- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Hey Cassandra!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your assignment because I could tell how much you thought about it and how much effort you put in and how dedicated you are to your idea. It's really cool that you already have a direct connection to this campaign that will hopefully support and launch your idea into a starting process, that is huge capitol for your company, and something most people do not have. I didn't complete this assignment but if you want to check out my blog you can at this link:
http://rmathisonent3003.blogspot.com
I do not have a full idea of what your product is but I really hate the fact that you want to charge victims of hate porn to have their pictures taken down. I really like the idea of the End Revenge Porn campaign, but hate the idea of more companies coming out that take advantage of people who have been victims of rape porn forcing them to pay to have people help hide their photos. Other than that I think your VRIN’s were very well done, and having a connection to a charity is a great resource.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to my post http://ent3003blog.blogspot.com/2016/03/my-unfair-advantage-week-eleven.html
Hi Renee,
DeleteI really appreciate your feedback and I wanted to take a second to respond. I don't like the idea of charging people for the effects of a traumatic experience that was in no way, shape, or form their fault. In fact, when I started on this concept, I wanted it to be free. I later changed that because I realized I had to make a living if I was actually going to pursue this.
With that said, the reason I want to start this company is because there is a disgusting amount of revenge porn in the world and little to no options for survivors of revenge porn. Only 26 states in the US have laws criminalizing it and even if someone is to be convicted of posting revenge porn, that doesn't guarantee the photos/videos get taken down.
When I talked to the head of the End Revenge Porn campaign, she told me about how she had a worst case scenario for revenge porn. Her photos ended up on 1,000s of sites and so she got them trademarked through the US government so that when or if she found them online, she could legally request them to be taken down. To maintain that trademark costs her around 300-400 dollars a year. She said she'll probably be paying that for the rest of her life. That's the reality of the options that survivors face.
Yes, it's shitty that I'm charging someone for something that wasn't their fault, that they are a victim of. That's undisputable. I'm just trying to do something that will actually help people and that won't cost nearly as much as the currently available options.
She also told me about the scam sites that charge victim's 500+ dollars to get their photos taken down - and then they disappear.
My venture is like the democratic party - the lesser of two evils. Still evil. Just not as bad as the other people.
Hope that helps clarify. I'm not trying to say you're wrong. Just defending my idea. Feedback is always welcomed <3
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI must say that I had a bit of trouble identifying your business idea until I read the commentary. Now, I must also say that your idea is quite interesting that you are controlling the evil to help others. A devilishly clever idea that can have its nastier bits of PR dealt with donations to revenge porn groups. Also not to get into politics and as a otherwise side note, I hate both political parties. Check out my blog and my political app idea at: http://entspring16.blogspot.com/2016/03/your-ventures-unfair-advantage.html