Celebrating Failure

Assignment 26A – Celebrating Failure

1)    A time that I failed.

In my eyes, I failed when I did not meet the goal of making the NCAA championship meet this year. I trained all year to try and swim the fastest I could and to qualify for this meet. I swam at SEC’s to try and qualify and again at Last Chance meet in attempt to qualify. I was initially trying to qualify in the 200-yard freestyle but ended up not swimming it at SEC’s and focusing on the 100-yard butterfly and trying to qualify the relay.

2)    What I learned from it.

Although I did not make the meet, I did a best time in the event that I was least focused on and least expected to, in the 200-yard butterfly. I was actually closest individually to qualifying for NCAA in this event in the end. I have not swum this event much and have always been a little afraid of training for it as it seemed a bit of a stretch. However, I learnt that I have more potential than I think and that if I trained for the 200-yard butterfly, and use what I learnt from racing it previously to improve, I can get better at it for next year.

3)    Reflection on what I think about failure

Failure is a learning curve, if you don’t take something from it then it really was failure, but if you learned from it, or took something away from it, then it benefited you and helped you to grow. My personality of always wanting to do things to the best of my ability means that I don’t always handle failure in the best way. However, disappointments with swimming over the years, and being a college student has helped this. The start of this class we spoke about risk, but in the sense that successful entrepreneurs are not taking ridiculous risks, but more calculated ones. This class showed me that some risks can be beneficial, sometimes you just need to be able to take the first step out of your comfort zone. This made me think more about this types of risks I take everyday, it made me want to plan, carefully think out, and evaluate risks, and take more as they could so easily benefit me. This class made me think about risks, and not be scared of them, thinking they have to be negative and uncalculated.

What's Next?

Assignment 25A - What's Next?

Existing market:

1)    What I think is next:

I think that next I could either focus on athletes lives and trying to provide more support to them as that I what segment I focused on for this venture, and I found that I like thinking about ways to improve athlete’s lives in particular. Or I think that I could focus on developing more ways or apps that help people save time as so far my app is all about efficiency and effectiveness of planning your day, starting by saving time at a restaurant.

2)    Three customers in my existing market:

Jen:

Jen is constantly involved in sport, works out a lot, and used to be a dancer. She now works at Southwest Rec. When asked about what I could do that I wasn’t already planning on she suggested including Gift Cards in the app so that friends could gift it and then use them at restaurants. She also said that she really likes TapinGo and if I could replicate something like that, where you could order and then go and pick it up at restaurants, that she would be really interested in that. She really liked my ideas of sticking with athletes but said that it could be helpful to all people in general that do sport, so even if they are not competing, they can benefit from using my services.

Kelsey:

Kelsey is a student-athlete at UF. She said that something we could do that I’m not already doing is to expand the app so that it could include wait times for seating as well, not just wait times for the check. She also suggested being able to pre order, that way you can put it in your phone and then just walk in and sit down. She said as an athlete on a busy schedule that it would be cool if you could set up times for the food to be ready, say you knew you were getting out of class at 12.30pm, you could set up so that your food could be dropped of to wherever you are then. She liked by idea of sticking to athletes and introduced the idea that athletes want to know information about certain restaurants. She said if there was a way to show athletes that were on a “gain,” “lean,” or “maintain” diet which places and plates were the best for them then that could help a lot.

Amelia:

Amelia has just finished her collegiate eligibility as an athlete. She said that a good idea for what’s next is a way to reserve restaurants online, that way it would save more time. She said a lot of restaurants aren’t good with reservations and it is more convenient to do it with your phone. She said maybe it could even get to the point where you can choose where you sit. When I asked her about my ideas, she said that she fully supports the athlete route. She said something with weekly meal plans or saying exactly what was in each meal could help people with their different body types or goals. 

3)    What makes the most sense for my venture:

Overall, I really think that I should provide and expand on everything I can with the app I already have in mind. This means adding things such as being able to pre order food, adding reservations, adding in restaurant information on their menus.

For my market of students and athletic people, it makes sense to also focus on food, being healthy, and what best suits people. Therefore, I would then move on to focus on sports peoples lives and include things like nutrition plans. This would include adding to this app or creating a new one where people can focus solely on nutrition rather than just saving time. So I would base it around food and efficiency.

New Market:

1)    Market:

The new market that I identified is Grandparents. This is because they did not grow up in the same technological era. I wanted to get their perspective on my app and how it could help them.

2)    Value:

My venture concept creates value for Grandparents as the app also has a button for contacting the server, this way they do not need to get up or try and struggle getting the servers attention. It can also help them to calculate tips to add on to the check.

3)    Interviews:

Tim:

Tim said that my app can help with the efficiency and make the time shorter. One something to adapt, he said that my app could also help with embarrassment. He said that sometimes he feels a little slow when trying to calculate the tip, and this could help do it for him and prevent calculation mistakes. He said he would need to see the calculations for the tip so he knew to trust them though, because now at places it will just say “Add 15% tip?” and he likes to know how much that 15% actually is.

Kathy:

Kathy said that she is not as tech savvy so for the app to work for her, it would need to have a really simple lay out. She said she knows how to do about three things on her phone, pretty much just messaging. She said it would need to be something like “computers for idiots,” with specific and short instructions. Something “clean and simple” so that it is worth using the app. Kathy said for an adaptation that a way to contact for help, kind of like siri, would help a lot as she does not want to go to a help desk for something like this. Other than that she thinks that anybody would like it.

4)    Reflection:

I learnt from this market that my app needs to be very simple and straight forward and maybe not have so many components as if it were for just students that understand and know how to work modern technology. My assumptions were correct on being able to help them contact servers, and there was surprisingly more to it about the tips than I originally thought. The emotional impact of not feeling like “idiots” also interested me and made me feel like I could really make a difference to their lives if they feel that my app can stop them feeling like idiots.

This market is attractive as it means that I can help people cope with life more efficiently and in this case help emotionally. However, it is helping in a different way to the fast paced sporting lifestyle of my previous market. I think that these markets are both very different and that if I were trying to make an app to target both, I would have to make it simple.

Venture Concept No. 1

Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity.

·            There is an opportunity with wait times for the check at restaurants. The unmet need is that the wait for the check at the end of the meal is too long. This is focused on all customers and servers at restaurants. Servers sometimes do not know when the customer is finished or are caught up with other customers.

·            This need has always existed but the changing environment of people rushing around with busier and busier lifestyles, such as for work, children, or activities, and it puts pressure on time. Now people don’t want to waste time whenever possible.

·            The specific market for this opportunity is Students at the University of Florida due to busy class schedules and other extra curricular activities. However, this can be expanded to any university town and also to anyone with a busy schedule.

·            Customers currently avoid certain restaurants as they believe the wait time is too long. Some only go to places where they can order and pay before getting the food.  They also go to certain restaurants where they know the wait time is quicker, such as places with tablets at the end of the meal or kiosks on the table where you can order and pay there. From my interviews, I have discovered that people like these new methods but are not fully loyal to them as they also try and go the easier route of not having to go to a sit down restaurant at all. However, in this case they miss the restaurant experience.

·            The “window of opportunity” will not be open for long as other companies are slowly starting to try and compensate this need with new technology with things such as tablets and kiosks.

Innovation.

·            My innovation is an application that can be downloaded on cell phones and the restaurant would be connected to this app. Customers would be provided with an order number at the start of their meal where they would enter it into the app and it would sync with the restaurant ordering system. They can then have credit card details attached to the app and pay for their meal when they have finished eating, resulting in no wait time for the check.

·            I will make money from this innovation as it will have to be downloaded from the app store. Each download would cost $1.99 from the app store and restaurants would need to be sold the software for their company computers too.

·            Therefore, I am selling the software to restaurants and individual customers.

Venture Concept.

·            My solution of an app which can be used to pay for meals whenever the customer wants will solve the opportunity of long wait times for checks in restaurants. This is because if they pay as soon as they finish their meal then they can leave straight away.

·            Customers will buy this as it is a way to save time for them; they can then carry on with their busy schedules while still enjoying the restaurant experience.

·            Restaurants will also be interested in this as it can benefit their servers too. It can allow for servers to focus more on paying attention to food ordering and service. It also means tables can be cleared faster and new customers can sit down more readily. This increases customer flow and production.

·            Customers and restaurants will switch to this app as customers only need their phones to operate this and the saving of time benefits their lifestyle. It may be a slow transition as they would need to become familiar with the system and advertising would need to be effective enough to get the word out. Enough restaurants would also need to be involved in this system to make downloading the app worth it. After a few people understand its use, they will spread the news too.

·            The competitors are restaurants with compensations all ready in place such as kiosks or tablets. Their weakness is the time it still takes with tablets, as the server is still involved. The restaurants also have to purchase these items, like kiosks, for every table. The customers can bring the app with them, which saves the restaurant.

·            In terms of distribution, the app would need to be created so it could be uploaded to the app store and then advertised so people are aware of it. At the start of the venture, customer support will be crucial in getting the system running. Their experience will also affect what they pass along to others and if people keep using it. If it gets good feedback and can be used in multiple places over town, then customers will not mind spending $1.99 to download the app, therefore, the customers are key.

·            The business would be organized in a way so that there are technicians and developers constantly working on it and improving it. There would need to be at least two technicians, one to focus on creating the app for apple, and the other for android. There would need to be a development team to develop further key qualities and improvements in the app or expand the business. There would need to be a Head Advertiser in order to get the word out to customers. There would need to be a sales representative to sell the software to restaurants. Finally, there would need to be a CEO or leader for the venture.

Unfair Advantage.

What makes it hard for competitors to copy my success is my social capital of having direct communication with a start up business and entrepreneur. This is my top resource as it provides me with insight as to what makes a business work. I can also learn about their technology and what works and what doesn’t, meaning I have a constant feedback advantage. However, my experience as a persevering and hardworking athlete also means that I will not give up easily and push ideas to their potential, which gives my venture a uniqueness.

What’s next for the venture?

I want to focus on athletes or students with busy lifestyles and saving time for them, but also being able to help others. I want to focus on saving time or effectiveness in a day, therefore, including things such as efficiency with ordering food.

What’s next for you?

In five years’ time, I still want to be involved in the venture. I want to have expanded it to the fullest potential and see if there are other pathways to explore, such as other apps. As an entrepreneur, I want to be able to continue to develop and grow this venture as well as others.