Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• The rate of loan repayment in this article is insane. You'd think because of the unsecure nature of the loans that SKS Microfinance wouldn't have such a high repayment rate (99.5%) but they make it work. That's fucking awesome.

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

• None of it was confusing. This business and article was extremely straightforward and utilized basic business concepts such as having high volume with low margins that were easy to understand.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• What's next? Will Vikram Akula be expanding to other countries? Have there been any other companies that have tried what she is doing? Is it because she's adopted a profit-driven model, in part, that this has been so successful? Are there any companies that are providing micro financing specifically to men? Why or why not? Very curious about these answers. Microfinancing seems like a very tangible and exciting solution to poverty.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I don't think Akula was wrong about anything but I would like to see information about the rate of loan repayment for men. It doesn't seem fair to lump all men together and completely exempt them from micro financing simply because research has shown that they don't generally pay back loans. I'm sure there are some men in India who could very much benefit from micro financing to support their families or improve their situations. Maybe they should go through an extra screening process but I don't think it is fair to not lend to them at all. 

Final Reflection

1)So this is it. One of my last posts in my blog for the Intro to Entrepreneurship class. In this post I will be reminiscing over my blog and all the experiences I had during this class. It's been a treat, fam. Good luck in life to all my fellow classmates and avid readers. I hope I entertained you or at least did not bore you.

Here goes nothing.

2)What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

Most formative experience: Definitely the most formative experience I had came from the exercise where I had to reach out to an industry expert, a market expert, and a supplier for my venture. This exercise gave me actual insight into how people are currently dealing with the issue of revenge porn (my venture concept is a service for survivors of revenge porn whereby my company wages a campaign on the victim's behalf to get the revenge porn taken down or use SEO to bury it under layers of positive information about our clients) and what (limited) resources are currently out in the world. Not only that but if I ever decide to go ahead with my concept, this exercise put me in direct contact with an organization that said they would endorse my service once they've seen it in action.

Most memorable experience: The most memorable exercise was the one where I had to go out and try to give 5 one dollar bills to people. This exercise really pushed my comfort zone and forced me to talk to people I normally wouldn't, which is why it was so memorable. The reactions I got to giving away money were varied and entirely unexpected. One person even gave away the dollar I gave them just to participate in the fun I was having.

Most proud experience: The experience I just mentioned is probably the one that invokes the most pride from me. I'm not usually the person who goes out and talks to strangers, but I want to be. I was really proud of myself for actually doing this and for making it entertaining.

3) Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

You know, I actually do. Before this class, I thought entrepreneurship was something you either born to do or don't do at all. Now I know that's not true. Anyone can have an entrepreneurial mindset, in whatever field they are in. It's about being innovative and identifying opportunities where you can create value for the people around you. I am entrepreneur. I can think like a guerilla.

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

Do the assignments that make you uncomfortable. Go out and talk to people about an idea you have and get their feedback. Understand that you are going to fail and that's really okay. You learn so much more from failure and suffering through weird or awkward experiences than you do from being super successful and no one giving you criticism. Have thick skin. Take the advice given to you without trying to defend yourself and explain things better the next time if that was the root of your problem. And remember, shit happens. Some things you will never be prepared for - and that's okay. Don't be too hard on yourself. Entrepreneurship and life are very similar creatures. They're unpredictable, frustrating, sometimes depressing but the experiences you have as you figure shit out are 100% worth it. If you don't know shit, then you're only choice is to learn and grow out of your innocence.

To better foster the entrepreneurial mindset, I would pick a venture concept at the beginning of this course that you are actually passionate about. Doing that will make all your assignments way more interesting and valuable to you because you actually give a damn about finding out what you can from these assignments. Also, talk to people outside this class about your idea and about entrepreneurship. Listen to people's experiences and incorporate what they have been through into your entrepreneurial mindset by listening and asking questions.

Alright. So that's it folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride and...

Elevator Pitch No. 4

All of my feedback from my last elevator pitch was really positive and didn't include anything I should change so I basically did the same elevator pitch but switched up my intro. Enjoy!

Venture Concept No. 2

Venture Concept Description Take II

Opportunity. The opportunity my venture seeks to capture is a very unfortunate opportunity that has arisen out of the influence of the internet on society. The interconnectivity of the web is good for sharing valuable information across geographical boundaries but, on the flipside, it is very harmful when someone uses that interconnectivity to try and ruin someone's life. The opportunity I want to help solve is the issue of people having content on the internet that they don’t want out there. Specifically, when someone posts nude pictures or videos of someone in an effort to publically humiliate them.

 This opportunity is, unfortunately, huge. There are hundreds, upon thousands of victims of revenge porn out there with very little options or legal protection. Only 26 states in the US have laws criminalizing revenge porn. My market isn’t really defined geographically since anyone can post revenge porn from anywhere but this tends to happen in more developed countries, such as the US, Canada, and Western Europe. Demographically, the victims of revenge porn are overwhelming women, ranging from 14 years old to women in their 50s, though men can certainly be victims as well.

There are only a few options out there for survivors of revenge porn: ask the website owners to take down the content, report it as inappropriate to google, or get your nude photos or videos trademarked and issue the sites a DMCA takedown notice. (Or, if you live in one of those 26 states, take the person who posted the picture to court. Though that doesn't guarantee they will be taken off the web.)

Since revenge porn can be on thousands of sites in the worst case scenario, the first option isn’t really an option. Reporting it to Google is a necessary step in trying to solve this issue, but Google can’t force sites to take down the content and there are many other search engines where the photos could still be lurking. Google can only make sure it doesn’t pop up on a search. Lastly, getting your pictures trademarked is an option, except that it costs 300-400 dollars a year to maintain that trademark and still some sites can host the photos without facing repercussions because of the anonymous nature of the web.

As of right now, I have found only one other company that is trying to solve this issue. More may arise so this window could be closing.

Innovation. My innovation is a service for victims of revenge porn whereby my company wages an online campaign on behalf of the victim to get their revenge porn taken down. At the same time, my company will be doing online reputation management by using search engine optimization to create a positive online presence on our client’s behalf. My company’s site will also host an online forum for survivors of revenge porn and will provide free legal information about victim's legal options.

The service works by using advanced technology that combs the web for the revenge porn’s unique address. Once found, Post Back’s employees contact the website owner and request it to be taken down or, with the client’s permission, issue a DMCA takedown notice on their behalf after the process for getting their photos trademarked is started. The service costs $150 and there is a crowdfunding option on the site so that other victims can help people who struggle to pay the cost. Post Back will also offer payment plans to help with the cost.


Venture Concept. My innovation attempts to solve this opportunity by providing a service to people who critically need it and who are very often times taken advantage of by sites promising to take down the photos for large sums of money. My venture will actually help these people who have been violated for the world to see.

There is only one other company that currently provides a service to victims of revenge porn. This means that there isn't a lot of competition for the immense amount of demand. What's my advantage over them? After contacting sites that are campaigning to end revenge porn, I have found that they have never heard of my competitor and thus my advantage over them is my connections to non-profit organizations which will help market my venture.

To start out, I am considering using crowdfunding to fund this venture. I think people can really get behind this idea so having it be funded by people seems like a no brainer.

I imagine this company to start out with 5-10 employees and grow to around 20-30 over time. Starting off, I'll need a technology director, a marketing director, and customer expert. This is because the customer experience is a critical part of Post Back that also gives my company an advantage over its competitors. The goal of Post Back is to give our clients peace of mind and to show them that someone cares about what happened to them and is doing something, anything, to make it better.

Since the company will be entirely online, the location of it is entirely flexible. It could be anywhere. In 5 years, I don’t see myself still running this business. I think this industry will have many competitors in the coming years so I doubt I will be able to an edge in it. On the flipside, I could see this business transitioning into other services for women or anyone who has been harassed on the internet. Don’t know how to do this exactly, but that’s where I could see this going. As an entrepreneur, but really just as a person, I want to enact positive social change in the world. I see this venture as a start to this.

Feedback from students: The feedback I have received on this venture concept has all been really positive. Almost all of the students talked about how passionate I was for my idea and how they thought I had really thought through it, which is true. The only thing that was recommended for me to change was that I would probably be doing some crowdsourcing to raise funds for this venture. Other than that, I didn't receive any other feedback about changing my venture concept.

How I changed my venture concept: I added in the crowdsourcing bit and I tried to shorten the concept so that it was more concise. Other than that, it's basically the same as before.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• What definitely surprised me the most was that there was a classification system for the social responsibility of an enterprise. For instance, in stage two the organization recognizes that it has a social responsibility and it keeps a low profile by donating to well known charities while talking to the public about how they haven't been socially responsible in the past. I wonder why the end stage, stage three, is associated with donating to "controversial" charities? Is social change inherently controversial? Interesting.

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

• I wish the author had explained more about the "heightened sense of accountability" inherent within social entrepreneurship. Like, it makes sense that when you are a social entrepreneur, the people you answer to are those who are affected by your efforts but I wanted that better explained.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• What are the implications to a social startup's organizational structure and/or processes with the heightened sense of of accountability? I am interested in starting my own non-profit so I want to know the answer to this question for the benefit of my future nonprofit.
• What's the difference between a social enterprise and a nonprofit? I don't think this is clearly stated in the reading.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I would disagree with the author when he or she states that a key part of having an environmental strategy is promoting diversity. I know a big problem in the environmental community is that it is largely white, upper-middle class people that can afford to care about the environment. I think that an environmental strategy should include promoting diversity but that's not usually reflected in real life.

Google Gold

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

For each of my blog posts about my venture concept, I tagged the words "revenge porn" and "survivors." I also tagged some of the pictures I posted with those words. The commenting with a link to my blog was the only other SEO tactic I engaged in.

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

"Revenge Porn," "survivors," and "Post Back." I thought these words were really targeted towards my business (which is a service for survivors of revenge porn). In retrospect, I wish I had used the keywords "Gainesville revenge porn survivors." I selected these keywords because I thought the survivor part would differentiate me from a lot of the revenge porn resources on the web which generally use the term "victim." These keywords stayed the same throughout the semester.


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?

Um. I didn't really use social media to enhance my SEO effort. I don't even think I shared a blog post to my facebook at all. Surprisingly enough, I had a few classmates and friends tell me that they've read my blog posts. Which is strange because I didn't think I was doing too good of a job at using SEO.

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

My most "viral" post was the Free Money post. Which is terribly ironic because, while I completed the assignment, I didn't get credit for it because my video was downloading on my friend's computer. I know why it was viral though. So many students didn't do that post so when they went to do the commenting on it, they had to search through the class blog directory till they found someone who had actually did the assignment.

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?

Nope, I definitely didn't make it on the first page. I stopped looking for myself after page 26 of a "revenge porn survivors" search. In retrospect, I should have picked more specific words.

This is the image I found when I did an image search of the name of my blog lol

Very Short Interview, Part 2

Impression of the initial interview: 
So looking back over my first interview, I am super embarrassed. Ben's responses weren't bad at all but I feel like I'm really awkward and unconfident in that video. I've linked it here for comparison. I think I was unprepared for that interview, in retrospect, and it shines through in the video. Also, the quality of the video sucks.

My 2nd Interview with Ben King, CEO and Founder of Keep It Simple Technologies:

How far I've come:
The second interview really made me realize how much I have progressed in being able to talk with people and to network. Even during the course of this class, I have seen an improvement in myself in how I am able to ask for things I may need or to speak up when before I wouldn't. I think being in an entrepreneurial environment as well as growing up a bit has really helped me improve my confidence and my ability to articulate.

It's a lot easier to talk about entrepreneurship with fellow entrepreneurs now that I have taken this class as well as taken the Business Plan Lab. I think my questions are a lot more targeted towards business rather than "wow! That was a great idea," because I have more knowledge now. Which means I hold myself to a higher standard than I did before in terms of participating in business discussions. For instance, I used to think it was okay not to ask questions or talk when someone asks for entrepreneurial feedback because I thought I didn't have anything to say. Now I can make a comment on their revenue model or whether or not they have a MVP. What's cool is that this business acumen is standard throughout the world, like a language I can finally understand, and it makes me feel like I belong. Knowing more about entrepreneurship has definitely improved my confidence and for that I am very grateful.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• It shouldn't surprise but I am still surprised by the fact that most ventures that are on a tight lease have issues with undercapitalization. You would think that the owners would know where to inject money into their business to watch it grow but time and time again, I read articles and reports on the need to grow ideas and businesses by bringing on more opinions. Like a good friend always says, once you're in the rabbit hole, it's hard to see out. It shouldn't surprise me at this point but it still does.

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

• Definitely the part about discounted the cash flow was confusing. I don't get how or why a business is suppose to discount its cash flow and I don't think the author did a good job at explaining that.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• Why would you discount cash flow for the discounting earnings valuation method? I want to know!!
• How are you suppose to estimate what a buyer could earn elsewhere with the amount of money they are investing in a company? I don't know where that investor could be putting his money! Well, I know a couple of places...

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I disagree with the terms outlined in the Letter of Intent. The terms listed have no mention of the employees that work for the startup. What about them? Sure, maybe they don't get a say in what happens to the business but shouldn't there be some mention of what happens to them after the acquisition? I think so at least.

Celebrating Failure (Sorry, long post)

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

So this past semester I have been failing with one of roommates. A lot. I mean like, everyday. Her name is Maitane and when we moved in together, we were good friends. We were on better terms than my best friend and me at the time. Then, as this year has progressed, something happened. It started slow. Differences in lifestyle, bedtimes, definitions of clean, and what should be talked about as roommates arose from living with one another.

I failed. I failed to communicate with her. To reach out and understand her point and, in turn, have her understand mine. I fail every day when I walk down the stairs and we say nothing to one another. We slink by one another with only the slightest semblance of recognition, as if we were two beings whose universes sometimes overlap and we both need to stay quiet for fear of this moment shifting out of focus.

In the beginning of our issues, I tried. I really did. We had house meetings about the passive aggressive notes being pasted up on the fridge and talked about what we wanted to see changed in each other's behavior. But I did not reach her. She and I have not communicated directly since moving into this house except for short instances when we still liked one another.

Now our home is dark and tense. Eerie to walk into and embarrassing to bring strangers home to. I failed to communicate with someone who I deeply respected and admired. Certainly we were both at fault, I would even say she shares more of the blame than I do, but it doesn't matter. The result is the same. We are no longer friends, and that is that.

2) Tell us what you learned from it. 

I learned that even best wishes and efforts can turn sour. That even if you try to keep the peace and talk, things don't always get better. I learned that there is a certain threshold that, once crossed, you cannot turn back from. That point it when silence overtakes any argument or concern. That is when all is lost and the only thing that can make the situation better is time apart. Maybe forever.


3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were four months ago? 

Before two years ago, I thought failure meant flunking a test or not getting into that program or this internship. I've come to realize that that's the fun kind of failure. That's failure that you can pick yourself up from, dust off your shame, and keep moving, keep working. There is another kind of failure, the bad kind, which I am ashamed to admit that I have encountered quite a bit in my short life time.

The failure that is being estranged from a friend that you once held dear is incredibly painful. It sucks. You had so much respect and love towards that person, and then it goes wrong. What's worse is that it can be so hard to identify exactly where things went wrong. What words were said or what actions were done that cannot be taken back. You never know what you could have done differently.

Before, and I still do this, I handle failure by become down. Not depressed, for I do not suffer from depression, but sad and low and little like something terribly insignificant. I lay in bed and eat bad food and watch anime and drift into a restless sleep filled with half-remembered dreams of being chased.

While I still do the above, now I only allow myself to sink to that low for one day. One day, that's all I get. To cry (even though I don't cry) and sniffle and eat mac and cheese till I explode. Then, the next day, I wake up early, take a shower, eat a good breakfast, get coffee, and get shit done. Fuck that whiny shit. I get dressed and get the fuck out of the house because that's where all that dark shit is looking anyways.

Because of having failed so thoroughly and at so many things in my life thus far, my mindset on how I approach failure has changed. I give myself that day to wallow because I know I need it. I need to sink as low as I can so when I wake up the next morning, I say "alright. That's done. Now I can go back to being fearless." I've learned to move on and let the little shit go, like my roommate leaving silly notes about putting away the ketchup instead of putting it away herself.

This class has made me more open to reaching out to people - something I used to, and still do, consider a risk. Talking with people is scary. Asking people for something or giving someone something is even scarier. But this class has taught me that it's okay to fail, entrepreneurs should fail. What makes them entrepreneurs is their ability to get back up and keep going. That is what I am grateful for in this class.

My Exit Strategy

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

My exit strategy is to sell off my business within five to seven years after I have shown that the venture is profitable.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I have selected this exit because, five years down the road, I imagine that I will have become bored of doing the same thing, as I am want to do. Another option would be to expand my business by creating other services to solve social problems. Keeping up this kind of innovation would keep me engaged with my business.

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

At first, I didn't think of my idea as something I would eventually try to get out of. I thought of it as a start to something that I really want to do. I'm not sure about that now and that has definitely influenced the way I view this concept. If I were to go ahead with the idea, I would outsource a lot of the development so as to keep my risk low and just aim to prove that this business model works (along with actually caring about what I'm doing). So yes, the understanding that I don't want to be doing this forever has influenced how I view my resources.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• I was most surprised by how the strategic planning steps were the same for creating a marketing plan. I wonder if the writers of this book had backgrounds in marketing. 

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

• So is it absolutely necessary to transfer to a managerial style from an entrepreneurial mindset? I get that, to grow, a company needs to assess the resources they have and consider how they can expand but expansion implies an entrepreneurial mindset. I get the whole need for planning but I don't get how planning is the opposite of the entrepreneurial mindset. Entrepreneurs need to plan too.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• How can someone look for a strategic position? How is it possible to teach that? I'm curious about how business prowess is taught to students. When talked about in books, these concepts seem very abstract and idealistic.
• How can business systems be quantified? This comes from the manager's mindset. I would like to understand how an objective decision like "should we be located here or there?" can be quantified.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I disagree with the author when they say that there needs to be  transition to a managerial mindset. I think that kills creativity and destroys the point of the business for the entrepreneur who started it. Maybe its true that that happens and that's why so many entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs but I think a company can still be run with the entrepreneurial mindset when it starts to grow.

Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept Description

Opportunity. The opportunity my venture seeks to capture is a very unfortunate opportunity that has arisen out of the influence of the internet on society. The interconnectivity of the web is good for sharing valuable information across geographical boundaries but, on the flipside, it is very harmful when someone uses that interconnectivity to try and ruin someone's life. The opportunity I want to help solve is the issue of people having content on the internet that they don’t want out there. Specifically, when someone posts nude pictures or videos of someone in an effort to publically humiliate them.

 This opportunity is, unfortunately, huge. There are hundreds, upon thousands of victims of revenge porn out there with very little options or legal protection. Only 26 states in the US have laws criminalizing revenge porn. My market isn’t really defined geographically since anyone can post revenge porn from anywhere but this tends to happen in more developed countries, such as the US, Canada, and Western Europe. Demographically, the victims of revenge porn are overwhelming women, ranging from 14 years old to women in their 50s, though men can certainly be victims as well.

There are only a few options out there for survivors of revenge porn: ask the website owners to take down the content, report it as inappropriate to google, or get your nude photos or videos trademarked and issue the sites a DMCA takedown notice. (Or, if you live in one of those 26 states, take the person who posted the picture to court. Though that doesn't guarantee they will be taken off the web.) 
Since revenge porn can be on thousands of sites in the worst case scenario, the first option isn’t really an option. Reporting it to Google is a necessary step in trying to solve this issue, but Google can’t force sites to take down the content and there are many other search engines where the photos could still be lurking. Google can only make sure it doesn’t pop up on a search. Lastly, getting your pictures trademarked is an option, except that it costs 300-400 dollars a year to maintain that trademark and still some sites can host the photos without facing repercussions because of the anonymous nature of the web.

As of right now, I have found only one other company that is trying to solve this issue. More may arise so this window could be closing.

Innovation. My innovation is a service for victims of revenge porn whereby my company wages an online campaign on behalf of the victim to get their revenge porn taken down. At the same time, my company will be doing online reputation management by using search engine optimization to create a positive online presence on our client’s behalf. My company’s site will also host an online forum for survivors of revenge porn and will provide free legal information about victim's legal options.

The service works by using advanced technology that combs the web for the revenge porn’s unique address. Once found, Post Back’s employees contact the website owner and request it to be taken down or, with the client’s permission, issue a DMCA takedown notice on their behalf after the process for getting their photos trademarked is started. The service costs $150 and there is a crowdfunding option on the site so that other victims can help people who struggle to pay the cost. Post Back will also offer payment plans to help with the cost.

Venture Concept. My innovation attempts to solve this opportunity by providing a service to people who critically need it and are often times taken advantage of by scam sites that ask for money and never even try to get the photos taken down. My venture will actually help these people who have been violated for the world to see. There is only one other company trying to do what I’ve specified so there isn't a lot of competition but there is a lot of demand, from what my research has shown. The other options out there for survivors are very expensive or are downright scams. The competitor I mentioned does have a similar service but is not marketing as well as they could be and hasn’t sought the backing of organizations that are trying to end revenge porn. That is my only advantage over them.

My venture will be backed by 10-15 employees. Some of which will manage the technology and maintain the website and others will be people who wage the campaign. The customer experience is very important because I think that will also be a part of the value proposition that will give Post Back an edge over its competitors. The goal of Post Back is to give our clients peace of mind and to show them that someone cares about what happened to them and is doing something, anything, to make it better. 

Since the company will be entirely online, the location of it is entirely flexible. The roles in the company will include a CEO, a CFO, a VP of Marketing, and a COO who will also double as the VP of Technology. In 5 years, I don’t see myself still running this business. I think this is a limited time opportunity that will wane in the coming years. On the flipside, I could see this business transitioning into other services for women or anyone who has been harassed on the internet. Don’t know how to do this exactly, but that’s where I could see this going. As an entrepreneur, but really just as a person, I want to enact positive social change in the world. I see this venture as a start to this.

Amazon Whisperer

Hi folks,

So this assignment is all about coming up with a new product that would provide value to my existing customers. Aka, finding my next "opportunity."

For the commenters, my current business idea is to provide a support service to survivors of revenge porn that includes an online website with free information on legal options, a community forum, and the paid service that finds the revenge porn online and tries to take it down or attempts to bury it under other layers of info using search engine optimization.

Revenue Drivers for my current business:

• Paying for my takedown service
• Ads on my site
• Crowdfunding for people who can't directly pay for the takedown service

Next product or service:

• A magical taser that only shocks those who post revenge from afar

How does this enhance my existing offering?

• Gives people what they want: revenge for revenge

Similar product?

• An actual taser: http://www.amazon.com/Blackhawk-44H015-Taser-Holster-Handed/dp/B00H0DBTP0/ref=sr_1_1?s=hunting-fishing&ie=UTF8&qid=1459117538&sr=1-1&keywords=taser+gun
• 

What do customers like or do not like about the product?

• They wish it was more durable
• They liked how cheap it was

What changes would I make to it?

• I would make it come in any color you desire and probably change that clip. Doesn't look like it would stay too well on your hip. Also give it a better handle with more grip.

Why is it a good addition to my current product line?

• Because who doesn't want to electrocute the person who tried to ruin your life?

Week 11 Reading

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• This article in general was really surprising because you hear of companies using "innovation techniques" described in the article and you assume they must be an innovative company. This article changed my perspective of what it means to be truly innovative.

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

• The creating value in your innovation strategy was a little confusing to me. It makes sense that your innovation strategy should inherently create value but what exactly is different from saying "our company strives to innovate for the consumer of our products" and whatever else they are trying to advocate? I could use an example.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• How is a startup suppose to develop an effective r&d team? Aren't there a lot of risks in doing that? Curious because the business plan I am currently working on involves an R&D team.
• At what point, if not from birth, should a startup adopt an innovative strategy? Isn't the idea to get your product or service out there, make sales, and focus on perfecting everything later? Once again, this has to do with my business plan and how we right our executive summary.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I don't necessarily disagree with this but I think that the author did not cover this part really well: the cost of innovating. Sure, you could always say that innovation will pay for itself but there also has to be some balance where innovating or spending too much on r&d isn't helpful. Especially in a startup.

My Unfair Advantage

So for this exercise I get to generate a list of resources for my venture that make me "special." These resources will be what keeps my competitors off my tail. So here it goes:

1. My experience acting as a leader within the LGBTQQ+ community in my high school has given me the ability to make people around me comfortable and to have them open up (human capital)
• Valuable? Very much so
• Rare? Not really...
• Imitable? Yeah...
• Non-substitutable? Not really. There isn't a substitute for active listening.
2. My connection with the End Revenge Porn campaign and their tentative commitment to promote my service when it is up and running (social capital)
• Valuable? DEFINITELY
• Rare? Yes
• Imitable? Only if someone else gets in contact with the campaign before I can have my services up and running
• Non-substitutable? Yes, because another website's endorsement would also be valuable but not as valuable as this one.
3. My connection with Leakserv, another startup providing a takedown service for revenge porn, and their offer to advise me as I set up this business
• Valuable? Very much so
• Rare? Yes! I haven't found another site doing this and no one has offered to advise me yet
• Imitable? Probably, yeah. Anyone can connect with this company. 
• Non-substitutable? No, I can have a connection with another person in this industry but probably not someone with this kind of experience.
4. My experience working at/with multiple startups
• Valuable? Yes! I know some of the troubles that startups experience.
• Rare? No...
• Imitable? Yes
• Non-substitutable? No and yes. Working at a corporation could give you a similar experience but it wouldn't teach you the crazy shit that happens during the first stages of a business.
5. My training in search engine optimization
• Valuable? Yes! Every business needs to do this if they want to be at the top of search results.
• Rare? Not as much anymore but I haven't met too many people who know how to do SEO.
• Imitable? Yes. SEO is very imitable. Good SEO is not.
• Non-substitutable? No, not in this case. There is no substitute for SEO if you want to show up high on a search.
6. My ability to recruit and maintain people in an organization as a result of working as the Membership Director for the Entrepreneurship Club at UF
• Valuable? Yes! Finding the right people is valuable in any organization, business, or institution.
• Rare? No...
• Imitable? Yes...
• Non-substitutable? No. There is no substitute for finding good people. Unless you find one good person to find other good people for you, but that's not feasible in the first days of a startup.
7. My experience finding, renting, setting up, and managing an office space as one of my duties as a Field Organizer on the Charlie Crist campaign
• Valuable? Some what. Most businesses need office space.
• Rare? Not at all.
• Imitable? Yup.
• Non-substitutable? Like a realtor? Yeah.
8. The experience I am currently gaining from writing a business plan since it is really helpful in getting investors when you have a business plan
• Valuable? Yes.
• Rare? Not at all.
• Imitable? Yup.
• Non-substitutable? I guess a business model? Or maybe a personal connection with an investor that doesn't require a business plan? So no is the answer.
9. My passion for helping women
• Valuable? Yes.
• Rare? Yeah, actually. There are definitely lots of people who want to help people but there aren't a lot of them who are starting a business based on this idea.
• Imitable? Actually this might be kind of hard to imitate.
• Non-substitutable? Not for this business. You need to care to do this.
10. My connections within the startup community in Gainesville
• Valuable? Yes. There are a lot of startups in Gainesville and the people I know would be psyched to hear that I was starting a business.
• Rare? No.
• Imitable? Yes.
• Non-substitutable? No. Connections elsewhere could suffice.

So which one is my most valuable? Probably my connection with the End Revenge Porn campaign. As for right now, they haven't endorsed any service for survivors of revenge porn so to have that endorsement would really help for marketing and for building trust with our clients. A close second would be my passion for helping women. This is a surprisingly rare passion that is absolutely necessary for my business.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• Funny enough, this entire section is exactly what I'm learning in the Business Plan lab at UF. Like exactly the same material. The reinforcing coincidence of that is what stood out to me the most. Also, this section was presented in a way more complicated manner than I think it needs to be. Just reading this was really overwhelming and I think if it were to be explained in simpler terms it wouldn't have been as bad.

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

• I don't think the author did a great job at explaining credits and debits and how one goes on the left and the other goes on the right. When I took financial accounting this was a really confusing issue to me that I think is still confusing. And I'm doing a business minor so this has to be really confusing for non-business students.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• Are operating expenses the same as fixed costs? The example financial sheets are confusing me because I thought accounting was suppose to look the same regardless of the class teaching it...
• For an entrepreneur, what is the most important financial tools or formulas an entrepreneur should use? And does pricing factor in to how you label certain costs? I'm confused about that too.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• I think the author could have done a better job at explaining how the financials of a business all tie in together and give investors a concrete view of how the business is going to make money. Also I don't think capacity was mentioned, which is what needs to be calculated for understanding a business's sale goal. (Unless I missed that?)

Growing My Social Capital

Hi Folks,

This was a very useful assignment because it forced me to actually contact people who could give me really useful insight into my business.

For the commenters, my business idea is to provide a support service to survivors of revenge porn that includes an online website with free information on legal options, a community forum, and the paid service that finds the revenge porn online and tries to take it down or attempts to bury it under other layers of info using search engine optimization.

So for the domain expert (1) I contacted Leakserv B.V., a company that is using highly advanced technology to track down revenge porn and issue DMCA takedown notices to owners of the sites where the revenge porn is listed. They also work with law enforcement to provide evidence of the revenge porn so as to prosecute the initial person who posted it. The person I got in contact with is Bart von Leewen, the co-founder of Leakserv and the owner of an Anti-Privacy company called Onsist. I started emailing him and just recently sent him an invite to connect on Linkedin.

The interaction I had with him was really insightful for my business idea. He told me how there is definitely a need for helping survivors of revenge porn and that people are even getting creative by using photoshop to create revenge porn when no content has ever been sent. The "favor" I asked of him was basically if his tactics to take down the revenge porn differed in the US since he's located in the Netherlands. Also if he knew of any other sites doing what I hope to do. Bart said he was glad to advise me so I will hopefully incorporate him into my currently nonexistent board of advisors. He even said that we could work together in the future!

Okay, so next is the expert on the market (2). For this I contacted endrevengeporn.org and was able to talk to Anisha Vora, Victim Outreach Coordinator for the campaign and victim of revenge porn herself. At first I contacted her via her email on the site but later we talked on the phone. Now I follow her on Twitter.

The "favor" I asked of her was basically if there is demand for my business' services out there and what are the current options for survivors of revenge porn. To the first thing she said hell yes and to the second she said that there are very few options, one of which is getting the photos trademarked and paying a yearly fee of 300-400 dollars to keep the trademark. Which is insane! She mentioned that most victims don't want to go through the legal options, they just want the photos taken down.

Lastly, she mentioned that there are a lot of scams out there targeting victims and that a big issue for my business will be building credibility. She said whenever I have my site going that she could possibly recommend my services on her site! So that's cool. I plan to incorporate her into my network by continuing to talk with her as the business progresses and eventually partnering with her campaign.

God this is long. Lastly is the supplier. So I tried to contact Google 3 different ways and am currently still trying to find who I need to talk to. I tried emailing google's customer service. No response. I tried emailing their press email but they said they weren't going to respond... I messaged a friend who interned at Google and they said to use Linkedin to contact someone on the relevant team. So that's where I'm at. I haven't been able to make contact with anyone yet :(

The favor I want to ask google is how their rule for doing search engine optimization will effect the service I want to provide and what are the existing options for taking down revenge porn. I'm going to keep working on this.

Reflection: THIS POST IS SO LONG IM SORRY. I've never networked like this before and while the first two were relatively easy to contact a real person, Google is super hard to talk to. Everything is forms and "if you're not press we aren't going to respond to you." I will definitely incorporate online networking into my networking skills in the future.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

Hello Loyal Followers!

Today I will make my third attempt at my elevator pitch. I got some really good feedback last time so I've tweaked my pitch to include what I thought would be really useful. Here is the most important and influential feedback I got:

• "Maybe you could go into the cost for someone to hire this company, maybe even a promotion for college students." - Taylor Brenenstuhl

• "I'd like to hear a mention of them [competitors] and why your product stands out from theirs." - Carolina Lafuente

• "This could easily come across as an internet scam if not marketed correctly." - Alexander Gubernikoff

The last comment from Alex was the most suprising. I really hadn't thought that my service could come off as spammy. Now that I think of it, though, if I don't design my website correctly and provide that legitimate human component survivors could think that I'm trying to take advantage of them. Which is certainly not the case.

None of the feedback I got was silly or mean, thankfully. I think the first time I did my pitch I didn't do as good of a job as explaining how crazy it is that there isn't more resources for survivors out in the world and more people responded with shaming comments about the survivors. Hopefully, I have been able to alleviate some of that shame.

Anywho, here's attempt number three! Let me know what I can do better :)

What's your Secret Sauce?

Hello,

So for this exercise, I'll be tackling the topic of human capital. Specifically, my human capital. Thus the title "what's [my] secret sauce?" For the first part of this exercise, I'm going to list 5 ways in which I have human capital that is truly unique. My efforts are recorded below:

What makes me different?

1. I doubt my interactions with people and constantly (for the most part) try to make them better so that the people around me feel loved and welcomed.
2. I strive to listen more than to be heard so that I can understand how the people around me think and feel.
3. Even though I'm afraid to stand up to people and to speak my opinion sometimes, I always try to step in when conversation is becoming uncomfortable and my friends or someone I've just met is being sexually harassed.
4. Even though I don't always follow my own advice, I have a developed, internalized sense of right and wrong that I try to hold myself to as much as possible.
5. I'm an incredibly stubborn person. Which is good for getting jobs done when people tell you that you can't succeed but bad for when I can know I'm wrong but my pride and stubbornness stop me from admitting that.

Part two of this exercise involves me filming my closest friends and asking them what makes me different. The results are below:

Key take away: My boyfriend is cute and thinks I'm smart. He also knows firsthand what it's like to get in an "argument" aka a discussion with me about politics. So a takeaway from that is that I am very determined in getting my point across and when I know I'm right, I'm belligerent about how right I am.

Takeaway: Marvis' comments made me feel really good about myself because I haven't really applied the skills that I've though of to a job or career that I could pursue. Nonprofit work is actually really appealing and it was very interesting to hear her say that.

Takeaway: After the other interviews, Preston made me really realized how nice I come off to people. Most of the time I feel like I come off really awkward for some reason but this was really empowering to hear.

Takeaway: Since Cora is my best friend, this is all stuff I've heard before but hearing it from her is always more impactful than thinking about it by myself. Cora makes me realize that I do want to save the world, in any way I can.

Takeaway: Bre and I need to hang out more. I could only record an audio call we did but at least there are some funny cat photos to pass the time. Almost all of my interviewees have mentioned my passion for politics and social issues and hearing that from Bre really drove that point home because I don't really think of myself as super educated on these issues.

Reflection: There are definitely some big differences on how I see myself and how others see me. I really don't think I am as educated as I claim to be or act like. That might be because I surround myself with smart people who challenge my own intelligence. Either way, these interviews made me feel proud of my smarts and like I somewhat know what I'm talking about when it comes to politics and social issues. These interviews make me feel like my lack of self-confidence due to low self-esteem is unfounded. Which is a really nice feeling.

Most of my friends thought of me as a people's person who was really friendly and can talk to anyone. That's so surprising because I always feel like my interactions don't come off as I want them to. So do I think my interviewees are right? Yeah, I do. I also think that the discrepancy in how they view me and how I view myself comes from my lack of self-confidence which I've been trying to work on.

If I were to go back and change anything from the first part of that post, it would be the unconfident, self-deprecating language that preceded my statements. The "trying" rather than doing. I do listen to people more than I talk. I do make people feel welcomed and heard. Damn. This is a good assignment. This has made me feel really good.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

• The biggest surprise I had from the reading definitely came from the consumer characteristics charts that represented segmentation. I've heard segmentation talked about a lot in business classes but I've never seen it graphically laid out by adopter stage as it is in the book. Since I'm writing a business plan right now, this is something that I can use in my plan.

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

• One part that was confusing was the identifying the difference between marketing objectives and goals in designing the marketing plan. I wish the text had gone further in describing the difference.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

• Why exactly do customers not buy goods that don't have prices on them? 
• Mainly because I'm curious and also because I feel like understanding the psychology behind why pricing is necessary would help better price goods.
• Are there ways to make doing primary market research more affordable? And how much primary research does an entrepreneur really need? 
• I've heard a lot of entrepreneurs say that you just need to get out and sell your product or service if you want to make it work. I'm curious about how people who have degrees in entrepreneurship would react to this lack of market planning in the production of a product or service.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

• There was nothing I really disagreed with in this chapter but I did have an addition to a particular section. In the factors affecting the value of a marketing system, the issue of data relevancy is mentioned but I don't think the book goes in depth enough to describe the enormity of the evolving issue in data collection whereby huge amounts of data are being produced each year and it is becoming harder and harder to sift through the crap to find the value. This issue is relevant to entrepreneurs who have very little money to spend on marketing and may find themselves spending money for useless information if they aren't careful.

Idea Napkin No. 2

Hiya,

So here's my second attempt at the idea napkin. I didn't receive a lot of negative feedback or constructive criticism from the first attempt so my feedback points won't be super interesting but take a look! Please comment with what you think I can do better!

So as for the paragraph on whether or not I think some areas of my idea are out of wack with others, I would say that my idea falls in line pretty well with the other areas of the idea napkin. I have a pretty good understanding of who my customers are, what skills I need to make this successful, and who I am. I can definitly see that my technological skills are not up to the task of this business but my experience in business and leading people in politics could make up for this. Most business owners don't know how to do all of the aspects of their business anyways.

Feedback points:

1. A lot people really like my idea and say that I should pursue it
2. Only one person has brought up any mention of competitors (and that person sent me an awesome article that actually helped define my competition and how I can compete with them)
3. No one seems to be aware that online reputation management sites already exist but that's okay since I'm targeting a unique market segment
4. People seem to think that this idea is both beneficial and profitable
5. My idea napkin seemed to go over swell! I think the visual representation really helped people understand my idea and myself.

This feedback led me to create an idea napkin that looked similar to my first one. The difference is that I took a more objective view of the competencies I have and found that I had a lot of the skills necessary to run a business. Technology acumen is still where I am lacking.

The Twenty Percent

Hero,

So in this exercise, I am delving into a conversation about the "80/20" rule. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, the 80/20 rule is a rule in business stating that, of your target market, 20% will provide you with the vast majority of sales and will make up your most dedicated customer group. In a startup, funds are very limited so using market techniques that actually reach that 20% will save startups from wasting money they can't afford to waste. To illustrate this principle, I've interviewed a Gainesville entrepreneur by the name of Sheldon. He founded his company Cocovana to sell his product, the Coconut Twist. In the following interview, he and I talk about how he targets his 20%.

Also, here's his answers to a few questions I forgot to ask in the interview:

• What are their customers' unmet needs?
• super portable compared to machete and unmet needs are having a tool to safely open coconuts
• Where do they find their customers? 
• in health food stores, buying fresh coconuts
• generally Asian and Latino markets
• What are their customer's demographics? 
• Latin and Asian groups because coconuts are a part of their culture
• large cities to target Asian and Latino communities
• What kinds of media do their customers consume?
• everyone is on facebook
• not too sure, need to put more effort into figuring this out

Secondly, I went to grocery stores (Wards and a local Asian market) to talk to his 20%. Unfortunately, I didn't actually find anyone buying fresh coconuts... Everyone I explained Sheldon's product to were interested and said it was a neat idea but they didn't feel the need to buy coconuts... So here are 2 sad videos of me talking to myself at different grocery stores. 

Reflection: From my interview, I conclude that Sheldon definitely knows his customers problems. The need for a safe, portable coconut opener is the unmet need his company is solving. A difference I encountered may be in where his customers are located. I was at grocery stores for a total of an hour and a half trying to talk to someone buying fresh coconuts, and I couldn't find anyone. If his customers are in grocery stores, I couldn't find them. Maybe his market is so niche that his customers, and I'm talking about the target market, not even the 20%, are more geographically spread out and he's going to need to find some way of reaching them beyond being in stores. I think he'll be able to figure it out though.

That's all folks! Here's a picture of some coconuts:

Free Money

So this exercise was pretty weird. For my class, we had to take 5, 1 dollar bills and hand them out to people in public. For this to occur, we had to develop a strategy. My strategy for this exercise is listed below:

• Where will you go?
• Checkers!
• What kind of people will you approach?
• I will approach anyone who is walking up to the Checkers. I designed a sign that says "do you like money?" so as to gain their interest. The people I assume who will take my money are hungry, curious people walking by or to the Checkers. There is also a large homeless population that hangs around Checkers so I think I'll be able to give out money fairly quickly.
• What will you say to get the conversation started?
• I will say "hi! Are you getting something to eat?"
• What is your plan for the conversation?
• After my initial question, I plan on saying "here's a dollar so you can get something extra with your food!" If they don't want the money, I'll just say "okay" and "enjoy your Checkers." If they ask me why I'm trying to give them a dollar, I'll say something like "I want you to be able to get that extra milkshake or fries that you may have written off b/c you didn't want to spend the money."
• Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away?
• I believe all of them. 

Here's the resulting video:

Reflection:
At first, this was a lot harder than I realized. People kept giving the dollar back to me because they said they didn't need it. I also had to change locations because there wasn't a lot of people where I was. I ended up in front of the gas station and that's where I had the most success. Checkers was a bust.

Later, though, it was easier. I changed my tactic of telling people that I was giving them a dollar to buy food to telling them to keep the dollar so they can pass it on or do whatever they want with it. They were offended when I originally told them to go buy food with it. One guy even asked if he looked homeless and I had to do some quick back-peddling.

So my predictions for the assignment were definitely off. I had to change my location, my strategy, and it was a lot harder than I realized. At first, I assumed that anyone would take a dollar since it was just a dollar and this was suppose to be harmless. I thought people would love getting a dollar to get some food. Instead, they were offended.

In conclusion, this was a strange exercise that I enjoyed but also had some trouble with. It was fun giving money to people who enjoyed getting it. It was super weird when people were offended... selling things is hard!!!!

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

Definitely the author's assertion that psychographics weren't the most effective way of segmenting a market. That really blew my mind because it contradicts what my business classes and my professors have been telling me. 

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

The intro of the reading was kind of confusing because I felt that it made assumptions that I didn't entirely understand. Also, I'm confused about what's the difference between psychographics and the kind of data they described was the better than psychographics. Wouldn't you figure out what features and benefits matter to your customers when you put them in a certain psychological identity? Jk, I'm repeating this question for the below section.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Is it really true that people were "bursting with variety" only following the 1960s? 

-I didn't like how the intro described the issues that arose and I want to know why they ruled out technology as a factor.

Can't you figure out what features and benefits matter to your customers when you put them in a certain psychological identity? 

-I guess this just doesn't make sense to me. Like aren't psychographics basically the features and benefits that companies are looking for???? No se.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I think the assumption that the people had changed following the 1960s while the advertising had not downplays the role of technology in the need for more evolved advertising strategies. I can agree that there needed to be a revolution in advertising based on segmentation other than by demographics but I dislike that the authors didn't go more into the why that drove this need. Seems to me like they glossed over it.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

Howdy,

Here's my second elevator pitch for my venture Post Back. Hope this clarifies my idea for anyone who has commented on my other posts without me explaining the idea!

As for reflections on the feedback from my last pitch, first thing is that I now know to set my youtube videos on "public" when I upload them. I had a lot of encouragement but unfortunately some people were unable to view my pitch due to my incompetence. My favorite comment from the first pitch was the person who suggested report buttons for unwanted or inappropriate content on every site. My knowledge of the internet is limited, but I do know that you can download extensions to your web browser that could serve in this function. I'm adding that idea to the list of things I can work on.

The comments saying that so and so would never send nude photos of themselves even if they were dating were insightful but overall not too helpful. My idea deals with the end result of someone violating another person's trust by posting confidential photos. Saying you'd never send photos is great but that's blaming the sender and not the person who posted them. It's a personal preference to send nude photos or videos but it is, or at least should be, a crime to post something of someone that was meant to be private.

Other than that, most of the comments were about people urging me to take on this opportunity because they felt that there is a need for my idea. Which is encouraging and really appreciated, but I am looking for more feedback on things like the profitably of the business or the legality or the threat of competitors. All thoughts welcomed, though, and big thank you to the people who commented on my last pitch!

As for how I changed the pitch, I condensed my information and tried to point out the harmful effects of revenge porn as well as introduced the technical ways in which I hope to achieve my business.

Interviewing Customers: Third Time's The Charm!

Hi Folks,

So here's the third round of interviewing customers for my business venture. The videos are post below! Also, if any video can't be viewed for any reason, please PLEASE comment saying that you can't view them. I had trouble with the last batch of videos I posted so if you could let me know, I would greatly appreciate it.

Strategy: 

The strategy I used for my interviews to try and make them as unbiased as possible by saying I was going to interview them for a class and I wanted their honest first reactions to a business venture. I really tried to not give them too much information so that I wouldn't change any of their responses. I wanted to hear what issues people had with this idea. I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs think they have great ideas and don't ever ask potential customers what issues they could foresee with the idea. I asked younger people who could possibly be in the situation I describe to them in which they would need this service.

Reflection:

I got a lot of "this is a good idea" reactions from people, which is nice but overall not really helpful in finding the kinks in this idea. I'm really glad that the people I talked to thought my idea was cool and would actually help people but I was surprised that I didn't get more people who were doubtful that I could actually do this service. I don't know how to code or really how the internet works! Maybe my enthusiasm for the idea influenced what people though. Though I really tried to not be biased... I think I should change the people I'm talking to for any future interviews. I still haven't interviewed anyone who's actually been in the position to need my venture's services so I think that I should definitely do that before I proceed with my idea.

Idea Napkin No. 1

Alright, so I think this is a really cool assignment. Today I wrote on a "napkin" (aka a piece of paper) my business idea and my strengths and weaknesses. Take a look! I think it's pretty neat:

After writing this out, I found some discrepancies in what I want to do and what I can do. Other people have raised the question of how I'm actually going to do the service that I want to provide. The answer? Not really sure. I worked at an SEO company last summer so I do have experience with trying to get particular content to show up in google for a particular keyword search, but I'm no expert. People are also right in saying that you could figure out how to do what I'm offering for free online. I think that's why I'm attempting to market the idea as "peace of mind" since I'll be providing a community forum and legal resources for free so as to shape the idea of growing a community of survivors rather than solely providing a service that people could figure out how to do for themselves. 

Competencies was the hardest part of this. I need to do more research on if there are companies out there providing the same service that I'm attempting to provide and then figure out how to do this service. I'm still kind of confident in the market that I'm targeting, though. Every time I look for help for survivors of revenge porn I see a lot of "you shouldn't have sent those pictures in the first place" aka victim blaming, rather than any service or resource that is providing help to people.

Let me know what you think! Feedback is much appreciated in this case :)

Interviewing Customers No. 2 (aka No. 1 for me)

Hiya folks,

So I spent today walking around campus, talking to people about my venture idea. I got a lot of useful feedback that's changing my outlook on the venture so this exercise can definitely be called a success. This assignment was suppose to be the second time I interview customers but, alas, I suck so this was the first time I did this. Meaning these interviews are kind of rough when they were suppose to be refined but they're still very useful.

Here's my revised idea: a for-profit company that provides a personalized online image restoration service to survivors of revenge porn along with free community support forums, legal resources, and (maybe) a service where survivors can get back at their aggressors.

Customers? Survivors of revenge porn and people who want to restore their online image.

Interview strategy? I didn't do the first round of interviews so my strategy hasn't developed other than asking people who look like they aren't busy.

Here they are:

If anyone has any other feedback, I would love to hear it! 

Reflection on the interviews: I got positive feedback on my idea but also had people wondering about the practicality of providing this service. Someone pointed out that, if you wanted to, anyone could research on how to bury unwanted pictures or videos and do it themselves. That got me thinking. Of course anyone could do what I'm providing, if they wanted to, but what I'm providing is a peace of mind. That survivors don't have to worry because this situation is being taken care of by professionals. I don't know how to become a professional of the interweb (yet) but the interviews helped me refine what it is I'm trying to provide to my customers. "My venture provides peace of mind to survivors of revenge porn" sounds a lot better than how I've defined this idea previously.

Lastly, here are a few tips for students interviewing customers:

1. Talk to someone who has their own company or any entrepreneurial activity about what kind of feedback they looked for from customers when starting out. This will really help in getting the most out of your interviews.
2. Try talking to people who are leaving a building rather than going in. They're more likely to talk to you. Also, make sure they're walking slow enough not to be hurrying anywhere.
3. Don't question criticism. Just take it. You want people to poke as many holes as possible in your idea so you figure out if it doesn't work in the beginning rather than in the end. If someone is criticizing you for something that you don't think they understand, it's not that they're stupid. It means that you probably need to work on how you're explaining your idea.

Elevator Pitch No. 1 - My Venture

Here's the deal. My entrepreneurship class required me to pick a business venture and do a pitch for it. Here goes nothing....or everything.

Problem: Some people* post nude or pornographic pictures, usually of their exes, online, without the consent of those in the picture. The US government (just focusing on the US, though this is a world phenomena) is really bad at regulating this crime and, in actuality, only 26 states have laws criminalizing these attacks. Needless to say, this leaves a huge unmet need from survivors of revenge porn.

Solution?  Post Back! (the name of my venture) "Taking the Power Back" My first entrepreneurial endeavour providing legal resources, a reverse SEO service designed to bury the pictures down in the internet (or take them down as much as possible), and a community forum where survivors can communicate, and maybe even get back at their attackers. (I'm brainstorming spam services that survivors could use to inundate their perpetrators emails or FBs.)

That's it! More to come as I flesh out the idea. Let me know what you think :)

P.S. After reading this post, I went back and changed "victim" to "survivor" in my sentences. Wish I had done that in my video but too late!

*Thanks again for your comment Linda. I should have been more descriptive of the problem I was identifying but you helped me clarify my idea :)

Top 5 World Problems

Based off a previous assignment, my task today is to identify the world's top 5 problems! And rank the solutions in terms of implementability. Here goes nothing:

1. (World's Biggest Problem) Varying perceptions on gender and the associated societal standards that harm people by forcing them to conform through social pressures to something that they don't want to be or preventing them from doing the things they want to do but that aren't socially acceptable.
2. The harmful side effects of globalization due to the spread of free trade and reduction in barriers to trade throughout the world. Harmful side effects include loss of small businesses and usage of cheap labor as bargaining tools to open more areas of trade and drive down wages. Not even talking about the humanitarian side effects of these implications.
3. Human beings contribution to climate change through industry and domestic energy consumption that produces excess greenhouse gases, which get trapped in the atmosphere and cause accelerated global warming. 
4. Donald Trump and any and all demagogues like him who prey on people's insecurities to incite hatred for their own accumulation of power and prejudice agendas.
5. (Least most serious, serious world problem) The unaccountably of the world's banking systems.

And here's my list of the solutions:

1. (Most implementable) Provide non-mandatory in school training on the harmful effects of gender roles and create discussions on how everyone can be better then what our parents taught us. Then wait for old people to die.
2. Improve education of the world to students that accurately describes what its like to live in another country and stop playing up democracy and American exceptional.
3. Foster music and the music education in schools and throughout the world. Recognize that there is more than just pop.
4. Solution: Satellites that orbit the Earth monitoring CO2 levels in the atmosphere and somehow filtering the gases to a healthy level, thus reducing the greenhouse affect and slowing global warming.
5. (least implementable) Create a nonprofit international regulatory committee that checks banks and is apolitical.

So for the first list, I picked gender as the world's biggest problem. This is because I have seen the deeply depressing and downright dangerous effects perceptions of gender have on people. From birth girls are taught to be small, to care about how they look, to be thin rather than healthy, and so many other harmful stereotypes that lead to anxiety and break down a girl's ability to develop confidence in themself and their opinions. And on the flipside, boys are groomed to be "men," these strong, emotionless creatures that don't cry and think that women are crazy. And when a women starts to speak out, against abuse, harassment, or so often rape, their seen as aggressive, bitchy, and their opinions and emotions are downplayed for the benefit of the man or men they're speaking out against (ahem, Bill Cosby, James Deen, Jameis Winston, to name a few).  The effects of gender stereotyping are very serious and they need to be challenged by everyone, everywhere. Only then will things actually change for the better.

Secondly, I chose the non-mandatory school training on gender and sexuality as the easiest solution to implement because I honestly think that just beginning the conversation of gender and how stereotypes can be harmful in the classroom, among people who are developing and learning, isn't hard. This doesn't need to be some rigorous course in why we need gender fluidity. Instead, simply having someone who can answer young people's questions on gender and sexuality in a non-judgemental way, will go a long way in changing the status quo. And making it non-mandatory is simply a way of appeasing the people that were never going to be open to this class in the first place. Gender and sexuality are so often ignored by American culture and out of the mainstream conversation, that just talking about them could do wonders in helping change our conservative view of gender and sexuality. And could save countless women and men from being harassed and assaulted. Because, you know, rape and harassment is about people thinking that they can do and say whatever they want. Doesn't that sound strikingly similar to the way we raise boys? (the "boys will be boys" concept)

That's all folks! Tell me what YOU think is the world's biggest issue, and whether or not you disagree with my thoughts.