Assignment 9- Testing the Hypothesis Pt 2

The interviews:
For my interviews I found five people who like eating healthy, but do not care about finding the best deal on produce. I found that the people who fall outside the boundary are often people that are loyal to one specific store and only shop at the one place. The people I found care about finding good deals, but are not willing to go to another store to find them. Some other people I interviewed were shoppers who aren't concerned with eating healthy, they're just shopping. Most of these people said they would use the proposed app to compare the prices of other food items in the store that aren't listed online (meat, dairy, bakery, etc). These people that I found didn't seem to share that same brand loyalty as the people who are specifically shopping for produce and healthier eating options.

These interviews made me realize I need to expand the items that the app compares prices for. It needs to be more than produce for people to use and pay for the app. Just shopping for produce isn't enough for people to use the app.

Inside the boundary:

• WHO: People who are shopping and looking for the best deal, bargain shoppers
• WHAT: One place where you can compare the prices of food in your local area (those not listed online like meat, produce, and the bakery)
• WHY: It is difficult to know what to buy at certain stores

Outside the boundary:

• WHO: Loyal brand customers
• WHAT: To compare prices of non-food items because they are listed online

Assignment 8- Solving the Problem

The opportunity: People pursuing a healthy lifestyle are unable to easily and effectively find the best deals on produce in their area.

My solution is an app (yeah, I know apps are kinda frowned upon) that compares the produce prices and deals at each store in your area (Publix, Target, Walmart, etc.) much like Hotels.com compares hotel prices in a given area. The revenue drivers would be advertisements and premium accounts. The app can promote certain deals at local stores (ads for them) and then if people upgrade their account they can lose the ads and gain functionality. A subscription model may be worth exploring also.

Assignment 7- Testing the Hypothesis

The opportunity: People pursuing a healthy lifestyle are unable to easily and effectively find the best deals on produce in their area.

• The who: People who eat healthy (vegetarian, vegan, healthy lifestyle, buy produce in general)
• The what: They are unable to easily and effectively find the best prices for their local produce (Publix, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's)
• The why: The prices and deals offered on produce at stores varies greatly depending on the date and inventory. Each store has different deals and prices and there is not an easy way to compare all the stores at once.

My proposed solution is an app that compares the local produce prices around you to find you the best deal.

The interviews: Over the course of my five interviews I learned a few things

• People say they would shop at different local stores if they found a better deal
• People say they would pay up to $5 for a premium app or $1 a month subscription for premium app features (yet to be determined)
• I found that people have the same problem as me and are frustrated when they find cheaper produce at another store after they had already bought the produce

Assignment 6- Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Economic Trends:

Millennial Eating Habits

• According to an article that I read by Business Insider, millennial eating habits are far different from the baby boomer generation and these differences are leading to lots of restaurants either closing or adapting to their habits. The article suggests that millennials prefer quick, on the go food that is typically healthier than normal fast food (ex. Chipotle). There is also a shift in what type of restaurants millennials prefer. Millennials prefer event based restaurants like Dave & Busters and are drifting from the normal sit down restaurant setting (ex. Applebee's). This leads me to believe that an opportunity might exist to provide a faster healthy food alternative or maybe one that delivers. There could also be opportunity for a restaurant that is more event oriented like D&B. The prototypical customers are millennials and the younger generation, Gen Z. I believe that this opportunity would be difficult to exploit primarily because the restaurant and bar industry is full of competition. I saw this opportunity because I am a millennial and I personally would like more healthy options that are as easily accessible as McDonald's.

Electric Cars

• I was reading an article by Motor Trend that was discussing the expansion of the electric car industry and how more and more people are switching to driving electric. I think there could be an opportunity in the installation of domestic car charging stations. As electric cars are becoming more prevalent in society, there is going to be an emerging need for home car charging stations. I think a company that will show up and install a charging station for you (much like the home theatre installers of the past) would do really well. The target consumer is people that have electric cars or are considering purchasing electric cars. I think that this would be slightly difficult to exploit, but not as hard as the restaurant industry. I don't think that there would be much competition in the space, I thin the trouble would come with trying to get your foot in the door and get ahold of the charging stations to install.  I think that I saw this opportunity because I have seen lots of charging stations in public and have just wondered who installs the home or private business stations. I just kinda think this would be a cool opportunity to pursue.

Regulatory Changes:

Legalization of Marijuana

• An article by USA Today discussed the growing acceptance of marijuana smoking in the United States. The article predicted that within the next few years marijuana will be legalized in the states and eventually the federal government will follow suit. There is a huge opportunity for marijuana dispensaries and bakeries in these states that are going to soon legalize weed. The prototypical customer would be pot smokers and those that use marijuana for medicinal purposes. I think this would be a relatively easy exploit if you had the capital to pursue it. If you were able to acquire a license to dispense and then set up a dispensary, you would have very little competition if you were the first in some of these states that are going to legalize weed. I saw this opportunity probably because of my fascination with the shows Weeds and Breaking Bad. I think that weed should absolutely be legal even though I don't smoke it. I am libertarian and firmly believe that marijuana should be legal (among other drugs, but that's a whole other issue).

Ending Net Neutrality

• Net Neutrality is explained in depth in an article by CNET. This article in addition to the press and media coverage of net neutrality made me think of new opportunities. With the deregulation of the internet there is an opportunity for new, independent ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to emerge and offer better, lower rates to consumers. This is much like when cell phone plans became deregulated a few years back. When cell phones became deregulated, new providers emerged and started offering better deals with unlimited data and just better plans all around. The customer for this opportunity is everyone in the U.S. that wants good, reliable internet for a good price (basically everybody). This opportunity would be very difficult to pursue because you would have to know how start up an ISP and then compete with the big boys like Comcast. Your business would come from offering lower rates than the big ISPs.
• I see this opportunity because of my political beliefs. As a libertarian I was very pro ending net neutrality so this opportunity aligns with my beliefs nicely.

Assignment 5- Identifying Local Opportunities

The Gainesville Sun

1.

• Title: University of Florida grads will walk a smaller stage, upsetting some
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/sports/20180910/university-of-florida-grads-will-walk-smaller-stage-upsetting-some
• The Story: UF has decided to prohibit students from walking across the large stage at graduation and the students are upset because they want recognition.
• The Problem: UF won't allow students to be recognized in a large graduation ceremony like they have in the past.
• The Who: UF students, especially seniors

2.

• Title: 2 Starbucks shops under construction in Gainesville
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20180912/2-starbucks-shops-under-construction-in-gainesville
• The Story: 2 new Starbucks coffee shops are opening in Gainesville soon.
• The Problem: Local, non-chain coffee shops have more competition coming to town. Starbucks is a familiar chain and more locations could impact the businesses. 
• The Who: Local, non-chain coffee shops

3.

• Title: Man accused of entering unlocked vehicles
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20180826/man-accused-of-entering-unlocked-vehicles
• The Story: A man was arrested for breaking into people's unlocked vehicles and attempting to open several.
• The Problem: People leave their car unlocked and leave themselves susceptible to being robbed.
• The Who: People who drive.

4.

• Title: Alligator attacks on the rise
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20180902/alligator-attacks-on-rise
• The Story: Alligator attacks on people and animals have been increasing steadily and are becoming more of a danger.
• The Problem: Alligators are attacking fools.
• The Who: Everyone. Literally everyone in Florida.

5.

• Title: Gun on campus investigation continues at BHS
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20180906/gun-on-campus-investigation-continues-at-bhs
• The Story: At a local high school a girl brought a gun to school and threatened to shoot another girl.
• The Problem: Security at the high school level is low and needs to be improved to help protect students. The other problem is mental illness, people are not getting the help that they need and it is leading to school shootings and almost shootings like at BHS.
• The Who: Students, faculty, and staff at schools. 

Assignment 4- Forming an Opportunity Belief

1. I believe that an opportunity exists relating to college dorm room keys. College students must have three room keys at all times to get into their building, hall, room, and mailbox.
2. College students (at UF specifically) want one, universal key to get them into everything that they need. This is a relatively new development because the key fob style entry isn't that old of a technology. I am like 80% sure this opportunity exists. I suggest a college ID with a built in fob that can open the building, hallway, dorm room, and even the mailbox in addition to all the other functions of the ID.
3. College campuses are the prototypical customers, but college students and faculty would be the users.
4. So I talked to a student and they said it would be much easier to use one universal key fob for everything. They discover the need when they are going out to downtown or midtown. They don't want to take their keys with them because they already have to take their phone and wallet. They have a fear of losing the keys. To currently address the need they give their keys to someone with pockets in the group so one person is kinda burdened with everyone else's keys. They liked my solution because they already have to carry their ID everywhere and it would make their life easier.
5. Another student added input about the possibility about losing their ID and then also losing their dorm key. My rebuttal to this is that you can lose your keys or ID anyways, having it all in one place doesn't increase those odds, but actually lowers the odds of losing it because you are able to be more protective of one item as opposed to four. An interesting suggestion from them was to incorporate tracking technology into the ID like Tile so that you can track your ID from your phone if you lose it. 
6. My final interview was with a student who was especially happy about the prospect of a key fob controlled mailbox. They stated that they hate their mail keys and mailbox because they are difficult to open and the mail keys get bent out of shape easily. They agreed that having one key for everything would make life better and simplify getting into their dorm.
7. Reflection: I learned through my interviews that people agreed with me. One interesting suggestion that I got was the idea of an app that can unlock the fob sensors instead of using the ID. The most surprising thing about this opportunity is that it hasn't been fixed yet. Everyone I talked to thought it was an awesome idea and they wanted it to go into effect immediately.
8. Summarize: Everyone always has their phone with them. I believe the opportunity is still all there and could definitely be pulled off. I think entrepreneurs should absolutely adapt their ideas to the customers wants because the customer is the one who will buy it, you need to have their interest. 

Assignment 2- The Bug List

1. When you pour water out of a cup the water runs down the side of the glass instead of pouring in a stream.
• WHY: Water's properties of cohesion and adhesion cause the water to pour in an annoying way.
2. Sleeping with headphones is difficult.
• WHY: Headphones are too big and prevent you from laying on your side.
3. Dorms have too many keys.
• WHY: They have a key fob, room key, and mail key instead of a universal fob for all three. This is a problem because keys are bulky and sometimes difficult to keep track of.
4. White shoes get dirty too easily.
• WHY: White shows dirt and mud more easily than dark shoes. They stain more easily and are more difficult to clean.
5. The line at the Graham Area Chomp It is always really long and the whole store is packed with people waiting on their food.
• WHY: The store is understaffed for the demand. They have one cashier and two people cooking at rush hour and they just cannot keep up the pace required to serve all the customers.
6. Dorm rooms in Hume are to humid and therefore don't cool down.
• WHY: There are no dehumidifiers built into the A/C units in the rooms or on the floors to pull the moisture from the air.
7. iPhone charging cables break easily.
• WHY: The lightning cables are not designed to be bent at a perpendicular angle so when someone is holding their phone with it charged in, it is often ruining the cable.
8. When the wind blows and your umbrella turns inside out.
• WHY: Umbrellas aren't necessarily designed for high intensity winds.
9. Batteries run out of juice too quickly.
• WHY: Alkaline batteries are cheap to manufacture and buy, but hold very little charge.
10. On campus it is nearly impossible to drive during rush hour because of the pedestrians.
• WHY: Crosswalks are everywhere and people don't wait to let vehicles pass through, they just go and make the cars wait. No crossing guards of any sort.
11. Cars don't pay attention for cyclists.
• WHY: Drivers aren't educated to look for cyclists in the bike lane, also some roads on campus don't have bike lanes so there's that.
12. When autocorrect incorrectly corrects a word in your text and then when you send it you look stupid.
• WHY: Autocorrect is just dumb and doesn't really know grammar and when words make sense, especially slang words.
13. When you peel a sticker off or something and it doesn't come off all the way so there's left over sticker residue and it's annoying.
• WHY: Stickers are not made the be unstuck so if you make a mistake or decide you don't want the sticker anymore it becomes difficult to remove it.
14. When erasers leave the shaving behind and it makes a mess.
• WHY: That's just how erasers work. It's still annoying.
15. When people are driving and they don't use their turn signal.
• WHY: When people drive they are concerned with themselves and their own driving. They don't think about how they're driving impacts someone else.
16. People don't drive fast in the left hand lane, thus forcing people who want to go fast to weave in and out of traffic.
• WHY: Some people may not be educated that the left lane is a faster, passing lane and it is much safer to move faster in the left lane.
17. People who don't right turn in a continuous right turn lane.
• WHY: People are not used to the road and are uneducated as to the nature of the turn lane.
18. Here's another driving one: WHEN PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO MERGE.
• WHY: People are either uneducated or nervous about merging so they just wait to merge until there is a huge gap.
19. When you have a song stuck in your head, but you can't think of the song's name.
• WHY: If you hear a catchy song you can get it stuck in your head, but you don't actually know the song.
20. Healthy food always seems to taste worse than unhealthy food.
• WHY: Unhealthy food has added ingredients that add to the flavor but have unhealthy properties. Healthy, diet food, doesn't have those artificial flavors.

Reflection: So I really had a difficult time with this assignment. A lot of my bugs are similar because I just couldn't come up with anything. I complain all the time, but when I actually have to think of things that bug me on the spot it was much more difficult.