Venture concept no. 2

 Opportunity

My opportunity strikes children who have special needs and the parents/family members of those children with special needs. The nature of the need is to educate, entertain, and distract their special needs child. 

The forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity are the growth in special education students in classrooms, the coronavirus moving special education students to online schooling where they are distracted and not as involved. The market isn’t defined geographically because it would be all over the country, maybe more so in cities where the population is higher, and defined demographically to special needs children receiving schooling under the age of eighteen years old. Customers are currently satisfying this need by providing to their special needs child through toys and games, fun videos, and online schooling; they are very loyal to what they use now, going to school everyday for hours, before and after school playing with toys and games and watching fun videos. This opportunity is very big with the right timing currently, there have been opportunities like this in the past but nothing involving games, education, and videos all in one. This “window of opportunity” will be open as long as special education students are receiving schooling online, maybe even as long as the coronavirus lasts.

 

Innovation

What this is is an app for special education students to access so they can learn what they’re learning in school through fun games and interactive videos. What this app does is grow the special needs child’s knowledge and understanding of the lessons they are partaking in school at the moment, it also serves to distract and entertain the special needs child. It works by the parent downloading the app from the app store, letting their special needs child access the app from their device whenever is possible, the special needs child will be enrolled on the app with their current grade and will be linked to games and videos of they are currently trying to learn in school. I at first wasn’t planning to sell the app, but noting I need to make money and viewing profit margins to other educational apps similar to this one I will charge a monthly subscription fee of ten dollars. It is free to download, this seems not too expensive because I still want to keep my customers in mind and their needs over pricing.

 

Venture Concept

My innovation will solve or address the opportunity I defined by educating and entertaining special needs children through its games and videos on the app.

The reasons customers would switch to this new product is because it is the right time, their special needs children are distracted in their online video lessons and aren’t involved in as many activities as they would be in school, the customer will find their special needs child learning and entertained in a new way. It might be a little hard to get my customers to switch over to my app because there are other apps out there, but because a lot of special needs children do like to play games on their parents phones and watch videos they will eventually find my app. The competitors are the other similar apps out there that try to have the same goals I have through my app. Possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities my competitors would have is that they don’t have the opportunity I have right now with the coronavirus occurring and special needs students at home, my competitors might not have games and videos in their app where special needs students can grow their learning. The role packaging, price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location plays in defining my business concept is very small because this is an app which can be used or distributed through anyone’s phone, I think the only thing that is very important is the customer experience because there are other apps similar to this one out there and the customer wants to see their special needs child enjoying and entertaining and growing their learning continuously. I would organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of my new product, service, or process by needing an app developer that I can trust and work with to help create this app and reach all my goals I want to achieve through this app. There would maybe be one employee and that would be the app developer, kind of unknown because I don’t know how many employees it takes to help develop an app. Roles in the venture would be me as the creator and the mind behind the app, the app developer as the employee that helped make this app real.

 

The three minor elements

My most important resource, my “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage,” is that I do have experience with parents and children who are customers and I know what they do and don’t like and I know how to treat them fairly and work hard. Besides my innovative product, service, or process what I have that will make it hard for competitors to copy my success is this experience because competitors might not have interacted with parents and children before, especially in an educational setting.

What’s next for my venture, the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at my existing customers is an app for children with other disabilities, like mental disorders, or learning disabilities like dyslexia. The apps would be similar, there would be entertaining videos, quizzes, lessons, but of course the learning material would fit that child’s disability. 

What’s next for me, where I want to be in five years with this venture, where I want to be as an entrepreneur in the next decade is having these two apps out there in the app store that have many customers children growing their education and actually enjoying it. At some point when I would leave this business behind, I want to leave on a good note with a strong business, and I don’t want any customers noticing any big differences in the app once I leave. This first venture helps achieve my vision because this is an app for special needs children that would help them greatly and make them very happy. 

 

Overall the feedback was positive, with my peers excited in my venture from the very beginning. The big changes in my venture concept, following my peers, is the pricing of my app, looking at profit margins I am now instead doing a monthly subscription service of ten dollars. And how exactly would this new app, new venture in my business, be similar and different to my current app and venture. Now the second app would be very similar to the current one except it would be targeting that disability, and would match that child’s disability and level of education. So, for example, if it were to be a mental disability the child was using the app for there’d also be counseling sessions and skills provided.

Final reflection

 1)    Throughout this semester I’ve experienced the highs of my assignments, like completing my first assignment very early with plenty of time to spare, coming up with a great venture concept for the rest of this semester, coming up with other products my business could bring, receiving helpful feedback I’d use for every one of my elevator pitches. I’ve also experienced some lows, like forgetting to include audio of my interviews in my secret sauce assignment, rushing to complete an assignment the morning its due, or staying up late for an assignment when I’m very tired, a big low for me was missing cupcake 7 because I thought it was due on Monday instead of Friday. 

2)    The most formative experience would be coming back almost every week working on my elevator pitch, now I know how to get the attention of a business in ninety seconds formally. The experience I’ll remember is creating such a valued venture out of nothing, it came from my heart and turned out great. My most joyous experience through this course was interviewing friends and family about me and hearing their honest feedback. The experience I’m most proud of accomplishing is completing this class, it was one of my first classes to complete coming back to UF and I’m relieved I kept up with it.

3)    I think I see myself as an entrepreneur a little bit, I’ve definitely moved closure, with the skills I’d learn every week and being put into a situation where I created something that meant so much to me.

4)    A recommendation to the future student is to actually read the books from the reading list, especially Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, because looking to these other entrepreneurs can really inspire you. What I recommend they do to perform best is to work ahead, watching the videos earlier in the week and completing the assignments weeks ahead, not waiting last minute the day everything is due, it gives room for if they fall behind to still be on track and gives them time. To foster their mindset they need to take these skills to the real world now.

Reading reflection no. 3

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Is written from the perspective of Phil Knight, the creator of Nike, it is narrated around when he started the business and traveled the world.

What surprised me the most was how real and relatable Phil Knight was, he was so human he went at a normal pace and followed his own path. What I most admired was how interested he was in finding meaning, looking for it in other cultures religions, something that I can relate to. What I least admired was the constant lies he’d tell in business, but it did get him to create styles in this brand that I love. Phil encountered adversity and failure multiple times throughout his career, selling shoes part time while accounting or teaching, the main set back was tensions that arose between his supplier Onitsuka Tiger, this resulted in him finding a new supplier and changing the name of his business Blue Ribbon to Nike and also changing the design to a swoop.

The entrepreneur looked to history to help him start his business, following how the Japanese camera company Kodak took over the German camera business in the past he wanted to use Japanese suppliers to help take over the shoe business.

A part of the reading that was confusing to me was why he lied, again, about having two retail stores in America he was selling his shoes from, why he would buy a new retail story when he couldn’t afford it and didn’t have the time for it.

I’d ask the entrepreneur why wasn’t he truthful in some parts of his business, why he hadn’t created Blue Ribbon before and also why he hadn’t waited to open a second store? Also, why didn’t he put all his attention into selling shoes, why did he keep switching careers?

I think Phil Knight’s opinion of hard work would be that you can lie sometimes to get there. I don’t believe in this opinion because its just a quick scary route, should be truthful throughout a business’s career so it doesn’t come back to haunt you.

Your exit strategy

I think I plan to stay with my business, maybe for at least a decade. Keep growing it with other apps for all types of disabilities, trying to help all types of people. I would try to pass it down to my children if they wanted it, and then retire.

I’ve selected this particular exit strategy because I came into this business good hearted and laid back and I want to leave that way, keep up the tradition. I also don’t want any of my customers to notice my absence in the venture once I’m gone.

I think my exit strategy had influenced the other decisions I’ve made in my concept because I’ve kept everything valuable and loving, creating a good work place for those with disabilities who would use my venture. My venture has definitely influenced how I identify an opportunity, as in the moment and can’t be forced but will come along, like the opportunity I used to create this app with the virus and everyone relying on this app at home. Its influenced my growth intentions, I wouldn’t have done anything else but create this app for special education students, but I decided to now move onto more disabilities.

Celebrating Failure

A time this past semester I failed was being unable to double major in English and Elementary Education. I’m already an English major and I came into this university with over sixty credits, so I decided I wanted to double major in Elementary Education. But because I’m in the Innovation Academy here at the University of Florida, I wasn’t allowed to major in this. 

What I learned from this failure is that I have time, I still have time to fully decide if I want to major in Elementary Education for my master’s degree in the future. I also have time to decide if I want to withdraw from the program I’m in now.

What I think about failure is that it doesn’t come easy, I see black and white and I don’t see it as a possibility to lose or not get something. I take failure very hard, it can make me anxious and really upset, drive what I’m thinking for a long time. This class has changed my perspective on failure, reading “Coco Chanel” by Lisa Chaney and seeing how Gabriel didn’t get what she wanted for over half her life makes it feel normal if I don’t get what I’ve strived for. I think I am more likely to take a risk now, especially knowing all that I’ve learned and that I can create better ideas after.

What's next?

Existing market

Step 1 What I think is next in terms of products and services for my venture would be an app for regular children, not special needs children, who can still learn and entertain through its games and videos.

Step 2

Interview #1: I interviewed John who is part of the market whose brother is autistic. I asked him what I believed is next for a venture like mine and he said to create apps for all types of developmental issues like down syndrome, dyslexia, and processing disorders because they’re all different in some way and all have some type of learning barrier. He said what I should be doing that I’m not already doing through this app is targeting each individual developmental issue. What he said about my ideas of what customers might want next with an app for regular children who aren’t special needs is that it still kind of has the same idea of targeting children to learn and enjoy through apps and games but it is different because these aren’t special needs children.

Interview #2: I interviewed Mary who is a part of the market as a teacher’s assistant in a classroom full of special needs children. She believes my venture is great, especially with the current opportunity of special needs children at home who are distracted in lessons and aren’t as active. She didn’t have an answer for what she thinks we should be doing next that we aren’t planning to do, she thought my current idea was good enough. I asked her about my ideas of what customers want next, an app for regular kids who aren’t special needs children, she thought it was a great idea but that I should create and launch this app for special needs children first.

Interview #2: I interviewed Sarah who is already part of the marker whose sister has down syndrome. I asked her what she believed is next in a venture like mine and she didn’t believe there would be anything next, she didn’t think special needs children would be able to use an app on a phone and continue using it. I asked what we should be doing that we aren’t planning to do and she said to create physical toys for these special needs children to play with outside of the app, and to upload some of the entertaining videos to youtube where it might be easier for the special needs children or parent to access. I asked her about might idea of creating an app for regular children with the same concept except it isn’t targeting special needs children, and she believed this was a better idea because they would know how to get to and use the app and might even have phones or devices of their own.

Step 3 What makes the most sense for my venture in terms of growing my existing market is to create this app for children who do not have developmental issues. It might be easier for these children to access the app because they might have phones or devices of their own and have definitely used apps before. I maybe should have taken this step first and put more studying into the developmental issues of the special needs children I want to target, maybe make separate apps for each developmental issue.

 

New market

Step 1 I’d target children with behavioral or emotional issues, like children who are ADD or bipolar. Through lessons that would help them stabilize their emotions and learn why they are experiencing this emotions, videos to calm them.

Step 2 I think my venture concept might be able to create value for people in this market because it is a very different approaching, this app isn’t more suited for entertaining but instead for taking care of current issues that person with behavioral or emotional issues has. Create value because they are learning why they are experiencing these emotions, and are going through soothing videos, and are learning different skills to control their behaviors and emotions.

Step 3

Interview #1: I interviewed Dita who is in this market, she has ADHD. I asked her how she thinks my business might be able to help meet customers like her and she said through promoting the app a lot, through maybe therapy sessions through the app or someone to talk to in the app. Kinds of adaptions to the product/service mix that she thinks I should make to be successful in this market is twenty four hour therapy sessions, especially for emergencies.

Interview #2: I interviewed Elizabeth who is in this market, her mother is bipolar. I asked her how she thinks my business might be able to meet customers like her or her mother and she said by talking to other therapists who can put in a good word to their patients, or information in waiting rooms at therapists offices, calming mindful videos for her mother to interact in the app. Kinds of adaptions to the product/service mix that she thinks I should make to be successful in this market is quizzes after lessons where the person with that behavioral or emotional issue can use what they’ve just learned.

Step 4 What I learned in this new market is new ways to promote my idea, and new activities I could include in this new app. What surprised me the most is all the people close to me who have or know someone with behavioral or emotional issues, and the great ideas they had. Some of my expectations or assumptions were correct. This new market seems to be more attractive than my existing market because this is something very close to me.

Venture concept no. 1

Opportunity

My opportunity strikes children who have special needs and the parents/family members of those children with special needs. The nature of the need is to educate, entertain, and distract their special needs child. 

The forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity are the growth in special education students in classrooms, the coronavirus moving special education students to online schooling where they are distracted and not as involved. The market isn’t defined geographically because it would be all over the country, maybe more so in cities where the population is higher, and defined demographically to special needs children receiving schooling under the age of eighteen years old. Customers are currently satisfying this need by providing to their special needs child through toys and games, fun videos, and online schooling; they are very loyal to what they use now, going to school everyday for hours, before and after school playing with toys and games and watching fun videos. This opportunity is very big with the right timing currently, there have been opportunities like this in the past but nothing involving games, education, and videos all in one. This “window of opportunity” will be open as long as special education students are receiving schooling online, maybe even as long as the coronavirus lasts.

 

Innovation

What this is is an app for special education students to access so they can learn what they’re learning in school through fun games and interactive videos. What this app does is grow the special needs child’s knowledge and understanding of the lessons they are partaking in school at the moment, it also serves to distract and entertain the special needs child. It works by the parent downloading the app from the app store, letting their special needs child access the app from their device whenever is possible, the special needs child will be enrolled on the app with their current grade and will be linked to games and videos of they are currently trying to learn in school. I at first wasn’t planning to sell the app, but noting I need to make money it will be sold at ten dollars when downloaded, there won’t be any in app purchases and no monthly subscriptions to this service.

 

Venture Concept

My innovation will solve or address the opportunity I defined by educating and entertaining special needs children through its games and videos on the app.

The reasons customers would switch to this new product is because it is the right time, their special needs children are distracted in their online video lessons and aren’t involved in as many activities as they would be in school, the customer will find their special needs child learning and entertained in a new way. It might be a little hard to get my customers to switch over to my app because there are other apps out there, but because a lot of special needs children do like to play games on their parents phones and watch videos they will eventually find my app. The competitors are the other similar apps out there that try to have the same goals I have through my app. Possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities my competitors would have is that they don’t have the opportunity I have right now with the coronavirus occurring and special needs students at home, my competitors might not have games and videos in their app where special needs students can grow their learning. The role packaging, price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location plays in defining my business concept is very small because this is an app which can be used or distributed through anyone’s phone, I think the only thing that is very important is the customer experience because there are other apps similar to this one out there and the customer wants to see their special needs child enjoying and entertaining and growing their learning continuously. I would organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of my new product, service, or process by needing an app developer that I can trust and work with to help create this app and reach all my goals I want to achieve through this app. There would maybe be one employee and that would be the app developer, kind of unknown because I don’t know how many employees it takes to help develop an app. Roles in the venture would be me as the creator and the mind behind the app, the app developer as the employee that helped make this app real.

 

The three minor elements

My most important resource, my “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage,” is that I do have experience with parents and children who are customers and I know what they do and don’t like and I know how to treat them fairly and work hard. Besides my innovative product, service, or process what I have that will make it hard for competitors to copy my success is this experience because competitors might not have interacted with parents and children before, especially in an educational setting.

What’s next for my venture, the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at my existing customers is an app for regular children in school to learn and entertain after school through its games and videos, this wouldn’t be for special needs children, this could target my existing customers if the parent has another child who doesn’t have special needs who could use the learning and entertaining through the apps games and videos.

What’s next for me, where I want to be in five years with this venture, where I want to be as an entrepreneur in the next decade is having these two apps out there in the app store that have many customers children growing their education and actually enjoying it. This first venture helps achieve my vision because this is an app for special needs children that would help them greatly and make them very happy.