30A- Final Reflection

Reading through the blog posts that I have made this semester, I believe the fun moments that I had were the original idea making we had at the beginning of the semester where we tested our hypothesis and formulated our venture. I also had a lot of fun creating my elevator pitches because I love speaking and believed it was a great way to practice and formulate my idea better in a more casual way than a blog post. The moments that I did not enjoy I will be honest were the reading reflection and this may be the fact that I procrastinated and did not approach it in the proper mindset. I will also say the end of this semester was not as enjoyable and I ended up not completing some assignments. 

I believe the most formative experience was the interviews that I had throughout this semester not just with peers but with industry leaders and professionals. The things that I learned from them I will no doubt carry on for years to come into my career and life. The most joyous experience I would say was increasing my social capital as this experience at first seemed daunting but once I completed it, I was extremely excited for the connections that I had made.

At the end of this class, I do see myself as having an entrepreneurial mindset more so than at the beginning. Before this semester began, I had no idea on where to begin in terms of being an entrepreneur. After this class, I may not classify myself as one but I definitely have a mindset that I could build on into the future.

The one recommendation I would have for students going down this path would be to approach this course/venture as if it was real. Even if your idea is just to fulfill this class, the effort you put into it will no doubt show and be beneficial for you moving through the class. I would also say to move ahead through the course instead of weekly. I found myself towards the end of the semester struggling to get things completed by waiting every week. 

29A- Venture Concept No. 2

 Opportunity:

Soccer is the one of the most popular sports in the world. About 4 out of 10 people consider themselves fans of soccer. Soccer has a stronghold on the global market and still has yet to capture one of the biggest markets in the world, The United States of America. The opportunity for us is to create a University of Florida sanctioned Men’s Soccer Team. In terms of opportunity, universities around the United States are havens for a diverse community who all have varying interests. The fact that this university does not cater to the most popular sport in the male variation presents a major opportunity that we can exploit considering our potential customers.

Our potential customers are those students, faculty, and surrounding Gainesville residents who are fans of Gator sports and have an interest in the sport of soccer. We currently have a women’s soccer program here but Men’s sports still garner a larger interest whether due to media coverage or other reasons. The nature of the need I believe when we talk about sports is that people have the need for community and sports allows fans to share a common interest and identity. This is important in a college atmosphere where many people come together from different walks of life and must mesh and the sense of community can be filled by cheering on a sports program.

People long to be a part of a community; it is in our DNA. Sports does a fantastic job of bringing people from all backgrounds together in a community. This market is mostly defined by the City of Gainesville and the diversity that runs in this city thanks in part to the University’s students. Potential customers currently solve this need through other sports that may not be of greatest interest to them which makes this opportunity big considering how popular soccer is. This window will be open for years to come because Soccer is still growing.

Innovation:

My service would be to provide a Men’s Soccer team sanctioned by the University of Florida. This service would be my team and I providing the resources through the University to create a program that can be sustainable and the necessary tools and actions needed to create a program at a university. I will spend a lot of time at the community level looking for ways to create fan buzz and identity. Soccer fans can be some of the most passionate fans in the world and our goal is to create that inclusive atmosphere with this program. The innovation comes in our marketing fan initiative which the University does a great job with already. Money will come from boosters, non-student ticket sales, merchandise, advertisement, etc… Tickets would range from 10-20 dollars depending on the game. Merchandise would follow standard Gator merchandise prices and advertisement would range from popularity. Our innovation has to be in how we can foster the market and not with things we cannot control such as team performance. Gator fans identify strongly and thus we want to cater to that.

Venture Concept:

Previously, the opportunity was that Gator fans need the sense of community in the sport that some of them enjoy the most, Soccer. By getting involved in fan involvement and interaction, we can create a sports community around our Men’s Soccer program similar to what we see in Football and Basketball here at the University. I believe being a part of the Gator brand will make customers more likely to buy into the innovation due to their identity to the brand already. I believe the reason customers would switch to this product is because it is an extension of an already well established brand if they root for Gator sports they could be inclined to also attend and be a party of Men’s Soccer. Also those who love soccer would also switch.

Competitors I see would also be Gator Sports because people may not attend every sporting event due to the volume of teams. The weaknesses would be competitiveness and the specific sport that it is.

I believe our customer experience is going to be the defining factor in our business concept. Creating a customer experience worthwhile will keep people coming back to root on our team and continue to support us.

To support this service, we would rely on the resources already put in the place of the University in terms of employees but would still need to hire people for specific roles such as coaching, communications, marketing, security, etc…

Three Minor Elements:

• Most Important resource: The Gator Brand
• Being a part of the Florida Gators gives us resources and advantages that other competitors will have a difficult time matching up to and competing with.
• What’s Next?
• I hope the venture creates the community that I dream of and can be as popular as some other sports here on campus. I hope we could compete with Basketball in popularity and revenue since Football is untouchable.
• What’s Next For Me?
• I want to move on to creating another program here at the University that has not been done such as Men’s Lacrosse. It would follow similar strategies should this venture be successful and bring another program and community here to thew University.

Since I did not complete the previous assignment I was unable to get student feedback but I still brought my concept to other peers in order to garner feedback and adjust my concept. The feedback I received was that I should focus more on fan engagement and involvement rather than team performance since it is more controllable and have more successful results. I also received feedback that I should be aware that a reason Men's sports could be more popular because of media's coverage of it and they can frame public opinion. The last feedback I received was that legislation issues are in the way of this venture such as Title IX.

I used the first two pieces of feedback in my venture concept and changed it because I believe I did not do a great job explaining that throughout the semester. The last piece of feedback regarding Title IX I had mentioned at the beginning as a major hurdle to overcome in this venture.

28A- Your Exit Strategy

My exit strategy would not be the same as a typical venture due to the fact that my venture is under an already established organization in the University of Florida. I do intend to stay growing the Men's Soccer team here at the University of Florida for at least three years as we try to establish our place in the market. After those three years, I believe I will move on to creating another athletic team here at the University or developing an underperforming venture here. Since this is operated by the University of Florida, this venture cannot be sold or transferred. I expect to continue working with the organization but in another capacity or venture. 

I chose this particular exit strategy because it is the only option that is available since we cannot sell or transfer the venture and move on. It is the most practical option and exit strategy available.

I think the exit strategy changed how I approached the end of the concept. I know that the exit strategy is the only available option since the beginning of this venture and has influenced the entire venture since that has been known. It allowed me to realize that the resources will come from the University and thus allowed me to better understand my options.

26A- Celebrating Failure

I'd say that this semester I experienced failure the most when I was applying for internships for this coming semester for my major. This semester, I applied for several internships in the sports industry hoping to be accepted for a January start. I applied to Auburn University as well as the Jacksonville Jaguars among others. Despite applying for several internships, I received interviews and responses by only 2 out of the dozen I applied to. To say the least, this was a very disheartening experience when I experienced failure because it seemed as if I would not be able to succeed in my career. This lasted over 3 months this process and took a toll on me as I believed I was at my lowest.

I learned a lot through this experience. I learned to trust myself even throughout the adversity and failure. I believed enough in myself despite the discouraging responses and ended up securing an internship with the Miami Marlins in January.

I realized that despite failure, you must continue to push through the adversity. By quitting or giving up, you do yourself no favors and end up sulking and not getting anything done. How we respond to failure is the difference between greatness and weakness and I believe I handled that well.

I previously did not handle failure well due to lack of failure because I was not put in many stressful situations career wise and also I believe I was not mature enough to handle it appropriately. Recently though, I have handled failure in stride and been able to deal with it and turn it into positives and success.

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Financial Capital
• UF has the financial capital to house a men's soccer team at the University. It is difficult to copy as many sports programs around the country cannot afford the sports programs to the extent that we can. It is rare to have the financial capital from the start.
2. Education
• UF contains the ability through their education to adapt to situations and find solutions.
• The resources at the University are invaluable and rare considering how prestigious this university is. We could outsource the research and capabilities but having it on campus is easier 
3. Brand Recognition
• The Gator Brand is so strong that it is valuable as the following that comes with it. It cannot be copied but it can be competed with by other strong school brands. 
4. Marketing
• Marketing becomes much easier when the brand is strong and this University does a great job marketing other sports programs. It is difficult to copy because of strong branding but is not rare to have good marketing for an organization.
5. Organizational stability
• Being able to already be a part of such a powerful organization/school is invaluable and rare. We have stability already in place and thus it is non-substitutable.
6. Labor Power
• The organization already has all the man power needed to succeed and thus that is rare to have. Yes, it can be copied and imitated but to have it right at the beginning is a positive 
7. Knowledge in Athletics
• The prestige this university has with athletic programs is rare and valuable and hard to be copied. It can be provided by other resources but difficult to sustain.
8. Knowledge in Business
• Similar to the last one, rare and valuable and hard to be copied because of the standing of the university. Other resources could provide this benefit
9. Infrastructure
• The infrastructure is built already, the stadium, athletic office, etc... as well. This is rare and invaluable because it saves money and provides much needed flexibility. 
10. Market Growth
• The market of sports here is incredibility vast and is rare and invaluable to our venture. If there was no market there is no venture.

My top resource I believe would be the Organizational Stability. I say this because being able to have a branch under a large organization opens so many doors to us that all the other resources cannot compare to and even file under. 

21A- Reading Reflection #2

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky

1. The general theme of this book is that the internet allows us to become active members in creating great things that require multiple people collaborating. However in our society, we spend so many hours participating in passive activities that produce no growth like watching TV. Active participation by multiple people will allow us to take on tasks we never thought were possible and thus gives us a cognitive surplus.
2. I think this directly connects to what we are doing and learning in ENT3003 because I have learned not only in my idea but also through lectures at just how important the concept of active communities make in solving issues and creating great things. Not one person can accomplish these tasks and technology and the internet have done a great job bringing all of us together.
3. I believe the exercise that I would recommend would be to solve an issue or create a solution as a group without face to face interaction. Yes, it seems very unconventional but I believe our society has developed so much technologically that this exercise would show at our capabilities that we have come to.            
4. I think the thing that really stood out to me was the fact that we have no excuse for not connecting with others with our ideas or whatever we do. The world is at our fingertips and by participating in passive activities like watching TV or not being part of a connected community, the damage is done not only to ourselves but to our society.

22A- Elevator Pitch #3

In my feedback I received, I was very dynamic and engaging and I tried to stick to that as well. I think that boosted my confidence for this elevator pitch and showed that I can connect with an audience with my communication skills.

I definitely believe my hook has been memorized and allows me to reel in the audience. I have shortened my elevator pitch down to a minute in order to keep the audience interested as well as be concise. I am so much more comfortable in front of the camera than my first elevator pitch where I was told to be more fluent. I also decided to dress more professional in order to convey professionalism and confidence.