30A – Final Reflection

I think the most formative experience was our discussion about failure and tenacity. I strongly believe these are things an entrepreneur must be aware of and use to their advantage. Reading about the Wright Brothers, for example, put things in perspective in terms of how much time and effort actually went into developing a flying plane.
They were not successful the first or second, or even the third time. Through perseverance, learning from their failures, and hard work, they made history and completely changed the world.

My most joyous experience was getting to develop a business that I am passionate about. As I have stated before I love animals, and being able to create a business that revolves around their needs was very exciting. I am proud of having developed a business to which I am passionate about.

I see myself more as an entrepreneur now than I did in the beginning of  the semester. I never imagined myself as someone who would develop a business idea from scratch, and doing so opened my mind further about what I can possibly do in the future.

My recommendation to students who will take this class in the future is to give themselves plenty of time to come up with an idea they feel good about and something that can be developed extensively. They should start every assignment early in order to get quality interviews to work from. I also recommend that to foster an entrepreneurial mindset they read about successful entrepreneurs and learn from their experience.

24A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

·       Pet owners see their canine companions as part of the family, always looking for ways to keep them healthy and happy. Many pet owners ascertain that a pet’s diet is a crucial part of their dog’s well-being but may find it difficult to choose the right food for their pet.

·       There are many dog food options currently on the market promising quality ingredients with wholesome nutrients. Most of these options are kibble. However, a controlled study in Belgium used data from 500 domestic dogs and concluded that “dogs fed a homemade diet, consisting of high-quality foods used from their owner’s meals versus dog fed an industrial, commercial pet food diet had a life expectancy of [3 years longer.]

·       There are very few options currently available for pet owners looking to feed their pet fresh food. The options that are available can be pricey and require going through an online platform to have the food sent to their homes.

·       Locally, there is a lack of options to purchase fresh dog food, so owners are faced with few options for purchasing.  

·       The forces that allow this to occur are the lack of knowledge on the positive effects fresh food diets offer to a dog’s health, as well as strong competition from established dog food companies that maintain a good part of the market share.

·       The current options dog owners choose to satisfy their need for fresh food is through companies like the Farmer’s Dog and Ollie, which offer fresh food delivered to their homes. Because there are few competitors in the fresh food market, there is a great deal of opportunity for a new venture. Many of these companies are relatively new, and therefore customers may not yet experience high levels of loyalty to them which will make it easier to take some of their market share. 

Innovation:

·      I will sell fresh dog food containing veterinary approved levels of proteins and nutrients. The product will be sold locally in Coral Springs, FL. Our clients will come into a boutique style store which sells other pet products such as toys and treats and are able to customize their dog’s meal plan.

·                            We will also launch a website that offers the products online. Of course, shipping would add                an additional cost. Through a partnership with Fedex, we hope to lower this cost (shipping                  refrigerated materials can be especially costly.

·     With the help of a team of animal nutritionists and veterinarians, we will use an algorithm that considers factors such as weight, size, and activity levels to customize each pet’s meal plan. The price of these meal plans can be as low as $3/day for small dogs and $8/day for larger sized breeds. We will charge for weekly orders only through the online portal, but offer more flexibility when purchased in store. These price points were calculated using an average of the prices set by established companies within the same segment.

Owners will choose when they would like to pick up their orders and how much they would like to pick up so they can refrigerate/freeze the rest. When purchasing online, they can choose when they would like their order delivered and set a schedule of biweekly or monthly deliveries. They will be able to delay deliveries, change, or cancel directly on the online portal.

·    Our store will be pet friendly. It will not only be a place where dog owners buy their pet’s food, but it will also be a fun place for their dogs to interact with others and play around.

Venture Concept: 

·       Customers will switch to this product because they will see the value in choosing fresh food for their pet. Our advertising campaign will focus on educating potential customers on the benefits of changing their dog’s food. Our food will also attract pet owners of finicky dogs, or dogs with sensitive stomachs that require fresh food diets.

·       As stated previously, our main segment competitors are other fresh food companies. Their possible weakness is their young age and the fact that the fresh food option has not been there for very long.

·       Packaging: we will use reusable containers that pet owners will bring into the store to get refilled. This will cut the cost of disposable packaging and will position us as environmentally friendly in the mind of customers.

      This strategy cannot be used with online purchases, so in that case our goal is to use the most minimal amount of packaging material to 1. Save costs and 2. Reduce waste to the environment.

·       Price point: because we are providing a service that does not require shipping and handling, we are able to offer a lower price point than others.

      When it comes to online orders, however, it will be harder to compete on cost structure because of the higher costs of shipping and handling. Strong and successful marketing will set us apart from competitors. 

·       Distribution: we offer the dog food locally, so we will not fully rely on 3^rd party shipping companies to handle our product at all.

·       Customer support: our clients will not have long wait times when they call us. We can provide support one on one without long holds.

·       Customer experience/location: our dog friendly facility will be unique and will make us stand out from competitors. Our customers can drive to our store and bring their dogs with them to share the experience with them.

·       Our business will be comprised of a small team offering customer service and assistance at the front desk. We will also hire less skilled labor to actually cook our food, which we will store in the back of the store in a commercial sized fridge. The food will be cooked twice a week to keep up with demand and to ensure that it is fresh when it is leaving the store.

Our most important resource is our location. Competitors cannot duplicate this aspect of our business. If we position ourselves in a way where we attract local customers and achieve their loyalty, our competitors cannot easily mimic our design.

Our next venture is the production of cat food. Creating this food will use the same resources we have established, and it will be easier to grow with it.

I would want this venture to branch out to other cities in the U.S. It would be great to either franchise the idea or sell it so that others can mimic it.

Feedback:

On my last venture concept, I received some feedback which I used to update my new venture concept. Someone pointed out that I would be losing out on online sales by not offering them at all. I decided that investing on a strong online presence is also very important to our business and therefore I implemented an online platform as well.

Someone else pointed out that the food prices were expensive. I used an average of existing competitors price points to come up with the pricing model. Our target market are people with the disposable income available to pay a little more for their dog’s meals.

As for the comment regarding the location being limited to only one city, we hope that our store branches out to other cities. However, our starting location will be coral springs. Once we have the capital and know-how to invest further and if our store is successful, we will branch out as much as possible.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

This is a business that deeply interests me. If it were to take off and become profitable, I would hope to stay with it until I retired, and then either pass it down to my children if they wanted it or sell it. I would like to also sell the idea (think PetSmart) so others could do the same in other cities and make some active profit that way as well.

I love animals and have always loved working with them. It’s a business I believe in and would like to see succeed. Therefore, I would prefer to keep it and see it flourish rather than sell it off to move on to something else.

I think my exit strategy has influenced various steps in in my venture development. When identifying an opportunity, for example, I thought about what I like: animals, and worked toward creating something that would allow me to do something for them. It influences my decisions to provide a healthy product that will help pets stay healthy.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

-The general idea in The Art of Social Media is to provide tips and advice on how to properly manage your social media presence. Through examples and detailed explanations, the book can help your business tremendously by guiding your social media use to make it professional and polished.

-This book connected and enhanced the teachings in ENT 3003 because it gave real life, concrete examples as to manage social media for your company. This isn’t a topic we touched on much, so I feel like it’s a great resource to keep in mind. Not only does it offer great advice on how to manage a business social media, but it will also help you manage your personal accounts.

-I think a good exercise would be to create a social media plan or a strategy that your business would like to use. For example, how will you market your product through social media? Or how will you ensure your social media will provide useful information for your customers?

-I am not big on using social media. I think it wastes a lot of time and serves very little purpose to me personally. However, I think social media can be a huge advertisement resource for a business that can help your bottom line. Something that stood out to me is the way in which businesses use cross promotion. For example, using only a few platforms to advertise their products while advertising their other accounts.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1)    At the beginning of the semester I began with a resolution to keep a consistent schedule of working out and eating healthy. Everything seemed to work out for the first few months, but eventually I found myself only working out once a week or so.

This was a personal goal that I set because I thought it would help me not only physically and mentally but in all aspects of my life. I stopped being as committed as I was in the beginning due to various reasons: the stress of work, school, my social life etc.

However, looking back, I think I could have kept up the rhythm and stuck to my initial goal.

2)     What I learned from this is that I can be more organized and committed with my time. If I set a schedule and stick to it, I can keep up. If I don’t stick to a schedule or I fail to make one overall, then I may not get everything done that I want to.

3)     I looked at others in similar situations as me and I became a little upset wondering what I was doing wrong. After all, other people seemed to be working hard while also going to the gym regularly. With this I was able to self-reflect and realize a few things.

1.      I wasn’t as committed as I told myself.

2.      I was spending too much time on other things (such as hanging out with friends) that I could have used to work out.

3.      I CAN stick to a strict schedule, it’s a matter of commitment and perseverance.

4)     This class helped me to reflect on my failures through the readings that I did. Reading about the failures of those who went on to be huge successes is very motivational. It helps to learn about such people because it keeps you going. I think I am definitely more likely to take a risk now than I was a few months ago.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market:

1)     The next product I hope to develop is cat food.

2)     Interviewees include three people close to me that became very involved throughout my idea planning. All three mentioned they see growth in the future from within and through expansion. One of them said I might be able to sell this idea to an investor as well, which would allow me to tackle the next venture.

Another one said we should also focus our attention on developing healthy treats because their dog gets sick with the ones sold at the supermarket.

3)     My next market includes expanding into providing cat food. I decided on this course of action because it will use most of the same resources used to develop the dog food. Having now the experience in terms of production and marketing, developing a successful cat food line will be more straightforward and less risky. We will consult the same team of veterinarians and animal nutritionists, train our staff on cat nutrition, use the same facilities and machinery, and implement similar marketing techniques.

New Market:

1)     We expect our customers to be upper middle-class suburban pet owners. A very different target segment we could reach is that of middle class and lower. This would require, however, significant cost reductions, which are not very easily attainable in the present. Maybe once we achieve economies of scale, we can somehow create a lower priced product that people with less disposable income can access.

2)     People in this market are no different from others in one thing: they also see their pets as part of their family. Being able to provide them with affordable fresh food for their pets will make them healthier. Healthy pets mean less diseases in the long run, which can be expensive and deathly.

3)     This market is less concerned with spending more money on their pet’s foods. That’s why it is very important to provide a quality product at a same price point as many competitors that they use. They are less willing to try a new product because of the cost alone.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1.      Location:

a.      Valuable: our customers will come into a physical store, therefore, having a central location to the city is crucial.

b.      Rare: We are the only business operating in the city. Finding a central place will place us at a stronger standing were competitors to arise.

c.      Inimitable: you cannot imitate a location.

d.      Non-substitutable: although competitors can arise, they cannot get our same central spot.

2.      Quality ingredients:

a.      Valuable: our quality ingredients set us aside from other dog foods filled with fillers and preservatives.

b.      Rare: most dog foods do not contain quality ingredients.

c.      Inimitable: it would be difficult for a competitor to find out exactly how we make our food because we have our own “formula” and suppliers.

d.      Non-substitutable: (see above)

3.      Unique business plan:

a.      Valuable: this sets us aside from competing businesses in our market.

b.      Rare: our plan includes a physical location where pet owners can come in with their pets. We will offer a pet friendly atmosphere that offers a unique experience that no other place does.

c.      Inimitable: (see above)

d.      Non-substitutable: (see above)

4.      Strong marketability:

a.      Valuable: our marketing campaign will focus on education. Through our advertising, we hope to take customers away from competitors.

b.      Rare: most marketing has the intention to sell, and while that is very important, our main purpose is to educate.

c.      Inimitable:

d.      Non-substitutable:

5.      Point of sales systems:

a.      Valuable: This is what sets us apart

b.      Rare: we are the only ones in the field

c.      Inimitable: no other businesses will have a similar business plan

d.      Non-substitutable: no one can imitate our idea due to trademark protections

6.      Branding:

a.      Valuable: this is how we position ourselves in the minds of consumers

b.      Rare: we brand ourselves as a fresh food company with the goal of maximizing dog’s health

c.      Inimitable: through licensing and trademark protections, we can protect our branding.

d.      Non-substitutable: no one else can copy it exactly.

7.      Human resources:

a.      Valuable: our team is committed to the best customer service in the industry

b.      Rare: through the right hiring practices, competitors cannot copy our HR model.  

c.      Inimitable: (see above)

d.      Non-substitutable: no one else can copy it exactly.

8.      Funding:

a.      Valuable: this is how we fund our business

b.      Rare: getting the right investors to put money in our business

c.      Inimitable: It’s unlikely others will have the same way of raising capital

d.      Non-substitutable: no one else can copy it exactly.

9.      Premises & Equipment:

a.      Valuable: we operate on site

b.      Rare: no one else operates on site  

c.      Inimitable: (see above)

d.      Non-substitutable: no one else can copy it exactly.

10.   Strong supplier relations:

a.      Valuable: Will lower costs and provide us the best resources in terms of food

b.      Rare: our relations help us grow

c.      Inimitable: they are hard to copy by others

d.      Non-substitutable: you need these positive relations in order to thrive.

Our top resource is our location. There are other companies that offer fresh food with customizable meal plans for dogs. However, all these companies operate through online platforms. There are no physical locations in Coral Springs that offers this type of service, therefore, having a central location where people will easily get to and shop is of crucial importance.