Week 15 Venture Concept No. 2

My venture concept description:

Product: temperature-regulating cell phone cases

1. Opportunity
-The forces in the environment creating the opportunity are very hot and very cold climates
-Geographically, the market is defined as those living or who frequent southern or more temperate climates in the United States like Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Southern California.
-Demographically, the market is defined as teenagers and adults.
-Currently, when people receive the "error" message on their phone when their device becomes overheated, most people have to put their phone in a cool place for a few minutes to be able to use it again.  Those at the beach try to avoid the issue by putting their phones under a towel.  Similarly in cold climates, when people's phones shut off due to extreme coldness, they have to put it in a warm environment like a bag or step inside a warm building for a few minutes.
-The opportunity is very big.  Many people experience overheating or freezing of their phones while outside.
-The window of opportunity will probably be open for a little while longer.  I haven't seen anything similar on the market yet.

2. Innovation
- I am selling temperature-regulating cell phone cases for Android and Iphone users.  The case lets customers use their phones outdoors in extreme temperatures (hot and cold) and blocks the heat or cold from entering the phone. The phone case will be competitive with other popular brands such as LifeProof and will be waterproof as well.  I hope to capture LifeProof's market share and offer a unique product that meets an unmet need as well.  LifeProof phone cases sell for around $80-$90 so my price would be around this number.  I would probably sell them for just under $100 since my case offers other features.

3. Venture Concept
-Customers would switch to this product so they could use there phones outside in summer and winter no problem.  With proper marketing, it will not be hard to get customers to switch from their LifeProof or other phone case.
-My main competitor as mentioned before is LifeProof, but their weakness is that they don't offer my temperature-regulating feature.
-Packaging and price points are definitely key in defining my business concept.  The packaging has to be eye-catching in order for people to notice my products on shelves.  My product needs to be advertised well all around.  My price point should also be right around the price of LifeProof; however, I would want to price my case a bit higher because of the additional features offered.
-For my venture, I would want to sell my product in stores like Best Buy and Apple Inc.  I would need a production crew and a team of planners.

I think the name of my product "TempTec" will stand out and will capture a large audience.  I think with a solid brand name and by capturing a lot of people at the get go, this could be my secret sauce that would make it hard for future competitors to reach my success.

The next thing I could add to my venture would be creating temperature-regulating cases for Ipads and tablets.

In five years, I will have probably sold the rights to my product.  Though I am passionate about it now, I do not see myself sticking with it long term, as I have other passions as well and I am constantly creating and starting new things.

I wasn't able to submit my previous venture concept, so I do not have any feedback to share.  However, I feel like with all of the elevator pitches, interviews, idea napkin write ups, and experiences I gained from this class, I was able to create a great venture concept that I can use as inspiration to actually start this business.

Week 15 Elevator Pitch No. 4

I still applied all of the feedback I received from my previous critiques into this pitch.  My feedback this time around was all positive and I didn't receive any new critiques.  I was told that I sounded confident and poised, so I made sure to portray the same level of confidence for my product in this pitch.  I made sure to dress nice, stay away from my distracting kitchen blinds, and be relatable to common situations (like going to the beach with your phone, etc).  Last time I wasn't looking at the camera lens, so this time I made sure to look at the right spot and provide eye contact with my audience.

Week 14 Google Gold

My general approach and strategy to search engine optimization (SEO) was keeping the keywords of each assignment title in my actual post (I am doing it here as well, by including the term SEO and words like "approach" and strategy").  This way, if someone googles common words like "approach" and "strategy" in hopes to learn how to do something, my blog post may appear for them.

Other examples of keywords I used are: business, product, customer, growth, industry, market, etc.  I also made sure to mention my product (phone cases) in each blog post where this product applied so that my post may come up if someone googled the words "iphone" or "phone case."

I used Youtube in combination with my blog, but honesty I haven't seen much activity or traction from that.

My "most viral" post is my "week 12 Whats Next" post.  I received the most comments and views on this post, and this is probably because I see a lot of keywords in this post.  I used the words and phrases: markets, hot climates, Floridians, cell phone cases, temperatures, product, features, waterproof, overheating, error message etc.  All of these terms are highly googled and searched for, especially by people who experience problems with their phones/live in hot climates/want to find out information about products etc.

When I typed all of my keywords into google, my blog was the first entry to show up! Woohoo go me yeahh.

Week 14 Very Short Interview Round 2

Reflecting on the previous interview with Donna Delfin, I see how her hard work got her to where she is today with her amazing online clothing and accessories business.  Donna and I talked about what I've learned about entrepreneurship this semester.  I know that a lot of market research is necessary in finding the best products available for customers.  I've learned that marketing products in a specific way to target customers is also very important.  She related this finding to her own business as well.  She is constantly staying on top of trends and scouting new designers and boutiques to consign with.  I decided to ask her the three following questions because I feel like having a growth strategy is really important in any entrepreneurial endeavor.  I learned that building brand awareness is really important for her, and she attends blogger and fashion events regularly to see what she can do more to showcase her brand.  Collaborating with well-known companies and well-liked bloggers and social media influencers is also important in building her brand and growing her business.  I am excited to she where she will go next with her business and am happy that she took the time to give me great insight!

How is the place you are now in your business (meaning your level of success) different from when you first started?

I originally started with a partner but I feel more freedom and flexibility now without one. I am able to build out the marketing , product development , and partnership strategy as I envision it without getting buy in from a partner. I also am able to get support from designers and brand partners to build brand awareness and sales.

Did you have a specific growth strategy for getting your business to the point it is now?

Yes , my growth strategy includes more influencer collaborations , pop up shops, and enlarging our product offering to compete in the marketplace.

How do you plan to expand your business in the future?

I would love to expand my business by partnering with more local brands to create unique events , do local marketing through ambassadorships , and offer our products in local boutiques.

Celebrating Failure Week 13

Well this will be more lighthearted than serious, but my story will still provide some great lessons and learning info!  This semester I volunteered with the UF Sidney Lanier Fitness Program where UF students lead students of the Sidney Lanier School through fitness and recreational sport activities on UF's campus outside of the stadium.  As volunteers, we learn and grow just as much as the Sidney Lanier students do, and I love that about the program.  Everyone learns from each other and experiences personal growth.

I have basically no athletic ability...I am very much a girly girl, and hand-eye coordination is not my thing.  I suppose it could be if I actually tried and wasn't so resistant about it!  Anywho, one day some of us were playing baseball with the students, and my stance was completely wrong.  I think I was facing the front with the bat out to the side or something.  Who knows.  The pitcher tells me to shift my body, so I shift out even further from the bat instead of the proper profile stance I suppose you could call it. Oops!  We were both laughing about it, and it took me a good three tries to finally grasp what she wanted me to do.  Thankfully I had an experienced player to my left, and he was happy to correct me, haha.

Well, once I had the proper stance I hit the ball like never before.  I was quite proud of myself, I do admit.  I attribute this success to my positive outlook and mindset...this is huge and goes such a long way in making aspirations reality.  I've learned that the harder I try at something, and the more I force, and the more resistance I give to something, the harder it is to allow what I want to come to me.  I've learned to just have an open mindset, trust in my abilities, and be thankful for the simplest of things.  I urge you to tap into this mindset and to watch all of the good start coming into your life.  This little home-run hit for me really validated all of the things I've learned this semester with just being more open to receiving good things.  Having confidence and knowing I can and will do great things allows so much good to flow through.

This class has definitely changed my perception on failure too.  I don't look at failure as a bad thing at all.  Failure just creates an opposition to what we want, and through this opposition and contrast, we easily know what we do want.  Once we establish what we want (say, for our ventures to be successful and for us to have great interviews and to create great businesses and/or products),  we can simply allow these great things to happen for us by keeping our minds open to new opportunities and doors that will lead us to were we need to be next.  We just gotta keep the light on!

Week 13 Exit Strategy

1. I plan to sell my business in the next 5 years for a large return.

2. The reason I plan to sell my business is because, though I am passionate about my product (my temperature regulating cell phone cases), I am passionate about many other things as well, and I plan to pursue those passions.  I am sure demand for my product will change in the next 5 years as well, so new ownership may be a good thing for this product as it can adapt into something new.

3. My exit strategy has influenced my growth intentions for my product.  I know exactly what I want from my product right now, and I have the resources lined up that will allow my product to be successful right now.  However, I really haven't thought about the future of my product and what features I see it having/new locations it will be selling in 5 years time.

Week 12 What's Next

So, I realized my existing market only consisted of Floridans- people who live in hot climates.  While their input is extremely helpful in giving me valuable information for my product (temperature-regulating cell phone cases) I realized I also need the input from people who live in or have experience living in very cold temperatures as well, since I want my product to be an all-climate temperature regulating phone case.

In my interviews below, the first three people are Floridians who know what it is like to receive the error message when their phones become overheated, and they were able to give me input on where I could go with my product and what key features they thought would make my product stand out.  Just like someone commented on one of my elevator pitches, one of my interviewees said she thought it would be a good idea to give the phone cases a waterproof feature as well, since the only time she has experienced the overheating error message was when she was by water either by the pool or at the beach.

The next three interviewees live in cold climates currently or have family back home who live in cold climates.  One of them explained how they thought the case was great for business people who need a reliable appliance and won't experience call-dropping when their phone gets too cold.  And another person stated that it would be great for people who are active live snowboarding and skiiers as well.  This gave me a good idea for the advertising side of my venture; maybe I could market to active people and business persons in ad campaigns.