28 A

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future





1. You read about an entrepreneur:

. What surprised you the most?

I was very surprised to that his success story could have been the story of any random entrepreneur who is not afraid of risk. I really thought that he was born rich and just became richer.



 What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
I admire his vision. He succeeded in very different field that have literally nothing in common. He made it because he never gave up. That’s what I admire the most about Elon.



What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

There is nothing I don’t admire about him. Maybe the only criticism I could give him is that he never sticks to his project as he always wants new challenges.



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

Yes, monetary budgets were his biggest threat when he first started. He barely had any money to launch his projects but he found ways to beat the odds and associated himself with the right people.



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

Elon is the perfect example of a successful entrepreneur as he chooses risks over comfort and eventually realizes his projects.



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

I got a little b it confused about his “conception “of genetics when he claimed that you need wo intelligent parents in order to produce a smart young children. He then linked that to the business cycle.



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

My first question would be : “ If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently ? “

My second question would be more specific and would be related to life on Mars. “ Do you believe that you will see the day in your lifetime when humans would be able to live on Mars?



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



I am positive that Elon believes that only hard work produces results. That’s how he succeed at least. I share this vision too.

27 A

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?

If I end up developing this project, I would end up selling it as a start-up kind of business and use this money to invest in real estate and other projects.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

Because as much as I have faith in my project, I am a realist. I understand that once this idea is on the market many other people with more funds than me can compete and crush my market. I would rather sell the idea to other people who have the means to develop this idea in order to make eternal profits due to copyrights.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?
Yes! Since this whole business was directed toward a quick exit, I decided to inject a lot of money and time on the “acceleration “ aspect of my business. I never really calculated my plans based on possible long-term benefit from my product.

26 A

As a transfer student, who also happens to be international, integration wasn’t that easy this semester. I am not talking about social integration but more about an integration related to the system. I’ve had a hard time understanding the structure of some of my classes and I am not ashamed to admit that I failed to achieve some of the objectives I set to myself before starting this semester. 

I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to in some of my classes due to time management. After my first Business statistics exam where I got a 76%, I understood that I had to change the way I will have to work at the University of Florida. I understood that studying a couple days before an exam would not satisfy myself with grades. After this failure, I worked harder than the previous exam and I got a 95% on my second exam. If some of you may think that this is a success, for me it only means that I failed the first one as a different method of studying would have got me a very similar result than the one I got on the second test. 

In General, I believe that it is hard to accept that you fail. It hits your ego and sometimes it pushes you backward. For me, failing only gives me more motivation. It helps me move forward. That is exactly what we learned in this class! We will fail times and times again, but it is only from those mistake that we will be able to move forward. This class also pointed out the fact that we should also learn from other people’s mistakes. Today, I am more than ever ready to take risks because I know that failure isn’t really failing. 

24 A

The world is changing! Change is all around us. We don’t write letters anymore, we write emails. We don’t go to buy DVD’s anymore, we watch Netflix. We barely go to stores anymore, we buy on Amazon. Humans creates robots to help them and soon it will be us, humans, who will help the robots. Two months ago, during a lecture of my Entrepreneurship class, the teacher said something that I will never forget. He said that you do not need a revolutionary idea to succeed. In fact, ideas that are too advanced or required too much of a change, often fail due to their incompatibility with society. What humans want are the “small changes” that do no not required too much effort and it is the succession of those small changes that creates big changes. The hours my mother spent cooking and serving us the same dishes made me think of an opportunity for a “small change “ idea .



Opportunity

Too many people from all ages and sexes face a common problem when it comes to cooking: they do not know what to cook. This result in many people ordering food online or go to restaurants. This is not only a western developed countries problem, it is a world problem. Because people do not know what to cook, they often eat the same exact things which is not always healthy for our body and which makes us pay more money on additional ingredients. The opportunity to find a solution is huge here but as soon as someone will come up with a solution, the “window of opportunity” may not be open for a long time.



Innovation

This wide range of opportunity is the reason why I believe, our society needs an application that will analyze the components we have in our fridges and send us the options we face. Let’s have a concrete example. You have eggs, meat and cheese in your fridge, you are home alone and do not know what you cook based on these three ingredients you have in your fridge. You take your phone and take a picture on my application. My application will recognize these three ingredients and thanks to the internet, it will make connections with different dishes. From there, the application will send you the different options you have with these three ingredients. The application would cost a total of $5 with a monthly fee of $1 to be able to use it. If anyone wants to have a more advanced level of cooking, they could be the “chef gold ” option for $ 20 with a monthly fee of $2 a month. This “chef gold” option will give more details than the regular option as the customer will also receive options with additional ingredients they could buy. For example, the customer could put on the application that they want to spend a maximum of $10 dollars on new ingredients in order to make a meal based on cheese, meat and eggs. The application will then give the customer the option of food they can buy within the range established by the customer with the meals they could cook with this additional ingredient.



Venture Concept:

There are two reasons why buyers would buy my application and they are pretty simple. The first reason is that it will save them money! On the long term (and even short term for some people), this application will prevent them from buying expensive ingredients for no reasons and go to restaurants because they couldn’t come up with ideas of dishes based on what they already had in their fridges. The second reason is time. It will save them some time, there is no doubt about it! Knowing what to cook and the length of it will save you from countless hours of indecisiveness. You will have clear choices and the customer will be able to choose accordingly. In this case the competitors would be the restaurants and delivery places. It could hit them in their pocket if my project picks up. The fact that the monthly fee to connect with the application is only a dollar could crush their market. Who wants to pay extra money for products when you know exactly how much that meal you are getting could cost you if you did it by yourself? I do not know many people who would pay twice or three times to price difference between cooking home and going to a restaurant if they knew how to cook those meals with the same quality and for a lower cost.



The three minor elements

What my most important resource will be? What’s my secret sauce? My most important resource would be the human capital on technology who will help me develop this application. This whole project is based on the foundation of this application. Without the people creation this app, my project will never be more than an idea.



What’s next for my venture?

If this project succeed, I could diversify my project and start doing the same thing for drinks. “What to drink based on the drinks you already have in your fridge”. From there who knows where there who knows where it could go! There are so many fields where price and cost could be reduced by the concept of this application, it could end up being beneficial for anything.



What’s next for me?



I want to be a successful man in the silicone valley, I want to be able to live and breath innovation. If this project is the success that could lead me to my dream then I’m ready for the challenge. I can see myself live in the Valley in the next couple of years and develop other projects, invest in VC companies. It’s been a childhood dream that I want to exploit. I am sure I will do it , I am just unsure on how I am going to get there . Only god knows.

23 A

-I have a couple friends studying Technology who could help me developing my application, they speak different languages and study in English which could be very beneficial for me. Not many people have friends abroad who can interconnect and speak different languages.



-I have enough cash to pay my friends who study technology to start a company which will help me not being in debt when starting my business. This a very valuable ! Not many people have the privilege to start their career without having t be in debt for many years.



-I have a good credit score which is very important if I ever have to lend money when/ if my project picks up. This is very personal as no one can “copy” my credit score.



-I have an apartment where we could start developing this project. This resource is very valuable since it replaces rent.



- I have integrity which is the basis of a trust relationship with partners. This can’t be evaluated because you can’t value integrity but sometimes it’s even more important than short term success.



-I have all type of materials: chairs, computers… that me and my employees will need when working on this project. Most people I know have this resource to.



-I have great social skills which is also something you can’t valuate but which is very important when networking for a business



-My organization will have some paid program abroad to make them understand other people’s need. This will be a cost to the organization but will open the mind of my employees which will be beneficial in the long term.



- My family has a great corporate lawyer which could help a lot if there is any copyright issues along the way. This is very valuable and non-substitutable asset.



-I know people who have already been in this industry which is super important as it will help me not make the same mistakes that they made in the past.



From all the resources I have, I would say that my most valuable resource that I possess is the human skill resource. Without the people who know this field and are studying technology, I wouldn’t be able to realize this project. They really are the most important asset I have, way above any other resources I listed.

22 A

The pitch. https://youtu.be/l6A3XK6NZGM

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

Most comments I received were very positive. I did not receive any negative feedbacks which made me do a self reflection on my previous works. I definitely kept the positive comments I received as an indicator that I shouldn't change certain things such as the way I communicate or the way I should dress up. 

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

I changed the way of capturing the attention of the "invisible public". I used informations based on my recent interviews that I hope many viewers could relate to when watching my video. I also changed the structure of the video. I ended the video by my "product idea" instead of trying to sell them the idea that I explained . 

21 A

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky


1)What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The general theme of the book is change. It shows how that the world around us changes at an increasing fast rate without us even noticing it. The main reason of this change is technology. Mr Shirky emphasize those changes since the 1940’s.

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

We learn in ENT the way of developing a business. Developing a business with an innovative idea is at the very core of “change”. It is the succession of innovation that lead us to the world we have today. Every progress was made by an entrepreneur.


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

To ask student to look around them and think “when was this object/ concept created”. At the end of this exercise, students would realize that a lot of the things surrounding us that we find “normal” are in fact, very recent innovations.

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?

I was very surprised that this book tells us to embrace changes! Most books I’ve read about technology talk about the negative aspects of this new era. I was pleased with this book and the way that the idea of a new world is reflected in Shirky’s writings. No one should be ashamed of change, change is good when regulated.

20 A

1) Who they are and what their background is. 

I interviewed Dylan Samole, a 35-year- old food supplier of Publix. 

Glenn Keller, a 21year old mobile phone application devloper who lives in Amsterdam.

Maxime Lipman, a 35 year old manager of Deliveroo Belgium

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

Here, Glenn Keller is the domain expert as he knows what it will take to develop the mobile phone application I need for my project. Maxime Lipman is the market expert as his project is based on the same idea that “cooking takes too long” so he developed a mobile phone app that helps you getting food where you can get food where you want when you want (faster than UberEat). Finally, Dylan Samole would be the supplier as he is a food supplier for Publix in Boca Raton, Florida.

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

Glenn has been a friend of mine for years, we went to high school together and now he is learning about new technologies in Amsterdam.

Maxime Lipman is a friend of my father and I asked him to put me in contact with him.

Dylan Samole was the food supplier that everyone from my community knew when I lived in Boca Raton, he was always smiling and friendly and was recruiting interns at Florida Atlantic University (that’s how I met him).

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

To be completely honest, I started every interview by telling them that this is a college project in order to get accurate information as I didn’t want them to feel unwilling to share their experience with me because they were afraid of me entering the market. There is no real return expectation in this case.

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

If I ever decide to exploit this idea, I will then ask Glenn to help me to develop the app, I will ask Dylan more accurate information about his sales with Publix and I will probably try to have a Partnership with Maxime.

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?
I am very familiar with this type of exercises, in fact I have going to professional events with my dad since a very young age. I did not feel uncomfortable asking those questions. I just had to be smarter and not letting them think that I want to enter their existing market in order to get more accurate responses to the questions I needed them to answer. Compared to other interviews we had to do for this class, I had to be way more professional when asking the questions. I was also way more responsive to their answers as I wanted to learn more from them.

19 A

1) You. 

My name is Max Wahba, I am a Junior the University of Florida. I come originally from Belgium and I moved to the United States two years ago. I’ve been working and interning for various political candidates although it is not directly related to my major which is Business. I do not believe that the idea I am developing in this class will play an important role in my life but it is a good practice for when I will launch my own company.

2) What are you offering to customers? 

I am selling a mobile phone app that analyzes the components of someone’s fridge and send this person the option this person faces when it comes to cooking dishes.

3) Who are you offering it to? 

To every person who is not specialized in this field. (no matter age or background). The only groups of people who may not be able to use it are people that are too young to cook or people that are too old to understand the technology.

4) Why do they care?

 They care because it will save them a lot of time and money. No more “let’s go eat outside because I don’t know what to cook “. This is their cheapest and smartest alternative to buy ore food or eat outside.

5) What are your core competencies?

I am open–minded and understand different people’s mentalities. This is probably due to the fact that I have lived in multiple countries and have a rich ethnic background. I am also very hard working. When I have a goal, I am ready to sacrifice everything to reach that goal.

I have to be completely honest, very few of my work experiences or background will directly help my business. Nevertheless, all these qualities and experiences formed my mind and helped me to become the person that I am today. So, in a sense, I wouldn’t be here writing about a future project if it wasn’t for all these things who changed me in a way. On the other hand, I believe that the qualities that I have that I described are helpful to developing a business. Being hard working and sticking to one’s goal are very important if you want to make it through the business cycle.



While I did not receive direct critics on my first napkins, I realized that my responses where sometimes a little too long and were not exactly answering the question. This is why I decided to respond word for word the questions from the assignment.