30A – Final Reflection

The most formative experience was failing quizzes in Calculus class. These instances of failure are ones I won't forget, because they inspired me to work harder than I ever believed one could. I also learned that I cannot control failure and can only try my best. Another lesson was to prioritize and not allow myself to focus on only one class over others. The most joyous experience was meeting my boyfriend on an app, which inspired me to work on building a networking app. I am most proud of myself for getting through my first year of college without going crazy from the stress! 

I think I have a long way to go before I see myself as an entrepreneur, but I think each day I am getting closer and closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset. I think that college is going to make me stronger and prepare me to be an entrepreneur, but only time will tell!

To any students going to take this course, I would suggest that they make a vision board to keep them motivated about their product/service. It is easy to forget what the goal is, but this can keep them on track. To perform best in this course, I would recommend getting an agenda and staying ahead of track. To foster the mindset for self-motivation, I would make a day of the week ENT3003 day and make that day devoted to working on the assignments for this class.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

UNIMEET

The Opportunity:
College students across the nation are struggling to make friends in an increasingly digital age. Because of this, they are forced to join Greek Life with high costs or wait for new semesters and classes to meet people. This market exists in all college campuses and exists mainly among women, but men are included. Customers are loyal to Greek Life, if they are a part of it. This opportunity is big, as it hits millions of students. This window of opportunity will be open until someone creates a solution.

The Innovation:
Unimeet, my solution to this issue, is an online college student friendship app. It allows users to meet each other, dating app style, by swiping and chatting. Profit will be generating by using advertisements and by having local restaurant/business sponsored events. For example, an escape room can host a discount "unimeet-up" and have people meet there in person for the first time for safety purposes.

The Venture Concept:
My app will solve the opportunity I identified because it helps college students make friends. Advertisers will pay to promote on this app because they are able to target people based off of their location, which is incredibly valuable for advertisers. I believe customers will use this product because of the way dating apps have become normalized. The competitors are existing general friend apps, like Bumble's friend setting and TinderU. These apps, though, having a dating foundation, which make people skeptical of the users' intentions. The User Interface and marketing is most important for the business concept, as it will likely be the core of the business's success/failure. I would start this business with myself and two others, each being a developer and a market researcher.

My most important resource will be my background in social media marketing, as it can be useful for driving users to the app. While it can be copied by hiring a social media marketer, my extensive experience will make it hard to copy our exact methods.

The next opportunity would be to expand internationally and reach campuses across the globe.

In five years, I hope to have expanded to other markets. The main goal at this point would be to expand to people in a non-college setting. This would likely mean starting out in high schools and middle schools. The next step would be to sell this business to an existing social media app like Facebook and Twitter.

In five years I hope my venture has not failed and exists on all major college campuses across the nation. As an entrepreneur, I hope to be learning, growing, and creating in the next decade, which means I will make sure I do what it takes to make my venture unique and successful.

People recommended I look into where my app can earn money. They expressed concern regarding excessive advertisements and that this may turn off potential users from my app. While I understand, I do think advertisements are the route to go with social media and networking apps. I don't think users would be willing to pay a few to download this app and I can control the amount of ads to make it not overwhelming. Others suggested expanding globally and to high schools and middle schools. I incorporated this in my plan now. I changed my venture concept to make it hit larger audiences due to my feedback. 

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I don’t see myself passing my business down to my children. I see myself eventually IPO-ing or looking to sell the business for a return. My ideal would be to follow the path of Musical.ly, the app that was acquired by ByteDance for around 800 million and turned into TikTok. Obviously this is a big dream, but I see myself selling the business regardless. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I chose this exit strategy because I see myself as a serial entrepreneur. I love being creative and enjoy different fields. I don’t think it would be as fulfilling to stay in one business for me. I would want to get a large return to invest in my next venture and still support a family. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I think having this exit strategy has made me consider what potential buyers would be looking for. For example, some of my choices have focused on compatibility between platforms and incorporation of sharing. I don’t think it has influenced my growth intentions because regardless of whether or not my business is sold, I want it to be a global success.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general argument of the book is that failure is inevitable and success can still occur, regardless of failure, if proper skills and mindsets are learned. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book connected with what I am in learning in ENT3003 because it shared some tips on coming out resilient and successful from failure. This book discussed growth and continued learning. For example, one of the teachings of this book was to understand that some—and possibly most—people you interact with will lack common sense and rationality. There were many teachings in this book that expressed the need to remain focused and organized. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would make an exercise that requires students to review three of the teachings in the book and discuss personal experiences that align or don’t in their life. For example, for the section discussing feedback a student could discuss that they have withheld compliments in the past simply because it would be misplaced or awkward. A followup question for the assignment would be to explain if they think the teaching is valuable and if they plan on implementing it in their daily lives.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

I think the biggest surprise was when the topic of changing your perception was discussed. In todays society, people tend to shame those who change their opinions rather than applaud their growth and intellectual journeys. I found it to be quite surprising that this was taught as a positive in the book. I tend to agree, but in politics, in academics, etc., people seem to disapprove of this.

26A – Celebrating Failure

I continuously failed in my calculus class this semester. As much as I tried, I couldn't do well on my quizzes, even though I passed all the exams, luckily. Of the 9 quizzes so far, I got many Ds and Cs. I learned from this that I am not able to control everything. No matter how much I study— and trust me, I spent hours studying every week for this— I cannot control things outside of my range. From this I learned the importance of having faith in your abilities and not being disappointed in myself so often. Failure, in my opinion, is inevitable. You cannot, no matter how much you try, never fail. I have now learned to handle failure as a consequence of trying at all. If I didn't do anything, I could never fail, so I'm bringing it upon myself for wanting to do something in this world. This class helped me realize that I have to accept this to be the case. I do believe I am more likely to take a risk now than before taking this class, but only if it is a reasonable one with high chances of resulting positively.

25A – What’s Next?

"What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?"
A: I would suggest looking into high schools and middle schools. They might benefit from this app, too.
A: I think letting people connect across college campuses could be a cool option.
A: I think trying to use sororities and fraternities as a benefit could be interesting. I know it sounds like you are trying to compete with them, but instead you can try and partner with them to get more users. 

All interviewed future users said they agreed with and supported my idea of expanding internationally, especially the second interviewee, who said he'd love to interact with students in other campuses when planning his studying abroad.

All of these suggestions are really valuable. I would likely start out with my idea, without any of the suggestions. However, I plan on implementing the first and second ideas eventually, because they are really good ones. I would first look into expanding internationally. This idea would be great for those looking to make friends in different schools. I would make this an option people can select if they desire. I also would add a "studying abroad" sticker so people can see who they can connect with.

While I do like the idea of reaching more students, I may wait to expand to high school and middle school. This is because I would want to build an app that has credibility and coolness among my target market. Students who are 18+ may feel hesitant to join an app they see their young siblings on. I still will look into doing this, though, but only once its reputation is solid among my initial target market.

I asked two people who were 27 and 32, respectively, of their thoughts. They each expressed that this app, while unlikely to reach them, may be a great tool for people who move to new cities. They shared their experiences with moving to a new city and trying to make friends.

It appears that this app has the potential to influence the lives of may, not just those on a college campus, meaning my expectations were wrong. Though this new market is not as attractive as my existing market, I still think it could be something to keep an eye on. I may want to expand my app in the future to include this market.

The only issue I see with all of this is that my app was creating to be secure and a safe spot for users to know they aren't meeting a catfish. The way I want to go about this is by forcing security measures that make students sign up with a school email/ID. I cannot do this, nor attempt to guarantee safety, when I look into expanding to people who cannot be checked. The only solution would be having background checks, but that seems like too big of a requirement and commitment for people and I assume it would deter users from the platform.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

UNIMEET

The Opportunity:
College students across the nation are struggling to make friends in an increasingly digital age. Because of this, they are forced to join Greek Life with high costs or wait for new semesters and classes to meet people. This market exists in all college campuses and exists mainly among women, but men are included. Customers are loyal to Greek Life, if they are a part of it. This opportunity is big, as it hits millions of students. This window of opportunity will be open until someone creates a solution.

The Innovation:
Unimeet, my solution to this issue, is an online college student friendship app. It allows users to meet each other, dating app style, by swiping and chatting. Profit will be generating by using advertisements and by having local restaurant/business sponsored events. For example, an escape room can host a discount "unimeet-up" and have people meet there in person for the first time for safety purposes.

The Venture Concept:
My app will solve the opportunity I identified because it helps college students make friends. Advertisers will pay to promote on this app because they are able to target people based off of their location, which is incredibly valuable for advertisers. I believe customers will use this product because of the way dating apps have become normalized. The competitors are existing general friend apps, like Bumble's friend setting and TinderU. These apps, though, having a dating foundation, which make people skeptical of the users' intentions. The User Interface and marketing is most important for the business concept, as it will likely be the core of the business's success/failure. I would start this business with myself and two others, each being a developer and a market researcher.

My most important resource will be my background in social media marketing, as it can be useful for driving users to the app. While it can be copied by hiring a social media marketer, my extensive experience will make it hard to copy our exact methods.

The next opportunity would be to expand internationally and reach campuses across the globe.

In five years, I hope to have expanded and then sell this business to an existing social media app like Facebook and Twitter.

In five years I hope my venture has not failed and exists on all major college campuses across the nation. As an entrepreneur, I hope to be learning, growing, and creating in the next decade, which means I will make sure I do what it takes to make my venture unique and successful.