28A - Your Exit Strategy

My exit strategy is to sell this business for a large return. I want to sell this business because I believe this is how I will make the most money. I believe it will be hard for me to compete with larger companies who may step in to compete. I would rather sell it to them. I would like to take the money and invest it in another company. If I wanted to grow this business large it would take lots of capital which I do not have as a college student. This exit strategy has influenced my decisions on opportunity. I believe this is why I chose such a broad market.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

Summer C 2019

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I read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. What surprised me the most about him was that he left apple then return to them. I never do this before reading the book. I just knew he had a large role in apple, but not much about it. I admire that he had struggled at school, however was able to overcome it with his own interest. I admire lot about what Steve Job was able to accomplish. I also admire how he worked for many different companies and did great things at each. He encounter difficulties at apple with other employees. This is why he left them and went to work for another company. I loved how he wanted to keep apple products simple and clean. I think this is what has contribute to there success. If I could ask him two questions it would be at what point in life did you feel like giving up? How did you overcome this?

26A - Celebrating Failure

This past semester I began playing golf in my free time. I always figured golf was not very hard. I had played a few times in the past but never very seriously. It was the beginning of spring semester, I went golfing with my friend, who is a very good golfer. At the first hole, I knew I was in trouble when I hit the first ball. It went straight into the bushes. We played nine holes that day and I lost around a dozen ball in the bushes. I was a awful golfer. I did have a fun time on the golf course and decided I wanted to play more. I returned several times to the golf course throughout the semester and began getting better. Each time I played I learned something I was doing wrong and corrected it. Failing is hard. When I played my first match I felt angry that I played so bad. I was embarrassed how terrible I played. Rather than never trying golf again, I kept trying it to get better. This class changed my perspective on failure. I helped me to learn that failing is fine, but you need to learn from it. I think failure is a good thing. It is a great feeling when you fail at something, but then fix it and get better.

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Human Capital - My knowledge

Valuable - this is valuable because I can use it to make helpful decisions for this company

rare - Not a lot of people have knowledge in the plant industry

inimitable - It is hard to have knowledge in plant industry

non- substitutable - you can not substitute what I know.

2. Human Capital - My experience

Valuable - I learned some helpful knowledge in the time that I worked

rare - It is kind of rare to have experience at a whole sale plant nursery

inimitable - it would be hard to copy what I have experienced and learned

non- substitutable - you could substitute this with someone who has more experience than me

3. Social Capital - my family

Valuable - I have many family members in the plant nursery business. I am third generation

rare - It is rare to find someone who is third generation in plant industry

inimitable - You can not copy my family and the knowledge I have gained from them. 

non- substitutable - this can not really be substituted for something else. 

4. Financial capital - 

Valuable - the money I have is valuable because it is my own. I do not have to depend on others to finance as much 

rare -this is not rare

inimitable - this can be copied

non- substitutable - others can use the money they have to copy

5. Social Capital - Knowing what customers want

Valuable- this is vaubale because I listen to what people would like to see and I have knowledge of what plants people buy

rare - this is not rare

inimitable - this can be copied as other company can look at sales

non- substitutable - this can be substituted. 

6. Capabilities - Hard work 

Valuable - this is extremely valuable. I put in hard work to assure everything is done efficiently and right.

rare - I think not many people would want to work in conditions such as plant industry

inimitable - work can be copied by others

non- substitutable - this can be substituted by other workers

7. Capabilities- passion

valuable - I love plants. I have a passion to see them grow and sell them

rare - I think this is rare. I do not know many people who have a passion to grow plants for a living.

inimitable - I think my passion could be copied, but it would be difficult.

non- substitutable - this can not be substituted

8. Social Capital - Knowing a broad background of people

Valuable - this is valuable because this expands my market

rare - not rare

inimitable - this can be copied

non- substitutable - this can be substituted

9. Social Capital - small feel of the company

Valuable - I think this is valuable in for a online company

rare - this is rare for a online company

inimitable - this can be copied but would be difficult for large companies

non- substitutable - this can not be substituted

10. Human Capital - suppliers 

Valuable this is valuable to know many supplies of plants

rare this is not rare

inimitable this can be copied but hard to copy the relationships with suppliers

non- substitutable - this can be substituted

I believe my top resource is my family. Family can not be copied. I will always be able to depends on them for my needs this is can not be copied. For my venture I will be able to use them to supply me plants and have help along the way. 

25A - What's next

Currently I am targeting a middle class market. People can afford houses and have extra money to spend on plants to use at there house. There are two different markets I could target next. Either commercial or a poorer people. I believe that the poorer market would be a better market for my company because I think commercial places will hire local landscapers to install plants. Only way I could sell to commercial places if a company needs orchids for desk or two plants for inside the company. That is the only part of the commercial market in which I believe my company could compete in. If I was to target a poorer market of residential only way I believe they would buy is less volume or lower prices. This will hurt my profit margins, however if remain profitable on these sales then I do not see a reason not to do them.   

I think I could sell to a poorer market by have a section on my website with cheaper plants. I believe that they would buy them if the prices were cheaper than a garden center. I still want to remain profitable, but there are variety of plants we could sell cheaper so I believe I will be able to sell to a poorer market. I would like everyone to be able to enjoy plants through my website.

I interviewed two people from a poorer part of society. One was a 21 year old girl who works a low paying job. The second was a male who was 25 year olds.

From these two interviews I learned a lot. I learned what they would like to see from my company coming from a poorer background. Two things I took from these interviews was that they would like affordable plants and plants that last a long time. Since they are on a budget they wouldn't like to buy a plant if it died in a week. So my solution to this is just to have plants that are affordable, live long, and are easy to take care of. I was not really surprised by this. I kind of expected them to answer this why. However one of my interviewers said they wouldn't buy paying extra if they did thing the plant was nice and worth it. They also said it really just depends how much the poorer market has a interest in plants. I do not know if this poorer market will be a big market for me but it may offer some sales. 

24A - Venture Concept No.1 Plant Club

• What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? 
• There are many things in the environment that creates the opportunity for  a plant subscription service. The weather is a big force in the environment. It changes often and it is hard to take care of plants during certain weather conditions. If it is to cold outside the plants burn, if its to hot outside the plants dry out, and if it rains to much the plants get sick. All these different factors are what make taking care of plants difficult. Lucky this is where my opportunity comes from. My service helps customer take care of plants by replacing ones that die with new ones. 
• How is this market defined geographically and demographically? 
• This market is large geographically. It is anywhere in which people have plants. Plants can live inside also so this broadens the market even more. The whole United States and Canada is the market. Demographically my customer basis is people who are middle class and up. People who owns houses and have yards. I say this is my demographic because I figure these are the most likely the people who would want to spend extra on a plant service to make there life easier. 
• How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 
•  Right now customers have to relay on going to garden centers to pick up plants. There are very few online services that deliver plants to customers. I do not believe customers will be very loyal to going to garden center because my service will make there lives easier. Having things deliver right to your door is becoming more popular everyday. Customer like the connivence of having something shipped to them. With my service they will not have to go to the garden center to pick out plants. They can just have them shipped to them.  
• How big is this opportunity? 
• I believe the opportunity is huge for this opportunity. Most houses have plants in there yard. Anyway people can have plants delivered to them will make there life easier. People from any age will have use for this service. Most people buy plants every year. So if they find there life easier on ordering plants then they will do so.
• How long will the “window of opportunity” be open? 
• I believe the window for this opportunity will be open for a while until new technology comes and over takes it. We are just at the beginning of online services right now so I believe the window will remain open for a while more.

Innovation.

My innovation is a online website in which you can order plants or sign up for a subscription. When you sign up for a subscription, you will be delivered plants monthly or weekly based on what the customer wants. They can chose online which variety of plants they want to be delivered. There will be plenty of varieties for them to chose from. We will be constantly changing the types of plants on our website to offer our customer new product. If you are not sign up for the subscription we can still send you plants. We will offer better deals to our customers who are signed up for subscription because we know they are going to be paying next month. I believe this is a good opportunity because many people are shopping less in stores because of the convenience of online shopping now. Our average cost of a plant will be around $10-12 dollars for foliage plants. We can buy these plants for around 3-4 dollars so we will have good margins. Depending on volume the customers order we may lower the price for each plant because they are ordering more volume. 

Venture Concept. 

• What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch? 
•  Some reasons I believe customers will switch to this online service is because they will not have to drive to a garden center to pick up plants. Also many times garden centers have a very limited selection. We will be able to offer a larger selection of plants for our customers since we have broader market.
• Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?  
• Our competitor is amazon and other online websites that do sell plant. There weaknesses is that they do not offer subscription service for plants or information on the plants. We will offer how to take care of varieties and how to make sure the plants do well. I want to create a company where customers know they will be sold quality product and a service to help insure they are informed on how to take care of the plant. When you go on amazon they do not have information how to take care of the plants. Many people out there do not have knowledge on plants. They do not know if they should put the plant in shade or sun. So often these plants look terrible a week later because they do not know where to put the plants. I also want to make this company like a family. If the customer wants to call us and ask any questions I want real people to answer the phone who know all about plants. I want people to feel like there shopping at a real company with real people. I do not want my customers to think they are shopping at some massive corporate company. 
• What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept? 
• Cost of packaging will not be kept at minimum to ensure we are profitable. Distribution will be our most difficult point. I want to ensure our plants get delivered alive and healthy. Customer service is very important I want to make sure that our customers can call and get that help they need. I want this company to have a small feel to it. Customers can get to know our employees and relies on them for help. 
• How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture? 
•  Expansion would be the way to support ongoing product and service. However I think that greed is your enemy. If you get to big your profits can go down and customers will suffer also from this. I want this to be a small company with good profits. I want our customers to feel this is a small operation that they can depend on. I want my customers to feel like there going to there local garden center, but it will be online. I want to have around ten to twenty employees. 

The three minor elements

Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?
Our biggest resource will be with our suppliers. I want them to be able to offer us to varieties and quality plants to sell to our customers. I want to build good relationships with our suppliers. Our connections will be the hardest things for competitors to copy our success. The plant industry is a fairly small industry and not many people are getting into it. I believe many people out of college want to get jobs in corporate America.

Second, what’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers. 
My next venture is just to keep expanding our services to a broader market. Offering different types of plants and products to our customers. We could sell types of pots, soil, and fertilizer to our customers that we think will be best for our plants. 

Third, what’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision? 
In five years I want this venture to be profitable and have a loyal customer basis. I want to keep the company simple. I think if you expand to much you will only dig yourself into a deep hole that makes it less profitable. I eventually want to start up a different company down the road. Maybe another company in the plant industry or a company similar to this. I think to remain thriving you have to be innovative constantly. 

22A - Elevator Pitch No.3

https://youtu.be/c_1O8hKsMjc

What stood out to me as important is being as short and effective as I could. I got reviews that said I should try to condense my pitch down. So on this attempt thats exactly what I did. I believe I was way more comfortable and overall had a better pitch.

21A - Reading Reflection No.2

I read The Art of Social Media by Guy Kawasaki 

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of the book was how to be better on social media and make post that people want to see.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? 

This book as able to enhance what I am learning in ENT 3003 by a lot. I was glad to read this book since I am doing a online plant service for my assignments. I believe the knowledge I learned from this reading will help me a lot if I start this service. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? 

I would have everyone make a insta gram post, with a picture and caption. I would then do peer reviews on the instagram post so people get to see what others liked and hated.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

My biggest surprise was when I learned how much people care about of the quality of pictures you use on your social media platforms. I also did not know that the filters have such a large role either.

20A - Growing your social capital

1) Who they are and what their background is.

The first person is Keith who is a domain expert in foliage plants. He has been in the plant nursery business for over 30 years. He was owned his own nursery for this whole time and has grown many different plants. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. I am filling the domain expert slot with this person. Keith has lots of experience in knowledge in this field so I believed he was a good fit. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

 I stopped by his nursery because it is close to my house. I met him and talked to him.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

He gave me some advice on my idea. He thought it was a good idea as long as you did not to many varieties involved. It said it would be difficult finding a bunch of different varieties and would not be worth the hassle.  

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Keith is a valuable contact in my network, he has experiences, knowledge, and lots of contact in this industry. I hope I can keep gaining knowledge from him. 

1) Who they are and what their background is.

The next person I met with is Bryan, who is a analysis/marketing for a large plant nursery. He has been working in the nursery business for about six years now.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

Bryan is filling the market expert slot. This person fills the spot because he knows the market very well since he looks at it every day. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. Bryan is my cousin. I went to the nursery he worked at and met him at his office to ask him questions. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? He was more than happy to help me and answer my questions. He thought there would be a large market for my service. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Adding Bryan into my network helps me because he understands the market and people want from nurseries.

1) Who they are and what their background is. 

Matthew is a supplier in this field. He has been working for four years in the nursery business. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. He is a supplier and he sells plants to larger nurseries who retail them.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found this person through my cousin. I called Matthew on the phone and talked to him.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? I asked him questions about how supply works in this industry. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

Including this person in my network helps me out by being able to ask questions about supply and get help

This was a good experience for me to meet some many people who had experience in this industry. I believe it will be very helpful down the line in having these contacts. This experience did not really differ from my other networking experiences.

19A - Idea Napkin No.2

Hello my name is Dylan St.Germain. I am a 21 year old student at the University of Florida. I am a FRE major. My talents include fishing and surfing. I have experience in the agriculture business. I have worked at a plant nursery in Homestead, Fl. So I have some knowledge in that industry. I hope to one day become a entrepreneur. I see this business playing a big role in my life if I were to start it. I have a lot of interest in the agriculture industry. This business has to do with the agriculture so I am interested in pursuing it.

 I am offering a subscription service that delivers plants to peoples house. People will sign up and be delivered plants yearly. They must get plants each month to stay active in the subscription. There will be a online website where you can see pictures of plants, tips on how to take care of them, and pick which plants you would like to order. This is solving customers unmet needs because they will be able to conveniently get plants to there house and not have to go out of the way to get them.

My demographic customers are people who have houses who struggle to maintain there plants. The psychographic is people who have interest in homes and plants. People who love maintaining there homes and having curb appeal. All my customers have in common a interest in plants. 

Customers will pay to use my service because it offers convenience to customers to have plants delivered right to there door. They will be able to find new varieties of plants that they may not have known existed. It takes the worries away from them having to drive to the store and pick out plants. 

What sets this business apart from everyone else is that no one offers a subscription service for plants. This provides connivence to customers to help them make there houses look better. It will add pleasure to there life knowing that landscaping became easier for them. They will not have to worry which plants will live best at there house because if the plants do not live they will get replacements of fresh plants to there house. This company has what no one else has cause it provides a new easy way to maintain plants.  

I believe these five elements all fit together well. I think the elements of customers blends with why they care. My typical customer has a interest in plants so they care about this since it will help them make enjoying plants easier. Some aspects that I see are weak is I do not know if customers will want a constant flow of plants year around. They may only need plants in the spring and summer since this is normally the warm months. I also do not know if people have a need for this many plants. The solution to this though is they can chose the quantity of plants they want to get each month. So if they only need one they can get one. If they want more they can get that. So my business is flexible to want customers need.

Feedback

The two main points I took was that I should go into more detail about the service. Another point I took away was that I should have them be subscribed all year long so I have a steady flow of customers. I took this feedback by adding more into my idea napkin. I went into more detail about that company.

17A- Elevator Pitch No.2

Here is my elevator pitch. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/T8QXJH8C9Hk

What stood out to me most in my elevator pitch is delivery. I think this is the most important part of this type of pitch to get your message across.  I was surprised by all the positive feedback I got. I thought this was helpful to see what I was doing right. I fixed parts that people did not comment on or told me to correct. Overall I think it helped make my second pitch even better.

18A - Create a Custom Avatar

The avatar I have created is a stay at home mom or working mom. A lady who loves plants and gardening. She is interested in different kinds of plants and adding beauty to her place. They have children and have busy lives. They want to come home to plants on there front porch or a orchid in there kitchen. They do not have time to maintain them or go buy more cause they have to raise there kids or work. I think this avatar looks like a lot of women I know. Thats probably why I thought of my idea because I always hear people who look my avatar saying there is a need for something like my concept.