16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. What is it about you, exactly, that makes you different? Write this up in a detailed list. 

• Driven
• Advisor person
• Dedicated
• Innovative
• Intelligence

2) Interview the five people who know you the best. Ask them what they think makes you different -- remember, focus on your knowledge, skills, abilities, emotions -- in other words, your human capital. Try to stay away from discussing your other types of capital (such as who you know). Record each interview. In your post, please post each interview, as well as a two-three sentence summary of each interview, explaining what your key takeaways are. There is no time limit on these recordings. As long as you cover the information asked for above, that's all you need to do. (Audio recordings are fine. You'll need to use a platform like Soundcloud to host your files.)

https://soundcloud.com/jane-perez-246192715/sets/secret-sauce

Isabella describes me as very creative and driven, putting 100% into what I do. She believes my greatest strength is my intelligence.

Mother describes me as empathetic for "my fellow man" as fight for social and political justice. She believes my greatest strength is my determination, but it is also my greatest weakness.

Sydney describes me with many words: debatey, salty, strong, smart, and powerful. She believes that my greatest strong though is loyalty.

Tina describes me as empathetic, seeing different angles and not being grounded in one perspective. She also calls me emotionally intelligent as I read and help the people around me.

Riley describes my tenaciousness, how I strive for great things and how I have a common drive to accomplish them. In the end though, she believes my greatest strength is being a great friend as I empathize and care for those around me.

3) Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you? Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? Do you think your interviewees are correct about you? Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How? 

People describe me as I see myself. I am very straight forward with who I am and I am not afarid to show people. These people are absolutely correct about me. If anything I would change my description of innovative to creative because they are so correct. They are similar words but I think creative is more fitting. 

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

1) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. Just like last time, these interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information. These three people may NOT be the same people you interviewed last time. 

2) Begin with alternative evaluation. In the last case exercise, you determined how customers sought information related to solving their need. The outcome of this step is to produce a set of alternatives. Customers pick from among this set of alternatives. In this step, your job is to figure out how they do their picking. Does price matter the most? Does quality? Does style? Is there more than one factor that is important to your customer segment?

4) Post-purchase evaluation. What matters most to your customers when they think back on the 'rightness' of the purchase? What helps them determine the purchase was a good idea? What sorts of things make them think a purchase was a bad idea? 

5) Report the findings. Simply summarize your interviews. 

By talking to Tyler, Sydney, and Emily, I have learned that all three are important. Of course, each have different priorities. Emily cares about quality, Sydney about price, and Tyler about style. Emily cares a lot about quality and to a lesser extent price and style. The price would have to be reasonable and she doesn't want an ugly microwave. To Sydney, she really cares about style and somewhat about quality. But her main concern is price. She's a college student on a budget. Tyler completely cares about style. He wants something sleek and modern to accentuate his kitchen. The quality should also be good. But if the quality and style is enough, he is willing to spend more money on the microwave.

3) How/where do they buy? Elements of the actual transaction can help characterize your segment. Is your segment more likely to buy online or in a store? Are they more likely to use cash or will they finance the purchase? Etc. If this is a B2B purchase, who's involved in the purchase decision? 

All of them are mostly purchases on amazon, especially during the pandemic. Emily would also check out Walmart and Target for the possible options. Tyler would also check out Brandsmart USA for electrics for his future apartment, including the microwave.

Their purchases will go on their credit or debit card. Cash is a thing of the past for Sydney. And even Tyler and Emily don't use it much anymore.

6) Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation? 

These interviews were very informative. I realized that consumers really want more than a good price for a silent microwave. While those are very important, it is also important to have a quality and a variety of styles for their very different tastes. Each person had their own style. Tyler would want modern, Sydney would want an artsy pop, and Emily a plain black or grey.

14A – Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?

After looking at the schedules of my classes, including this one, I came to understand the pattern of homework assignments. On Monday, I have a cupcake and reviews and Friday I have blog posts to create. Because of this, Sunday and Wednesday are my homework days in which I complete all my assignments.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

One Sunday, I had to go to storage to help my mother more things. Because of this, I was not able to do my homework during the day and when I got home, I was exhausted. The next morning I had to wake up at 5AM to complete my peer reviews and watch the videos for class. I did not want to get up. But somehow, I did. And that was the last time I saved the videos to watch altogether at the last minute. I learned to spread the videos out.

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

• Watch the videos through the week rather than all in one day.

• Take notes to keep your mind focused and to help you do well on the cupcakes.

• Make a schedule to keep track of the many assignments along with your other assignments from your other classes.

For this post, please include at least one image.

This is my cat, Nikola Tesla. He does homework with me. By that I mean, he sleeps while I do homework. It works for us.

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most? I was surprised by the diversity of Musk's entrepreneurial endeavors. I knew he started Tesla and SpaceX, but had no clue that his wealth began with Zip2 and PayPal.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I like that Musk puts time and money into green project even when they are not the most profitable innovation and projects like electric cars and solar panels.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? The fact that he condones slave labor. Some materials for his Tesla cars come from the Democratic Republic of Congo which allows child labor, something he is supporting financially. 
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? In the first two companies he started, he was replace with others as CEO and lost control. Since then, Musk has made sure to have complete control of his companies so that no one can take power away from him.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Musk is really able to adapt his ideas and expand them. Originally, SpaceX was suppose to send mice to space, but now his aspirations include building a new ecosystem on mars. He seems to be working up to this as he just sent astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time in decades.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. The beginning of the book tried to weave between the past and present. While it was somewhat understandable, it was poorly done in my opinion.

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

• What steps are in between your recent success with the International Space Station and the colonization of Mars?
• Can you not afford decent wages for your workers? Are you $12 billion poor?

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? Musk is no stranger to hard work. I think he believes in it much more than I do though. He spent days and nights at the office, and taught himself complex programming. I also work hard but this seems to be extreme. Undoubtedly the world is a better place with hard workers like this but I wouldn't want to aspire to it.

12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

1) Pick a segment. In class, we have discussed how you might intuit the existence of segments that might exist in your venture's market. For this exercise, you must pick one segment. 

I would focus on the demographic of college students and/or adults between the ages of 18-24 who are often moving into their own apartments and dorms.

2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. These interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information.

3) Begin with need awareness. In earlier exercises, you have identified an unmet need and developed a solution. If the person you are talking to does not have the same unmet, then you need to move on. You may not include this as one of your three interviews. If the person you are talking to does have the problem, then you're on the right track! For need awareness, we need to figure out at what times, situations, places, contexts, etc., their need becomes the most salient. The questions you ask should be related to determining exactly when, how, and where their need awareness occurs.

4) Move to information search. When the person you are interviewing becomes aware of their need, what is the very first thing they do to find a solution to their problem? What sources of information do they look for? When they search in Google, what are their search terms? Do they talk to friends and family.

5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.

Isabella Olivo is a 20 year old college student. She currently lives with her sister in an apartment near campus. Not only does Isabella struggle to quietly microwave her food while her sister is sleeping, she generally does not like to the sound microwaves make at any time of day. She opens the microwave one second before it goes off and clears the screen. She would definitely be willing to invest in a microwave with silent capabilities. Until there is actually one on the market though, she will continue her process of opening at the last second.

Gabriella Milazzo is a 20 year old college student currently staying in an apartment with three roommates. She likes to have midnight snacks a lot and the noise of the microwave is undesirable when she roommates are sleeping. Currently, her apartment is providing a microwave but her lease ends at the end of summer so it might need another microwave. This also makes me wonder about partnerships with living complexes in college towns that need a microwave in every apartment. Could this be another market?

Gabriel Perez is a 20 year old college student currently living with his parents. At the moment, he does not need a microwave. But when he does move into his own apartment with roommates, he definitely sees the advantage of having of having one and would be willing to spend money on it. He does ask if there will be interesting designs and/or colors rather than the usual silver or black. This posed another interesting question: would there be a demand or diverse designs.

6) Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of need awareness and information search?

I can definitely see the need that college students have. Mostly in apartments or dorms where the sounds of microwave can definitely disturb others. I am also seeing that the noise it makes is bothersome to quite a few people. This tells me that there could be a market outside of those living in with others in apartments. It's possible that people and families living by themselves or in homes would also buy this product. Not to mention the possibility of partnerships with apartment complexes and the idea to have designed microwaves.

11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I am someone very passionate about human rights and international politics. I want to go into foreign affairs to promote a humanitarian agenda for U.S. policy. Because of this, I would sell my business concept so I could focus on my work and use the money to travel and study the world.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

Current microwaves on the market are loud in every way: when you open the door, when you press the buttons, and especially when the timer is finished. My microwave has silent capabilities giving users the options to be silent.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

The majority of users would have roommates including those living in large cities or those in college. The demographic would be fairly young because of these living conditions. Another set of people would be those who have a personal preference of not hearing loud noises.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Because roommates share a living space, they also adjust to accommodate each other. This is difficult when they have different systems and sleeping schedules. Morning and evenings can be tricky if roommates sleep at different hours and this difficulty means that one may have to be quiet when accomplishing tasks. Microwaving a meal without waking your roommate is an almost impossible task if your quarters are close (unless they sleep like a brick). Likewise, a roommate who is using the microwave while you sleep is bothersome when they wake you. This is a common problem on both sides that many young adults would like to solve.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

Microwaves are obnoxiously loud, and in some cases, there is a reason like a beeping to call out. But more often than not, its unnecessary as you wait in the kitchen. Our microwave will have the capability of beeping and staying silent-- a feature that will be revolutionary.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

Because my demographic involves those with roommates, often times this means they have less money to spare as part of the younger demographic (who have already been burdened with a bad economy, astronomical student loans, and poor wages). To gain traction, the price of my microwave would have to be attractive and possibly the microwave itself might need a modern look. Otherwise, I think I have a strong platform to sell on. Often times, young people moving in to these new places, need new devices like a microwave so there would be a market.

10A – Elevator Pitch No. 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=030B5IhkIyk

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Who: Are there certain people or certain businesses that, although they share a lot in common with the others in your opportunity, nevertheless fall outside the boundary? Why?

My focus is on people living in apartment or dorms with roommates. People living in houses are less likely to have roommates who live in close enough proximity that others would hear a microwave and thus, have less of a need for a silent microwave.

What: At what point does the need you identified differ from another need? (Is thirst the same as hunger? Or is the desire to appear fashionable the same as the desire to be loved by others?)

Many people around the world use microwaves. My product is a design improvement that people can acquire for the same price of other microwaves with an added benefit.

Why: Is the underlying cause of the outsiders' need different than people who are inside the boundary?

This needs depends on the person's living conditions and personal noise preference.

In addition to the descriptions of what you find in the interviews, I'd like you to include a table with two columns and three rows:

Inside the boundary
Who is In

• Hannah
• Bianka
• Tinatin

What the Need Is:

• Hannah would like a microwave that does not wake up her roommates. She goes to sleep later than her roommates. They price would have to be reasonable.
• Bianka does not want a microwave making noise in general but the price of the microwave would have to be the same price as other microwaves or less expensive.
• Tinatin would need a silent microwave when she moves back to Gainesville for school but not right now because her kitchen is far away from he parents room. She remembers going to bed much later than her roommates and doubts that would change next year. 

Why the Need Exists:

• Close living quarters
• Sensitivity to loud noises that are deemed unnecessary

Outside the boundary
Who is Not:

• Riley
• Briana

What the Need Is Not

• The noise do not bother Riley or her roommates. So why buy a new microwave when she already has one?
• Briana's roommate left so she doesn't need it and when she moves, she'll be living by herself.

8A – Solving The Problem

Please provide enough detail regarding your (1) selected opportunity and (2) product/service so that we can fully understand what you intend to sell to your customers and so that we can provide sufficient feedback to you.

Due to my own personal experiences with roommates, I came up with the idea of a microwave with silent capabilities. This means that the user can microwave their food with the clanging sound of the door or the beeping of buttons or a timer. Upon conducting interviews, I realized just how strong the desire for this product is. Many college students have roommates living with them in close quarters and are either afraid to wake up their roommate or have in fact been waken up by their roommate with a microwave. Because of people's various schedules, the time for noise can be limited and microwaves are a loud source of noise when in use.