Final Reflection

2) I think that the most formative experience are the elevator pitches. The experience I will remember years later is the venture concept assignment. The most joyous experience was the reading reflection when I read Steve Jobs' book. I'm most proud of accomplishing the venture concept no. 2 assignment.

3) I have definitely become more of an entrepreneur. I also see myself as more of an entrepreneur having learned a lot of the aspects of that come with being an entrepreneur in the class. I have definitely moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

4) The recommendation that I would make is to understand that you will miss assignments. The key is to do the most assignments that you can, and do them well. Along with that, participate! Do all the extra credit possible. To foster this mindset you just need to have a lot of time management skills. These time management skills really do develop throughout the semester.

Venture Concept No. 2

The cable cutting group is a smart group, interested in saving money, and acquiring the best deal they can get for their money. This smart group of individuals present an opportunity, for which no one is currently filling the need of. Streaming services are fulfilling half of cable cutter's needs. Streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are able to offer movies and shows at a monthly rate. These individuals have eliminated the basic cable packages that exist today, and successfully switched to streaming services. This is because the basic cable packages that exist within the current cable company system lock their customers to channels they don't want to watch. Customers are forced to buy  a certain amount of channels they don't want to watch. The market is defined equally throughout the United States, as cable companies are running a monopoly with the current system. These cable cutters are extremely loyal to their streaming services, as they are interested in attaining the best possible product they can get. This opportunity is on a world level, as it could potentially be the future of cable as a whole. The window of opportunity will most likely be open for the next few years as no news of major implementation has been announced. Although, action must be taken immediately if actively pursuing this opportunity, because it could be implemented rather quickly. Once implemented the target audience is very loyal and if a good company takes part, they could take a large amount of the available market share.

This target audience needs a cable system that allows autonomous action. In order to satisfy the target audience, the cable service itself must be changed. The innovation consists of creating a new form of cable that still runs on the same grid that is being used today. Meaning that all of the channels that are available right now, will stay, yet the system that is used to sell cable to customers will be changed. The system for this innovation allows the customers to choose what they want to watch. In general, the cable cutting movement has sparked cable customers throughout the United States to change to other alternatives. This is because the current cable system is outdated, not only by running a monopoly, but by locking its customers into packages that they don't want to have. For example, if I go to a cable company and want to have ESPN, I will be forced into a basic cable package. This basic cable package will have somewhere around 70 channels, yet I only want to watch one of those channels. The idea of having to pay for a basic cable package is just outdated. The innovation consists of letting the customer choose what they want to watch. Each month the customer can choose to change what they want to watch, by adding, dropping, or keeping channels. The customer would only pay for the channels that they choose for the month. So, if the customer only wants ESPN for the month, they can choose to just have that channel and pay $8 dollars. Customers can choose as many channels as they want, the goal is to give as much autonomy to the customers as possible.
There are a few additions to this basic concept that produce more revenue and publicity for the product. The first addition to this concept being the ability for customers to pay for live events. If a customer doesn't have a channel on which a live event that they want to watch is being played, they can stream that live event for a cost; without having to buy the channel as a whole. For example, if I want to watch the World Series on CBS, and I don't have that channel, I can choose to stream the whole series for a fee. The fees for streaming depend on each channel and the amount of streaming time. Along with live event streaming, pay-per-view services will be added. PPV events such as boxing, UFC, WWE, etc. can be streamed as other cable companies normally would. The second addition is the possibility of partnerships with streaming services. As this model of cable company resembles streaming services models such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, it creates the potential for partnerships. A partnership with a streaming service could mean a few things for the company: more customers and publicity, possible applications for streaming and cable at the same time, and the possibility for content creation such as movies or tv shows.
The reasons customers would switch to this cable company would be for the freedom they have when choosing how they watch television, the cost benefits, and the potential partnerships that may exist with their current streaming services. The competitors for this venture concept are all of the cable companies not only in the United States but the world, as this could be adopted as the new model for cable in the future. The vulnerabilities to this venture concept are the barriers to entry into the market. Cable companies have a current monopoly over different regions in the United States, meaning that there must be a lot of capital available in order to start this venture. The role of price points and customer experience are certainly the most important, as they display what the company values are for this concept. Being a concept that gives freedom to its customers is at the core of the company.
This company will have its model that will make it hard for competitors to copy the success of it. It'll be too late before cable companies realize that this is the model of the future. The next opportunity for the venture is breaking into the market and tackling the initial barrier that exists. Finally, as an entrepreneur with this venture I would want to have a solid partnership with a streaming service, such as Netflix, not only creating content but making the world adopt this new cable service model. 

Feedback:

- The first comment was mostly positive feedback regarding the venture concept, so there are no changes I could make from that.

- The second comment helped me put my venture concept in a different perspective. The comment started by giving me positive feedback. It continued by explaining that Netflix doesn't really fit into my business model. I disagree with this point. Netflix has taken a lot of business from cable companies. The company cares a lot about its customers, and they try to offer them fair content for what they are paying. This fits into my business model. Why? Because my company is trying to offer consumers that are currently paying more for what they're getting, what they're supposed to be getting. Netflix and other streaming services also open up the potential for content sharing across platforms. Along with content sharing across platforms it adds the possibility for future collaboration on content creation. Netflix is currently creating its own content, which could be aided by more funding and more viewership. Thus, my company comes in and offers a different viewership than the already customers of Netflix. 

- I didn't really change my concept, but thanks to the feedback I thought about how Netflix fits into my business model. This made me think more about my concept and the business model that comes along with it.

My Exit Strategy

1) The exit strategy that I would plan to make would be staying with the business for the next several decades and retiring. This could also lead to me passing on the business to family or selling it at the end of my decades long run.
2) I have chosen this particular exit strategy because this product is one that needs to be steered the right way, with the right intentions behind it. Rather than the intentions of juicing every single bit of the customer's wallet and taking advantage of the market. I want this venture to have a good connotation behind it. A connotation that shows the goodness behind what a service truly should be. Another reason for taking this exit strategy is the fact that if I were to let this company get bought out, the system would immediately revert back to what it is today. The system today takes advantage of the fact that it can be different monopolies. It also takes advantage of the customers by not giving them other choices and forcing them into packages. This is exactly what I am trying to change with my company, it needs to be steered in the right direction, and if I were to let it be bought out it would instantly revert back the current corrupt system.
3) This exit strategy certainly influenced how I looked at different aspects of the opportunity. In fact, the opportunity itself was identified by thinking about markets that need to be changed. I thought about the cable company market right now and how it needs to be changed in order to give rights back to the consumer. I think that a service is a lot about giving autonomy to the consumer and letting them come back because of what good service you have given them in the past. Rather than creating a monopoly that forces people. So I think that this exit strategy definitely influenced how I chose this opportunity. I would say that it influenced my intentions in a good way. My intentions are reverting a system back to what is right, rather than taking advantage of individuals. I think that these intentions are reflected by my exit strategy.

Making It Real

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zMN8dJ73vOgqHbOHKrudDxXiN63cwe8BNwSc6QfaybQ/edit

Celebrating Failure

1) My midterm exam that I had for another class this semester is one that is constantly on my mind. I wouldn't exactly say that I failed it, I just really didn't do well on it. Not only did I not do well on it, I expected to do much better on it. I studied for a few days for this exam, and I felt pretty confident about it beforehand. Once I got to the exam, I was very confident on half of the exam, and the other half I wasn't so confident on. Part of this is my fault, and I have accepted this as my fault, yet it still bothers me. The other fault that I see in it is the fact that the professor didn't tell us that we didn't have to study for that part. He told us that the part in which I was confident in was going to be most of what was on the exam. He even told us not to study on some of the parts that were questioned on the exam. Regardless, he's not to blame, rather I just failed to study for part of it.
2) I learned that when studying I can even contact the professor and ask what I should expect to see on it. Looking for direction before an assignment or an exam is totally acceptable on the part of a student. I from now on will definitely be looking for direction to prior an exam or an assignment I am unsure of, with the professor. Plus, it never hurts to ask the professor for thoughts and expectations.
3) I think many ways about failure. Failure is very hard to accept. Failure is also one of those things that can be great for a person if they take everything they can from it. Failure can teach people to change something for the better. It can also make people learn from their mistakes. I think that learning from failure is one of the best aspects of it. I handle failure in different ways, it just the depends the caliber of failure. Sometimes failure just means that more work is needed. On the other hand, it can mean that you didn't do well on an exam and your final grade will suffer a lot from it. I always try to handle failure from the perspective that you can learn something from it. Each loss (failure) to me is just experience, and there should always be something that can be taken out of that loss that enhances you as an individual. I am definitely more likely to take a risk now than I was four months ago. Just because of the way that this class teaches us about how to deal with failure. The perspective of many people, including mine can be changed if people accept failure and learn to deal with it. If there is anything that this class has given me, it is the fact that I can accept failure and learn from it each time.

Venture Concept No. 1

The cable cutting group is a smart group, interested in saving money, and acquiring the best deal they can get for their money. This smart group of individuals present an opportunity, for which no one is currently filling the need of. Streaming services are fulfilling half of cable cutter's needs. Streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are able to offer movies and shows at a monthly rate. These individuals have eliminated the basic cable packages that exist today, and successfully switched to streaming services. This is because the basic cable packages that exist within the current cable company system lock their customers to channels they don't want to watch. Customers are forced to buy  a certain amount of channels they don't want to watch. The market is defined equally throughout the United States, as cable companies are running a monopoly with the current system. These cable cutters are extremely loyal to their streaming services, as they are interested in attaining the best possible product they can get. This opportunity is on a world level, as it could potentially be the future of cable as a whole. The window of opportunity will most likely be open for the next few years as no news of major implementation has been announced. Although, action must be taken immediately if actively pursuing this opportunity, because it could be implemented rather quickly. Once implemented the target audience is very loyal and if a good company takes part, they could take a large amount of the available market share.

This target audience needs a cable system that allows autonomous action. In order to satisfy the target audience, the cable service itself must be changed. The innovation consists of creating a new form of cable that still runs on the same grid that is being used today. Meaning that all of the channels that are available right now, will stay, yet the system that is used to sell cable to customers will be changed. The system for this innovation allows the customers to choose what they want to watch. In general, the cable cutting movement has sparked cable customers throughout the United States to change to other alternatives. This is because the current cable system is outdated, not only by running a monopoly, but by locking its customers into packages that they don't want to have. For example, if I go to a cable company and want to have ESPN, I will be forced into a basic cable package. This basic cable package will have somewhere around 70 channels, yet I only want to watch one of those channels. The idea of having to pay for a basic cable package is just outdated. The innovation consists of letting the customer choose what they want to watch. Each month the customer can choose to change what they want to watch, by adding, dropping, or keeping channels. The customer would only pay for the channels that they choose for the month. So, if the customer only wants ESPN for the month, they can choose to just have that channel and pay $8 dollars. Customers can choose as many channels as they want, the goal is to give as much autonomy to the customers as possible.
There are a few additions to this basic concept that produce more revenue and publicity for the product. The first addition to this concept being the ability for customers to pay for live events. If a customer doesn't have a channel on which a live event that they want to watch is being played, they can stream that live event for a cost; without having to buy the channel as a whole. For example, if I want to watch the World Series on CBS, and I don't have that channel, I can choose to stream the whole series for a fee. The fees for streaming depend on each channel and the amount of streaming time. Along with live event streaming, pay-per-view services will be added. PPV events such as boxing, UFC, WWE, etc. can be streamed as other cable companies normally would. The second addition is the possibility of partnerships with streaming services. As this model of cable company resembles streaming services models such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, it creates the potential for partnerships. A partnership with a streaming service could mean a few things for the company: more customers and publicity, possible applications for streaming and cable at the same time, and the possibility for content creation such as movies or tv shows.
The reasons customers would switch to this cable company would be for the freedom they have when choosing how they watch television, the cost benefits, and the potential partnerships that may exist with their current streaming services. The competitors for this venture concept are all of the cable companies not only in the United States but the world, as this could be adopted as the new model for cable in the future. The vulnerabilities to this venture concept are the barriers to entry into the market. Cable companies have a current monopoly over different regions in the United States, meaning that there must be a lot of capital available in order to start this venture. The role of price points and customer experience are certainly the most important, as they display what the company values are for this concept. Being a concept that gives freedom to its customers is at the core of the company.
This company will have its model that will make it hard for competitors to copy the success of it. It'll be too late before cable companies realize that this is the model of the future. The next opportunity for the venture is breaking into the market and tackling the initial barrier that exists. Finally, as an entrepreneur with this venture I would want to have a solid partnership with a streaming service, such as Netflix, not only creating content but making the world adopt this new cable service model. 

Elevator Pitch No. 3

1) Here is my third pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtHH-F-sSdk&feature=youtu.be

2) What stood out as important was a comment about trying to create a viable competitive model. I set out to look for changes or additions that I could make to create more revenue or a more appealing product. The addition that I made was adding the ability to stream live events.

3) I didn't change this based on feedback, but more based on what I have been thinking about my venture lately. I wanted to figure out more ways that my venture could make more revenue. I came up with the idea of adding live events. If individuals don't have a channel that they want to watch one night for a live event, they can stream that live event on that channel for a fee. This allows customers to choose an event they want to watch one night, rather than being locked into a channel for the rest of the month.