Assignment 30A - Final Reflection

• This class has definitely been an experience which I will remember, for several reasons.

• The most formative experience for me was the first set of interviews which I conducted. That assignment made me realize that this was a class that heavily valued hands-on/field experiences over simple written assignments. I will most remember the first elevator pitch because although I have done elevator pitches before, this made me take them more seriously and know exactly what the purpose of an elevator pitch is within the context of your goals. I am extremely proud of myself for completely the venture concept assignment. When I first looked at it the week before it was due it seemed so daunting and almost impossible. But I was able to get started on it early and eventually completed it before the deadline.

• I do not yet see myself as an entrepreneur but I have definitely moved closer to having an entrepreneurial mindset. I need to first get my business or any other business idea up and running before I start to consider myself as an actual entrepreneur. I also need to continue identifying problems and think of possible solutions to those problems, in order to continue to foster my entrepreneurial mindset.

• For any student who will possibly take this class and/or go through the entrepreneur path, I would recommend they read my half-way reflection. It's short but very descriptive, and I really tried to think of the best possible and most useful advice based on my experiences in this course. Preparation is honestly the best method to succeed in this class. The difficulty and time required for the assignments varies greatly so adequate preparation is needed for every week. In order to develop that mindset, I recommend that the students get a calendar or at least persevere in whatever they do. A quitters attitude is not conducive to success in this class or in the real-world.

            

Assignment 29A - Venture Concept No. 2: Louis' Sponsor Center

OPPORTUNITY

Note: Soccer clubs are run just like any other business and have contracts with certain companies (Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, etc.) to sponsor them financially or by providing equipment. Smaller clubs, especially those in lower-income neighborhoods, often struggle to find sponsorship because their names/brand are not recognizable and there is not much of an audience for their games and tournaments.

·       Who has the need: My need exists in those smaller soccer clubs whom are mostly situated in lower-income neighborhoods but can be in middle-income neighborhoods. These clubs’ primary customer base does not have a large purchasing power, so they have to modify their product to fit that. This leads to them providing an inferior good that is overall, detrimental to the development of their players.

·       Nature of the need: The nature of the need is that while these clubs could continue providing the same quality of product which they have done before, there exists the possibility that they can elevate the product without losing their customer base. This means that prices while prices are maintained, the service itself must improve. This is where their need of additional sponsorship comes in. The sponsorship could be in the form of sponsored tournaments or even the donation of equipment and material for the players.

·       Forces/changes creating the opportunity: The movement of migrant families from South America and the Caribbean Islands into the South Florida region is creating this need. These families are recently established and are more likely to reside in lower-income neighborhoods, so they do not have high paying jobs and thus cannot afford to send their children to soccer academies or other expensive clubs.

·       Geography and demographics of the market: When I first try to establish the business, the market will be situated in the South Florida region. As it expands, it will hopefully start to cover other lower-income regions.

·       Current customer satisfaction/loyalty: The small clubs usually ask for donations and volunteering from the parents. This has worked to some degree of success because the clubs themselves remain sustainable. Although this system is flawed because the parents have other obligations so their help is inconsistent at best. If the opportunity for more direct sponsorship comes in, they would jump at the chance.

·       Size of the opportunity: I would say this is a big opportunity considering the sheer number of smaller clubs that are organized in the South Florida region; as well as the large population of migrant families whose children are primarily accustomed to playing soccer. I myself have lived in the region and I know of several of my friends who have played for these smaller clubs.

·       Time length of “window of opportunity”: This opportunity will be open until someone is able to successfully fill the need. So far, the solutions which the clubs use to sustain themselves can be considered temporary. This also places some pressure on me to exploit the market as soon as possible.

INNOVATION

·       What it is: A service that matches up soccer clubs with additional sponsors who donate equipment and organize/sponsor tournaments with other similar clubs in the area. That way, the management and coaches of the teams will not have to worry about providing these services for the player but will instead be more invested in their development. This also removes the element of having parents being overly involved and thinking they can influence the direction of the club.

·       What it does: This model will ensure that prices at those clubs remain the same while the quality of services and development which they provide to the players will increase. It will also increase the competitiveness of those clubs because the frequency and level of tournaments which they participate in will increase. Players will also be more motivated and dedicated to the sport and their develop when they are finally in an environment where playing soccer and developing their skills is their main concern.

·       How it works: My business will first get into contact with sponsors and gauge their interest in our proposed business model. After establishing connections with a suitable amount of businesses, we will then move towards working with the clubs to work on establishing a necessary contract with the sponsors. As part of introducing the clubs with the sponsors, my business will require a fee from the clubs. My business will essentially be an agency that matches up clubs with sponsors. They will then be priced on the size of the sponsor which they request, the amount of equipment they will need from the sponsors, and the number of tournaments that are to be organized in the names of those sponsors.

VENTURE CONCEPT

·       Reasoning and difficulty: Customers will switch to my product because their current model is aimed towards sustainability and not growth. This means that neither the players nor the players themselves are content with their development, but they settle for it because that is all they can afford. If I have a stable base of sponsors, I do not foresee that I will have too much difficulty getting the clubs to buy into my business.

·       Competitors and weaknesses/vulnerabilities: The idea itself has no competitors besides the sponsors themselves going out and finding the clubs to then establish a sort of conglomerate or coalition with them. I still need to gage the possibility that they will undertake that idea. The current vulnerability is that every moment that I spend not implementing my idea is time for someone else to come in and establish it themselves.

·       Roles of price packaging, price points, etc.: Much in the same way that different customers can get charge different prices for the same product, my business will provide sponsorship to clubs at varying prices. The business itself will be in South Florida and there will be sponsor bundles offered in terms of club size and location because of the relation to how these clubs will probably be playing in tournaments versus one another.

·       Organization and employees: My business will be organized as me being the manager and overseer of the distribution of sponsors to the clubs. I must first start out by gathering the interests of sponsors myself because I do not have any capital to invest in employees to do that for me and it would be a waste of money. My subsequent employees should preferably be those with at least a low-level law background because of the use of contracts in establishing relationships between the clubs and sponsors.

THREE MINOR ELEMENTS

·       My venture’s secret sauce will be the genuine concern that we have for the clubs and their players and the relationship that we establish with the sponsors. This might not seem like much of a secret sauce but I grew up in the area and I know of so many people who had to give up on their dreams because they did not have the resources to pursue them and that is something I am aiming to correct.

·       The next problem to address will be a managed route from those smaller clubs to the bigger academies. In a sense, my business will next establish connections with those academies. This will aid in making sure the players successfully transition into the bigger and more competitive clubs/academies.

·       I hope that my next venture will be something to tackle the economic development issues that plague Black neighborhoods. It is something which I constantly think about.

 

Feedback

·       The feedback which I received centered on the focus of my business and how I wanted to change the direction of the clubs by elevating their situation, in order to bring a greater benefit to the players. I received positive feedback on the three elements because those really explained the reasoning behind my idea and the next step for my business. However, there were some concerns regarding the distinction between sponsors and clubs, and how exactly they are related. Therefore, I included the note at the top to ensure that people understood my idea as best as possible.

·       A lot of the revisions which I made to the idea centered on being more descriptive with who or what clubs exactly fit into the market. I wanted to be as detailed and specific as possible to minimize confusion. Therefore, if there were any criticisms then I would know exactly what portion of my concept it was addressed to; and then I could take the necessary measures to modify it. I also changed the name of the business to clarify its purpose.

Assignment 28A - Your Exit Strategy

I plan to sell my business within 5-7 years after its inception.

I chose this exit strategy because it makes the most sense based on my interest in the venture and my ideas for any successive ventures. A major reason why I even had the idea to start the business was because I wanted to raise awareness on the issue of low-quality soccer clubs in lower-income neighborhoods. If I can get some sort of organizational structure behind them to help with the process of gaining sponsors, then I don't see why I can't sell the business so that someone more experienced can carry it forward while I pursue other opportunities.

I never realized it, but I feel like I always had this exit strategy in mind. I say this because I have treated most of the assignments and my business as a start-up. Which means that the moment it goes beyond that is the moment which I will probably sell it. I have identified that moment to be within 5-7 years, when it will be large in scale and classified as an actual business.

Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

For this assignment, I read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams...

• There was a lot to sort through for this book. But my main takeaway from it is that there several things that you need to change about yourself if you're looking for success, and that the good thing about failure is that it reveals these things to us. The book itself has a variety of what it would call "insights" and "truths." It offers said truths and insights in a way where it focuses on what you need to change in your daily life.

• This book was yet more material which says that failure is a necessity and that one should look forward to the lessons which it has to teach. At this point, I have already realized that a lot of the focus of this class and its teachings are about making you realize that it's okay to fail, and I would like to think that I've received the message. 

• The book says that systems promote success more than goals do, and its a message that I remember hearing in the last book that I read. The theory is that when you set goals, you're in a state of perpetual failure until you achieve said goal. Meanwhile, when you refine and optimize a system, you modify and simplify your behaviors to increase your odds of success. This makes it so that attaining success is a process rather than a goal, and you can be less stressed about it because you are constantly seeing changes and results that come about because of those changes.

• My biggest "aha" moment came when Adams stated that "we fake it until it becomes real." This is a message that I scarcely hear and one of the few times that I remember hearing it is in relation to this one song so this does come at a surprise. I always looked down on the whole "fake it till you make it" mindset, but this book made me realized that there really is no harm in it and that psychology itself would show you that it's a good idea.

Assignment 26A - Celebrating Failure

• During this summer, I became interested in UF's combined Master of Science in Finance Program and had a month to study for the GMAT to receive a suitable score in order to get accepted into a certain program. Even after several productive and dedicated studying sessions during the three days before my exam date, I failed to produce the required results. In a way, I almost expected it; and that is horrifying because I never expect failure from myself. 

• The most painful thing about this experience isn't that I just failed, it's the manner in which I failed. I have always been a disciplined person who is more often over rather than under-prepared. Yet for some reason, throughout the whole process before I took the GMAT I continuously failed to adequately prepare. Thinking back on it now, this process showed me that I was moving away from the methods that had brought me success in the past. I became lazy, comfortable and separated from my innate desires to be an achiever. Several weeks have passed and I continue to reflect on the conditions that led to my failure, and I continue to think about how I could have went through the process differently. I still don't know what my next step is, but I guess that's part of the process.

• I have always thought that the most difficult thing about failure is that it makes us feel inadequate, as if we weren't good enough to succeed or that we did not deserve to succeed. That in of itself also relates to a person's sense of self worth, which makes it even more understandable that we would avoid failure or even being reminded of it. But if at any point you are to challenge yourself or take on a new task, then you always run the risk of being embarrassed and feeling unworthy. These are feelings which I myself often struggle with because of my pride and they challenge my self-image which has generally been positive my whole life. This class hasn't really influenced my risk taking behavior, but it has definitely changed my reactions to failure. I now look at failure from a more analytical perspective rather than try to run from it. I always knew that there were important lessons to learn from failure, but that knowledge itself didn't make me more likely to evaluate my failures. This class has reaffirmed my beliefs that failures can come from anywhere and will be a part of life; and I simply have to get used to facing those failures and learn from them.

Assignment 25A - What's Next for Louis' Sponsor Venue?

EXISTING MARKET

Whats next: The next step in my business is talking to potential sponsors and establishing relationships with them so that when I start actually marketing my business to customers, I can have some options to present to them. This means that I need to get in contact with different businesses in the South Florida region who could possibly be interested in my idea, and present it to them. After that, I can start organizing these different sponsors into packages and see what type of clubs they would be willing to sponsor and how they want to situate their relationship with those clubs.

Interviews: The main response that I got from customers is that I should simultaneously be working to establish relationships with both sponsors and clubs. I never thought about this because I assumed that I would be able to find clubs interested in any financial adjacent support that they could get, but now it makes sense that there are certain needs which they would first prefer. Some of the customers stated that they would prefer equipment support in the form of cleats, shin-guards, etc. for their players so that they do not have to spend that money for themselves. Others stated that sponsored local/regional tournaments would be more beneficial because of how it would help with player development and exposure. The next step which they suggested was to help provide financial support to help the clubs grow in stature but I do not know if that is realistic. I would have to further research into how I would have to integrate that into my business model.

The future: I think that as my business grows, we have to begin targeting larger possible sponsors and maybe even bigger clubs. I know that might seem counter-intuitive since the bigger clubs would most likely already have their own sponsors but I think the possibility exists that they could need more. I say this because there are fairly big clubs situated in lower-income neighborhoods, or those clubs who at least target lower-income families with their membership prices.
I once played at a relatively medium sized club and we would often have issues with coaches not being able to show up to certain practice sessions because they put their outside jobs first. I think that with more sponsorship, they could increase their revenues and turn coaching or managing at these clubs to be their number one priority. This works in the same way that it will put more focus into developing the players and possibly increasing the competitions which they play in.

NEW MARKET

Shift: A possible new market for my club is to target large scale academies and clubs situated in affluent neighborhoods. 

Creating Value: I see value for the academies in more affluent clubs in the relationships that my business will have with the smaller clubs. I think that there exists the opportunity to connect the bigger and more affluent clubs/academies with the smaller and lower-income ones to use them as talent pools and development clubs. It would work with those bigger clubs also providing the smaller ones with financial incentives and other benefits in order to secure the relationship.

Its also possible that the smaller clubs would be against the idea because it relegates them to a position where they will never grow in comparable stature to the bigger clubs but I think I could convince them that this is already unlikely to happen because of their location. Eventually, those players would have tried out for the bigger clubs or get scouted by them at some tournament so they might as well get something out of it.

Interviews: I talked with an academy representative which I talked to earlier in the course, as well as a club located in a more affluent region of Central Florida. They first raised the concern that they could scout those players themselves or that the truly talented and confident players would seek them out and prove their worth. I then explained that this might not be possible given their financial situation but they stated that it was a risk they would be willing to take. Given that information, I then inquired into the possibility of their support contingent on the success of my original business idea and that got more approval from them. This means that the smaller clubs could be used as talent scouting pipelines to the bigger clubs given that they are sufficiently compensated.

     Reflection

I think its natural that there are perhaps more requirements to working with a more affluent market than there are to work with a lower-income one. A lot of the possibilities of me working with the more affluent market is contingent on my success with the original market which I identified. This makes it all the more important that I succeed with this idea because my credibility and subsequent ideas will be related to it. Surprisingly, I do not feel much pressure given these circumstances because I am more interested in the process and what I can learn from it.

I also feel that the requirements of the more affluent clubs and how they would like to use the smaller clubs are not necessarily negative ideas. I say this because giving the players the opportunity to progress into larger clubs and academies is objectively a good thing. The connection between these bigger clubs and the smaller ones also increases the connectivity of U.S. soccer as a whole and that can also be considered a positive.

Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No.1: Louis' Sponsor Venue

OPPORTUNITY

·       Who has the need: My need exists in those soccer clubs whom are mostly situated in lower-income neighborhoods. These clubs do not have the luxury of a customer base with a lot of purchasing power, so they must cut costs whenever possible in order to lower their prices. This leads to them providing an inferior good that is overall, detrimental to the development of their players.

·       Nature of the need: The nature of the need is that these clubs must find some way of elevating their product without losing their customer base. This means that prices must be maintained, but the quality of service must improve. This is where their need of more sponsorship comes in. The sponsorship could be in the form of sponsored tournaments or even the donation of goods.

·       Forces/changes creating the opportunity: The movement of migrant families from South America and the Caribbean Islands into the South Florida region is creating this need. These families are recently established so they do not have high paying jobs and thus cannot afford to send their children to soccer academies or expensive clubs.

·       Geography and demographics of the market: The market will be mainly restricted to the South Florida region when I first try to establish the business. As it expands, it will hopefully start to cover other lower-income regions.

·       Current customer satisfaction/loyalty: The small clubs usually ask for donations and volunteering from the parents. This has worked to some degree of success because the clubs themselves remain sustainable. If the opportunity for more direct sponsorship comes in, they would jump at the chance.

·       Size of the opportunity: I would say this is a big opportunity considering the sheer number of smaller clubs that are organized in the South Florida region; as well as the large population of migrant families whose children are primarily accustomed to playing soccer.

·       Time length of “window of opportunity”: This opportunity will be open until someone is able to successfully fill the need. So far, the solutions which the clubs use to sustain themselves can be considered temporary.

INNOVATION

·       What it is: A service that matches up soccer clubs with additional sponsors who donate equipment and organize/sponsor tournaments with other similar clubs in the area. That way, the management and coaches of the teams will not have to worry about providing these services for the player but will instead be more invested in their development.

·       What it does: This model will ensure that prices at those clubs remain the same while the quality of services and development which they provide to the players will increase. It will also increase the competitiveness of those clubs because the frequency and level of tournaments which they participate in will increase.

·       How it works: My business will first get into contact with sponsors and gauge their interest in our proposed business model. After establishing connections with a suitable amount of businesses, we will then move towards working with the clubs to work on establishing a necessary contract with the sponsors. As part of introducing the clubs with the sponsors, my business will require a fee from the clubs. My business will essentially be an agency that matches up clubs with sponsors. They will then be priced on the size of the sponsor which they request, the amount of equipment they will need from the sponsors, and the number of tournaments that are to be organized in the names of those sponsors.

VENTURE CONCEPT

·       Reasoning and difficulty: Customers will switch to my product because their current model is aimed towards sustainability and not growth. This means that the players themselves are not content with their development but settle for it because that is all they can afford. If I have a stable base of sponsors, I do not foresee that I will have too much difficulty getting them to switch.

·       Competitors and weaknesses/vulnerabilities: The idea itself has no competitors besides the sponsors themselves going out and finding the clubs to then establish a sort of conglomerate or coalition with them. The current vulnerability is that every moment that I spend not implementing my idea is time for someone else to come in and establish it themselves.

·       Roles of price packaging, price points, etc.: Much in the same way that different customers can get charge different prices for the same product, my business will provide sponsorship to clubs at varying prices. The business itself will be in South Florida and there will be sponsor bundles offered in terms of club size and location because of the relation to how these clubs will probably be playing in tournaments versus one another.

·       Organization and employees: My business will be organized as me being the manager and overseer of the distribution of sponsors to the clubs. I must first start out by gathering the interests of sponsors myself because I do not have any capital to invest in employees to do that for me and it would be a waste of money. My subsequent employees should preferably be those with at least a low-level law background because of the use of contracts in establishing relationships between the clubs and sponsors.

THREE MINOR ELEMENTS

·       My venture’s secret sauce will be the genuine concern that we have for the clubs and their players and the relationship that we establish with the sponsors. This might not seem like much of a secret sauce but I grew up in the area and I know of so many people who had to give up on their dreams because they did not have the resources to pursue them and that is something I am aiming to correct.

·       The next problem to address will be a managed route from those smaller clubs to the bigger academies. In a sense, my business will next establish connections with those academies.

·       I hope that my next venture will be something to tackle the economic development issues that plague Black neighborhoods. It is something which I constantly think about.