14A – Halfway Reflection

1) I learned to not only work ahead, but also plan out my work ahead of time, so that it would be easier for me to go back and just edit and complete what was missing. This really allowed me to stay on top of all the assignments due in this class and not feel too overwhelmed. Prior to this class, I did not feel confident enough to go up to random people and interview them about my entrepreneurship idea. However, having to do this for this class, really sharpened this skill and I can say that I now know how to professionally approach someone and ask them the right questions that would evoke the most noteworthy answers.

2) Out of all the assignments so far, I feel like I struggled the most with my Bug List. There was a moment where I thought I could not come up with the last 5 bugs and was just about to give up and ask others what they thought I should write. But after taking a little break, and then returning to the assignment, I was able to write out the rest of the bugs almost instantly. This showed me that sometimes you really just need to take a break and experience the different perspectives that life has to offer before you can continue to work on anything else.

3) Work ahead on the assignments and don't just try to crank it out all in one go. If you start a little bit of an assignment one day, you can go back and edit it the next day. Your best ideas will come out if you've given yourself a few moments to sit and think about it.

Really try to put the effort into those interviews. Plan a few questions ahead of time, then allow the conversation to take its course. Do this by asking questions that are thought-provoking and don't require just simple, one-word responses.

Start going out of your comfort zone and talking to larger crowds than what you are normally comfortable with. This will really help you when it comes time to conduct your interviews and deliver your elevator pitch.

Two more months till graduation :'(

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

The Wright Brothers, David McCullough

1) About the entrepreneurs:

• I was most surprised at the fact that the Wright Brothers received very little attention and fame even during their most groundbreaking discoveries. This was due to the Wright Brothers intentionally avoiding the limelight whenever possible, this was not something I would expect from people that created such a life-changing invention.
• I admired the Wright Brothers' determination the most out of everything. They were continuously mocked and laughed at, even called "bluffers," yet they did not let the doubt of the public get to them. They worked long and hard to show the world what they were capable of and with their innovative discovery, they helped change the world forever.
• To me, there wasn't much to dislike about the brothers after reading about their lives. The only thing that I could possibly think of is the fact that the Wright Brothers worked in harsh conditions and did not really allow themselves to participate in any other "fun" activities, which I think they really deserved to do.
• There were several occasions during which the Wright Brothers experienced mechanical failures, specifically when the brothers were attempting to follow the findings of other aviators. The brothers later learned that they could not follow those previous findings, so they decided that the best way to go about this was to conduct their own experiments and make their own findings. This would eventually lead to their successful innovation.

2) The Wright Brothers were extremely competent at working with their hands. They were mechanics in addition to their aviator jobs. They often repaired bicycles prior to their innovation. This allowed them to develop a great skill at constructing and putting things together with their bare hands.

3) Something confusing to me was that the Wright Brothers really struggled to sell flyers, which I don't really understand why this was an issue when they had so many potential buyers that seemed interested.

4) I would like to ask the Wright Brothers these questions: "How many crashes have you guys experienced?" and "When did you come up with the first thought of creating the airplane and what influenced it?"

5) The Wright Brothers worked extremely hard to make their ultimate discovery. They had several failures, yet continued to work tirelessly. So I would think they definitely valued hard work. This goes along with my beliefs and work ethic, because just like the Wright Brothers, I too have one big goal in mind and I am trying to work as hard as I can to reach it, despite the frequent mishaps.

12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

My Segment:
For my interviews, I chose three students at UF that shopped at the grocery store at least once a week.

My Findings:
From my first two interviews, my interviewees expressed that they find themselves often complaining about the length of checkout lines and the time. They even expressed that there are times where they forego getting what they came to the grocery store for as soon as they see how long the lines are. They stated that they could benefit from shorter wait times in checkout lines as they could be spending that time studying, going to the gym, or just hanging out with friends. So they expressed that my business idea was something they wished to see in grocery stores. My last interviewee expressed that he did not really find an issue with the current state of the checkout lines, as he rarely went grocery shopping and instead buys most of his meals out. Because of this specific finding, I may have to analyze the customer demographics a bit more and incorporate my business idea accordingly.

My Conclusions:
From my findings, I can conclude that my business idea would actually benefit customers that frequently shop at grocery stores. I may have to adjust this product availability based off customer demographics and also analyze the times of the day and year for which this product might actually be the most beneficial. After these adjustments, this product can have the potential to be very successful.

11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1) I am a senior at the University of Florida, graduating this spring. I am a Biology major on the pre-med track and I hope to eventually become a physician, for which I will be applying to medical school this summer. Next year, I will be spending my gap year at home in South Florida working and doing research. I hope that my business idea to speed up the checkout process at grocery store might make the process a little more convenient for me and allow me to focus my time in other important tasks, such as studying.

2) I plan to have cashiers posted with smartphones that are equipped with scanning and paying ability. This will minimize the time spent in checkout lines.

3) My customers will be college students and working adults especially parents (male or female), because these are the customers that I encountered that go grocery shopping and often complain about the long checkout lines.

4) Customers find this product of mine valuable, because it will save them a lot of time in the grocery store and allow them to spend time doing other tasks in their busy schedule.

5) This solution can help to tackle two issues at once, which not many can do. It not only minimizes the time spent at the grocery store, but also minimizes some of our plastic waste by encouraging customer to not bag certain items.

10A – Elevator Pitch No. 1

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1B7MycCILogPaasdT1jTs4Te7JTHyyHFL

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Who: After conducting my interviews, I have found that my solution to putting an end to long wait times in checkout lanes can really only be implemented during peak times of the day and year. This means that more cashiers will be staffed during each shift and equipped with smartphones with scanning and paying ability only during peak hours of the day, during the weekends, and during holidays. Those that I interviewed all agreed that this could solve the issue with long-checkout lanes. The individuals that I interviewed that are or have been cashiers at retail stores have expressed that this could eliminate the long lines and also allow companies to schedule more cashiers when actually needed. Some people that I interviewed expressed that this solution might actually frustrate the customers that want to bag some of their items, as they would have to wait to get to the front for them to be bagged.
What: The current and past cashiers that I interviewed have expressed to me that bagging is what can make the checkout process longer than it needs to be. So by having only some of the items be bagged, we can reduce our plastic waste and have shorter checkout lines. This differs from stores that do not bag any of your items at all and stores that bag absolutely everything.
Why: If stores do not implement this solution, then it may be because they do not have the resources to invest in the technology, the funds needed to pay additional cashiers, or they simply are not busy enough.

            Inside the Boundary:                              Outside the Boundary:
Who: Busy retail stores (Walmart)                 Companies that do not have enough
                                                                            capital to invest in this solution

What: Can reduce wait times in                         Can make the wait time longer
           checkout lanes and make them            for customers wanting items bagged.
                            shorter.       

Why: Retail stores are not staffing                Some stores are not busy enough to be
          enough cashiers during shifts             staffing more cashiers, making it unprofitable
          creating long checkout lines and                    to add them to the payroll.
                        wait times.         

8A – Solving The Problem

1) The opportunity that I am attempting to exploit is the checkout lanes at grocery stores. The checkout process has become really inefficient and time-consuming. This is due to too few cashiers being scheduled at a time. As a result, only a few checkout lanes are open and available for customers to access. Many stores have implemented self-checkout registers, however, these machines often malfunction and require employee assistance. In addition, these registers are only efficient if customers have less than 10 items and is not meant for a large grocery haul. Frustrated customers are demanding that this checkout process be changed and improved.

2) The product that I am hoping to implement to solve this issue is smartphone scanners.

Employees of grocery stores would be equipped with smartphones that have scanning and paying abilities (via car). This would be in addition to the existing self-checkout lines and cashier lanes. Similar to the Chick-fil-A drive thru, there would be 1 or 2 floating cashiers for each lane that would essentially just go through and check out card-paying customers using a smartphone provided to them by the company. And once the customer gets to the front of the lane, the items that need bagging or boxing will be brought to the cashier at the register and they will bag them. If implemented, this product will speed up the checkout process and keep customers a lot happier.