Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

Health Bite is an app that will not only provide healthy and clean-eating recipes for college students, but they can upload photos or videos of their creations to earn points. After reaching a certain number of points, students can redeem it at certain restaurants or cafes in Gainesville that mirror with the app’s values of healthy and well-balanced eating. The app will partner with these local eateries, such as Cymplify, The Daily Green, Karma Cream, Zoe’s Kitchen etc.

I am offering to students in college (University of Florida) to eat a more healthy and well-balanced diet for their day to day meals by creating an app that offers quick and easy food and snack recipes. They are healthy and power-packed for a more balanced diet for college students.

They care because due to the different levels of stress that incoming freshmen are placed into, such as being away from home and new, scary experiences of college classes and exams, students find it easy to stuff our faces by stress-eating. It doesn’t help that the dining hall is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. Students can find themselves eating badly because it’s convenient to cook up something that’s fast or just simply eat out. A lot of college students become unhealthy eaters, consuming meals that are high in calories and sodium, and also a diet that consist of mostly carbs. My app, called Health Bite, will be a resolve to change eating habits and diet by encouraging students to cook meals, snacks, smoothies, desserts, that are balanced and made of up good ingredients. They are quite easy to make, does not create a lot of dishes, and satisfying to eat. My goal is that other students will replicate my recipes and eat healthily as well. Then they will become accustomed to cooking good, nutritious and yummy meals at home.

I think this is a big window of opportunity because as students become more aware of the "healthy movement" and the many discoveries behind the bad products that the dining hall offers, students also want to make a conscious effort and decision into eating healthier and making better choices.

Innovation

For the app, Health Bite, the revenue drivers would most primarily be the advertising that local Gainesville eateries would do on the app. We would make sure the ads solicited would be restaurants and eateries that shared the same values as the app, in providing healthy and nutritional meals for students. These places would include, for example, the Daily Green, Zoe's Kitchen, Cymplify Cafe, Civilization, and more.

The next product offering that my customers would want from the app, would be to include promotions and discount codes to these local Gainesville eateries, that aligned with the app's healthy values. With the promotion and discount codes, college students can take a break from creating the healthy recipes and cooking, but they can still be incentivized to go to a place offering healthy dishes when eating out.

It will improve the user experience of being on the app because they can still eat healthy and delicious meals while eating out, so that they don't feel obligated to cook all the time from the recipes provided on the app. It also fosters customer loyalty, because who doesn't like discount codes to some of the best restaurants?

Venture Concept

I will utilize my core competencies would be my personality traits that can connect to the target market for this app. As an outgoing and extroverted person, it's easy for me to meet new people, talk to them, get a sense of what they want and need, and have effective communication to obtain information. Another is that I thrive in challenging, fast-paced environments as it motivates to pursue a project and see to its end. It also ensures that I have strong time management and organizational skills.In evaluation of these elements, I definitely believe that all of these factors effectively fit together. I do not think that there are any critical weaknesses in my business model, as my communication skills will effectively enable me to gage what my target market may need and want from my app. In addition, I truly am passionate and enthusiastic behind the core ideas for my app.

My target market, which are college students, will definitely want to get on board with the revolutionary idea of providing simple and easy meals that are healthy and nutritious. The app's partnership with the various local, healthy eateries will also help and incentivize students to use the app for discount and promo codes, but also pick better locations for eating.

I would create the app to be aesthetically pleasing. It would have to provide comfortability in user experience as well as offering high-resolution pictures. I will take inspiration from many popular food accounts on Instagram for visual cues, as well as Buzzfeed's Tasty videos.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

Gary Pisano: You Need an Innovation Strategy

Harvard Business Review

1. In this week's reading, I would not say that I was surprised by the article, but enjoyed Pisano's coverage of the reminding facts that I had forgotten, so "surprised by reminders"? It's true that innovation is hard, which is a well-known fact, but I simply had not thought of it in the way that the author described when he said sustaining innovative performance can be more complex and difficult - such as in the case of Nokia, Polaroid, and etc.
2. There was a part of the reading that I was definitely confused about when the author said: "Without an innovation strategy, innovation improvement efforts can easily become a grab bag of much-touted best practices: dividing R&D into decentralized autonomous teams, spawning internal entrepreneurial ventures, setting up corporate venture-capital arms, pursuing external alliances, embracing open innovation and crowdsourcing, collaborating with customers, and implementing rapid prototyping, to name just a few." - What does all this mean?
3. I would want to ask the author:
• The question above, say it more simply. This is for the purpose to understand.
• The second question that I would ask the author is what is another great example of innovation strategy, which may be invaluable in the short-life cycle present at Silicon Valley?
4. I did not think the author was wrong about anything in this article.

The Amazon Whisperer

• For my app called Health Bite (which provides healthy and nutririous but fast meal recipes for college students - check out my previous blog post on it), the revenue drivers would most primarily be the advertising that local Gainesville eateries would do on the app. We would make sure the ads solicited would be restaurants and eateries that shared the same values as the app, in providing healthy and nutritional meals for students. These places would include, for example, the Daily Green, Zoe's Kitchen, Cymplify Cafe, Civilization, and more.
• The next product offering that my customers would want from the app, would be to include promotions and discount codes to these local Gainesville eateries, that aligned with the app's healthy values. With the promotion and discount codes, college students can take a break from creating the healthy recipes and cooking, but they can still be incentivized to go to a place offering healthy dishes when eating out.
• It will improve the user experience of being on the app because they can still eat healthy and delicious meals while eating out, so that they don't feel obligated to cook all the time from the recipes provided on the app. It also fosters customer loyalty, because who doesn't like discount codes to some of the best restaurants?
• Since my idea was an app that provided recipes to healthy and nutritious meals to college students, there was no product on Amazon that was similar to my services other than some cookbooks. I looked for healthy cooking and this was a recipe book.
  
• Most of the customer reviews were very positive with the reviewers gushing their love for the healthy, delicious, and clean eating that this recipe book provided. One of the negative reviews said that the cooking was definitely not within the 15-minute range and showcased the reviewers distate for the fancy ingredients that were needed, where you had to shop specifically to cook the recipes provided and you could not throw things together from the ingredients leftover in the fridge.
• The design/usability changes that I would make to the product would be to include simple recipes that did not included fancy ingredients and to include "Leftover Ingredients" recipes as well.
• I don't think the product would make a good addition to my current product/service offering.

My Unfair Advantage (Week 11)

1. Creativity
• Valuable
• An entrepreneaur needs creativity to sustain his business in the long-run, by producing new ideas.
• Rare
• No one else will have the same exact ideas or concept as me, as it relates to my original idea.
• Inimitable
• It is inimitable because as the entrepreneur, I will be carrying out the establishment of my concepts.
• Non-substitutional
• Non-substitutional because no one can do them in my place, nor have the final word on the idea to be carried out.
2. Emotional intelligence
• Valuable
• An entrepreneur must have the ability to remain level-headed and calm during times of crisis or chaos
• Rare
• Not a lot of people have the abiliity to keeps their emotions in check
• Inimitable
• No one will have the same method or ability of emotional intelligence
• Non-subtititional
• You can't substitute emotional intelligence with anything else, you either have it or you don't.
3. Organizational structure
• Valuable
• An entrepreneur's business must be organized and well-kept of details
• Rare
• It's easy to get caught up in your "organized mess" as many business people simply don't have time to keep up with everything but if details aren't meticulous, than small but important things will start falling through the cracks
• Inimitable
• No one has the same method of keeping organized, everyone has their own system
• Non-substitutional
• Organization can't be substituted with anything else because when you're not organized, you're just messy... which you don't want to be
4. Supportive friends
• Valuable
• During stressful times of launching a business, it's important to have a core group of people to turn for stability and emotional comfort
• Rare
• It's hard to find a core group of friends who will support you and trust you no matter what
• Inimitable
• No one has the same core group of friends with the same dynamics and conversations
• Non-substitutional
• You just can't substitute the emotional comfort and stablity that your friends provide you with anything else
5. Social media skills
• Valuable
• It's important to be adept at social media, especially at this current time period, where social media is the top most effective tool at generating positive buzz and feedback
• Rare
• Not many people are certified at using social media organization platforms, such as Buffer, or content measurements, such as Klout. Students my age don't even know they exist.
• Inimitable
• My idea, methods, experiences, and efforts at social media can't be imitated because I do them in a certain way.
• Non-substitutional
• Social media is a critical marketing and advertising component that cannot be replaced with TV or magazine marketing.
6. Network on campus
• Valuable
• Involvement on campus and connections to networks in a variety of organizations are important, as they establish connections to the target market of my venture
• Rare
• Usually, a person is involved heavily in one organization but I have involvement in many
• Inimitable
• No one will have the same connections to networks that I do
• Non-substitutional
• Networks and connections are critical to have as a social capital
7. Education
• Valuable
• It's important for entrepreneurs to take classes and learn the basics of business, such as financial accounting, marketing, management, and more classes in the business school
• Rare
• It's not that rare for an entrepreneur to be well-educated, to be honest.
• Inimitable
• What you get, what you understand, and how you employ the education received into skills is only something that you can do
• Non-substitutional
• Cannot subtitute certain classes or education with anything else
8. Financial support
• Valuable
• A business needs money to launch
• Rare
• Not a lot of entrepreneurs start off with a stable financial backing and cash flow
• Inimitable
• How you use the money and budget is up to your discretion
• Non-subtitutional
• Money as a resource and financial capital cannot be substituted for anything else when something requires money
9. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Valuable
• When a venture involved creativity, such as an app, it's valuable to get a patent to protect your ideas
• Rare
• It is not rare in our country to have protection for your ideas
• Inimitable
• You can't imitate a patent or trademark received
• Non-subtitutional
• Can't substitute this form of protection, legally bound
10. International relations
• Valuable
• An international network is valuable when a venture has the potential to go global
• Rare
• Not a lot of businesses or ventures start off with international backing/approval/advice of people in business in finance in countries abroad
• Inimitable
• No one can imitate or have the same network that I have established
• Nonsubstitutional
• Cannot substitute a network

It's clear that my top resource is having a stable financial capital. It's hard to launch a new business or venture without financial stability and resources. You need money to utilize for different aspects of your business launch, such as marketing promotions, and paying a few people to work for you.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

Kuratko Chapter 11: Financial Preparation for Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. In this week's reading, I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage of basic financial accounting. It was like reading over a general overview of the first chapter of Introduction to Financial Accounting, that I took in my freshman year at UF with Professor Goslinga. I was surprised by the coverage of this material in this chapter but then realized this is a critical component that an entrepreneur must be familiar with when setting up his business.
2. There were no parts of this reading that I was confused by, as it was a general overview of material that I had covered before in a financial accounting class.
3. I would want to ask the author these two questions:
• Should an entrepreneur know financial accounting well or should he have an expert in charge of his financials?
• What are the benefits of credible financials and how can an entrepreneur bounce back after not that credible financials?
4. I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this text. The material he covered were very scientific and mathematical.

Growing My Social Capital (Week 10)

Katie Song

1. Katie has a position as a talent acquisitions director at Amore Pacific Global Corporation. She recruits talent, or young business professionals, to join the corporation as a hiring director.
2. She is a domain expert in the industry that I would like to join, as a hiring director in the ideal company that I would like to work for in the beauty industry. Amore Pacific is a leading skincare and cosmetic company, based in Korea, with many subsidiary brands. They have been a leading product innovator in the global beauty industry in the sense that they are way ahead of the game compared to the luxury high-end and well-known European and American brands. The BB cream, CC cream were all introduced in Korea 10 years before European and American brands such as Dior, L'oreal, Maybelline started to introduce it. 
3. I found the person utilizing the professional networking website, LinkedIn. I sent her an InMail message detailing my assignment and asked if I could establish contact with her if she could provide the time.
4. The favor that they did for me was to set aside their busy time to talk to me, so that I may become more familiarized and aware of the inner and outer-workings of the company, as well as exciting projects. There was no return expection other than for me to do well on this assignment.
5. Including this person in my network will enhance my ability for future career opportunities. As a talent acquisitions director, she is well-aware of my extreme interest in the company, as well as my passion for it. By staying in touch with her, I establish a communication relationship in the hopes of future employment.

Holly Crowell

1. Holly has a position in the Marketing Development team at Amore Pacific Global Corporations. 
2. She is the market expert for this assignment, as her role in the Marketing Development Team is to analyze the target market, create and pitch ideas for certain product marketing, and work with a team to carry out specific marketing plans.
3. Like Katie above, I found this person by using LinkedIn and also sent her an InMail message. 
4. The favor that she did for me was to answer my questions about the specific marketing projects she has worked on and her specific job duties and responsibilities. 
5. Including this person in my network will also enhance my ability for future career opportunities.

Carrie Dubsky

1. Carrie has a position as the retail manager at Sephora. She manages the product sales and distributions at Sephora to the customers.
2. She is the important supplier in this industry.
3. I found this person by walking into the Sephora at the Boca Raton Town Center Mall. I asked for the manager, asked if I could talk to her, and set aside a quick 20 minute appointment for an interview.
4. The favor that she did for me was to answer my questions and also conversate with me about the major changes and shifts she has seen in product innovations and marketing trends. 
5. I don't think including this person will necessarily enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity in the career sense, but I can establish a communicating relationship with her in case I have further questions.

I honestly enjoyed this assignment as it gave me a chance to professionally network. I was already building a network by reaching out to HR directors and talent acquisitions directors of many companies that I was interested in through LinkedIn. Therefore, this assignment was very relevant to what I was currently doing in profeessional terms.

Elevator Pitch No. 3 (Week 10)

1. The video (posted above)
2. People generally liked my idea according to the feedback from last time. They liked how I was clear in planning out the app's goals as well as having a detailed explanation and a specific target market. The general feedback was that it was well-thought out and creative, for which I am grateful for.
3. This time around, the idea and pitch is different, for a creation of a different app, explained in the video above. I tried to stay consistent with the feedback and my goals were to have a clear outline of the app's goals, detailed reasoning of why it would work, incentivizing methods, and a speficic target method.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

Kuratko Chapter 10: Marketing Challenges for Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. In this week's reading, I was surprised pleasantly by the coverage of social media marketing. Digital marketing, which encompasses social media marketing, is something that I am currently doing an internship in. I was surprised that the traditional marketing approach, encompassing the 4 P's, was now starting to become outdated, and in social media marketing, more of an emphasis was placed on audience contribution.
2. One part of the reading that was confusing to me were the views of pricing in the pricing strategies section, when pricing is considered virtual. It is the easiest and quickest to change, when I always thought the concept worked the other way.
3. I would want to ask the authors these questions:
• What do you think is the best option for pricing in the social media age?
• What is your personal marketing philosophy?
4. I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this text.

What's My Secret Sauce? (Week 9)

1. Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. 
• Cross-Cultural Understanding
• Growing up in very different cultures has made me more aware of the cultural and societal differences that exist. I'm conscious of it when I travel and make an effort to adapt to that culture, rather than go against it, as it respects the travel place more. It also enables me to understand people's ways of thinking who are from different parts of the world.
• Being able to play an instrument
• I have been classically trained in piano for more than 10 years. Playing an instrument and learning a musical skill teaches and fosters dedication, endurance, perseverance, and hard-work.
• Staying in touch with my native-tongue language
• I moved to the United States when I was 7 years old, and picked up on english very fast. It's easy to forget the language that I was born into, which is Korean, but to the credit of my parents, they made me speak Korean at home. I additionally made a conscious effort by reading Korean books, watching Korean TV, and talking to relatives in Korea. In many ways, retaining the Korean language as helped me understand Korean culture more because the language embodies many cultural and societal aspects.
• Being able to contain my emotions and stay level-headed
• I have the skill to remain calm, cool, and collected in anxiety-driven situations. I do not let my emotions get the best of me and staying level-headed helps me think much more clearly to figure out a solution or get out of a tricky situation.
• Thinking about what matters everyday
• I have a deep appreciation and gratitude for little things everyday. This definitely uplifts my mood and motivated me to work harder as I enjoy the passage of life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
2. For most of the interviews, I used the index card method for interviewing, where I wrote down the specifics and details of this assignments than the questions on the index card. The interviews were carried on with audio recording, since my friends were more comfortable not being video-recorded. Not being video-recorded also made them more laidback and their answers came more freely.
   
   The first interview was with my roommate. She mentioned organization and life-skill preparation.The second interview was with a friend that I met through study abroad and we stayed very close through skype and other messaging apps, so I interviewed her through skype.

I had independence through traveling and was able to organize well, and was interested in being able to communicate with people.

I had a worldly background knowledge. I was better able to communicate with people.

I had very good emotional intelligence. I did not rely on anyone while traveling and was prepared.

3. I see myself eager to learn more and gain wider perspectives on life through means of travel. Others see me similarly in this attitude but also say that I have gained good interpersonal communication skills as a result. I think generally, my interviewees are correct about me but I'm still only 21 and have much more human capital to gain. I would not change anything from the list.

Idea Napkin No. 2 (Week 9)

1. My name is Jary Kim and I am a student at the University of Florida. I have professional skills and experience in interpersonal communication, social media, digital marketing, creativity, and time management. My non-professional interests are in cooking, exercising, and traveling. I aspire to work in a global marketing team of an international corporation or digital marketing in a smaller firm that caters to those corporations. I hope to relocate to New York City, Seoul, or London for work after I graduate.
2. Budget Buzz is an app that will help college students budget their spending. A lot of the customers (students) need help in managing their personal finances responsibly when they get to college. Whether it be allowance that is received from parents or personal money, with Budget Buzz, college students can organize their money into different spending categories, such as for Groceries, Dining Out, Leisurely Shopping, Going Out, Drinks, Savings. It will track their spending and their budget as well as how much they save. The app will pair up with local businesses in the collegetown so that when the students are successful in staying within their set budget, as well as saving, they can redeem coupons to spend at though local businesses. In Gainesville, we would want to target Lucky's, Karma Cream, 3 Natives, and etc.
3. I am offering this app to students in college, first and foremost, would be my school at the University of Florida. I would offer this app mostly towards incoming freshmen but it would also be a target for all years as well. Demographically, I would target this app towards students who had the comfort of their parents providing them with a set monthly allowance for their spending. It's usually those students who end up spending their money quickly through random purchases and frequent dining out, as well as blowing a big chunk of their money on a night out (buying drinks, food, etc.). I've found that these students often have to ask more money from their parents because of spending too quickly within the money. Students who have part-job jobs and pay for their own things through their own money they earned usually keep better track of their finances, which would not be the target market for this app.
4. For college students, especially incoming freshmen who are not accustomed to being own their own and dealing with a monthly allowance to budget, this app would be extremely beneficial in helping them manage their personal finances. With the app's logs, it's good to keep track of how much money you spend and what you spend it on, as seeing the transactions listed will help show if the student has been recklessly spending. It'll make students more thoughtful and tactful in spending their money, as well as teaching them the value of saving. These are life lessons and skills that students can't get inside a classroom.
5. My core competencies would be my personality traits that can connect to the target market for this app. As an outgoing and extroverted person, it's easy for me to meet new people, talk to them, get a sense of what they want and need, and have effective communication to obtain information. Another is that I thrive in challenging, fast-paced environments as it motivates to pursue a project and see to its end. It also ensures that I have strong time management and organizational skills.

From the feedback that I received on my previous idea napkin, which was a different app idea of Health Bite (healthy eating and reciped for college students - check out that blog post!) these are the main five points that I took away.

• I planned well.
• Beneficial to all the students targeted
• Good job at expressing my skills and interests to connect them with my ideas.
• App will encourage motivation
• Thinking it through

I incorporated those feedbacks into my idea napkin this time around because it helped me figure out how to create this Idea Napkin successfully, as the positive feedbacks encouraged me to have the same work ethic in providing this assignment.