Sean's Blog

Venture Concept No. 2 Phone Jumper Cables Opportunity The opportunity that I came across for this class was the opportunity to create a solution to a major problem people have nowadays with their phones.  The opportunity arose because of how many people in today's world depend on their phones for every aspect of their life.  The main changes that occurred all originate from the smartphone's ability to do nearly everything.  People use them for social media, work, games, education, and any other random purposes they come across throughout their day.  Because of this constant usage, people run out of phone battery in the middle of their day.  Currently, in order to mitigate this problem, customers are stopping in the middle of their day to go plug in at a wall, using bulky portable chargers, or staying in their cars to use their car chargers.  I think customers who commute are pretty loyal to their car chargers, and people who have large purses or bags are...

My Exit Strategy If my business of phone jumper cables proves to be extremely successful, I plan to sell it off after 5 years.  In my opinion, this is not a product that will be relevant past the year 2024, as phones will eventually develop wireless charging somehow, or the battery lives of many will be two or three times what they are now.  Because of this, I would put all of my efforts to maximum capacity during these next 5 years in order to get the most out of the business, and when I start to forecast the slightest decline, I will sell it off and find a job in the same industry, maybe for a big tech company.   Not only does this exit strategy make sense based on future assumptions, but it also makes sense for me personally, as I will eventually want to work for a current notable company as opposed to working for myself.  I feel like working in a big company under several people could be a huge learning experience for me, and it is something that I am cu...

Book: Inbound Marketing  by Brian Halligan 1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The main theme I got from Inbound Marketing  was that internal marketing efforts (social media, blogging, etc) are very crucial to the success of a company in today's world.  Even though this book was written in 2009 and social media has changed drastically since then, it is still quite accurate with how much emphasis must be put on this aspect of marketing.  The online game is definitely the most important form of marketing for most businesses now, and it is growing more and more everyday.  2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? The book mainly allowed me to realize that I should be focusing on getting my phone jumper cables product to market on Instagram, Facebook, and any other high traffic social media.  In the college market segment, more people will be exposed to my product through...

Celebrating Failure The thing I have "failed at" (or did not succeed at) the most so far this semester is internship searching.  I have applied to about 4 different internships with different companies, and each time so far I have not received a final offer.  I have come very close with some, receiving multiple interviews, but in the end they did not work out.  It is not easy to keep going through all of the work for these positions to just get denied in the end, but I have gotten myself to see the positives now. I have learned so much from this process.  One of the key things that I have learned is how to approach interviews better in general.  There are certain little things that the interviewers want to see from the candidate, and I have figured them out now.  They want company/team oriented answers, not answers that are meant to better the interviewee.  They want to see what I can do to help them the most.  Another thing I have learned fr...

Existing Market I think the next thing for my product after it establishes itself at UF as a charging option is to create more credibility and help it grow into a prominent and reliable charging method.  Only by doing this will we be able to grow even further. Dave:  I think you guys need to be marketing now before production even starts.  You need to get word out there that this product is coming soon, and for UF students to be prepared.  The main thing with this though is that you can't let it sit for too long without production starting because someone could steal your idea while you're busy marketing.  I will definitely find this product useful. Grace:  Unlike what Dave said, I believe you guys need to finalize all of the production before you can begin marketing.  How bad would it look if you marketed this idea for so long and then you find out that with your current resources you wouldn't even be able to produce the product.  That woul...

Venture Concept No. 1 Phone Jumper Cables Opportunity The opportunity that I came across for this class was the opportunity to create a solution to a major problem people have nowadays with their phones.  The opportunity arose because of how many people in today's world depend on their phones for every aspect of their life.  The main changes that occurred all originate from the smartphone's ability to do nearly everything.  People use them for social media, work, games, education, and any other random purposes they come across throughout their day.  Because of this constant usage, people run out of phone battery in the middle of their day.  Currently, in order to mitigate this problem, customers are stopping in the middle of their day to go plug in at a wall, using bulky portable chargers, or staying in their cars to use their car chargers.  I think customers who commute are pretty loyal to their car chargers, and people who have large purses or bags ...