Final Reflection 30A

Entrepreneurship is a Journey

1. This class has been a great experience for me. There were certainly difficult stretches that challenged the way I have thought for years, but ultimately, I am most certainly better because of it. The high of the semester was when we had our first assignment about finding things that bugged us. This really helped change the way I viewed entrepreneurship. Additionally, I enjoyed the elevator pitches and thought it was a great way to practice public speaking. The lows for me generally came when I had to stick with an idea that I didn’t think I could do currently. It was hard doing interviews when I didn’t feel like I really had a viable business. These were the moments when I wanted to give up on working to become an entrepreneur, but now I know I only needed to have a growth mindset.

2. I really think the most formative experience came from the Bug List and identifying solutions to those problems. This was a great assignment and helped me to change the outlook I had on what entrepreneurship is. I am proud of being able to consistently learn and grow throughout the semester and being able to develop a growth mindset and better understanding of entrepreneurship.

3. I don’t think I see myself as a successful entrepreneur yet. However, I feel I have the tools to become one down the line. I most certainly have moved closer to an entrepreneurial mindset and I now understand what makes an entrepreneur. It is a process that can be learned, and it takes being willing to take risks and learn from it. I have learned some great lessons this semester and it will help me in whatever my future holds.

4. I would recommend that people choose an idea that they are passionate about and would like to learn about. You will have to do a lot of research around your idea, so make sure you choose something that you enjoy learning about. One of the best tips to succeeding in the course is to simply stay on task and not be afraid of failure. By being open to learning from rejection from interviews and other assignments, you can learn some valuable lessons in the course. I would also recommend reading The New Psychology of Success. That book was incredible and has helped me to develop a growth mindset that will help in all areas of life.



Thank you to everyone who left constructive feedback on my posts this semester. Also, big thank you to Dr Pryor for leading a class that fosters real growth and learning that will help me in whatever job I have. I have really enjoyed this class this semester!

Venture Concept 2 29 A

Bryce Ballard

ENT 3003 | Venture Concept 24A



Opportunity

The opportunity that I will be seeking to exploit is based around helping nonprofit organizations receive donations in a streamlined process while helping those donating the goods save time and effort. Nonprofit organizations frequently need more donations to help the community and are often asking for donations. Many people would like to help the community with their unused goods and products, but they simply do not have the time in their busy schedules. This means there is a mutual desire to help on both sides but a streamlined process to help all parties involved does not exist. This is where the opportunity exists and why Waste to Grace could be the perfect solution as a streamlined platform to help all involved.

The forces that have created this environment are mainly technology and the ever-increasing business of life that most people face. Technology has opened the door for more communication and location sharing opportunities that could allow for a platform like this to exist. Additionally, many people like to help others and do good for the community. However, people are simply too busy to drive to locations to donate goods. This creates an opportunity for organizations to come to pick up the goods that would like to receive. This market could be widespread across the United States. However, this venture will focus on starting in the Ocala and Gainesville market. Demographically, middle to upper class residents will be targeted for donations. The window of opportunity should remain open unless a different company were to create a similar platform that took on this market and was able to exploit the opportunity first.

Innovation

This platform would be incrementally innovative. It would use technology that is already available like direct messaging, location services, posting pictures, and advertisements. First, nonprofit organizations must sign up on the website. They must verify that they are a nonprofit organization and then they can be a part of the platform to view donation items in their area. Residents with donation items will simply have to sign up on the app with their information and then they can take pictures of the items they would like to donate with a short description. They will then post it to the platform for all organizations to see. The nonprofits can then request to pick up the goods. After they have been claimed the item is marked as donated and taken off the platform. Businesses will also be able to sign up to donate their perishable food items. They will be able to post on a separate section of the sight with their food items. These items are always in high demand and again nonprofits will be able to select the items and go pick them up. Businesses will also be able to keep track of the goods that they donate and be able to write them off as tax deductible.

Waste to Grace will attempt to a self-funded platform by selling advertisements and post requests for items that they need currently need. Advertisements will be sold at prices based on app and website traffic. Nonprofit organizations will also be able to pay for slots that will request certain items that they need. They can also pay for alerts that will go out to those with the app for certain items that they need currently. This will create revenue to self-fund the platform.

Venture Concept

The innovation that Waste to Grace brings will satisfy the needs of the market by providing a better way for both the organizations and those donating the goods. Both organizations and people making donations will use the Waste to Grace platform because it offers an easier way to donate goods and a streamlined process with less time involved and less items wasted. The cost per user ratio should not be very high, somewhere in the realm of 15 cents per customer, since organizations will encourage their community naturally to be involved in the platform since it helps out all sides. The only competitors would be if organizations already have deals in place regarding how they receive their donations (most do not). Other factors of competition would result if someone else tried to start a similar platform to directly compete for the advertising dollars. Price points and packaging do not play much of a role although advertising does. Waste to Grace will build a network of organizations, residents, and businesses in the Ocala and Gainesville area to be able to build a starting point. This will take sales and marketing to build the data base, but as more national organizations are involved, the concept will spread rapidly. Waste to Grace will need minimal employees but will use the infrastructure of existing nonprofit organizations to be able to spread the Waste to Grace platform. This will allow us to have a low overhead cost and be able to focus on self-funding the platform. I will run much of the marketing and sales aspect to grow the platform and I will hire a service to create the app and website to house the platform.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource that my company has will be the passion for helping others that Waste to Grace will foster as well as the convenience of the platform being backed by large national organizations. I have personal experience in humanitarian efforts and will be able to facilitate the company in a fashion that brings joy and help to many people. The venture will look to move to a national scale mainly by utilizing the infrastructure already created by the national organizations. The next step will be creating contracts with the large organizations to become a partner to bring more goods to those in need. Lastly, if this was my first venture I would want to stay involved and lead the company. This would be a venture that could help a lot of people and make a big difference in the community and even the nation. I would work to grow the company and help thousands of people along the way.





2. Unfortunately, I did not have any feedback from either the Venture Concept assignment or the what’s next assignment. I however did look at other plans I had put together and realized that I had left out my plan to use the existing infrastructure of other nonprofit organizations so that costs remain low. This will allow the platform to have a better chance of being self-funded and contribute the max amount of capital and time towards improving the donation process.




3. These are some of the changes I made: “This will take sales and marketing to build the data base, but as more national organizations are involved, the concept will spread rapidly. Waste to Grace will need minimal employees but will use the infrastructure of existing nonprofit organizations to be able to spread the Waste to Grace platform. This will allow us to have a low overhead cost and be able to focus on self-funding the platform.”

Reading Reflection 3 27 A

Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

1. This book relies on over 20 years of research and studies to determine the process and application of innovation in entrepreneurship. This is a fascinating book that has many great insights and practical steps to becoming an effective entrepreneur. Although certain traits such as comfort with risk are important, all people with different personalities and traits can become successful entrepreneurs. Essentially, he boils it down to the fact entrepreneurs search for change, respond to it, and exploit the opportunity. Again, this does not come from an innate ability to recognize opportunities, but rather it comes from methodology. My favorite theme in the book was the 7 Sources for Opportunity section. This identifies the certain scenarios or climates where opportunities for entrepreneurship can be found. This is something I have struggled with and this section really explained how and where to look for opportunities. It also discusses practical tips for exploiting an opportunity as well as the policies and practices of innovation for the entrepreneur. Overall, this book has some profound information that is very beneficial for becoming an entrepreneur and provides tools that I will seek to incorporate into my life moving forward.

2. This book connects vert well with many of the lectures and exercise we participated in this semester. Many of the examples of businesses both good and bad were ones that Dr. Pryor has talked about this semester. Additionally, many of the exercises we did are designed to help us incorporate many of the lines of thought discussed in the book. Ultimately, it is about the process of entrepreneurship and not a profound moment that leads to success. I feel that this book connected perfectly with the course and it will be one that I use as a tool along with the information provided in the lectures.

3. If I were to design an exercise for the class based on the book, I would do another exercise based on discovering new opportunities for entrepreneurship. One source of opportunity is from the unexpected failure. The exercise would be to research and identify three failing businesses or industries. You would then have to discuss the reasons for failure and determine if it was caused by poor leadership and management, or by some outside source or change in the market. Other companies’ failures could be a great way to determine changes in customer perception or desire. This could lead to identifying what customers actually value and a potential to identify a solution to that markets needs.

4. I think the biggest moment for me when reading the book came from Part 3 and Entrepreneurial Strategies. Many of the strategies were related to what we have learned this semester. Ultimately, we have learned that the success of an innovation only comes from the success in the marketplace. The strategies discussed in the book and in class are excellent tools to determining the success of a product in the marketplace. This is something that has been very hard to figure out for and I never really knew a good strategy for identifying that. However, this class and book helped me determine the process of identifying worthwhile opportunities.

Your Exit Strategy 28 A

1. For Waste to Grace, my business venture, I would like to stay apart of the venture and grow it into a well-known nonprofit organization. The main reason I would like to remain a part of it and not step down from the organization is because this is a venture that would be worthwhile and make a difference. I would like to grow the venture into an organization that helps millions of people and hundreds of organizations receive the goods that they need. This would be something that I would like to pass on to my family and let them be involved in a capacity that grows the brand and lets them be involved with helping others directly.

2. The main reason that I have selected this strategy is that I want to be a part of something that makes a difference and work in a field that makes you feel fulfilled. I would not want to sell the organization or move onto something else because ultimately the whole point of me starting the organization would be to help others and that is my passion. I want to be a part of something that is bigger than just a normal day job and I think Waste to Grace would supply this opportunity. Therefore, remaining in the business makes the most sense as my strategy.

3. My exit strategy for wanting to remain involved has most certainly influenced by decision making in developing the concept. I want to be able to be a part of an organization to make a difference and something that cam be self-sustaining, so that is why I developed the concept of Waste to Grace. I wanted to create an opportunity to work in something that is fulfilling, and I think this organization would provide that opportunity. I would want to grow the business moderately and without incurring massive amounts of unnecessary debt so that we can develop a sustainable company. Overall, my desire to be a part of an organization that makes a difference has greatly influenced my decision making and my strategy to remain a part of the organization.

Celebrating Failure 26 A

1. I have failed at plenty of things in my life and have often tried to avoid failure at all costs. This semester I planned to be able to be able to develop some effective small business plans and have an idea that I felt I was ready to invest in and start to grow. However, I do not feel that I have an idea that warrants my investment currently. I have never been a very creative thinker and I think I have become more comfortable with a fixed mindset than I would like. When the first exercise of the semester challenged me to think about things that bother me and then look for solutions, I thought this was a perfect way for me to develop a product or service that I could begin to grow. I had a few ideas for solutions that were interesting but either my ideas for solving them weren’t practical or they simply weren’t that warranted. I started to become discouraged and wondered if I was ever going to be creative enough to effectively solve problems. I eventually found an idea that was interesting to me and stuck with all the assignments in the semester, but I have never really felt that the service is actually a viable candidate for starting a business. Overall, I have really enjoyed the class, but I also started to put a lot of pressure on myself to find a good business to start and that made my failure to find a good business idea more pronounced.

2. One of the biggest things I have learned and begun to understand is that failure is a part of the entrepreneurship process. One of the best ways to learn and develop an idea is through failure. I have spent so much time trying to be the best at what I was good at instead of stretching myself to grow into a rounded person. I learned that essentially, I have been fostering a fixed mindset. By being afraid and frustrated by failure, I allowed myself to get comfortable and believe that I could start a business without failing at all. I now know that is simply not true. Failing and learning from it is a necessary part of life and entrepreneurship. I am thankful that I am learning and applying this to my life and not putting so much pressure on myself every time I fail.

3. I feel that fear of failure has often driven me to avoid trying things that I felt I might fail at. Failure is obviously not a fun experience. However, I feel that I am reshaping my outlook and response to failure so that I can learn from these experiences and push myself to grow more. This class and reading the Mindset book has really helped me reshape my outlook on failure. This is probably my number one take away from the class and I am looking forward to incorporating this more into my journey moving forward. I most certainly feel that I am much more open to failure and taking risks than I would have been before the class.

What's Next 25A

Existing Market

1. The next steps for Waste to Grace are straightforward. Using the existing infrastructure of nonprofit organizations like Salvation Army, we would seek to grow the platform throughout the southeast United States and the nation. Changes will be made along the way most notably to create a larger market for receiving perishable foods to help eliminate food waste and help feed those in need. I think that with more capital and a greater commitment to engage companies and individuals to keep track of food purchases and donate what is not needed will help to grow our influence and impact more than ever before. This will take a larger commitment from the nonprofits themselves as these products must be picked up in a timely manner. Overall, this seems to be the best next course of action for Waste to Grace.

2. Judy, who is a middle-class resident in Ocala, suggested having an option for the person donating the good to also be able to drop it off to a local nonprofit. This would add flexibility for some nonprofits and the people that have the time to deliver their goods and simply want to take them to the place that needs them most. She agreed with my plans for the next steps of the company and said that helping to distribute the food would be a much-needed aspect of the company.

Christa said that she thought the plan in place seemed to be an effective way to help others and was the best course of action moving forward. She also suggested targeting farms that raise crops and meat as sometimes they have excess as well and could be a possible section that would be involved in donating food. Consequently, she also agreed that the next steps for the company should be to grow the food aspect.

Brian was interested in the idea as well but had some concerns about the revenue needed to be a self-sustaining company. I asked for other ideas of raising revenue and he suggested government funding and accepting donations. This is a possibility, but it would be hard to count on in the early stages. He also believed that growing the company to focus on food distribution would be a great move because he believes there is more of a need for that in local communities specifically that have soup kitchens.

3. Waste to Grace will focus on expanding into a strong focus on receiving food items in a faster way to get more perishable items into the hands of those that need them. Although as we launch, food items will be a part of the process, once Waste to Grace is established, we will turn to target farms and restaurants with greater consistency so that we can get more food to those that need it. After implementing this locally, we will show the data to other organizations across the country about why they need to have someone that can pick up the food items. Hopefully, by having an increase in the communities that implement this step we will be able to convince other organizations to be focused on that as well.

Additionally, we will focus on gaining government backing to help fund the platform. We will also accept grants and donations from organizations and individuals to help fund the platform. Although advertisements and specialized posts will still be a part of the funding, we will shift focus to gaining large sponsors as we grow the brand. Additionally, as the local venture is successful, we will use the infrastructure from large nonprofit organizations to expand nationally. We will roll out in the same way with an ever-growing focus on receiving food donations whenever possible.



New Market

1. A new market that would be a different strategy to still help nonprofit organizations would be to create a platform where they could specifically sell the items they have in their thrift stores. The reason that this could be successful would be that people could be motivated to purchase items where the proceeds go to help their community. It is true that people can already simply go to thrift stores and shop for goods there. However, the convenience factor of having an online site to view the items currently for sale could help nonprofits sell more goods and the people purchasing them to be able to find what they are looking for faster.

2. It is possible that by creating a simple platform where nonprofit organizations could easily post items for sale, that more people would purchase used items from them. Some people will not purchase used items regardless, but this would make it easier for thrifty shoppers to purchase goods. This idea could use the same platform but just have a separate section where nonprofit organizations are selling the items they have in stock.

3. I interviewed Lynn who is a thrifty shopper who will sometimes buy used items if it something she is looking for. She was very intrigued by this idea of being able to find goods that nonprofit organizations own and buy them used while supporting those in need. Her only concern about the idea was that the organizations must be committed to updating the site so that people are not frequently showing up the thrift store trying to buy something that has been sold. Additionally, Becky is someone who will also buy used goods and actively supports nonprofit organizations. She loves to redo furniture and would be very interested in an easier way to find items that nonprofit organizations. Becky was concerned that this could make some people try to sell their goods themselves without donating them to the nonprofits, thus limiting some donations.

4. This was an interesting exercise to think about a new market. I had not considered possibly branching out into a new market of my venture. I think this would be a fairly easy idea to incorporate into the Waste to Grace to platform. This would potentially target a new audience and act as an added incentive for organizations to join the platform. I was most surprised at the potentially new market that could be incorporated into my existing idea in the fact that this was something that had never occurred to me before. It is a great reminder to always be looking for new markets that could be a fit.

I think that some of my assumptions were correct in that some people would be very motivated to purchase goods from a site like this. I do not think this is as attractive as my primary market because it could interfere with my primary market in some ways. However, there is some potential in this idea and something to explore further.

Venture Concept 24A

Bryce Ballard

ENT 3003 | Venture Concept 24A



Opportunity

The opportunity that I will be seeking to exploit is based around helping nonprofit organizations receive donations in a streamlined process while helping those donating the goods save time and effort. Nonprofit organizations frequently need more donations to help the community and are often asking for donations. Many people would like to help the community with their unused goods and products, but they simply do not have the time in their busy schedules. This means there is a mutual desire to help on both sides but a streamlined process to help all parties involved does not exist. This is where the opportunity exists and why Waste to Grace could be the perfect solution as a streamlined platform to help all involved.

The forces that have created this environment are mainly technology and the ever-increasing business of life that most people face. Technology has opened the door for more communication and location sharing opportunities that could allow for a platform like this to exist. Additionally, many people like to help others and do good for the community. However, people are simply too busy to drive to locations to donate goods. This creates an opportunity for organizations to come to pick up the goods that would like to receive. This market could be widespread across the United States. However, this venture will focus on starting in the Ocala and Gainesville market. Demographically, middle to upper class residents will be targeted for donations. The window of opportunity should remain open unless a different company were to create a similar platform that took on this market and was able to exploit the opportunity first.

Innovation

This platform would be incrementally innovative. It would use technology that is already available like direct messaging, location services, posting pictures, and advertisements. First, nonprofit organizations must sign up on the website. They must verify that they are a nonprofit organization and then they can be a part of the platform to view donation items in their area. Residents with donation items will simply have to sign up on the app with their information and then they can take pictures of the items they would like to donate with a short description. They will then post it to the platform for all organizations to see. The nonprofits can then request to pick up the goods. After they have been claimed the item is marked as donated and taken off the platform. Businesses will also be able to sign up to donate their perishable food items. They will be able to post on a separate section of the sight with their food items. These items are always in high demand and again nonprofits will be able to select the items and go pick them up. Businesses will also be able to keep track of the goods that they donate and be able to write them off as tax deductible.

Waste to Grace will attempt to a self-funded platform by selling advertisements and post requests for items that they need currently need. Advertisements will be sold at prices based on app and website traffic. Nonprofit organizations will also be able to pay for slots that will request certain items that they need. They can also pay for alerts that will go out to those with the app for certain items that they need currently. This will create revenue to self-fund the platform.

Venture Concept

The innovation that Waste to Grace brings will satisfy the needs of the market by providing a better way for both the organizations and those donating the goods. Both organizations and people making donations will use the Waste to Grace platform because it offers an easier way to donate goods and a streamlined process with less time involved and less items wasted. The cost per user ratio should not be very high, somewhere in the realm of 15 cents per customer, since organizations will encourage their community naturally to be involved in the platform since it helps out all sides. The only competitors would be if organizations already have deals in place regarding how they receive their donations (most do not). Other factors of competition would result if someone else tried to start a similar platform to directly compete for the advertising dollars. Price points and packaging do not play much of a role although advertising does. Waste to Grace will build a network of organizations, residents, and businesses in the Ocala and Gainesville area to be able to build a starting point. This will take sales and marketing to build the data base, but as more national organizations are involved, the concept will spread rapidly. Waste to Grace will need minimal employees. I will run much of the marketing and sales aspect to grow the platform and I will hire a service to create the app and website to house the platform.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource that my company has will be the passion for helping others that Waste to Grace will foster as well as the convenience of the platform being backed by large national organizations. I have personal experience in humanitarian efforts and will be able to facilitate the company in a fashion that brings joy and help to many people. The venture will look to move to a national scale mainly by utilizing the infrastructure already created by the national organizations. The next step will be creating contracts with the large organizations to become a partner to bring more goods to those in need. Lastly, if this was my first venture I would want to stay involved and lead the company. This would be a venture that could help a lot of people and make a big difference in the community and even the nation. I would work to grow the company and help thousands of people along the way.

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage 23A

1. My education at UF and learning the different processes to recognize and exploit opportunities.

i) This is a valuable resource as it has helped me to identify opportunities and problems that I would not have need otherwise. This is not rare as many people have a similar education. It is fairly easy to imitate, and education is abundant. There are other substitutes including work experience that could act as education.

2. My social capital specifically focused on the organizations I am connected with in Ocala through the different service projects I have been a part of will be valuable to start the venture locally.

ii) This is a valuable resource since Ocala is a growing community and contains many different organizations that could be interested in participating in this venture. The connections are fairly rare as I know many different people across multiple organization in the community. It is not very hard to imitate as someone could seek to grow those connections if they so desired. The only substitutes for this would be to grow the connections in other cities that could act as a network in a different area that could grow to the Ocala market as well.

3. I have been on 4 different international missions’ trips that have included distributing goods to those in need, so I have experience with this process and how it works.

iii) This is a valuable experience as not many people have been on multiple international service projects, although the experience does not directly relate to my market. This is rare as again not many people have done this. The imitability is not very high, and it would take time and resources to replicate the experiences I have had. It is substitutable in the idea that international work experience could be used as a replacement as well.

4. I have over $10,000 in financial capital in savings that I am continuing to grow in hopes of using that to contribute to starting a venture.

iv) This is not very valuable as $10,000 is not a lot of money in relation to starting a company. It is not rare as many people have money for startups. It is very easy to imitate, and it is easily substitutable through investments and loans.

5. My capabilities involving HR and my experience in that will help me identify key contributors to the organization and help me lead others effectively when needed.

v) This is a valuable resource as HR skills are transferable to many different parts of the organization and starting a venture. It is not very rare as many people have HR experience. It is fairly easy to imitate and can be learned. It is not very easily substituted as HR and people skills must be developed and cultivated to be effective.

6. Technology has paved the way with other services that will make it easier for a concept such as mine to be developed and launched rapidly. This will include app development and communication on the platform.

vi) This is a valuable resource as most people are familiar with how to use technology and the platform will not require a learning curve or user difficulty. This is not a rare resource as it is available to anyone. It is easy to imitate as anyone can use the current state of society as their advantage. It is also easily imitable as there are many different realms that this could be applicable in how technology is used to a company’s advantage.

7. The culture of the organization will be of humility and the joy that comes from helping others. It will be a thriving workplace that others will want to be a part of and will feel fulfilled in their work.

vii) This would be a very valuable resource as millennials especially care about satisfying work and a positive culture. This would be a fairly rare culture in my area as there are not a lot of businesses with that focus currently. This would be imitable in the fact that if a company prioritized this culture and had a business that fostered the culture it could be done. It is not very imitable as culture is a hard thing to fake for long periods of time.

8. The network of the company will grow because of the convenience factor that allows others to contribute to their community in a way that brings them satisfaction while not costing them much of their time.

viii) This platform will be an asset as it provides a better way to do things than ever before. It is rare currently as I have not seen another platform for organizations that would be able to accomplish what this would offer. This would be fairly easy to imitate but it would require a network of companies and organizations willing to work together for the community. This platform would not be easily substitutable and would require someone to copy the platform and the process.

9. The support that I have from extended family and friends that believe in doing good and helping others will be a great resource that will help me start the venture while holding true to the values I want to grow.

ix) This is a valuable resource as I need the support and advice from others as I begin to start a company without prior experience. This is not very rare as other people have teams that can help them as well. This is easily imitable as firms and employees and can be hired instead of friends and family. This is also substitutable for the same reasons.

10. My energy and passion for this concept and helping others combined with a driven work ethic will help me to persevere through adversity and grow this venture doing whatever it takes to succeed.

x) This is something that will be valuable and is necessary to starting any company. It is not very rare as most entrepreneurs possess these traits. Additionally, it is fairly easy to imitate if someone has the passion and drive to make something happen. Conversely, it can be hard to substitute as grit and determination are traits that take perseverance and time to develop.



It was hard for me to choose on specific resource that is the most valuable. I think that a lot of them are imitable and I do not have a specific ability that sets me apart. However, I do believe that the most important resource is the convenience of the platform that will allow others to be involved quickly and easily and grow the network with relative ease. I think that this resource will be key to protect and something that will be important to the success of the organization.

Elevator Pitch 3 Elevator 22A

The feedback I got from the last one was all over all very positive. The main feedback I got liked the additional part about revenue. I made sure to include the same revenue ideas and tried to improve on the overall quality of the post. I found that the feedback from the last post helped me to feel more confident in the pitch.
I found that I was much more comfortable in my second and third and elevator pitches. Having it memorized completely definitely helped as well as being more comfortable talking in the camera. I think that completing the elevator pitch assignments were very beneficial to me. 

Reading Reflection No. 2 21A

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

By Carol S. Dweck Ph. D.

1. What was the general theme or argument of the book? The book essentially addresses two main mindsets that people have. Either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset will ultimately determine how you react to situations in your life. There are several main keys to each and throughout the book Dweck shows the long-term effectiveness of the growth mindset versus the safe and controlling fixed mindset. Essentially, a fixed mindset creates a desire to look smart and avoid challenges that could prove difficult or create opportunities for failure. In contrast, the growth mindset creates a desire to learn and embrace challenges. Failures are then only seen as failures if it returns you to a fixed mindset that avoids them. By embracing challenges and seeking to learn from them and from the success of others, it opens many new opportunities to learn and grow.

2. The biggest thing that this book helped in force that this class has taught is to be open to failure and to not shy away from challenges and risks. I do not like failure and have done everything I could to avoid that. I like to be successful, but I have now realized that part of that process is learning from failure. This book and the class have enforced this idea and I will seek to change my mindset to be growth minded and not adverse to learning from my failures and other successes.

3. There are some great exercises that were talked about in the book, but there is a different one that would be a great exercise to drive these points home. Each person in class would have to talk to a young elementary age child about their struggles and their successes and walk them through how to think about that from a growth mindset. This would be a great way to see the growth mindset in a simpler way that makes it obvious to us how effective it would be in our lives and tougher scenarios as well. It also helps us to realize the folly of the fixed mind set in our own lives whenever we can see from a child’s perspective the proper mindset in each situation.

4. The biggest surprise in the book was when she took a whole chapter to discuss the mindset and how it affects athletes in different sports. I love sports and have played many of them since I was a child. It was very interesting to hear how despite the different talent levels; it has been shown that those with a growth mindset typically can develop the skill with greater consistency even if lacking in some natural talent. She even discussed famous people such as Billy Beane and Pedro Martinez that struggled with the fixed mindset. Whenever people run into a roadblock in athletics, they either train harder and learn from the struggle or begin to lose hope and become distracted. Also, how they handle success is a key factor whether they are puffed up when they succeed or taught to handle success with humility. Many of these things are developed throughout adolescence and helps shape them as they become collegiate and professional athletes. It was a very interesting chapter and really helped explain the mindset in ways that were clear and decisive to me.

Growing Your Social Capital 20A

1. Dwayne  Durham, the founder and president of the Marion County Salvation Army.

2. This is acting as the domain expert in my assignment.

3. I found the person through the local website and exploring the board of directors and contact page. This allowed me to send a contact request to the board. I also looked on Hoovers for more specific contact info but did not find anything better than the website had to offer.

4. I explained my position in the email and provided a short description of my idea. I asked for any feedback on the idea and if they would be willing to hear my elevator pitch or idea write up which I would provide if allowed.

5. This person would be a valuable contact due to the influence and experience he has from leading the local organization for many years as well as being able to change processes and make changes. He also could have valuable insight to the product idea and offer feedback regarding improvement.



1. Carlos Tobon is the Vice President of Interfaith Marion County.

2. This is acting as the expert on my market since they deal specifically with growing their influence in the Marion County Florida area.

3. I found this person through Hoover and also through their website. It listed the Board of Directors for Interfaith as well as how to contact them.

4. I explained my position in the email and provided a short description of my idea. I asked for any feedback on the idea and if they would be willing to hear my elevator pitch or idea write up which I would provide if allowed.

5. This person would be a valuable contact due to the influence and experience he has from leading the local organization and being very involved in Marion County Specifically. He also could have valuable insight to the product idea and offer feedback regarding improvement. I am hoping that his contact would really help me grow my idea in the local community.



1. Frances Thompson is listed as a local manager at the Winn-Dixie in Ocala.

2. This is acting as the important supplier to the industry as the manager of a grocery store could help influence what decisions are made in regard to the donation of goods.

3. I found this person through the Hoover data base and Frances was listed as a contact of the organization.

4. I explained my position as a student and the idea for the organization. I also asked how they distribute donations and if this would be something that could potentially help them spread their donations. I also asked for feed back and if they would like to hear the elevator pitch or the idea write up.

5. This would be a great contact to have as Winn-Dixie is a large grocery store chain. This person could help provide insight into their process of how they donate excess food items and help connect with various supermarkets in the area.



I think this experience of networking was good for me. I have not even finished the wright up for this assignment and the president of the local salvation army emailed me saying he would like to call and talk to me later to hear more about this idea. This is both nerve wracking and interesting to be able to hear real feedback from someone in a position of influence. I was surprised at how effective contacting these people was and will help encourage me to be more willing to do that in the future. I would say the experience differed because I was reaching out to specific people electronically rather than just trying to walk in somewhere and hope to talk to the right person. So far this seems to be more effective.

Idea Napkin 2 19A

1. Who are you? I am a 20-year-old college student who is in my junior year of studies at the University of Florida. My talents generally revolve around interpersonal skills. I pride myself in my social awareness and the ability to connect and lead individuals. My position at my current job is a recruiter for a staffing company. What this means is that every day I go to work my job is to talk to applicants all day long and sell them on the value of our process as well as simultaneously determining if this is a person, I think we should hire or not. There is a lot going on in just a few short minutes and I am learning how to best effectively communicate and discern information in a timely manner. My aspirations are to start a company that can help other people and be self-sustaining. I want to be able to do something with my life that I can be passionate about and something that makes a lasting difference. If I were to start this company, I would pour all my skills and energy into developing relationships with nonprofit organizations and creating a network base with which to launch my platform. I would be creative in solving problems and be extremely open to feedback as the goal is to ultimately help as many people as possible and help to eliminate waste.

2. What are you offering to customers? The service that I would be launching would be a social platform that connects businesses and people with donations to the nonprofit organization that needs them. The main key that would set us apart from the way things are done now is a streamlined process that allows for more donations to be given in a less amount of time and effort for all involved. The process would allow the people with donations to take a picture of the donation and post it to the platform. This allows the nonprofits seeking donations to then be alerted of a new donation and to then go and pick it up. Instead of just one organization having the opportunity to receive the goods, it now alerts all of them involved and creates a better chance that the donation will be picked up and not wasted. This creates a better process for the organizations that now do not have to call the companies to ask about donations and it allows the people donating the goods to simply take a picture and post the goods without having to directly contact anyone.

3. Who are you offering it to? There are three major groups that it would be offered it to. First it would be the average person that may have some perishable or nonperishable items that they would like to offer up for donation and to picked up. The second major group is the businesses. This includes both restaurants and supermarkets. These companies often have waste and can then alert the organizations that they have goods available for pick up. This could be a huge factor for many businesses as they can then advertise that they support the local community and are a member of the organization. Many people are more likely to spend money with an organization that helps others rather than one that does not. Lastly this will also be for the nonprofit organizations that collecting the donations. This will provide a necessary streamlined platform for them with which they can accept more donations for those in need.

4. Why do they care? Most people want to limit waste and help other people. However, we all live in a busy world and don’t have the time to drive to different organizations to deliver our goods. Customers of this startup will be happy to hear that they have a streamlined process with which to help others and our environment by limiting waste through a platform that requires minimal time and effort. Organizations could pay fees to advertise and request certain goods while other companies may be inclined to advertise their green initiatives on the site that attracts socially conscious customers. Businesses are frequently looking for ways to be considered an organization that cares about the community. This also gives them opportunity to advertise on the sight and expound upon their initiatives to help the community and create a greener world.

5. What are your core competencies? The reason I am the right person for this start up is twofold. I have the social competencies necessary to network and create a community of people with which to launch this endeavor. I also have traveled on 4 different international humanitarian missions’ trips and have participated in many events in the local community geared towards helping people. I have demonstrated a willingness and energy to help others by sacrificing time and significant amounts of my own money up to this point for other people. I will be creative in marketing this idea and will sell the idea to businesses that want to be a community leader and as people that care about the environment and limiting waste.

In conclusion, I do believe that these elements fit together well together but there are some glaring holes to the idea as well. The main reason that it would be difficult for me to start this is that I do not have any experience developing an app or online platform for which this could operate from. Additionally, I do not have any experience running an organization or how to start something from the ground up. I do have some weaknesses regarding social capital. I do not have many contacts in the realm of business or large nonprofit organizations that would want to join to help get the operation up and running. This is a potential problem and it would be something that I need to be intentional about growing.  I believe that the need exists, and that the startup idea can satisfy the need. I think that my passion and experience in helping others could be valuable to creating the company. Also, my experience in networking and interviewing people at my job would be helpful for getting the start up off the ground. I am concerned with how to develop the idea into a mobile platform for easy and convenient use. There are still some roadblocks to launching this but several of the components I feel are in place.

There were two main pieces of feedback that I received and implemented. The main thing I implemented regarding the idea was from a comment I received about how businesses could use this as a marketing piece. It is true that companies want to be a part of something that helps others and that they can promote as part of their community initiative. I included multiple explanations in the revised post that help explain that and how I will use it to my advantage. The other thing I changed was the feedback that Dr Pryor has given in class about being open about your weaknesses. I thought more about the deficiencies I have that would limit me from starting this venture and recorded those in my conclusion as well. This allowed me to think more about where I need to improve and what I can do to help limit those deficiencies moving forward.

Elevator Pitch 2 17A

The only feedback I received from my last elevator pitch was to include some ideas about how to create revenue to be self sustaining as well as changing my question away from asking how to create revenue. I did both of these thing and I think it helped make for a more complete elevator pitch. I included ideas for selling advertisements and boosted posts for requesting goods, as well as changing the question to a call for action for everyone to help.

https://youtu.be/8mKUP3gjrPU

Create a Customer Avatar 18A

The prototypical person that would donate goods for an organization would be a middle aged, middle class person that is involved in the community. When I think about someone that wants to help limit waste while helping others I generally think about people who work a standard white collar job, have a couple kids and are about more than just getting by in life. For example, the avatar is a middle school teacher who has two kids that still live at home. She drives a minivan to take her kids and their friends around to different activities like soccer practice or Sunday school. She volunteers at some after school programs and she also is involved in church. She likes to donate their excess goods to others at Church but generally ends up throwing things away when she gets too busy. She prefers to see her items go to help people in the local community and cares more about giving things to help them rather than making a few bucks selling the goods. She is conscious about the environment and separates recyclables at her home. Her personal hobbies include gardening and reading historical fiction novels about ancient civilization. She is tech savvy and uses her smart for more and more activities like communicating with her students and their parents. She likes to be a good role model for the kids she has influence over and is always looking for opportunities to make a difference anywhere she can.

The biggest things that I have in common with my customer avatar would be a desire to help others and be a good role model to those around me. This "customer" is always looking for more ways to help others and that is something that I try to do as well. Additionally, she cares about youth and wants to set a good example for them as I strive to do as well. I do not think these things are a coincidence because it helps shape the way we view things and brings a stronger desire to help others in need when we can.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior 2 15A

My start up deals with some different customers and clients. For this section I will be focusing more on the customer side and how people decide where to donate goods and what the best options for that would be. As well as how they feel after donating the good and the ease of the donation process. Currently, people that are donating goods can take them to local organizations and drop them off. I talked with several people who are active in the community donating goods. Their problem lies in the fact that they must take them to the drop off locations. One person said that they often have bags of clothes or goods that collect and then forget about and leave in the garage for months. Additionally, another individual said that they often plan to take goods to donate and then end up leaving them in the car for weeks and eventually get frustrated and end up just dropping it off at the nearest drop box rather than a verified organization of choice. The last person said that when they have items to donate, they generally bring them to church with them the next time they go to service. For each of these people the number one factor for them was convenience. This segment of people all said they would be much more inclined to donate if there was a streamlined service for which people could request their items to be picked up. As far as the post purchase evaluation, this is a little bit different because people are not actually purchasing anything but only donating goods. However, people did say that they would want to make sure that the organization coming to get the goods would be a verified nonprofit organization. This was good information for me and offered an aspect of the business that I had not previously considered.

 Overall the information gathered confirmed previous interviews that the main key lies in the ease of access and streamlined way to donate the items. However, one great piece of information received was an idea to verify all of the nonprofit organizations so that the goods that are being donated are only going to verified organizations whose main purpose is to help others. This segment seemed to be very open to any solutions that involved ways to have your items picked up instead of delivering them themselves. As far as post purchase evaluation, people are more concerned to know that the goods are going to places where they are helping other people.

ENT 16A Secret Sauce

What I think my human capital is:
1. My work experience is fairly unique for my age. I have worked at a staffing company as a recruiter conducting interviews and applicant screenings for about a year and a half. This experience has helped me develop an understanding of who to hire and what to look for in an employee.
2. My integrity and character is something that I pride myself in and invest much time and energy into growing as a person and how I can best help others. I have sacrificed large amounts of time and money into growing as a person and participating in ways to help others.
3. My passion for sports and outdoors has led to developing skills and knowledge in multiple fields around that area. I have spent many years playing sports both competitively and recreationally. I also own a boat that I purchased to be able to go fishing and enjoy the outdoors. I have developed skills in these areas that take time and a desire to invest into these fields.
4. My desire for adventure and willingness to take risks and travel is something that is important to me as well. I have been to multiple countries on missions trips and enjoy helping others there. I have also been to multiple places that others did not want to go including San Pedro Sula, Honduras which is known as the murder capital of the world, as well as high in the Andes mountains of Peru eclipsing 16,000 ft of elevation.
5. My ability to communicate well in front of people and a comfort with public speaking allows me to present well naturally. I have given many presentations over the years and have performed or spoken in front of thousands of people on occasion for events. This has helped me conquer the fear of public speaking and has helped me learn how to effectively present information.

Interviews:

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording-4
This was my mom who mentioned a few things that I was proud of. She mentioned my ability to retain information and also my desire to help others.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/ent-16a-intv-5
This was my grandfather and he talked a lot about my character. He mentioned my faith and also my ability to learn in school and have good grades and a good work ethic.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording
This was my brother. He really focused on my personality and people skills. He mentioned the ability to sell products to people and create fast relationships.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording-2
This was one of my younger siblings. She focused on my work ethic and personality as well. She also mentioned I like to make things fun.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording-3
This was my other sister. She talked about my desire to serve others and also my experience in going to other countries and helping others.

Reflection:
I believe the way I see myself and the way that others see me line up fairly well. The people I interviewed were all very close so they knew me well. Overall one of the main things that I did not think about that they did was my ability to learn quickly and gain a valuable education rather effectively. I think that the people I interviewed were correct in their assessments and have known me long enough to know my skills and abilities as well as my emotional intelligence. I think I would add my education to the list of things in part one as this is something that not everyone has and is something that I take seriously and desire to grow in.

Halfway Reflection 14A

                                                      Tenacity and Paying It Forward
1. Tenaciousness is a competency: This course offers as much as you could possibly learn about entrepreneurship however, it takes a desire to learn it and grasp it. I truly do have a dream to open a business, but my biggest weakness lies in developing an idea that I can explore. The biggest behavior I have developed to help me succeed in the course is developing a thought process that identifies problems and seeks a solution to those problems. I think this mindset will help me see opportunities and be able to better develop and plan to create a business as well as succeed in the course.
2. Tenaciousness is also about attitude: For me the hardest part of the course lies in conducting the interviews. I do not have a product or service that I truly believe in yet and so the interviews have been difficult for me. However, finding an idea that is easy to talk about and something that identifies with your peers would make it easier. The biggest thing attitude wise is a desire to learn the material. If you truly want to own and start a business, you will enjoy the class. It goes back to the point of why you are in the class. If your reasoning and attitude for taking the class is to learn and grow as a potential business owner, you will have no problems succeeding in the course
3. Three tips: The main tip for fostering the skills to support tenacity would be to find a job that is challenging and causes you to be forced to work outside of your comfort zone. I am currently working as a recruiter for a staffing company while taking a full slate of classes. This makes me have an intense and tenacious mindset to be able to accomplish my goals and learn what I need to. I think it would be too easy for me to slack off if I was just focused on doing my assignments and nothing else. The second tip for developing the skills would be to seek out the advice of Dr. Pryor. I wish that I had lined my days off work up with when class was because I would love to pick his brain about different things in class. Whether it be Dr. Pryor or other business owners, do not be afraid to ask questions related to owning a business. This will help you learn what skills they have developed and what you should focus on in your journey. Third, regarding developing a tenacious mindset, I would have to use Phil Knight and his book I read for the class as an example. He viewed life as a competition and a race to the finish whatever that might be. Although this may not be healthy long term, it begins to foster a competitive mindset that seeks to create a competitive advantage. When you view your startup as a competitor in a race and everything else as either a teammate or competitor, it can really change your view on the class and in business. This is what I am focusing on creating currently.

Reading Reflection 13A

SHOE DOG By Phil Knight
This was truly a fascinating and very well written book. When I first bought the book, I was surprised to see how long it was and was not sure if I could even finish it for class. However, once I started reading, I was hooked and really enjoyed the book.
1. I was most surprised at the level of risk and recklessness that Knight displayed throughout his process of creating Nike. He often was days away from losing the company entirely and would somehow find a way to keep it afloat until the next bills were due. I greatly admired his willingness to just act and do something without having a full developed plan or product. He essentially pitched a Japanese manufacturing firm a company that he had not even developed or started. He gained their interest and started selling their products without even having any semblance of a company. He was truly a risk taker and willing to go do things that most of us never would. There were some major flaws about him that I do not want to imitate. Knight was exceptionally consumed by his company and his family and personal life often suffered because of it. I understand that starting a company requires immense sacrifices and consuming amounts of time. However, he would often go out drinking with co-workers and go on long runs by himself instead of spending time with his wife and kids. This led to problems with his oldest son whom he never had a close relationship even up until his son died tragically. He also was a very poor communicator with his team and often alienated employees by never expressing gratitude for their work or giving positive feedback. He lost relationships and employees where he could have avoided that by simply being a better leader and investing some time in people. Knight encountered massive amounts of adversity and dealt with each situation similarly. He attacked the problem with reckless abandon and an obsession that left him constantly thinking about the problem and how to defeat it. He was very competitive and saw adversity as an enemy to be conquered. He was a ruthless and determined business owner.
2. Knight displayed an amazing ability to sell a product and build a powerful brand. He was very successful at creating a network of sales reps to slowly but surely build their sales. Surprisingly, despite many loan and distribution problems, Knight pursued exponential growth each year. This planning and pursuit of growth were some of his greatest assets.
3. One aspect of Knight’s story that perplexed me was his refusal to develop and appreciate employees. He talks about this some in his book and eventually links it back to never receiving that from his father. One sales rep would write him every day with updates and idea trying to get feedback from Knight. Instead of offering occasional support or even criticism, he simply ignored the rep and never once responded. I have wondered why he frequently treated employees like this. I felt that eventually he would feel secure in himself without his dad’s approval and change his leadership style. As it turned out, he never really changed and continued his bureaucratic approach that had a negative effect on some of his employees.
4. The first question I would ask would be if you were to start a company again, what would you change from how you first went about starting Blue Ribbon (Nike). I would like to ask this because I do believe he learned valuable lessons in the process and would potentially go about the business different if he did all over again. However, the route he took ultimately ended in massive success. Secondly, I would ask him what his most prevalent regrets were and how I could avoid them in my business journey. Ultimately, the point of reading this book is to learn from their story and see how I can make better decisions in my journey.
5. Knight viewed hard work as a necessity and a way of life. To him, winning in life was bringing Nike to the pinnacle of athletic brands. He seemed to have no desires besides creating that brand and put his business as his number one priority. I also view hard work as a way of life and something that must be carried out in every aspect of life. However, my priorities would have my faith and my family ahead of the business. I agree with his work ethic and view on work, but I would change it to fit my priorities.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior 12A

Because my idea involves multiple different groups, I tried to talk to people from each group that is involved in my startup. After talking to a middle-class homeowner about how willing they would be to donate goods it became clear they do have the need and desire to help donate goods. The need awareness aspect of this was a little troubling, however. This person described their need to donate goods as when they discovered they were out of date and could no longer use them. This meant that the goods were wasted regardless of if the option was there to have them donated or not. After going farther in the conversation some hope was presented. They said that if the option was there to donate the goods there is a possibility that the mindset could be changed and then the food saved before they expire. The need awareness typically began around dinner time or after going to the store to get more groceries and they saw what goods were expiring or they had no use for anymore. The information search experience was also interesting. This person described a feeling of guilt associated with wasting the food. This person also is active in donating goods currently. The opportunity never existed to donate the expiring goods, but they have often wanted to have different goods picked up to be donated before. They generally just donate to the closest drop off location for donations. Their search generally ends with knowing which locations are open and closest for donations. What I concluded from this conversation was that this person would be more willing to donate nonperishable goods and have them picked up than they would perishable goods.

The next conversation with a restaurant employee was also insightful. This employee described the need awareness as generally happening when doing inventory and receiving new food shipments. This is when raw materials were often not all the way used and were going out of date. They said that the need also could become aware whenever they notice that customers do not like a new food product or are simply not ordering something as often as expected and then they have extra ingredients. The information search usually began by offering the ingredients to employees and then if they had a food pantry that they knew they would sometimes offer it to them. Often the goods were just thrown away due to a lack of time to donate them. This bodes well for my start up as the option to have the goods picked up could work very well in their favor. Their need awareness and information search seems to fit within the parameters of my start up. Their main problems still circle around a lack of time rather than a lack of caring about wasting the goods.

Lastly, a conversation with a supermarket employee provided an interesting experience as well. They described the need awareness beginning when doing inventory and product cycling. They generally find items that exceeded buyer demand and have products that will expire. These processes are generally done at night when they restock the store. The information search process generally happens with asking employees if they know anyone who needs donations and giving them to a nonprofit that they know and work with. Occasionally there are multiple ones that they contact but if the one they generally work cannot pick up the goods for whatever reason they are often thrown away. Again, the root problem lies in not having the time to contact other nonprofits nor the time to deliver them. I think that again my start up could provide the solution by allowing them to post the materials they have for pick up to all the nonprofits in the community. I think the opportunity to help all parties involved still exists in these situations.

ENT 11A Idea Napkin

1. Who are you? I am a 20-year-old college student who is in my junior year of studies at the University of Florida. My talents generally revolve around interpersonal skills. I pride myself in my social awareness and the ability to connect and lead individuals. My position at my current job is a recruiter for a staffing company. What this means is that everyday I go to work my job is to talk to applicants all day long and sell them on the value of our process as well as simultaneously determining if this is a person, I think we should hire or not. There is a lot going on in just a few short minutes and I am learning how to best effectively communicate and discern information in a timely manner. My aspirations are to start a company that can help other people and be self-sustaining. I want to be able to do something with my life that I can be passionate about and something that makes a lasting difference. If I were to start this company, I would pour all my skills and energy into developing relationships with nonprofit organizations and creating a network base with which to launch my platform. I would be creative in solving problems and be extremely open to feedback as the goal is to ultimately help as many people as possible and help to eliminate waste.
2. What are you offering to customers? The service that I would be launching would be a social platform that connects businesses and people with donations to the nonprofit organization that needs them. The main key that would set us apart from the way things are done now is a streamlined process that allows for more donations to be given in a less amount of time and effort for all involved. The process would allow the people with donations to take a picture of the donation and post it to the platform. This allows the nonprofits seeking donations to then be alerted of a new donation and to then go and pick it up. Instead of just one organization having the opportunity to receive the goods, it now alerts all of them involved and creates a better chance that the donation will be picked up and not wasted. This creates a better process for the organizations that now do not have to call the companies to ask about donations and it allows the people donating the goods to simply take a picture and post the goods without having to directly contact anyone.
3. Who are you offering it to? There are three major groups that it would be offered it to. First it would be the average person that may have some perishable or non perishable items that they would like to offer up for donation and to picked up. The second major group is the businesses. This includes both restaurants and supermarkets. These companies often have waste and can then alert the organizations that they have goods available for pick up.
4. Why do they care? Most people want to limit waste and help other people. However, we all live in a busy world and don’t have the time to drive to different organizations to deliver our goods. Customers of this start up will be happy to hear that they have a streamlined process with which to help others and our environment by limiting waste through a platform that requires minimal time and effort. Nonprofits would pay fees to advertise and request certain goods while other companies may be inclined to advertise their green initiatives on the site that attracts socially conscious customers.
5. What are your core competencies? The reason I am the right person for this start up is twofold. I have the social competencies necessary to network and create a community of people with which to launch this endeavor. I also have traveled on 4 different international humanitarian missions trips and have participated in many event in the local community geared towards helping people. I have demonstrated a willingness and energy to help others by sacrificing time and significant amounts of my own money up to this point for other people. However, the main reason that it would be difficult for me to start this is that I do not have any experience developing an app or online platform for which this could operate from.
In conclusion, I do believe that these elements fit together well except for not having the ability to create and develop an app on my own. I believe that the need exists and that the startup idea can satisfy the need. I also think that my passion and experience for helping others could be valuable to creating the company. Also, my experience in networking and interviewing people at my job would be helpful for getting the start up off the ground. I am concerned with how to develop the idea into a mobile platform for easy and convenient use. There are still some roadblocks to launching this but several of the component I feel are in place.

ENT Elevator Pitch 10A

Here is a link to my first elevator pitch. Please feel free to offer suggestions.

https://youtu.be/KDewwq_IcNs

Testing the Hypothesis 9A

Who: My idea is complex and deals with a lot of different people from different sides of the equation. Some of the people I talked to are just normal people with a standard day job and a middle-class life. I noticed that most of the people I talked to that were in this class generally were very open to donating goods and helping others. They have excess and are conscious about the environment and those around them. One of the people was very open to donating goods and said they would even drive their goods to the nonprofit that most needed the item and would use the service I was providing to know the options available. However, two of the middle-class people I talked to were less enthusiastic about driving the goods to the nonprofits. They loved the idea of having a service that helped connect them to the people that needed the goods they had but said they do not have the time to frequently go and deliver their goods. One business owner I talked to said that they have limited waste and generally do not have much to donate in the realm of excess food. He also said that some restaurants have unused or slightly damaged goods that they donate to soup kitchens already. However, he also said optimizing this process with my business could be an asset to all involved. It still has been hard to get in contact with managers of supermarkets to see what they do with the goods. However, employees tell me that they generally try to sell them to discount stores or donate them to nonprofits that they know. They may be open to my process if it does not cause any more work for them on their part.

What: When I first started this process, the idea was to help eliminate waste. I still think that this is a large part of the idea for the company, however there are some other problems that I have identified as well. I think that many people want to help eliminate waste and help the needy in their communities. They also do not have the time to drive to donate the perishable goods they have and no longer need. I think the need here is a way for someone to come and pick up the goods to take to the nonprofits to distribute them. There are some nonprofits that have people that can do this, and I think that this will be the number one solution. However, we will need a broad base of different nonprofits that can have people go to pick up the goods on different days and times. There also could be potential for ride sharing services to participate in picking up and bringing goods to the store front.

Why: The underlying need for outsiders is the lack of time to donate the goods they have. It is easier to just throw it in the trash rather than take the time to donate it. They do not see the cost benefit as strong enough to take the time to donate the goods. Insiders believe this is a worthy cause and would take the time to donate the goods. I think that in conclusion I would need to create the process as extremely streamlined and time efficient. Also, there would need to be an option that could allow people to request people to pick up their goods with out having to bring them to the location themselves.

Why: The underlying need for outsiders is the lack of time to donate the goods they have. It is easier to just throw it in the trash rather than take the time to donate it. They do not see the cost benefit as strong enough to take the time to donate the goods. Insiders believe this is a worthy cause and would take the time to donate the goods. I think that in conclusion I would need to create the process as extremely streamlined and time efficient. Also, there would need to be an option that could allow people to request people to pick up their goods with out having to bring them to the location themselves.



Inside the Boundary:

Who is in: Middle class people that have the time and see the benefit of taking the goods to nonprofits? Also, some restaurants that make a lot of goods from scratch ingredients are open to donating as well as stores that do not have a good way to donate imperfect goods.

Insiders: Their need is a way to know what goods nonprofits are requesting currently and a streamlined way to donate their goods and eliminate the waste the have.

Why: The need exists because these people want to make a difference and would love an easier way to donate and cut back on waste.



Outside the Boundary:

Who is not: Middle class people that do not have the time to drive to donate goods? Some businesses who already have a relationship with a nonprofit may just want to donate to them.

Outsiders: There need is not to have a streamlined way to know what to donate. Instead their need is someone who can come pick up the goods and does not cost them any time.

Alternative Explanations: Their needs are based more on the need for a way to someone coming to pick up the goods. I don’t think it is that they do not want to help, but they simply do not have the time. Also, businesses that already have a relationship helping someone would not want to lose that and would continue to want to help that organization.

Solving the Problem 8A

1. The opportunity I would like to pursue is an idea about how to limit food waste in the US. Incredibly Americans waste $160 billion dollars in food each year which equates to about 35% percent of the entire US food supply. This leaves an ungodly amount of quality food going to the garbage instead of being consumed by the many impoverished and needy people in our communities. The trouble lies in the fact of transporting the goods before they are wasted and can no longer be eaten. Unfortunately, there is only a limited amount of time that the food is good for and it is difficult to get it into the hands of those that need it. The opportunity lies in a way to effectively deliver these goods to those who need them. Luckily, most communities have at least one nonprofit organization as well as churches in the community. Many of these organizations rely on donations to feed the homeless and needy that come to them. My idea is to create a website and/or app that can connect companies and the general public to organizations that can use the excess food and give it out to needy people. This site could allow people with excess food or food that is set to be expired to send out a picture and a location of the food to the organizations to then be able to send someone to pick up the food. This could be an excellent way for restaurants, grocery stores, and the general public to support needy people in the community with food that would have normally been wasted. Companies could potentially receive tax write offs for the food they donate and become a valuable part of the community by donating unneeded food. The reason I would like to explore this opportunity is That I would love to be able to find a way to help local nonprofits help those in need. I also think that a lot of companies could be willing to help and be motivated to receive tax right offs for donating goods

2. The service would require nonprofit organizations to register with the company. They would then be eligible to receive donations from other companies. I would first need to get grocery stores and restaurants on board with donating their excess goods to the nonprofits. Once a set of goods is ready to be donated, they could then log on to their account and record what is available for pick up. This would then alert all the local nonprofits that are registered that goods are available for pick up. A nonprofit could then drive to the location to receive the goods. Many stores already donate goods, but this would allow for a streamlined process for both parties involved. It could also allow lesser known local organizations to have an opportunity to gain more donations. The service I would be creating could require yearly membership fees and charge advertising fees on the website and app. Another factor of the company would be allowing households to easily donate goods. This is where being a member of the service could be a great asset. Households with excess goods could also alert companies when they have goods to donate and could then request pick up or drop them off. Nonprofits could also send out notifications to their data base of the goods that they need currently alerting all people of certain goods they could buy to donate. I think this service could be a cool way to get more people involved in the community helping organizations as well as helping to limit waste.

I think that the company I want to create could be sustainable and become a nonprofit on its own. I would love to create a company that makes a difference and allows more people to experience the joy that comes from helping others. Essentially this idea is about creating a network of people in a community that help each other. Today many people have a hard time building connections outside of our internet bubble. So why not create a platform that promotes giving and helping others. Before it became an app maybe it starts just as an email service or messaging group for people with goods to donate and organizations that need those donations to go out and help others. I think the key is to start small and simple and see how it works and if it viable and worth going larger scale and branching out to an expensive interface.

Testing the Hypothesis 7A

1. The opportunity I would like to pursue is an idea about how to limit food waste in the US. Incredibly Americans waste $160 billion dollars in food each year which equates to about 35% percent of the entire US food supply. This leaves an ungodly amount of quality food going to the garbage instead of being consumed by the many impoverished and needy people in our communities. The trouble lies in the fact of transporting the goods before they are wasted and can no longer be eaten. Unfortunately, there is only a limited amount of time that the food is good for and it is difficult to get it into the hands of those that need it. The opportunity lies in a way to effectively deliver these goods to those who need them. Luckily, most communities have at least one nonprofit organization as well as churches in the community. Many of these organizations rely on donations to feed the homeless and needy that come to them. My idea is to create a website and or app that can connect companies and the general public to organizations that can use the excess food and give it out to needy people. This site could allow people with excess food or food that is set to be expired to send out a picture and a location of the food to the organizations to then be able to send someone to pick up the food. This could be an excellent way for restaurants, grocery stores, and the general public to support needy people in the community with food that would have normally been wasted. Companies could potentially receive tax write offs for the food they donate and become a valuable part of the community by donating unneeded food.



2. The people that need this are nonprofit organizations that feed needy people as well as churches with food pantries and community outreach programs.

These organizations need donations to feed other people and other companies have no need for the unwanted food.

There are challenges for the nonprofits to be able to receive the food and challenges for the companies to get the food to their hands. This idea would help eliminate those challenges and easily connect nonprofits to opportunities to receive more donations.

3. The other people that could use this could be people below the poverty line, soup kitchens, unemployed people, missionary groups, disaster relief programs

Some nonprofits have a good source of donations and may not need to use this program. Additionally, some companies may already have a system to deal with their excess food and products.

There could be some hold ups to the program if people tried to abuse the system and take the products without having a genuine need. There could be issues regarding transporting the products to the needed areas. People would have to volunteer from the nonprofit organizations to pick up the good or they could possibly use a ridesharing service to pick up and deliver goods. It is possible that some companies may volunteer to deliver the goods on some circumstances, but most companies will not want to deal with any burden that does not contribute to their bottom line.

4. After talking to and interviewing various homeowners, business owners, and non-profit employees, there were a couple of interesting things that stood out. I think that some of the non-profits do not see the need for this company. Some of them get plenty of donations from various sources and do not need extra donations that they would have to go out and get. I think that the problem for some of them is finding the time to go pick up the donations from various companies or homes. However, some non-profits already own vehicles and have volunteers that go pick up donations. These people seemed much more on board for the idea. They would love to have more opportunities to pick up to be able to distribute. Most of the general public I talked to said they would love a way to see what nonprofits are needing so that they could donate materials that were needed and donate goods that they do not have a need for. An easy way to see what materials are needed for donations intrigued many homeowners who want to help in the community. The people I had the toughest time getting firsthand information from were grocery stores and restaurants. I did some research and found that many of them donate excess goods, but it was difficult to talk to people that make those decisions locally. I think that overall the feedback was positive, but not overwhelmingly so. I think that there was enough positive feedback to continue to pursue this idea and change it as needed.

5. In conclusion, I feel like there is a great need to eliminate waste and help those who are struggling to put food on the table. I think that this idea has merit, but for it to be successful in more than a couple communities, it would take significant investment in order to create a networking and notification interface. However, the opportunity still exists locally to connect non-profits to local companies and homeowners to alert them of needs and local donations.

Identifying Opportunities in Trends 6A

Economic Trends

a. I found this information at Financial Times. They had an excellent page that showed economic trends in graphs with an explanation for them. Here is the link to where I found the article. https://ig.ft.com/sites/numbers/economies/us/ The job market has strengthened drastically in the last few years. The economy is approaching full employment and the unemployment rate is only 3.7% and has been falling drastically since after the great recession.

b. Because of this tight job market, it makes finding quality employees more difficult and drives wages up for employees. This means that growing companies could need help in the hiring process. Staffing companies are an excellent way to help companies fill their needs outside of a standard HR department. It also allows the companies to hire temporary workers during busy seasons without overextending their payroll long term. Therefore, using a staffing company could be a leg up for other companies on the competition. Starting a staffing company is a good idea with the economic trends as they are and could capitalize in a competitive job market.

c. The most likely companies would be growing industrial companies. These companies often are forced to rely on staffing for their needs to handle rapid and unpredicted growth in a tight job market. Also overextended HR departments of different companies that need help hiring employees often turn to staffing companies.

d. I think the opportunity is relatively easy to exploit if you started a franchised staffing company. There are several very effective franchises that could be started in a local community. However, if I were to try to start my own company with no corporate backing it would be extremely difficult. There would also be a lot of risk associated with starting a company like that with no corporate backing.

e. I saw this opportunity because I know that the job market is very tight. I also have experience working in a staffing company. I also saw the opportunity because I have heard other companies talk about some of the difficulties in hiring in today's job market. I also know some of the risks associates with starting a staffing company and why having corporate backing would be a very good idea to have.



a. The economic trends I found for this article were from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. This article shows some of the statistics regarding the investing trends of the US. Companies are taking on more debt than ever before as the economy continues slow steady growth. Most companies remain optimistic about the future and are willing to take on debt even with one of the longest market corrections to date still on going. Here is the link to the article. https://www.oecd.org/economy/united-states-economic-snapshot/

b. Because of the companies being willing to take on debt, more companies are investing and willing to expand. This means that some corporations will be willing to take on more risky ventures and even expand business rapidly. This could provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to pitch better business practises and aggressive strategies.

c. The most likely companies to take advantage of the current market would be growing tech companies and venture capital startups. These companies are willing to invest in high return new start ups which could give entrepreneurs more investors to work with than ever before.

d. I think this opportunity would be complicated and potentially hard to exploit. Although companies are more willing to invest in startups, they may be more inclined to invest within the company and not be looking to invest in outside entrepreneurs.

e. I saw this opportunity because I have seen many companies locally growing rapidly and expanding into new bigger offices and taking out more loans to expand. I also read a couple of articles talking about the low interest rates and companies being willing to invest more readily.



Regulatory Changes

a. The Trump administration relaxed laws regarding oil and methane restriction. This makes it easier for companies to aggressively extract resources. This would also allow companies to not have to allocate as many funds to be sure that all pipes are in working order and not polluting the environment. This is the link to the article https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/29/trump-to-roll-back-methane-climate-change-regulations.html

b. Because of the change in regulations, this could allow oil and methane gas companies to expand more rapidly. This means that companies will have more funds to grow aggressively and not focus on meeting environmental regulations. This also means that companies could potentially build pipelines for cheaper because they do not have to be as concerned with regulations.

c. The most likely companies to take advantage of this will be oil and methane gas companies in the US.

d. This opportunity would be extremely hard to exploit. To run a company that distributes oil or methane gas requires massive amounts of capital. This would not be an easy venture and would almost be impossible for an entrepreneur to enter the market in a timely manner.

e. I saw this opportunity because I have heard many sites criticizing Trump’s stance on the environment. I also knew that this meant that some companies could have the opportunity to profit from these law changes.



a. There are new laws that are being proposed to loosen regulations regarding third party CDL training companies to soon be allowed to administer testing to grant new licenses. Currently companies that conduct the training for a driver cannot administer the testing to gain a new license. The link to the article I read can be found at https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/29/trump-to-roll-back-methane-climate-change-regulations.html

b. Because of the proposed changes in allowing companies to conduct testing and grant CDL licenses, this could open up many new opportunities for companies to promote CDL driving training and licensing. Currently, companies do not have the opportunity to license their trainees, but soon companies could possible advertise for a streamlined and effective training process. This would be another source of income for companies and an added incentive for people to gain a CDL license since the process would be streamlined.

c. The most likely companies to take advantage of this will be technical institutes and CDL training companies. Also other people seeking to gain a license could take advantage of the new streamlined process.

d. This opportunity could be fairly simple to exploit. It would require purchasing a truck to conduct training on and completing a CDL training course to be allowed to complete the training. Partnering with someone who has extensive driving experience would definitely be beneficial to exploiting the opportunity.

e. I saw this opportunity because I found a website listing all the proposed and current laws put in place from the Trump administration. This was one of the more interesting regulation changes listed.