feedback but still tried to improve this time.

28A

1) There are two options that I consider. First of all I would like to grow my business as much as possible in the next years. It is like my own baby and I think I would really regret selling it. Selling it means that most often you lose control and the owners have plans for the business that you disagree with. I have a friend who's father had a business, which he sold, and afterwards he regretted it, since he did not have any work anymore. But of course if I get a way overpriced offer from a financial investor or company I would consider selling my business.

2) Because I do not have much physical assets it is not worth it to harvest the money that I get from selling my assets. That is why it is much rather the human capital (design ideas, concepts, knowledge of business) that I think is valuable. And with good human capital you can always found another business or find a good job at a company.

3) The only consideration I made regarding exit is, that if I have to close my business for reasons such as not enough revenue I minimize my loss. Otherwise I acted as if I would constantly want to grow my company.

27A

Reading reflection on The Art of social media- power tips for power users

1) The theme of the book is that the author tries to show the reader how important social media can be in your life, and how strong of an impact it has gained in the last decade. He shows tips and applications that are possible with social media. You should always be professional when it comes to social media and treat it like it was your business if you want to be successful with it.

2) Social media can become an important part of your start up venture when you think about marketing and sales. Nowadays, especially to reach a younger audience, you will need to lever social media a lot.

3) Everyone starts with a new instagram account for his business and tries to gain as many followers as possible.

4) To be honest I already knew most of the things through various digital marketing courses in university.

26A

1) My big problem this semester were deadlines. Since I am an exchange student and I wanted to make the best out of my time by balancing school and leisure activities/vacation. Sometimes for entrepreneurship but more often for other courses I simply forgot certain deadlines that I had. These reach from submitting assignments to lectures that I had. It is a problem that occurred several times this semester which means that it happened over and over again.

2) What I learned from this is that I have to find a way to keep up with deadlines. This could reach from setting up alarms on the phone to writing to-do-lists.

3) In my opinion failure is important. Through failure to learn and come back stronger. In an entrepreneurial sense this however becomes much different. Many start up ventures involve big amounts of money and funding and disappointing investors can be very hard. Hence you have to be very careful when you want to come up with a start up. However this course showed me that it is worth trying if you have a good idea. I like the fact that I also learned from other students what their experiences with their start up are to have a wide view on the topic. If you believe in your business and try over and over again success is almost guaranteed.

25A

Existing market:

1. I think what is next is to optimize the bags and source new possible cooperations, for example with retailers who are not supermarkets.

2. The people I interviewed thought pretty much the same as me but they also added that I should maybe make seasonal designs and limited editions of the bags.

3. What is next is to wait and see how customers respond to the bags. Afterwards corresponding action has to be taken.

New market:

1. We could move from shopping bags to purses and suitcases, dufflebags etc.

2. Since we already have a lot of different designs, this will make it easy for these new products.

3. The interviewees stated that it would be really difficult to go in this direction since there is too much competition.

4. The idea is not the best since it is not as innovative as the current one.

24A

Venture concept:

Today one of the most important topics when it comes to our daily life is the protection of our nature and the environment that we are living in. No matter if you turn on the TV, walk down the streets of the city or engage in a conversation with your friends. You either see news regarding oceans that get destroyed, demonstration that are happening to prevent environmental harm, or a highly vivid conversation about how bad we are treating our environment. Hence my venture is taking a huge step towards a more conscious way to live and to deal with these problems. How the venture was founded was by me who came to the US a couple of months ago for an exchange semester. My home university is in Maastricht, the Netherlands, but I am originally from Germany. In both of these countries in which I have lived in my life the policy in supermarkets regarding plastic bags is much different than here in the US. If you would like to use plastic bags provided by the supermarket you will have to pay 30-50 cents, which adds up to a large sum if you bought many groceries. The reason supermarkets do this is to make sure that customers either re-use for another trip to the supermarket or recycle them in a conscious way. Because plastic is non degradable it will stay in the atmosphere and especially in the ocean if it finds its way there.

The venture I develop is a firm that sells reusable bags. These bags are made of materials that are sustainable and will not harm the environment. They will have 3 features. The first feature is the durability which means that this bag has the ability to serve the customer for not just one or two trips but for many years in the future. Moreover, they will be very functional. Things that you buy hot or cold will safely stay in that way until you bring your stuff home (up to 2 hours). Lastly we will offer many designs, which means that we will offer colorful designs which will perfectly suit the customers preferences. If this is not good enough for him we offer the option of a customizable design on our website.
The distribution channels are two-fold. First of all, we will offer the bags in supermarkets. This means that we will closely cooperate with supermarkets all over the country and place the bags near check out counters. Secondly we will offer an online shop with the previously presented custom bag option. Our production will happen somewhere in Asia to keep costs low.

The team that I will start out with will consist of mainly two people. My close friend from back home in the Netherlands and me. Moreover, my dad will serve as a advisor since he works in supply chain and has a big network of people that he knows.

We will start out in a home office environment, which makes sense because we do not have the resources for an office yet. This way we save money that we can use for other purposes, such as trips to Bangladesh and Vietnam to source new suppliers. Since my parents are from Vietnam and I speak the language fluently, I would prefer to have the manufacturing plant in Vietnam through an independent firm that already does these kind of things. It will be easy to gather contacts and gain trust of people there since they will acknowledge me as a local and not a foreign businessman.

After we successfully source the supplier we will engage in consumer research to see which designs are frequently asked for at time being. This will be important to make customers happy since the design is the first thing they notice on the bag.

The most important thing for our company is the cooperation with supermarkets. We have to show them how bad the problem with the plastic bag is for the environment and why it makes sense to sell our types of bags. Of course we will also show them profitability and revenue forecasts which they get a margin of since they sell the bags in the end.

After a trial period in for example Gainesville we can see how customers react to the bag and if there is enough demand. If this is the case we can move on to a larger scale.