Local Opportunities

1 .Dooley: Gators can’t match Baylor’s physical play in loss

https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200126/dooley-gators-cant-match-baylors-physical-play-in-loss

The University of Florida gators could not find a way to handle the Baylor bears and their offensive attack. Baylor outmatched Florida due to the plethora of offensive rebounds and overall physicality. Florida had a problem scoring points and playing aggressive enough to keep up with Baylor throughout the game.

2. Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $344M in marketing case

https://www.gainesville.com/ZZ/news/20200130/johnson--johnson-ordered-to-pay-344m-in-marketing-case

Johnson and Johnson participated in deceptive business practices which resulted in them paying 344 million dollars in damage. They falsely advertised one of their products to women and did not display the true side effects of the product. Johnson and Johnson are clearly in the wrong and need to prioritize the health and safety of its consumers over the potential profit of a harmful product.

3. Gainesville City Commission emails lose immediacy

https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Gainesville-Cit-Commission--567418081.html

The Gainesville City Commission has completely slowed down on its emails. All of its members have suffered from a seven-day delay as a result of Santos and Johnson opting out of their email portals. The problem is clearly for the people of Gainesville and makes the city commission look bad.

4. Dating apps face US inquiry over underage use, sex offenders

https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Dating-apps-face-US-inquiry-over-underage-use-sex-offenders-567433681.html

Many dating application in the US are being criticized and punishment for its easily accessible features. The abundance of underage users and sex offenders on these application pose a real danger and problem to users. In this article, it’s clear the applications do not do enough to verify age and its users, in general.

5.  Four UF faculty members are jobless after investigation into US research and China

https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Four-UF-faculty-members-are-jobless-after-investigation-into-US-research-and-China-566996951.html

Four faculty members at the University of Florida were involved in a scandal regarding China and other foreign programs influencing research. Three of the faculty members resigned and the other was fired. It is clear that the faculty members were in the wrong to be influenced by foreign programs while conducting research for the University of Florida.

Opportunity Belief

1. I have a belief that many opportunities exist.

2. The unmet need is an app that can save people time by reading them their emails. The unmet need is for people trying to save time who are busy and don’t have time to read their emails. The need has been established since email became a popular form of communication for businesses and business associates. People currently meet this need by reading their emails, which may take more time than what they have. I am 90 percent sure this opportunity exists; however, it’s necessary for busy people who send and read many emails.

3. The prototypical customer would be someone who sends or reads many emails per hour or day and is extremely busy. These people do not like to waste time reading their emails and rather be productive.

4. After talking to three prototypical customers, most of the answers were consistent in what the customers would actually do. After explaining my idea and way to come up with solutions to their needs, the nature of their need was due to time. Most businessmen and businesswomen don’t have time to waste and also need to communicate with associates or clients. They experience this need multiple times a day. Communication is key in business and has no time limit. This need has been apparent to each of my prototypical customers since they have been using computers to send and read emails. They became aware of this need almost immediately after they receive a email from anyone and are partaking in other activities in the office. They are currently addressing their need by reading their emails while they do work. This does not satisfy the prototypical customers I spoke to.

5. I learned that my opportunity actually exists. There are busy people in the business world that can’t waste time reading emails and rather have them read to them. I was surprised but also content to find out my idea might actually work.

7. Most of my original opportunity is still apparent. Although it can be tweaked to be useful for more customers, it revolves around the same idea. My new opportunity, however, is much more accurate than when I started. It has a good value proposition and targets a wide ranger of customers who would realistically use the application daily. Entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities based on customer feedback to a large degree. These are the people that the entrepreneur are trying to cater to and provide a solution to. It would be most wise to listen to customers and adapt to what they want to build a larger customer base.

My Entrepreneurship Story

As a kid, I was always interested in what my dad actually did at his job as the owner of a small business. My father is an entrepreneur and with him being my role model, I quickly garnered an interest in the business field, specifically entrepreneurship. In the summer going into my senior year of high school, I attended the Marshall School of Business’ entrepreneurship program at the University of Southern California. By doing this program I was able to see what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur and saw similar skills in each accomplished entrepreneur. As a result of exposing myself to this program, I gained interest towards starting a business in the future and even established a small business idea with other group members at the time. We called other companies and investors to see the likelihood of success with our small idea.

I enrolled in ENT 3003 to gain back my interest in entrepreneurship. Being a business student and having to take courses that may not interest me is a struggle. I prefer taking a class like entrepreneurship in which I can be creative and not just solve for one solution. I hope to get my skills and interest entrepreneurship back from this class. I want to be able to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to current world issues. Although this class will not directly assist me in my goal, it will help bring me much closer to my dream of being a successful entrepreneur.