Final Reflection

This semester, and this class specifically, has been a fun one. I've never really taken a class designed like this one before so it was a nice breath of fresh air. Obviously there were some struggles along the way. It took a little bit to get used to having everything due on one day rather than spread throughout the week. This ended up helping me with planning and organizing better, though. My main struggle with this class was a very dumb fault by me and that was forgetting to copy the URL for some assignments before declaring. Obviously I was very annoyed at myself but I think after that I've been able to overcome it. The main thing I think to take away from this class is really a mindset. It seems like that is one common denominator between all entrepreneurs, is the way they look at life and how they go about reacting from failures. This will last me well past college and in basically everything I do in life. This isn't the reason I took the class and I wasn't planning on something like this to happen, but I'm very glad it did. My recommendation to students taking this class is to have fun with it! Be creative and think of things you're passionate about. It will make the process so much better and it won't even feel like work, rather you building on a concept you can be proud of. And obviously adopt the mindset that failure is a learning tool and you'll strive in this class!

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

I think the great thing about my product is that the opportunity lies within an already large audience that, if given motivation, can easily become even larger. The already existing audience being anyone who works out at all. In America, more so than anywhere else, there is an issue with weight problems and a lack of motivation to go to the gym. Everyday there are tons of people who want to go to the gym but don’t because they don’t want to have to talk to anyone face to face out of embarrassment. My product would alleviate that issue and potentially add those people to the opportunity audience. The people that don’t go to the gym simply because they don’t want to wait in a line or think that it’s too busy also join the audience. And, of course, everyone that already goes to the gym, whether they be a casual gym goer or a more hardcore dedicated one, are in the audience. Another smaller audience could be people who are afraid or nervous to go to the gym because they have to talk to people at the front desk. For people who are new to gyms this could be nerve racking having to actually face someone. This gets rid of that issue and could hopefully get some people who would not have gone because of this to go.

Innovation

The specific product I will be supplying is a mobile app used to make the process off signing in, and potentially out, of gyms much easier. The concept is to have a very localized location radius around the outer walls of any set gym, where when a customer with the app walks in, the app automatically signs them in, and the same thing for when they walk out. There are multiple options with selling the product. One of these options is selling it to individual customers who are also customers of the gym and maybe charging the gym itself a fee. The other option is to make the app free to the actual gym goers and require the gym to pay a price to use the product at their location. With both of these options there is also the choice of making the product a one-time fee or requiring a monthly fee to continue use.

Venture Concept

The product will meet a convenience desire for many customers but also increase competitiveness between gyms. In many cases if people are deciding between two gyms to potentially pay for a membership at, and all other factors are similar, the deciding factor could be whether or not the gym is a user of this app. For the gym goers, they see it as a way to get in and out faster and to not have to talk to anyone if they just want to mind their own business. For gyms, they see it as a way to attract customers, and a way to increase the speed at which people flow through the gym on busy days.

Three Minor Elements

I think the most important resource will be to maintain high passion and drive. At first the product might get shot down or rejected but I think once it picks up and the train gets rolling that gyms around the country will eventually be flocking to hop on.

The concept of an app being able to sign someone in and out simply based off of location could be useful in many other industries. For example, if a professor had his/her students download the app, they could take attendance without any extra time required.

Hopefully this can become a self-sustaining venture. It will probably require constant attention to keep up with competitors and the technological world since it is changing so fast. I think the important part of this venture, though, is the exposure to all the different aspects of the entrepreneurship world to help avoid some mistakes in future ventures.

The main feedback I got that stuck out to me was how this could encourage people to go to the gym in ways I hadn't thought of. One thing I completely missed over was people who don't go, not because of a lack of motivation, but because they have never been and don't want to be embarrassed by not knowing what to do. Facing someone at the front desk to sign in just makes this thought even worse. If I could potentially remove having to talk to anyone, it could encourage some people to go to at least try it out and hopefully eventually they would become comfortable. Helping people out mentally like this is a very cool aspect to me that I'm disappointed I missed.

Exit Strategy

I think the best course of action for an exit strategy would be to sell the business in the future. As an entrepreneur, you're always looking for new things to do and new things to begin. Even if there would be some attachment to my first real go at creating something, it would be in my best interest to not have to keep focusing on it down the road and be able to start something new. Because I plan on selling it I can look at things in a more short-term point of view, since I won't be there in the long-term.

Reading Reflection No. 3

For this reading reflection, I read Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman. The book was written in 2011 and received a good amount of awards and positive reviews from well-known critics. In talking about the theme of the book, it revolves around the idea that the brain functions in two different ways. One way is through conscious logical thought, while the other is through automatic responses that you don't have control over to triggers in the environment. The book explains the details of each way of functioning and talks about how sometimes, even if both ways are being used, that paying attention to one over the other is advantageous.
This is used in the real world basically every day when decisions are being made. Whether someone is an entrepreneur and has to make decisions on how to start up a business, or a CEO of a well known company trying to make decisions to keep it on top, there are always decisions being made. In cases like these, the results of the decisions are extremely crucial and if the wrong decision is made it could be catastrophic. It would be very advantageous to use the right way of brain operation in these cases.
One thing people could do to test their thinking is be presented with different problems, puzzles, or clues, and each one requires a different way of thinking to solve them. This would help people realize which way of thinking should be used.

Celebrating Failure

One of my recent failures was in another class I am taking this semester, Business Finance. It's notoriously one of the harder classes in the business school and, throughout the semester, has proven that to me. I am uncertain I'll get the grade I want/need, but I've learned a lot throughout the semester, exam to exam. I started off very lackluster because I've never taken a class like it before, but after the first exam it kind of gives you a reality check and helps you for the rest of the semester. You definitely have to be a quick learner in this class and be able to get back up after a gut punch. Speaking for the long-term, I won't go into a class again with the mindset I went into Finance with, and instead have the mindset I now have for all my future classes. If I don't get the grade I need, I can retake the class again next semester to try again, and I think with what I have learned from this semester, that I can thrive.
Failure is one of those things that is inevitable in life, and if taken the wrong way, can be detrimental. However, if taken the right way it can drastically improve life through learning and growth. Regardless of what it is, there is always something to be learned through failure. Even if it is not learned right away, through some reflecting it can be great for you.

What's Next?

Existing Market

I think a potential next step could be to incorporate a more traditional style fitness app into the existing one. While it still does the core of it and signs people in and out of gyms, it could also track calories, track active hours, set up a schedule for when to work out and give notifications to keep up motivation and hopefully keep people from skipping days.

I asked people and most people said they already use a fitness app so if this could be included with it it’d be perfect. However, one suggestion I got was to potentially, if the app got popular enough, to contact phone companies such as Apple and have them incorporate a system like that into their baseline phone apps.

New Market

I’ve actually kind of included a new market in the market for my product. In the Unites States, there is a a lack of focus on fitness and a heavy focus on fast food, resulting in a lot of overweight people. If their lack of desire to go to the gym is because they don’t want to have to face anyone then my product could potentially help motivate them to go.

I interviewed people I am close with, as to not be rude in asking my questions, but they did say that there would be a much higher chance of them going to the gym to try to lose weight if they knew they wouldn’t have to talk to anybody.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

I think the great thing about my product is that the opportunity lies within an already large audience that, if given motivation, can easily become even larger. The already existing audience being anyone who works out at all. In America, more so than anywhere else, there is an issue with weight problems and a lack of motivation to go to the gym. Everyday there are tons of people who want to go to the gym but don’t because they don’t want to have to talk to anyone face to face out of embarrassment. My product would alleviate that issue and potentially add those people to the opportunity audience. The people that don’t go to the gym simply because they don’t want to wait in a line or think that it’s too busy also join the audience. And, of course, everyone that already goes to the gym, whether they be a casual gym goer or a more hardcore dedicated one, are in the audience.

Innovation

The specific product I will be supplying is a mobile app used to make the process off signing in, and potentially out, of gyms much easier. The concept is to have a very localized location radius around the outer walls of any set gym, where when a customer with the app walks in, the app automatically signs them in, and the same thing for when they walk out. There are multiple options with selling the product. One of these options is selling it to individual customers who are also customers of the gym and maybe charging the gym itself a fee. The other option is to make the app free to the actual gym goers and require the gym to pay a price to use the product at their location. With both of these options there is also the choice of making the product a one-time fee or requiring a monthly fee to continue use.

Venture Concept

The product will meet a convenience desire for many customers but also increase competitiveness between gyms. In many cases if people are deciding between two gyms to potentially pay for a membership at, and all other factors are similar, the deciding factor could be whether or not the gym is a user of this app. For the gym goers, they see it as a way to get in and out faster and to not have to talk to anyone if they just want to mind their own business. For gyms, they see it as a way to attract customers, and a way to increase the speed at which people flow through the gym on busy days.

Three Minor Elements

I think the most important resource will be to maintain high passion and drive. At first the product might get shot down or rejected but I think once it picks up and the train gets rolling that gyms around the country will eventually be flocking to hop on.

The concept of an app being able to sign someone in and out simply based off of location could be useful in many other industries. For example, if a professor had his/her students download the app, they could take attendance without any extra time required.

Hopefully this can become a self-sustaining venture. It will probably require constant attention to keep up with competitors and the technological world since it is changing so fast. I think the important part of this venture, though, is the exposure to all the different aspects of the entrepreneurship world to help avoid some mistakes in future ventures.