18A - Creating a Custom Avatar

My product can be sold to a variety of individuals but the main focus has been college students. The typical customer is a girl in college, probably a junior or senior. She is pre-med and taking 17 credit hours. After a day full of classes, she goes to the gym and works out for about an hour. Then she has meetings for all of the clubs she is in. After that, she has to go home and do her homework and study for her exams. She constantly finds it hard to find time to cook healthy meals for herself and always finds herself going out to eat somewhere because it is quicker and easier.



What do you have in common with the custom avatar?
 I also go to class during the day and spend an hour or two at then gym when I am done with classes. I am not involved as much on campus as my avatar but I do keep myself busy with other hobbies and I often find myself struggling to go to the store to make food.

If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think it is a coincidence? 
I think it is not a coincidence that I would have some things in common with the avatar. Since it is my idea, the thoughts that went into coming up with it obviously stemmed a little bit from my own unmet needs. Therefore, when looking at a prototypical customer, I will tend to have common needs with them.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I'm a 4th year Construction Management major graduating in May 2018. I enjoy playing a variety of sports that include competitive shooting and competitive horseback riding. I also have an interest in motorcycles, which helped spark my interest in entrepreneurship. Upon graduating, I have accepted a full time job in DC with a commercial construction general contractor. While in DC, I hope to explore outside of the construction industry and use my passion for entrepreneurship to grow and pursue new ideas. I think a business like my idea would be very successful in DC, because every seems to be very busy and do not have a lot of extra time for healthy eating and cooking meals. If i had the opportunity to start this business, I believe it would greatly impact my life as I find myself having these same needs. 

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

I found an opportunity for students that have busy schedules and actives lives to be able to afford healthy and fast food options instead of the unhealthy options that we often go to because they are cheap and open late. Creating a drive-thru fast food restaurant close to campus that you can get quick and healthy meals at would be a great opportunity for this problem. The restaurant would be open late and would also have a delivery service. The restaurant would be open to everyone however they would offer a discount to students. I would also have a constantly changing menu to insure that all different types of healthy foods were being incorporated and that students always wanted to go and didn't get tired of the foods that were being offered. The delivery service would be cheap and would also run until the restaurant closed. I believe that this has not changed much, the customers unmet needs remain the same and my opportunity to solve them has remained the same.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

Active and busy college students would be the biggest push at this company. Since it is located close to campus and students get a discount, I believe they would have the biggest affect on the company. However, the business would be open and intriguing to people of all types. The only people that would not find this idea useful would be those that enjoy cooking their own meals and not eating out and those that enjoy eating unhealthy. What all of these customers have in common is that they all have a desire to buy inexpensive, healthy and affordable meals. 

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Customers would care about this service and pay for it because it would offer them the opportunity to eat healthy and in a quick and cheaper manner. With a constantly rotating menu, I think students and anyone who decides to eat there would be intrigued to come back multiple times a week, or even get the delivery service. I think students especially will care because they tend to have busy lives and are involved with more than just school. Some students work full time and go to school full time, and they simply do not have time to make meals for themselves. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

I believe that what sets this business apart from other similar ideas and businesses is that it specifically targets a student population and offers discounts and rotating menus. There are some healthy meal delivery services already in place, however I have not seen one that functions as a restaurant that is open late as well as a delivery service. I think these bring value to this idea. 

Evaluation:

I believe that these elements of my business idea fit together. I think that each concept fits with the other to make a product/service that will be successful in many different places, especially in college campuses and big cities. I think that the most important thing to the success of this business is that I keep the prices low, the menu changing, and make it quick and easy for people of all needs to order food and have it delivered to their homes.

Feedback Memo:

One of the points that I took away from the feedback that I received is that the customers will have varying needs and that it will be important to take a variety of needs into consideration. Another important point that I took away is that not all people will be interested in my product because some people enjoy cooking and do not like to eat out. I incorporated my feedback into this idea napkin by looking at the questions from a perspective after my second set of interviews. The answers did not change very much, however a few more points can be added.

15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

When interviewing, I found that one of the most important things to potential customers would be the price of the food and delivery service at the restaurant. Since ideas like this already exist, the price would be a key driving point to it being successful. Also, another important point that was brought up was the quality of the food being used. The quality of some of the other delivery service foods are not the best, and they typically are loaded with preservatives and non-organic food. I believe that this product will sell better online than in a store. This is because most of the customers (students) tend to have busy schedules. Therefore, I think they would use an online service more often than they would go inside and eat. However, if it is located close to campus, I think that a lot of students would go there to eat in between or after their classes. When looking back on the "rightness" of the purchase, the customers want to make sure that their getting their moneys worth out of their food. They would want to make sure that the portions are filling enough with healthy food options. 

I believe that being able to come up with a healthy, inexpensive food options is would positively affect both the purchase decision and post purchase evaluation. I think that this would be a big draw against competitive healthy and fast food options. The late night open time would also be a draw for students that want a healthy option when they are out late.

14A - Halfway Reflection

1. I have had to think outside the box. I have high levels of motivation and desires to be successful however I'm not the most creative person. I think some of the assignments in this class have made me think outside of my normal ideas.

2. Having three assignments due every week since the hurricane has been tough. I think some of the questions in the assignments are also a little repetitive, so coming up with new things to say and new ideas is difficult. I also find it difficult to be really focused in class when I know I am graduating and going to be starting work in June.

3. 1. Don't wait until the last minute to do the assignments, because they take a couple hours a week to complete.
2. Be creative and come up with new ideas that you don't think anyone else has thought of before.
3. Read the feedback that others write for you in the comments and take it into consideration for your future posts.

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

1. What surprised you the most?
I think the thing that surprised me the most was how motivated he was to be successful in life. I think that motivation is one of the biggest keys to success. Seeing his goals become a reality is very inspiring.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
The thing i admired most about Elon Musk is his drive and determination to be successful and come up with ideas that no one else has thought of.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
I think his treatment of others to get the work done is something I did not admire. It took the effort of many others to help his ideas become reality and yet only he gets the spotlight for it. Therefore I think he should be putting his coworkers up on a pedestal for helping him instead of explaining only how he was harsh to them and worked them to death.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
I think the life that Elon Musk had growing up caused him to face some adversity at a young age. However I believe that he used this as a motivating factor to be successful and grow into a more mature and inspiring person. Some of the most successful people that I know in life faced hard times growing up and learned to work hard because of that.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
I think that Elon Musks passion for what he was interested in was a big competency that he exhibited. I believe that to be truly successful as an entrepreneur you have to have a passion for what you are chasing. He also was able to come back from being bullied as a child and make the most out of what he wanted to pursue.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
I thought it was confusing that he had a hard time getting funding for the Tesla project. I think with all of the pro-environment people in our country today that getting funding for an electric car would be easy. I'm surprised that more Tesla-like cars haven't started being produced.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask?
1. Do you have any other ideas that you would want pursue?
2. What do you wish you would have done differently in your path to success with Tesla and Space X?

5) What do you think the entrepreneurs opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I think the Elon's opinion of hard work was that no matter what problems face in life, you have to find something that motivates you and hold on to it. The path to success is not an easy road but it is rewarding when you reach it. I have a very similar opinion to this.

12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

Segment:
I will choose a segment that relates more closely to college students. The location will be close to campus and therefore the main audience will be students. I interviewed 3 students and 2 recent graduates.

Interview Summary:
During the interviews, 2 of the students said that they often walk to places close to campus or on campus to get lunch so they would definitely consider a close healthy option if one was given to them. When they have the need to find healthy and fast foods, they find the options slim to none and believed it would be a great idea to open up a restaurant. One student said when they would search on the Internet for something like this they would use terms such as "cheap, healthy, fast, food". When asking them if they had ever seen something like this before, they all said that they have. However, most had negative comments about them. The food didn't taste good, it was too expensive, there wasn't enough food options, etc.

Conclusion: 
I believe that my interview's are a good example of the answers that would come from a large sample of people. Even though this idea exists, people haven't taken advantage of it to its full potential because there have been so many different types of complaints about them. I think if i could encompass something that could tailor to all types of people, it could be very successful. This unmet need is definitely a big one. Almost every person struggles to have healthy and affordable meals.

11A - Idea Napkin #1

1. You

I'm a 4th year Construction Management major graduating in May 2018. I enjoy playing a variety of sports that include competitive shooting and competitive horseback riding. I also have an interest in motorcycles, which helped spark my interest in entrepreneurship. Upon graduating, I have accepted a full time job in DC with a commercial construction general contractor. While in DC, I hope to explore outside of the construction industry and use my passion for entrepreneurship to grow and pursue new ideas. I think a business like my idea would be very successful in DC, because every seems to be very busy and do not have a lot of extra time for healthy eating and cooking meals.

2. What are you offering to customers?

I found an opportunity for students that have busy schedules and actives lives to be able to afford healthy and fast food options instead of the unhealthy options that we often go to because they are cheap and open late. Creating a drive-thru fast food restaurant close to campus that you can get quick and healthy meals at would be a great opportunity for this problem. The restaurant would be open late and would also have a delivery service. The restaurant would be open to everyone however they would offer a discount to students. I would also have a constantly changing menu to insure that all different types of healthy foods were being incorporated and that students always wanted to go and didn't get tired of the foods that were being offered. The delivery service would be cheap and would also run until the restaurant closed.

3. Who are you offering it to?

Active and busy college students would be the biggest push at this company. Since it is located close to campus and students get a discount, I believe they would have the biggest affect on the company. However, the business would be open and intriguing to people of all types. The only people that would not find this idea useful would be those that enjoy cooking their own meals and not eating out and those that enjoy eating unhealthy.

4. Why do they care?

Customers would care about this service and pay for it because it would offer them the opportunity to eat healthy and in a quick and cheaper manner. With a constantly rotating menu, I think students and anyone who decides to eat there would be intrigued to come back multiple times a week, or even get the delivery service.

5. What are your core competencies? 

I believe that what sets this business apart from other similar ideas and businesses is that it specifically targets a student population and offers discounts and rotating menus. There are some healthy meal delivery services already in place, however I have not seen one that functions as a restaurant that is open late as well as a delivery service. I think these bring value to this idea.

Evaluation:

I believe that theses elements fit together. I think that between targeting the student population, close proximity to campus, and healthy, affordable meals, the business could be very successful.