Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

Netflix and other such services have steadily increased the rate at which people watch through television series. Waiting week by week per episode is a thing of the past. People find a series that they are interested in, and proceed to binge watch it in a matter of a couple weeks or even days. This is leading to an emerging problem that has really always existed but never on this scale: the feeling that one has run out of things to watch. This applies to basically every form of modern media; books, movies, video games, people are burning through them at a faster rate than ever before. Traditional methods of discovering new material are no longer sufficient to satisfy this overwhelming demand, and I believe that my product is aptly timed to answer this emerging need. The window of opportunity is currently wide open, but it will only remain so while there is no other service that addresses this. If this idea is to be acted on now, there is no telling how huge the possible payoff could be. This is essentially the opportunity to introduce a completely new service to the American market, the largest demographic of consumers in the world.

The need I am referring to is very real. Ask just about any college student, movie buff, or avid reader. Everyone has had a time in their life where they simply felt like there was nothing to read/watch. This is a problem of perception and awareness; one that can be easily solved if only there was an organized system for achieving that purpose.

Innovation

The product that I am offering meets the aforementioned need. My idea is Storybored.com, a website and app that will revolutionize the way that people watch, read, and play through story media. The idea is simple and proven to work. Very much like how Pandora had such a massive impact on the music industry with its Music Genome Project, we hope to make an impact through a similarly functioning algorithm. When creating an account, users will input genre interests and a few past favorite series of theirs. The system will then generate some suggestions, and as users work their way through the suggestions there will be a rating system available to provide feedback. The system will take into account the feedback and use it to increase the accuracy of future suggestions.

I think the only difficulty in implementing this innovation will be to convince users that it is worth their time to check it out. This means that streamlining the signup process as much as possible will be of the upmost importance. Furthermore, we will need to attract the attention of the “early adopter” demographic. This will mean advertising on services that already employ similar structures (Pandora, Spotify, etc.) and possibly on places like YouTube. We need to target the young demographic first, and then expand outward.

This is a prime opportunity as there are currently little to no competitors in the market. My ideal team would mostly consist of those that I have already worked with on the project, and I do not foresee the need for a larger staff until the idea really takes off. As what we are selling is not a physical product, packaging, transportation, etc. are basically a non-issue.

Three Minor Elements

The main element that sets this venture apart is that, as stated above, I believe it meets a need that is not currently being met at all. People rely mainly on friend’s recommendations and general hearsay to decide what they want to read/watch. There is no organized system quite like this on the market at the moment.

Another key advantage here is my team. I believe that between the coding skills and network connections we have, my team is aptly prepared to meet this new market with a product that would stand out regardless of it being the first. I think I have a uniquely talented group of individuals to collaborate with.

As far as what next, the direction that Storybored will be taking if it takes off, is to expand into the actual story media industries. I believe that if we can establish enough brand recognition, that if consumers begin to associate our seal with quality material, we can begin doing some sort of “editor’s choice” program, where books that we find of particularly high quality, have universal appeal, or is highly rated on our app/website.  I believe this to be the most logical expansion of our brand into a household name.

Depending on the success of this venture, I could see myself staying with the company for quite a while. After ten years or so, I see myself possibly exploring other options. In all honesty, I do not see my career as being defined by a single company, and would probably like to switch avenues after an extended period of time. I envision myself as a successful agent of business, in whatever form that may take. I envision this company as my starting point, not my endpoint.

Conclusion

To reiterate, I believe that Storeybored is tapping into a huge potential demographic due to the meeting of an emerging unmet need. The technology to create such a website has existed for a while now, as evidenced by companies such as Pandora, but no one has applied it for this purpose. The opportunity is there, we have the technical prowess, and the business model is viable. I see no reason not to give this venture a chance.

The Amazon Whisperer

Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 

My main idea for a revenue driver would be advertising, like most other forms of media. As I am not selling a physical product, or even selling a service, I think my main revenue source would have to be selling targeted advertising space to other companies. I was not planning on doing any sort of membership or service fee, I was planning on basically making the product free to consumers.

Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?

Other than purchasing the books, movies, and shows that they may have discovered on my app/website, my concept does not lend itself to supplemental material. Perhaps I could offer a membership to get rid of ads? Seems like a common thing to do.

Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

If I were to go the membership route, the "next" thing would definitely foster customer loyalty, although as it stands I am creating a new market without much competition.

So for this next part since I didn't really have a related product I decided to go with whatever random thing I could find:

Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.

This is 984 cpm(clicks-per-minute) Uranium ore. While not very similar to my product, it is definitely an interesting amazon find.

What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?

Customers seem to dislike the inherent risk associated with purchase of the item (radioactivity, CIA involvement, etc). They do seem to like the fact that it is affordable, and one of a kind.

Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. 

I would probably come up with more classy and probably secure packaging. Looks a little risky to ship as is.

Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.

I think I have already noted that this part of the exercise is a little irrelevant.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

1.  I did not find much of this weeks reading very surprising. I have actually learned quite a lot about the innovation aspect of starting a business through my Creativity in Context class. Still, it was cool to see the information reiterated.
2. I found the distinct classes for types of innovation a little confusing. I have never liked the idea of classifying types of innovation; innovation is not something you can necessarily categorize into a box. For instance, would the assembly line be a business model innovation or a technological innovation?
3. Two questions for the author:

• What separates entrepreneurship from innovation? I have heard some speakers use the words almost interchangeably. Can't entrepreneurship be seen as innovation, or vice versa?
• Do you believe that it is possible to over innovate? It is often said that certain musicians or artists were ahead of their time, is such a thing possible for a business?

1. I don;t think I really disagreed with any part of the reading. I don't like categorizing innovation, but other than that I agree with what the author had to say.

My Unfair Advantage

My Resources:

• My Alpha Kappa Psi Network

Limited to members of Alpha Kappa Psi. Not extremely rare, but provides opportunities that others might not have. Fairly valuable. Very comparable to any other fraternity/sorority network, with a slight advantage considering its business emphasis.

• Finance Background

As a major in finance I have a little bit of insight into the interworkings of companies. I can help the venture remain economically viable. This is a common and easily replicated skill set.

• My team and I's programming ability

As I mentioned in the last post, I have a talented programmer in my network. I am also fairly skilled at coding. These advantages are fairly hard to come by and extremely valuable considering the industry my product would be entering. However, these skills are not unique.

• A unique idea

I do not believe there is an idea like mine currently on the market. This allows us to essentially bypass dealing with competition, and instead simply focus on gaining the interest of consumers. This is a rare and hard to replicate advantage.

• University Start-up Resources

As a student at the University of Florida I have access to all the start-up specific resources, such as the spaces reserved for emerging business ideas at infinity hall. College campuses are also extremely conducive to the development of new ideas; I have direct access to the very demographic that usually adopts new ideas first. Not a very unique advantage but it is significant.

• Good Salesmanship

I am a fairly effective salesman. I am good at making people feel relaxed and comfortable around me. This is a fairly unique, but easy to replicate resource that simply takes practice.

• Good Leadership

When I believe in an idea, I am very effective at seeing it through. I have the ability to organize others to accomplish a task. This is also not a super unique skill, and is easily replicated.

• Well read

This wouldn't normally be that significant of an advantage, but considering the business idea and my team it is considerable. This is an easily replicated skill and not so unique skill.

• Musical Ability

My brother and I are musicians. I do not know if this would necessarily aid the venture, but it is a legitimate skill set and I am running out of ideas. It is a hard to replicate and somewhat uncommon skill.

I think that the most significant entry on this list is definitely the programming ability. A lot of these other resources are simply circumstantial and fairly common. I could not reach the 10 minimum entries on the list, which does lead me to worry a little about the viability of my venture. 

Growing My Social Capital

Domain Expert:

    Philip Rashan is an expert in computer coding and programming. When provided with an idea he has the technical prowess to make it a reality. I met Philip online about six months ago through an online card game tournament. We have continued to collaborate on small projects and shoot ideas to each other ever since. I have shared my idea with him and I know he would be willing to work on it with me.

Market Expert:

   Katherine Lawler is an avid reader and marketing major. She has participated in numerous book clubs and other venues that would expose her to my target demographic. I have known her for about a year and we have recently established a solid working relationship, and as of last week we are already collaborating on another project. I believe that Ms. Lawler could keep me in contact with my target demographic, grounding my idea and providing valuable and accurate feedback. 

Supplier:

Matthew Roberts is also an expert in computer coding and programming, but has inside connections as far as server hosting services are concerned. Robert's father is in hosting services, and through this connection perhaps I could secure a cost advantage over competitors.

Reflection:

While I think this experience was certainly valuable, I do not think it will influence my method of networking in the future. Sure, it is important to seek out connections in relevant fields, but at the same time you never know what might be relevant in the future. I think trying to specifically make connections in those areas that are immediately useful is not the way to go, rather you should foster and grow as many long term connections as you can, Who knows, your friend from that one business class ten years ago might be the key to getting your foot in the door somewhere in the future.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1. A part of the reading that I found surprising was how much the reading dwelled on the technical aspects of accounting. It seems redundant given the majority of the class will already have taken, or be taking a class specifically addressing this topic.
2. A part of the reading that I found confusing was product-driven philosophy. To focus on making a product efficiently before marketing seems backwards. How can you focus on making a product when you don't even know whether or not it will sell? It seems unnecessarily risky. 
3.  Two questions for the author:

• What would be the impact of a country like China switching from a standard like the US dollar to the Euro?
• What financial metric is the most essential to an accurate valuation of a company?

1. Its not so much a specific section that I disagree with the author on, its more of a general contention with the idea of the chapter as a whole. I would never try to argue that finances are not an important part of the entrepreneurial process; actually, as a finance major myself, I believe that this topic is universally applicable. I just don't know if it is necessarily part of the specifically entrepreneurial skill set. Its kind of like how the ability to walk is key to any job, but you won't find many job tutorials teaching you how. I don't believe finance falls under the entrepreneurial skill set, although it is an invaluable part of the process.  

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1. I was a little confused by the term guerrilla marketing. I wish that the author had gone into more detail. Couldn't anything be considered guerrilla marketing?
2. I wasn't particularly surprised by anything in this week's reading.
3. Two questions I would ask the author:

• Does innovative marketing pay off? It seems like the biggest companies stick to tried and true tactics, and it definitely works for them..
• Pricing strategies or product developement: both are crucial, which is more so?

1. Something that I disagreed with the author on in this week's reading was the idea that income divides people. Income is no more divisive than any other aspect of living, we simply make it seem that way with how we treat income as a society.

What's Your Secret Sauce

What I think of my human capital:

• I know that I have strong analytical thinking skills, From games, to class assignments, to jobs I have worked, I am always the person that wants to break down and analyze the activity. 
• I am good at making decisions under pressure. When I am stressed I tend to become even more focused. I do not let it interfere with the task at hand.
• I am a good mediator, and do not let personal bias affect decisions in which I feel that it would be destructive. I am good at examining the merits of both sides of an argument without taking into consideration my personal feelings. 
• I know what I don't know. I am always willing to defer judgement to those who know better, and do not let pride get in the way of a successful project.
• When a leader is necessary, I am more than willing to take charge. While I prefer to work and contribute to a group under others, I also have noticed that I preform especially well in environments where I have the control and responsibility.

What my family thinks of my human capital:

What my friends think of my human capital:

It seems that my interviewees as a whole basically agree with my self assessment. Funny enough, I disagree with my dad as far as mathematical ability is concerned; I do not feel I am particularly good at it. I would also like to add that I feel there are some inconsistencies simply because I haven't really been with my family since I have started college, and I believe I have changed quite a bit. I do not think I am nearly as quiet or reserved as I used to be.

Idea Napkin No. 2

I couldn't not do another actual napkin:

and as per request:

1. I am still Jacob. I still think I'm good at solving problems and troubleshooting ideas. I still seek success, and my faith in my idea as a tool to acheive it remains unchanged.
2. My service still allows for more enjoyable media consumption. It suggests titles when you run out (like Pandora or last.fm)
3. My customer base is everyone that either watches a lot of TV, reads a lot of books, or watches a lot of movies. Is there anyone that doesn't cover?
4. This still stands to eliminate the "nothing to watch" problem.
5. I still believe that the idea's strength lies in catering to/facilitating a whole new level of convenience (laziness).  

My opinion of how the components of my idea napkin mesh has not changed. I believe that by creating them for the purpose of this assignment they have an inherent tendency to compliment one another. My confidence in the last piece of the idea napkin has changed significantly> I no longer see it as the weakness. If anything, I now see it as a strength.

Feedback Memo:

The majority of the feedback simply requested that if I was to do something like write the idea napkin on an actual napkin, that I type it out as well in order to make sure it is easy enough to read. I did this, as well as clarify what I am proposing at Mr Fussel's suggestion. Overall, I believe I fixed any issues that were previously addressed.