30. Final Reflection

The most formative experience for me was doing the elevator pitches and improving them through the feedback that we receive through our blog posts. I learned a lot from these exercises, the main takeaway is that starting a task even if you haven’t completely planned it out in your head can be better than trying to plan out the whole pitch. For example, I was having issues surpassing the time requirement on the first pitch, I couldn’t think of what else to say, but as soon as I started speaking I began to come up with more topics to cover in my venture proposal putting me over the required time. I can definitely identify with the entrepreneur mindset and consider myself one, having gone through some of the steps that come with the creation of an idea and the implementation of it. My biggest recommendation for future course takers is to schedule the time you spend on the class and not over plan certain assignments, sometimes it's best to just start it. The quote “Plans are nothing, planning is everything”, especially stuck out to me during this course and to me exemplifies this mindset. The path to success isn’t linear, but the goal can always be in sight.

29. Venture Concept No. 2

My venture will focus on is the availability of clean water for drinking or other use as many locations around the world have begun or have announced that they may experience restrictions in the availability of water. One way that the solution to this problem could go is through the production of cheaper and more efficient desalination processes in order to utilize seawater or other sources of saltwater for public use. The product would gather water from various different sources such as seawater, lake water, and process the water to be prepared for daily use. The product will primarily be used as a secondary measure in the event that water availability becomes scarce. Another route that water cleansing could follow is by focusing on the recyclability of wastewater. By focusing on this route many countries would be able to become self-sustaining rather than depend on imports which could fluctuate and result in a dependent country on one of, if not the most, important resources in modern society.

Essentially, as stated before, as the population increases demand for water increases as well. Therefore, improvements in the water industry must be made, which is where our opportunity arises. The market would be all over the world, I would focus primarily on modern countries to begin with such as North American countries. The industry would primarily focus on targeting governments of cities and countries so that they can fulfill the needs of their citizens. As people all over the world need water this is a worldwide opportunity and as populations increase and the availability of water remains the same demand for my service will increase. I envision allowing countries the option to be completely sustainable off of their own sources of water rather than depending on importing the majority of their water from outside sources.

Change:
I did not receive much feedback when I initially proposed my venture concept. Through the course of the class, however, I did include the use of desalination as a concept to focus on the creation of clean water.

28. Your Exit Strategy

After five years I intend to sell the company for a large return. When I envision myself in the future I don’t have a clear path. I many fields in academia and wish on using them in various industries and sectors to create solutions for problems. I would love to create multiple companies over my lifetime and learn from every single one creating a better one every time. I don’t wish to tie myself to a singular company. I don’t want to have a profession in one field I want to have a profession of ideas and creativity looking for problems and crafting solutions no one has thought of before. As a result, when I craft decision in my concept that is mostly solution-oriented and rather short term, I have not thought about my solutions with me being there to guide them in ten years time. My growth intentions and resource management have stayed rather similar however, I typically view my ideas in 1 to 2-year increments wanting to have flexibility within my company. As soon as my company garners attention from outside investors who wish to take the reigns if the time is right, I will gladly sell.

27. Reading Reflction No. 3

Book: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The part that surprised me the most about Steve jobs is that I had not known that he was fired from Apple in 1985. Instead of sitting back he decided to start new ventures, NeXT and Pixar. Pixar giving him the highest return on investment actually being the investment that turned him into a billionaire, not Apple. I admired his tenacity to decide to move on from the company he built. Steve Jobs encountered adversity but did not let that hinder his path to success. If I could ask Steve Jobs, I would ask him about what other people thought about the skills which he possesses, which others coined the Reality Distortion Field. I would ask for a thought process which he goes through when utilizing this skill. Is it an active thought or just a way of thinking which he does passively, almost as an instinct, and if so how did he come to this way of thinking. No part of the biography confused me, I found interesting all the things that Steve Jobs had accomplished which I wasn’t aware of. His creativity and perseverance is a guiding example that many people should learn something from.

26. Celebrating Failure

The activity in which I experience the most failure is cooking. I was forced to learn how to cook as soon as I came to college. My first time cooking in my dorm, I activated the fire alarm, because I overcooked the chicken. With time, however, I realized the mistakes I was making and adjusted my techniques and preparation to improve the final outcome while simultaneously saving time cooking. Through this, I learned that no matter how many times you fail, you can either stop and never reap from your benefits or you can try again until you succeed. In the case of cooking, I used each failure as a learning experience and decided to keep trying until I succeeded, this was mostly motivated by my need to eat. From this, I learned that most success comes from trials and tribulation when you want to succeed at something that is a worthy accomplishment you have to prepare for failure and acknowledge that success will not come unless you keep trying. I try to implement this in the majority of skills that I try to improve from programming to cooking and from sports to video games. Failure will breed success if you aren’t afraid to try.

24. Venture Concept No. 1

My venture will focus on is the availability of clean water for drinking or other use as many locations around the world have begun or have announced that they may experience restrictions in the availability of water. One way that the solution to this problem could go is through the production of cheaper and more efficient desalination processes in order to utilize seawater or other sources of saltwater for public use. The product would gather water from various different sources such as seawater, lake water, and process the water to be prepared for daily use. The product will primarily be used as a secondary measure in the event that water availability becomes scarce. Another route that water cleansing could follow is by focusing on the recyclability of wastewater. By focusing on this route many countries would be able to become self-sustaining rather than depend on imports which could fluctuate and result in a dependent country on one of, if not the most, important resource in modern society.

Essentially, as stated before, as the population increases demand for water increases as well. Therefore, improvements in the water industry must be made, which is where our opportunity arises. The market would be all over the world, I would focus primarily on modern countries to begin with such as North American countries. The industry would primarily focus on targeting governments of cities and countries so that they can fulfill the needs of their citizens. As people all over the world need water this is a worldwide opportunity and as populations increase and the availability of water remains the same demand for my service will increase. I envision allowing countries the option to be completely sustainable off of their own sources of water rather than depending on importing the majority of their water from outside sources.

23. Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources:

I have access to human capital in the form of connections in the construction industry as well as someone who works with drainage systems.(knowledge of construction is valuable,not rare, not inimitable, other workers exist, could be substituted by others)

Access to modern discovery within the industry(discoveries are valuable as they propel progress, rare within the industry, valuable, but not inimitable.)

Will create a team dedicated to finding new discoveries to patent and improve facilities(valuable, rare, and inimitable while the patent lasts, non-substitutable)

Ability to create facilities from scratch rather than incorporate into already existing facilities(valuable because I won’t be restricted by past infrastructure,not rare, non-inimitable as others could start as well, not substitutable)

Future ability to recycle forms of water such as urine(valuable as it will increase recyclable forms of water, rare as many facilities don’t have this capability, non-inimitable, non-substitutable)

My most valuable resource will be the team I will create in order to discover further techniques to recycle forms of wastewater.