Czar's Entrepreneurship Blog

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children? I created my business with the intent to sell it to a bigger company. Since my business is a ride sharing service, I intended to grow it until a bigger company like Uber or Lyft would notice it and be interested in purchasing it. Though the companies are my main competitors, I feel that my business is relatively unique enough that they would either copy my plan or purchase it. 2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? Though I can see my venture lasting for a while, it is not really about someone that I am passionate about. Also I don't really see myself as being the forefront of a company. I would only pursue this venture in order to acquire money to pursue other ventures that...

Book: Steve Jobs 1) You read about an entrepreneur: The most surprising thing to me about Steve Jobs was his determination in the face of adversity. During his time at Apple as the CEO, his mental health began to deteriorate due to stress caused by problems with the board of directors. At one point, he was fired as the CEO of Apple, but he did not give up. Instead he invested in Pixar and helped grow it into the success it is today. After this he was reinstated as the CEO of apple. The thing about Steve Jobs that I admire the most is his sheer intelligence. When it came down to business he know what customers wanted, and provided it to them, creating one of the most profitable company in the world today. The thing about Steve Jobs that I admire the least is his sometimes unlikable personality. Steve Jobs expected a lot from his workers, and at time was rude to them. However, I think this was due to his desire to succeed. From the earlier text, I gave an example of ...

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. A time during this semester that I failed was during the middle of the semester. I had a project due to for my Introduction to Computer Organization class. At the same time, I had multiple exams during the week and I promised my girlfriend that I would drive up to see her during her birthday. I knew before hand that the week would be busy and so I started my project early into the week and I finished early to turn it in. So I spent the whole weekend with in Tallahassee only to find out that I misunderstood the professor's specifications on how the project had to be completed. However, with only a few hours left before the project was due, I did not have enough time to change my project. I was very disappointed when the grades came back...

Existing Market. Step 1: Before I can even think about how to get customers, I believe the next step to my venture is acquiring scooter drivers to work for me. I think the my service, Scoot, should be marketed to a starting university first. I believe the University of Florida is a great location for this. I would advertise job listings for scooter drivers online and around the campus. Currently, students at the university use personal transportation or the many other services I outlined in my previous post. So next, I would introduce my service as a cost effect replacement to those public transportation. Step 2: Interview 1: Interviewee 1 brought up a great point and said that I would need to set up the legal part of my business first. I overlooked this as hypothetically, I would have all this setup already. Interview 2: Interviewee 2 said I should create the app and test it. I thought this would fall under my plan of getting drivers and customers at the university. My plan w...

Putting It All Together Opportunity: transportation systems around university campuses are either too expensive for such a short drive, or not convenient for people who need to get to places quickly. My market is located in college  I believe this opportunity is very big as thousands of people travel around a college campus daily. The window of opportunity is infinite as people will always need transportation. Innovation:  The only innovative part about my idea is that I relies mainly on scooters as a mode of transportation.  Currently I have no knowledge of a similar service existing. Venture Concept: My reason to believe customers would use my product over others is that it is faster and more convenient than any current transportation service. I believe customers will see this and switch to my service with relative ease. My competitors are car transportation services such as taxis or Uber, and public transportation such as buses. Their weakness ...

1. Uniqueness of the Idea: as far as I know, my idea is unique in that is uses scooters This is valuable because it would allow me to provide customers with faster service as well as better prices. This is rare in its nature as I am saying my idea is unique. Someone could copy my idea so it is not very inimitable. This is not substitutable as my whole venture revolves around it. 2. Programming Experience: I plan to make an app, so my programming experience would help in that. This is valuable because it would allow me to save money by working on the app myself. This is not rare as many people can do this. This is inimitable as my capabilities are unique. This is substitutable as I can just hire someone else to do it. 3. Relationships with other programmers: I can ask other for help. This is valuable because it would allow me to save money by asking help from friends. This is not rare as many people can do this. This is inimitable as their capabilities are uniq...

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. Describe what stood out to you as important, what feedback surprised you the most, what feedback you think was outright wrong or silly or amazing and inciteful. The feedback from the last speech was great. Everyone said I had a great tone to my voice and spoke eloquently. The only problem was that I did not memorize my speech and read through a script. 3) What did you change, based on the feedback? Based on the feedback I was given from the last speech, I memorized my lines for this speech. That was the only problem that was pointed out to me from the feedback.

Book: The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, by Guy Kawasaki 1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The general theme of the book is social media, and how to market in today's world of social media. The books talks about many topics relating to social media such as how to make brand logos and how to incorporate social media into your daily life as a marketer. 2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? The book gives information relating to what we learn in ENT3003 such as how running a business in the modern day depends a lot in technology, and how social media is a large part of today's technology. As well, the book discusses many strategies that we talked about in class like how to acquire investors. 3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? If I were to design an exercise for the class based on the book, it would be to c...

Domain Expert: 1) Who they are and what their background is. My uncle Mike, owner of a small taxi company. 2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. Domain expert: he has a taxi business that provides people with transportation much like what I am trying to achieve. 3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. He is my uncle so I know him personally. 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 what he thought about my idea, and how he started his business. 5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? He is able to provide insight and give advice since he already has a business. Market Expert: 1) Who they are and what their background is. Josy is a college student at FSU. 2) Which 'slot' you are f...

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life? My name is Czar Parreno. I am a junior at the University of Florida, studying computer science and minoring in entrepreneurship. Ever since I was a child I have always been good with computers and technology. My aspirations is to design the mobile application for my business concept. If I were to start this business I think it would play a big role in my life as I would have to dedicate time for research and building the business. As well if I were to work on the application myself that would take time too. 2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). I am offering my customers a ride sharing service similar to Uber and Lyft. My customers would use...