20A: Social Capital

Expert in the industry:

1. Who they are: James, a disk jockey.

2. How this person is a "domain expert.":
This person is a domain expert because he makes music in the electronic music industry, and he has experienced with drug use and also has friends who use the drugs too.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
This person is in contacts because he plays at the local Simon's club. I just asked him for a call.

4.The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
I just asked this person what he thought about the market for my service, and if he thought it would be feasible. There is no return expectation because the conversation did not take up much of his time.

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
Including them enhanced my ability to exploit an opportunity because they have a name attached to them that could get me into the industry in talking to Music festival organizers.

Market Expert
1. Who they are: Nick, an EDM music fan.

2. How this person is a "domain expert"
This person is a domain expert because he listens to EDM, the genre that has the most illicit drug use of any music genres.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
This person is one of my friends who listen to the music I like to listen to.

4. The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
I just talked about the feasibility of my service and asked for his opinion. There is no return expectation because it did not take much time.

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
This person could have friends who would be my future consumers.

Supplier.
Since my service is so niche, I could not find a connection that would supply the service. It is just a service and it is not a product to be supplied.

Reflect: I would like to say that any time I network with someone, I gain knowledge and experience in their respective industry and also I would have learned how to network better by being better able to come up with topics of conversations. The experience I take doing this networking will be used in my future events. This experience differs from experiences in the past because in the past, I never really pitch an idea or product to anyone.

19A

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?


My name is Duc, and I have held numerous executive positions in various organizations on campus. I aspire to be a management consultant in the future or work at something in finance. This business really does not have anything to do with my aspirations, but if it were to succeed, then I see it playing a large role in my life and become my main source of income.


2) What are you offering to customers? The service is offering a safe way to test drugs for customers who attend music festivals. This way, it ensures their safety in the festivals.


3) Who are you offering it to? I am offering to those who attend music festivals. These people tend to have a very liberal mindset in terms of consuming psychedelic drugs and uppers. They also happen to really enjoy electronic dance music and camping at festivals.


4) Why do they care? They care because it is a way to ensure their safety when they consume the drugs. It is to reduce casualties at music festivals.


5) What are your core competencies? I have the personality that can sell products and services. I am very outspoken and have a very large growth mindset. I don’t stop trying to improve myself in anyway that I could.





To be honest, having the mentality and skills of a salesperson could help in all facets of life, especially trying to pitch an idea could help, but most of my offerings don’t really match up with my core competencies. My core competency of growth could help me in other facets of life, but I do not think it is completely useful for my service.





The feedback I got was to deliver the service in a better way to pitch the idea. Using something other than the “imagine this” approach and adapting to the type of service is very useful.

18A Customer Avatar

For my consumer avatar, I did not make an avatar, but I found some pictures online of people who would be interested in using the service that I have came up with. These people are people who attend music festivals who are in their early twenties with a lot of vibrant energy and liberal tendencies. They will be dressed up to attend these festivals in very revealing outfits because music festivals are so hot to be in. They would not have children, and they would have hobbies that includes listening to EDM festivals, and making kandi. Kandi is a bracelet that has words, phrases, and are colorful that is pictured below. In addition, these type of people would be interested in the appreciation of art and colorful works. What I have in common with this avatar is that I listen to the same type of music with these people, and I also dress up for music festivals and wear the same Kandi that they do. It is not a coincidence that I modeled my business plan after these consumers because I have observed an opportunity in doing what I love.

Elevator Pitch 2

2) I really enjoyed reading my feedback on my first elevator pitch. There was a feedback where using the "imagine this" approach wasn't a very good idea. It stated that I should have just gave the background of music festivals and the illicit drug use in the culture, and I believe that it is a good starting point of my elevator pitch. I think the most silly feedback was my camera control in the presentation, because I do not think that I have any control over it.

3) I changed to use less of the "imagine this" this approach and described more of the music festival scene.

15A

All three interviews that I conducted gave me the same answer to my idea of drug testing in a festival. The alternative to the idea would be to drug test outside of the music festivals instead of inside. I have always known this to be the alternative of my idea, but even then, most people do not bother to test their drugs. I think my service will still come out ahead of the alternative and it won’t be affected by much. I think it still would save lives, and ensure the safety of festival-goers. The products would be able to be purchased online by consumers; whereas, my service would be paid by festival planners to set up booths in the festivals to ensure the safety of its attendees. The biggest difference is that the consumer would not have to directly pay for the drug test. The services’ direct consumer would be festival planners, so its post-service evaluation would be the injuries and deaths that could be avoided with this service. All three individuals agreed that outside vendors selling drug tests would be the service’s biggest competition, and it would not necessarily be a bad thing, because people are taking steps to protect themselves.

16A

Growth Mindset- Whatever I set my mind to, I am not afraid to work towards a skill or anything that I want in life. Even if the skill is completely brand new, etc.

Outgoing personality- I am able to relate to a variety of people very well and can connect with people from different perspectives and cultures.

Organization- My time management is renowned to those who have worked with me. I am never show up late to meetings, and never take on more than I could handle.

Agreeableness- I am able to see many different perspectives with relate to people of different backgrounds.

Strong Work Ethic- I am self-motivated and I work very hard to get where I am because of my work ethic. I will put a lot of time into something completely new to learn it.

Phat's Interview
https://soundcloud.com/duc-huynh-523892867/phats-interview561

The key takeaways of this interview highlights the business aspects of my personality and skills. He regards me as very organized and willing to learn.

Tiara's Interview
https://soundcloud.com/duc-huynh-523892867/tiaras-interview2

The key takeaway from this interview is that I am a very agreeable person and I value my relationships with my peers. This gives me a support group on whatever business endeavors I have, and it allows people to understand what makes my personality attracts others

TJ's Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFYpwChFY9c&feature=youtu.be

The key takeaway of this interview is that I am very confident and I do what I set out to do to reach my goals.

Mikem's Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3wVZuf1JRM&feature=youtu.be

The key takeaway of this interview is that I am very organized in a business way and I have a very structured way to set aside time. I allocate my time very well week by week, and I make sure not to miss meetings.

Josiah's Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYQQOoOPMJE

I am very approachable as a person and can see things from different perspectives. I also am very academically focused and skilled in business aspects.

Differences: I am astounded to the feedback that I have gotten. I don't see myself as approachable and kind as I thought people have thought about me. I think this feedback is very helpful in increasing my self esteem, and also see my true strengths. The things these people have said hav been accurate so I would not make any changes.

14A

1) What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? I have developed a keen eye to be constantly be aware of my surroundings and look for opportunities in the area. I also have developed my ability to keep up with the various assignments with time management. Last but not least, I have been able to talk to people more freely when I interview them.

2) Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this? I almost gave up when I saw that I did not really like to interview random people. It felt like cold calling at times, but I pulled through because I needed the grade, but it felt fulfilling because I actually felt like I learned how to interact with strangers more.

3) What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ? I would tell the students to step out of their comfort zone and think about things in everyday life that they have not thought about and also be open to talk to strangers. Sometimes, some people will reject being interviewed, but if you keep trying someone will end up wanting to express their thoughts. Lastly, if you get caught up on life sometimes and miss an assignment, don't sweat it!

13A

I read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. This is what I think of it:

·         What surprised you the most? What surprised me the most about Steve Jobs was his experience with psychedelic drugs and spirituality. In the book, it explained that Jobs experimented with LSD all the time, and it became a key part of his creativity. This combined with his partner at the time, Wozniak, allowed them to create a computer that was both functional and simple in many aspects. In conclusion, Jobs’ open drug use surprised me the most about him.

·         What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?  What I admire most about Jobs is that his persistence to see his vision. Even when going head-to-head with Michael Scott, the President of Apple at the time, he was able to keep persisting to through what he wanted in his designs. In addition, Jobs was outed by the Board of Directors of Apple, and still managed to bounce back by owning shares in Pixar. With failures such as NEXT, Jobs continued to pull through and bounce right back into Apple. He was able to reinstate himself as CEO at Apple after outing the entire Board of Directors, and single-handedly saved Apple from constant losses.

·         What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? I don’t admire Jobs’ way of doing things when he handles relationships. His perfectionism personality often clashes with others as he is known to have temper tantrums when the quality of work does not meet his standard. In addition, the book described his personality with personal relationships as very passionate or very cold. He seems to not care about those who are not in his immediate circle. In addition, his stubbornness led to his demise as he refused professional treatment for his cancer that could have saved him, but opted for home remedies.

·         Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? Yes. Jobs encountered so many failures in his lifetime, but managed to bounce back every time. This is why he has been regarded as one of the greatest geniuses of our generation. After being outed from his own company many times, he was able to come back every time to bring it back up and succeeded way beyond expectations. With each failure, Jobs seemed to have gotten used to the setback and knew that he would always come out on top.

·         What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Jobs exhibit a very strong sense of attention to detail, and because of his pure intellect, people respected his decisions, and were able to work with him even when they knew that he was hard to work with. He had a creative mind that was able to create things that were way ahead of the time, and improve upon those aspects. Jobs was also very successful in dealing with failure, and because of his persistence, was able to succeed.

·         Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. What was confusing to me was how he was able to have the support of so many people even though he had such a cold personality.

·         If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? I would ask why Jobs was able to pay attention to such meticulous detail in his everyday life and how would I be able to mimic it. This is a skill that many people lack, and it is a skill that is very useful in everyday life, and even in the business world. I believe attention to detail is what drives a business from making mistakes.

I would also ask why he opted to take home remedies as treatment for his cancer because there could have been such an easy operation to have saved his life if he could have just received treatment sooner.

·         What do you think the entrepreneur’s opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? I think that Jobs would think that hard work is at the core of success. Many of his employees reported working for 90 hours a week, and were yelled at when they did not deliver a product that was satisfactory. I share this opinion in that hard work definitely is what success is defined as because without its presence, it would be much harder to make a living.

12A

Choosing a segment:


For my segment, I have friends who have tried MDMA and would try MDMA at festivals. One male said that he would buy from a trusted supplier that he knows, another male said that he would consume MDMA from anyone that could supply him, and the last would purchase MDMA inside the festival themselves from black market dealers.





What I learned:


I learned that these people would actually want the service to be available. Two of the individuals that I interviewed actually know of someone who has died from overdoses from these types of illicit drugs and actually would think it is something that could save lives. Often, consumers would always have a fear of what is in their drug, and they believe that the service would give them peace of mind throughout the event. The last person however, does not trust anyone handling their illicit materials, and would rather test the drugs themselves than allow someone else to take a hold of it.





How I would describe this Segment:





I would describe this segment as the entirety of the customer base. There are no other segments that would fall outside the boundary of this service because this pretty much describes all those who consume illicit drugs at festivals.

11A

Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?





Hello, my name is Duc and I am from South Florida. I attend the University of Florida studying Finance. I have a talent in talking to people, and being able to network hard with professionals in the business world. I aspire to be a management consultant in the business working for a large firm. I see this business as just something to do on the side, and I don’t think it will play that large of a role in my life. It is an opportunity that I would like to capitalize, but it is not something that I am passionate about.


What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).


The service I am offering is free drug tests without repercussions at music festivals. The unmet need is that often, festival-goers don’t have a way to protect themselves from faulty and dangerous drugs at festivals, and this is a way to encourage safe use.





Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?


I am offering this service to whoever goes to music festivals and partake in dangerous illicit activities. I want to reduce the impact of these activities on the festival-goers. All my customers have in common is the desire to consume illicit drugs.





Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.


They care because this is a service that protects their well-being and could potentially save a life. The main business model would be that festival planners such as insomniac would pay for the service to reduce any type of liabilities and bad publicities that would follow if there were casualties at their events.


What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?


My core competency is that I believe that this service is entirely new, and no one has thought of it before. What I have that no one else has is the ability to have a vision on things that have not been thought of before.


In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.

My business is weak in the spot where it has to have demand from festival organizers to use my service. It is not open to normal consumers, and it would be difficult to market to people. However, I believe in its potential to save lives, and its consumers would appreciate the presence of the service.