My Secret Sauce

1)      Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. What is it about you, exactly, that makes you different? Write this up in a detailed list. 

The five ways in which I believe I am truly unique are the following:

1.       I am always focused on building strong relationships. I believe that friendships and all relationship are based on experiences and that is why I consider myself a really sociable and open-minded person, able to interact with people coming from any culture or background.

2.       I am able to speak two languages fluently, both English and Spanish, which gives me the opportunity of interacting with people coming from different backgrounds.

3.       I am responsible and committed on the arrangements I make with others and I always try to complete what I promised.

4.       I value my family and friends a lot and I believe that trust and communication are the essence for any of my relationships.

5.       I try to look for new solutions and new alternatives to different problems. I have an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset that helps me to be creative and solve unmet needs and opportunities in new ways.

2)      Interview the five people who know you the best. Ask them what they think makes you different -- remember, focus on your knowledge, skills, abilities, emotions -- in other words, your human capital. Try to stay away from discussing your other types of capital (such as who you know). Record each interview. In your blog post, please post each interview, as well as a two-three sentence summary of each interview, explaining what your key takeaways are.

Natalia, my sister: The key take away of this interview is the fact that I’ve known my sister more than anyone and she is one of the persons that could describe myself with great detail. This is why I appreciate everything she says.

Bernardo: Bernie is one of my best friends here in Gainesville and after listening to his description about myself, it makes me very proud to say that I have such a positive impact on him.

My Dad: He is one of the most significant persons in my life and I can say that I am a really lucky guy for having him as my dad. I feel really proud about him and I am glad to hear that what he thinks about me is all positive.

Maxi: Of all the people that I interviewed, Maxi is the one that I’ve met not too many years ago. I can say that his idea about myself makes me proud of being his friend and I am glad to know that he thinks that about myself.

Rodrigo: I feel reflected to my friend Rodrigo because he comes from the same place I come from and ever since I met him I feel that we share the same passions. It is really amazing to leave great impact on my friends and to know about it is even better.

3) Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you? Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? Do you think your interviewees are correct about you? Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How? 

I could see that almost all of my interviewees described me in the same way as I did on the first point of this assignment. The only thing that I forgot to mention is my passion for soccer and I can say that the friends that I interviewed really know me because of that. I believe that as we go through different phases of our lives, we interact with our family members and we meet people from different places and we leave part of us with them. To make an impact on their lives means that their lives impacted us as well, and I can say that my interviewees are and will always be essential for my happiness and success. This assignment helped me to make a reflection of how am I different and unique on other people’s lives and I can say that I have the privilege of having the friends and family that I have. 

Marketing Challenges for Entrepreneurial Ventures - 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?

I was surprised by how the author describes that entrepreneurs believe that marketing research might contain data that is irrelevant for their ventures. This surprised me because marketing is one of the most important aspect in which an entrepreneur must spend a lot of money, time and effort. Through marketing research, an entrepreneur is able to develop different strategies that would be helpful for his or her venture.

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

One part that was confusing to me were the three steps to help lure customers to a site once it’s up and running on page 292. I believe that the author could describe more in depth these three steps in order to provide a better understanding for the reader.

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

I would ask the author the following two questions:

·         What are the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make during a marketing research process?

·         In which stage of the venture should the entrepreneur invest on marketing research?

I will ask the author these two questions because I believe that they could help the readers and future entrepreneurs to know what to avoid when implementing a marketing research, and when it would be the best time to work on this process.

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

I do not disagree with anything that the author says. However, I believe that the author could have used real life examples on how to target, segment or set a price so students have an idea of how different companies do to work on these aspects.

My Business Plan - Idea Napkin #2

You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are.

As some of you may already know, my name is Alejandro Arteaga and I was born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia. Ever since I was a kid I was surrounded by two complete opposite realities that crafted and developed the way I see the world. By one side, I was part of a private school where I met all of my best friends and where I had the opportunity of learning at a high level of education. But in our surroundings it was easy to see and perceive something completely opposite, where there is struggle and poverty and where really young kids have to start working to provide their families with some additional resources. As I continued to grow up, I became aware that there is something I could do to help the people that need our help. All in all, I developed entrepreneurial skills since high school, an know I can say that I consider myself a really organized person who is not only focused on achieving deadlines, but I also believe that it is really important to develop communication skills in order to be successful. I love soccer and my aspirations are based on contributing to the development of soccer not only as a sport, but also as an opportunity for my country. Specifically regarding my business plan, I believe that we are in the first stage of the business plan but I like to see this business concept more as a unique experience by the moment. I think that this class and the business concept that I developed would be crucial and would play an essential role in my life for future endeavors.

What are you offering to customers?

I am offering my customers the option to better manage their time. We all got the same time, but the only thing that makes us different is the way we use that time, and I believe that my business plan would help UF students to have a better and more adjustable way of managing their time when thinking about transportation. Students should be focused on developing their knowledge and skills rather than thinking when the bus would come again. But as described in the previous point, I prefer seeing my business concept as an amazing experience from which I will learn how to approach and know the unmet needs that exist all around the world.

Who are you offering it to?

My customers are all students at the University of Florida, who live off campus and who have the struggle of either arriving late to the bus stop, or seeing the bus go away just when they were going to take it. There are approximately 50 thousand students in the University of Florida, and a significant portion of this number live off-campus. But I think that this business plan could be offered especially to the RTS Corporation. I think that this could improve the type of service that they provide and it could also be seen as an example for other cities.

Why do they care? The people who care about my business plan are based on two components:

·         The students care because they want be able to manage their time in better way, and they are volatile to the use of technology and smartphones applications, so they would not find this product to be something hard to manage.

·         The RTS should also see my business plan as an opportunity because they are focused on providing the best service to the people that ride the bus in the city. If implanted in the right way, they could be an example for other cities and they would have a competitive advantage among the other competitors in other cities. 

What are your core competencies?

I believe that what sets my business plan apart from every other bus smartphone application is the fact that it is strictly focused on providing the customers with innovation that was not yet implemented anywhere around the country. The customers would feel that they are exclusive and unique, and I think that Gainesville is a place where innovations occur in a daily basis (a clear example is Gatorade), and it is our job to keep this pace as Gators. I will always strive for customer satisfaction, but I think that another attribute that makes my business plan unique is the fact that it will be based on the opinion and acceptance of students. Even though there are surveys about different events that are happening on campus, there are very few surveys and questionnaires regarding the evaluation of the transportation services in Gainesville, and this is definitely something I would implement on a daily basis for this business plan.

How would I make my customers to keep using my app?

The reason why my customer will keep using my app will be because there is no service similar to the service that I am offering. My business will always strive for innovation and ways to improve the bus transportation in Gainesville, and at the same time it will also be focused on helping students to be able to invest their time on studying and working rather than being stressed thinking about the bus and time it will arrive to the bus stop.

Feedback Memo

From the Idea Napkin #1, I was able to recognize that all of the feedback was positive, which didn’t gave me the possibility of thinking on something to improve for my business plan. There was one comment that encouraged me to think about how I would ensure my customers to come back and keep using my app. That is why I included this on the Idea Napkin #2. The five main points that I take from the feedback I received are the following:

1.       Positive Feedback: The feedback that I received was mostly positive which didn’t gave me the chance of thinking on improvements on my business plan.

2.       People related to me and my background: I was able to perceive that some of the feedback included descriptions of people that grew up in similar conditions as I did, which gives me a sense of relatedness with them, who at the end will be potential customers.

3.       I could see that not everyone takes the bus: The feedback that I received included comments saying that “they never took the bus” or “I will never take the bus again” which is critical to my business because my business plan has a complete relationship with the demand of bus transportation in Gainesville.

4.       How can I make sure that my customers will keep using my app: I included the strategy that could help me solve this issue.

5.       Think about other opportunities using my business plan: I was able to perceive that some of my feedback included suggestions that I should also focus on thinking on more than just an app.

Evaluation of my Napkin Idea

I believe that the elements that compose my business plan fit together accurately. My customers are already targeted to be a specific group of people who I believe need this product. However, I believe that I am missing a key component within the five elements. The aspect that I think I am missing is the fact that I have no knowledge about the process of making and creating a smartphone application. This is the core feature of my business plan and I need to consider for possible solutions to this critical issue. However, as stated on my Idea Napkin, I believe that my business concept would help the students and the residents in Gainesville to better manage one of the scarcest and unrenewable resource that we all have, which is time.