Posts

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce. I spoke with Cory, who is a third year Landscaping Architect major. I contacted him because I knew he could give me good insight on some new insight to my project. It is also interesting because it is a little different than the sustainable building architecture I am focusing on. Yet he knows a lot about the topic of sustainability. He was willing to speak about this because he is highly passionate about this topic as well. He serves as a great domain expert, because he isn’t limited to one area.  Market Expert This would be someone who is targeting your market with similar products services -- or knows a lot about conducting customer research in your area -- or represents a major piece...

19A - Idea Napkin No.2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life? My name is Giovanna Moraes. I did not receive direct feedback from my post, but throughout the course and my working more specifically on my project, I came to find some more aspects of me in regards to this project. Through the interviews of the people closest to me, I found that people really value and notice that I am a good communicator and networker. I know being a good networker is very crucial to this position so I highly value that insight and point of view. I have to network heavily in the beginning of my business to make it more well known. So I received the information throughout the course very well to make better decisions. 2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll so...

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

Image
My customer avatar are three different types of people: large corporations, government, and the middle/upper class family structure.For the sake of this assignment and the knowledge I have gathered I am going to focus more on the family structure.  First is large corporations. Though I have not been able to interview this segment I know it could be a very likely segment because Bank of America has already engaged in sustainable architecture, and in my business I want to provide a service that has more sustainable features. My second segment is government buildings. I know they have the money to invest in sustainable buildings, and also engaging in my service they would reap from more positive outlooks on their decisions. Climate change should be extremely important for the government. My last segment is more well-off families who have an interest in sustainability. I might even be able to target families that do not have an immense interest in sustainability, if I ...

17A - Elevator Pitch No.2

Image
Reflection I didn’t receive written feedback but I asked some friends of what they thought of it, and they mentioned that I spoke entirely too fast and it was too long they couldn’t finish concentrating on it. They barely were able to recite what I had said because they couldn’t really focus on my words and how it connected overall.  What I changed I changed my speed and cut it down to actually only be 90 seconds. I realized in the first one I did, I put a lot of unnecessary information that ended up boring the audience. The statistics I used for this one are a lot more direct and correlates to why my business should be preferred. I changed the angle of the camera and how I moved around.

16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

My truly unique human capital: I am passionate about my product. My product not only serves as a need satisfaction, but it could play into a larger social business that positively influences our planet. I may not have the technical skills to implement this idea, but with my passion I feel like I can create a strong team. Because of my passion, I can communicate my idea well. Strong communication is important in a startup because it markets the idea to the crowd. For you to be able to target a segment you have to be able to communicate why your product is more important than other ideas in the market. Mine would prove to include more sustainable ideas. I am driven. I will make sure that whatever I need done will be done in a timely manner. I am not lazy when it is something I am passionate about something. I am pretty independent. When I need something I make sure to ask someone who knows more than me. I am never afraid to ask, but I make sure to understand and try it out first beca...

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Begin with alternative evaluation From this set of questions I found out that quality is one of the most desirable traits. The only one that stated quality wasn’t the most important trait (stated price #1) said price mattered only a little more than quality in this case. Interviewer number 1 stated that quality is the most important because it could be a matter of safety or later financial and time constraints if something isn’t built accordingly. Interviewer number 3 didn’t state style as the least important, differing from what I had previously gathered, because money isn’t too much of an issue and would like to have something that she appreciates and has really good quality. How/where do they buy? The main way my interviewees find architects are through word of mouth. So I assume my sustainable architecture should also follow suit. Interviewee number one stated that she first goes to trusted friends who have gone through the process before and want to hear their feedback. Sec...

13A - Reading Reflection No.1

Twenty-Seven Dollars and a Dream: Katharine Etsy Entrepreneur: Muhammad Yunus What surprised you the most? What surprised my the most about Yunus is how adamant he is about his idea. Sometimes though it was shocking how he is very personable and an inspiring figure but also she could be rough and come across as impersonable when something doesn’t go his way. The author even mentioned that after talking to Yunus for such a long period, he made the assumption that maybe entrepreneurs are good at being an entrepreneur because they lack the social need that normal people have, and that allows entrepreneurs to focus more intensely in their goals.  What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? Reading about Yunus, I was inspired by his ability to always chase what he believed in, even though there are strong challenges to protest. He came from a very underprivileged and socially oppressed society, but he always saw that it was not how he thinks people should live. So he cre...