14A - Halfway Reflection

1. Some of the behaviors that I have developed in order for me to maintain my success in this class include things like increasing my organizational skills to keep up with assignments, enhancing my creativity to come up with new products to fit opportunities, and understanding current events to see where opportunities present themselves.

2. I think I definitely have developed a tenacious attitude over the past two months in this course and sometimes the assignments can take a lot of thought and can be kind of long-winded but in the end, I was able to pull through and complete the work to the best of my ability.

3. Three tips that I would offer a student for next semester would be:
1. Get creative with the class, the more fun you have, the more excited you'll be to complete the assignments and give your unique perspective.

2. Make sure you stay organized with all of your assignments and complete them on time.

3. Ask your friends about what they think of your ideas and see how your ideas can come to life.

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

1. What surprised me most about the Wright Brothers is that while both of them where tremendously bright, they did not attend college and they operated a bicycle shop selling their own designs of bicycles. 

What I most admired about the Wright Brothers is their determination and dedication to innovation despite adversity and everyone saying that they were crazy.  When their main inspiration Otto Lilienthal died in a glider crash, the boys decided to carry on their work rather than give up because they saw the possibility of failure.

What I least admired about the Wright Brothers is that Wilbur specifically had a great temper and because of one hockey injury, cancelled all plans to attend Yale and didn't even finish high school.  I would have liked to see him overcome that adversity.

These brother did encounter adversity in many different forms, for example there is the adversity that Wilbur encountered in my last question but also when they were developing designs for their planes before they found success, they encountered great adversity because everyone thought they were crazy but they kept pursuing their dream of flight.

The competencies that these entrepreneurs exhibited were their intense passion for the pursuit of flight and their intellect that allowed them to overcome the obstacles that creating something so new would present them with. 

If I was able to ask the Wright Brothers two questions, I would ask them how they felt when their role model and inspiration for flight Otto Lilienthal died doing a glider test because that meant that they would be carrying on with his work and saw the reality of the consequences of failure.  I would also ask them how they carried on with their work while everyone around them told them that it wouldn't be possible.

One part of the reading that was confusing to me was how the actual idea of their flight project came about and how they were able to figure it out by using such basic materials.  I don't know how they were able to make such a profound creation from mere household items.

I think that the Wright Brothers had a very fond opinion of hard work and that you can learn more from your failures than your successes and I share this opinion because they failed so many times but kept tweaking their invention and eventually found success along the way.

12 A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #1

Segment: College/Undergraduate students on campus ages 18-25, people that commonly use public libraries or university libraries.

The first person that I chose to interview was my roommate and friend Danny.  He is a pre-med student and he spends a lot of time at the library studying.  He also is an athlete and he is very well-hydrated, because of his constant water-drinking, he frequently takes bathroom breaks and is nervous about losing his belongings while he uses the restroom.  He explained the need for something to secure his valuables such as his expensive computer.  I explained my idea to him and he was immediately interested.

My second interview was with a friend of mine that happens to be a freshman, when I explained my product to her she couldn't understand why it wasn't already a thing.  She understands that theft is an issue on the UF campus and she didn't know what to do when she got up to take a quick break.  She usually deals with the need by packing her things up when she gets up from her desk.  She is also interested in the product.

My third interview was with a student that goes to a different college in a different state.  At his small school in the northeast, they already have things similar to this where you can leave your phone in a combination locker that charges it and says that there are plans to make it for computers as well.  He thinks that it is a great idea and would definitely use it but he says I shouldn't expand it past college campuses.

Overall, these three interviews gave me a pretty good idea of what my buyers would look like.  However, this would be something that would have to be implemented by the University which means that administration would have to buy them.  If enough students express need then it would encourage the administration to buy them. 

11A Idea Napkin #1

1. I am a second year marketing major from South Florida.  I enjoy many different things such as fitness, movies, going to the beach, and creating new things.  As the difficulty of my classes starts to ramp up, I am increasingly spending more and more time in the library.  There are a lot of different courses that I have taken at UF that would be able to gear me towards developing a successful idea such as this one.  I have learned how to see an opportunity or need that people have and capitalize on it.  I understand how to manage a budget in the beginning stages of a product and understand how to take a product to the next level.

2. What my product will offer customers is something invaluable to the student population which is peace of mind.  The ability to leave your belongings secured at your desk when you get up to go get a quick drink of water or use the restroom is what will drive this product's success. 

3. I will target on-campus college students between the ages of 18-25 because some graduate students would get a lot of use out of this product too.  They have to be on campus because they would have to study at the library in order to be able to use the product.  All of my customers care about their belongings and would feel terrible if they lost anything.

4. My customers would care about this because theft is a real issue in our campus in our libraries and a way to effectively eliminate this issue would change the way we study as a student body.

5. What sets my product apart from others is that this product helps people to be able to keep their things safe, they can save spots at the library, and it can help to deter thieves on our campus and mitigate the issue.

10A - elevator pitch no.1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz_NS9TCi5g

9A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

After thinking a lot about my idea of implementing a system of easy-to-use combination lockers in our UF libraries, I decided to interview 5 more people, below are the conclusions I have drawn from my interviews.

Who:  Throughout each of these 5 interviews, I was able to learn a lot more about my opportunity.  I interviewed 3 people that were not college students and because they have no use for a library and don't really spend time at them, they would get little to no use out of the product.  I expected this and I understand that my target segment is really only college students that use libraries.  That being said, they did think it was a good idea for the UF library system.  I interviewed one graduate student and he said that he does most of his studying at home so he would actually have no use for the product whatsoever, he also said that it would be difficult to use because if you went to the bathroom and had your stuff locked up, it would seem like an open desk from afar and this would create many issues.  It could also be a potential liability because who knows what type of things people would leave in the lockers.  My last interview was with someone who was kind of ambivalent about the idea because she thought that there were too many ways for it to not work properly and it would be too complicated of an idea to implement.

What:  This need differs from other needs because it is a unique problem that no one has really found a solution for.  While it may be difficult to implement this outside of college campuses, I believe that I have truly struck a potential gold mine that would fit perfectly into this niche.  Sometimes, a very specific target market can be a good thing if it is a completely new product.

Why:  The people who are inside the boundary are college-age students that study in their respective university libraries for long periods of time.  These people set up their things and are in it for the "long-haul" which means that they periodically take breaks to use the restroom or do other things for short periods of time.  However, those outside the boundary either only study in the library for short amounts of time where they don't leave their study area, or just don't even study at the library or use a library for that matter. 

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is in: College age students that study in the library for long or short periods of time and leave their things for brief moments to use the restroom or get a quick snack.	Who is not: Anyone who doesn’t study at the library or doesn’t use a library.  In addition to those people, people who don’t get up from their desks while studying are outside the boundary.
What the need is: This need is the need for peace of mind because theft in UF libraries does happen and this locker system would effectively eliminate that threat.	What the need is not: The need is not a way to store inappropriate things in the library and reserve your desk for long periods of time.  These lockers are for temporary use only, not permanent.
Why the need exists: The need exists because it is important to be able to secure your belongings when studying and make sure that they won’t be stolen.	Alternative explanations: If you study with another person, they can always watch your things and sometimes you don’t need to leave your desk to use the restroom while studying so it isn’t a problem.

8A - Solving the Problem

My product deals with securing the belongings of UF students when they leave their desks to use the restroom or get a drink from a vending machine or water fountain.

Students often worry about what to do at the libraries when they leave for a couple of minutes to get a drink or use the bathroom.  With a way to properly secure their items, it would make the libraries much more risk free to use and students will have peace of mind when at the library. 

If you are familiar with the combination lockers at Southwest Recreation Sports complex, these desks would act the same way.  On the bottom by one of the legs of the desk, there would be locker/lockbox that would be large enough to fit a computer, backpack, or pile of text books and students could quickly enter a passcode on the lock and leave their belongings to go to the bathroom and then come back with their things secure. 

7A - Testing the Hypothesis

The Opportunity: All too often, when studying alone at UF libraries, students are fearful to leave their belongings even for the few short minutes when they go to the bathroom because they don't want their expensive books, computers, and other school supplies to be stolen.  

The who: Students at UF that study at the library.

The what: They are fearful of leaving their belongings unattended while gone for a few minutes.

The why: Theft is all too common of an occurrence at the UF libraries and students are weary of this. 

Testing the who: There are others that share this need.  All students that UF that don't study in groups (which is a lot) of people have this need.  Everyone goes to the bathroom at some point, and leaving for just a couple of minutes can be the difference between thousands of dollars in personal belongings lost. 

Testing the what: I think that the "what" of this problem is not trying to stop theft.  No matter what the University does to try to defer theft, it will still be a reoccurring problem and they will find new ways to steal.  I think that the desks are the problem and there's a way to make them more secure. 

Testing the why: The reason why people have this need is because it is a known occurrence to have belongings stolen and computers and textbooks are far too expensive to leave them out in the open.  

Interview 1: For my first interview, I spoke with an undergraduate student that is a freshman and when asked how he felt about leaving his belongings out in the open in the library when he had to go to the bathroom very briefly and he explained to me that he heard of things being stolen and he literally packs up his bag every time he goes to the bathroom.  He doesn't focus well when he studies with others so this is his only option to have peace of mind when leaving to use the restroom. 

Interview 2: I spoke with someone who works at the front desk of the library and watches how students leave their belongings unattended and they explained to me that they only work on the first floor, which means that on every other floor, the same things are happening except on all the other floors where there isn't someone working there.  She knows the possibilities of leaving belongings out like this and wishes there was a way to secure them.  

Interview 3: This interview was with an older student in their junior year who explained that they make sure to study with at least one other person so that they can ask them to watch their things while they go refill a water bottle or use the restroom.  They explained how some of the libraries at UF are so crowded and full of so many different types of people that it's hard to feel comfortable leaving your valuables out in the open. 

Interview 4: I spoke with a student who doesn't even study at the library anymore because she didn't feel safe leaving her belongings out in the open when getting up for a quick few minutes.  She understands that theft happens very often and she likes to move around a lot when she studies.  She now studied at home so she can leave without worrying about her things. 

Interview 5: This student told me how he just leaves his computer and textbooks out when he goes to the bathroom and hopes that there are enough people around to deter a thief from stealing anything.  He admits that he just leaves his things based off of good faith and hoping no one would do something but understands that this is not always the case. 

Throughout each of my 5 interviews, I found that I actually had a pretty good understanding of this opportunity because I have realized the problem myself multiple times while studying and not knowing what to do when I had to take a bathroom break and risk leaving my things out in the open.  From these interviews, I learned that a lot of students had the same feelings and didn't know what to do either.