23A - What Makes You Special

23A – What Makes You Special

1.     Originality

Value-  Yes, originality fosters growth in a business.

Rare- Yes, it’s rare to see originality in a service/product.

Imitable- Yes, I think people strive to come up with original ideas.

Non-substitutable-  I think when you have something original, people want to copy it or try and improve on it.

2.     Customer Relation

Value- Very valuable. Part of providing service is to find a way to connect with customers and I believe this product will open up businesses to a new market.

Rare- Its rare because its needed for a service/product to be successful and if it wasn’t rare, every company would be successful.

Inimitable- Yes, companies should want to imitate customer relation.

Non-substitutable – No, this is not substitutable.

3.     Innovation

Value- Yes, innovation is always a sought-after quality.

Rare- Yes, innovation is rare.

Inimitable- Yes, it can be copied or give another person the ability to improve upon the current product.

Non-substitutable – No, not substitutable, you have to be able to keep improving on your product through innovation.

4.     Outsourcing

Value- Yes its valuable. You are able to bring in more expertise.

Rare- No, not rare.

Inimitable- Yes but may not be as good of an outsource.

Non-substitutable – Yes, its substitutable. You don’t need to outsource to be successful.

5.     Passion

Value- I do think passion can go quite a ways, however I’m not sure how valuable it is.

Rare- No, not rare.

Inimitable- Yes inimitable.

Non-substitutable – No, people can argue that money is more important than passion when beginning a startup.

6.     Specialty Knowledge

Value- Very valuable, people like to know that you are an expert at what you are trying to sell

Rare- Can be a niche depending what your specialty knowledge is in.

Inimitable- Yes, someone can learn and become an expert.

Non-substitutable – I don’t think it is substitutable because you have to know the struggles of a market before you can decide if its marketable.

7.     Tenacity

Value- I think it’s a commendable attribute to have, but I’m not sure if an investor would see it as valuable.

Rare- I do think tenacity is somewhat rare. If it wasn’t, everyone would have it, right?

Inimitable- Yes, it can be imitated.

Non-substitutable – Yes, there are other qualities that are sought after.

8.     Affordability

Value- Extremely valuable.

Rare-Somewhat. I think it challenges competitors to compete with your value.

Inimitable- Yes.

Non-substitutable- No, I think affordability is one of the top aspects from a consumers standpoint.

9.     Attention to Detail

Value- Valuable to fix smaller issues in applications

Rare – Not rare

Inimitable – I think it’s a skill you either have or you have to train yourself to be better at it.

Non-substitutable – No, other skills would be desired over this.

10.  Brand Partnership

Value- Yes, big brand partnerships can be very valuable to a smaller company or startup.

Rare- I do believe this can be rare for a startup company.

Inimitable- Yes, others can partner with an app as well.

Non-substitutable – No, I think this attribute can take a startup far.

I think the potential of a brand partnership would be my most valuable resource. The ability to be able to attach myself to a large successful app like MyFitnessPal or be used in major chain restaurants would open other doors and broaden my social capital.

22A- Elevator Pitch 3

22A – Elevator Pitch 3

1) https://youtu.be/MuaAo5mzhXs

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 

I received some excellent feedback from classmates this time around. Millie suggested I use a story as my attention grabber and Macy just mentioned to speak up to exude more confidence in my pitch.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

I changed my entire introduction, hopefully it was the right decision and just tried to listen to the advice to speak louder.

21A- Reading Reflection 2

DONE 21A – Reading Reflection 2

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The theme of the book is mindset. The author, Carol Dweck, teaches about two mindsets, fixed and growth. She explains the difference between the two and how to overcome a fixed mindset and the benefits that you can add to your life by having a growth mindset.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? Entrepreneurship is about taking risks and believing in yourself enough to believe in your product/service. You must be willing to learn what you don’t know and be brave enough to be critical of yourself and fix your mindset. This book showed me in what ways I have a fixed mindset and how I should be thinking to take in more opportunities.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? I would do a memory exercise. I would begin by asking the class who thinks they can learn the entire periodic table in order in 5 classes? Then based off of the people who raise their hands I would explain what a fixed and growth mindset are. There is a memory technique that I have learned that I would teach the class so everyone would feel confident that in 5 classes they would know the periodic table.

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? I was honestly getting kind of stressed out reading this book because as I was reading I was noticing how much of a fixed mindset that I have. What I kept learning as I read on is a fixed mindset doesn’t have to be forever. You have the power to change it, it just takes practice and self-awareness. My aha moment was when I learned that you can have both a fixed and growth mindset. I am more confident in some things than others so I realized I can have both mindsets.

17A - Elevator Pitch 2

1.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnNsj5H7QGM&feature=youtu.be

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 

The feedback I received on my first elevator pitch was positive. I have two classmates that aren’t specifically familiar with tracking their food and they mentioned I did a good job at explaining the process.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

I only changed the opening of my pitch, I'm still looking for a really good attention grab.I did try and deliver it better. I think I was focusing too much on not stumbling on the first pitch so I lacked movement and emotion, so this time I tried to be more present.

19A - Idea Napkin 2

19A – Idea Napkin No.2

1.     You. I wear many hats. I am a wife, mother, student, United States Airman, and avid weightlifter. The many hats that I wear contribute to many of my talents and skills. Some of my skills include time management, being self-disciplined, and leadership/followership and never giving up. If I were to start my business concept, I would want to be actively involved. I have been tracking my food for years now and would like to make the process easier for the food tracking community. I would also like to educate large chain restaurants on the opportunity that exists for them with a scannable menu. I think I would be an extremely dedicated individual in making this one of the best food tracking apps available.

2.     What are you offering to customer? Every person is looking to make something easier in their life or save time. The scannable menu is built to cut down the time it takes to track your meals and allows you to be more present with your friends and family while also making it easier to stick to your diet. Since chain restaurants are also a potential customer for the menu I am offering them a new way to connect to the health conscious customer which in turn may create a new market for them.

3.     Who are you offering it to? Demographic: In 2017, 43% of people who regularly use food tracking apps are between the ages of 18 and 45. I would like to focus on this demographic because they already know the hassle that can come with eating out and needing to track your food.Also, food chains that are already required by the FDA to provide calories on their menus (any restaurant with over 20 items on their menus).  Psychographic: People who find health a priority. People wanting to prevent weight gain or loss. People training for a sport with a strict caloric need.

      Also, I want to market to large chain restaurants like Chilis, Red Robin, Appleby’s, etc. who have already taken steps forward in making their menus offer healthier food options.

4.     Why do they care? Customers who regularly track their food will find this useful because it cuts down the time and manual work they must do to stay on track. It’s another tool to help them be successful in tracking. It can be used as an upgraded version of MyFitnessPal for $10.  

      Millennials and Gen Z are demanding healthier food and restaurants are responding to that by creating more health conscious menu items. Having a scannable menu will show their customers they care by being more transparent about their food and possibly opening a larger market.

5.     Core competencies After researching the information for competitors in this area, there are none. This would be a new concept. Many food tracking apps already offer the ability to scan the barcode of a grocery store item and this happens to be one of the best upgrades in food tracking apps. I would like that same ease to also be available when eating out.

I believe the 5 elements do fit together. The weakest part of the business concept is figuring out what costs will be endured by the restaurants. I think conducting interviews with restaurant managers may help me understand what type of costs they endure when updating a menu and what a good price point would be for the menu.

Two main points that I took out of my feedback was I needed to find a way to market my idea to the restaurants and think more on how I intend to do this. Another point was I need to start thinking about what my app will look like to the customer. I needed to start to develop my own ideas into what a “perfect food tracking app” will look like and how it will differ from others. I was able to incorporate ways I intend to market better to restaurants to purchase scannable menus.

18A - Customer Avatar

18A – Customer Avatar

                                              

My ideal customer will be between 20-39 years of age. Women are slightly more often to use a food tracking app than men, so I built my customer avatar to represent a woman. I see my customer driving a mid-size car and their hobby includes working out 4-5 times a week. They have busy schedules but make themselves a priority and enjoy reading books on self-improvement. If my customer has children, I can see them having 1-2 children.

The customer avatar is based off of myself and my experiences and some statistical data. I have everything in common with my avatar and I believe the reason is because the problem I identified started off as a problem that I would have liked to improve for myself. When I did more research, I found out that my age group was the ideal market for my product.