Assignment 27: Reading Reflection No. 3

For my third reading reflection, I chose the novel, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams.


1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The general theme of Scott Adams' book is that goals are important, but succeeding at them isn't everything. Having an end result in mind is great to guide you along the process of creating a business, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in sticking to our plan to get to the end result that we are completely blind to all the awesome opportunities that present themselves as we progress down a path we think we have to stick to. Adams shares that he has failed 36 times in regards to business, but he doesn't speak negatively of those experiences because each failure taught him valuable skills that helped him succeed with other ideas.


2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? Adams shares that most of his failures were "high risk, high reward" situations and in those cases, failure is more than likely. He then goes on to say that you can't go into these situations so dead-set on a particular goal that you fail to realize the chances you have to better the outcome. I feel like this aligns with what I've learned in this course. From the lectures and interviews with entrepreneurs, failure seems pretty normal. We've learned so much about how many successful companies started out with completely different goals and plans than what they got successful for. Adams' story was just another example of how failure shouldn't stop you from getting back up and trying again because if you really want something, it's worth fighting for.


3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? Adams talks about knowing the price of what it'll take to get what you want. I think developing an assignment off of this lesson could be very beneficial to future students. This assignment could be done in a blog post where students will have to map out exactly what they'll need to do to make their idea work. I don't mean in a strictly monetary way, but in a personal way. How many hours a day will they need to devote to this project? How will they achieve balance with their work and personal life? Where can they look for other opportunities that could better their original goal? What would it take for them to abandoned their original idea for something else? Answering these questions and a few more would require the student to really dive into the personal aspect of business and that can be a helpful reality check.


4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations? Adams advocates prioritizing yourself while pursuing business opportunities because if you do not value your health and the people around you, you will create distracting stress that will drain your energy and that will hinder your efforts of being happy. I was surprised to hear him talk so much about health and happiness because most of what I've heard about running a successful business is negative. I feel like people are always quick to tell you how running a business dominates your entire life and they always seem to say it in a very negative way like they are unhappy with their situation even if they are successful. It was uplifting to hear you can practice balance and still strive for success.   

Assignment 28: Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children? I think the exit strategy that would fit most with my product and my desired lifestyle would be to sell my app whenever it became incredibly profitable to do so. I’d like to hang on to it for a few years to watch it grow and have a direct say in its development past launch, but ultimately, my goal would be to sell it once great offers come in. It would be awesome to see the app be sold to a company that could take it further than I could personally. I wouldn’t mind staying on board in some capacity after selling it, but I wouldn’t want to be making the tough daily decisions anymore. I’d like to take the money and pursue other ventures. 

 2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? I selected this particular exit strategy because it is what I’ve always had in mind. I love coming up with ideas and helping get things off the ground, but I’d prefer to not take on the long-term stress of keeping the app running and relevant. To be honest, I’d prefer to exit whenever I saw the right opportunity to do so. I currently don’t know much about running an app, so it would most likely stay successful if someone that was more fit ran the company. I’d want this app to be as successful as it could be and if that would require me stepping down after a nice paycheck, well, then I’m going to do so It would be nice to remain involved with the app in some way though since it is something I am passionate about.  

 3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources? I think my exit strategy has definitely influenced the other decisions I’ve made in my concept. Since I went into this knowing I am not the most suitable to be running an app, certainly not long-term if I wanted to see it grow larger, all my decisions have been made with a definitive timeline in mind. My goals are to get it off the ground and running with the ideas that I’ve accumulated after this semester of research. I want to help shape the app in its infancy, but I would want it to go so much further than that and that would require the work and help from others that are more knowledgeable. That being said, if I were to actually do this, I could see myself changing my mind under certain circumstances. Maybe I would love managing a fast-paced company after I got used to it.

Assignment 26: Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. I think something I’ve struggled with this semester is time management. I went into this Fall semester with a goal of staying ahead and completing my work far enough in advance that I wouldn't worry about any deadlines or feeling the all-too-familiar panic during crunch time when multiple assignments are due. Even though I always managed to get my assignments turned in on time, I completely failed at my goal of staying ahead. What’s worse, after each Friday came and went, I always reset my goal to do better the next week. It was a cycle of failure.  

 2) Tell us what you learned from it. This semester, I really spent a lot of time focusing on my habits and decision-making processes. I’ve also been taking a marketing class this semester, so the assignments about consumer behavior had me reflecting on my own behaviors to get a better understand of myself. I realized I always had an excuse as to why I procrastinated, but when I inspected the reasoning, I found they were just lame empty excuses that I made up to try to feel better about my actions. Really, I just didn’t feel like doing the work and didn’t prioritize the goal I set for myself.  

 3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were just a few months ago? I think the hardest thing about failure is recognizing when it occurs and owning up to it. No one wants to admit when they’re wrong or that they let themselves down because in order to do so, you really must inspect your own behavior to find out why it happened. Of course, this is more so for personal failures, things we have control over. I have recently begun to embrace failure and I no longer see it as a negative thing. While I’d prefer to succeed in all the goals I’ve set for myself, that is just unrealistic. I’ve set many goals for myself this year and I’ve succeed in more than I have failed. So instead of wallowing in this one failure, I’d rather find the root cause of it to try not to repeat it again and then modify a new goal from it.  I think this new outlook has been strengthened by this course because we read and learned about so many different successful people that overcame a plethora of failures before they reached their ultimate success story. Risk and optimism are vital to obtaining success. You have to aim big if you want to get big. You won’t achieve anything great if you run from work and the possibility of falling flat on your face. Actually, you should expect to fail. You learn a lot by analyzing what you did wrong.  

Assignment 25: What’s Next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture. I think the next step for for Rad Veg is to fine tune the actual app. I need to see possible interface designs, make a logo, and brainstorm marketing ideas. In terms of future renditions of the app concept, I'd love to see a community section included that allowed for users to share recipe ideas or vote on products. These two features could create a stronger, more dedicated user-base.

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. 

The first person I interviewed was a 32 year old woman, named Kandice. After describing to her my business, she said that I should be focusing on adding a social element to the app for users to correspond with each other. She said that customers might want to be able to add comments to the listacles and be able to express their opinions on blog posts regarding vegan news.

The second person I interviewed was a 27 year old man, named Ryland. After explaining to him what Rad Veg will offer, he suggested I should explore using social media to build a community of like-minded people that would be interested in the app. He said that customers might want to be able to suggest listacle topics, so a place to include that would be nice. 

The third person I interviewed was a 20 year old woman, named Melody. After showing her what Rad Veg would include, she suggested that I should also be planning for a bigger brand outside of a useful app, like a website or even a product line for down the road. She said that customers might want to see user avatars that they can personalize and see alongside their comments left on listacles or blog posts. 

Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.

I need to focus on the long term goals, as well as getting the app running. From the feedback, I realize the importance of building a community aspect to the app if I want users to keep coming back. This sense of community could also give me the edge over my competition because I have not found a similar app that has integrated their suggestions yet. By giving the users a voice and a place to share their thoughts with like-minded people, the potential to further the brand outside the app is much bigger.

Focusing our marketing efforts on social media and linking up with already establish vegan brands could really help get a community to form on a lower budget. As I personally follow a lot of different vegan news accounts on Instagram, maybe I could reach out to them with my venture concept for suggestions or collaborations. I'd love to see Rad Veg expand outside the app to be a successful Instagram and Twitter account, as well as have a website where more in-depth articles or recipes could be shared. Incorporating video content would also help solidify the brand and allow for further expansion into the food world by hosting a vegan cooking show. 

New Market.

Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

Targeting a market that doesn't follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, but is interested in health.

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

I could target people that are interested in improving their health, either because they want to prevent diseases, they are currently suffering from some disease, or they are becoming environmentally conscious. Maybe they don't want to give up meat or dairy completely, but they are interested in cutting back on their consumption of these products. This app could offer them a way to explore different products and recipes with the help of the listacles and product promotions. 

Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 

The first person I interviewed was a 24 year old man, named Juan. After explaining to him what this app will offer, he suggested including listacles that are specifically targeted to people that typically eat meat or dairy, but are looking to cut back. He thought that by writing articles that are coming from a similar viewpoint, that it may be able to capture the interest of this market. If I want to expand into an audience that isn't vegan, I need to show them why meat-free dishes are awesome without sounding like I'm giving a lecture.

The second person I interviewed was a 45 year old woman, named Monica. After I showed her my business idea and what the app would offer, she seemed genuinely interested in the idea of it being able to help those that suffer from various illnesses. She recommended consulting with a doctor for articles or having a doctor answer user-submitted questions regarding diet could be a great feature. 

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

Just from these two conversations, I've learned so much! I feel like my creativity has been sparked and the idea of expanding outside an exclusively vegan or vegetarian market could hold a lot of opportunities. What surprised me the most was how receptive they were to the idea of using this app to better their health and how much they liked the listacle feature. I went into these interviews thinking they might be somewhat interested, but would find the app to not be very useful to their daily lives. I didn't even think about how valuable the listacles could be if they were expanded outside of covering just vegan related news. This market does seem to be attractive, but I'm not sure how they would mesh well in the community aspect. I feel like the branding should still focus on targeting vegan and vegetarians, but this has made me think of ideas for a health app!

Assignment 24: Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity 

What's the need? All over the world, the amount of people claiming to follow a vegan or vegetarian diet is increasing every single day because of exposure to new information that has them deciding to forgo meat and dairy products. Global trends predict that number to keep on rising. While the amount of meat-free and dairy-substitute marketed products are increasing, there is still a lot of frustration felt at the grocery store for these consumers because of the ambiguity of products' ingredient sources.  

Who has the need? The potential consumer is someone the adheres to a vegetarian or vegan diet and is currently facing frustration with the ambiguity of a product's ingredient list. This consumer is interested in finding a way to make their grocery shopping experience easier and quicker. Young adults make up about half of the current vegan population. 

What's the nature of the need? This need is created by the possibility of multiple sources of a single ingredient, either from a plant sourced or an animal source, and it is typically not specified unless the product is labeled vegan. This causes confusion for the consumer on which products are safe to consume, especially if they are new to following the diet and are not as educated on which ingredients to look out for or which brands are "accidentally vegan." Since there is a lack of clear communication from the product's label to the consumer, they end up spending more time in the grocery store because they are searching for an answer online with their smart phone or they are looking for another product that has easier to understand ingredients. Some of these consumers even feel forced to stick to the specially marketed vegan or vegetarian products to rid themselves of this issue, but they want to explore more options. This frustration for their current methods of coping has led to an unmet need and an innovation. 

  

Innovation 

What is the app? As someone that began following a vegetarian diet 12 years ago, I know first-hand how frustrating grocery shopping can be. These experiences have led to me to develop a mobile app that will ease the frustration these consumers feel at the grocery store. They will no longer have to painstakingly go over each individual ingredient on a product's ingredient list, nor will they have to be restricted to the specialty aisle of their local Publix. This mobile app will cut down on the time spent inside the grocery store while allowing consumers to explore the rest of the store beyond the specialty products. To make this possible, the app will work by taking a picture of the product's bar code and comparing it to the large and frequently updated database of products to quickly tell the user if the product is safe to consume. In order to build an expansive database, a team of employees will be dedicated to researching a product's ingredient sources available online and from verifying with the manufacturer. To keep up with new product releases, the app will include a feature where users can submit new products with a picture of the nutrition label, and if it contains a questionable ingredient, it will be added to a queue for the team of employees to contact the manufacturer for a verified answer. To not produce any frustrating error messages, the app will include information on which ingredients are definitely vegan and which ingredients have ambiguous sources. This will allow the consumer to make a personal decision on if that product fits within their boundaries. The app will include other features, like a listacle section that will share vegan related news of the day and product promotions. The standard version of the app, called "Rad Veg" that will include ads will be offered for free. A premium version of the app that will not include ads will cost $1.99 in the App Store and Google Play. Both versions of the apps will include sponsored posts that will generate revenue directly from the companies. 

Venture Concept 

Why will they care? This app will make grocery shopping easier and quicker as it’ll be a useful tool that in a matter of seconds will tell the user if the product is vegan. The consumer will no longer have to look over every ingredient or stand off to the side of an aisle to Google if the product is okay to consume. It will be easy for users to switch to this app form what they were using before because the interface will be designed so that the focus is on being easy to navigate. The free version offers no risk and all reward for the user and the low price of the premium version will entice some users to forgo ads for an even more streamlined experience.  

Who are the competitors? “Is It Vegan?” is the main competitor as they offer a bar code scanning app, but they lack a user-friendly interface, their ads are intrusive to the experience, and their database is slowly updated. My app is specifically designed based off their weaknesses. 

What about distribution, location, and customer support? As this is a mobile app, it will be available to purchase on the App Store and Google Play. The location will at first be based in the U.S., but with plans to expand internationally in the future. Customer support can be reached through a direct email inside the app. 

How would you organize your business? We will start with a small team of about 8-10 employees, but with plans to grow as does the app’s user-base. We will focus on sharing job tasks among several employees to cut cost. Marketing agent, app developer, database administrators, and software specialists will be on the team.