Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity 
The opportunity I am being presented with is the lack of parking infrastructure available to accommodate the exponentially growing segment of college/university attendance. This is a substantial problem for universities across the country which effects millions of students, faculty, alumni, fans, and guests every year. This problem continues to gain steam and urgency as personal vehicle usage continues to increase throughout the United States as the primary method of transportation for individuals. According to the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are 212 million licensed drivers in the US, with 270 million registered vehicles according to Statista, both of these figures continue to increase steadily annually. Demographically the target market is defined as 18-25 year olds who attend a college/university whereas geographically the opportunity is not bounded but focused on college tows (examples: Gainesville- UF & Tallahassee- FSU). My idea presents those affected with the ability to travel worry free due to the access they will have to view available parking on their smartphone across numerous large parking structures. Currently, my target market is not satisfying their needs, they are adapting their transportation needs to accommodate for the lack of parking available by utilizing public transportation, bikes, and walking. This opportunity presents a massive growth opportunity as it can be implemented at universities across the country with potential to expand into urban centers (examples: New York City, Atlanta, large sporting venues).

Innovation 
My innovation is Parking Pal, a company that will engage in B2B selling of parking infrastructure such as parking garages or parking lots equipped with smart technology. Parking Pal is presenting two components to solve the parking crisis. 1) Parking Pal is going to provide large physical parking structures to accommodate the growing population and traffic at universities. 2) Parking Pal is going to utilize smart technology. This smart technology consists of a sensor at the front of every parking space which will detect if a parking space is available or occupied, along with a light fixture which will hang above every parking space and light up green when the spot is available and red when the spot is occupied. This technology with connect to a mobile application which will simultaneously update with the most current information being recorded from the sensors in the parking structure. This will give consumers the ability to pin point convenient parking wherever their travels take them. The selling of the product will take place in a B2B setting, for example, Parking Pal will advertise and sell our product to an organization such as UF. The first contact would be established through both the president and senate of the student government association and the head of parking services and transportation. By getting in contact with student government this will allow Parking Pal to appeal to the target market through an official channel that has a seat at the table within the university decision circle. By contacting parking services and transportation, Parking Pal would be communicating directly with the department that maintains and operates the parking facilities throughout campus, this would allow us to converse about the issues that currently face the university along with providing solutions. This sale could take place in two separate ways, 1) the organization could pay Parking Pal to build parking structures equipped with the smart technology. This would allow an organization such as UF to upgrade their current infrastructure which would increase campus appeal, ease of navigation, and decrease in traffic, all resulting in the increased satisfaction of students, faculty, and visitors such as alumni or gameday fans. 2) The organization could purchase the technology which Parking Pal would install into already existing infrastructure. This option would benefit organizations that already have suitable and efficient parking infrastructure, but want to further upgrade, providing their customers, such as students, faculty, and guests an increased ease of access and transportation. The mobile application will be available to everyone on numerous stores including the app store and google play.

Venture Concept 
My innovation will solve the needs of consumers by giving them the freedom and ability to pin point parking within their destination before departing. This provides consumers with increased, accurate, and regularly updated information pertaining to the parking availability providing them with peace of mind and ease of access. Customers will buy into my innovation because it provides a substantial benefit to their customers. For example, University of Florida purchases Parking Pal's products, this will increase their revenues and customers satisfaction. Additional revenue will be generated through the extra parking spaces available allowing university's to issue more parking passes and at a higher price due to the upgrade in facilities, access, and convenience. With upgraded facilities and more accommodations available, more people will be able to park on campus. The additional parking infrastructure would also increase the availability of one day parking passes that could be purchased by fans, alumni, and daily visitors. Customer satisfaction would also increase because Parking Pal provides a more convenient way to travel, giving customers the freedom to travel on their own time without hassle. This will increase positive perception of the UF campus which will increase overall university satisfaction drawing more students to apply and attend, also generating more revenue. At this point I have not identified national scale competitors, I will have to conduct further research as the company advances and grows. Depending on the choice in which the customer chooses to utilize Parking Pal, the cost will range between a few hundred thousand dollars and a few million dollars. The biggest aspect of my business idea would be location. My business concept is targeted at high traffic, urban areas such as large cities and college towns. To further expand and advance the organization forward I am going to need a highly skilled, dedicated workforce including software engineers, construction managers, construction engineers, civil engineers, and highly skilled technical workers to develop and implement the product.

Three Minor Elements
I believe at this moment my most valuable resource would be me being a college student. I am constantly surrounded by very intelligent, determined, and enthusiastic individuals that I could form a relationship with to move my agenda forward. Me being a business major, I am learning the necessary and critical skills needed to understand how businesses operate and achieve success. I am also very highly motivated and eager to learn giving me an advantage over many people. My current strategy is to target college towns with the desire to expand to urban centers. My desire as an entrepreneur is create a product that benefits consumers but also a product that I am proud of. In 5 years I wish to be successful and profitable with eyes on the future to innovate.

Feedback 
I received very limited feedback from my peers. The feedback I did receive was not based on what I should improve, rather it was directed the benefits that would be provided and how she would utilize and appreciate the product. I also received feedback from Professor Pryor stating I had to go more in depth on my concept because I left out key elements from my previous venture concept including a price point, who I am going to contact to make the sale, and how I will increase revenues for those I sell to. Based on this feedback I adjusted my concept to incorporate all of these elements. I incorporated a rough estimate of the price that would be charged to the organization, this price point is variable and would be adjusted based on the quantity of purchase. I also stated I would contact both the student government association and the parking services and transportation department to give me two channels of communication along with two separate channels of authority. Lastly, I stated I would increase revenues for the organization through providing expanded and upgraded infrastructure allowing the organization to issue more parking passes at a higher price due to the increase in accessibility, convenience, and upgraded facilities. 



 

Final Reflection

During my time in ENT3003, I think my most formative experience was just being able to take a course that was 100% dedicated to self development and growth. Most classes follow a traditional approach such as utilizing a textbook, busy work, and lectures. This course fostered in depth thinking and learning, allowing me to see the world and problems differently. The experience I will remember for years was the story Professor Pryor told us in class regarding his college days when he decided to plant grass in the OU oval to act as free advertising, this was the moment when I truly started to believe everything he was teaching us about not needing large sums of money or elaborate plans, all we needed was creativity and determination. I am most proud of myself for making it through this class without taking it for granted or blowing it off like I was told a lot of people do. I think Pryor did a very good job at telling us students we can do whatever we want to do as long as we put the idea into action and I am proud of myself for listening to that and putting a lot of effort and thought into my assignments.

I do see myself as an entrepreneur. Since late high school I have been set on the idea of me being my own boss one day and doing something I love where my contributions aren't for a large corporation but for something I built. I think this class has helped shift my mindset from believing you needed to have large sums of capital and connections to be a successful entrepreneur to now believing all I need is a feasible unique idea and the determination and confidence to approach it and not to quit because failure is apart of the process.

I would encourage students to take this class even if they think they have no interest in the topic. This class does not only touch on points of entrepreneurship, but it teaches you to think outside of the box and see the world as a place with endless opportunities waiting to be taken advantage of. To perform best in this course I would recommend being committed and not taking the assignments for granted. Not all of the work is easy or exciting but it helps in understanding the process and learning how to adapt your mindset to seek out opportunities. To foster this mindset, I say pay attention to Pryor and ask questions because you don't know what your don't know.  

Reading Reflection #3

1) The thing that surprised me most about from the book Shoe Dog is that Phil Knight, the creator of Nike created an entire industry in sportswear and specialized athletic products. Before Nike their was no such distinction between basketball shoes and running shoes and so on, their was a couple of different "athletic" shoes that were multipurpose products serving all athletic needs without any specialized adaptations or features. The thing I admire most is the same thing that surprised me most, Phil Knight created an entire industry and did so from nothing, he followed his dream and was fueled by his passion for sports and athletic wear which he eventually turned into everyday wear. Knight did fail along the way. He faced financial trouble along with marketing troubles which he eventually overcame by keeping persistent, passionate, and goal driven.

2) I observe Phil Knight to be a master marketer. He created an entire industry in specialty sportswear which is currently and by far the largest sportswear company and brand in the world with over 34 Billion in revenue. He took this specialty sportswear company and turned it into a cool everyday lifestyle brand which continues to pioneer sportswear technology along with brand recognition as they attach their name to some of the worlds biggest athletes in Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Cristiano Ronaldo.

3) None of the reading was confusing to me. Phil Knight is a masterful storyteller who has a phenomenal and very unique story to tell. I was compelled to read this book as Nike is one of my favorite brands in the world.

4) I would ask him 1. How were you able to create one of the most recognizable and valuable brands in the world from an industry that didn't even exist? and 2. What was your favorite part of the journey, at what moment did you realize you truly created something special? I would ask these questions because I believe Nike is a truly unique brand and I want to know when he thought the same.

5) I think Phil Knight's opinion of hard work is fighting through adversity while also believing in both yourself and the idea/product you are creating because without that you have already failed.

Exit Strategy

1) My exit strategy is to sell my venture Parking Pal for a large return whenever that opportunity presents itself. I am very young and wish to explore other opportunities within life and my career.

2) I have selected this exit strategy because my goal as an entrepreneur is to create wealth for myself creating more opportunity and quality of life for me, my family, and my friends. With the profit I would earn from selling Parking Pal, I wish to invest this money into my already existing investment portfolio along with exploring other opportunities such as creating a new startup or investing in an existing startup I am passionate about to gain influence in the company and it's overall end goal.

3) This decision has somewhat influenced my decisions thus far but not drastically. For example, the decision to expand beyond Florida and beyond college towns/university campuses is attributed to growing a strong brand and strong market share that would make my company for attractive to a potential buyer that would be gaining a national brand. Other than that, my decisions have been derived from my pure passion to have a successful startup. I believe you cannot reach your end goal (in this case my exit plan), without planning and executing in the present so that's what I am going to do.

Celebrating Failure

1) A time I failed during this semester was the first exam I took in MAN3025. I studied very hard but did not study properly. I put a lot of time in effort into studying for an exam I thought I was going to do well on but I got a 70 and realized I was not studying properly even though I was studying hard.

2) What I learned what this experience was to buy Smokin' Notes. With a hectic schedule that offers very little downtime, I learned that instead of taking the time to create my own study guides and file through an entire tests worth of material to study such as homework's, lectures, and the text, I could just buy the this supplement that puts it all in one place for me and is way for detailed than I was.

3) Failure is very hard. You never want to receive unfavorable results for something you put a lot of time and effort into in hopes of achieving success. When dealing with failure I find myself to get down on the initial results, but after reflection and thought I find myself no longer reminiscing on the previous results but preparing myself to achieve success next time around by trying to methods and putting in more time and effort to ensure an increase in performance from previous results. This class has solidified to me that most people fail and most ideas fail but it is crucial to reaching success. If you don't fail it means you didn't try hard enough. Companies fail thousands of times before they create a hit product, this has increased my willingness to take risk because I am not as scared to fail as I was before this class.

What's Next?

Existing Market Up next for Parking Pal I intend to gather extensive feedback from customers to improve current products and expand to new ones. While conducting previous interviews, I was not given any feedback or suggestions regarding improvements or expansions of Parking Pal. I was given extensive feedback on the urgent solution to the current parking crisis, from this I was told Parking Pal is a very attractive solution in which my target audience believes would be successful. For Parking Pal to grow in the current market we have to expand to beyond Florida and serve colleges throughout the country. With the expansion beyond Florida, this allows us to access an enormous customer base along with building relationships on a national scale to grow the value and brand of Parking Pal.

New Market 
A change parking pal could make is transitioning from exclusive operation in college towns and university campuses with expansion into major urban centers. Serving urban centers would introduce an entirely new audience which would exponentially grow the current target audience. Urban centers such as New York City or Atlanta offer access that college towns and university's cannot. Urban centers are home to much more industry which accumulates an enormous traffic increase. With this expansion, Parking Pal will have access to high traffic sporting venues, tourism, and everyday business commuting. Due to the increased traffic and increased demand because of the substantially larger populations, revenue will increase because the price point will be higher. With the ability to charge a one time parking fee to utilize the parking structure, the turnover rate per parking space will increase which will increase the overall profitability of each individual spot has more vehicles come and go. I think this new market could be more successful than college towns but it will be more challenging and less cost effective to implement due to higher property and maintenance costs.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity
The opportunity I am being presented with is the lack of parking infrastructure available to accommodate the exponentially growing segment of college/university attendance. This is a substantial problem for universities across the country which effects millions of students, faculty, alumni, fans, and guests every year. This problem continues to gain steam and urgency as personal vehicle usage continues to increase throughout the United States as the primary method of transportation for individuals. According to the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are 212 million licensed drivers in the US, with 270 million registered vehicles according to Statista, both of these figures increase steadily annually. Demographically the target market is defined as 18-25 year olds who attend a college/university whereas geographically the opportunity is not bounded but focused on college tows (examples: Gainesville & Tallahassee). My idea presents those affected with the ability to travel worry free due the access they will have to view available parking on their smartphone across numerous large parking structures. Currently, my target market is not satisfying their needs, they are adapting their transportation needs to accommodate for the lack of parking available by utilizing public transportation, bikes, and walking, none of which are ideal in a Florida summer. This opportunity presents a massive growth opportunity as it can be implemented at universities across the country with potential to expand into urban centers (examples: New York City & Atlanta).

Innovation 
My innovation is Parking Pal, a company that will engage in B2B selling of parking infrastructure such as parking garages or parking lots equipped with smart technology. Parking Pal is presenting two components to solve the parking crisis. 1) Parking Pal is going to provide large physical parking structures to accommodate the growing population and traffic at universities. 2) Parking Pal is going to provide smart technology. This smart technology consists of a sensor at the front of every parking space which will detect if a parking space is available of occupied, along with a light fixture which will hang above every parking space and light up green when the spot is available and red when the spot is occupied. This technology with connect to  mobile application which will simultaneously update with the most current information being recorded from the sensors in the parking structure. This will give consumers the ability to pin point convenient parking wherever their travels take them. The selling of the product will take place in a B2B setting, for example, Parking Pal will advertise and sell our product to an organization such as UF. This sale could take place in two separate ways, 1) the organization could pay Parking Pal to build parking structures equipped with the smart technology. This would allow an organization such as UF to upgrade their current infrastructure which would increase campus appeal, ease of navigation, and decrease in traffic, all resulting in the increased satisfaction of students, faculty, and visitors such as alumni or gameday fans. 2) The organization could purchase the technology which Parking Pal would install into already existing infrastructure. This option would benefit organizations that already have suitable and efficient parking infrastructure, but want to further upgrade, providing their customers, such as students, faculty, and guests an increased ease of access and transportation. The mobile application will be available to everyone on numerous stores including the app store and google play.

Venture Concept 
My innovation will solve the needs of consumers by giving them the freedom and ability to pin point parking within their destination before departing. This provides consumers with increased, accurate, and regularly updated information pertaining to the parking availability providing them with peace of mind and ease of access. Customers will buy into my innovation because it provides a substantial benefit to their customers. For example, University of Florida purchases Parking Pal's products, this will increase their revenues and customers satisfaction. With upgraded facilities and more accommodations available, more people will be able to park on campus. This will generate increased revenue through the increased issuance of parking passes to students and faculty, along with the increased purchases of one day parking passes that get purchased by visitors, alumni, and fans. This also increases customer satisfaction because it provides a more convenient way to travel, giving customers the freedom to travel on their own time without hassle. This will increase positive perception of the UF campus which will increase overall university satisfaction drawing more students to apply and attend, generating more revenue. At this point I have not identified national scale competitors, I will have to conduct further research as the company advances and grows. The biggest aspect of my business idea would be location. My business concept is targeted at high traffic, urban areas such as large cities and college towns. To further expand and advance the organization forward I am going to need a highly skilled, dedicated workforce including software engineers, construction managers, construction engineers, civil engineers, and highly skilled technical workers to develop and implement the product.


Three Minor Elements
I believe at this moment my most valuable resource would be me being a college student. I am constantly surrounded by very intelligent, determined, and enthusiastic individuals that I could form a relationship with to move my agenda forward. Me being a business major, I am learning the necessary and critical skills needed to understand how businesses operate and achieve success. I am also very highly motivated and eager to learn giving me an advantage over many people. My current strategy is to target college towns with the desire to expand to urban centers. My desire as an entrepreneur is create a product that benefits consumers but also a product that I am proud of. In 5 years I wish to be successful and profitable with eyes on the future to innovate.