Final Reflection

What I learned in ENT3003 was...

How to spell "entrepreneur" w/o the help of spellcheck.

Week 15: Elevator Pitch No. 4

Final Elevator Pith for Clear Vote!

Week 15: Venture Concept No. 2

Venture Concept No. 2

1) My Venture Concept:

Clear Vote

Opportunity: Potential customers with unmet needs.

“Voting is arguably the most important civic opportunity given to citizens in the United Stated.” So then why is everyone not voting? Out of the whole eligible voting population in America, only 64% of citizens actually voted. With this time, specifically 2016, election time, candidates for the next presidency are flooding the media and our daily lives. But how many of us actually keep up with politics and the government that directly affects us? The government, media, friends, family and pop culture, and the Internet have misled voters throughout American history. People have a wide access to lots of information but even this has caused confusion and biased views on politics, bloggers and others like them give people personal views which may seem to be unbiased but is actually just an individual’s interpretation of certain political issues. C-SPAN is the only unbiased political medium, but lets be real. What young person actually is down to watch full, uncut speeches or addresses? Clear Vote plans to fix all these issues.

            Clear Vote’s ultimate goal is to improve the population’s general political awareness in an unbiased way. This app will mainly focus on the youth, primarily college students, while still having a focus on the broader view of any American citizen including older people. The fact that young people are voting does not mean they know exactly what they are voting for. 45% of the young adults (ages 18-24) voted during the 2012 presidential election (U.S. Census Bureau); however it was unlikely they made a fair-minded, well-informed decision. Media, school, family, peers, and misconceptions all lead to confusion and misunderstanding in voting. These factors influence the voter’s perception of the candidate they choose to elect. So even out of the 45% of the youth that voted, not all of them knew whom exactly they were voting for due to presumptions and a lack of accurate information. In addition, 42.2% of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 did not even bother registering to vote because they were “not interested in the election / not involved in politics” (U.S. Census Bureau). Aside from the youth, new voters (such as new citizens), uneducated people, the uninformed electorate, and uninterested people would all benefit. The app’s audience is directly in the United States of America, and aiming towards the younger and more uninformed population, focusing on the 2016 presidential election.

Innovation: What is Clear Vote?

Clear Vote provides a mobile device application that focuses on candidates and their respective issue. It provides users a way to make voting easier and more specific to an individual’s values and beliefs. The application is a way to vote in an unbiased manner, it takes away the face from the candidates and the prejudice they bring with it. It will focus on more truthful, factual information on politics, educating the user with straightforward and easy to use information. The app is a user-friendly interface filled with info on candidates, upcoming elections, and helpful information based on the geography. The main feature is a quiz that once taken it matches the user up with a candidate that correlates with the users values and opinions on certain issues. Many of these questions will be based on national, well-known issues such as abortion, immigration policies, gun control, reliance on foreign oil, as well as foreign policy in general. The quiz will then provide the user with a candidate related to their voting area and mirrors the user’s values.

The app will allow for people to know exactly whom they are voting for. It will provide facts for users to do research on certain candidates concerning who they support, various companies they have ties with, their background as well as other candidates they are allied with this will in turn lead to more overall satisfaction with the users matched candidate during their term. The user will have an option to put in their geographical information so the quiz can generate fairly framed questions based on their location, addressing issues more related to their community. We are joining the political media industry, an industry that is lacking heavily in unbiased truthful information on politics and candidates. Clear vote will revolutionize American political media, as we will become the news source that the American people have wanted.

Venture Concept: How will Clear Vote fix America?

            Companies that will compete with Clear Vote include EZ Politics, the mainstream media, specifically FOX News and CNN, and CSPAN. EZ Politics is an existing app that claims to deliver “unbiased politics” as well, but they do so with a more historical outlook. EZ Politics also charges upfront just to download their app for an information only program whereas we offer an overall free interactive service. Fox News and CNN are major competitors as well since they are big name news networks that are well accepted by constituents. However, they lack in the ability to be unbiased because of political support. These two news sources are heavily polarized with a specific party, framing the news they deliver to satisfy their viewers that generally think in that certain way (confirmation bias). Our last and perhaps biggest competitor is CSPAN; not only do they have the name, they have a large reputation for truthful, honest politics and claims to deliver “unedited” proceedings of the House and Senate; but, even CSPAN lacks the personal aspect that clear Vote provides.

            So why download Clear Vote? People are sick and tired of misleading politics and are concerned with what the government is doing but do not always understand or trust what they hear from national news stations. Citizens crave the truth; no one wants to be ignorant of what is happening around them. Our application remedies these issues. By allowing users to take a quiz that matches them up with a candidate that correlates with the users values and opinions on certain issues, an overall satisfaction will be achieved; revolutionizing how political news is conveyed. 

2) Summary of Feedback:

The feedback I received for my venture concept idea Clear Vote was actually very positive. Respondents praised the fact that my idea was being pursued around the perfect time, with election season coming up for the next President of the United States. People also said that the idea would also help small scale elections which was great and more importantly, educate the people more to allow them to make the right decision. One of the comments I got was: "This is a great idea that could be a very successful application to many users across the country. Rarely do people actually go vote and your app would raise awareness to the importance of voting because it is a good right to have. I also like the fact of the quiz to see what candidate would fit each individual." Unfortunately none of my feedback was negative or constructive which is bad because I know no single idea is perfect. However, I do know that some of the things I wanted to implement like voter registration would be very difficult and I would need to make some revisions or changes on that part. 

3) How I changed my venture concept:

After reading the comments, even though they were primarily positive, I made a few changes to my venture concept where I thought needed revision. The main change I made was eliminating the voting registration via the application because as some people pointed out, several issues can arise through that. I'm glad to see my venture concept a lot better now.

Week 14: Google Gold

Winning the Online Popularity Contest: Going for Google.

So this assignment got me thinking. What comes up on the internet when someone searches "Jessica Basta", my name. Well aside from a bunch of other random / famous girls with my name. This is 1 of the 3 photos that come up of me. How flattering...yet accurate.

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

Each blog post I published was well written and I tried to keep it as enthusiastic / interesting as possible to refrain from boring my readers. Adding images of cats on each blogpost if possible also helped I think. People like cats.

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

The words that I most frequently utilized were "unbiased" and "entrepreneur". Those keywords revolve around my application idea revolving around unbiased news and politics so users may be more equipped to vote in the upcoming election. 

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

I used Google and Youtube for my primary sources of social media. Even though I did not connect my FaceBook or Twitter, I think it is best to keep my personal accounts and business accounts separate (but if you care @thejessicabasta), Youtube and Google blogs still attracted enough people. Does Canvas qualify as social media?

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

The post that gained the most traffic on my blog was Customer Interviews No. 1 and Idea Napkin No. 1and Elevator Pitch No. 2. However the one post that received the absolute most attention was my Twenty Percent post. I believe that post got a lot of attention because the interviews I presented were very useful and legit. Over 10 people commented on it, appreciating the insightful information that was shared.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

If you search just my name "Jessica Basta" y blog comes up on the first page of google. Also if you google "ENT3003 Jessica" I also come up on the first page of Google. I believe that is a great accomplishment considering I share a name alongside thousands and thousands of others, as Jessica is a very basic name. So for me to come up is pretty cool.

Week 14: Very Short Interview, Part 2

Very Short Interview, Part 2

The entrepreneur I interviewed for my first short interview months ago, was Nabil Shaker. Mr. Shaker is owner of a seafood restaurant and bar as well as his own real estate company, partnered with his brother. His restaurant is in Tampa and personally I love the food, my family and I go all the time! Snappers has been open for over 20 years, which is very impressive in the food industry. Looking back at our first interview, I am very pleased to read the answers he provided for me again. The questions asked were great and I do not regret asking them at all as his answers were filled with wisdom. I have a great impression on that interview, however, knowing what I know now there are a few more questions I would like to ask. Since my entrepreneur resides in Tampa and I am in Gainesville, I had to call him asking my questions like I did for the first interview. 

Heres a deeper look into the interview:

Jessica: "I just have a few questions for you, answer however you like. Here's the first question Mr. Shaker. I know you mentioned to me before that being an entrepreneur and in charge of your own business and work, you have no days off. You are constantly working and not simply clocking in then out on a 9-5 schedule. Would you say that that lifestyle is a drawback?

Shaker: "Well let me tell you something. Being in charge of your own life in every aspect is something great and something that not every person gets to experience. I am lucky for sure but I cannot begin to tell you how many days I just wished I could clock out and go home and not worry about work or get called back in because something happened in the kitchen or people or fighting or we need more beer. I just want to go home and actually be home and have weekends off to spend time with my family and relax. But, I could never see myself working for anyone else. I like to do as I please not what people tell me and I get to create something of my own.

Jessica: "Wow, what a great answer! Yes, owning your own business can be quite tiring I can only imagine. So when do you plan to retire and what is your exit strategy? When do you plan to stop working and what will you do with all your businesses? 

Shaker: "Good question. Well I have worked for 25 years but I am not planning on retiring soon. I'm waiting for my kids to be done with school and get their degrees so one of them can come back and take over the family business. I don't want some other random guy to buy my business that I worked so hard to mold into my own. It's something I did to leave for my kids. I want them to have opportunities that my brother and I did not have. I want to leave a part of me for them and my grandkids.

Jessica: "Ok, one last question. How do you feel about college? I know in the USA especially, today it is almost expected for everyone to have more than a high school diploma. People are more competitive now but I see a lot of kids in college who are not happy with what they are studying but their distracted by money or society or parental views. Do you think having a college degree is important, or a necessity today?

Shaker: "Well I never finished college. I went then realized it wasn't what I wanted but you have to remember that was a different time than now, than today. Back then people with high school degrees were equipped to work and looked at as assets. Now with the rise of education and competition, I believe that having a degree most certainly puts you in an advantage than the other candidate who may not have one. Now, studying something that you do not like at all is not the best idea. Passion drives success. If this is about you thinking about dropping out - don't. University teaches you so much and challenges you on several levels that you may not even realize, mentally, physically, socially, psychologically, and more.

Reflection:

My second interview with Mr. Shaker was very good and honestly what I needed to hear especially with exams coming up. This class has taught me how to approach people a lot more and how to pitch myself into being someone that is more appealing than another candidate. I knew a lot more about entrepreneurship than I did during the first interview hands down. And after talking to Mr. Shaker a second time I could tell he knew that I have improved and blossomed as a student as I had more to bring to the table and could keep up with his conversation more.

Week 15: Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection

I was surprised when I read that customer loyalty is not only one of the most useful tools for company growth but essential for building a customer base. I was confused about the section about leveraging the brand. Since it was a Harvard article, the vernacular was a bit more difficult to keep up with. My questions for the author would be as follows: What other companies are good examples of the pyramid regarding the business basics? And, if your product or service offered is good enough is customer loyalty important? I do disagree with the author about technology reducing cost. Yes maybe it would reduce the labor cost of workers but technology is pricey and often adds a hearty expense. 

Week 14: Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection

This weeks reading surprised me upon the authors discussion of ethics and moral. There is a very thin line between the two and they often overlap each other. It was cool to see how entrepreneurs now think of themselves and their businesses and regards to what is right and what is wrong. I was confused when the author began to explain the integrative model of corporate entrepreneurship strategy. The model and figures did not help in clarifying the whole thing I was pretty lost. I would ask the author for a simpler explanation of that model I was confused about. Secondly, I would ask the author: What are the best ways an entrepreneur, or any person for that matter, should deal with failure? I did not disagree with the author in any part in this weeks reading. I was just a bit more confused than I normally am with the chapter readings.

Week 13: Celebrating Failure

Celebrating Failure

Failure is always a touchy subject and I have failed several times in my life but I learned to not look at them as failures, or even successes on a positive matter, but just simply experiences. Whether you reached your goal or not the journey to that point is a learning experience. You can take so much from a failure and utilize that to grow as a worker as a student as a person, as this class has taught me. These past 4 months this Spring Semester was quite hectic for me. My course load for school was larger than I have ever taken on before and between extra circulars and other obligations and life things going on socially and within my family, I often found myself hopeless and distracted. It was a lot at times and some days I would be balanced and others I would be questioning everything I am doing and the reasoning and if it is worth it. Sometimes leaving is easier than going through something but I realized that you cannot just keep running away from your problems. I have never failed a test in college before, and by fail I mean worst that a C, but last week I got my exam grade back in statistics and it was awful, a literal F. That just kind of punched me in the stomach I was very dissatisfied with myself. I ended up dropping the course, I have never dropped a course before nor was planning to, because the greatest grade I could receive was a C+ and although that is technically passing, I cannot afford that on my GPA as I am planning to go to a good law school and I need a completive application. I really felt like I was not good enough and that I cannot handle as much as other people can dropping this course. However, now I am able to focus on my other classes and perform stronger in them and I am going to take stats again in the Fall semester at a community college. It hurt knowing that other people are doing great in that class and I did not, but I learned that I cannot compare myself to others as they have things that I don't have just as I have things that they will never be able to obtain. I am definitely more likely to take risks more today than in the past because I survived and it is not the end and the world will keep spinning!

Week 13: Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection

This weeks reading surprised me was the part about adjusted tangible book value. I have never heard about that concept before but reading about the differences between goodwill, patents, and deferred financing costs was quite interesting. I was really confused when the author started mentioning due diligence evaluation. I would ask the author to go into greater detail about the due diligence evaluation to clear it up and I would secondly ask how businesses can avoid startup costs. There is a part of the reading that I disagree with. When the author mentioned that the total amount needed by any business included advertisements, rent, inventory, and tax he clearly lacked to mention other expenses such as possible savings and mortgages for potential fails. Other than that I agree with what the author wrote. 

Week 13: My Exit Strategy

My Exit Strategy

Personally for me, an application idea is great during college and something that I have time for and want to feed into now, but I do not see it being a part of my future or the long run. Clear Vote is a great idea in my opinion but my exit strategy would be to get it going and build a sufficient medium and then sell it. Ideally, waiting 5 years to sell it is too long for me but I think 1 year is too short. I would hope to get it where I want it to be and profitable after 2 years and then right then sell it to an appropriate person who is interested and passionate in furthering the goals of Clear Vote. Once I have my college degree I plan to go to law school and I have no interest in continuing with an application. By looking at Clear Vote as a temporary opportunity and something that will not be a part of me forever, it has made me more realistic and logical when it comes to thinking about the app and all the linguistics. Since I am not looking in the long run there is no sentimental value or emotion involved. This is good and bad at the same time. Good because work is getting done without emotion involved, and bad because there is a lack of true, genuine passion that would arise in a situation or business that I see being a part of me forever. However, it is not part of the bigger picture for me.

Week 12: What's Next

What's Next

My "venture concept": 

Clear Vote’s ultimate goal is to improve the population’s general political awareness in an unbiased way. This app will mainly focus on the youth, primarily college students, while still having a focus on the broader view of any American citizen including older people. The fact that young people are voting does not mean they know exactly what they are voting for. 45% of the young adults (ages 18-24) voted during the 2012 presidential election (U.S. Census Bureau); however it was unlikely they made a fair-minded, well-informed decision. Media, school, family, peers, and misconceptions all lead to confusion and misunderstanding in voting. These factors influence the voter’s perception of the candidate they choose to elect. So even out of the 45% of the youth that voted, not all of them knew whom exactly they were voting for due to presumptions and a lack of accurate information. In addition, 42.2% of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 did not even bother registering to vote because they were “not interested in the election / not involved in politics” (U.S. Census Bureau). Aside from the youth, new voters (such as new citizens), uneducated people, the uninformed electorate, and uninterested people would all benefit. The app’s audience is directly in the United States of America, and aiming towards the younger and more uninformed population, focusing on the 2016 presidential election. It will provide facts for users to do research on certain candidates concerning who they support, various companies they have ties with, their background as well as other candidates they are allied with this will in turn lead to more overall satisfaction with the users matched candidate during their term.

Existing Market (3):

What do you believe is next for a venture like Clear Vote? Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. Video or audio record these interviews.

Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.

New Market (3): 

The new market I have identified is children under 18 years old who are not eligible to vote. Clearly an app that assists in political knowledge for voting has little to no appeal for kids not of age to vote. After some thinking and interviewing some children I realized that even though they cannot vote yet, kids having this app at a young age will lead to higher voter turnout for ages 18-24 because they will be familiar with voting and notified when they should go register to vote or when their primary is and when the presidential elections are as well as local elections. That way when they are of age they will be more than ready to vote because they would have already familiarized with the topics. 

Interview three people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? Video or audio record these interviews. 

Reflection:

Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

Week 12: Reading Reflection

Week 12 Reading Reflection

This week's reading focused on entrepreneurship and the strategy behind the growth. The author focused on the fact that this process is new for all younger companies and because of its complexity and inexperience there is a lot of ways where everything can go wrong. That is why it is important to remain strategic and visionary for these companies so they can make it. One thing I was quite confused about was the part where the author lists misunderstanding industry attractiveness as pursuing unattainable competitive positions and failures to communicate the venture's strategy. I would ask if having only a few employees is truly fatal to a growing company. Sometimes having smaller groups that are hard working is better for a company, I would ask if he agreed to that or not. I would disagree with the part about the distinctions between the entrepreneurial style of leading versus the managerial style of leading.