29 Venture Concept No.2

1) Venture Concept

Opportunity

The opportunity for environmentally safe face masks for college students are the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Another reason generating the need for face masks is the re-opening of schools in Florida for the next Fall Semester. The nature of the need is that students will need to wear a mask if they want to keep themselves and the people close to them safe. Geographically, I think that there will be a higher need for face masks in Florida due to the higher rates of Covid-19 in the state. Demographically, the virus does not discriminate people, however people from lower income segment have a higher chance of getting infected due to limited resources. I believe I have a big opportunity since, most, if not all, face masks and PPE are non-recyclable, and are being dumped and polluting the seas at a fast rate. I think that this window of opportunity may last a few years, even after a vaccine is developed. I believe that after having gone through this pandemic, people will be more cautious with their health.

Innovation

The innovation that I am putting into my face masks is making them environmentally friendly. This is because current face masks are plastic that are not good for the environment if discarded incorrectly. I’m not sure if that in the future I would have to make a compromise on whether or not I can make the masks both environmentally friendly and affordable. That is why I am focusing my segment on people that are more affluent and can afford spending more money on a face mask they know will be better for the environment. I'm not planning on selling the masks anymore, just my design. I would get an estimate on the worth of my business and sell it to another company. 

Venture Concept

I think that I can get a lot of people to switch over to using my product because people have always cared about eco-friendly alternatives to things for a long time. People will switch to my product because they will feel better knowing that the product they are using is better for the environment. Other competitors are companies that can mass produce face masks very cheaply, and making them very affordable. In my business concept, I will research and generate the material that goes into the face masks, but I don't plan on producing them myself. Because of recent feedback, I'm changing my plan to better fit my expectations that I have for my business. Rather than going through the trouble of production and distribution, I plan to design and develop my product as well as I can with my limited resources before selling it to a bigger company that already has a foundation in production and distribution. I plan to do this because I might not have a long window to exploit this opportunity. Also, I am not planning to stay with the business for a long period of time. 

The Three Minor Elements

First, I think that my business’s unfair advantage will be brand image. Other competitors who create face masks cheaply, create masks that are plain and unrecognizable or differentiable from other cheap face masks, The masks they make also don’t send a message, environmentally friendly masks send the message that the customers that use them care for the environment.

Next for my venture, I would have to research a viable material to use in the production of the face masks I have in mind. After I find a suitable material, I would then have to design the masks themselves. After designing the masks and getting feedback on how they feel and look, I would have to start creating my brand image.

Next for me, I don’t really plan on becoming an entrepreneur. However, I do think I have a good opportunity with my idea for environmentally safe masks. I would probably sell the business to help pay for my college education.

2) Summary of feedback

I received some helpful feedback from Bridget. She suggested that instead of going through the process of production and selling through distributors, I should sell my business for the "upfront design and development idea of the mask". Her reasoning being that my window for exploiting this opportunity might be smaller than I expected. I also think this is a god idea because it fits my exit strategy perfectly. I don't plan on putting a lot of capital and resources into this business. However, upfront design and development of the eco-friend;y masks is feasible at least. 

3) How I changed my venture concept

From my feedback, I changed my venture concept to reflect my exit strategy. I plan on selling the opportunity idea that I developed to a company that has the resources to produce and distribute the masks. 

                                    

30 Final Reflection

 1. Going through old post from this semester, I remembered how uncomfortable it was for me to interview people and communicate. I dreaded doing work that I thought was unrelated to my major, and I didn't enjoy doing a lot of the assignments. I was able to have some fun with this class though. I enjoyed coming up with ideas and using my creativity to find opportunities for products and services. I remember I had an idea for a car bumper for ducks that stayed in the street that I thought was funny. However, there were more practical and logical opportunities that I thought of that trumped the 'duck bumper'. Nevertheless, looking back on the work for this class, I realize how useful most of the assignments are to developing professional, business, and communication skill sets and how I should have taken them more seriously. Staying home doing classes every day quickly led to burn out and me stressing over seemingly endless school work. 

2. To me, the most formative assignments were the first few ones where we had to conduct interviews with our target audience/ prototypical customer. These assignments helped me with developing personal skills and communication skills. I don't think I'll remember it for years, but the skills I learned will certainly help me in the future. 

3. Although I do not see myself as an entrepreneur, I do think I have come closer to having an entrepreneurial mindset.

4. My recommendation for other people who want to take this class or develop an entrepreneurial mindset is to create and rehearse an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch really encompasses many skills that are important to becoming an entrepreneur. It forces the person to really know their business and the goals that they have for it, it also relies on how a person delivers and communicates it. I also recommend that for anyone who wants to take this class, 3 assignments a week piles up, not including the replies and cupcake quizzes.