Final Reflection

1) When looking back on my posts from throughout this semester, I realized how many different assignments were completed. I also noticed the tangible progression of my business concept and how I was able to grow as an entrepreneur. One of my favorite, but most frustrating, assignments would definitely have to be the "Bug List." This was an assignment that was difficult because I had never really been so focused or intent on identifying things that bothered me, but it was also so significant because it introduced me to a very powerful truth: problems are opportunities waiting to be solved. Another dreadful, yet super rewarding, experience would have to be the elevator pitches. I am not the most comfortable at public speaking so this assignment presented a few personal challenges for me. However, through multiple trials, I was able to develop the confidence necessary to deliver a powerful business pitch.

2) The thing that sticks out to me as the most formative experience would definitely be the development of my venture concept. My venture concept, however, was the final product of a culmination of assignments---including "Identifying Local Opportunities," "Idea Napkins," and "Figuring Out Buyer Behaviors." All of these different assignments had various components and some even had multiple iterations. If I had to identify the one defining aspect of these different assignments, it would have to be the interviews. Despite an ongoing global pandemic, the fact that I was able to secure and conduct multiple interviews throughout this semester is something I am truly proud of. These interviews provided great experience in terms of networking and building rapport, while encouraging me to often step outside my comfort zone. 

3) Taking the time to now reflect on my journey in this course, I can now affirmatively say that I see myself as an entrepreneur. While there will always be room for improvement, I believe that I have cultivated an entrepreneurial mindset that allows me to identify problems (or opportunities) with a new perspective. I am also a lot more familiar with the process that it takes, including the amount of time and energy, in order to truly develop a successful business venture. 

4) One recommendation I would make to the students who are going to journey down this path is to "start early." In order capitalize every learning opportunity in this course, I believe it is pivotal to always start early and effectively manage your time. By doing so, you are able to secure interviews well in advance and position yourself for academic success. As for recommendations for fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, the biggest thing I would suggest is to "be cognizant of your environment." We are surrounded with problems and varying deficiencies in our life---these are all opportunities that can be capitalized on. If you can identify these local opportunities by tailoring your mindset to be more observant, you are already one step closer to becoming an entrepreneur. 

Venture Concept No. 2: Protective Roofing Headgear

PART 1:

Opportunity: The business concept I am suggesting is creating protective headgear equipment for roofers that would protect them from potentially hazardous weather conditions, like lightning. Thus, the need that I am addressing is the need for safety and security for manual laborers that perform their daily tasks outside and on elevated surfaces. As briefly mentioned, this product would primarily pertain to roofers. Roofers are susceptible to lightning strikes and other lethal injuries because lightning tends to strike taller objects, such as roofs, as they provide upward streamers to connect with downward lightning streamers. There are currently over 50,000 corporations engaged in roofing work and installation work valued at a total of $31.4 billion. Further, the United States has 75 million single-family homes and on average, about 7% re-roof each year. Demographically, the average male roofer in the industry is 36.8 years old and the average female roofer in the industry is 37.3 years old, with the most common race for roofers being white (non-Hispanic). Despite there being general guidelines as to the type of clothing a roofer should wear (depending on the type of roofing system he or she is working on), there exist no standard protective roofing equipment for these workers. Thus, customers are not adequately satisfying this need or are simply not aware of this need because it has become almost normalized to have no protective equipment for roofers. While other manual laborers, like general construction workers, wear hard-hats as a form of headgear, this would not be sufficient to protect against lightning strikes and hazardous weather conditions. With the market size of the roofing industry having grown 2.7% per year on average in the United States between 2015 and 2020, there is a clear market and opportunity for this product. Until someone else devises a form of protective headgear that is both functional and practical to the daily demands of a roofer, this "window of opportunity" will remain open.

Innovation: The product that I am offering would be considered radically innovative because there currently exists no standard protective equipment for roofers on the market. The product itself will be composed of durable metal material. Contrary to common thought, since metal is a strong conductor of electricity, metal provides lightning a low-resistance path. (Compare this with poor conductors of electricity have have more resistance: these material cause electrical energy to be converted into heat---making it conducive for fire or even explosions. This product would also remain relatively light-weight and practical in order to adhere to the working conditions of roofers. Roofers already often experience excruciating levels of heat, so the headgear could not be too intrusive or overbearing on their working conditions. By developing a product composed of durable metal material, I would be offering an innovative product that has the potential to alter safety protocols in the roofing industry. With around 188,000 individuals employed in roofing, if we priced this protective headgear at $35 a piece, we would generate at least $6 million in revenue on a yearly basis.

Venture Concept: This protective headgear composed of durable metal material would address the problem I identified by providing a tangible piece of equipment that offers both protection and safety. My targeted customers will be compelled to purchase this product simply due to the fact that there is no other product that is really similar in the functional purpose that it serves. By being composed of metal and still remaining light, this headgear may be similar in nature to other general helmets in that they serve the purpose of protecting one's head. However, the functionality of the helmet I am proposing is completely innovative and radical compared to, for example, a hard-hat worn by general construction workers. Since this would be a radically innovative product, I do not believe it would be hard to get my customers to "switch" to this product. The main thing would be to make roofers aware of this inherent need that they have that they may have suppressed and ignored for so long because the roofing industry has normalized a lack of safety standards. As mentioned, the main competitors to this product are other forms of general headgear equipment and helmets. These products' weaknesses and vulnerabilities lie in the fact that they cannot adequately withstand or protect against perilous weather conditions. In organizing a business to support the ongoing production of my new product, the team I would be working with would initially be rather small. The main components or roles in the venture would be research and development (in order to construct the product), and supply-chain management (in order to establish a strong relationship with a supplier that can provide the necessary materials for constructing the product), and marketing (in order to analyze the specifics of market demand).

Secret Sauce: In pursuing this business concept, my most important resource will be human capital---specifically my business administration degree that I am receiving through higher education, communication skills and ability to demonstrate emotional intelligence, experience and background in leading teams and collaborating with individuals, natural tendency to have an optimistic approach, creativity and desire for continuous innovation, and ability to provide constructive criticism and receptiveness to feedback. Having these human capital traits will allow me to facilitate a culture of passion, understanding, and withstanding success.

What's Next For Venture: The next action item for the venture would be to engage in feasibility screening and concept testing. Feasibility screening would entail undergoing a critical examination of my product concept to ensure that the idea does not go beyond the scope of practical capabilities. In other words, I would run perform research and data analytics to see how much production costs would be and whether it is feasible or not to actually pursue the product. If it is deemed feasible, I would then perform concept testing to gauge the interest among potential customers. An actual product or prototype would not yet be produced, I would simply describe the concept of my product to consumers and see if it is actually a desired product. 

What's Next for Me: Assuming I've launched, in five years, I would like to continue running this venture if successful. Depending on the profitability of this business, I would use it as my primary form of occupation. Based on the level of stability within the business, I would also seek to either expand the line of products within the product category of protective headgear or target a new market (such as B2B markets). If later focusing on business to business markets, I would consider bulk shipments to large retailers like Home Depot or industry corporations like Duke Energy---deciding which business to target would simply depend on the available profit margins. This would obviously create more responsibilities on my end, but I would properly address those by creating a larger network and expanding my team to support the different business functions.

PART 2:

Based on the feedback I received, I realized that it may be rather too soon to develop a prototype and engage in research and development. Prior to developing a prototype, I was advised to focus on more preceding goals and gather more information first. This would allow me to get a better idea on what the market price of product should be. Further, it was brought to my attention that expanding my target market to focus on business to business (B2B) markets would be a profitable move in the future. When I initially proposed the idea, I was unsure whether it would be a logical decision. However, according to the feedback, expanding into B2B markets would allow for bulk transactions and potentially more profitable gains. 

PART 3:

Based on what I learned from the feedback, the aspects of my venture concept that I changed were primarily under "What's Next for Venture" and "What's Next for Me"---the rest of venture concept remained the same. Rather than discussing the next step for the venture as being prototype development along with research and development, I decided to change it to feasibility screening and concept testing. These intermediate steps would allow me to determine whether my business concept is practical and desirable in the first place. I also altered my plans for what's next for me by discussing the expansion of business into B2B markets. I particularly discussed the possibility of expanding my target market to include large retailers, as well as industry corporations. This was an idea that was initially proposed in the "What's Next" exercise, but I have now incorporated it into my venture concept. 

PART 4: