30A Final Reflection

1) Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

• After going through my posts from this semester, I realized that I went from dreading the assignments to having fun with and embracing them.

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

• The most formative experience(s) for me has to be conducting all the interviews that were required. This is what I am the most proud of myself for accomplishing as well. Growing up, I was shy and as I got older I found myself becoming increasingly introverted and reserved. However, because many of the assignments required three to five interviews, I had to step out of my comfort zone and actually speak with people I never met before. I believe that those experiences helped me a lot more than I anticipated and made me more confident in myself. What I learned from these experiences is something that I won't forget. The most joyous experience I had in this course was working on the "What's Your Secret Sauce?" assignment. It was great to hear what my closest friends thought about me and it honestly meant a lot to me. 

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

• I don't necessarily see myself as an entrepreneur, but I do believe that I have gotten a lot closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset. For example, I am willing to take more risks and I have learned to actively look for opportunities in my day-to-day life.

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

• One recommendation I have for students who are taking this course would be to treat the assignments as more than just busy work. There are valuable lessons and skills that can be learned through the many assignments in this course.

29A Venture Concept No. 2

1) Venture Concept

Opportunity:

• There are many college student, specifically at UF, who struggle with maintaining a healthy diet as well as a healthy lifestyle in general. Reasons for this unmet need could be that the individual is too busy to grocery shop and prepare nutritious meals, they simply lack the proper knowledge they need in order to lead a healthy lifestyle, or they are lazy. This particular market, or the market I would be targeting, could demographically defined as college students between the ages of 19-22 who are living on a college campus, specifically here at UF. Customers are currently satisfying their need by either buying simple microwaveable meals and other easily prepared foods, opting for other meal kit delivery plans, eating fast food, or doing a combination of this but still not eating enough/properly. I would say that this opportunity is big and the window has the potential to stay open for several years. 

Innovation:

• The product/service that I am offering is an app that provides customers healthy foods and dietary information. The app will consist of multiple menus that will provide 2-3 recipes of the customers choice, a delivery of pre-prepped grocery-fresh ingredients in the proper portions that pertain to the selected recipe(s) with related nutrition information, and an in-app health forum where individuals can go to gather healthy dietary information and advice on how to lead a healthy lifestyle. A subsection of the forum would even include tips on budgeting for groceries and either of the choices offered in the apps initial service.  Each menu will have the option of selecting 2 or 3 recipes for $25 or $35, respectively, that are provided weekly. Each menu has a large serving size (serves 2) and should last most of the week. 

Venture Concept:

• I believe that customers would switch over to a product/service like this because it would honestly be a better alternative to constantly spending money on fast food throughout the week (or whatever other crap college students blow their money on (-: ). This product/service has the potential to help individuals form healthy dietary habits and even help them obtain valuable health tips and facts. There are many competitors in this market, however, I have not heard of a a company in this market that specifically targets college students. 

Three Minor Elements

1) Social capital 

2) Fully prepped meal kits, addition of other recipes 

3) Expanding the business further

2) Provide a summary of the feedback you received from your previous venture concept description. You certainly want to include the student feedback, but you may also include the feedback you received from others during the "What's Next" exercise. You want to summarize all of the feedback, but be sure to place an emphasis on what people recommended you change about your idea. (In other words, don't just describe the positive feedback.)

• In all honesty, it was difficult for me to answer parts 2 and 3 to this assignment. This is mainly because I didn't receive any feedback for my last venture concept and the feedback I received for my "What's Next" assignment was overwhelmingly positive (thank you to those who commented on that).

3) Describe how you changed your venture concept, based on what you learned from the feedback.

•  Regardless of the fact that I did not receive feedback, I personally don't think I would change anything. However, I did add a section to the forum that offers budgeting advice (specifically for those who plan to buy extra groceries combined with either of the two service options) for those who may need it.