Week 8 Reading Reflection

1.) The biggest surprise for me while reading was that there are currently 7,000 commercial banks that are operating within the US, however, by 2020 only 4,000 may survive.


2.) One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the whole section of Fighting Terrorism with Financial Opportunity. I think it is very interesting that someone discovered a connection that Muslims are drawn to terrorism when they have no promise of economic stability. I guess I just always was under the impression that Muslims performed acts of terrorism for religious reasons.


3.) If I could ask two questions to the author they would be 1.) what exactly are the criteria for being offered a loan from crowdfunding/social lending? and 2.) Why exactly he thinks small start-up investments have weakened so much over the past decade.


4.) Something that I think the author may have been wrong about is saying that persistence is the entrepreneur's true asset. I can definitely agree with this to a certain extent, however, I guess I am having trouble understanding how exactly someone is able to create something great with no money or why they would be unable to take out a loan in this circumstance aside from personal reasons.

The Twenty Percent

1. Clelia's Party Dresses is a local boutique featuring evening gowns for special events such as proms, pageants, parties, etc. In my local area in Jacksonville, since I am home for spring break, this was the place that first came to mind when I was trying to think of an entrepreneur. I asked to speak to Clelia and she was very busy so she declined my request to video our encounter (so did all 3 of the customers I questioned. This is a very high end store and I think people were very skeptical of me questioning them which was discouraging and uncomfortable.)
Nonetheless, Clelia explained to me that her target customers were girls in pageants around the ages of 16-25. She described to me that typically women in this market have unmet needs because it is difficult and discouraging to find a dress that fits someone exactly how they like it. She offers alterations and great services to help match jewelry and shoes to dresses as well as talk to each customer about what their desires are and help them find the dress they are dreaming of. She explained that they have certain girls who act as "models" who essentially advertise the company by handing out business cards to girls in the specified target group. She also explained that she advertises heavily through Facebook and local paper advertisements.

2. I was a little confused as to whether I was supposed to find any 3 random girls who fit the specified demographic to question or 3 actual customers. It is now my understanding that I was probably supposed to do the first but I actually did the latter of the two. Nonetheless, my encounters pretty much all went the same. (I wish I had recordings of the interactions, but like I mentioned above, none of these girls were very willing to answer my questions and seemed very distracted because they were busy shopping)
The first girl I spoke with told me she was 17 and was looking for a dress to wear to her senior prom. I asked her if she had difficulty finding a dress prior to this store and she said yes and told me she had tried many other stores before this one, but was recommended by a friend to visit this store because of the great attention they pay to their customers.
The second girl I spoke with was actually looking for a dress for a pageant but never actually told me her age. She told me that she is a recurring customer, which helps me understand the 80-20 rule more in depth.
The third girl I spoke with was also looking for a gown for a pageant and she was 16. She told me about the local high school pageant that is going on next month and told me that she was able to find her prom dress at this store and was hoping to also find some luck finding a gown here for the pageant.
3. As I reflect on this assignment, I was able to see through 2/3 of the customers I spoke with that the 80-20 rule probably is a real thing. In my experience, when I find a store or brand I enjoy I typically stick to that store and become a recurring customer and there are often stores that know me very well on a personal basis for this very reason. I think customers for the most part either really enjoy or really dislike their experiences and will either, for the most part of course, never return, or return relatively frequently.

Half-Way Relfection

1. The behavior I have used most to help me keep up with this class is organization. Since this is not like a typical course at UF and there are many assignments due each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everyone and it requires a large amount of organization and time-management skills.

2. A moment that I felt like giving up was a time when I was really sick over the semester and couldn't keep up with all my school work and had to prioritize my classes and chose to prioritize this class last amongst my others. The toll that missing one week of assignment took on my grade in this class almost made me want to give up but I realized that through the extra credit I would be able to pull my grade back up and recover from a hard week.

3. 3 tips I would give to be successful in this class are 1.) Make sure to use a planner to be able to balance this class amongst your other classes and everything else going on in your life. 2.) Set a regular time each week that you would like to focus on this course. 3.) Thoroughly read the syllabus so you know what you're getting yourself into.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

I learned from this assignment that there are similar models currently on the market and it is going to take a lot to differentiate this product from others currently in use. Overall, the people I interviewed seem that they would enjoy the product and benefit from it.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1. The thing that surprised me most during my reading was that fast-growing industries are not always attractive. Just because an industry is fast-growing does not guarantee that it will be profitable if customers are powerful or substitutes are attractive.

2. Something that I found a little bit confusing while reading was that neckties and power tools are considered substitutes when shopping for father's day. I thought that only items that could be used interchangeably for the same use could be considered substitutes.

3. Two questions that I thought of for the author while reading were

• 1. If you had to add a sixth competitive force what would it be?
• 2. What industry, besides the music industry, do you think has been most affected by the internet and increase of technology?

4. The only thing that I came across while reading that I slightly disagreed with the author on was that the intensity of rivalry is greatest if there are numerous competitors that are roughly equal in size. I would think that if there are two rivals who are direct competitors and then other small indirect competitors that this would create the most intense rivalry.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You. My name is Amy Leonard. I am an aspiring entrepreneur that, like most people, loves FOOD. My talents include analyzing people's reactions to certain situations and thinking about ways to help improve their experiences. If I were to start the No Wait business, it would become a huge part of my life and something that I took extremely seriously and made it my mission to be extremely involved in the company and with the employees.

2. What are you offering to customers? Over the years, I have witnessed the frustration of customers dining that have to wait an extremely long amount of time for their food for extraneous, avoidable reasons and I have made it my mission to help alleviate as much stress from the dining process as possible for both the waiters and the customers.

3. Who are you offering it to? Although No Wait can be implemented into any type of dining facility, I believe that this will be more applicable to middle-tiered restaurants, especially chains. The reason why people that attend high class restaurants may not get as much use out of this system is because typically, people who attend fine dining establishments appreciate the superb attention they receive from an extremely qualified and elite server.

4. Why do they care? My product is being marketed towards restaurants, so this question is a little difficult to answer. The restaurants will be the ones assuming all costs for No Wait, however, both the customers and the restaurants will assume benefits. No Wait eases the dining process by offering immediate assistance alerts, ordering through a touch-face interface, opportunities to leave feedback on food, drinks, specific servers, etc. The overall experience will be completely enhanced and the stores will be able to serve more people efficiently and effectively in less time than ever before, hence, more revenue.

5. What are your core competencies? No Wait's core competencies are:
1. Speed - we will offer immediate assistance
2. Trust - we want to work very closely with the restaurants to develop a mutual trust
3. Efficiency - we want to maximize efficiency within every transaction
4. Satisfaction - we want customers to be amazed by their experience every time
5. Adaptability - we want to be able to change anything to your liking
*I believe that all 5 of these core competencies coincide. Each one relies on at least one of the others to be effective.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1. The thing that I was most surprised by in this week's reading was that only two percent of all patents ever actually realize profits because it costs so much to go through the patent process. I was also extremely shocked that the US Patent and Trademark Office gives priority to people who claim to have invented something first, however there is essentially no way to prove that entirely.

2. Something that I found confusing while reading this week was copyright protection in general. I was very confused by what is and isn't covered by the Copyright act and how to differentiate between what is considered an "idea" or not.

3. Two questions that I would ask the author are:

• Do you think that the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act will ever be adopted entirely by all states? I would ask this because, to me, it seems like this is something that is nearly impossible.
• Do you think that the advantages on a sole proprietorship outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa? I would ask this because I was having a difficult time deciding for myself.

4. It was hard to find something in this chapter that I disagreed with because, for the most part, everything in this chapter was simply fact. Something that I did seem slightly troublesome, however, was that the specifications for what legally classifies something as a trade secret seemed extremely vague and the author seemed to address it in a rather matter-of-fact way when it was extremely unclear to me.

Elevator Pitch

Waiting in restaurants is something that nobody enjoys. Americans love things to be completed quickly and not waste time and No Wait solves this exact problem.
No Wait is a touch screen interface that allows customers in restaurants to order and request things directly. This eliminates wasted time. No Wait can be used as much or as little as customers prefer and normal waiter and waitresses will still be needed to bring out food/drinks and assist customers, so not many jobs will be lost to this model.