The Twenty Percent Make up the Eighty Percent

Who do they think their target customers are? 

I have three potential customer groups that we pursue to put our trip planning widget on their site or in a blog

CARE – Hospitals, hospice, nursing home, surgery centers, rehab centers, infertility clinics, prisons

EVENTS – Events (sporting, entertainment, charity, community, celebrity, family), event ticketing and registration companies

TOOLS – Media companies that have online listing services (Yelp, Foursquare, Yellow Pages), Sales Force Automation companies and Contact/Calendar providers (Google, Apple, etc.)

Where do they find their customers? 
I first look at the top 10 in each sector, then generally go after the 2, 3 or 4 (the #1 is generally too arrogant to think they need anything new).
What are their customer's demographics? 
Our B2B clients have at least 100,000 people that they reach each month, of which at least 10% of those need to travel to see them or attend their events.  Preferably we are getting what we call “enterprise” clients that reach thousands of target customers for us.
Customer side

• We put our widget on a hospital site to reach the friends and families of patients that need to come in from out of town.
• We put our widget into a software platform sold by FrontRunner to funeral homes, so that the friends and families of the deceased who come from out of town can find a hotel close by
• We are just contracting with UNATION (here in Tampa) to put our widget on every event on their site, so people attending can book a hotel room
• Any company that has people coming in to visit them (to interview for jobs, to try to sell to them, employees coming from another office/plant)

What kinds of media do their customers consume? 
Our customers are everywhere and consume a wide range of types of media (video, audio, images, narrative) on a wide range of channels.   We rely primarily on reaching them through LInkedIN versus social media.  But by showing our product on various social media channels, we can demonstrate to potential clients how we can help them.
What are their customers' problems? 
B2C – The client provides inefficient tools to the consumer http://saltlakecomiccon.com/hotel-information/  when with our system, the consumer would see this  http://hotelsbyevents.com/events/comicconslcfanxperience.html
How big, on a scale of 1-10, is this problem in their customers' lives? 
It generally only impacts 10% of a business or event’s customers, so it is low on their pain scale 
What are some of the bigger problems their customers are dealing with? 
The lack of resources to get our product implemented.  Our product literally only takes a few hours, but with some of our clients it has been a month since they signed our agreement.
Do their customers have a budget allocated to fix this problem?
No, but with our product, they don’t need a budget.  We actually share our revenues with our clients (10% with our B2B clients and another 10% for our Enterprise clients that power other businesses with their technology).  We also contribute 10% of our revenues to their charity of choice once per year.

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist. 
I did one customer and realized that although they have a very slim portion of their business B2C that this part is difficult to quantify if they understand their customers' problems because their revenue comes from B2B.

Week 8 Reading Reflection: I hate reading

1)    What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The funding chart was very interesting and stood out to me because of the description and financing options.

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

The venture capitalist development part was more confusing then it needed to be. The amount of deals and money it raised could have used more explanation.

3)    If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

What was the start of crowdsourcing? When was it first used and “invented”?

What way is the most common way to screen for Venture Capitalists?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I think that myth 2 is actually true they obviously want a return on their investment. They don’t want insane amounts on everything.

Half-way Reflection: Get Ready to be Destroyed

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

I would say the two biggest skills or behaviors I have used in this class thus far is scheduling and being proactive as well as focusing on time management.

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?

I really felt like giving up when you have to do the three interviews three weeks in a row. It's a lot to do week after week plus you WILL get denied almost without question and it gets annoying. I think those experiences have helped though at least as far as not being so nervous and just saying hello and being warm to people.

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' ?

I would start early and stay ahead like try to at least set up most activities early in the week instead of doing it all over the weekend. Second I would just get over any fears you have of talking to others or presenting. Get over it because thats the real world and this class no one cares if you fail its to grow so be bold. Finally just go for it, I did every exercise beside one but try to do it with less fear and more tenacity.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I found the table on page 125 to be very interesting. Just seeing how the different segments and ways they compile the information is very interesting.

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

The decision spectrum needed more specific examples then just definitions at least to me.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Why was the VALS introduced like who events happened to bring that upon?

How do you find out what works in advertising like give me examples?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

It seems to be that these authors think psychographics and demographics are too vague and don’t really work. They do work but they might need some tweaking.

Elevator Pitch No. 2: Talking into a camera again

A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. Describe what stood out to you as important, what feedback surprised you the most, what feedback you think was outright wrong or silly. 

I think that the feedback on explaining more slightly makes sense but it is just a short 1 minute pitch not a business plan pitch obviously ill go into more details. 

What did you change, based on the feedback?

The one thing I changed was that I need to specify how it helps consumers and business separately and maybe focus more on one.

Customer Interviews No. 3: Final attempt at Failure!

What questions do you intend on asking? Who are you going to ask? 
I intend on asking more specific questions on if this idea would be worth developing and I am going to ask a mix of random people, friends of friends, and one family member just to get a feel of different areas. 

Little aside unfortunately during the week for a family present we went to a concert and I lost my voice so I had some help asking the questions because my voice wasn't very easy to hear.

What do you expect to change as an outcome of these interviews?

I would say that I just need to work on fine tuning what makes us different then what is available now because once explained people believed it would be a good thing for the public to use.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

This quote was the biggest surprise I found in the article “Industry structure drives competition and profitability, not whether an industry produces a product or service, is emerging or mature, high or low tech, regulated or unregulated.” I thought coming into this that those all were slightly affected by that.

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

I found the whole factors not forces to be confusing as to some slightly overlapped.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

What is the difference between economies and benefits of scale? Needed more explanation.

When coming up with a strategy what is the most crucial piece of the puzzle to have?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

“Industry structure drives competition and profitability, not whether an industry produces a product or service, is emerging or mature, high or low tech, regulated or unregulated.” This quote as mentioned before I feel like isn’t totally correct because there are other factors going on.

Idea Napkin #1: Clean Up

1) Me.
My name is Garrett. Talents include organization, attention to detail, quick learner. I have worked for for multiple companies on short term basis and I am just graduating this year. If I started this business I would need to find someone who could help implement it for not a lot of money and find someone who has connections to the carriers. 
2) What am I offering to customers?
I am offering something that helps people save time in their day to day lives and makes it more convenient. Instead of spending time on the phone or internet or in the store rerouting packages or trying to set up when to pick up my product will be streamlining all of this in one location on your phone. 
3) Who am I offering it to?
I am offering this not to one specific demographic but to anyone who ships packages or business who ship packages as well. It is two fold in consumer and business applications. 
4) Why do they care?
On the customer/consumer side it saves them hassle and time by rerouting a package or getting updates as to where it is or where they left it. In business this helps streamline shipping and if its going B2B it is even more critical that they stay on time.
5) What are my core competencies? 
It is more of a core competency in the way that we will help streamline and shorten length times. We also deal with customer service so we help save the businesses like USPS, Fedex and UPS by saving them from paying more customer service providers.

I think that the idea itself is a very convenient one and would work well if I could get in front of the companies. The weakness is the coding aspect and trying to find someone to help me in that because that costs a lot of money.

Interviewing Customers No. 2: Failing some more

After your first round of interviews, what do you think, now? 
I think there is an opportunity to work with the carriers as long as the price isn't too high. 

Did you talk to the right customers last time? What did you do differently this time? How did you adjust your conceptualization of who your customers are? 
I asked more specific questions about what my solution would involve and customers would include anyone who ships things still.

Unfortunately one interviewee just wanted audio of her not video.

When you ship packages who do you use?

Usually USPS or UPS.

If they offered better customer service once something was shipped how valuable would that be to you?

It would be fairly valuable and I would appreciate it if it was offered.

Would you be willing to pay a few extra cents included in the shipping if that service was included?

Of course I would. I would pay slightly more if my packages don't get lost.

If this existed in an app form where every tracking number is stored and you can do everything necessary such as reroute and other things from it would you like that? And if so what price would you be willing to pay for the service or app?

I would love the convenience of an app and doing it mobile so I don't have to wait in the store. Also I would probably pay for it depending on the model like a subscription or one time payment. 

This week was very difficult between having an exam Tuesday it pouring all day Thursday and everyone was in a generally bad mood I got denied 5 times as much as last time. Also one person wasn't comfortable with the video so I just had to do audio. Last minute I was able to ask someone from my church Sunday but not record it so I just had to transcribe it above.



Please write three tips that you'd like to offer students in this class next semester about interviewing customers.
1) Don't be afraid to walk up to people.
2) If you start with a smile, greeting & I am a business student doing a project. 
3) Think outside the box on the questions to get better results.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise to me is the amounts of steps and things that go into the process. The amount you have to pre look at and look at during the process and after.

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

Obviously one very confusing thing if you’ve never done it is patent process for obtaining one. It’s just a lot of different things to take into account.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

When it comes to copyright and patents would you recommend going through a company who specializes in this or do it alone or with other people in your company?

When and what did the RULPA start for?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

The trademark pitfalls seem to be wrong. I wouldn’t necessarily trust my attorney without doing my own research or staying away from abbreviations.