Assignment 30: Final Reflection

1. I definitely had a lot of good moments doing some of these posts for this class. Although I think I had a rough time coming up with the 20 bug list ideas was pretty difficult, it was different thinking about how many things actually bugged me. However, it did get to the point where I had to start thinking about things that didn't necessarily bug me but could bug somebody else. The interviews were definitely annoying because of having to go to so many more different people. It was really hard to find the time to go out and interview people. The assignments were all quite easy, but the venture concept was probably the most time consuming one of all. took a lot of thought for each section that you had to put into it. I liked the elevator pitches, just a little, because it helped me get better at presenting in front of a camera. 
2. The most formative experience that I had in this class was the elevator pitch because, like I said, it helped me better my skills in performing in front of a camera. It helped me focus on being natural and being who I really am instead of cracking down under pressure. The experience that I'll remember for years later will be the reading reflections because of how interesting and eye-opening the books I chose were. The books helped me think of failure in various ways and helped get a deeper understanding on Phil Knight. My most joyous experience is the one I have now because of this semester being done knowing that this will be the last post I'll be writing. The experience I am most proud of is the elevator pitch again because I was never good at performing in front of cameras. This assignment allowed me to stem from comfort zone and overcome something I still was yet to accomplish. 
3. Now that this semester is over, I do feel that I've acquired an entrepreneurial mindset. I now see things as opportunities and I also see things as learning experiences rather than failures. I do feel like I am progressing further and further into an entrepreneurial mindset.
4. For future students who will be taking this class, I would recommend that they do the assignments ahead of time. Some of these assignments will interfere with other exams and you will just stress yourself out if you leave the assignments till the day that they are due. Oh and watch the lectures because the cupcakes are just bombs with frosting on them. To foster this mindset, I would say to dedicate yourself time within the day to work on the assignments for the class. If you feel like you can't do the assignment, take a break and think about something else and then come back to it. If you decide to do this at 11:30 on the day the post is due, then good luck.

   

Assignment 29: Venture Concept No.2

Bulk Bites

Opportunity

The opportunity that I am going for is creating a product to satisfy the hunger in between meals for people. The people who have the need are those in the gym and college students. The product is made to be an aid to increasing muscle mass for those who go to the gym, and it is also a nice little snack to eat while going in between your classes for college students who are unable to take time to go to a place to pick up something to eat. The nature of the need is everyday for college students because of the lack of time created by studying and going to classes. The nature for gym goers is also everyday because they normally want to keep their muscle mass size up. The forces and/or changes in the environment creating this opportunity is the lack of time college students have to get things to eat in between their meals, and the sometimes the lack of effort gym goers and college students have to make their own snacks. Currently, the market is targeted towards Gainesville and Boynton Beach in Florida because of me going to school in Gainesville and living in Boynton Beach. In terms of demographics, I'm targeting those who are between 15-35 years old, men, and woman. These individuals are normally people who go to the gym and college students who lack time to get snacks or make them. Currently, people are satisfying this need by buying protein bars from the grocery store or making their own protein shakes. However, I feel that people are not too loyal to these forms because of the lack of tastiness of protein shakes and the lack of knowledge of what's put into making the store-bought protein bars. The opportunity really isn't that big because not a lot of people find this as a problem. I think the "window of opportunity" will remain open because of the new generations to come for college will acquire the same problem that current students are having, there will also be people who are trying to increase muscle mass at the gym. 

Innovation

The product that I am selling is made up of peanut butter, oats, honey, protein powder, raisins, or any other ingredient that is recommended to me for their batch. The product satisfies all the nutrient values for protein, carbs, fats, fiber, sugars, and fruits. This product is meant to satisfy hunger in between meals for a short time in order to keep you full till your next meal. The product is meant to be eaten as about 2-3 "bites" per in between meals. The product is meant to help build on the gains at the gym and satisfy the huger for college students in between meals. I'm selling the product in bulk (hence the name) by 10 and 25. I am selling the batches for $15 and $25 respectively.

Venture Concept

My product will address the opportunity of hunger by supplying people with a healthy, homemade snack that they can eat in between their meals. People will buy my product because it's not too expensive, it's healthy, and it's homemade. The reason I think that people will switch to my product is because people get bored of eating the same protein bars and protein shakes. I design my product around personalization where people are able to choose some of their added ingredients as opposed to getting the same product all the time. I feel that it won't be hard to get people to switch because of the factors of taste and mystery involved in what you're getting out of the alternatives. The competitors are the grocery stores/people who supply their protein bars in the store and protein shake companies. The vulnerabilities and weaknesses of these companies is that they don't have homemade products and they normally have ingredients that nobody can pronounce. They also don't allow someone to personalize their products because of how expensive it is for companies to do that. The role in packaging, price points, distribution, customer support, and the business location don't really play a huge role in my product. The role of customer experience does because I'm allowing my customers to put in any ingredients on top of the base ingredients that they want into the bulk bites (raisins aren't a base but is good for a first batch). I wouldn't grow my business bigger to the point of gaining employees. The general role of my venture is to be small and emphasize the homemade factor of my business. 

Three Minor Elements

1. The most important resource of my venture is the homemade factor. By staying small, I am able to appeal to those customers who worry about what's in their snacks and foods. It would be hard for companies to match this because of how inefficient they would be if they were to try and achieve this goal. 

2. What's next for my business would probably sell to-go containers for the bulk bites. I was thinking about making the containers in the shape of little spheres that will house maybe 3-4 bites. I was thinking about designing them to look like things in world culture such as dragon balls or poki balls. Probably sell these containers at around $5-$10 each.  

3. For the future, this will serve as some side income as I'll be dedicating most of my time to firefighting. 

Summary of Feedback

Almost all of the feedback that I received was positive except for my feedback on the Bulk Bite Kits. The comment talked about how the kits will enable people to learn about how the product is made and prevent them from purchasing from my company again because of them having the recipe. They talked about how this is the reason why recipes are so heavily guarded by companies. Other than that, people really supported how detailed I was in the innovation aspect and that the new potential market that I highlighted in the "What's Next?" post were some really good ideas. 

Changes

Based on the feedback that I received, I scraped the idea of making a kit for people to make the product at their homes. Instead, I am focusing on making the little to-go containers that will not only help gym goers and college students transport the bites with them, but it will also serve as a to-go container for outside workers and kids for when they transport the bites via lunchboxes.