30A – Final Reflection

1)

After looking back on the posts, I am proud of myself for getting everything done on time and submitting meaningful posts. It is kind of weird to think in the beginning of the semester I looked at all the assignments due and dreaded it because it seemed like an excessive amount of work, but it really wasn't. Being able to interact with others in the class through posts and not just being in an online class submitting assignment after assignment made the posts way more enjoyable. I do really enjoy the assignments that we had to add photos to because, in the beginning, I thought they had to be serious but really they can just be fun photos and it is really interesting to see what others added.

2)

I think the most formative experience was definitely in the earlier assignments when we just had to develop the idea that we would carry throughout the semester. I really didn't know how far I could get with the reusable product ideas, but to my surprise, I was able to work with it and build the concept. This taught me that even the smallest ideas could be pursued as long as you put in the work.

3)

I definitely think I've developed an entrepreneurial mindset throughout the semester. I really didn't think I could because I didn't think I could come up with worthwhile ideas, but my simple idea that I pursued proved I didn't need to come up with something crazy and never heard of. The bug list assignment seemed kind of silly at the beginning of the semester, but now looking back at it, I could probably create something with each idea.

4)

A recommendation I would make to students who are going down this path in the future would be: don’t psych yourself out about developing an original concept. Use your bug list if you're struggling and see what bothers you the most on it and then try to come up with something that could solve it. Even if it sounds like a simplistic solution, test it out because as simple as it may sound, there is a lot more work that goes into it than you think. To perform best in this course, I would suggest always looking at your idea wherever you are in the course, no matter how much you changed it or the target market, and look to see how you could change it to make it even better. Take in all feedback because what may seem like an excellent idea to you could sound like a flop to someone else and they could help you realize it. Don't be discouraged if you have to change something because if you want what's best for your concept, allowing it to change allows it to grow.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

1) Provide, again, your venture concept description

Opportunity:

• Who has the need
• grocery stores/drink shops/stores that typically use single-use plastic bags/straws
• the nature of the need
• single-use plastic is being banned in more and more cities across the globe, and the present alternatives are not meeting consumer expectations so businesses must find solutions, or be forced to use the current paper alternatives that are leaving customers so dissatisfied.
• What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?
• The forces/changes are the lawmakers, local governments, and environmental activists who are pushing for a plastic-free planet as pollution due to plastic keeps rising. Also, just the overall climate change that the world is facing is partly due to the plastic industry which has angered many, and people are also disturbed to see the impact that single-use plastic has on ocean life and animals.
• How is this market defined geographically and demographically? 
• To narrow the market down geographically, I would say to limit it to the USA, although this is technically a global problem, and demographically I would place it upon food/drink stores that provide the end-users with the single use products.
• How are customers currently satisfying this need? And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?  
• Businesses are currently using paper products that have left end-users dissatisfied, or encouraged end-users to bring reusable items for a potential discount. Those who have developed a habit with reusable products are probably very loyal, but those who can't always remember them, or who are stuck using paper products are probably not loyal to what they are using. The businesses themselves are probably not set on being loyal to paper products as it is the only option as of now.
• How big is this opportunity?
• I would say this opportunity is very large as it does reach a global scale.
• How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?
• I see this window of opportunity closing within the next 5 years as most consumers will probably settle for paper products or someone else will come out with a different alternative.

Innovation:

• what the product is
• The product consists of 2 single-use plastic replacements: the bio-straw and bio-bag.
• what the product does
• The bio straw and bio bag are single-use products that mimic the features of single-use plastic while being completely biodegradable. It does not disintegrate or melt like paper products do, and it doesn't harm the environment like plastic products do.
• how the product works
• The bags are made of organic compounds of which mimic the look and feel of plastic including the thinness and durability, and the straws are made of the same compounds which are safe to ingest and are flavorless.
• what is being sold and for how much
• The bio bag comes in packs of 50 for $2 and the bio straw comes in a pack of 100 for $2

Venture Concept:

• What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product? How hard will it be to get them to switch
• The reasons customers would switch to the bio bag and bio straw are either that their local legislation has just banned single-use plastic, or the ban has been in place and the end-users are dissatisfied with the not so great paper replacements, putting pressure on the businesses providing it. I think for some end users it will be hard to get them to switch if they are already used to using reusable products in their daily routine, but for those who are faced with the ban and paper products, I think they will switch over with ease as they should see little to no change with their routine and these products. The businesses I think will be quick to switch to keep their customers satisfied if it proves to be more reliable than paper.
• Who are the competitors? What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?
• The competitors are those who produce reusable products, and those who produce paper products. The possible weakness for those who produce reusable products is that consumers may not want to invest in something they have to constantly remember to commit to using and maintaining, and they may not want to support reusable products if they were made in an unconventional way. The paper product competitors have the durability of their products as a weakness. End-users get dissatisfied when they can't drink their drink because the straw disintegrated or their paper grocery bags rip before they even get inside, and will look for alternatives to satisfy their needs, possibly looking for businesses who do not offer paper products.
• What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept? 
• I think packaging does not need to be fancy, just functional. It needs to be eco-friendly as well otherwise it defeats the purpose of the product. Price points I think are fair in comparison to competitors as the bio bag and bio straw are priced equally to the paper products. The distribution will play a large role as I feel it needs to start at local businesses to build its way up to a global scale. Customer support will also be a huge role as word of mouth and customer satisfaction will help build the trust and support the product needs to thrive. The customer experience falls with customer support as the customers will support the product if satisfied, and reject it if dissatisfied.
• How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?
• I see the business production being done in a manufacturing plant somewhere in the US, it does not necessarily need to be micromanaged by me, rather the plant will be given the steps on how to produce the products. As a startup, I could see at the most 10-15 employees (this could grow if the product really takes off). I would have employees focus on marketing to local businesses and consumers, employees who identify locations hit by the plastic ban, and employees overseeing the quality of the products. I would also try to have employees to be in charge of collecting customer feedback and establishing what is working well or failing.

3 minor elements

• What the most important resource will be
• The most important resource I would say would be the values and ambitions behind the bio bag and bio straw. The business is here to make an eco-friendly transition from plastic and wants to see a difference rather than just make money. Other businesses that attempt to copy may not be successful because they may be more money-hungry than focused on making a change.
• what's next for the venture
• I think the next opportunity to tackle would be to eliminate commonly used single-use plastic items (cups, silverware, plates). This targets the existing customers, as well as potential future customers as the customers and local businesses who support the bio bag and bio straw, may start to use these products.
• What's next for me - where will the company be in 5 years
• In five years I want to see this business create a new way of life, one without single-use plastic altogether. Whether it has created a ripple amongst other companies and these eco-friendly products are being produced by others as well, or the business has reached a global scale, I want to see a plastic-free world. 

2) Provide a summary of the feedback:

I didn't receive much feedback for this assignment, and the feedback I did receive emphasized how strong my post was. On the Whats Next assignment, I received similar positive feedback which just emphasized my ability to create such a product. I didnt have any negative feedback.

3) Describe how you changed your venture concept, based on what you learned from the feedback:

What I did end up changing was that I felt I needed to clarify exactly who the customer for the business would be, and who would be the ultimate end-user of the product. The businesses that need to adapt to the ban would be the actual customers for the Bio-Products, however, their need for the BioBag and BioStraw are driven by their end-users needs.

4) #SaveTheTurtles and I oop...

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. 

• I think the exit strategy I would plan to make would be to protect the venture as a family business and pass it down the family lineage.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

• I have chosen this strategy because I want to see the original purpose and values of the venture remain. With a concept that makes such a large impact on the environment, I feel like if it is sold, or given to someone who wouldn't share the same values, the whole concept of making biodegradable eco-friendly single-use products could be overthrown, or changed into something that strays from the intended purpose. To put so much into this concept to ensure it is safe for the environment, I feel it would be foolish to give that up. No amount of money should be justifiable for the damage plastic has caused, and to try and reverse that is such a large challenge that if someone were to take over and not share the same values, they could be backtracking the progress.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept?

• I think my exit strategy has influenced my growth intentions in the sense that I want to see the company replace all single-use plastic products rather than just 2, and by keeping it as a family business, it can be trusted that the single-use replacement concepts keep growing for environmental reasons, and not corporate, money-based reasons. 

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

The book I chose for this assignment was from the second list, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams.

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

• The general theme of the book was fairly straightforward, that life is full of failures and people will encounter them, but you can still succeed no matter how many failures you overall face. He explains how to prioritize your business/venture as well as yourself to ensure you are putting the best foot forward. He emphasizes that focusing on your well being is the most important factor as you can't focus on leading another entity if you are simply not in the right state to be doing so.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

• I think this connected surprisingly well to assignment 26 as the assignment is all about failure and the lessons learned, and Scott Adams' book teaches you how to move on from failure and not let it negatively impact you. To succeed you need to take risks, and a lot of the time risk leads to failure. The course has emphasized being a risk seeker as an entrepreneur, because not every entrepreneurial concept will succeed, and to be a successful entrepreneur you need to assess what went wrong and decide if your concept is worth fighting for or if it is dead weight and you should think up a different one.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

• An exercise I would design would fall along the lines of I would have students think of a time they failed, describe that time, and then think about what their well-being was like at that moment. By this I mean were they eating and sleeping right, were they maintaining a healthy lifestyle, did they have something going on that hindered their success. Overall this exercise would be to find the root of the failure, whether it was an external force or a personal reason.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

• My biggest "aha" moment reading this book was in regard to personal well-being. Adams stresses that the entrepreneur's personal well-being needs to be the number one priority because the venture/business/concept will not succeed if the person who is the driving force of it is not well. I never really thought of how failures will be caused by poor self-care because in general, it seems like devoting yourself 24/7 to a concept is the best way to succeed, and Adams argues that is actually the best way to fail.

26A – Celebrating Failure

A time I failed this semester was when I was registering for my classes for spring. I had an ideal schedule that I planned out and even had backup courses so I would have a high chance of getting a schedule that was exactly how I wanted it. Unfortunately, I was given a late registration date, and I woke up late the day of so the courses I wanted were filled up. I ended up registering for courses that I didn't necessarily want to take in the spring and I failed at getting the schedule I wanted.
From this, I learned no matter how hard I may plan for something, or expect something to work out, it may not go the way I want it to go and I should always just plan for the best but not set my expectations high.

Reflection
I think failure can impact a person differently based on the scenario. Some failures hit harder than others but overall I think how someone handles it is what can turn a negative failure into a positive. For me, this failure was negative, but I decided to add courses I didn't originally plan on taking and now I will be able to add a minor which is how I turned this into a positive situation. I think this class made me realize that not every good idea or well thought out plan will always work out and you need to learn to adapt and alter your ideas along the way. I think I am still iffy about taking risks but I know if I do take a risk and I fail, there will still be something that I can make out of it.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1: 

In terms of what's next for my venture, following the hopeful success of the bio straw and bio bag, I want to see the business start to lean towards eliminating all single-use plastic products which consists of cups, silverware, plates, ziplock bags, etc.

Step 2: 

I interviewed 3 people from my hometown which has been impacted by the plastic ban. The general consensus on how to expand on the current venture is to create more sustainable products and reusable products as well to really reach into a new market. For what I should be doing that we aren't planning on doing at the moment, it was suggested I try to reach to large corporations who would want to utilize these products or join forces, such as becoming a supermarket's sole bag supplier or a delis sole silverware supplier. 

Step 3: 

I think the most sense for growing in my existing market is to work on replacing other single-use plastic products. Through my expectations and my interviewees, the common idea of not limiting myself to just 2 products was prevalent, and it makes sense. If single-use straws and bags have been banned, it may only be a matter of time before other products like cups and straws are banned. 

The plastic industry is huge, and taking it down is very unlikely since it is used for other products that are not single-use. With that being said, single-use plastic is only a portion of that industry, and that is more of an opportunity to try and replace single-use products rather than the whole industry.

New Market.

Step 1: 

A different market I have identified consists of the people who routinely use reusable cups, straws, bags, etc. These people did not fit in my current market as they have not faced an impact from the plastic bans.

Step 2: 

I think my venture concept can create value to the people in the new market by offering them a backup plan if they are ever in a hurry and leave their reusable product behind, or even offer them a new way of doing things if they are interested! 

Step 3: 

The 2 people I interviewed from this market both constantly have their reusable bags and straws on them and rarely forget them for any outing. They think that a good way to reach customers like them would be to give a free sampling of the bio straw/bio bag so they can have exposure to them. The other suggestion I received was to also produce reusable bags or work with producers of reusable bags to attach samples to each purchase or give flyers explaining the new products to those consumers. My adaptations would simply be to find ways to work the bio bag and bio straw into their current routines without disrupting it/

Step 4: 

What I learned and what surprised me the most from this new market was that they weren't against the bio bag and bio straw. I expected them to reject single-use items since they habitually use reusable items but they were welcoming to the idea and offered suggestions on how to reach their attention.

 I think my existing market is still stronger because they have more of a need and are more likely to want to use the bio bag and bio straw than the new market. The new market could potentially have the need, but the existing market is a definite need rather than potential.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1 - The BioProducts

Opportunity:

• Who has the need
• grocery stores/drink shops/stores that typically use single-use plastic bags/straws
• the nature of the need
• single-use plastic is being banned in more and more cities across the globe, and the present alternatives are not meeting consumer expectations
• What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?
• The forces/changes are the lawmakers, local governments, and environmental activists who are pushing for a plastic-free planet as pollution due to plastic keeps rising
• How is this market defined geographically and demographically? 
• To narrow the market down geographically, I would say to limit it to the USA, although this is technically a global problem, and demographically I would place consumers being impacted from teenagers and above.
• How are customers currently satisfying this need? And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?  
• customers are satisfying their need by using reusable products and hoping they remember to bring them, or using paper replacements. Those who have developed a habit with reusable products are probably very loyal, but those who can't always remember them, or who are stuck using paper products are probably not loyal to what they are using.
• How big is this opportunity?
• I would say this opportunity is very large as it does reach a global scale.
• How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?
• I see this window of opportunity closing within the next 5 years as most consumers will probably settle for paper products or someone else will come out with a different alternative.

Innovation:

• what the product is
• The product consists of 2 single-use plastic replacements: the bio-straw and bio-bag.
• what the product does
• The bio straw and bio bag are single-use products that mimic the features of single-use plastic while being completely biodegradable. It does not disintegrate or melt like paper products do, and it doesn't harm the environment like plastic products do.
• how the product works
• The bags are made of organic compounds of which mimic the look and feel of plastic including the thinness and durability, and the straws are made of the same compounds which are safe to ingest and are flavorless.
• what is being sold and for how much
• The bio bag comes in packs of 50 for $2 and the bio straw comes in a pack of 100 for $2

Venture Concept:

• What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product? How hard will it be to get them to switch
• The reasons customers would switch to the bio bag and bio straw are either that their local legislation has just banned single-use plastic, or the ban has been in place and they are dissatisfied with the not so great paper replacements. I think for some it will be hard to get them to switch if they are already used to using reusable products in their daily routine, but for those who are faced with the ban and paper products, I think they will switch over with ease as they should see little to no change with their routine and these products.
• Who are the competitors? What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?
• The competitors are those who produce reusable products, and those who produce paper products. The possible weakness for those who produce reusable products is that consumers may not want to invest in something they have to constantly remember to commit to using and maintaining, and they may not want to support reusable products if they were made in an unconventional way. The paper product competitors have the durability of their products as a weakness. Customers get dissatisfied when they can't drink their drink because the straw disintegrated or their paper grocery bags rip before they even get inside, and will look for alternatives to satisfy their needs.
• What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept? 
• I think packaging does not need to be fancy, just functional. It needs to be eco-friendly as well otherwise it defeats the purpose of the product. Price points I think are fair in comparison to competitors as the bio bag and bio straw are priced equally to the paper products. The distribution will play a large role as I feel it needs to start at local businesses to build its way up to a global scale. Customer support will also be a huge role as word of mouth and customer satisfaction will help build the trust and support the product needs to thrive. The customer experience falls with customer support as the customers will support the product if satisfied, and reject it if dissatisfied.
• How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?
• I see the business production being done in a manufacturing plant somewhere in the US, it does not necessarily need to be micromanaged by me, rather the plant will be given the steps on how to produce the products. As a startup, I could see at the most 10-15 employees (this could grow if the product really takes off). I would have employees focus on marketing to local businesses and consumers, employees who identify locations hit by the plastic ban, and employees overseeing the quality of the products. I would also try to have employees to be in charge of collecting customer feedback and establishing what is working well or failing.

3 minor elements

• What the most important resource will be
• The most important resource I would say would be the values and ambitions behind the bio bag and bio straw. The business is here to make an eco-friendly transition from plastic and wants to see a difference rather than just make money. Other businesses that attempt to copy may not be successful because they may be more money-hungry than focused on making a change.
• what's next for the venture
• I think the next opportunity to tackle would be to eliminate commonly used single-use plastic items (cups, silverware, plates). This targets the existing customers, as well as potential future customers as the customers and local businesses who support the bio bag and bio straw, may start to use these products.
• What's next for me - where will the company be in 5 years
• In five years I want to see this business create a new way of life, one without single-use plastic altogether. Whether it has created a ripple amongst other companies and these eco-friendly products are being produced by others as well, or the business has reached a global scale, I want to see a plastic-free world.