Growing Your Social Capital

New Scooters 4 Less: Founder 

• This individual effectively fills the spot of 'Important supplier' to my industry. He fills this spot because he has been serving the Gainesville college community through his scooter shop, New Scooters 4 Less for over a decade. 
• I found him through the interview Dr. Pryor conducted with him that was showed in class. I contacted him through his Snapchat which I found on the NS4L website, from here he then agreed to provide me feedback and provided me with his email 
• Heprovided me with the favor of dedicating his time to analyzing my business idea and provided me with feedback regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the idea. 
• Including this expert in my network will enhance my ability to exploit this opportunity because he attended UF and continued to reside in Gainesville as he founded NS4L which has served Gainesville and their students for over a decade.
  

University of Central Florida: Computer Science student & Software developer 

• This individual fills the spot of 'Domain expert' to my industry. He effectively fills this spot because he is a computer science major who has also created and sold mobile applications.
• I have known him since high school and throughout college. I contacted him through text message.
• He provided me with the favor of educating me on the technology and resources that would be needed to achieve this business idea 
• He can help me exploit this opportunity because he knows the ins and outs of creating a mobile application while also knowing the difficulty that comes with selling it.

The Walt Disney Company: Disney Parks Live Entertainment Manager

• This individual fills the spot of 'Expert in my market'. She effectively fills this spot with her 10+ years of experience at The Walt Disney Company where she has managed events and logistics regarding parking and transportation within Disney Parks.
• I was able to contact this person through text message as she is the mother of one of my good friends. 
• She provided me with the favor of explaining to me how the current Disney parking systems work and how each system has to be developed according to the unique characteristics of each location (Resort, park, geographic layout, etc.) 
• Including her in my network will enhance my ability to exploit this opportunity due to her extended experience and expertise with transportation and event logistics.

Idea Napkin No. 2

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?

• I am a second year Business Administration major at the University of Florida. Before enrolling in the BA program at UF, I completed my Associates of Arts degree at UCF. I have personal experience with both of these university's parking situations due to having attended both. My talents include being an effective communicator, adaptable learner, and collaborator. My goal for this company is to modernize parking infrastructure across college campuses throughout the state of Florida. Depending on current market conditions I would 1) want to expand beyond Florida and beyond college campuses OR 2) I would like my company to be acquired.

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

• I would be offering customers ample and convenient parking. The product is comprised of two separate, but linked components. Physical parking structures will be built and or renovated with smart technology. The structure itself provides access to more available and accessible parking. The smart technology within the physical structure will include sensors that detect if a parking space is available or occupied along with visible markers that will hang above each spot showing a green light when the spot is empty and a red light when the spot is taken. The smart technology will also track available and unavailable parking spots throughout the campus garages which customers will be able to see updated simultaneously on their smartphones. 

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

• Plans as of now are to offer the parking structures/smart technology to university's across Florida. The app will be available to anybody who can utilize it to aid in their transportation need. All of my customers have the same thing in common, they all have the same problem being poor access to available and convenient parking. I will bring attention to the issue by getting in contact with heads of each university's student government association. This allows me to present the problem to those who share it with me. SGA possesses a yearly budget which would aid in getting the university to buy the parking structures or technology. 

4) 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.

• The direct customers for this product are university's which do not have efficient or effective parking infrastructure to accommodate the exponentially growing population of students enrolling in Florida university's. These university's care because they would be investing in the improvement of student, staff, and campus visitors experience. With the expansion of parking infrastructure, campus's across the state will operate more efficiently and effectively. For example, UCF's football stadium accommodates 46,000 people, their parking garages are comprised of 8,597 parking spaces. These parking garages are not exclusively held for sporting events meaning there is not 8,597 available spots for football spectators to park. With the expansion of infrastructure and the ability to track availability on a smartphone will allow large events to operate with reduced traffic due to the campus visitors knowing when and where the parking spaces are full or available. 

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

•  I currently do not have any legal protection over my proposed solution. The thing that makes me different is that nobody is doing this as of now that I am aware of, this meaning no college campuses I observed are currently utilizing this technology. The technology would be expensive making organizations hesitant to make the investment. The feedback I have gotten from students throughout the state of Florida is overwhelming, stating the technology would improve the lifestyle of a bustling college town.

Reflection
I believe every element fits together. The weakest aspect of my idea would be #5, being I am still determining what makes my business idea unique as I continue to survey the market. Element five may be the toughest and most critical element to satisfy. Without having an element five, you cannot have the preceding four elements. When creating a business you need to be unique to stand out to investors and customers, I believe once I get a firm grip on element five my business idea can encompass all five elements to become successful.

Feedback
I did not receive much feedback on my previous idea napkin. The feedback I did receive was focused on expansion beyond college campuses. This technology can be a critical element of innovation going forward as it can be applied to major urban areas and cities that notoriously lack convenient parking infrastructure. Cities continue to build up and not out allowing me the opportunity to capitalize on the ever growing need for parking access in busy urban centers throughout the nation such as New York and Chicago.

Elevator pitch #2

 

Link: https://youtu.be/Je1tJBhdpTE

I did not receive any feedback on my previous elevator pitch. I analyzed my own performance and identified strengths and weakness. Some of mys strengths were consistent in delivery. I found my first pitch to be delivered in a very organized and clear manner allowing for the audience to be engaged and follow along. I also noticed two weakness. The first weakness being I was nervous causing me to 1) stumble of my words and 2) Using my screen as an aid to guide my pitch. I learned from these weakness by approaching this pitch in a calm, confident manner. I delivered this pitch by doing some preliminary research on transportation statistics to make myself more comfortable with the subject which enabled me to deliver this message in a more clear, less scripted manner.

Customer Avatar

My customers are predominantly college students from across the state of Florida (could expand beyond college campuses). My customer base is very diverse being from different countries, states, and ethnicity's. My customer base is large as I look to serve all college students within the state of Florida. Students in my market are those who own a personal vehicle such as a automobile, motorcycle, or scooter. The demographic of my market is young, being between the ages of 18 and 25. Because of the young demographic, these customers are familiar with technology and are open to change and innovation. My customers tend to drive practical cars of not much extravagance or luxury. The majority of my customers do not have children allowing them to make decisions more freely.

I have a lot in common with the customer avatar being that I am a current college student. I drive a practical compact car like many others (Ford focus, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla). I don't believe my commonalities with my market is a coincidence. Entrepreneurship is solving the needs to a customers problem, I was able to identify a problem I have in my life and project that to others that share the same problem.

What's Your Secret Sauce?

Five unique human capital traits:  

1.  Thought provoking: I believe one of my strongest human capital traits is my sheer ability to think. I am in constant observation of my surroundings in which I am constantly thinking of how things around me function and how those operations can become better. I am also thinking of the deeper meaning to things, for example, when I see an event such as a UF football my mind naturally starts to think of every moving part that makes the event possible and how those moving parts can be improved to enhance the bigger picture. 
2. Determined: I am a very driven person who is determined to achieve goals. I put maximum effort into everything I pursue both individually and in a team environment. Me being determined at achieving goals is the reason I am a Gator. I applied to UF out of high school and got denied admission, I told myself I was going to graduate a Gator and the school I attended out of high school would serve as a temporary home, I excelled at my previous institution which allowed me to successfully transfer into UF and achieve my goal. 
3. Results-Oriented: I believe being a results-oriented person has allowed me to thrive in everything I do. This is most evident in my academic success that has been achieved through me beginning everything I do with an end goal in mind. This will allow me to be successful in my future academic and professional career as I will always have something to work toward that will drive me to achieve success. 
4. Humorous/personable: I have a very easy person to get along with and work with. I try to bring some sort of humor to everything I do in attempt to remind myself that even through adversity and hardship there is room to be light hearted and relaxed when necessary. 
5. Reliability: I am a very reliable person. I am very self accountable. If I commit to something I make it a priority to make sure I fulfill that commitment. This is a very valuable trait to have because I will always make sure to get my work done without excuses.

Interview #1: This interview was conducted with my dad. My dad has been with me my entire life so he has a good idea of who I am and what I am good at. My key takeaway from this interview is that from someone who knows me best I am seen as being someone who is able to think outside of the box and formulate ideas even if they aren't requested as solutions. 

 https://soundcloud.com/user18911479/interview-1/s-WpPXb

Interview #2: This interview was conducted with one of my closest friends. The main takeaway from this interview was that someone really close to me identifies the same strength I identify in myself as being a determined individual.

https://soundcloud.com/user18911479/interview-2/s-fO91h

Interview #3: This interview was conducted with one of my best friends and roommate. This interview made the recurring theme evident to me. The recurring theme in this interview links to my ability to be thought provoking.


https://soundcloud.com/user18911479/interview-3/s-dnuWJ

Interview #4: This interview was conducted with another close friend and roommate of mine. This interview had consistency in relation to interview #2 and my own identification of my determination factor.


https://soundcloud.com/user18911479/interview-4/s-DIksB

Interview #5: This interview was conducted with my best friend. This interview was consistent with others but slightly varied. Emily was the only one to mention my maturity which really stood out because being mature is a great quality to have and is attractive in a professional and personal setting.

https://soundcloud.com/user18911479/interview-5/s-JjFkw



Summary 
Overall I believe the interviews were very informative. All of the interviews I conducted had some consistencies with the traits I listed for myself. I think the most consistent trait acknowledged would be my determination. This consensus did not surprise me as I believe it to be one of my most projected traits that is noticeable to those who interact with me on a daily basis. The biggest thing that caught my attention from this interview process was my interview with my dad. This interview was eye opening because he mentioned a story about me brainstorming ideas based on my surroundings and always thinking big picture, this was interesting to hear because I am aware that I do this constantly but was not aware that people around me acknowledged it. Perception of self is always going to vary from perception of others, because of this I believe the differences are present because others can only perceive what they see or hear you do, meanwhile you are with yourself 24/7.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

I interviewed three students enrolled in two different universities within the state of Florida. My questions for these interviews were targeted at the alternative evaluations that take place during the decision process, what leads them to their decision, and how they reflect upon that decision.

Interviewees
-UCF: Male 20
-UCF: Female 21
-FSU: Female 20 

Alternative Evaluation 
To begin my interview process I presented the alternate methods of transportation to and from campus, including bus, car, walk, bike, and scooter. All three people I interviewed currently have parking passes that give them access to select parking throughout campus. The parking passes were purchased from two different universities within the state of Florida, all three interviewees stated they bought their parking passes online from the university parking services website and they were able to pick them up in person at a location on campus. One of the interviewees attends a university that provides free parking passes to students, because of this price did not effect the decision of purchase. The other two interviewees attend the same university that charges over $100 for a yearly parking pass. High prices played a substantial role in the purchase decision process. One interviewee stated at first he chose not to utilize a parking pass because a pass is expensive and costs more than the average amount he get fined per semester in parking citations. The other interviewee states price was considered but wasn't a deciding factor because she enjoys the access to campus for resources such as the library and recreation center. I lastly asked the interviewees if they were satisfied with their purchase. All three of the interviewees stated they were satisfied with their purchases because 1) it did not cost anything, 2) enjoys the access it provides to campus, and 3) enjoys being able to park throughout campus without having to worry about getting a citation from university parking services for parking without a decal.

How/Where to Buy? 
I asked one simple question to all interviewees, "did you think it was simple and easy to purchase your current parking pass online?". The reason I asked this question is because all of the interviewees have already stated to me that they purchase their parking pass online, so buy asking this question I get a clear answer to whether or not they approved of the current delivery method. All interviewees stated they approve of the current purchasing method because it is easy and allows them to buy it on their on time without having to be somewhere to physically purchase it.

Post Purchase Evaluation 
In able to understand what constitutes a good decision from a bad decision I had to ask the question, "after you make a purchase, what to you determines if it was a good purchase or a bad one?". I was curious to see if their reasoning behind what constitutes good vs bad purchases aligned with mine. One of the interviewees said for her, a good purchase in the particular case of the parking pass is established when I am able to utilize the pass to park on campus when I need to for things such as class and on campus sporting events, meanwhile in relation to the parking pass it can be classified as a bad purchase in times when parking is unavailable while you need it most for example to commute to class. A separate interviewee stated the parking pass can be seen as a good purchase solely based on the fact that it gives them the ability to access parking on campus which they otherwise wouldn't have, this particular interviewee said he doesn't see the parking pass as a bad decision but can sometimes be a frustrating one due to lack of parking available at times. The third and final interviewee aligned similarly with interviewee number two. In this interview I was told that the parking pass decision is a good one because it gives her access to the facilities she wants to utilize including the library and recreation center which she wouldn't have access to otherwise.

Conclusion 
Throughout this interview process I found a lot of commonalities in the interviewees responses. One of the major takeaways from the interviews with the UCF students is they look favorably upon the parking passes they are able to purchase, but are dissatisfied with the abundance of parking they are provided with on a consistent basis for the money it costs them. The parking passes are very useful and are often times needed in order to fully utilize the resources campus offers that off campus students have to commute to in order to access. The FSU student had different circumstances. Parking passes at FSU are free of cost to students, because of this students are less likely to recognize and or complain of the situation because they are not paying to park their cars. This interviewee stated the parking passes at FSU are very favorable because they are free of cost but can often times be useless due to heavy traffic and unavailability of parking. Overall, I believe the responses provided have aided in my ability to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of current university parking systems throughout state which will help in the future as I focus my energy on improving the existing weaknesses.