To Next Semester's Students...

1.) What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?

I realized that in this course you can get a lot of value from the class if you take the time to think about each assignment. The only way to do this is not be rushed to submit your assignments. Because of this, I make sure to read my assignment descriptions every Monday so I can think about them during the week. Then, usually in the middle of the week, I start my first assignment so that for the last part of the week I only have one assignment to turn in. Doing this gives me the appropriate amount of time to conduct interviews and put the right amount of thought into each assignment. In addition, I learned that it is valuable to overview all the assignments for the semester because I didn't realize we had to read a book for an assignment until the week of the assignment's due date.

2.) Talk about a moment or two when you felt like giving up. What pulled you through? Do you feel you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

I felt like giving up on my idea early on in the semester when seeing all the competition. What pulled me through was realizing that even though there is a lot of competition, I can be better than the competition. I was able to realize that the market for my service is growing and not many of the competitors are focused on the value and experience of their service and don't have appealing and enticing websites. I believe I have developed a tenacious attitude during the last two months because I have been taking steps to be a better entrepreneur. Outside of reading books on leadership and entrepreneurship, I decided to take real action to help me become a better entrepreneur. I've done this by quitting my job at Gainesville Health and Fitness and taking a job as Gainesville's sales intern for the app Hooked this spring. By physically going into restaurants and pitching the app to the business, I am able to learn valuable sales and people skills that are crucial to being a good entrepreneur. Additionally, working with a start-up is allowing me to see the challenges that small companies face and what it looks like when starting a company.

3.) 3 tips you would offer next semester's students about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the "tenacious mindset"

1. Understand that this class can mean something if you follow all the assignments and you are passionate about your idea. Utilize the class structure and understand your idea can become real
2. Have the mindset the whole time that your idea is an actual business you are looking to start or are going to start the process of taking the course
3. The only thing you have to lose is time, you will learn so much from the class if you actually complete all the assignments as instructed 

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #1

Summary of What I Learned from 3 Interviews

I interviewed college students that fit the segment of brand new dog owners. This was a great segment for me to interview because lots of college students at UF are getting new puppies, and living on campus gave me the ability to interview these types of people. College students are great because as new dog owners, this is their first real big responsibility of having to raise something on their own, so they care a lot about their dog. In addition, college students don't have too much time to research everything their dog needs and take time to go to retail stores to try to figure it out. Additionally, college students are often price-sensitive and cannot spend too much money on their dogs.

All of the people I interviewed had the same unmet needs: The need to save time, the need to know they are providing their dogs with the right items to raise them properly, and the need to not spend too much money to keep their dog happy & healthy.

It appeared that the people I interviewed were aware of the need when they first considered getting a puppy but didn't realize the severity of the need until their first weeks and months of being a dog owner. When this group, specifically new dog owners in college, become aware of their need, they often seek help from friends, family, and the internet to solve the need. It seems like first, they consult their family because all the people I interviewed grew up in a family that had a dog. Some of the questions they ask are about the best foods to buy, which treats are ok for their dogs to eat, which products aren't safe, and what items they need to make sure their dog is living a good life.

Conclusion

I determined from my interviews that the segment of brand new dog owners, and more specifically those in college, are prime people who have a need for my service. The information search aspect of this segment made it interesting when thinking about how to best market to this segment. For this segment, having family and friends refer our service would be the best way to appeal to those in the segment so establishing credibility is key. To make sure this happens, it is crucial for us to only include the best items in the boxes and make sure every customer has a great experience with our service. In addition, internet marketing, especially on Facebook, seems like an optimal way for us to target new dog owners since Facebook is a place where people are reading content about those they are close with.

Reading Reflection: Shoe Dog, Phil Knight

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

·        What surprised you the most?

That when starting Nike, it was originally a company called Blue Ribbon. It was surprising too because they didn’t manufacturer their own shoes, they just sold shoes made in Japan, and it was also surprising because at the time, running was barely considered a sport or a hobby. I was also surprised that despite the success of the company, they didn’t have enough cash to pay Phil, the founder, a salary because they had to keep reinvesting it to buy orders. Because of this, Phil had to work other jobs during the first few years at Blue Ribbon to have enough money to live on.

·        What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

The hustle that Phil had and ability to negotiate to solve problems. When trying to get an exclusive deal with the Japanese shoe manufacturer, he lied to them and said they had an east coast store when they actually didn’t. This lie forced him to open an east coast store, which he did, and lead to more success for the company.

·        What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

That he had to steal a file from the Japanese distributor’s suitcase instead of hammering with questions about if they are looking for another US distributor. I admired this act of stealing least, but at the same time, it was unethical that the Japanese distributor continued to lie to Phil about their exclusive agreement. Also, Phil had to deceive Kitami to keep his company alive and instructed an employee to lie to Kitami which lead him to quit his job. I think shady practices like this could have been avoided but I understand why he did what he did.

·        Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, lots. He faced adversity first when he shoe manufacturer in Japan gave rights to a wrestling coach to be an exclusive shoe distributor for them and so the coach tells Phil he cannot sell the shoe manufacturer’s shoes. He solves this problem by flying to Japan and setting up an appointment with the company owner that let him have rights to sell the shoes in the Wester USA. In addition, he faced the problem of a bad breakup during this time but his sister consoles him through it.

Because of cash balance problems, Phil had to return to his accounting job. Because of having this extra money though, he was able to hire a passionate employee to help him through the tough time.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

Persistence and creativity. Phil Knight faced countless challenges but was determined to make his shoe company work. Phil always found a creative solution to get through his company’s financial, legal, and overall challenges.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I don’t understand why Phil didn’t immediately think to start manufacturing his own shoes from the beginning. I know there is a lot of money involved in this manufacturing, but right when he faced bad problems from the Japanese manufacturer I would have thought he would have immediately looked into his own manufacturing plant but he waited to do this.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

-> How did you handle leaving a secure accounting job to work full-time at the business you started? Did you face lots of criticism from family and friends?

-> What about you do you believe made you as successful as you are with Nike compared to other entrepreneurs? Was it hard work, luck, skill, some other aspect, or a combination of all of these?

These are the questions I would ask because I believe they relate to me. The first question is something I want to know because I want to start my own business but its hard to get away from the safe corporate route that so many people take and don’t enjoy. The second question is something where I want to know the amount he would contribute to hard work because I have the mindset that anything can be achieved with hard work if you put enough time into it and make the right relationships.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think his opinion is that it is necessary, if not everything. He mentions that he worked so hard on Nike that he feels like it deserves to be called more than a company. Even when he started his first shoe business, Phil was working a full time accounting job so that he could have money to live off of while running Blue Ribbon Shoes at the same time.

Elevator Pitch #1

The Idea Napkin

You

Who am I?

Tough question to answer as I believe self-awareness is not easy to achieve. However, I have a few ideas and facts about who I am.

I am a 19-year-old white male that grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and later Tampa. Now my parents and little brother live in Switzerland and from that and studying abroad, I have been opened up to a whole new world.

What are your talents?

One strength I know I have is an incredible work ethic. I am a big believer in putting in hard work to accomplish something you want to achieve. I also believe I am very good at getting along with and connecting with people. I love talking to people and being around people. I am good a presenting if I know the topic well but often struggle with excelling in public speaking and would like to make this one of my strengths. One more talent I believe I now have is the ability to take action. Lots of people theorize about things they could do but never start. I have learned how to start things I am interested in, and by organizing and writing tasks out, I am able to continue working on and achieving these things.

What are your experiences?

Well, I can go ahead and list off the "technical experiences" I have that you would find on my resume.
I am the scholarship chair at Pi Kappa Alpha, I work as a fitness coach and Gainesville Health and Fitness, I have worked as a server at a horse track in Tampa, I am a mentor and the director of marketing for the leadership development program, and I interned for a financial risk management conference company in London. Is this stuff actually important? Who knows?

What are your aspirations?

This is my favorite question. I love asking this question to others and hearing their answers. Currently, for me, there are a few that jump into my mind. The first one is I want to run my own business. I just think its the coolest thing ever to create something tangible from what started as a thought. I also aspire to create great relationships throughout life. I want an awesome family, to stay very close with my friends, make tons of new friends, and help lots of people. Another aspiration I have is to stay physically fit my entire life because of how important fitness is to me. Lastly, I want to continue to travel the world and experience completely new things.

How do you see this business playing a role in your life?

I would see it playing a huge role in my life, maybe not immediately, but when it starts making sales and I begin putting real amounts of hours into it, yes. I feel as if I will see my companies almost as children to me (not to be weird but in the sense as in something you created). Because running my own business is so important to me, I would definitely see this business as my career for a long time until I move on to starting another business.

What are you offering to customers?

I see this as 4-fold.

1.) We are offering them the tangibles. Dog toys, dog treats, and dog essentials.

2.) We are offering them an experience. An experience of surprise when they open the box. An experience to share with their dog as they enjoy opening and using their gifts. An experience that could be viewed as a monthly "mini-holiday" for the dog and its family.

3.) We are offering them saved time. With toys, treats, and essentials shipped to their house, owners don't have to spend their time going to dog stores to buy this stuff. They just have to buy dog food at the grocery stores they already shop at.

4.) We are offering them assurance and peace of mind. The gifts we will select for the boxes are ensured to be the best quality and items that your dog will benefit from. There is no need to worry about selecting the right toys and treats that will be safe for your dog because we do that for you.

Who are you offering it to?

Its offered to all dog owners. I believe every dog owner would benefit from this service. However, to get specific, there are a few specifics. This service will not apply to:

• To start out, anyone outside the US, for shipping purposes
• Anyone that cannot afford it...however, this will be priced slightly competitors based on the plan you choose since it is focused on the necessities and not pampering the pup completely
• People that do not like surprises and enjoy shopping for their dog's toys themselves
• Dog owner's whose dog is very picky or has severe allergies

So the people who are buying this subscription service would be USA dog owners that want to save time, can afford to provide their dog with toys & treats, and would enjoy the experience and assurance of having the best dog-items shipped to their door monthly.

Why do they care?

Why will people actually pay money for this service?

• The convenience of having these necessary items for their dog shipped right to their door
• There is more value offered in the box than what you could get at retail. The box offers a much lower overall price than what it would be to buy all the items at retail. And the price includes shipping! (This is because we can get items in our boxes for below retail price. This is because of the items we put in our box, we always buy in large quantities from the manufacturer and pay for bulk prices. In addition, we offer a major incentive for these companies to be in our box... it's free advertising for them! If one of our customers loves the company's product in our box, they will reorder from them! So this lets us get even lower pricing. We all win!)

What are your core competencies?

What sets you apart from everyone else?

This really comes from our companies mission. Its that we believe that every dog should reap the benefits of this service. Every dog. That is why for every box we ship to a customer, we hand deliver a gift to a dog in a shelter. It's our reason for existing that will drive us apart from everyone else.

What do you have that nobody else has?

To go beyond the gushy stuff I said above and to get to the facts...we cater to a different audience. Current competitors are all geared at the segment of owners that pamper their dogs and often include an overkill amount of useless items in their box. The value of the box goes down when not every item is useful. That's where we are different, we make sure that every single item is useful and can help the dog each month. Because of this, we can price more competitively too.

*The pet service industry is rapidly growing. Not every dog in America is being reached by these types of services. That is a big reason why I believe this opportunity exists. For every Coke, there is a Pepsi. I believe there is plenty more room for competition.

Do these elements fit together?

I do believe these elements fit together. Everything seemed to make sense as I wrote everything out. This is also because I am largely basing my business off an already proven similar model. I am very gung-ho about this idea so I could be blind to these elements not fitting and would like to hear what you all think.

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

The Details

I identified five dog owners at UF that are students to interview about this opportunity. I specifically identified college students because they typically do not have tons of money and would be skeptical about ordering a monthly dog subscription box. The stance I talked about in my solution explains that I believe that these boxes should be available to all dog owners, not just pup pamperers, so this is why I interviewed the people I did. Two of the students I interviewed were females and the other three were males, all undergraduates aging between 19 and 22.

Who

Yes. I have identified the who as all dog owners because I believe it makes sense and is affordable for nearly all dog owners, however, those that own dogs and are very poor would not be able to pay for this subscription and fall outside the boundary. There are also some cases where dogs may not enjoy toys or are very picky with treats and for them, they would not fall within the boundary.

What

Yes, their need is different. With those that are very poor, they primarily look to keep their dog healthy and fed whereas other dog owners with more money do that as well but also find it necessary that their dog has the best products for them and is always happy with toys and treats at their use.

Why

Yes. The outsider's need is caused by their financial circumstances and thus cannot allocate their money to buying products for their dogs whereas the people inside the boundary can.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who is in? è The people in the boundary are dog owners that can afford to and like treating and caring for their dogs	Who is not? è People who cannot financially afford this service, people with picky dogs, complete pup pamperers (although would probably include an upgrade option at checkout to upgrade to a pampers box)
What is the need? è To provide all dogs with the necessary items they need to live a healthy and happy life. Also, to save dog owners’ time by shipping these items directly to their door, this should be the alternative to having to go to PetSmart and deciding which toys are best and what you actually need	What the need is not è A traditional dog subscription service aimed at people that are absolutely in love with their dogs and want to spoil them
Why the need exists è The need exists because everyone is getting busier and has less time. Also, more Americans are getting dogs and are looking to care for their pets so the pet service industry is exploding	Alternative Explanations è People are lazy, they just think its cool to be surprised

Solution Time

The Selected Opportunity

The opportunity I selected capitalizes on the fastly growing pet service industry. I saw an opportunity in the pet service industry in the form of "monthly surprise boxes" subscription services shipped right to dog owners' doors. The opportunity I saw is that currently these existing services are only aimed at complete pup pamperers and not your everyday dog owner/lover. I aim to solve the problem that these boxes are not being shipped to all dog owners.


The Service to Capitalize on the Opportunity

The answer to this problem is to create a subscription box service very similar to the current boxes on the market. The difference, however, will exist in the content inside the boxes and the targeted audience. The main ideas of this service are represented in the following bulleted list:

• Subscription service for dogs only that ships boxes to consumers' doors monthly
• Offer a one, six, and twelve-month plan
• Fill the content of the box with fewer toys than typical boxes, and focus more on treats and necessities 
• All the items in the box should be valuable to the dog owner and aren't overkill with the number of toys and items
• Beyond toys and treats, will also include things like grooming items and items to make traveling with your dog easier like pop-up bowls
• The boxes will be marketed to every dog owner, not just pamperers 
• Make it clear that because we buy in bulk and ship directly to them, there is actually more value in each box than retail price
• Stress the importance of the time they're saving
• Make it clear that its affordable and can be used by your everyday dog owner
• Would be cheaper since its focused on necessities for the dog for the month
• Because the market is growing, there is still room for more competitors to companies like BarkBox
• Huge focus on quality control and customer service

Testing the Hypothesis

The Identified Opportunity

• The Who: Dog owners in the United States
• The What: Only a small percentage of them are using a subscription service to provide their dogs with toys, treats, and necessities 
• The Why: Challenges associated with current service's pricing and current services only provide toys and treats for pampering rather than including necessities for dogs

The Interview Results

Testing the who

Are there others who have this need?

• Because of the broad "Who" the others that have this need could only expand to other pet owners or countries outside the United States. From the people I interviewed, two suggested expanding the who beyond the United States but the main focus of the pet subscription service industry is to ship to consumers cheaply. As for the person I interviewed that suggested to expand the who to other pets, I rebutted by explaining that dog lovers seem to be the most invested pet owners and it will be easier to just focus on this segment. I did learn from one of the people that I interviewed that it is important to focus the who on those dog owners that are younger and busier with less time to focus on their dogs.

Testing the what

What are the boundaries of the need?

• The main challenge is the pricing of the pet services focused on the subscription method.  People want the convenience of having pet products shipped to them but often struggle with the price included. By being able to purchase products in bulk quantities for cheaper prices and developing a great infrastructure, a great value can be offered to consumers. The general consensus from those I interviewed is that they wouldn't want to pay roughly $30 monthly but would be more willing to pay closer to $20. I believe this is partly because I interviewed mainly students with little money. I did learn though that when I suggested shipping necessary products that dogs need every month for the $20 price it was really well received. Another boundary one of the people I interviewed with mentioned was that having new toys every month may be unnecessary and too much for the average dog owner that doesn't feel they need to spoil the dog. He noted that an accumulation of toys would build up in the household to the point that the dog may not need toys anymore and to possibly focus more on treats, brushes, and even clothing.

Testing the why

What are the roots of the why?

• I initially believed that why people need this service is solely based on time and according to those I interviewed this is true but they also offered other whys. All five of the people I interviewed agreed that this services shipping dog products to owners are great to save people time but they also noted that this service is great for those that forget about treating their dogs with enough products and attention. In addition, another person I interviewed thinks that people want these services because its fun and exciting sense often the products inside are a surprise. They really believed that more people will pay for dog subscription services to make treating and taking care of your dog even more exciting.