Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1.     Social media: I am very familiar with current trends and the ways to intrigue other users

·      Valuable- this is an essential tool in the modern technologically driven times

·      Rare- most people use social media, but only a handful know how to stand out

·      Inimitable- not the most inimitable, but very handy

·      Non-substitutable- marketing makes it a bit less non-substitutable, but still very important piece

2.     Social capital: I am in UF Greek life and involved in large on campus organizations

·      Valuable- knowing people and having a close proximity of friends helps spread idea

·      Rare- not everyone has access to such a common and powerful network

·      Inimitable- This resource can be replicated with other student organizations

·      Non-substitutable: Knowing people in sororities and fraternities and having those relationships cannot be substituted

3.     Marketing capabilities: Many of my friends work at a local start-up company hub known as The Selling Factory, and they specialize in marketing and sales for emerging products

·      Valuable- An affordable and friendly team of interns to help me grow my customer base quickly and efficiently

·      Rare- no other school in the country has this resource at such close proximity to college

·      Inimitable- can be replicated, but it takes time to build a Selling Factory with the right people

·      Non-substitutable- in this college town, the Selling Factory cannot be substituted

4.     Large network of friends in many large markets: I have a vast network of business minded friends across the country in New York, Houston, and Los Angeles that would rally support

·      Valuable- Many big markets to immediately penetrate and draw widespread interest

·      Rare- This is not unheard of, but knowing people in different places helps

·      Inimitable- I am not the only person who has friends in many places, and anyone can get on the phone and see if a New Yorker likes the product by looking at it online

·      Non-substitutable- knowing the opinions of different people with varying personalities can greatly help me decide if my ideas and resources are likable in a public setting

5.     Public speaking experience: I have spoken in front of my fraternity of over 160 people on numerous occasions

·      Valuable- being able to speak and represent what I believe in is crucial

·      Rare- some people get stage fright and cannot speak in front of a crowd

·      Inimitable- many people are good speakers, but I greatly enjoy drawing in a crowd and convincing them that my product and ideas are superior

·      Non-substitutable- this is a polished skill of mine that makes up for other areas that I am not as strong in

6.     Creative thinker

·      Valuable- trusting my ideas and my way of thinking is my most valuable asset

·      Rare- some people hire people to think for them, not everyone can be decisive and creative

·      Inimitable- There are many smart business people and there are certainly other creative thinkers

·      Non-substitutable- being able to save money by thinking and creating on your own would significantly help from a financial position

7.     Publicity- this is a groundbreaking idea that will be very popular amongst the impatient generation of millennials

·      Valuable- media is very valuable and is a quick way to spread the reverse microwave

·      Rare- new products don’t get a ton of publicity unless they completely shatter the traditional way of thinking, which I think the reverse microwave does

·      Inimitable- many people can attract media attention, but not everyone can sustain that type of coverage like I can

·      Non-substitutable- publicity and social media are increasingly merging into the same thing, especially with Twitter and Facebook

8.     Uniqueness of the idea: A reverse microwave has never been produced, and would revolutionize the way people consume food

·      Valuable- An idea to take scorching hot food and instantly reduce it to perfect eating temperature

·      Rare- this has never been done before

·      Inimitable- typically putting scorching hot food into the fridge to cool takes at least 5-10 minutes, and now it can be instant

·      Non-substitutable- if you have patience, this can be substituted by waiting for the fridge to cool your food

9.     Fundraising experience: As a supporter of Dance Marathon, I know how to convince people to donate to a worthy cause

·      Valuable- getting funding and donations to build and market my product will be important to making money

·      Rare- not so rare, because it involves asking other people for money

·      Inimitable- it can be replicated, but my style of going about fundraising will bring in a lot of financial assistance

·      Non-substitutable- this can be substituted by hiring a team of people to make donation and investing calls

10.  Social Capital- contacts within the market

·      Valuable- will be very helpful to have connections already in the market to combine ideas and assist with distribution

·      Rare- not completely rare, but a “foot in the door” helps

·      Inimitable- This will give me much more knowledge before I completely get in to this new market

·      Non-substitutable- this cannot be substituted because it gives you a step up on lesser known business owners.

After doing the VRIN analysis, I would say that the resource of being a creative thinker will help me the most. I believe in myself and my idea of the Reverse Microwave, and with all of my thoughts and methods to advertise and spread awareness of my product, I am confident that this natural born tool will take me very far!

20A- Growing Your Social Capital

1. The domain expert that I talked to in my industry is an individual from GE's appliance customer service department. I first spoke with someone who did not know the inner workings of GE's microwaves. However, I was eventually transferred to someone more knowledgeable on the subject. Will is an engineer from Florida State University and has been working at GE for 2 years. He did indeed say that this invention is possible and that there was actually a product very similar to it on the market right now. However, this product only chills drinks and it is extremely expensive. This individual truly gave me more knowledge on my product and even gave me his number for questions in the future. This person being added to my network will definitely help when it comes to the technical issues of my product. 

2. The market expert that I talked to was my friend, Josh's, dad. He is a Marketing manager for a Best Buy in South Florida. He has been working at Best Buy's marketing department for 8 years and knows an extensive amount of information on each appliance in the store. He even is aware of the individual target markets of each appliance in the store. He really helped me figure out how to gauge whether my target market is the correct one and said that the market for a regular microwave would be families. This individual could even help me when it comes to finding people who are interested in my product.

3. The important supplier I talked to was a customer service representative for K&L Microwaves. This individual has a vast knowledge of microwave parts that are distributed to brand name appliance companies. I found the customer service phone number on K&L's website and spoke with the first person to answer the phone. I explained my idea and they said that they would be able to provide certain parts that would go on a normal microwave. They also claimed to provide special order parts which may be useful when making my product. This individual provided me with the costs of ordering parts for a microwave as well as provided me feedback for my idea. This contact will be extremely important in the future when I want to build my product.

This experience definitely had a positive impact on my networking skills. I now understand how to not only talk to others when representing myself, but also when representing a company, I am used to networking through friends and family, but this provided me with a more professional form of networking. This will definitely be one of many opportunities for me to connect with others in the business world.

21A- Reading Reflection No. 2

1. The general theme of Thinking, Fast and Slow is to appeal to people's intuition rather than reason when using a marketing technique. The book discusses two award-winning psychologists views on why exactly intuition is so much important than reason. Daniel Kahneman claims that we are attracted to the "fame, feeling, and form" of advertisements.

2. This book connected to what we've been learning in class because when it comes to making an advertisement for my reverse microwave idea, I will have a better idea of how I should appeal to buyers. This book added to what I've been learning and gave me a completely new perspective on what to focus on when focusing on my target market. Obviously, it is extremely important to be reasonable, but the ability for people to quickly understand what my product is all about is even more important.

3. If I was to design an exercise based on this book, I would have each person in a class create an advertisement for a product of their choice. Then, classmates would fill out a questionnaire with questions that will measure the individuals level of intuition. For example, "On a scale if 1-5, how quickly did you make a connection to this advertisement?" The last question would eventually ask how effective the advertisement actually was to them. Each question will be based on intuitive thinking or rational thinking.

4. My biggest surprise when reading this book is that being intuitive when creating an advertisement may even outweigh logic. I always believed that any advertisement should be logical. While this is true to an extent, it makes sense how an advertisement being more understandable is important. The perfect mix of intuition and reasoning is the key to any marketing technique.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You

My name is Matthew Field. I am a junior advertising major at the University of Florida. I want the Reverse Microwave to be a part of microwaves everywhere. I want it to be a normal feature. If the product takes off, I plan to dedicate the majority of my time to maintaining and selling it.

2) What are you offering to customers?

My product is the Reverse Microwave, which is exactly what it sounds like. I want to give consumers the ability to cool down their food at their own convenience. No more waiting for it to cool down or blowing on your food or putting it in the fridge for a bit. My product will let you cool down your food in record time, but thats not all. You could do things like un-melt ice cream and make ice. The opportunities are endless.

3) Who are you offering it to?

The Reverse Microwave can be sold to a wide array of consumers. However, if I had to narrow it down to a few, I think mothers and college students would benefit the most from it. Same people who use a regular microwave.

4) Why do they care?

I am offering something that literally no one else has. This technology is the first of its kind. This will be so beneficial and to a majority of the general consumers as well as just making life easier.

5) What are your core competencies?

As I said before, this technology is the first of its kind. People are going to be amazed!

I think these 5 elements fit well together. I think people are going to care greatly about this product, it is going to be a game changer. America loves new things.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

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My product can be sold to a number of different individuals. Anyone from a stay at home mother to a college student can benefit from the Reverse Microwave. But, for the sake of the assignment I am going to narrow it down to 1. Mikey is a Sophomore in college. He often has late nights studying and does not have time to wait for the food that he orders to cool down. He wants to just have it and go to the library. That is why this product is perfect for him.

What do I have in common with him?  We are both college students. That is about it.

I do not think this is a coincidence.