Ridgely McCleary ENT 3003 Blog

After securing a dominant position in the market I would like to be come a large corporation with hopes of passing my business down to my son or a suitable CEO. Hopefully this company would be in a secure position in which it can be profitable for generations to come. I feel that this strategy will allow me and my family to maximize the revenue from this company. Even if my family was not running the company, they would still have a large ownership stake and board seats. This would protect my family for generations and secure their financial future. I do think this exit strategy is the culmination of my plan throughout this venture. My plan was to achieve a very secure position in the market and grow into a large corporation. This was always my plan from the beginning of this class. Thus my exit strategy is to continue this pattern of growth and profitability forever.

  Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future This book's central theme is understanding Elon Musk as a person, how he thinks, and hoe he makes decisions. Throughout the book, the author writes how much Elon talks about he importance of persistence. He says that you can never give up. Elon specifically says that in order to have success we need to stick with things long enough until they work out. I think I would create an exercise focused around determination. It would force the students to persist long enough to reach their end goal. I would ask students to interview the same people for the duration of the class. This would be a great demonstration of persistence. While many of the students would likely fail, I could see this possibly being an extra credit assignment of sorts. The biggest surprise to me was when the author talked about Elon's childhood. He talks about how Elon was bullied as a child and he always had a bad relationship with ...

There have been a number of times this past semester where I have procrastinated my assignments in this class way past where I should have. One time I was travelling back home to see my family for the weekend. Friday, when the assignments were due, was the first day I was able to view them. I noticed we had a reading reflection. Sadly, I had failed to choose a book. I was not able to complete that assignment. This taught me to allocate my time more efficiently. I needed to start working on my assignments earlier in the week so I could make sure my interviews and prior readings are done before I begin. Personally, I have a grudge against failure. I never want to be the center of attention after I fail. It is a feeling that nobody ever wants to feel again. But now I am starting to see the benefits of failure. Each time we fail, we learn a lesson. We can apply this to our future endeavors so we don't fail as much.

Existing market Interview summation - After asking 3 people who are already part of my market, I was told that I should look at other ways to optimize certain parts of people's day. I was told this would be a great way to ensure that my company will be sustainable and will not have only 1 product that it can rely on.         Path for the future - For the current short term, In should focus on starting my company and securing funding to actually produce my product. Then we would start manufacturing and larketing the foam panels until we are profitable. Once I felt that the company was in good hands and in stable condition, I would step back from the company and shift my focus towards a different venture.         I would start to focus on optimizing other parts of people's lives, Instead of just focusing on ways to optimize sleep, I want to find ways to optimize people's daily lives. This company would work on developing products to help with d...

      OptiPanel Venture Concept Write-Up          After extensive research, I believe that an opportunity exists to help people obtain a better and more fulfilling sleep each night with only the use of one product. Windows currently let in too much light for people to sleep well. By optimizing this and preventing all light from entering, nightly sleep can be optimized. The people who have this need are aged from 18-30 and are looking to maximize every single part of their lives. These people are often working multiple jobs, or taking more classes than they can handle. They need to squeeze every minute out of their days. These customers shop at budget minded stores because they are focused on getting every little bit they can squeeze our of their paychecks. This opportunity is prevalent across the nation for people this age. People currently use curtains or blinds to cover their windows however these products are inadequate. They let in light ...

Resource 1 - Extensive knowledge of the youth and young adult market. This knowledge helps my company target young adults. In order to attain this skill, other CEOs would have to be a college student like me. Therefore, this is very hard to copy. Resource 2 - I have experience doing accounting work - This would help me in the early stages of my startup as having an organized business plan and finances is very important. Other CEOs would likely not have accounting experience and thus it is more difficult for them to keep their companies organized. Resource 3 - Due to the relatively cheap labor and production costs to make foam panels, our startup costs are rather minimal. This would give us a way to launch into the market faster than competitors. We can also dedicate these funds to other things. Resource 4 - I have extensive computer knowledge - this could help us negate startup costs related to technology as I could handle that aspect. This money can then be used to better other ...

Brandy Wasenda Brandy is a domain expert, she sells blinds and curtains which accomplish some of the same goals that my product would also. I found this person because she is my girlfriend’s mother. I went over to her hours and has a discussion about her experience in the market place. We talked for a while and I asked her to review my elevator pitch because I was sure that she would have had experience with that as well. We talked about my delivery and how it was still a little fast. I told Mrs. Wasenda that I would help out anytime she needs technical assistance in exchange for the help with my pitch. Mrs. Wasenda helps me gain valuable domain experience. I can learn how people act and what they buy in the curtain/blind industry. This could then help me in the future with my product. Ken Hough Ken Hough is my uncle who works as a marketer for Hint, a flavored water brand. He targets college students much like I do in my business as well. He is my marketing expert. We talked...

Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker 1 Peter Drucker focuses on dividing the ideas of innovation and entrepreneurship into discinct sections of his book. He does this to explain the connection of these ideas to our everyday lives, to our society, and to our economy. 2 I have heard Dr. Pryor mention Drucker in class numerous times. This class is based on many of his findings. His definition for Innovation and the opportunities to exploit it are almost used word for word in this class. 3 If I had to design some sort of exercise related to this book, It would likely be an elevator pitch. The elevator pitch captures the core ideas behind innovation and entrepreneurship. It forces entrepreneurs to find a problem, hypothesize a solution, and practice telling others about their solution. I feel that an elevator pitch is the best exercise to help people learn about this book. 4 I actually found the preface the most interesting part of the book. It was very inte...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/THphCSPM8DhdgC3F7 -  Link for video I saw that people told me my volume was a good volume and I had a proper appearance. Some people appreciated the detail that I put into the section explaining how the product functions. I hoped to slow down my speech in this second pitch. My first pitch went a little too fast, I often struggle speaking a little too fast so hopefully this one was slower. I made sure to slow down the speed at which I delivered my pitch. That seemed to be the most common problem in my last pitch.

I am an enterprising individual who enjoys searching for opportunities. I have a strong background in computers. My product is a foam insert that can be applied to windows in which the occupants desire to be in the dark. This is best for bedrooms and other rooms where darkness or privacy is desired. This product helps eliminate all light thus providing privacy and/or the ability to get a better quality of sleep each night. The people who are interesting in my product desire to get as much accomplished during the daytime hours as possible. In order to do this they need to receive the best amount of sleep possible. These people don’t sleep very long and thus the quality of that short sleep is very important. These people are aged 18-30 and are looking to squeeze evey dollar they can out of their paycheck. They often shop at budget-minded stores such as Walmart. Customers who want a quality sleep will pay for this product in order to optimize their sleep cycle. They care because o...

After all of my interviews, I have learned about my customer avatar. My customer is someone aged 18-30 who barely has enough hours in the day complete everything that their life requires them to. These people need optimize their life to fit as many tasks into their daily lives. My product allows them to get the most of their sleep every night. This customer often shops at Walmart and other budget stores. He or she drives a midsize sedan that has great gas mileage. They often are taking classes of some kind to further their education. One of the main similarities I have with my customer avatar is my age. I am currently 19 years old and a college student much like my customer avatar. I do not think that the shared similarities is a coincidence. Because I was the creator of my idea, I created it to solve a need I had. This would then make me the customer avatar.