13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

For this exercise I chose:
The Wright Brothers, David McCullough
1)

• What surprised you the most?

I thought it was surprising that the Wright Brothers didn't even begin to pursue their passion of aeronautics until they were both around 30 years old.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I admired the fact that they did not give up on their pursuit of flight despite failures and over 10 years of work.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

The brothers often had many lofty goals which kept them from pursuing their dream of flight.

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it

The Wright brothers endured many failures on their pursuit of flight but each failure brought them even closer to their final goal.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

The Wright Brothers were extremely innovative and were able to learn from their mistakes.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I thought it was confusing that the United States didn't immediately see the benefits of the Wright brothers' invention. The fact that they had to first go to Europe to achieve success did not make much sense to me.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

What kept you motivated while dealing with failures?

I'd ask this question because I find it daunting to restart a task after I have not succeeded in it.

What motivated you to start this daunting journey?

I'd ask this question because I find I need a strong motivator to keep me working harf.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I'm sure the Wright brothers believed hard work was necessary to achieving success. I do share this belief with them.

12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Pick a segment.
For this exercise I picked the segment of young adults aged 18-30.
These people live in houses and shop online for items which will later be sent to their homes.

Interview 1:
The first person who I interviewed was a 20 year old male and met my target demographic. He was a frequent online shopper and had packages delivered to his home address.
Need Awareness:
 He was aware of his need for increased package security due to having his packages stolen before. He determined the need was most prevalent when the package would be shipped to him on a week day. This is because he would be at class for long periods of time and would not be able to receive his package in person.
Information Search:
Currently, the interviewee would have his roommates stay home to get the package if he was not there. He also tracks the packages he receives on his computer to get a better sense of when they will arrive.
The search terms on google relating to this are Amazon, Track ]Package\

Interview 2:
The second interviewee was a 21 year old female who lived in a house. She online shopped frequently.
Need Awareness:
She was aware of the need for increased security of her packages because she knew of people who have had their package stolen. She felt the need was the most prevalent when she was not able to stay at home and wait for a package to arrive.
Information Search:
To combat this problem, she has the delivery driver leave packages at the side of her house instead of the front door. This includes leaving a detailed note on the shipping information on where to leave the package.

Interview 3:
The final interview was a 25 year old male. He rents a home in Gainesville and online shops.
Need Awareness:
This interviewee was aware of the need for increased package security. He has had packages taken before he arrived back from work.
Information Search:
The current actions taken for increased security include ordering packages so that they will arrive on the weekend when he is not working. This means that his packages or items  arrive late on some occasions to fill this need. This person has also filed reports to have new packages sent once they are stolen.

Conclusion:
Young adults, who buy items online to have shipped to their house, are aware of the need for increased package security. People are already making steps to make their packages harder to steal but it is not 100% effective at stopping thieves. This would be a good market toi target regarding increasing their package security.

11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You.
My name is Travis Dye. I am a Finance major at the University of Florida and I am an online shopper. I am the head developer of my new product which will revolutionize the way people receive packages and mail.

2) What are you offering to customers?
I am offering a product that will keep your online ordered packages and mail safely stored while you are out during the day. This would be a secure container that would allow packages to go in but would require a key or pass-code to open. This would in turn prevent your packages from being stolen while you are not home.

3) Who are you offering it to?
This new package receiving box would be marketed towards online shoppers who are also homeowners. The demographic most closely associated with this would be ages 18-34, as well as people aged 55+.

4) Why do they care?
I have had packages stolen from me. The outcome of such a crime can be anywhere from an inconvenience to a major hassle especially if time is valuable to the customer of the package. This product would give online customers peace of mind from the moment they purchase the item to the moment it is in their hands that they need not worry about this package being stolen.

5) What are your core competencies?
This product would be valuable because it provides security, discretion, and convenience. You do not have to go to a post office and pick up your package in front of other people. It also does not allow for anyone to enter your home, such as the new amazon door lock service. It is simply an improvement on the mailbox to accommodate modern day shopper's needs.

   I believe that the elements of this product do work well together. Nearly every home in America has a mailbox and this is an improvement on that invention. People more than ever value security and discretion in all aspects of their life. The weakest point this product has is getting people to implement it into their homes instead of using their standard mailbox. The reasons for this would include that the device would have to be cumbersome in order to prevent theft and large enough to fit most online purchases.

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interviewees:
This week I interviewed five individuals. Their ages ranged from 21-55. Some were college students around the University of Florida area. The older interviewees were from my hometown of Bradenton. Despite the age difference and different locations they answered my interview questions very closely from one another.

Data Gathered:
Who? Who does not share the need for an increased package security system?
There are those with security systems already i place like most businesses which have a receptionist to sign and take packages.
Some apartments have packages delivered to a main office where they are looked after for the residents.

What? At what point does your service differ from another need?
This system only provides security for your packages and does not provide the added benefit of being able to sign for a package.

Why? 
Packages are often marked delivered but are not found by homeowners. Often times security cameras only provide the a blurry image that your package was taken and provide no added security.
                                     

                                                                               Table:
Inside the boundary                                                                                       Outside the boundary
Who?                                                                                                                            Who?
Homeowners, people living in apartments                                                              Businesses
without a front desk which takes packages

                                                                       What the need is?
                                                       Increased security for delivered packages

                                                                      Why the need exists
                                                 Online shopping technology has surpassed our
                                                 ability to keep packages safe. Thieves are willing
                                                 and able to take unsecured goods.

8A – Solving The Problem

Identifying the problem:
Goods that are shipped from online retailers have little protection from thieves once they reach their destination.

Finding a solution:
The solution to this problem would be a product that would serve as a new kind of mailbox delivery system. This product would serve as the primary mailbox for the home as well as being capable of receiving large packages. This new product would be a secured container that would allow packages to be placed in, but using current post office technologies not allow for any mail to be taken out. This product would also have an optional camera that could be be bought with an advanced package for even greater security of the delivered goods. All in all, this would be a completely revolutionized mailbox that has added security for modern day online shopping.

7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1) Pick an opportunity you would like to pursue:

A package security system for shipped goods.

2) Clearly state the opportunity you have identified:

People living in houses are unable to securely protect packages shipped to their front door from thieves on the street.

The who: People who are living in houses

The what: They are unable to protect their shipped goods

The why: Thieves can easily identify and take unguarded packages from in front of homes.

3) This is your 'hypothesis' about the opportunity

After interviewing five different people I have recorded their responses as to the who, what and why that were not previously covered.

Testing the who: 

Anyone who buys online goods and does not have them shipped to a secure location for them to be watched over shares this need.

This may include people living in apartments.

Testing the what: 

Are all packages a problem?

Mostly small items are stolen which can easily be grabbed but large unguarded goods such as grill are often also stolen from homes.

Are all houses at risk?

Houses with heavy foot traffic by them or which have public sidewalks near them are the most at risk.

Is it just Amazon packages that it would guard?

This system could also help protect your mail from thieves and entirely replace the mailbox.

Testing the why:

This product can also deliver peace of mind to shoppers that their package will be protected if they are not home to receive it.

This product prevents you from having to file reports on a stolen package.

After consulting with five different people on the topic I learned that it offers a variety of selling points. This product could serve as a new type of mailbox and would provide a sense of security for your delivered goods. I learned from one of the interviewees that Amazon is already trying to take steps to solve this by implementing their custom door lock which allows Amazon delivery drivers access into your home. This idea has some drawbacks, such as privacy concerns, and is currently in testing.

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Four opportunities:

Regulatory changes:
Due to measures promoting an increase in the minimum wage and paid sick leave of employees employers may turn to different resources to fill the need of labor. I see an opportunity to increase the amount of automated labor. Employers, like Chipotle, could stream-line their business by having a machine take the role of each employee on the line, which may help increase the speed of the line as well as save profits down the road.
The source of the article where I found this information: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html
The prototypical customer would be any large food chain within the U.S.
This would be relatively difficult to accomplish as you would have to first develop specialized machines and test them before putting them on the lines to serve customers.
This opportunity stuck out to me as I have seen many employers reduce human labor throughout their stores and implement machines to do the same tasks. 

A new regulatory change called MiFID II is a EU legislative article that will require changes to how businesses conduct online and over the phone marketing. Any call related to marketing or selling a product must be recorded and saved for up to 7 years. This could be a great opportunity for a data storage team to take in heavily increased business. This could include large additions to data storing facilities.
The source of the article where I found this information: http://www.information-age.com/2018-nightmare-financial-services-123465793/
The prototypical customer of this service would be any industry which is currently using online marketing or sales.
This would be relatively easy as it may just require an initial increase in the data storage capabilities of a warehouse.
This opportunity stuck out to me because I used to pay for cloud storage on my phone and I understand the costs that employers will have to go through to store their information safely.


Economic Trends
Baby Boomers are approaching retirement ages which means their is a much higher need for healthcare services. Being the largest generation, Baby Boomers will cause a huge demand from the healthcare field in the coming years. There is a huge opportunity in healthcare services as nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers will be spread thin. 
Source of my information: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032216/are-we-baby-boomer-retirement-crisis.asp
The prototypical customer will be the Baby Boomers needing various healthcare services that come with age.
This opportunity sticks out to me because I have worked at a retirement community.

Interest rates are rising in the U.S as the Fed tries to hit its 2% goal. This means that all kinds of loans will cost more and people will earn more money from their savings. There is an opportunity for banks to push loans out quick before the rates on them increase higher. This could sway more people into taking out loans.
Source of the info: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666
The prototypical customer would be anyone trying to get a loan for any purpose.
This opportunity stood out to me because I have family who work in banks.