Idea Napking - No. 2 - 19A

1) Me

 My name is Santiago Espitia, I'm an international student from Colombia currently majoring in Business Management at the University of Florida. My whole life I've been known as a hardworking person who always strives to reach every single goal that I set my mind to. I believe that I am really good managing time in order to do everything in the best way possible, also as a Spanish speaker, I have the ability to connect and communicate with a broad range of people. In this point of my life, I think that this business would help me to get a lot of experience and knowledge about how to manage and operate a business in the most optimal way possible.

2) Product

 In this case, I am offering the bagged iced-cocktails as a new alternative for drinking. The need that I am satisfying here is basically filling the absence of an alcoholic drink that is fresh, innovative and not the same common drinks that we usually consume. This product is based on a Latin American product called "Boli" which is kind of a frozen juice in a bag. Here I am taking that concept and mixing it up with alcohol in order to create an attractive product for college students. Usually, the trends that come from other parts of the world can make a really big impact here in the United States.

3) Customers

My prototypical customers would be college students who consume alcohol in Gainesville, FL. I believe that it is a really broad segment with a lot of potential to exploit taking into account who much college students are socially involved, go out to party, and consequently drink alcohol.

4) Value

I think that this product will be valuable for my segment because of the lack of alternatives we have at the moment of drinking. For example at a tailgate, the weather is really hot and usually there is only beer and vodka to drink, and sometimes alcohol is just not fresh and you do not enjoy it, my product would definitely solve that problem.

5) Self-awareness

I believe that I have the determination to do anything that I set my mind to. So if I want to run this business, I will give my best and manage it the best way possible no matter the effort needed. I have a lot of confidence in my capabilities and I am not afraid of failing, because every any kind of experience, positive or negative, helps me to learn and be better.

Feedback Memo:

I think that my business idea has a lot of cohesion and seems realizable because it is has product that doesn't need a lot of capital to manufacture and it is a concept that is different and has the potential to attract a lot of customers and even gain a lot of recognition. From the feedback I got, I included how foreign ideas usually make really big impacts in the United States because it is something that is true and I did not really think about last time I did my Idea Napkin.

Create a Customer Avatar - 18A

Customer Avatar:

In this case, as my prototypical customers are college students in the Gainesville area who drink alcohol, I believe that it is pretty easy to know what to expect from this segment. First of all I got to begin with some demographics, In this case the product does not discriminate sex, the age of the potential customers will be between 21- 25 years old (legally speaking), the race will differ because here in Gainesville there is certain variety, however it is mostly white and african americans, and also there is a big hispanic influence. As college students, they are on the peak of their lives, experimenting new things, meeting new people, making new friends and in the majority of the cases having a really broad social life, always intending to have a lot of fun.

They have a lot of responsibilities that are mostly related with studying and working. In terms of money, their income is really low and they do not have a lot of buying power. Even though, they do not usually have to spend a lot of money because in most cases, all the money they earn or receive for their parents are just for them, they are usually not accountable for others. College students usually have a scooter or a car depending on how far they live from campus. They are really active, usually do exercise or practice sports. In the case of UF students, they are really passionate about their institutional identity and they love Gators and football in general. In football season they like to go to tailgates, watch Gators games and have fun. This segment specially likes to go out and party Downtown or Midtown because of the night activity of that areas during the weekends.

Elevator Pitch No.2 - 17A

Elevator Pitch: https://youtu.be/PmXwVhtGLFI

From my last elevator pitch I noticed I was talking like too fast, and as a Spanish speaker, some words I said were not really clear. Also I noticed that the camera was positioned in a weird way and the video looked strange somehow. As this feed back was really insightful for me, this time I tried to speak slower and more paused in order to pronounce better, and also I looked for another space to record and put the camera.

What's Your Secret Sauce? - A16

Why my human capital is truly unique?

1) I am someone how is always going to be loyal, and always will be there when someone needs me:

I really care about the friends that I value a lot all the experiences and moments that we have, I always got my friends back and I would never leave them alone or abandon them in a bad moment. The majority of my friends are in Colombia and no matter the distance I always try to keep in touch and help them in anything they need.

2) I have the ability to positively adapt to strong changes:

I came to the United States after living almost 17 years of my life in Colombia, I adapted to a country where everything is different, I had to learn how to be by myself as I moved here alone without knowing anyone, I had to get better in English and learn to understand it more in several problems, and any other situation or problem that I have I face it by myself. I believe that the experiences that I've had have not been at all easy, but I have managed to do everything in a good way and accomplish all of my goals.

3) I have and strong goal-set mindset:

My whole life I have been the kind of person who always wants to do the best job, have the best grades in school and basically achieve everything I have set my mind. I have been raised to stand up after every fall and keep trying no matter how many times I fail. I always do everything I want to do and know in what direction I want to take my life to.

4) I am emotional, caring and empathic:

I have always been a really emotional person and I have always liked to hear the problems of others and try to help in any situation if I can. I believe that I am really empathetic because I always try to get in the other person's shoes in order to understand what might be affecting them and offer my help or advice in the situation occurring.

5) I like to learn and have always been a top student:

Since I was a kid, I always liked to read and learn about stuff, my parents always have motivated me to be a good student and always reach higher limits. I like to work hard in all of my classes in order to get the best grades possible, and I have never liked to be mediocre or just pass the classes. In middle school and high school I always one of the best students of my class and I graduated from Santa Fe College with a GPA of 4.00.

Interviews:

1) Sophia Koepke:

https://soundcloud.com/santiago-espitia-363643576/sophia-koepke

Sophia is my girlfriend and is one of the people who I love the most and know me the best, we spend a lot of time together and we know each others strengths and flaws. Overall she says that I am a smart, caring, sensitive and positive person, that I am social and fun to talk with and that I have traveled a lot and engaged with a lot of cultures. Also she says that I always work hard for things even if at the beginning they are hard for me, I always strive to be better in everything

2) Sofia Lopez:

https://soundcloud.com/santiago-espitia-363643576/sofia-lopez

Sofia is one of my best friends and I have known her since we were in high school, she has always been a friends who I can trust and we keep in touch a lot. She says that I am really loving, caring and supportive with everyone I care about. Also she mentions that I am always for her no matter the time, day or distance, that I am a really brave person for living so far away for all of my family and friends and that I am generous and thoughtful.

3) Vladimir Becerra:

https://soundcloud.com/santiago-espitia-363643576/vladimir-becerra

Vladimir is my roommate and we know each other since I arrived to Gainesville, he was one of the people who I first met in 2017 and we have a really strong relationship. He says that I am a really good friend and that I am a fun guy, he also says that I have really clear goals in my life and I know where I am going, and he mentions that I am social and good making relationships.

4) Daniela Pinto:

https://soundcloud.com/santiago-espitia-363643576/daniela-pinto

Daniela is a really good friend and I know because we took some classes together in college. She mentions that I am a focused and smart person, also she says that I have the necessary knowledge and skills in order to achieve everything I set my mind to and that I am a sincere person full of good motions that make me a really good friend.

5) Santiago Espinosa:

https://soundcloud.com/santiago-espitia-363643576/saga

Santiago is a really good who I met in UF's English Language Institute in 2017 (when I came to live to the U.S) he comes here almost every summer and we always have a good time. He says that I am a goal oriented person with a lot of qualities as being respectful, problem solver, innovative, creative and disciplined. He mentions that I have a lot of qualities that a successful person should have and also that I am a really good and reliable friend.


Reflection:

I really liked this exercise because it shows that I am a really transparent person, I am perceived exactly as the person that I think I am. It is amazing to see how in certain way you have generated an impact in people that is positive and makes them have such a good image of you. Also I see that my friends said a lot of things that I sometimes don't thing about and that I did not even put on the beginning, such as my networking skills, my general knowledge or how brave I am from living so far of everyone I love. I think that more than changing my list, all I can do is add more things to it, and that is something that I am really proud of.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 - A15

Last time I was working with the segment of college students that drink alcohol and are over 21, because my product is the bagged iced-cocktail. For this exercise I picked another 3 people who fit in this segment and asked the questions related to the alternatives of how they would like the product, possible locations or buy methods and how the post purchase behavior will affect the customers.

 In this exercise I started with the question "How would you like the presentation of the product to be?" I showed some pictures of the product and asked if they would like to keep is kinda small, or make the packaging bigger. All of my interviewees told me to basically keep it simple, because making the packaging and the product itself bigger will make it loose its practicality. Another question I asked was about the price, giving the fact that my product is cheap to produce I want it to be priced lowered than what we usually find in the market. 2 out of 3 said that they would pay between 1 and 3 dollars, while only just one told me that she would pay between 3 and 5 dollars. I asked what would be more important for them in this product, the quality or style? Overall the answer was consistently quality because they want it to be good, however 2 of my interviewees also told me that they would like the product to seem nice to see and not as just some bag.

As of how/where do they buy the product, I got to take into account that it would be difficult to market my product in common stores as it is a new product and I was thinking about starting selling through social media, with and instagram page and making deliveries of packs of 6 bagged iced-cocktails. I asked them if they would like this idea and all of them approved it, they said it was the best idea for starting selling. I asked why did they like this idea and they overall said that it is really practical for them to not have to go to buy it somewhere and it would be really practical in a scenario as a party or a tailgate. I asked what would they use more to buy this product, cash or credit, a 2 of them told me credit through Zelle and Venmo and only one said that maybe both because it did not matter to him. Also I asked if at the moment of buying the product, will they make the decision by themselves or with others? All of them said they would ask people/friends if they would like to buy some of the product and they buy it.

For the post-purchase behavior I asked what would they like for me as the vendor to do after the sale and how would they like the post-purchase behavior to be. They overall said that they want to see a constant quality in the product, with deliveries on time and availability of the product when they need it, basically to be where and when it is needed. Also, one of them said that he would like me to manage a special order in case someone needs a lot of the product.

To conclude, from this exercise overall I understood that the customers have a lot in their minds and they always want you to basically be able to offer a good product, when it is needed and where is needed. I learned that for my product, price is a really important thing that will differentiate it from the rest of the alcohol in the market. Also I learned that it should not be so big because it would not be practical to consume and people want that. Another important thing I notice is how online transactions and basically technology would be an important thing for me because through there I will arrange almost everything with the customer, even the payment through Venmo or Zelle. In addition, I learned that customers want you to be there for them, not to just make them buy to you but to give you something good in the conditions that favor them the most, and I think that customer value in any business is something that should be first, because that satisfaction is what would create a relationship that will favor each others interests.

Halfway Reflection - A14

1) Tenaciousness is a competency:

In order to develop tenaciousness throughout the course of the semester I have started to pay more attention the problems that sometimes are common and the needs that a lot of people have and sometimes we do not even think about how it can be an opportunity, I believe that I have started to be more critic about how we can look negative can turn into opportunities that can benefit society.

2) Tenaciousness is an attitude:

When I started doing the interviews and did not find people who give me useful information, I felt like I did not want to keep on because it was an exhausting exercise. However I got motivation from thinking that a lot of people struggles every single day and also that many other students must be on my place. It is the hard work and consistency what keeps you going and allows you to reach your goals.

3) Tips

Tip 1: Read about what is happening on your surroundings, events happening in the city or interesting news that can lead you to an opportunity.

Tip 2: Be critic about common needs in people. Even if they are dumb, if a lot of people seem to have them and no one is satisfying those needs, there might be a good opportunity.

Tip 3: Read entrepreneurship books. I did not really used to read a lot of books about entrepreneurship, but through the course of the semester I read the book needed for the last post (Elon Musk's Biography) and I think that it has really opened my mind about how many opportunities are out there even in the fields we do not even pay attention.

Reading Reflection No. 1 - A13

For this assignment I read Elon Musk's Biography by Ashley Vance and I got to say that it was a really interesting book that actually opens your mind a lot in terms of how entrepreneurship can take place even with really complex or "crazy" ideas.

1) About the Entrepreneur:

• What surprised me the most about Elon Musk was his capacity to create such and accurate concept of the future is a time where technology and innovation was just starting to rise in our society. It is amazing how Musk strived to create futuristic advances acquiring a lot of knowledge through reading and comprehending science and physics in order to take several ideas to the real world and being able to make money out of this. 
• What I most admire about Musk is how smart and hardworking he is, because in his case it was not just having good and "crazy" ideas, if he needed to get his hands dirty he was down. He is very passionate to all his projects because he wants to leave a legacy of sustainability for this planet through his enterprises and to show how humans are capable of everything.
• What I least admired about Musk is that he has a really big ego and sometimes puts puts public recognition over achieving goals.
• Musk has encountered a lot of adversity and failure over his whole life, since his rough childhood he always was forced to keep going and give his best, he blew a lot of rockets at the beginning of Space X, struggled with Zip2, was discredited on his work on PayPal, blew up a lot of rockets at the beginning of SpaceX and also struggled a lot with the creation of the Tesla Roadster. However, Musk was always patient and believed always in his team's work and in himself, he never backed down and always kept trying harder.

2) Competencies:

I noticed that Musk reads a lot of books, and he was really good acquiring knowledge and replicating things that seem fantastic into the real world (and making money out of it). He was really smart and had a lot of alertness at the moment of hitting the electric car industry, online industry, the renewable energy industry, the online banking industry and even the space industry. His timing getting into each project seems to have been really accurate and worthy of admiration. Also Elon is really good working with people, and this is backed up by a lot of people who worked with him, he was really good bringing the correct people together and was always supervising each aspect of his businesses.

3) Confusing part of the reading:

I got to say that the chapter about Zip2 was really confusing to me because it was not really well explained how the business grew up so fast.

4) 2 Questions:

How did Zip2 grew up so fast with such a small team? This aspect was confusing to me and I would want to know what was the secret in it.

What would he recommend to foster to foster and execute ideas that could help our planet? I believe that Musk's view on sustainability and our future could actually bring a lot of insight in this topic.

5) Hardwork:

I believe that Elon Musk's definition of hardwork is that you won't rest until the job is well done and to always go the extra mile. I agree because if we have a project, we need to give everything and know that it is not going to be easy, and it will require a lot of time. If we want to create something that succeeds we need to put everything on it, believe in ourselves and work harder than everyone else.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1 - A12

1) Pick a segment: For this exercise, the segment that I picked was College Students, who are 21 or older, and who usually go out to social events and consume alcohol regularly.

2) Find three people who can fit that segment: My three interviewees who satisfied all the requirements pertinent to the segment where Michaela, Kyle and Ryan.

3) Information: The need that I am working with is the same of the last posts, and it is the lack of alternatives at the moment of consuming alcohol at social events. After I identified that my three subjects where in my segment, I started asking what do they usually drink and why, the overall response was the same things of always, beer, vodka, rum and variations of this. I asked why they usually consume this, all of them told me that beer is always the drink to go with, but that they usually drink the other drinks because they are available everywhere they go, they are drinks that are easy to access and are not really expensive. I asked if they would like to drink something else instead of what they usually drink, Kyle told me that he was happy with what he consumes and that he did not really give a lot of thought to that, and Michael and Ryan told me that sometimes they wish there was something else. I asked also about what are some new drinks that they have tried recently, they all talked to me either of White Claw or of Truly, and they told me they were fine. Michaela told me that she loves the bottled Sangria because "it is actually really good". I talked to them about my idea of the bagged iced-cocktails and asked if they would give it a try. They all said that they would not mind trying it. I asked were would they consumed and they all said that it looked good especially for the tailgates because of the weather. I asked if they would drink it in another environment or other times of the year, they said that in house parties or clubs could be a good option. However, Michaela told me that it did not seem really practical for a club.

4) Conclusions: From this exercise, I learned that my need actually has a lot of space among the segment targeted. I can observe that in the hot season of the year the product will actually make a great impact, however in other scenarios it is not as strong. Also I learned that the bottled Sangria is really liked among College girls (because that is what Michaela told me) and that the White Claw and Truly are actually more famous than I thought. A lot of people drink vodka, beer and rum because it is cheaper than other things, more than for its taste. College students do not have a lot of economic power and a cheap product with new characteristics could actually make a huge impact among this segment.