Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:

BLUE at UF will target college students as customers. Young adults (college students) are generally some of the more healthy, fit, and adventurous people in America when compared to other age groups. There is also no generation better suited to learn about the lack of potable water around the world because, after all, college students are the future of the world and are the ones that will make an impact over the next several decades. These qualities are all extremely helpful on BLUE service trips and in working towards our ultimate goal of clean water for all.

College students are at a time in their lives where traveling is extremely popular. BLUE trips to the Dominican Republic have been like vacations for me in the past so I aim to convey this aspect of the trip to fulfill yet another of my customer’s needs. BLUE trips are memorable cultural immersion experiences that assimilate you into the native culture for a week while completing a great service to the community along the way. I believe college students have an appeal for cultural experiences similar to this such as studying abroad or medical missions.

The market is not defined in any way demographically. The geographic limitations are that BLUE is based out of Miami, FL and our chapter will be based out of UF. My opportunity is pretty big in the long term because if I can get the organization going at UF, it will potentially continue growing for years to come. I do not see the “window of opportunity” closing at all because the majority of UF students have a strong unmet need for new experiences, travel, campus involvement, and helping those in need.

Innovation:

BLUE at UF will coordinate a weeklong service trip to a rural mountain community in the Dominican Republic for a group of UF students. BLUE will be able to compete for UF students as customers because it is a much cheaper option than studying abroad. It is also a more broad social experience with the locals than a medical mission. We all know that college is competitive so another need that I can help fulfill for my customers is campus involvement because BLUE is soon to be a club at UF that will offer involvement opportunities such as participating in BLUE at UF trips or even earning executive board positions in the UF chapter of the organization.

Our mission is to build a concrete aqueduct and PVC pipe system that will deliver water from the source directly to the home faucets in the community. The locals will be extremely involved and do most of the hard work. We will be working side by side with them all week to complete the project; making friendships, memories and progress on the project every step of the way. Our team will also have an organized layout for the project long before we arrive.

BLUE Service trip payments collected from trip participants cover food, water, flight costs and transportation, as well as relevant supplies to complete the projects. BLUE is a non-profit so we make money from trip payments as well as annual fundraisers and, increasingly, social media fundraisers.

Venture Concept:

BLUE is a great option for UF students looking to get involved. It is a great organization that does not require a lot of commitment outside of the service trip itself and a handful of informational meetings. Our service trip will be extremely affordable compared to other international opportunities that UF offers. This is very attractive for college students and families on a budget. BLUE will also provide an international experience, campus involvement, and lasting memories for UF students.

There will be little difficulty for customers to switch to our organization because there are no costs or conflicts associated with it other than the service trip itself. However, our competition is other service trips, study abroad programs, medical missions, and even spring break and summer vacations. Study abroad programs can be time-consuming and very expensive while college vacations may not be as fulfilling as a service trip.

Customer support, the customer experience, and business location all play a huge role in defining my business concept. BLUE relies heavily on past trip participants to continue spreading the word to friends. I have personally already recruited dozens of family and friends to go on trips. We also have a pretty big group of “BLUE alumni” that are current UF students. I will be working with them to spread the word about our organization around campus in the coming months. Our BLUE at UF chapter will need a group of students to start the club so that we could meet, discuss, and elect an executive board. Back in Miami and the Dominican Republic BLUE has a team of workers, engineers, and dedicated volunteers that will be able to support our organization.

Minor Elements:

Important resources are human interaction and manual labor. These are not exactly tangible but our success will depend greatly on the work that we put in with the locals to complete the project. Supplies such as PVC pipe and shovels are also necessary and will be provided.

The next step for my venture is to spread the word to the UF community about my organization. It is best that we have plenty of time to recruit as many students as possible. I plan on using social media and tabling at Turlington plaza to spread the word about BLUE.

I hope to be involved with BLUE for the rest of my life because of the impact it has had on me and because of the people that I’ve met through the organization. In five years I hope to still be recruiting family and friends to go on at least one service trip with BLUE. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, I hope to have my own private medical practice in the next decade and I hope to use the entrepreneurial skills I’ve gathered to be a better professional.

Amazon Whisperer

• Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 

My revenue drivers are volunteer trip payments, sponsorships, and fundraising. I think that fundraising and volunteer trip payments are the most important revenue drivers for BLUE.

• Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?

Since BLUE is essentially a service-based product, I think it would be a good idea to use this assignment to highlight a complimentary product that makes the overall BLUE service trip experience better. BLUE trips are very exhausting and I want to be able to provide the volunteers with their basic comfort necessities to enhance their experience.

• Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

My idea is to provide volunteers with the option to purchase a sleeping cot for their trip. On my BLUE trips, the cots became our favorite place to relax and rest after a long day of work. I even kept my cot after my most recent trip and used it a few times again freshman year. Surprisingly, the cots are extremely comfortable. They are sort of a cross between a sleeping bag and a hammock. This complimentary product would enhance the volunteers experience and energy level.

• Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.

• Lightweight and portable camping bed is perfect for the outdoors
• No assembly required
• Comes with lightweight carrying case, and bed folds in half to maximize portability
• Affordable price ranging from $39-$99
• comes in a variety of color options

http://www.amazon.com/Trademark-Innovations-Aluminum-Portable-Folding/dp/B009S3BA4K/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1459106776&sr=8-13&keywords=sleeping+cot

• What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?

Customers really enjoyed how it was high off the ground to avoid insects and how the cots are large and firm but still comfortable. A good summative comment follows: 

"The taught canvas gives good support. It is long enough for a very tall person. If used for camping, you will be far enough from the ground to avoid dampness and crawly things. The cot is high enough to sit on, without your knees hitting your chin. It is easy to assemble and comes with carry/storage canvas bag. A great buy."

It seems as though some customer's cots broke with only light weight on them. This is definitely a worrisome issue that I would take steps (like back-up cots) to avoid. These customers clearly did not have as good of an experience:

"After one night of sleeping on the cot, I woke up to find the frame kinked and bent in multiple places. Putting it back in the bag to ship back only damaged the fragile cot sooner. I am thankful for the return policy."

• Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. 

I would change the weight limit and try to make the product able to support more weight. I would also probably include more specific instructions for assembly because it is a bit confusing the first time.

• Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.

One of the most important things when you are in a new environment is to try to be as well rested as possible. It inevitably enhances your overall experience and output no matter what the situation. I think these sleeping cots were a very subtle, yet important part of why my BLUE trips have been so enjoyable and impactful on me in the past. The goal of this assignment is to create customer value, creativity, and opportunity assessment and I believe that this complimentary product helps me achieve those things.

My Unfair Advantage

1) Sponsorships

VRIN: Sponsorships are valuable because they help reduce certain costs that the organization would have to cover otherwise. Sponsorships are not easy to get but are definitely obtainable. I am proud that I was able to get BLUE a sponsorship with Nestle water for a recent fundraiser and hope to continue the partnership in the future. Sponsorships are imitable and substitutable since many organizations try to get them some way or another.

2) Manual Labor Skills

VRIN: Manual labor skills are essential on our service trips because most or even all of the terrain on some trips can't be reached by machinery or vehicles. BLUE has prioritized finding employees with knowledge and skills relevant to our water projects. This resource is very inimitable and non-substitutable at our desired cost.

3) Prior Experience

VRIN: This is extremely valuable because it gives our customers/volunteers a sense of comfort and reliability.I have led BLUE trips myself and the organization has grown steadily in recent years. This isn't necessarily a rare or inimitable resource but it surely is a valuable one. My prior experience is substitutable but it would take time and effort.

4) Cultural Enrichment Experience

VRIN: Although the VRIN may not show it, I think that this is one of our biggest distinguishing resources. BLUE at UF provide an extremely valuable cultural experience for many volunteer students who are not exposed to other ways of daily life. It is rare to have a cultural immersion experience often in the US but many universities are now beginning to offer cultural immersion programs or trips for their students.

5) Networking

VRIN: My networking, as far as BLUE goes, both in the US and in the DR is pretty good. I think that this is important for someone who wants to start an organization at their University like I do. Networking is obviously not rare but the networking that we at BLUE have developed is basically inimitable and non-substitutable because we have developed a niche in the local community there and a system back here at headquarters in Miami.

6) Team-oriented, Informal Culture

VRIN: This is valuable because it is an attractive aspect of our trips for college students. BLUE has an exceptionally laid-back and friendly approach to community service. Friendships are made on BLUE trips in addition to all of the great service work that we do. I have never been a part of a more inclusive and approachable service organization so I also believe it would be hard to imitate or substitute BLUEs organizational culture.

7) Affordability

VRIN: Money rules everything in today's society. Thus, a more affordable service trip would be attractive for college students. BLUEs UF trip would be extremely fair-priced and would include two home-cooked meals per day with local flavor. This resource is relatively rare because service trips have been increasing exponentially in prices in recent years. It is technically imitable and substitutable but when you think about what BLUE offers from both a cultural and financial perspective, it is truly hard to match.

8) Bilngualism

VRIN: I am fluent in both english and spanish. As a BLUE leader/volunteer, it is helpful to be able to communicate with the locals in spanish. I also find it very fulfilling to translate between the two languages. Having the ability to speak two or more languages is definitely rare and I am proud of it. However, it is imitable and substitutable with practice.

9) Social Media 

VRIN: BLUE maximizes social media to help spread our vision. It is probably our most valuable medium of communication with our supporters and volunteers. Social media is very common, imitable, and substitutable for modern organizations. Nonetheless, social media has opened many doors for BLUE in recent years. We now have a website, facebook and instagram page.

10) Supplies

VRIN: BLUE is able to purchase affordable shovels, PVC pipes, industrial glue, and water faucets from local stores. This is very valuable because it saves money. This is not necessarily rare but it is at the given prices. It is not imitable or substitutable at this time.

The top resource is the cultural enrichment experience that BLUE can offer a college student. This is what stood out the most for me on my first BLUE trip and what will surely stand out for my fellow gators when they go on their first trip!

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1) As a biology major I found most of this chapter pretty interesting because it included a lot of new information and perspectives on entrepreneurship that I do not see often. I did however find it very interesting that an entrepreneurial venture can be financed in multiple ways.

2) The sections on break-even analysis and operating budget were somewhat confusing to me. I would have liked to have seen more formulas or examples of these topics because even reading the text once or twice left me with some unanswered questions. 

3) Do you think budgeting is more accurate and effective if the entrepreneur handles it mainly by themselves or if they have a team to handle budgeting?

What do you think are the most effective ways to fund a start up?

4) I was not very knowledgeable on this chapter as opposed to some of the other readings we have had. So I feel like I learned a lot but took everything I read with a grain of salt because I need to become more informed on the entrepreneurial and financial budgeting topics presented.

Growing My Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry. This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce.

     Tato is a Dominican native from one of the villages that I helped last summer with BLUE. He only speaks spanish and is 50 years old. Interestingly enough he does not know his birthday, rather only knows his birth year. Tato has lived in La Yaroa, Dominican Republic (pop. under 500) for his entire life. Tato is my domain expert because he is a local who has previous skills in manual labor and basic plumbing, both of which are essential for a successful water project. Tato was an extremely experienced and hard worker on the water project in La Yaroa and loved what BLUE did for his community. With some negotiation we convinced him to join our team. Tato will soon be a paid employee of BLUE because his skills, experience, approachability, and hard work will help expedite our upcoming water projects over the next few months. In recent months BLUE has made it a priority to hire hard-working, skilled Dominican locals to help lead our trips alongside us. Tato is a great asset for us because he not only has the manual labor experience for successful water projects, but also has connections in the country for parts such as PVC tubes, shovels, and water faucets for us to use when completing the water projects.

2) One person must be an expert on your market. This would be someone who is targeting your market with similar products services -- or knows a lot about conducting customer research in your area -- or represents a major piece of your market (this might be most applicable with B2B markets).

     Danny Rodriguez Sr. is the founder of LIFO. BLUE's parent organization. LIFO is a service organization that takes adults on service trips around the caribbean to complete water projects. Mr. Rodriguez is the market expert. While his LIFO organization has been successful and helpful to the community, it can be difficult to find a sustainable market when your trips are for adults (usually aged 25+). People's lives become busier as they get into their late twenties and beyond. Mr. Rodriguez provided us at BLUE with some valuable advice that the market audience of high school and college students could prove fruitful for a service organization. Danny Rodriguez Jr, the president of BLUE, gained a lot of valuable advice from his dad in order to jumpstart our BLUE organization. Mr. Rodriguez has been on dozens of trips with LIFO dating back over a decade and has helped with some BLUE trips in recent years as well. His experience on past service trips and constant feedback advice for us is really what will help us most.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry. This would be someone who is selling products and services to other organizations/firms in your industry. 

     Noel is my cousin. He works for Nestle's in Massachusetts. He is filling the supplier spot of my network. Noel's company will provide our BLUE Cocktail fundraiser with water bottles and sparkling water bottles. They will also be providing the 5 gallon water jugs that we use for drinking water during the service trips. I found this contact because of our most recent BLUE fundraiser. I remembered that my cousin was working in the water industry and his company was surprisingly willing to donate the water to us. I think it definitely benefits both sides. Hopefully this years partnership can continue to be a good sponsorship relationship for BLUE and Nestle's. We are working towards giving the world clean water and Nestle, one of our very own water-bottle companies, is helping us stay hydrated along the way.

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 think this experience made it pretty obvious that targeted networking is very important in a business or organizational setting. When you are networking, you should try to be precise and purposeful and not waste a lot of time with networking opportunities that are unrealistic or that won't be very beneficial to you. I think that these three connections that I wrote about in my post will be very helpful in maintaining BLUE's success both in the US and in the Dominican Republic. Most of my networking in the past has been more social than business oriented. Thus, this assignment made me go out of my comfort zone a bit in establishing these business relationships.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

1)

2) Reflection on feedback:

The feedback I received was remarkably accurate. I agreed with almost everything I received.

-work on conversational yet passionate tone
- dress to impress (although I was wearing BLUE apparel for the last pitch)
-focus on cultural experience as opposed to work experience

3) I tried to sound less formal in this elevator pitch but I would still like to work on having a more conversational tone when giving an elevator pitch. I also received some feedback saying to dress up more for this elevator pitch so I decided to go with a collared shirt as opposed to the BLUE tank top. I removed my statement about raising awareness for this pitch but I think our primary method of raising awareness is definitely social media. BLUE Missions has a website and an instagram and facebook account that have all proven to be extremely effective for us. Again, I will continue to work on my delivery of the pitch as well as the content included in the pitch for my future presentations whether it be in this course or not. Finally, the most important change in this pitch is that I want to focus more on the cultural immersion experience that BLUE trips offer as opposed to just the water project itself. This is a key component of BLUE trips and something I cherish a lot to this day.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1) The biggest surprise in the reading was "the global perspective" section about the 2008 Beijing Olympics boycotts and protestors and how marketing may not always be a good thing. This was an ineresting segment and I learned something new because I did not recall this happening since I was so young in 2008.

2) The section titled "Inhibitors to Marketing Research" was confusing to me because while it listed that cost, complexity, strategic decisions, and irrelevancy can inhibit marketing research, it did not give more than a few lines of support and failed to provide good examples to help me fully understand the material.

3) "How do you think the negative marketing during the 2008 Summer Olympics could have been better handled by those in charge?"

"Which of the three marketing philosophies do you think is most effective?"

4) I think the author was wrong in not expanding more on the short-term success rates of the three different marketing philosophies. I would have liked to have read about multiple scenarios or examples to see when each philosophy could be successful.

My Secret Sauce

1)
- In my experience, I have observed that I pay attention to detail much more than the average person. This has helped me remember things more easily, especially in the classroom. I am a quick learner.

- I am not one-dimensional. I have many interests such as basketball, spearfishing, and guitar aside from my academics.

- I am fluent in english and spanish

- I am exceptionally slow and methodical. Sometimes it gets on other people's nerves. Nonetheless, I am proud of my methodical approach to life and school.

- I can relate to many different types of people of many different ages. I enjoy face to face conversation, especially with younger kids or older people.

2)

I think it is very true that I accomplish goals once I have set them. I have struggled at times with setting achievable goals, but I have gotten much better at this recently as I get older.

I pride myself in being able to bring a smile to others faces. This interview from my closest little cousin definitely brought a smile to my face.

My sister is only two years younger than me so we are best of friends. I am glad that my diverse range of hobbies and interests is evident to her. I hope she follows in my footsteps.

My friend Ben pointed out how I am always trying to make sure others are having a good time. Whether it be cracking a joke or being a good host, I take pride in this as well.

I love how my mom said I am a quick learner. In school, especially, I feel like I have been blessed by being a very quick learner. It has benefitted me tremendously.

3) It is comforting to see that those that know me best agree with me on what my "Secret Sauce" is for the most part. My family and friends that I interviewed seem to share a lot of the same insight into my human capital that I personally did too. While my mom said I am organized I must qualify that since I can be messy at times. There is, however, a "method to my madness" because I am still responsible and don't ever lose things or fall behind with school. I think the fact that I have now been away at college for almost two years may cause some of the differences between mine and my parents assessments of myself. While I keep in touch with them a good amount, I talk with my sister a lot more so that is why I think her response more clearly exemplifies my human  capital. After interviewing my dad, I think I would go back to part 1 and add that I am goal-oriented and rarely give up when I want to achieve something. Examples of this would be me teaching myself how to play guitar and also making my High School Varsity basketball team after being cut the previous year. I would also probably add that I love to make sure that my peers are having a good time. No matter the time, I am always trying to lighten the mood.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) My name is Joey Carrillo. I am Cuban and I was born and raised in Miami before coming to UF. I speak both English and Spanish and enjoy playing the guitar. I also love nature and athletic activity. I am always ready to joke around and I love meeting new people. I also pride myself in being able to work hard when needed. These qualities are helpful in enjoying a trip to the Dominican Republic with BLUE. BLUE is a nonprofit organization that I first brought to my high school. I led my first trip in the summer of 2016 before my freshman summer b. From the moment I became a leader in the organization I embraced it as my own. My aspiration is to  gather UF students to begin the UF chapter of BLUE so that we can go on our first BLUE@UF trip to the Dominican next year which I will be leading.

2) BLUE's goal is to provide clean drinking water/faucets to poor communities' homes in parts of the Dominican Republic for the very first time. The trip would be next upcoming summer for about 7-10 days. Once more in-depth stages of my opportunity begin to unfold, I will be able to provide detailed packing lists as far as what clothing, footwear, food, and miscellaneous gear would be beneficial. On the last day of the trip we also go to a nearby beach and/or waterfall.  Lastly, considering that we can not drink the local water, we have sponsorships that provide us with dozens of 5 gallon purified water jugs for the trip. The most important aspect, however, of what BLUE can offer UF students is a culturally enriching experience. BLUE trips are an incredible immersion experience in which 15-20 young american adults work hand in hand with dozens of locals to complete the water project and bring clean water to the community for the first time.

3) My ideal customers are ages 18-24. Really, anyone in UF undergraduate or graduate programs would be a primary customer. BLUE trips are an exciting and exhausting cultural experience. Spending a week living more simply is an eye-opening experience for many sheltered americans (like myself) but also requires you to be healthy and in relatively good shape. This, along with the fact that our age group is open to multicultural experiences, makes 18-24 year olds my primary customers.

4) I have already gotten dozens of friends and family involved in our organization and it is really inspiring to see the lasting impact that our trips have on high school and college students. By participating in a BLUE service trip you're not only doing community service, but also making many lasting memories with both your peers and the locals. BLUE trips expose you to a culture and living conditions unlike any we come across in daily life in the US. The experiences gained in as short of a time as a week on a BLUE trip will have a lasting impact on the way you think of water conservation and cultures around the world.

5) I have the experience of going on two BLUE trips already and leading one of them. I have the resources in place for my fellow gators to participate on a trip co-led by me and enjoy it to the fullest. I am bilingual which helps me communicate with the local workers in spanish. However, I have friends that speak zero spanish and have had an incredible experience with the locals on BLUE trips as well. 

I am confident that all aspects of my opportunity fit together. I have personally been on two trips and even led one of them. It is the most significant cultural experience I have had in my life and many of my peers on the trips have felt the same way. I have had experience with successful BLUE trips in the past so that makes me even more confident that I can recruit Gators to join my cause this coming year. My main concerns would be logistics. I just need to be sure I can provide a flexible date and price for the trip.

"Feedback Memo" 

1) One comment I received elaborated on how UF students could feasibly want to help out communities in need. In my answer to part 4 I wanted to emphasize how BLUE trips are a service to the community.

2) Another thing I wanted to change because of the feedback I received would be to emphasize BLUE trips as a culturally enriching experience in addition to community service.

3) I will also be changing the core of my elevator pitch a bit because of the advice I received. Now, I think my elevator pitch needs to be more focused on the cultural immersion experience that makes a BLUE trip so special.

4) I will also include a few pictures of past trips in this post as per the request of one of the comments I received to give a better understanding of a BLUE trip

5) Two of the comments I received stated that my opportunity makes them want to start volunteering. I found this interesting as most people do not volunteer often. I have thus tried to adapt my Idea Napkin and Elevator Pitch to appeal to those who don't normally volunteer as a hobby.