Venture Concept 1

Opportunity

The group of people with an unmet need is those who are looking for a quick, cheap bite to eat, but also want to feel healthy in their choices. Many students, families, or working people tend to forego a meal because they don’t have time, it is too expensive, or they are worried about what they are putting into their bodies. The nature of this need is one out of convenience. No one needs fast food restaurants in general, they want them. The forces for changes in this environment that are creating this opportunity are an increase in health consciousness. There have been many campaigns to fight childhood obesity, which translates to other parts of the family. Many documentaries and ad campaigns have come out to show where fast food is coming from, and now many businesses want to show that they have the best quality food. The market, demographically, is defined from teenagers to parents ages 16-39. Geographically, the market would start in the United States in larger cities that would spread to smaller cities.

Currently, customers are satisfying this need by either ignoring the health concern, or avoiding fast food all together. There is no happy medium currently. I feel they might be slightly more loyal to their current fast food restaurant if they are ignoring the health aspect. However, those who are ignoring fast food all together would be more willing to try a quick, healthy option. I think this opportunity is huge. It really meets two demands of a larger market. I think this window of opportunity will be open for at least 5-7 years. As long as people are still busy and still health conscience, the opportunity will exist.

Innovation

              My idea is incrementally innovative. There is already fast food restaurants in the world, this one would be a modification of that. My idea is a fast food restaurant that offers healthy alternatives to classic establishments. It would use actual food (not substitutes that are used by competitors), and the same cooking methods used at home on a larger scale. It would serve more healthy alternatives at similar prices to busy people with little time and little money. I would be selling an individual saved time, saved money, and less concern over what they were putting in their body.

Venture Concept

              My innovation would perfectly fit into the opportunity mentioned. I feel customers will buy my innovation because it is eliminating the opportunity cost of health concerns. I think customers would switch to my product because 1. The food will taste good and 2. They will know that they are eating healthier food at similar prices. I think initially it will be hard for the customer to switch to my company, but once the word gets out, more customers will start to use the company. My competitors will be the already established fast food restaurants. They have high customer loyalty and have nearly perfected their model. However, they give up health for cost. Many restaurants use food substitutes to keep prices low (using horse meat instead of beef in burgers, for example.) My ingredients would be what my customers expect. If they want a burger, it will be a certified beef burger. This is one of the competitor’s weaknesses. Another weakness is a lot of these restaurants have to follow corporate standards that they can’t really stray from. These standards have been established for years and have no change in sight. My company would start with the healthy standards from the start. We would start out small to where we had more control over our standards and policies that could grow with us if we were to grow to a corporate level.

              My price points are a huge point of my business concept. I want to keep my prices low. I know using higher quality foods would drive costs up, but the benefits would outweigh the costs. The customer experience would also be huge. I would want employees that are also health conscience. They could advise the customers in making food choice decisions (for example, a light meal before/after a workout.)

              The organization would probably start with two cooks, two cashiers, a manager, and a CEO. The CEO and the manager would work together to fill the other needs in employment. The manager would also help in advising for budgeting and expenses for the CEO to consider.

Three Minor Elements

              My most important resource will be my knowledge of normal people wanting to eat healthy. I am not a nutritionist, nor do I want to be. I took Man’s Food for the credit. I don’t like documentaries like Super Size me or Food, Inc. I enjoy a quick meal every now and then. But I know I am getting older, and my metabolism is not what it used to be, and I need to start taking care of my body. So providing customers with little things they can do to work towards a healthier lifestyle would be great is something I value and something my customers are going to see.

              I think the next step for my venture would be to expand my business and exit. I am not interested in going into the food service industry. I thought this would be a good idea so I pursued it, but it’s not how I want to spend the rest of my life. I think what would happen is one of the huge fast food chains would want to buy the business and incorporate a healthier menu into their model. That would be fine with me, so long as they kept to the standards and policies I implemented. It would be cool to see frozen meals in the grocery store from my business (like how taco bell does their taco mix line.) Just seeing the business expand to more people in different capacities would be what I want.

              If we launched tomorrow, in 5 years I would want to be a staunch competitor of the traditional fast food chains. I would be taking buyout offers, but not considering them for another year or two. After this venture, I don’t see myself as an entrepreneur. Maybe I could make enough to buy ownership into an NFL or NBA team. This venture would simply provide me the capital to do so.

              

The Amazon Whisperer

My revenue drivers will be my customers that come to my restaurant in search of quick, healthy food. It will also be the real food I use. Although it will not be organic, it will be healthy and keep costs down.

I think the next thing customers will want will be a vegetarian menu. Right now, I haven't focused on that. I've focused more on healthier alternatives to what is already offered at classic fast food restaurants.

I think it will bring in another market niche. It won't increase switching costs. In fact, I think it will decrease them. It will improve the customer experience by offering more variety to the existing menu. It would foster customer loyalty by having none-vegetarians bringing their vegetarian friends and having a place for the group to eat.

Amazon doesn't offer restaurants yet. The best thing I know of would be the Amazon pantry option. It's used to deliver food to people in certain areas, but the customer still has to wait for the delivery and cook the food, which is besides the point of my business.

Because there is not a product similar to mine, there were not customer reviews to look at or modifications to suggest.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

I was confused by how the author said "don't use someone else's system, but don't be afraid to learn from their system, but know it won't work for you." Of course no one's system for any operation will work across the board, but businesses still take that system and modify it. So I think it would have been better for the author to say that no system works for everyone, but take an existing system and make it work for you.

Two questions I would have for the author would be "Doesn't having a strategy facilitate execution?" and if companies struggle so much with innovation systems, why do we have so many innovating companies?"

I disagree that the author thinks there is a difference between a failure to execute and not having an innovation strategy. I think without a strategy, it is difficult to execute, but I think having a strategy helps facilitate execution.

My Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Responsibility-This is a very valuable resource. People like knowing they can trust someone. While it might not be the most rare, there are only a certain number of people that have this. It can not be imitated. You have the attribute or you don't, which makes it impossible to substitute as well.
2. Loyalty-Again, very valuable, as people like to know someone is on their side. It can be rare, not imitated, and cannot be substituted
3. Honest-Always valuable, not as rare as the others. Cannot be imitated, and cannot be substituted.
4. Use of non-organic food-People might see this as a weakness, but it is actually my secret weapon. There are not many differences in organic and non-organic food as far as health,  just price. This is rare knowledge, as many people think organic food is the new frontier. However, it will be what keeps my prices low. I think this is very valuable and rare. It can be imitated, however the only way to substitute it is to spend more.
5. Work ethic-I am very determined to find the best options possible. This very valuable, can be rare, cannot be imitated or substituted.
6. Contacts-I know people in the food service industry that can help me with starting a food business. This is very valuable, not really rare, but it cannot be imitated. However it can be substituted. 
7. Leadership-This is very valuable and rare. In theory it can be imitated, but not substituted
8. Sociable-I'll always have a smile on my face. This is very valuable, but it is not rare, can be imitated, and can be substituted
9. Market-I have a huge market for my product. This is extremely valuable, rare, cannot be imitated, and cannot be substituted.
10. Support-This is hugely valuable, cannot be imitated, is rare, and cannot be substituded

I think my most valuable resource is that I'm not going to use organic food and keep my prices down. Organic is not the definition of healthy and I will show that in my business.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

I was surprised how much I knew in this chapter! I've taken a few accounting classes and macro/micro, so this made so much sense! It really tied in the math part of business, which I really enjoy.

This isn't so much confusion as much as curiosity. Would an entrepreneur be more likely to have his/her own accounting background or would they partner with an accountant or accounting firm? Which statement would be the best to give to potential investors?

I don't know how many investments an entrepreneur would be making for a capital budget. I understand the initial investments, but if an entrepreneur is only there to start the company and exit, why are they making significant investments?

Elevator Pitch #3

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 

The feedback I got was to expand my audience, as my company could be attractive to people other than mothers with busy children.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

I focused less on the health aspect and more on the quickness. I wanted to shift my target from concerned mothers to people with time constraints. I also explained how I would keep prices low by ignoring the organic label. Food is not automatically healthy because it has an organic label, and it is not automatically unhealthy if it lacks an organic label. I explained that in my pitch

Week 9 Reading Reflection

I was surprised that secondary information needed to be gathered before primary information. That's usually against the grain.

Something that was confusing to me was what is the definition of "current." The reading indicated that to be successful, a company needed current information. Is this information gathered in the past year? Past 6 months?

Two questions I would ask would be does collecting secondary information allow for the collection of more precise primary information? The second question would be is it possible to have to-the-day market research. As in updating the market research every day to make sure the information is as current as possible?

My Secret Sauce

1. The five ways I have human capital is as follows:

• I'm responsible. It bothers me if I go to bed with something undone. I try to go above and beyond to accomplish tasks.
• I have a strong work ethic. I've always wanted to earn what I have. If I wanted to play volleyball, I had to work hard to make the team, even if I wasn't the most athletic
• I'm compassionate. I try to make sure everyone feels cared about and taken care of. I make myself available to my friends in what they like to call "Sarah-py"
• I have really good interpersonal skills. I want the other people in the room to know that I am listening to them and that their thoughts and concerns are heard.
• I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong or seek the help of others. I know my limits. Although I push myself, I want to make sure I'm pushing right.

2. I just need to post a disclaimer before I talk about my interviews. First, I had to record my phone calls, as I am in Miami and the 5 people that know me best are in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Pensacola. Second, I'm not used to asking for praise. I don't call my family and ask them what makes me great. Yes they tell me when I need to hear it, but they keep me humble. Third, because I'm not used to asking for praise, it was very interesting hearing what they had to say. We are not a family of lists. We don't list qualities about each other, so these interviews were very out of character, which is why you see me holding back laughter often. 

I did prep my interviewees before I actually started recording. I told them the premise of the interview and gave some examples of human capital. 

I'm not sure which video corresponds to which interview so I will summarize them here.

Dad: The points my dad raised that stuck with me were that I was insecure, but I acted like I knew more than anyone. I agree with half of that statement. I do find myself insecure at some times, but I am able to hide it well.

Mama: The biggest attribute I got from my interview with my mom was that I take responsibility for my mistakes and I try to correct them. I find myself doing this. I think it goes along with my general responsibility. 

Tia: Tia's perspective was interesting. She is the only interviewee that isn't related to me. She is my sorority little. She talked about my humor and my communication skills. These are things I pride myself on and it was nice to hear that others agreed.

Tiff: Tiff is my older sister. We don't usually talk about "serious" topics. So to hear her say I was a leader meant a lot to me. 

Allan: Allan is my younger brother. I wanted to interview him to get a perspective of someone who didn't necessarily know what a business environment was. He wanted a little prep time. I loved how he presented what he thought made me different. They were similar attributes that all the others had said, but he felt the need to add examples of times I exemplified these attributes. What I found funny was the examples he gave were very loosely related to the attributes. But I appreciated the effort he gave to make sure I got my assignment done. 

3. Everything my friends and family said I agree with. They just said more. I've found it very difficult to find positive attributes about my self. I like to say I'm a modest person. But the 5 people that know me best were able to show me things about myself that I knew were true, I had just never thought about them.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. I am Sarah. My talents include athletic ability, and I like to think I'm funny. I use my humor to enhance my interpersonal skills. I want to work in the professional sports industry. I'd love to be in the back office of the New England Patriots. My business concept would definitely be something I started and walked away from. I don't want to work in the food service industry, or restaurant business. 

2. I am offering customers a healthy alternative to fast foods. Many people find themselves short for time and have to settle for unhealthy fast food. 

3. I want to offer this product to a range of customers. Primarily, I want to offer this product to busy mothers with active children and college students that look for quick bites between classes or studying. Both groups have very serious time constraints, and both will get hungry eventually. 

4. I think my customers and target demographic will be concerned with their health and what they put in their bodies. They will also be aware of the time they have available and the effect on them financially. In my experience, when college students have exams and they're studying for hours on end, they elect to eat something fast, cheap, and usually unhealthy. Same for parents with busy children.

5. I have healthy cheap food. Studies show that organic food and non organic food are essentially the same in health benefits, which is unfortunate because food labelled "organic" tends to cost twice as much in the grocery store. My plan would be to use normal food, not processed like fast food. We would also use better cooking techniques, such as actual grilling of food. 

I think all of my elements can work together. My biggest issue will be keeping costs down to provide price-comparable products to customers. 

There was only one real point in my comments that was to explain how I would keep costs down. I addressed that in the why do they care section. In previous assignments, I had also been advised to expand my demographic as well to include college students, so I did that.