Venture Concept No. 1

           Creating an app that teaches students how to study properly; A HUGE unmet need throughout the United States. In 2015 there was a statistic posted by Google that there are roughly 20.2 million students attending a college or university. Going into detail my app consists of different techniques to teach students how to study. What is so great about this is not only are there 20.2 million college students this can benefit, 3.3 million high school students projected to graduate this year that my app can also benefit.

            Through middle and high school one is never really taught how to study properly. There are no classes taught about it and students are just expected to know how, or teach themselves how too. My app will display guidelines on proper ways to study and when to properly take breaks. There are different techniques using color, sound, exercises and the list goes on and on. Not only do I plan on just teaching techniques in the app, but I also plan on creating personal study plans for specific large university classes, where thousands of students can benefit at the same time. With that, there are also different categories that I can use which include anything from math and science, to physics and chemistry.

            The list for classes and opportunities will never end, and I believe there will always be a demand to learn. I can also implement a membership for revenue and monthly users, and I can also market the different techniques to sell. My goal is also to connect students in each class and at their specific universities to help group studying be more efficient and useful. This opportunity will exist as long as the world continues to learn. I understand there are apps like this on the market which include study edge, tutoring zone, and smokin notes, however that is only at a few universities. My friends who I have called and spoken to this about at The University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Tulane, Indiana, University of Chicago and many others don’t have systems like this. And when asked they all agreed that they all wished they had a service that could maximize their time studying, and be more efficient in learning.

            I believe customer won’t have to switch to my app because there is nothing like this on the market. Everyone who I have spoken to love the idea and wished that I will make it happen. There are a few competitors at universities, but with this less expensive alternative, how could one pass up saving hours of studying and learning even more information. I would need a team of engineers to help me turn this idea into a reality. I would need a customer service base for if the app has problems at the start, and I would need accountants and service managers to manage the memberships and store that could be integrated into the app. I would want to minimize the amount of employees so maximize the capital earned, however the money isn’t why I want to create the app. Mainly for personal reasons and learning that I spend so many hours in the library not even knowing if I am studying correctly had me frustrated.

            I want to be able to help the world become smarter, and more efficient so that we as a nation can be more productive and better off. I believe my most important resource will be the effectiveness of the students using the app and then spreading it by word of mouth. I can monopolize the market because there isn’t anything to compete with. My plan is that competitors will want to copy my idea, but I am open to working with other companies and if that doesn’t happen, then I wont have a problem getting capital to make sure competitors wont copy my idea. Right now I don’t have any customers because I haven’t even started the process of finding an engineer and creating the app, and turning it into a reality, but I want to pitch it to a company that can help me do that.

            If launched, 5 years from now I plan on being the CEO of the company and expanding into future concepts that await my brain. Truthfully, I want to help students better themselves, and I am not trying to make millions off of this. I believe it is a multimillion-dollar idea and the money will come, but for students to save time, and better themselves was my goal from the beginning

Amazon Whisperer

Some revenue drivers that I currently have are:
1.) Students can purchase different studying packages and ways to interact with other students
2.) Students can purchase memberships to the app
3.) students can purchase individual lessons for studying
4.) Students can purchase individual classes for studying

-The next product I want to deliver to my customers includes a more interactive portion to the app. Connecting students with past professors, professional tutors, other students, and their own classmates.
-I believe this will enhance my customer service because it is giving students a multitude of ways to learn and expand their studying techniques.
-I went to amazon and a similar product may include something like rosetta stone, trying to teach students a new language, but with different techniques and different lessons.
-The customer reviews are pretty good, especially because they are one of the leading brands for teaching people how to learn a new language. Some people seem to live the product while others seem to hate it, and have returned it. I guess to me it seemed like a hit or miss situation with it.
-I think I would add a better user interface for people to learn the language in a more fluent and realistic environment.
-I think this product would be a great extension, because adding a language to my service would expand my product into a much larger customer base.

Week 11 reading Reflection

I thought this week's ready was a lot better than the usual weeks readings because I find the book to be extremely boring to read. The biggest surprise in the reading was how right the author was in talking about an innovation strategy. More companies need to expand and come up with better ideas to get a larger following and more success within their business. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the innovation landscape map. To be honest I have no clue what it meant nor what it means. If I could ask two questions to the author they would be 1. What is the best way to reach out to customers? 2. What innovation ideas have not been tried yet? I dont think the author was not wrong about anything because his article was posted in the Harvard Business Review, and they seem to have a very good reputation.

Growing Your Social Capital

I am going to take the loss on this assignment like any others but I want to share my feelings about it. I find it extremely unfair that each week we need to go out and find people to interview. I understand how this can help but in my situation with torn ligaments in both legs and nerve damage called CRPS in both legs I am unable to go out and do these assignments. I did all the extra credit and I spoke to professor Pryor multiple times, but he is very un-accommodating. I would like to grow my social capital and do these assignments but I physically can not do that. Unfortunately there are no alternative ways I can make up these points and I think that is a huge flaw in the class. Yes I have completed all the yellowdig extra credit and the extra credit he gives out, but it is still hurting my grade a lot. What I have taken away from this class and assignments is that life is unfair, and you can't count on others to be there when you need them the most. Life is tough but so is growing a business. One must keep persevering,

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1.) The biggest surprise in the reading this week would be the operating budget. I never realized there was an equation to operating a budget and the amount of work it takes to do so.

2.) The entire reading was actually confusing to me. I am not familiar with most of the terminology and this is my first semester taking business classes. One specific concept that confuses me could be credible financials.

3.) If I could ask two questions to the author they would include: 1. What would you add to the book if you could add more concepts. 2. What are your current investments.

4.) I dont disagree with the author because I can't argue any of his points because they confuse me.

5.) I think these questions should be changed up each week, they are the same and they confuse me each time I do the readings and try to answer the questions.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1.) I dont think I had a big surprise in this reading because I never had a baseline knowledge of the text or the concepts that the book is trying to teach. What I found interesting or useful would include the marketing tools and approaches it teaches.
2.) There were many parts of the reading that confused me, but one that stood out the most would be current market research. I would have no clue where to even begin studies for that.
3.) If I could ask two questions to the author they would include:
     - What is the most effective way in spreading the word about a business or company?
     - What are you currently working on as an entrepreneur smart enough to write a college textbook?
4.) I dont think I could disagree with the author because I would not be able to back up my statements with factual support.

Napkin No. 2

1. My name is Michael, from Michigan. I am a motivated student and my best subjects are math and science. I aspire to be the best I can be, with school, friends and family.

2. I am offering a service that shows techniques on how to study properly, and then one can apply those techniques to any class. We will also be teaching students on how to take tests and exams to maximize their potential outcomes.

3. My service is directed towards college students mostly but our secondary target will be high schoolers and then any type of learner looking to better their skills in studying and taking exams.

4. I would imagine that students want to do the best they can, so with this service it can help them maximize that.

5. My core competencies are communication and leadership. I want to lead this business, using my communication skills to gain connections and make this app profitable.

I believe these competencies fit together well and I hope that I can get this business started. I need capital and programmers before I can consider making this app. I also think moving from Michigan has allowed me to make contacts in multiple states that could help with building the business and app. Feedback from everyone I have interviewed and talked to said they would use this app, because school never teaches kids the right way to study or take exams.