Exit Strategy

1. My exit strategy will be dependent on the success of the business. Assuming the business will survive the next 5 years I would expect to have a lot of technological changes because it is a technology-based company and technology has been changing at an unprecedented rate. If the business is as successful as I have imagined it to be than I would make it my priority and stay with it until I can no longer work. If I had to leave the company, I would pass it on to whoever can handle it whether it be my cousin or a long-term employee. Once I stop working, it doesn’t really seem like it will have much impact on my life other than my memories.

2. I have selected this strategy because I am a committed person. I have already worked for my current company for over 5 years and have been happy with the work I do and progression I have made. I made this business idea with the help of my cousin and if I had to leave, it would be right to me to leave it to him if the circumstances were right.

3. This has influenced my previous structure of positions because we would both be the authoritative figures in the company. I listened to his ideas when I conceptualized the business model we have. He has experience working in software development firms and I know that this is going to only help us to make ours better. He also explained the roles that the company would require which ultimately led me to the idea that this business idea would be started with us before we acquire any additional help. It helped me to understand the simplicity that we would have when we first launch and the complexity that it could grow into in the future.

Reading Reflection #3

Reading Reflection #3

Theme

1. The general theme of the book was dos and don’ts for your social media presence. This book gave useful tips on a variety of topics including how to design aspects of your social media accounts such as usernames, profile pictures, and goes into detail to explain how consistency can be a useful marketing strategy.

Connection

2. This booked enhanced what I was learning in class by giving me useful tips on how to create a better versions of my current social media. It gave me useful advice on improving my blogs too. It is going to make me think about the things that I say more now before I post them. This book has explained that we should think about the different ways people may interpret messages that we write. It also explained that we should think about the way things will be interpreted in the future. This caused me to think of a few things I may remove from my social media accounts because it has become outdated and may give someone the wrong impression about me.

Exercise

3. If I designed an exercise from this book, I would design it so that the requirements would be to follow tips 3, 4, & 8 and create a social media account using these steps or tips. It could be any combination of the tips, but different combinations could create unique differences among each other. Some of these differences could actually help us to really differentiate our profiles too.  

Biggest Surprise

4. My biggest surprise from the reading was the tip about using the same profile picture across all accounts. I thought that this would be strange, but the text suggests that using a consistent profile picture will help to create a consistent image of yourself. It said that this can make it easier for people to recognize your brand or image. I realized that this is true and is useful for brands that are currently marketing themselves.

Celebrating Failure

Celebrating Failure

The Failure

My biggest failure this semester had to be Exam 1 in marketing. This was not a traditional failure in which I set myself up by not preparing. I was caught up on all material including LearnSmart chapters, quizzes, and live lectures. I took active notes on all lectures and chapters. Dr. Cooke told us that if we had kept up with those three things than we wouldn’t have to worry. I also further prepared for the exam by studying a copy of his previous version of exam 1. The week before the exam, I was involved in a car accident. After that, I was left with a totaled car and a sprained back. I did not get as much time to prepare for the exam the week of because of having to deal with the insurance companies and my health. The prescription I was given made me drowsy, dizzy, and unfocused. When I took the exam, I can’t even remember if I took my medicine and it made me lose focus or if I was just so exhausted and in so much pain that I couldn’t concentrate. It didn’t help that Dr. Cooke came to the exam and made an announcement during the exam destroying my concentration. Before I even finished the exam, I knew I was going to fail.

Learning Experience

I learned that the medicine I was taking was ruining my concentration and making it way more difficult for me to study or focus. I also learned how important it is to devote time to studying before the exam which I could not because I was forced to deal with my personal health, attorneys, and insurance companies. I knew the material I was going to be tested on, but I think the circumstances and the condition I was in had a huge influence on my failure. I can say with certainty that the accident was a huge contributor to the failure. For exam 2, I did not even study as much as I did for the first and I got an 81. Given the circumstances I probably shouldn’t have even taken exam 1 when I did but I wanted to get past the accident as soon as I could.

Reflection

Failure is always hard, and I was embarrassed to have myself in such a condition. It was not something that I did to myself. The person who totaled my car almost ruined my first semester at UF. To this day, I am still in pain and forced to fit 3 physical therapy appointments a week in on top of being a full-time student and working 20+ hours at the pharmacy while living on my own! I still feel like I am failing because I am running out of money and my grades suffered after the accident. The advisor I met with encouraged me to drop a class but didn’t bother to tell me about not getting any of my money back. It was almost as if she didn’t even get how important the investment was. At that point, I realized I didn’t have a choice but to push through this and hope that I could still pass. I am already risking everything by trying to make it through this. At this point, I know I don’t have much of a choice. I think that dropping a class and losing about $750 for the class I paid for would have crippled me worse than the accident did. I don’t understand the logic behind what my advisor told me unless she didn’t see how important the money was for a full-time student living on their own with no financial support at all. The biggest risk I am taking is the fact that I am still trying to finish what I started this semester.

What's Next?

Existing Market

1. First our products and services will consist of the information system itself and support and troubleshooting services.

2. My interviews informed me that my information system should include an introductory video that will explain how to use the information system. They also informed me that our services should include teaching services to show users how to use the system through support services. Last they informed me to make the information system easy to use. This may be harder to achieve because of the current complexity and security needed.

In response to the interviews I have decided to consider implementation of the introductory video and design it to show how the information system is to be used. This would be shown to potential investors and redesigned for finalized distribution. I have also decided to devote part of our services to train proper teaching methods and consultation techniques to prospective customers.

               My interviews recommended that this information system is easy to navigate and use. We would not want to risk security and efficiency in development so it may be hard to make it seem simple to use. Therefore, we will have to have an explanatory element to our product initially. I think that if we can effectively explain how to use it, it will be easier to use.

New Market

1. We plan to go direct to consumer by providing the entire trade through our platform. Instead of having the various firms using our information system we are planning to develop our own trading platform using our information system that will allow you to trade safely and legally.

2. The interviews advised me to advertise primarily online and on TV. One of my interviewers said that advertising is going to be a necessity in my product/service mix. With a much stronger need for customer awareness, I would initially try to advertise online. I was also advised to create a security software for the information system to use and potentially to sell to others.

               I learned that this market may require a lot more resources and human capital to acquire. This differed with my expectations. It would also mean we would be competing and risking cannibalization of lucrative deals. I would continue to consider this potential market, but my primary focus is going to be on the information systems development. I was surprised by the amount of advertising that is going to be necessary to inform this segment.

This market is still attractive after my considerations. If I am providing the service to firms and customers, I believe I can create a larger market share. I learned a lot from my interviews. They provided me with useful ideas that I hadn’t considered yet and I realized that they had direct applications to my idea.

The Currency Traders Venture Concept

Venture Concept

The Currency Traders

Opportunity

               This opportunity arose with the new anti-money laundering act for cryptocurrency. This called for a necessity for personal information to be associated with each trade between currencies. It was noted that this technology does not yet exist. This problem is going to directly affect the bitcoin firms and other cryptocurrency traders. This act calls for the legal requirements of the firms and trader to reveal personal information between the trading platforms. Based on my research, this market is all over the world. Cryptocurrency firms are found throughout the world and I noticed a cluster of them in South Florida. This is where we intend to begin operations. They are currently satisfying their needs by the traditional trading methods. This can now cause legal repercussions, but anonymity has been huge in these trades. This is a big opportunity to provide a service directly to the government and local business in Florida. This window of opportunity will only be around until someone designs an information system capable of transmitting the information. I believe that even if someone else creates it, we can still develop one that will function more efficiently and safely.

Innovation

               We have begun creating an information system that will use unique uuids from the servers to attach the personal information encryptions. We are planning to use fingerprints to generate the uuids and keep this methodology as a safety mechanism. This will allow users to trade by scanning their fingerprint and their personal information will be sent encrypted with the trade information. This information system will communicate with your existing servers to send and receive the data. We are hoping this will be our secret sauce because the complexity of this system and the exclusive knowledge of its functions with my software developer and me. We want to keep safety a priority and we plan to create or recommend our own security software or one that will work with the information system. We plan to charge a percentage of the transactions in the form of a transaction fee. Starting at a 5% fee of the transaction volume, we plan to use this money to fuel our innovation and development for further improvements and fixes that may arise.

Venture Concept

               This information system is designed to transmit your information safely when trading. It was the norm to keep anonymity when trading currencies, but legal repercussions may follow if changes aren’t implemented. I think it will cause users to consider our product because of the legal repercussions that maybe facing if they have not already found a solution. The biggest concern I have is establishing credibility among investors and prospective customers. Our competitors could be the existing cryptocurrency firms. If they are trying to develop the information system themselves then we are directly competing with them. Their weakness comes from the fact that this technology did not already exist in their current operations. We have also decided to put a strong emphasis on the customer support will we provide. Problems may arise and we want to be there to troubleshoot and listen to the feedback so we can make better decisions with further development. I plan to start operations in South Florida. Targeting the existing firms there will give us useful information and feedback we will use to tailor our next steps. I plan to keep the business small to start. The software developer and I will launch the idea ourselves. My role will be in negotiations and arranging contacts. I also intend to provide support to the customers along with the software developer. We won’t need an office right away and already have begun development from home. From here, we hope to expand throughout Florida and continue development for the country potentially with the assistance from the government. In the next five years, I would see myself constantly traveling and visiting different countries to share this information system. This venture will provide a foundation for me to build off of and continue to expand my and the company’s horizons.

Unfair Advantage

Resources

1.  Extensive Customer Service Support

·        Value provided by the software developer and I, we are available to troubleshoot problems and provide support on call. Rare support that can not be duplicated because of exclusive knowledge on product. Not imitable because of unique design by software developer and an insider understanding of products not disclosed to non-buyers. This type of information system did not exist when the anti-money laundering act passed. There is no substitute available easily.

2. Email, website, or telephone communications

·        This has value because it provides our customers a way to contact us. Rarity is lower because a lot of other firms have access to these things. Imitability is high on this resource because almost everyone has access to this in our area of operations. Substitutability is available through our different mediums to align with customer preferences.

3. Access to technology

·        Value coming from our existing technology (computers, software, and hardware) that we already own that we will use for development. Rarity existing from the simplicity of technological development methods. Imitability is much more achievable because of use of simple technology. That technology will be substitutable and upgradeable.

4. AT&T Fiber Internet Connection

·        Valuable because this service is top of the line internet service and is limited to certain areas and is going to be used in development. Rare because it is only available in certain locations. Imitability is lower because of the locational exclusivity. Substitutability is lower because there isn’t a service in our area that is the same as this that will be available to use instead.

5. Lenovo, Dell and Toshiba business computers

·        Valuable technology that we will use in development that we already possess. Rarity is lower because other firms may have the same or different computers already. Imitability is high too because they are inexpensive computers and can be purchased by almost anyone. Substitutability in the different models we have for use.

6. Close Connections

·        Value coming from the ease of communication with our services and customer support. Smaller team causing closer relationships. Rarity coming from the barriers typically associated with customer support such as anonymity. Imitability for close connections is high for smaller organizations but increasingly difficult for large ones because of increasing employment population. Other resources can provide similar consulting practices, but we will have exclusive knowledge on our product.

7. Cross-cultural awareness

·        Value coming from the diverse cultural awareness and understanding we already have. Rare because not all firms have a diverse background and mindset. Cross-cultural awareness is usually achieved easier in larger organizations. Imitability is going to be low because it will be hard to replicate the diversity we have learned over the years.

8. Potential for expansive development

·        Value is huge because we are wiling to make changes and improvements over time. Rarity is not a top factor because other organizations continue developing information systems too. Imitability should be low because of complexity and exclusivity of our product to non-buyers.

9. Financial Stability

·        Value is a top factor because of use of returns to continue development and innovation. Rarity coming from the few expenses that will result from operation. Imitability is not impossible because other organizations may have a longer financial history and reserve.

10. Passion for service

·        Value coming from the heart of our organizational culture. Rare because of the complexity the services provided. Imitability is high because of shared beliefs in services. This will not be easily substituted because of the unavailability of alternate information systems.

Our top resource is the first one. The complexity of the information system may cause a lot of problems and necessary troubleshooting. We are prepared to handle all requests and provide the best service to you. We are going to make sure you get the information you need, and the feedback will be used in further development guidelines.

Elevator Pitch #3

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3gStSPC7qY

2. Reflection: The feedback on my last pitch included positive feedback on the way I was dressed. I decided to continue that in my third pitch by putting on my suit and tie for the delivery of this pitch. The feedback also noted that the hand gestures added to the quality of my pitch, so I made sure to try to use some hand gestures in this pitch too. I was also told that with a little more practice my pitch would be perfect. It is still not perfect, but I hope I have made some improvements.

3. Changes: I have implemented a request to my prototypical customer to pay a percentage to me for use of my service. This money will be used to continue development and innovation as mentioned in my pitch. I feel the same in front of the camera as I did the first time. I knew the format of my speech a lot better than I did the first time and I believe I will continue to change and tweak it to cater to my audiences in the future. I hope this pitch is better than the previous two if not the best so far. I was in a car accident on the day of my first pitch so I hope my work seems to have improved since then.

Reading Reflection #2

Mindset : How You Can Fulfil Your Potential

Carol Dweck

1.    Theme: The theme of this book was situations and experiences and the responses people had to them.

2.    This book connected to my experiences in entrepreneurship by showing me the importance of questioning and considering other opinions. This book caused me to think about different experiences I have had and how I could have and did learn from them. This book gives a strong push to think differently about situations and experiences and I think that I can relate to the types of people that were interviewed.

3.    If I had to design an exercise it would be like the situation or experience-based scenario question interviews like in the book so that I could gather reactions and thoughts from others. I would ask people questions about similar situations I have had and see how their responses differ from mine and to see what could have been done differently. This would help me to understand more about how I responded to things compared to how others would. I would hope that this would ultimately help me to be better off in the future.

4.    The biggest surprise was the number of quotes from interviewers that were used. It seems like its one of the most important parts and essential to understanding how interviewers felt.

Grow Your Social Capital

Growing Your Social Capital

 My industry domain expert is a Senior Vice President - Corporate Development, Chief Legal Officer, Secretary at Alphabet Inc. His name is David D. I found him on Hoovers and he fills the spot because he is in charge of development and legal affairs. He will likely know about the anti-money laundering law or he would know about any legal action they may have had or must take. I have sent an email to David to see if he will respond with any information about the legal process that they are using or advice on my elevator pitch. I think this is going to enhance my business idea because he can provide me with useful information that I will consider when developing my idea.

My industry supplier contact is Rick O. He is the Senior Vice President, Hardware Division, Google Inc. at Alphabet Inc. I also found him on Hoovers. He fills this spot because he knows all about the technology that is being used and can likely provide valuable information on which technology I should use. I have sent Rick an email to see if he would share some advice on which technology I should use for my business idea. This person will enhance my network by providing knowledge from experience with the latest technology.

My industry market expert is Lorraine T. She is the Senior Vice President, Marketing, Google Inc. at Alphabet Inc. I found her on Hoover and I have sent an email to her requesting some advice on how to best market my business idea. She fills this role because she is one of the main leaders of the marketing team. This person will potentially enhance my network by providing useful and current marketing advice that I can use in the development of my idea.

Reflection: This experience will cause me to be more selective when I am networking. It could be a good idea to try to network with everyone, but with limited time it may be best to network with the right people. This experience did differ from my past networking experiences because I usually make connections easier in person. Making a connection to someone online can be deceiving.           

Idea Napkin #2

Idea Napkin #2

1. You- I am Matthew Shim, I am attending the Heavener School of Business as a junior this year. I have been developing my skills and experiences in business by working part time since I was 17 years old at Publix. I have learned the basics of working and business cycles and now I am enhancing my experience and knowledge as a student at the University of Florida. My talents range from time management and accuracy skills that I learned from working in the pharmacy to communication and premier customer service skills that I learned from working in customer service. I am aspiring to develop a secure information system that I hope will be implemented around the world. I imagine it to become my career and take the place of all my time not including my personal time but maybe some of it.

2. What are you offering to customers? I am offering a secure and fast information system that will provide ease and security to customers needing to make transactions with their cryptocurrencies. This system will be efficient and strong enough to handle high volume trading in the event of price fluctuations. This system will be in complete compliance with the law and will enable firms and customers to deal with this new regulation worry free.

3. Who are you offering it to? I am offering this service to anyone. People with criminal records for money laundering will be exempt. This is primarily going to be used between firms, but it is a service that enables them to continue serving their customers. They are going to be ranging from age 18+. They have something in common and that is an investment in cryptocurrency.

4.Why do they care? They care because they want to keep trading. They care because it is in response to the anti-money laundering law. Ignoring this new law could land them in prison. They will appreciate the security and efficiency we will offer.

5. What are your core competencies? We are different because no one can replicate the unique skillset and experiences I have. They also do not have the advantage I have with the help of my software developer. My software developer has years of experience and already has started developing our first prototype of the system.

I believe that my idea fits together for the experience that my software developer and I have. Let me know if you see weaknesses in my plan. I am not able to explain the changes I made based on feedback because my first post never got any.