22A- Elevator Pitch No.3

Link to third pitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbze5kRMoMg&feature=youtu.be

Reflection on feedback from last pitch:
I got some good feedback on what it is I need to improve in terms of my elevator pitch. One of the feedback was that my last pitch felt as if I were telling a story so I tried to change the format of my current pitch, this feedback I considered important. What surprised me in the feedback I received was the comment of my last feedback being too long, which I thought the pitch was at a decent length but I did shorten it to see if it works better. The feedback that I found rather silly was that I should keep my hands out of my pockets so I decided to ignore that one because that is how I feel more comfortable doing my pitches. Some insightful feedback was that if I were telling a story I wouldn't be able to get to my product faster so this contributed towards me shortening the video.

What I changed:
I made the pitch a bit shorter so that I could get my point across much faster and by that I mean I didn't go into every little detail as if I were telling a story other wise I'd be boring the audience. I also made sure to try to show a bit more energy and to still wear professional attire. Lastly I looked towards my previous pitches for inspirations on what I need to say because I pitched my product with a different script than the previous two. In terms of how I felt during the pitch, I felt okay in front of the camera, I was able to memorize my pitch faster, and I felt overall my third pitch came out okay.

21A- Reading Reflection No.2

1. What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• The general theme of the Mindset The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck was depending on the mindset you have it could prevent you from succeeding (fixed mind sets) or help you come back from your failures (growth mind set) and these two mindsets aren't just for business as well they can affect your personal life as well.
2. How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
• In my opinion connects with what I have been learning in ENT 3003 because in this book it talks about our mindsets and how it makes us who we are and dealing with things such as failure and success. Being an entrepreneur class we learn about how to start a business and the challenges we will face in the process. And since there are many ideas a future entrepreneur might have its good to know what kind of mindset will be best suited for that idea of theirs.
3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
• If I had to design an exercise for this class I would do something based on earlier in the reading of this book. What the exercise involve is thinking about a time you had a really bad day and after that was all written out, next write how you would cope directly with this kind of day if you were to experience something like this day again in the future.
4. What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
• The biggest surprise for me was in an earlier chapter it talks about how many famous people well known in their line of work like in the book it lists Ben Hogan a golfer and Geraldine Page an actress failed in some sort of way before becoming who they are in the future. This surprised me because even though I have some knowledge to this happening to people like Michael Jordan and Albert Einstein but to it being more common than I realize was rather surprising. I know when becoming famous or successful in some sort of way you will encounter some failure but I wasn't expecting failures where its more important in ones career than others. 

20A- Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

• Who are they and what their background is:
• Kent (won't say last name) is the director of a homeless shelter.
• Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot:
• Domain expert because they more or less are doing the business activity of directing the business like I would do.
• A description of how you found the person and contacted the person:
• Searching the internet and sending them an email.
• The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation:
• It was just a normal exchange of information, I sent them some questions about what it is they do and told them about the business idea I have for this class and he just replied back with his input. No favors were given since this was a hypothetical project.
• How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity:
• It could help me become more experience on the matter and it would be good to have some input from someone who has been doing this for far longer than I have.

Market Expert:

• Who are they and what their background is:
• Meagan (not using last name to protect identity) is someone who works at a nonprofit organization who wrote a piece on putting a stop to homelessness.
• Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot:
• I am placing them in the market expert slot because seeing as they wrote an article on the matter of homelessness, so I was thinking they might have more knowledge on this matter than I do.
• A description of how you found the person and contacted the person:
• I found them while searching the internet looking for someone that would fit the market slot and I contacted them through email.
• The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation:
• It was just a regular exchange nothing special, I merely asked them their opinion on the matter and they gave me their feedback as well as the new knowledge I could use. being someone I just met I didn't ask for any favors.
• How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity:
• Since she did research for her article I am thinking that she must have sources and connections for that information so with her in my network I could think of ways on how to better my services.

Industry Supplier:

• Who are they and what their background is:
• Jennifer (last name not shown for privacy) Management director for a facility that provides resource for people who are on the verge of becoming homeless.
• Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot:
• Industry supplier because being someone who works at a company that provides to the homeless I feel they could provide for my service idea as well.
• A description of how you found the person and contacted the person:
• Searching the internet and emailing them.
• The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation:
• A casual exchange of information I asked them questions on what it is they do and told them my idea and she gave me her feedback. There were no favors asked between us because we just met so there isn't any need for that sort of thing right now.
• How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity:
• It will provide resources to provide for my customers when needed.

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?

• It was a challenge having to find someone who knows about my topic of homelessness as if they were an expert. According to some feedback I received in my previous posts my targeted customers are in a very large group so it will be difficult to find something for every little aspect of the service.This experience might make it easier in future networking events if I know the names of people who could vouch for the service, but at the same time it could be difficult because I had a hard enough time just searching for people through the internet. I never really had any networking experience in the past but because I am someone who doesn't talk to people much even sending these important people emails was something rather big because I wasn't sure if they would pay enough attention to a college student. 

19A -Idea Napkin No.2

• You. Who are you.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?
• My name is Christopher Denegri as previously mentioned I am a UF student currently in my second year here. My talents include multitasking, organization, and having the ability to not be distracted by the things around me when I have something that needs to be done. My skills includes decision making and time management, as for my experiences I a small bit of experience of entrepreneurship. My aspirations are that I would like to improve upon on the world in any way I would be fine with that. If I were to start this business the role it would play in my life is that I will leave my mark on the world and might be there even in the future. 
• What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).
• What I am offering to customers is a service in the forms of two programs, one that gives temporary living space and the other gives assistance in finding a job for a homeless person that fits their skill set. These services will solve the unmet need of homelessness because it seems as if the amount of homeless people have been growing. These programs haven't changed much since I came up with this idea but there have been some improvements due to feedback I received from the interviews that I have taken such as choosing workers who won't treat the customers rudely and if it works get those same helped people to help out others homeless people who might be too proud to accept help.
• From the feedback I received from my last idea napkin I need to make sure that my services are suited to work for a large market such as this. Because there are many ways on how a person could end up homeless so my service should be able to support this amount of people in a stable way.
• 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?
• I am mainly offering this service to homeless people but to be more specific this includes people who have been laid off from work, people who have never found a job when first starting to live on their own, and people who become unable to pay the bills they need to pay due to low income of their current job and with possible loans or debts that need to be paid. What the customers all have in common is that they all end up homeless due to a certain factors in their lives. Not everyone experiences the same thing but there are some people in the world who are unlucky enough to have something that is mentioned earlier in this paragraph happen to them then they could end up on pathway to homelessness. The targeted customer also has to fall in the line of homelessness and not just very poor that you barely scrape in their everyday lives.
• 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.
• If some or a business were to get involved by funding this service they would care because if word gets around that this company is help fund this cause to help homeless people then they will receive good publicity and depending on what they do, might see better results in their income.
• I believe that my customers would use my service because seeing as they are in difficult situation I don't think they will have much options seeing as its either stay homeless or accept the help that is given to them and hopefully help them get back to a normal working life.
• What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?
• For my core competencies I would have to say my need to actually want to help these people would have to one of them. I think this sets me apart from others because these are people who I have no relation to whatsoever yet I still wish to do something about their predicament. I think what I have that others don't have is being passionate about this issue because I feel like this isn't a very thought of issue.
• 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.
• In regards to these five elements I think they work rather well together, I've improved upon many times in these passing months. The only thing I still think that might be weaker than the other elements would have to be the one on "why do they care". I think this because in my opinion I feel that humanity is by default selfish and only cares about themselves, so it might be difficult to find a business willing to fund this service to homeless people that to some people consider invisible. I am not saying that it is impossible just that it will be difficult because those could be the challenges I could be facing.
• Feedback Memo:
• I included the fact that the issue I am working on does revolve around a large market and that it won't be very simple to do. The reason being is that there several factors on why a person would end up homeless. In my last idea napkin post I got this point from the comment that was left.
• This time I included the core competencies that was in the feedback I received on my last idea napkin because last time I wasn't too sure what made me unique compared to everyone else in the world but with some guidance from the feedback I was able to be completely sure of myself.

18A- Create a Custom Avatar

      For my service that I am providing is mainly targeted towards homeless people and the support from it could be from businesses or companies who are willing to pay, but in regards of this assignment let me tell you the story of just one person to show who can be a possible customer for my service..
      It begins with a man living in the state of Ohio, he is 24 years old and is still fresh from graduating from the University of Akron with a bachelor's degree in accounting. On the weekdays he works as an accountant for some small company and he has the weekends off, his hobbies includes going out for early morning jogs, reading, and learning new cooking recipes. Currently he is living in an apartment by himself that was leased to him for two years and one kitchen, one bathroom, two bedrooms, and a small living room for him to relax at when he gets home from work. They drive a blue 2016 Chevrolet Cruze and he uses it sometimes during the week to get to work but on certain days the traffic tends to be bad he walks to work or takes the bus to avoid wasting gas money.
      Things however aren't as bright as they seem because during his time in college he needed to take out loans to help pay for his tuition and classes. And to this day he is still trying to pay of the college loans, with at the same time paying for apartment bills, and car bills. Even though he is in a way a person who graduated from college lets say a year ago if he doesn't figure out a way to pay off the loans and bills  he owes, he could be going towards not being able to pay his bills on time, become evicted from his apartment, could end up losing his job if he doesn't find someplace to live, lose his car, and becoming the definition of homeless.

What do I have in common with him? Well aside from us both being university students (he graduated though), we both have reading as a hobby, live in apartments, and another thing could be is that we both have something that we need to figure out in our lives.
Do I find this as coincidence? Not really because there are many people in the world who possibly have this in common with this man its not that uncommon.

17A- Elevator Pitch No.2

Link to my pitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEsTT46gC1w&feature=youtu.be

Reflection on Feedback from last pitch:
Based on the feedback I received about my last pitch, I received some minor details on what I could do to improve my pitch was to have some more confidence in my self which I did find important. The feedback that surprised me about my last pitch was that some people seemed to think I was reading my written pitch that wasn't shown on camera, however I more or less had it memorized so there was no need for me to read it, so I tried to look more at the camera for my next pitch. The feedback I felt was silly was the quality of camera I use should be using for my pitches, I found this silly because I am someone who doesn't use a camera frequently so even if did get a new camera I would rarely use it and it would just end up collecting dust. The most useful feedback I received was again on how having more confidence will improve the quality of my pitches.

What Changed:
I tried to add more enthusiasm and energy to my pitch to make it sound more engaging toward the audience and I tried to sound more confident on what it is I am trying to pitch. Also I felt that I spoke a bit longer than last time and lastly I tried to explain how the targeted customer will be convinced to use this service. So to conclude the main changes I did were giving my pitch more energy and to explain my service with more detail.

16A- What's Your Secret Sauce?

Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique:

1. Problem Solving- Whenever I run into a problem I can't help but think of a solution for it, even if the solution is theoretical or non-existent. I feel that most problems of the world have some sort of solution and they can't be impossible to solve.
2. Creativity- When thinking of a business opportunity I usually have to think creatively on what could be made a business out of. Usually this takes thinking outside my normal limits of thinking (or thinking outside the box to be frank).
3. Strategic Thinking- There are times where I can't rashly do something to get results, it is in those times that I need to think of a strategy to get the best results without any problems to have to deal with on the way.
4. Decision Making- I have known myself to make good decisions in my life that usually end up with positive results. So I feel when it comes to making a tough decision I know that I'll make the right choice.
5. Diligence- I am diligent when it comes to the important things that matter at the present and I don't put it off for something I would rather be doing instead.

Interviews:

• https://soundcloud.com/christopherdenegri809/16a-recording-1
• In this interview the interviewee talks about my problem solving skills. He also adds that when I use this skill I am able to solve problems rather quickly and well.
• https://soundcloud.com/christopherdenegri809/16a-recording-2
• In this recording the interviewee talks about how getting my work done on time is what makes me unique. He also mentions that I get the work done before it is due which could relate to my diligence characteristic.
• https://soundcloud.com/christopherdenegri809/16a-recording-3
• It is mention like the previous recording about my diligence towards certain aspects of my life. Mentioning that "I put of things I would rather be doing" is also adding towards how it shows that I am diligent.
• https://soundcloud.com/christopherdenegri809/16a-recording-4
• Mentioning I don't like to fail could be a characteristic I didn't put with my list. It also states I get back up from failure so if I were to choose a characteristic that this represents I would have to say perseverance. 
• https://soundcloud.com/christopherdenegri809/16a-recording-5
• Like the previous recording it talks about my strongest quality being to not let failure get in my way of success. This sound like perseverance and the same time with a bit of persistence.

Reflection:

I see myself as somebody whose responsible and does what is needed to be done in favor of other activities to some or most would sound more exciting. Regarding the feedback I got on my interviews the information obtained was rather similar to how I described myself, so I do feel that they are correct about me. I don't think I would make any corrections towards my list of characteristics but if I had to I could add persistent since my interviews did say I don't let failure get me down and no one in this world is perfect so I am sure everyone has felt failure at some point in their life.