10A Elevator Pitch no.1

This is the link to my pitch enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMjNJDNU9pk&feature=youtu.be

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

Determining the areas of who lies outside the boundaries was somewhat difficult. In interviewing people, school violence was a concern for everyone I spoke with. There were a couple of people who didn’t believe in the service or solution that I was recommending or weren’t as concerned because they didn’t have any involvement with a school. One felt that the solution was to take guns out of society not to focus on protecting the school and some were concerned about the cost or the inefficiency in working with government.


Who is in: Parents teachers students and other members of the community concerned with violence.

What the need is: The need is for a safer environment for students and teachers.

Why the need exists: There are people who want to hurt people and be recognized for it in the media.


Who is not: Some people who don’t have children in school.

What the need is not: The need is not a political battle.

Alternative explanations: The solution to stop the violent actors is to disarm the entire population.

8A Solving the Problem

Solving the Problem

 After discussing the current opportunity with other individuals, I believe the solution would be a multi-faceted approach. A couple of the proposed whys would cause excessive side effects to many individuals lives that don’t bear any responsibility for the problem, so my solution would be specifically focused at the school’s property and the students and the teachers.

 While I am not a psychologist or security expert, I put together some vague ideas to address the problem. If I were in the position to propose and implement the program I would consult experts and design the plan around their input and recommendations. Each location is different, so I wouldn’t want to do just a one size fits all. I would retain a security expert to advise on each school project.  

My solution would include several items. It would be based around a service that implemented security into each school. I would start with private schools and then focus on getting the government contracts once the difference became obvious to the public-school parents.

 Some of the proposals would be around shorter-term solutions and some would be longer term solutions.

Education for parents. The education would be part of school rules and would go into parent’s obligations to properly secure weapons and ammo in their household.  

Legislation. I would push for legislation that would evaluate a parent’s responsibility in the act of a crime involving a weapon owned by the parent and propose penalties for negligence.

Education for students. Give students a tool (an app or phone number) to anonymously report behavior that is violent or inappropriate to authorities to identify threats or crimes.

 Counseling and education for students. At a young age, students could have a class based around communication and behavior.

Teachers education. Teachers would be educated to identify communication issues such as isolationism and other issues and could refer concerns to counselors.  

Counselors could meet with identified students to see if there is some direction they can give to help a student have a better academic experience or to possibly identify mental illness issues.

The next and most important short-term objective would be the physical location. 

Each school would have a fence as most do with one entrance in to the property. Each school would have camera systems as some currently do to have more eyes observing the property.

I would hire volunteers to assist SRO’s for security at the school. I would consider arming them with Tasers and they would be fully vetted, and background checked. Retirees love to give back and be involved.

Schools would be laid out so that there was a double entrance in to the school. One where you came in to the building that would have metal detectors and then a second entrance in to the school where visitors would be buzzed through. In the morning your security would be focused on the flow of students entering the location.

To pay for this program private schools could pass on the expense to the parents. For the public schools I would target the transportation costs of the school system. I would encourage parents to drive their children or use a service to bring children to school each day. (This service would be a second opportunity for a private bussing service for school possibly funded by advertisements for businesses supporting the community.

7A Testing the Hypothesis

The opportunity I chose to pursue was school safety.

The opportunity is for schools, specifically students and teachers and those that care about their safety to create a safer environment.

Currently it is easy to get weapons in to a school and attack innocent unarmed people until being confronted by someone capable of stopping the attack.

Everyone in the current system shares the need. There are people who propose different solutions to the problem and different obstacles but, all people involved in the school system typically agree with the increased need for safety. 

While most agree with the need there are several different causes that people attribute the problem to which effects what they propose as a solution to the problem.

 I consider the solution to include a mixture of solutions based on the input of what the problems are. Some are more implementable due to the scale of the solution and focusing on the people involved.

In my interviews peoples input included variations of all the views I listed below. Testing the who and the what were very uniform in response however the why was contributed to several different reasons.

One of the whys was based specifically around the current weapon that is being used. Some people propose taking guns out of the population while some propose arming more people to defend the property. 

Some people blame the changing culture of the world to video games, the entertainment industry and social media and away from personal communication, family values and religion. Those involved in this debate also tend to blame the increase in mental illness and social problems on the current culture. (These tended to be older contributors I believe because younger people don’t see the change in culture because they haven’t experienced anything other than the current technological environment they have grown up in.)  

Some people believe the government in too ineffective at implementing change and some believe that some politicians aren’t really interested in solving problems only in gaining momentum and funding for their benefit. (They don’t believe that government is effective at changing to meet the needs of society.)

Assignment 6 Identifying Opportunity in Regulatory and Economic Trends

Regulatory trends
 Cannabis Banking Currency

One regulatory generated opportunity that I am aware of is the need for Banking services for Marijuana distributers. It may even involve a specific currency for persons in the Marijuana industry. Since many states have started to legalize marijuana in different fashions Marijuana stores and distributers have started to open in those states. Unfortunately for them Marijuana is still an illegal drug federally, so they cannot legally use the US banking system to transact business.

I found this opportunity from news and reading. I have seen it in multiple sources over the past couple of years. It is currently a fear of people involved in the Marijuana industry that they may have their funds seized by the federal government or they need to operate in cash. The customer with the Social opportunity would be a Cannabis shop or a grower. It would be difficult to exploit because you either must create an alternative form of currency that is legal. I saw this opportunity because I follow legislation and business on a regular basis and have been watching the industry trying to expand.

Social Media monitoring/ reporting

Another regulatory generated opportunity that I have been contemplating is a service for social media privacy. Currently social media organizations use customer data without permission from people who use their platforms or search engines. Many people feel vulnerable that they don’t know who is using their information and how it is being used. There is talk about making these companies more regulated like media companies and forcing them to be more transparent with what they are doing with customer data. It would be nice to have a service that is designed to track your privacy and alert you of any institution that is using your information without consent or compensation. Much like a credit service like a LifeLock but for data mining.

 I found this opportunity from news and reading. I have watched the senate judiciary hearings with the social media executives testifying on capitol hill. Many people are concerned their data is being used and their privacy is being violated. A likely customer would be any person that uses social media services or search engines and cares about privacy. The opportunity seems to be relatively difficult to exploit because I don’t have the knowledge to design the technology it would require, but I’m sure people in the industry would be able to figure it out.

Economic Trends


Gamers Communication Platform

I would consider a communication platform designed around gamers and gaming. I thought of it myself from watching the shift in our culture and the trends on business news. Currently a lot of people don’t use Facebook and I think there is a market for a site that highlights “gamer status “and is designed to immerse them in all things gaming. Gaming has become an occupation for a small number of people that are good enough. It has taken the stigma of being the person who is living an isolated life to being a type of athlete that can become wealthy form being the best. I believe from watching the trends in on line gambling and ridiculously popular games like fortnite that this industry is growing in popularity. It is at the point where people watch people game rather than watch television shows. The typical customer would be someone who’s life is heavily influenced by gaming where they feel that it is an accomplishment. I think the opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit for a technology company. I believe once up and running with some of the more famous gamers, lower level gamers would flock to it like moths to a light.

 Juul Cases/ Wraps

My second economic trend would be high end Juuls or Juuls cases or wraps. I thought of it by watching trends in our culture and from watching the trends on business news. Juuls are the smoking device that are designed to help people stop smoking cigarettes by smoking electronic cigarettes with flavored nicotine inside. Unfortunately, they are becoming popular with teen agers and are seen as being “in”. With how materialistic urban culture is I thought it would be a market to design a wrap or case for the Juul that is expensive and decorative. It would be like wearing a high-end watch or jewelry while smoking your Juul in a case that is made of platinum with a diamond cut design. more like jewelry or a high-end watch. I think it would be easy to exploit for the right people. I don’t think it would be difficult to engineer or for a jeweler to design.

Assignment 5 Identifying local opportunities

Reforms for flood Insurance overdue
https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0913%21September%2B13&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E6A32D6AB97448

The article is about the current business model of flood insurance being inefficient. From the premiums and the benefits to the analysis of the risk.

Currently Floridians are burdened with a large share of the premiums of the nation’s total while using a smaller percentage of the claims then other states. Currently the premiums for Floridians are too high and are not affective at addressing the risk of large catastrophes. The model is outdated and needs to be changed. 

People affected by this issue are Floridians in low lying coastal areas designated as flood zones have the problem.


It also effects insurance companies and taxpayers. 

Boom time for apartments

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0912%21September%2B12&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E64CDC78215E98

The article is about the increase in demand for multifamily housing units and the increasing cost of renting.

 Currently construction for multifamily units is high due to population growth for younger people as well as people aging wanting to downsize. Due to the increase in demand for apartments the price is increasing.

 People affected by this issue are young people age 20 to 35 wanting to move out of their parent’s home into an apartment and retirees wanting to move into a smaller place.

It also effects the real estate construction industries.

 Time, red tide wait for no one
https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0912%21September%2B12&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E64CDCE375A300

 The article is about the negative effect that red tide has on tourism and recreation.

The article details many of the areas that are being affected by the dying marine life caused by the red tide as well as the efforts to control the effects on the beaches. The article goes in to detail of one man’s trip to stay at the beach and fish for his birthday and his disappointment and sorrow in what he experienced instead.

People affected by this are tourists and people visiting and living in the coastal areas effected by red tide.

It also effects the restaurant travel and hotel industries as well as the local shops and workers.

Parents start multifaceted school safety effort
https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0909%21September%2B09&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E60C8231FF31C0

The article is about a group of women who started an organization designed to make schools safer for children.

The article details the efforts of a group of women that started The Coalition for School Safety. The organization is involved in events that are designed to help students with communication and psychological development as well as physical upgrades to schools to help them be more secure. 

The people most affected by this situation are the students and the educators.

 Also effected are the student’s parents and law enforcement

 Event promotes suicide prevention efforts

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2018%212018/mody%3A0909%21September%2B09&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/16E60C81D28B40E0

The article details an event being hosted to raise money for suicide prevention.

 The article details discuss an event called Beer and Bowties. It is a beer and food event with tickets costing 100 to 150 dollars to raise funds to support the Crisis center of Tampa Bay. The objective is to get the community involved and talking about mental illness and suicide and raise money for programs that help people with the issues. 

People effected are people with mental illness and dealing with problems.

 It also affects families of people dealing with mental illness and counselors.

Assignment 4A Opportunity Belief

Assignment 4A Opportunity Belief

 My beginning point:

The current real estate transaction system leaves customers vulnerable with uncertainty. I believe there is a market for a real estate exchange where homes can be quickly sold and purchased at market prices. Real estate companies would own their inventories much like a car dealership.


My Belief:

The unmet need is for people who want to sell their home or buy a home quickly and predictably. The need is for people who want to sell or buy a property. The need has always existed. The current market is unpredictable. Currently people list their home through a realtor and put an estimated price on the home and wait for people to offer more or less for the property with an unknown timeframe for whether the home will sell or not. If the seller is also wanting to purchase a home, it places them in a bind to purchase a new property not knowing when and how much their home will sell for. Sometimes the home sells but can’t be paid for because the lender is unsure of the true market value of the home. I am 100% sure that this opportunity exists to make this industry more efficient.

 Prototypical customer:

 The prototypical customer can be any person at a time that is wanting to buy or sell a home or real estate.

First Discussion: The first customer recognized the level of uncertainty in transacting real estate from his own experiences. A person typically doesn’t recognize the need until they face the reality of possibly being in the position of holding two homes at the same time. His solution is that you make an offer on the home that you want contingent on the sale of your own home. He has not personally used this approach but felt it may be an alternative to not being hurt financially. In our discussion we agreed that a seller would rather accept an offer other than yours that didn’t have the possibility that they sit on their home for an extended period and lose potential buyers.

 Second discussion: The second discussion was with a couple that currently feels the frustration of not wanting to make the move to a larger home. They recognized that the current system was flawed when they started wanting a different home. They don’t feel confident in selling their home because they are unsure exactly how much it will sell for and how long it may take to sell. They don’t feel that they can commit to buying another home until they sell the one they are in. Their solution is to sell their home and rent a home until they find a home to buy. They are not wanting to move twice either so at this point they are doing nothing.

Third discussion: The third discussion was with a couple that are in the real estate business. They recognize that things would be better if they were more efficient (faster) and more predictable. Currently because there is no alternative system available they use the current unpredictable way of selling and buying real estate. Their biggest questions were the level of fees for transacting real estate into the Brokers portfolio and how much training and intelligence a person would need to be able to work in the real estate marketplace. I figured it would be more like a stock broker and most of the workings would be dependent on technology.


Reflection:

The most surprising thing I learned about my opportunity was how eager people were to talk about how the market would work. The third discussion after my interview said I would like to come back and talk to you more about your idea. I was surprised people seemed so interested.

 Summary:

My belief changed slightly because I noticed that the people felt the idea was very complicated and would be very complex to design and implement. It would immediately change many of the players in the industry based on capital to purchase and exchange properties. 

The opportunity is still there to eliminate the fear and anxiety out of transacting real estate. I still believe it is as accurate as when I started.

 I think there needs to be a balance between adapting to feedback and staying firm. Many people you pitch a new idea to are trying to give you reasons your idea will fail instead of ways to make it succeed. The vision of adapting a new industry or existing product may be difficult for others to grasp.

Assignment 3A My entrepreneurship Story

Assignment 3A My entrepreneurship story

I enrolled in ENT 3003 because it is required for my degree. I was however excited to take the class because I met Professor Pryor at the business school introduction last year and he seemed very fun and I heard the class was great. 


What I hope to gain from the class isn’t specific. I have been running my own financial business for about 23 years now and while I feel like my creativity is limited due to regulations and my broker dealer protecting their brand, I learn something of value or reinforce something valuable each week from my classes at UF that I can use in my practice. It keeps me motivated to keep growing my business and providing more value to my clients.


An experience I had with an entrepreneur was with a couple of friends that my family used to go camping with. The couple identified a need for houses to have numbers that are visible at night for guests and emergency vehicles. They came up with the idea of a mailbox post that had illuminated numbers. They met with an engineer and designed a mailbox post with an illuminated number plate in the post that was powered by a solar panel in the cap. They made a prototype and began selling them to individuals and developments. They even had displays in some of the largest home improvement stores.

Assignment 2A Bug List

Assignment 2A Bug List

Door dings in car doors. Car doors get dinged because the parking spaces are too tight or because people park too close.

 Water Jugs for the water cooler and bulky and heavy when they must be changed. The bug exists because people want a continuous supply of drinking water.

Wrinkled clothes out of the dryer. Clothes tend to be wrinkled and need ironing based on the type of fabric that it is made of.

 Traffic lights are a huge time waster. They also negatively affect fuel mileage by making people start and stop. Traffic lights are necessary to allow traffic to cross an intersection.

 Tailgating and people coming over into my lane. People are trying to get places quickly when there is traffic. People are in a hurry or careless when they drive.

 Hard to reach nuts and bolts in tight places (usually when working on cars or appliances.). Some parts are designed with very little room to fit a wrench or socket.

 Leaves and debris in my garage. Wind blows debris and leaves into my garage when the door is open.

 Cars get dirty so easily after they are washed. The surface of a vehicle is not resistant to water spotting or dirt.

 Scratches on arms from working on car. When I work on my cars I get scratches all over my forearms. Cars have parts that easily scratch exposed skin.

Fruits and vegetables rot in the refrigerator. They rot because they have a short life span before they spoil once they are picked.

 Weapons making it into schools to be used for violence. It happens because a person wants to hurt people and there is no way to detect the weapon.

Testing and putting chemicals in the hot tub or the pool. The pool needs to be sanitized and rebalanced regularly to make the water cleaner and more comfortable.

Having to stop for bathroom breaks on road trips. People have drinks while they travel, and they must stop to urinate on longer drives. 

Dirty public restrooms. They are not cleaned often enough between uses.

The TV gets louder when commercials come on. I believe it is to attract the viewers’ attention to the commercial.

 I must flip my wireless mouse and keyboard over to turn them on each day. The items have batteries inside and the switches are underneath on all of them that I have ever seen. They need to be turned off, so the batteries don’t die quickly.

 I must clean my glasses constantly because they are smudged. They easily smudge because they are glass and they get touched by people or objects.

 I don’t like having to keep throwing my anchor out and bring it back in when I move to another fishing spot. The anchor must be heavy to stop the boat from moving in the current.

 Moving cars around in my driveway. I have a lot of cars in my driveway, so we must constantly rearrange them around peoples’ schedules. A driveway only has one way to get out of it.

Reading takes too long. When I read it is very time consuming. A reader needs to focus on reading material and absorbing what they are reading.


I found making the first 5 on the list easy. The next 10 were more difficult and the last 5 were easier because I was waiting for things to come to me. The most difficult part of coming up with this list was that it made me feel like a whiner. I felt like the person who complains about everything. During my day I try to ignore the things that are negative and out of my control to stay positive and productive. Several of the issues I identified I notice irritate me primarily because they waste my time.