Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity: All throughout life there is opportunities to spend more money than you expected to. A simple night out with boys at midtown can get financially out of hand quickly. With costs of pre-gaming, finding reliable transportation, and then buying drinks while out to keep the night alive add up quickly. Once under the influence sliding the card becomes easier and easier, never really focusing on the amount that is being charged to that card. The only way of finding out how much you are spending is by looking at your checking account the next morning and by then it is too late. Going on vacations with the family always have unexpected turns and expenses. The thought of not bringing enough cash forces you to bring you card. However once you start sliding your card you lose a sense of how much money you are actually spending. Again by the time you check your account to recap your expenses it is already to late. The opportunity here is finding a solution that make consumers constantly aware of how much they are spending before they go past the point of no turning back.

Innovation: CardBlock will be an app that allows people to put a limit on how much they can spend on their card on one night at multiple different places. You can allocate specific funds for transportation, pre-gaming, and the amount being spent on particular clubs. This app has the limits of cash but the flexibility of a credit card. This app will notify the consumer when 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of their budget has been used up for each particular activity. The main issue is focused on what happens after being under the influence. When drinking it is easy to get carried away and be the person to buy a round of shots for their friends. Multiple times. This app will notify users when they are getting carried away and will eventually freeze their card at that specific place once the allocated money is spent. This simply means if you desired to spend $30 at a particular bar, once that cap is met, your card will be frozen from that specific place. This still allows you to use that $10 you set aside for an Uber that night. It also still allows you to go to a place and buy food if it was not given a specific cap through the app. This app will not freeze your card completely making it impossible for you to pay for emergency items. This app will help you not over spend at places you designated before going out that night.

Feedback: I only received two comments which was not much to go off of to revise my initial product. However the first comment raised the concern of freezing their card and not being able to get a spontaneous ride home that night. To be clear, this product will not completely freeze your card. It simply disables the use at specific places you chose that night. If you have a plan to go to swamp and have a history of spending excessive amounts of money on drinks you can choose to put a cap on the amount able to spend at that bar. If you have a cap of $30, once it hits that cap you will no longer be able to use your card at that specific bar for 24 hours. Therefore this will not prevent your card from being used on an Uber if plans have changed and need a ride home late at night.

Another concern I saw come up on one of my previous posts Napkin Idea No.1 was the risk of security through this app. Therefore when I revised my app I thought of the idea to make this app similar to apple pay. This feature takes out the need to swipe a credit card. Instead this app will have a passcode security feature allowing only you to use your phone to buy drinks. This prevents people from card skimmers that can steal your credit card information. Also this prevents the risk of you misplacing your card and being used by others. However if someone did steal your card people can only spend the amount you budgeted that night, therefore will not wake up to hundreds of dollars gone forever. If the comment was aiming towards trusting me with the consumer’s bank information then the reply is that I will have no information of their banking accounts. They will set up their banking information that remains completely anonymous to me. I have no interest in how much money is in your bank account that is between you and the bank. My app simply budgets the money it assumes you have in your account, not manage it.

Based on my feedback I tried to make it more clear in my innovative section that this card will not completely freeze your card, It just freezes it at the places the consumer specifically chose to not accidentally get carried away at.

Final Reflection

            1) The highs: My favorite moments through this course was doing the interviews in the beginning stages of my venture. Coming up with ideas are relatively easy and seem to be bulletproof. However once introducing your idea to new people who do not have a bias towards you, they can sometimes deliver a harsh reality. The first interview was nerve racking. When I actually got a multiple response from my first peer was the highest moment in all of this. An outsider reinforcing your belief that you have a good idea on your hands is an amazing motivational booster. This first sense of encouragement made me feel as if I had real potential to develop a successful venture. There will always be some people that will discourage you including yourself. Positive feedback from people who aren’t friends and family can be more motivational than I thought.

The lows: When being asked what the next step is to your venture can be extremely tough. I spent weeks creating an app that I thought was perfect. When being asked what the next step is, it led me to a creative wall. There are always areas that can be improved. Finding them was very difficult and constantly halted the progress of my venture which was difficult to accept at times. Also when reading comments on how to improve my product can sometimes be a little disheartening. However it led to me expanding my horizon and overall a new and improved product.

Fun: I enjoyed doing the elevator pitches the most. To create an elevator pitch I could not resist coming to realization that I am becoming a true entrepreneur. Trying to sell this idea of an app finally sold the idea to myself. I took this app from just an idea to a potential money maker and this is what excited me the most during this class.

Drudgery:  Finding potential users of my app to interview sometimes seemed to drag on. The interviews proved to be vital to the success of my product but initially felt like a burden.

2)The elevator pitch will always be my favorite experience in this class. This gave me experience in forming idea and trying to sell it to people. The skill of being able to explain an idea clearly to others is extremely valuable. There are many times people’s million dollar ideas never get recognized because they could not express their vision clearly to their peers. I have a long way to go but practicing in a safe, judge free environment was a good way to practice vital skills I will need in my future career.

3) Being able to fully invest myself into a product of my own helped reveal my entrepreneurial mindset. It is very easy to hop on board with the next big item or product out on the market. However creating the next big thing and fully believing in yourself is the mindset of an entrepreneur and I had to have this mindset throughout the entire semester to be successful. I always thought I had an entrepreneurial mindset and this venture reinforced that claim.

4) My strongest recommendation for future students is invest in your peers the same way you invest in yourself and your venture. The comments from fellow classmates as well as the interview responses were some of the most vital resources when revising my venture. Seeing different responses is key to crafting a perfect venture.

My Exit Strategy

1)      I ultimately plan to either sell this app to someone else or keep it as a side business for as long as I can. My reasoning is the fact although this was my first entrepreneurial venture and was a fun and valuable experience, I never stay put for long.

2)       I want to continue investing in and launching new ventures. I had my experience and I would like to cash out on my app and use the money to help others have their experience. I would like to not have “all my eggs in one basket.” I want to be a part of many ventures and if I continue with this venture for too long I may get too consumed with it to move on. If no one is willing to buy it I would create a small department of employees to keep maintaining the app while I move on to other ventures.

3)      I think the way I like to move from one project to another helped influence my decision on the problem I chose to solve and the way I went about solving it. I chose a problem me and my close peers personally experienced. This is because I believe if you are not happy with something change it. I hated wasting a ton of money foolishly on a night out and vacations so I created a plan to fix it. The reason I chose an app as my solution is because the idea never expires. I can use this app for as long as I’d like and the effectiveness will never diminish. However I also needed a solution I do not have to manage 24/7 so I can continue to search for day to day problems in my life and fix those. If I had come up with a solution that took up to much of my time I would not have a chance to experiment with other ventures. This venture helped me locate resources I did not have as well as shed light on myself being a huge resource to any venture I choose to take on.

Making it Real

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0qOoMqDL4xxSjBfeTA4V2lkVzg

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity: There use to only be three or four ways to use currency. You either had to pay with cash, write a check, or slide your credit card at places. With today’s technological advances there are now many more innovative ways to pay for things. There have been apps such as apple pay, venmo, snapchat, etc. Though there are more ways to pay for things this brings the complication of keeping all of your information safe. In 2014 there was around 31.8 million cases of credit card fraud which is three times the amount in 2013. I believe this has to do with the increasing amount of ways to spend currency. This number alone shows the number of people that could benefit from an app like mine. The fact there can be a limit on the card and not have to physically have it with you can help decrease the number of credit card scams occurring. Most of these frauds do occur online but still about 15% happen from lost cards and credit card skimming. The fact you don’t have to physically have your card to pay at places can help prevent you from losing your card on a night out or getting it skimmed at sketchy bars or restaurants. Consumers are beginning to see this trend and begin to look for safer forms of payment. No form of payment will ever be 100% safe for consumers, however my app will greatly reduce the risk as well as the financial impact of a credit card scammer. With this enormous amount of consumers being victims to credit card fraud every year I would say there is huge potential for my app to be successful. If I could even capture 1% of the people effected it would give me a customer base of around 30,000 people which will make my app more desired to advertise on and create great revenue for me. This window of opportunity will remain open for as long as people need to spend money.

Innovation: CardBlock will be an app that allows people to put a limit on how much they can spend on their card on one night at multiple different places. Whether the customer is going out to a bar, going on a date to the movies, or even out of the country on a vacation they will be able to electronically budget their spending habits. The customer will be able to pick the desired locations they plan on going to and then set up the amount they plan to spend there and will not allow them to go over budget. This app will also alert the consumer after every transaction and tell them the percentage of the limit they have already used. These constant alerts keep people aware of how much they are spending and do not get carried away. This app will be 1.99 to download which if I got the projected 1% on people in need of an app like this one that will generate around $60,000. After that I will allow advertising space on the app which will be how I get constant revenue after the app has been downloaded. There will be short advertisements in the beginning while users are signing into their accounts and little banners of advertisements posted around the site while users are navigating through it.

Venture Concept: My innovation is set out to help make a form of payment that gives consumers the flexibility and convenience of a credit card but the limitations of cash. When cash is involved you can only spend up to the amount on you. With credit cards people can make large payments on cars, houses, bar tabs etc. without actually having that amount of money in their bank accounts. This app will make your money more secure because it cannot be lost or stolen from you like cash or a card can. Yes the phone the app is on can be stolen, however due to a fingerprint or passcode lock, nobody except the owner can use their money. Also it will help with spending too much money foolishly on a night out or while getting caught up in the moment on vacations, shopping adventures, etc.

My number one resource will be my communication skills. When dealing with money people tend to shy away from using third party services like my app. People want to use more “secure” ways of payment that may come from banks or other financial institutions. I believe my use of good communication skills will help me make my customers feel safer when trusting my app with their money. Once they are convinced they will voice their opinions to their peers who trust them, therefore helping my app grow in popularity.

The next thing I would like to tackle is making this form of payment more convenient for my consumers. I will need to be able to get local businesses on board first and then branch out to larger corporations to allow my app to be used in their stores.

In the next five years after this launch I would like to use my profit earned from this first app and invest it into other startup companies and local entrepreneur’s ideas. I would like to have a small department of employees who continually run maintenance on my app and keep it up to date. However I do not like remaining on one project for a long period of time and would hope to move on to “the next big thing”.

Celebrating Failure

One thing I have failed at was becoming a pescetarian this spring. This is a lifestyle of a vegetarian with the exception of eating fish. My main reason for this change was just to live a little bit of a healthier lifestyle. This diet change prevented me from eating out a lot more of the times and save money by doing meal preps. I went without eating all meat except fish for about 4 months and finally broke down and ate a chicken sandwich.

                From this experience I learned that eating healthier made a huge difference in the way I felt every day, and my weight dropped and I began to look more cut. I also began to make more health conscious decisions just because I would start my day with a healthy mentality. Sadly I also learned I was not the most disciplined in my eating habits. I learned that I have a few more failed attempts in my future until I truly go fully pescetarian.

Failure is usually said to be a good thing. A lot of people say that no one who has ever done something great hasn’t endured many failures. Although this is probably true it doesn’t make failure any easier to deal with. It’s a hard obstacle to overcome and the first few times it’s very easy to give up and not try anymore. The emotional aspect to failure is probably the worst feeling there is. I personally felt a long period of disappointment and it effected my perspective towards myself for a while. I began to eat really unhealthy again, a lot of activities like the gym and skateboarding constantly decreased taking a toll on my mental and physical health. I got over it finally and began eating healthy again although I continued to eat chicken and beef. This class has taught me a pretty good amount about dealing with failure. With the comments on my constant posts it helped steer me in the right direction for my venture and helped me see what may or may not be working. Finding out an idea I thought was full proof isn’t really working out was pretty tough and sometimes hard to let go of. However reevaluating my idea a few times helped it become successful.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCQbXf2tOBY&feature=youtu.be

This is the link to my elevator pitch,

Reflection: While reading the comments on my first elevator pitch I got pretty good reviews. I saw that my idea came off as very clear and people understood what my product does. Some tips I did see multiple times was slow my talking down a little and add a little more movement, aka stand up, hand gestures etc. 

Execution: I first off tried to speak more clearly and a little slower while keeping the video around 1 minute. I also tried to be as clear as possible on what my product will do as well as why it will be useful by comparing it to cash. I tried to stress that it is the best of both worlds by being limited like cash but safe like a credit card. I also wanted to move around more and use my hands a little more. I tried to practice a little more as well so I would not get stumbled up on my speaking. However I took a few takes and could not find one where I did not get tongue tied a little. During pitches your mouth is moving faster than your mind and trip up sometimes. I know I’ll need more practice but still fun to test the waters of an elevator pitch.

My Unfair Advantage

1. Experience in what my consumers want.

·         This is important because I am part of the target audience I am trying to reach out to. I know this target so well already I know what to put into my product to make it popular.

2. Experienced app developer.

·         Parker lives in Gainesville and has had experience building multiple apps already. He will be easily accessible and very effective in building my app.

3.   Experience in helping run a business in high school.

·        I was head of the PR department for a start-up business in high school through an organization called “Junior Achievement” this gave me a little experience on how to begin and maintain a start-up.

4.   Being a UF student will make it easier to test my app small scale.

·        It will be easy to find fellow peers that will use this app and tell me their genuine thoughts on it. I will be able to take they comments and ideas to further develop my app to make it more user friendly.

5.   Virtually no money being invested into the development of my app.

·        Little to no startup costs make it easy to operate and test my app. Virtually no risk for a big reward.

6.   Advertising space.

·        This allows me to use my advertising space as leverage to get people to help me start my business such as getting a developer, promoter, etc. This is also my best source of revenue.

7.   Local marketing expert Dalton.

·        Dalton works as a leasing agent for the Retreat currently and so he is well connected to the Greek Life demographic, which I believe will be a large portion of my target audience.

8.   Local entrepreneur readily available to help me.

·        Jordan Snyder has worked with other start-up companies before so he can be very valuable in getting my app on its feet and keep it expanding.

9.   4 years of experience giving premier customer service.

·        A big part of this app’s success will be getting customers to trust that their bank information is safe. I will have to use my ability to comfort customers to make them feel safe while using my app. Without the trust of my customers my app cannot be successful.

10. Being heavily involved on campus makes it easy to find target market potential.

·         Hitting the right target market off the bat will be a big key to the success of my app as well. Too many businesses begin their business by targeting the wrong demographic and then believe they have a bad idea. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth, the people that need that service just don’t know it’s available.

Most Important: I believe the most important resource I have is being in Gainesville around the perfect demographic of people I am targeting. Too many businesses have a great idea but just try to sell it to the wrong people. I am targeting people that have trouble spending to much money out on a night out with friends. This is a very common occurrence in Gainesville being a very prominent party town. Being able to get my app into the right target audience will encourage them to share the app with other friends who could benefit from this and will be free advertising for me.

Amazon Whisperer Week 11

·         Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 

    1. There are three main sources of revenue after creating this app. The first one will be the cost of downloading the app which will be $1.99. There are a lot of free budgeting apps but none of them actually force you to stop at a specific cap that you, yourself has chosen. As well as send you alerts after every purchase. The next source of revenue will be through advertising on this app. There will be multiple different apps wanting to advertise their games, as well as businesses specific to my app like bars who are having specials, ladies night etc. Lastly I will have an option that will allow the app to be app free. The cost will be around $5 monthly and this will be for people trying to save time from listening to videos or advertisements in between setting up budgets for different bars.

·         Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?

2. The next big thing that I would like to work on is making a software that allows you to put money into an app. This would work like a visa gift card. When $40 is transferred from your bank into this app you now have a balance of $40. You can then take your phone out and bars can scan a barcode that acts as a debit card. It will automatically deduct the cost out of that account. This way you are as limited as cash without the fear of losing it. Also it is safer than a credit card because one cannot simply steal it and swipe it at bars. You must first unlock your phone, then type in another password to access the app.

·         Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

3. The next product may not enhance my first product but it will compliment it. I believe the users who are wanting a more all in one app will like the next product even more than the first one. The hassle of having to pick out every place they want to go for the night and then setting up a budget is a lot of work. There is also still the chance of losing your credit card which are two things my new app would eliminate. The one downside is some people do not like to put that much trust into technology and would rather remain sticking to my first app. This app will foster customer loyalty in the sense that they will continue using my apps as long as I am catering to their needs.

·         Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.

4. I have searched the app store and could not find any product that is like mine except for apple pay. This app to my knowledge still does not give you the option to cap off your spending for the day. Or send alerts when you are close to your cap.

·         What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?

5. Customers actually love the apple pay app. It received 4-5 stars on almost every website I visited. It talked about how fast and secure the process is. This would be great for bars as well as the customers. I bars get the process done much quicker because there is no signing process since there must be a touch ID process on the phone to reach my app. Also cards and money can be stolen but if the iPhone is people still cannot get access into your account and run up a ridiculous bar tab. People do not like that it only works in the US and that it is much easier to spend money this way/ harder to keep track.

·         Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. My two main differences to this product will be the fact that you can be alerted every time this app is used to keep track of your spending.

6.    Also if this is still a struggle you can load a certain amount of money onto the app and it will not allow you to spend any more than that.

Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.

7.    I believe this new product I am coming out with will cater to most of my customers’ evolving needs while still allowing my old app to attract the older or more cautious crowd that would still rather be using a wallet over a cell phone for every payment. Either way both apps will help customers save money on a night out. This is just a way to reach a larger target audience.

Growing My Social Capital

Jordan Snyder

1)      Jordan is a transfer student from Jacksonville, currently in many business and entrepreneurship organizations on campus.

2)      I have chosen Jordan to be my domain expert. Jordan is involved with developing many startup companies already so he knows how to network, develop a business, and then execute the plan.

3)       I first met Jordan through the IA academy. I later met up with him when we both joined an organization on campus called HLC. After a few sit downs with him he told me about his involvement with startup companies and his passion to run companies. Therefore I saw this man as a perfect contact to work with.

4)      Jordan and I have been good friends for some time now and for the most part he is just happy to help and get the experience of this venture. We have not discussed if he would ever become a partner in the business but he has discussed advertising his startups through my app.

5)      Having Jordan on my team will help me learn the process of starting a business as well as network out to other students with the same interests on campus.

Dalton Dessi

1)      Dalton is a third year transfer student from Tampa. He is heavily involved in many Greek organizations on campus and with-in his Fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha.

2)      I have chosen Dalton Dessi as my marketing expert. Dalton has been very active in the night life on both the USF campus as well as at UF. Dalton is currently working for The Retreat so he knows the college student community very well. He is very familiar with what students would have a great need for this app.

3)      I met Dalton Dessi through the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. I pledged the fraternity with him last fall semester and have been in constant contact with him ever since.

4)      In a result of Dalton helping me with the marketing aspect of my venture he has requested that he gets the app for free and is allowed to promote the Retreat on my app.

5)      Having Dalton on my team will help me find my exact target market making it easier for me to get my app onto people’s phones.

Parker Fields

1)      Parker is a second year student in the Innovation Program. He is involved with many programming organizations on campus.

2)      I have chosen Parker as my Developer. Parker has already launched multiple successful gaming apps and is constantly working on other projects.

3)      I met Parker during my first summer semester on campus in my creativity class. We were assigned to a lot of group projects together and ended up competing against one another in last year’s catalyst. Soon after we met in class he also joined an organization I was involved in called HLC.

4)      As with the other two people I am hoping to partner with I was willing to trade advertising space for his gaming apps if he helps me create my app.

5)      Parker has an exceptional amount of expertise in building apps, how to make it user friendly as well as appealing to potential customers. This will help attract my customers.

Reflection: This experience has helped me network within my college community. I believed this has helped me learn how to find people that can be great help to my business as well as how to bargain for their help. This experience differed a little from my networking in the past simply because I already knew a lot about the people I wanted on my team so although it was a very laid back pitch to get these guys on board it sometimes was a little awkward when we were asking on exchanges of “payment” of goodwill.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1)      My name is Collin Schramm I am a second year student at the University of Florida currently majoring in Public Relations. My talents in a business aspect are communicating with clients and gaining trust. From a non-business aspect I am very good at skateboarding, trying to surf, and baseball. I aspire to own my own business or partner with peers to help create a start-up business. Put simply, I want to be a game changer in the business field. This business concept I have come up with does not hold a specific place in my heart, it is simply an idea I have and would be practice for other ventures I will hopefully pursue. I see this as an experience to learn from for later projects I take on.

2)      I am offering an app that will control how much you are allowed to spend on your card in 24 hours at specific businesses such as bars, restaurants, vacation destinations. This app will stop the act of excessive spending when under the influence of alcohol or just under the influence of being careless. This app will not only cut off your card after the cap you set is reached, it will also send texts after every purchase so it will force the spender to avidly keep track of their spending throughout the night.

3)      This app has a large target market which will benefit the amount of success with the idea greatly. The age range for this market will be 21-35. This market can include college students who are very social in the night life scene, fraternity and sorority scenes, as well as older adults who still want a guy’s/ladies night out on the town. I am predominately focusing in on the college crowd because I share the same common need so I will be able to find a more fitting solution for this crowd and cater more to their specific needs.

4)      People care because this app has to do with saving money. Money does not grow on trees and people all work hard for their money. People also make mistakes… The fact this app can help people not wake up to a regretfully low bank account and wasting money on activities they can’t recall makes this app valuable to my target market.

5)      My communication skills along with my desire to have meaningful relationships with people sets me aside from a lot of people in a competitive business world. I like to have one on one’s with potential clients, I like transparency in a business, customers can know everything about me and I hope to learn a lot about them.

Feedback Memo: The five main points I took away from the feedback I received from my peers is:

·         Communication is a strong skill to have in the business community

·         Have to gain customers trust to give bank information

·         How will it not fall to cyber hackers like Venmo did

·         Differentiate yourself from other “budgeting” apps

·         Money is important to everyone so I have a big target market

I tried to incorporate these 5 qualities into my 5 part assignment above. I tried to emphasize how I excel in communication and building relationships because all of my peers agreed this is a good skill to have to help network as well as get people’s trust to give a third party app their banking information.  I have tried to come up with the fact this app will directly text you every time your card has been used and also give you a limit for the night and then freeze the card as a way to differentiate my app from other money saving apps. 

My Customer's Avatar

The images below reflect are taken from google images and are representations of the consumers I am aiming my app towards. I want a predominately younger crowd, anywhere from 21-35, but are not limited to that age. Personally from my experience and my interviews I see college kids deal with this problem more than any other consumer that goes out to clubs socially. College kids tend to go out most frequently as well as drink more while they are at the bars. My typical avatar is a very sociable person who has the money to go out frequently but still needs to budget for food, rent, tuition, etc. Although it will be easiest for this app to cater to college student’s needs, the beautiful thing about this app is it can benefit anyone over the age of 21 and who goes out to drink with friends as a social event. These customers I am focusing on drive scooters, ride bikes, or walk, very few actually drive cars. They live in dorms or on campus apartments which both are far more expensive than other living places in Gainesville. These kids normally work part time if they work at all due to the strenuous classes they are taking 9 months out of the year. These kids are very sociable, highly likely to be in organizations on campus or associated with Greek life as long as have a strong social network. If this app benefits even a few of our customers it will be easy for our app to be spread through word of mouth.

I share almost every quality I described about my consumer besides the minor detail that I am one of the few that own a car. I do go out frequently simply because it is something to do as a social event with my friends. I am currently active in three different organizations as well as associated with Greek life. I live in an apartment near campus and constantly have to worry about budgeting throughout the month. I believe it is no coincidence that I share all the same attributes as my potential consumers. I built this app to fill my own personal needs and am now seeing there is a huge market of people that have the same needs as I do.

 

Halfway Reflection

To start off with, I have been in college now for two years and this class has tested my time management skills the most out of any course so far. This class has multiple due dates and multiple assignments each week that requires you to work on them throughout the week rather than starting on them the night before. Also due to the fact this class is an online course it also tests the amount of discipline you have, it requires you to be responsible and actually “go to class” online rather than skipping it to go to the beach.

One time I had the urge to “give up” on a particular assignment called “bug list”. This assignment was due I believe the second week of the semester and I was still getting use to the schedule of this course. I opened this assignment up the night it was due, I read the instructions and thought it would be such an easy assignment to complete….You know just think of 20 things that “bug” me. I began the list and numbers 1-5 were a piece of cake, once I got into double digits this process came to an immediate halt. This assignment kept me up all night and it was one of the most frustrating times I have had in this class so far. I didn’t give up however because it was still early in the semester and did not want to start off with a terrible grade. Every time I struggle with an assignment now I think back to this one and say to myself “It can’t be as bad as the “bug list” assignment.

My 3 tips:

1.       Log onto canvas every day and be sure to look at all the assignments due this week, then write them down in your phone or a planner, whichever tool you use more.

2.       Keep an open mind, There isn’t only one specific format needed to complete an assignment.

3.       Make this experience your own. These assignments are very unique to yourself, what you put into it will be what you get out of it.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) I am a hardworking, broke, happy go lucky, shredding college student. I love to skate and surf but I wouldn’t particularly say that either of those hobbies are my talent. My talent is motivating and communicating with people. I pride myself in the way I can connect with almost anyone and can spark a flame of motivation up under anyone. My aspirations are pretty simple, live a happy life that I as well as my family can be proud of. Although being wealthy is a huge part of my aspirations I want to be surrounded by friends and family with the capability to take care of them all if need be. My desire to continuously help people is why I believe I came up with this business plan, I saw a problem that most college students are dealing with, including myself and I want to be the one to make a positive change to this epidemic.

2) A very common problem of trying to be social in a college atmosphere is getting carried away at the bars financially after students get under the influence of alcohol. Many students struggle sticking to their drinking budget when going out and wake up seeing their bank accounts plummeted overnight. My plan is to create an app that will be your financial guardian angel. This app will allow you to set a budget on your card before you start drinking and once you hit that cap your card is frozen from that specific bar for 24 hours.

3) I know this sounds cliché but the potential customers for this app is nearly limitless. I believe anyone who mixes alcohol with social events has a risk of spending too much money accidently. This range goes from college students all the way up to parents who want a guy’s/ladies night out. Alcohol effects everyone moderately the same and when it comes down to it alters our decision making capabilities.

4) My product is extremely cheap to download, actually only $1.99 and after that there is no additional charges unless the customer would like to opt in for the advertising free app. If you have ever overspent on a night out by even $10... You already saved 5x the amount you have spent on the app in a single experience with this app.

5)  I believe my app is a one of a kind due to the fact it is not simply a budget app such as mint. This actually takes action and freezes your card where you do not have any choice but to stick to your budget. I also think because I have a high level of communication skills I can make people not only love the app but the creator which will help advertise my company through word of mouth.  

I believe the reason my app will become so successful has to do with all five of these elements listed above. First off my talent of communicating and motivating will help me find potential customers as well as business partners to further develop my business. The fact that there is nothing out on the market like this today will give me a huge advantage of potential competitors. Lastly the fact that my target audience is potentially limitless and the low costs of the app will be the final element to make my app so successful.

Tweaking the Innovation

Tweaking the Innovation

Revenue drivers

1.     1.    Instillation $1.99

2.      2. Ad space every time app is signed into/opened 30 second add before starting budget

3.      3. $5 a month to never deal with video ads or banners

4.     4.  Clubs/vacation businesses can advertise deals with a banner on the bottom of the app to appeal towards potential customers wanting to go out that night or plan a vacation.

Map each item

1.       

These revenue drivers are not tangible items, it is through a mobile app so I believe everything is based off of benefit and the communicated level. The benefit of this app is saving the consumer money by being alerted constantly on the amount they are spending and putting a maximum on the amount allowed being spent. For the companies wanting to advertise they are directly advertising to people who are interested in going out or going on vacations while getting the best deals. Now bars and vacation agencies can advertise their competitive offers. The $5 paying for no advertising will allow customers the choice to not have to get annoyed by the constant advertising that will take place.

Describe the Innovations

1.       1. Installation, although a large amount of apps like mine are free, but also do not offer half the services my app will provide. This budget app will not allow you to over spend, as well as alert you every time your card was swiped, and alert you when 25%, 50%, and 75% of your budget has been reached.

2.      2. Ad space, typically logging onto applications there is a 10-15 second load period, we can place small quick ads in that time slot so while the customer is waiting to use our app companies can pay us to advertise themselves during that time.

3.    3.   I figured if Pandora and Spotify, and other music companies can afford to quit advertising for a small fee a month I would offer my consumers the same deal. This is an easy way to add another revenue driver as well as taking away the risk of customers getting tired of all the advertising that will be taking place.

4.     4.  Along with the 30 second ad video in the beginning I can allow other local bars advertise their special promos every night which directly correlates with the consumer’s interest. These guys have the app because they want to budget and now they can see where to go to get the best bang for their card swipe. 

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Making my pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU-qWDIhF18&feature=youtu.be

Step 1:  State the product and category: CardBlock This is a mobile app that allows people to budget their money at particular restaurants, clubs, and vacations as well as alerting them constantly about their spending.

Step 2: Describe the Problem: Cash is the only way to limit ones spending but is so easy to be misplaced or be stolen. Going on vacations it is much safer to bring cards but gives you an unlimited budget and sometimes hard to see how much you have really spent. An average budget on vacations are anywhere from 100-400, if you misplace your wallet there are few good people who would return it with that much money inside. However a wallet with just cards is much more likely to be turned in and this app will help you track exactly how much you have spent and how much you have left.

Step 3: My solution: This app will allow you to set a budget on your card “a cap” on the amount available to spend in one night, you can choose the places you are going and set up a maximum amount able to spend there, throughout your time there you will be alerted when 25%, 50%, and 75% of the budget has been used up, once the cap is met the card will be frozen from that particular area for 24 hours. This way you can have the limited ability of bringing cash on a night out while still have the convenience and safety of just carrying around a card.

Step 4 why this is such a good solution: Other apps that focus on budgeting still require you to enter in everything you spent your money on and that is not the point of this app. Once you go out to the bar or vacation you hardly ever think to write down everything you spent money on. This app allows you to go in before you start spending and decide the max amount you are willing to spend at a particular place. While you are spending you are constantly being alerted via text message when you are coming close to reaching you budget. This app will also not allow you to surpass the budget, the card will suddenly be frozen for 24 hours from that particular area. 

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

Interviews: In Hypthesis part 1 as well trevor powell meahgan lauren  jacob

Reflection:

When I started this project to learn who would need this app I thought mostly males would share the problem of spending too much out at mid-town. I focused on interviewing them because I believed they typically consume more drinks and as well as buying females drinks at the club. These are the same interviews as last week but I believe gave me the answer to this weeks assignemnt already. I saw this point coming and tried to get views of males and females, as well as party animals, and not so much party people. Although this problem is true that does not mean that females are any less probable to spend money foolishly on a night out.  I interviewed two females to get their opinion of how much money they spend on a night out, although they did say guys typically do pay for some or most of their drinks, they still struggle with spending money for dinner, a pre-game, and cover to get into clubs. This view had me see that this app to alert you by text, or freeze your account when you have spent more than you planned does not only have to be for a night out, it can be used for vacations and special events as well. A huge reason why this app is so important because it allows us to keep a limit on our spending without having to take the risk of carrying cash everywhere we go.

Inside The Boundaries	Outside the Boundaries
People going out to bars for the night, people on vacation or trips where bringing cash is a big risk, the mall?	People who don’t have bank accounts, people not interested in budgeting, people who don’t take many trips or prefer using cash.
The need is to have an app that keeps the consumer aware of how much money they have spent and freezing the account for 24 hours before the consumer drains their entire bank account.	People who write down every transaction they make in a checkbook, or people who only use cash, no bank accounts.
The need exists because some people find using a card more convenient and while this is true, sometimes we can get carried away with spending because there is no real limit on a card until you are completely out of money.	Cash could be used as an alternative to bringing a card everywhere but if you lose the cash it is gone forever, if the card is lost you can simply call your bank, freeze your account, and get a new card so you never really lost any money.