Reflection

It was fun reading through my posts from the semester and seeing how my ideas developed. I have been passionate about this idea from day one, but seeing it become more realistic and developed was cool. I did not like having to think of the logistical aspects, but I understand that is part of business.

I am most proud of my venture concept because it is developed and makes it seem like I can actually create this app. I also like reading about Coco Chanel, because I love the brand and she is a very interesting woman and I learned a lot from that assignment.

I think I have moved towards having an entrepreneurial mindset and wanting to start my own thing, but I don't know if I am there completely yet. I think I still want experience in the corporate world before I go off on my own.

For future students, I recommend picking a product that you are actually passionate about and could use yourself because it will make the assignments more interesting. If not, you will get bored and dread writing about your product. You will also do better in the course if this is the case.

Venture Concept 2

Venture Concept 2



My product is an app that connects people in the Greek community. It is like Tinder, but will only be used for date functions. You will get suggestions based on past dates and what kind of date you want. You will also not show up in the mix if you are not available for a certain date function.

Opportunity

Interactions, even in college, are becoming much more digital. Everything is done through the phone, texting, snap chatting, instagram. These changes make an app the perfect product to appeal to college kids. Even more so because a lot of people use Tinder and Bumble and are comfortable and aware of the concept that my app will model.

The market right now would be defined geographically by the people who go to the University of Florida. Later, as we expand it would be used on campuses across the US. Greek life really isn't a thing internationally so it would never expand past the US. Demographically, the market is men and women ages 18-22 who are in a greek chapter.

Customers are currently satisfying their need by asking their friends if they know anyone to take or just taking someone they already know that may not be as much fun. They may be risk takers and dm someone they don't know at all, but this is no platform like my product on the market.

The window of opportunity would be for as long as greek life is still around. This actually may not be that long since national policies are getting much stricter and greek life as a whole is viewed in a negative light by the general public. Many chapters are being kicked of campus at other university's and it could start happening here.

Innovation

There is nothing like my product on the market. It is an app for college students in greek life. You can pick preferences based on what kind of date you want (friend, fun, romantic). You can have bio where you can show your personality and humor. There will also be a calendar of all possible date functions so you can select you availability. If you are not available for a certain date, you will not show up in results to make this process as efficient as possible. Once you use the app a few times, you will start getting suggestions based on past dates. The app will be free for download but I will add premium features that are for purchases within the app.

Venture Concept

I think my customers will switch to this new product because a lot of people have this problem. M generation also loves trying new things and getting instant gratification of swiping and finding a date. I have no competitors besides traditional dating apps like tinder and bumble. For people like me and my friends, I would never use tinder and bumble for find a date for a function because these apps aren't used for that. I don't have packaging in my product because its an app but I know the design will be very important. If it doesn't look like its made fo r gen z, my consumers won't use it. At first, I'd probably just have me as an organizer for the business and my software engineer for my technical aspects.

Unfair advantage: nothing like this on the market
What's next: development and testing
Next for me: I will probably not be in the venture in 5 years since I will be out of college and I will be on my next venture, possibly something my corporate.


Summary
Everyone agreed that it makes sense to leave this app once I graduate college because I will be past the point where I am still relevant on the knowledge of date functions and greek life. I will also not have enough of a vested interest to continue. Everyone also agrees that my idea for anonymous ratings is good and that I should get help from psychologists for this. Someone also suggested that I hire people from competing apps as long as they don't have an NDA which I agree with. I still think my idea is unique and successful, but there are still a lot of things to work out. Another thing I just considered is if UF could regulate the use of the app since universities are looking to minimize greek life activity on campus.