Final Reflection

1) After reading my posts from throughout the semester I can honestly say that I think I have grown as a student and a person while taking this class and working on my blog posts. My writing has become more refined and I have done a much better job of getting my point across as the semester has progressed. I owe this to consistently writing each week for these assignments as well as the creative and unique questions which require me to think outside of the box and solve problems.

2) The experiences that I will remember the most from this class is learning about the entrepreneurial spirit and what it means to be an entrepreneur. The three books that I read throughout the semester were very informative and two of them were books about famous entrepreneurs and pioneers. I read Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc and The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. Reading about these three pioneers in their respective fields was inspiring and informative. The passion and drive of Ray Kroc and the Wright Brothers to be successful stood out to me and will be memorable to me for years to come. These men embody what it means to be an entrepreneur and taught me so much about entrepreneurship.

3) I think that I have come a long way towards developing an entrepreneurial mindset. Instead of seeing problems as insurmountable obstacles, I now see them as possibilities for solutions. Before I was somewhat skeptical as to how hard it actually was to be an entrepreneur but I now realize how much knowledge and insight is required in order to develop a product/service which solves problems of a consumer. So many things go into developing these solutions and being able to market them and develop a product which is sought after by consumers AND profitable. I definitely have more respect now for entrepreneurs and the creativity for problem-solving required. I am grateful to this class for allowing me to view society through an entrepreneurial lens and identifying opportunities.

4) The best recommendation that I would give upcoming students is to be creative and unique when attempting to solve problems. Thinking outside of the box allows you to come up with solutions that other people might not have thought of. I would also recommend working on the assignments early and allowing ideas to grow over the week rather than the night before the assignment is due. Procrastination leads to poor work and ideas generally and is best avoided.

Venture Concept No. 2

1)

Opportunity
The opportunity that I have identified for this venture is customers who are in search of information related to their careers or related to jobs they might be interested in. Therefore, the potential customers are any people currently working or in search of a job. This venture would meet their need of a database with all of the information they need in one place. The changes in the environment which are creating this opportunity are the evolution of technology and its effects on jobs and careers around the world. Technology is disrupting existing jobs and creating new jobs that never existed. Change is happening so rapidly that 65 percent of today's grade school kids in the U.S. will end up at jobs that have not been invented yet. This provides an opportunity as there is currently a disconnect between educational institutions and employers. Therefore, people in search of a job or currently employed must stay on top of their careers and keep up with the constantly evolving jobs in their field. This market spans across the world as jobs are evolving more and more around the world with each passing year. Demographically, the target audience would be around 20-40 years old. In order to satisfy their needs currently, customers turn to the internet and a wide range of resources to try and provide information about their careers and future jobs. However, there is currently not an efficient and effective product that provides for the customers' needs in one place like Job-pedia would. This is a large opportunity as everybody will be looking for a job or be employed at some point in their life, and in today's world information regarding jobs and careers is constantly changing and evolving. If the past 20 years of technological innovation has taught us anything it has been that the human species is constantly pushing the limits of innovation and invention. This trend should continue into the foreseeable future meaning that there is a large window of opportunity for this venture. Jobs and careers are not going to stop changing and Job-pedia will provide a useful service which anyone working will need.

Innovation
The service or product that my venture would be providing is Job-pedia, a revolutionary platform that consists of a database full of skills and training specific to different jobs and careers. This platform would be focused on allowing access to training and courses online, so that workers can be informed of skill updates while they work. By providing this service, my platform will allow the users to remain relevant in their workforce. Job-pedia will be innovative through its revolutionary database which will be able to provide any pertinent information regarding specific jobs in industries around the world. This platform would also bridge the gap between education providers and employers by giving a clear breakdown of what employers are looking for when hiring. Job-pedia would earn money through a single purchase price for each customer with the majority of revenue coming from advertising done by companies on the platform. Due to the large target audience, the users of the platform would be relatively high making companies more interested in advertising and willing to pay more. Therefore, this venture is mainly selling a service to customers for a one-time price as well as constantly selling advertisements slots on the platform. 

Venture Concept
Job-pedia is a platform/database which aims to keep customers informed about constantly evolving jobs and careers as well as teaching them the skills and tools they need to be successful in certain jobs. This will help address the ambiguity of job descriptions and keep customers relevant in the changing job market. Customers would switch to this new product because it provides a service that no other companies completely provides. It provides customers with a wealth of information and training at a low, monthly cost.  It would not be difficult to get customers to purchase our product as long as we invested in sufficient advertising efforts to spread the product. The competitors of this product would be companies such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter, etc. which advertise job postings. However, none of these companies offer a product as well-rounded as ours as they just post about job openings rather than information regarding careers and jobs as a whole. The price point and distribution of my product play a large role in my business concept. The idea is to provide the platform at an inexpensive monthly fee and to then sell advertising spots on the platform to interested companies. Hopefully selling the platform at a low monthly cost will increase the user base leading to more advertisement sales which will make up the majority of revenue. Therefore, the low price point is essential in order to spur the distribution of the platform and ensure sufficient advertising revenue. I would organize the business in a way that revolves around teamwork and cooperation to produce a valuable product and service to customers. There would be roles in Job-pedia such as software development, sales, marketing, and administration which would all need to work together to produce a product satisfying the customers' needs. 

Three Minor Elements
I think that the most important resource for this venture will be the large target audience that it can appeal to. This would be a revolutionary product and it would meet the needs of millions of people. By being the first product of its kind, Job-pedia would be able to capitalize on the large target audience.

Next for the venture would be to invest heavily in research and development to begin developing the platform. In order to begin selling the product it first has to be made. The success of the product also heavily relies upon the usability and efficiency of the platform so no steps should be skipped in production. 

Assuming that the venture launched successfully, I would like to see it expand and increase its user base over the next five years. Doing this would increase profits from sales of the platform as well as sales of advertisements on the platform. Increased use would lead to success in the long run. 

2) The feedback that I received was essentially that I had a good product and that instead of primarily focusing on college students that I should focus on selling to professionals already in the work force. These customers would be more willing to pay a monthly subscription fee because the platform would provide a competitive advantage for them. 

3) Because of this I decided to change my platform from a one time cost to a subscription service as the product is valuable enough to entice professionals. Focusing on professionals and selling a subscription-based service would bring in more revenue as well as making the it more exclusive. The exclusivity of the product and the competitive advantage that it provides would make professionals willing to pay a monthly fee. So to change my venture concept I included the change from a single purchase price to a monthly fee and explained why this would be a beneficial move for the venture. Besides this I left most things the same. 

4)