30A- Final Reflection

#1- During this course I had quite an enjoyable experience developing a new product and developing idea to move that product along the steps required to get the product to market. It was a very interesting process that I found very informative. However, I also experienced several moments of dread throughout the course as I was concerned that I would not be able to complete some of the assignments for this course that ended up being close to exams I had in other classes, however I was able to complete the assignments and still do well on my exams.

#2- The most formative experience I had in this class was the assignments where we developed contingency plans in the event that our ventures ran into problems and the development of an exit strategy. These backup plans and learning how to develop them effectively will be invaluable in the future when I may need to rely on these skills on very short notice.

#3- While I do not see myself fully as an entrepreneur quite yet I certainly feel more in touch with the mindset of an entrepreneur. By developing a new product and conducting the research needed to see if the product would be viable and how to reinforce the product with consumer feedback I feel that I have developed a mindset that would be very valuable in conducting similar trials in the future.

#4- A recommendation I would give to future students would be to always do all of the assignments for this class even if you are unsure if you will have the time. I have had numerous experiences in this course where I had considered not completing certain assignments as they fell close to the exam dates of the other courses I was taking, however I was able to complete the assignments on time and not have it significantly impact the time I needed to study for other exams.

29A- Venture Concept No. 2

#1- My venture concept is a password protected, climate controlled lockbox that is designed to placed inside the refrigerators of consumers for use at home, in the workplace, and beyond to ensure that customers who order food or wish to not have certain food be eaten will not have to worry about this scenario.

#2- During this course I received feedback encouraging me to give the product a proper name and to develop mass customization options to make the product more personalized for each consumer giving them a greater sense of ownership of the product. I have taken most of this feedback into consideration and implemented it into the product.

#3- Based on the feedback during this course I gave the product a name- the ColdCase and have developed plans to create the ColdCase in many different sizes to fit the needs of consumers who could have less refrigerator space or smaller refrigerators, and set the foundation to give the ColdCase major sports branding in the future.

28A- Your Exit Strategy

#1- In the event my venture becomes successful I would likely develop plans to either sell the business off for a large pay out if it does not end up becoming a very large business, or if the venture does pan out and becomes a very large business I would likely make plans to stay with the business for many years before eventually retiring.

#2- I selected this plan to ensure that the business will generate a large amount of money in the long run should the business become largely successful or simply sell the business to a larger company for a pay out if the business does end up becoming very large and simply accept the large pay out.

#3- I had not considered an exit strategy before this assignment as I was mostly focusing on developing the product that I will be selling. As such my exit strategy has not had much of an influence on my decisions with the product as I have been working on developing a good product that consumers would enjoy before progressing further with my business plans.

27A- Reading Reflection No.3

The Book- How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

#1- The general theme of this book was discussing failure and how pretty much everyone fails at some point in their career or in their life, however this does not mean that you should give up and that you can still win big.

#2- This book connects with what I learned in ENT3003 because it seems that failure is somewhat built into the field of entrepreneurship itself. No venture is successfully instantly, it takes trail and error, failure after failure until you come across something that really works and begins to make a profit.

#3- If I had to create an assignment based on this book I would have students make contingency plans in the event their venture fails. By allowing students to formulate backup plans hopefully they will will be able to enhance these lessons in the future when their venture may depend on it.

#4- I was very surprised when the book began listing celebrities who had failed in their lives and who were not instant success, such as how Harrison Ford was a carpenter when he was 30 and did not become an actor until later in his life.

26A- Celebrating Failure

#1- During this semester I have experienced plenty of failure while struggling through FIN3403. The extraordinarily hard class has certainly provided many opportunities to experience failure as the class is just a nightmare to try and to get through. During the second exam this semester I experienced a heartbreaking failure as I missed my target score by one question, making the rest of the class much harder.

#2- By experiencing this failure I was able to gauge how much I need to improve my study habits to ensure that I do not make a mistake like this again. By learning from this mistake I was able to reform new and better study habits to better fit this insane class. By adapting to this new study pattern I was much more prepared for the final exam for finance that I took today.

#3- I am usually afraid of failure in general. I get very nervous and anxious at the thought of failing anything I have been assigned to do or goals I set for myself. However, I found that I was not nearly as fearful of this exam as I was on the last exam, possibly even helping me study better and perform better on the exam.

25A- What's Next?

Existing Market- #1- The next step for the ColdCase would be to pursue a contract with major sports teams in the NFL and NBA to bring an extended range of branding to the ColdCase to create a greater sense of individuality and mass customization to the ColdCase.

#2- I was unable to perform interviews for this assignment due to the Coronavirus.

#3- As I was unable to perform interviews, based on previous interviews for past assignments I believe it would make the most sense to prioritize more mass customization options such as the previously mentioned sports contract to bring more personality to the ColdCase and allow consumers to feel a greater sense of ownership of the ColdCase.

New Market-  #1 To expand the market of ColdCase I would like to introduce it to a global market and sell the product in many different foreign countries as I believe that this need could also remain unsatisfied in foreign markets as well as the domestic market.

#2- I believe that the ColdCase will be able to create value for foreign markets as the feeling of disappointment when you open your refrigerator to enjoy a particular meal and finding it has been taken is not limited to the domestic market as the many more individuals across the globe could have the same desire to see this need fulfilled.

#3- I was unable to perform interviews for this assignment due to the Coronavirus.

#4- While it would be very difficult to introduce the ColdCase to a global market I believe the increase in revenue due to the vastly extended range of the product would prove to be worth the cost of expanding the product. After reconsidering the product for this assignment on second thought it might be better to target particular counties with similar lifestyles to that of the United States, such as the United Kingdom and other European countries as I am not sure how well the ColdCase would fit in with different ways of life.

24A- Venture Concept No. 1

#1 Opportunity- I believe that there is a market for a climate controlled, password protected lockbox that consumers can use to protect their leftovers or other food from any individuals at home, work, or elsewhere that could potentially eat them while the owner is away or do not want their leftover food to be eaten. This product would allow users to safely contain food inside of their refrigerator without the risk of the stored food being eaten by other members of the household.

There are many consumers who could benefit from this product as the lockbox could be used in many different situations such as at home or work to ensure that consumers would have protection for their meals in any location. By creating a product with such versatility, it opens up a market for many different consumers that could have a similar need and would fulfill this need by purchasing the ColdCase. However, the most likely consumers who would purchase the ColdCase would be individuals who in live households with multiple other relatives or roommates.

As of now there is no product that currently satisfies this need of food protection. Many potential customers currently attempt to use solutions such as hiding their food in the refrigerator or buying smaller, separate refrigerators such as a mini fridge that is kept in a separate room, or attempt to put sticky notes on the food stating that the food is not to be eaten by others. However, none of these methods seem to be completely full proof and often result in the food being eaten regardless. Not only do these methods fail to protect the food the consumer would like to protect but purchasing another refrigerator or mini fridge to attempt to store food elsewhere could prove costly and still does not provide any protection should another individual discover the extra fridge.

Potential additional opportunities could be the ability to introduce this product to a global market as the product could be fairly easy to introduce due its lack of complexity and the potential for the same need of the protection of food to exist in multiple foreign markets. However, these new markets would require more research expenses to determine if these foreign markets do indeed share the same needs as the domestic market in the United States. Should these new markets end up sharing the same needs as the Unites States based markets after this research has been conducted it could certainly be a potential opportunity to bring the ColdCase to a global market.

#2 Innovation- The ColdCase is a password protected, climate controlled, mass customizable lockbox designed to be placed inside of a refrigerator to ensure that any food placed inside will not be taken without the knowledge of the owner. Due to the different sizes of the boxes despite being designed to be placed inside of a refrigerator the ColdCase could also be portable and double as a cooler for the event the user would need to simply grab the ColdCase carrying their food and leave their home or place of employment.

The ColdCase would be adaptable to many different markets due to its simplistic nature and lack of complexity in terms of how the device operates. By introducing it these new markets it could potentially bring much larger revenue streams and result In the ColdCase fulfilling the need of protecting the food of consumers on a global scale rather than only being a domestic product. However, to do this the ColdCase would likely need to partner with an international company or brand to develop new markets in foreign countries.

The ColdCase is an innovative product in the form of it being the only product that seems to fulfill this unmet need of preserving the leftovers or other food that consumers would like to have preserved and not be tampered with by others. Due to the current solutions being ineffective in solving this issue I believe that the ColdCase would be an innovative new product that would be the only effective solution to this problem on the market. As such this device would be sought after as the only available means of protecting food at home or at the workplace from other individuals who could potentially take food that is not kept safe.

#3 Venture Concept- As the ColdCase would be the only product available that could satisfy the needs of consumers in the case of protecting leftover food from other individuals I believe that consumers would be very likely to switch to this product over the traditional methods of either buying a new separate refrigerator to hide their food in, attempting to hide the food in the current refrigerator by trying to place items to block its visibility to other individuals in the household, or by attempting to place sticky notes on the food to deter people from digging into the food.

As discussed in previous assignments consumers are willing to switch to the ColdCase over these methods to ensure that the food is protected rather than gambling on whether family members or co workers will respect their sticky notes or simply that they will not attempt to eat their food. Due to the highly inconsistent nature of these methods it seems that consumers would be willing to try out the ColdCase as a guaranteed method that they will not be left without the food they are attempting to protect so that they may enjoy it at a later time without the looming threat of someone coming along to eat it.

#4 Three Minor Elements- #1- The most resource in my venture will be my connections to individuals in the business and accounting fields as they could help guide my venture through the introduction and growth phases of the new product life cycle. The help of these individuals will also assist me in gaining more connections in the business field.

#2- The net opportunity I would like to explore with ColdCase would be to create a contract with major sporting outlets such as the NFL and NBA to bring sports branding to the ColdCase to allow for more mass customization options to consumers.

#3- Five years after the launch of ColdCase should it prove successful I would like to explore the option of selling the ColdCase on a global market and sell the product in foreign countries.

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

For this assignment I have conducted a VRIN analysis on all of the resources my venture possess on a 1-10 scale. The results are listed below:

Resources-

    #1- Prior exposure to the business field: V:8 R:5 I:6 N:5

    #2- Connections in the business field: V:10 R:8 I:7 N:8

    #3- Management experience: V:9 R:7 I:7 N:9

    #4- Experience with business software: V:10 R:5 I:6 N:8

    #5- Saving account: V:10 R:3 I:7 N:6

    #6- Experience gained from ENT3003: V:9 R:2 I:8 N:8

    #7- Experience with electronics: V:5 R:3 I:7 N:7

    #8- Credit: V:4 R:4 I:6 N:3

    #9- Vehicle (Jeep): V:6 R:4 I:7 N:5

    #10- Connections to an accountant: V:9 R:2 I:6 N:5

Conclusion- I believe the most advantageous resources my venture has are my connections to individuals in the fields of business and accounting. The knowledge and expertise these individuals could provide to my venture would be invaluable in marketing and financing my product.

22A- Elevator Pitch No. 3

The Pitch- https://youtu.be/j90bAc6t6Ys

A reflection on the feedback I received from my last pitch- The feedback I received from my last pitch was mostly positive in regards to the new name of the product: The "ColdCase" and the addition of mass customization features. This positive feedback reassured me that potential consumers would like more personalized devices as well as the standard ColdCases. I received particularly positive feedback on the concept of potentially having sports team themed ColdCases in the future.

What did I change based on the feedback?-  For this pitch I redesigned the ColdCase to be more portable and rather than being a stationary device. This addition will allow consumer more freedom as to where and when they need their ColdCase and gives the device the mobility and flexibility to meet those needs. The addition of this feature to the ColdCase would also open the possibility of being a ColdCase to events and opens up opportunities for potential consumers who like to go to large gatherings to ensure that they will have food while they are that no other attendees will be able to take.