Reading Reflection No. 3

For the third reading, I have read Chris Anderson's The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.
1)
This book introduces the theory of the "long tail". The "long tail" stands for the largely forgotten niche markets in contrast to "fat head" which means the most popular markets. When "long tail" products are properly marketed, the combination of a variety of such products can be as popular as those that belong to the "fat head".
2)
I think the theory of the "long tail" is essentially about the optimization of the arrangement of the sources. Entrepreneurship itself is about maximizing the effect the limited source could produce.
3)
The exercise would be creating a social media account for the business and try to market with it.
4)
I'm surprised that this book's contents contain about 80% of unuseful information or over-interpretation of extremely simple ideas. Even this also applies to the Pareto Principle XD.

Your Exit Strategy

1)If I ever had a chance to grow my business large enough and exit the entrepreneurship process, I would protect the venture as a family business.

2)

By keeping the venture as a family business, my children will have more options after graduation from college. They can decide between keep running the business or selling it.

3)

It didn't influence my concept of the venture at all. The concepts and strategies of the venture mainly focus on developing products capable of performing its job and sell well in the target market.

Celebrating Failure

1）
I got a zero on a math exam because of poor time management and lack of self-discipline. About a month ago, my third math exam of the semester was right in the corner. However, I procrastinated a lot until the day before the exam. The test consisted of seven sections of the chapter so I assumed that I would review for the first four sections on the day before the exam and the last three on the day of the exam since the exam was at 5:10pm. After reviewing the first four sections, I realized that I also was supposed to go to a party with my friends. I went to the party and planned on only drinking a little, but things didn't work out as I imagined, I overestimated my self-discipline. I woke up at around 2:30 on the next day and had a severe hangover, missing that exam and getting a zero were guaranteed.
2)
From this experience, I learned to start doing things as early as I can. Instead of depending on short-time memory, making a well-made plan is more important.
3)
Luckily, I had a chance of taking a make-up exam that replaces my lowest score. I eventually managed to study for the make-up exam and get an A on it. At first, I was extremely regretted because I could have saved the chance of the make-up exam to improve my grade rather than replacing an unnecessary zero. But now I think this is a very valuable experience for me because it made me realize my shortcomings at virtually no cost.

What’s Next?

Existing market:

1)

The next step for my venture is to accurately market the product to the right group of people 

2)

The first person I interviewed told me that the next step would be to gather more information from experts from industry.

The second person I interviewed thought the next step would be to improve the design and code for stable firmware.

The third person I interviewed agreed with my opinion.

3)

The current stage of my venture is very primitive, there is no stable product nor prototype yet. Aesthetics of the designs still have a long way to go. 

In terms of marketing, I still need an efficient way of marketing my product since it is limited by budget regardless that the market size is massive.

After the interview, I have changed my next step to improving the design and firmware.

New market:

1) The primary projected market for this product is B2C, I would also like to how this product will perform in the B2B market.

2)

The modular model of my product is able to be a good productivity tool. It has the ability to expand using Thunderbolt 3 addons. Companies could buy the addons that fit their workflow the best.

3)

The first interviewee is a photographer, he told me that such modular products have increasingly popular. He told me an extended warranty program would be a good addition.

The second interviewee is an interior designer, he stated that such a modular design would keep tables organized without sacrificing practicality. He noted that he would buy in bulk for his company if a discount can be offered.

4)

From studying this new market, I have found that marketing a product in a new market is not as hard as I have imagined. As long as correct decisions are made and product features adjusted to fit the market's needs,  it is possible to excel in a new market. 

This new market is just as attractive as my current one. With business buyers, products can be sold quickly and more people will be exposed to my product and will more likely to purchase a personal user orientated one for themselves to use at home.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity –

Who have the need: people who want to ensure their efficiency of working by controlling the use of cellphone.

The nature of the need: The need of performance of working that will lead to good performance and potential for promotion etc.

-        What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?

People are more and more concerned about their cellphone usage and its impact to their own lives.

-        How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

The product is intended to be purchased by people of all professions around the world who are concerned about their cellphone usage.

-        How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 

There aren’t much approaches to solve this need. Cellphone manufacturers are integrating features informing users about their cellphone usage. In terms of hardware, there aren’t many of such products with comprehensive user-friendly functionality.

-        How big is this opportunity?

I think this opportunity really has potential since nearly everyone has a cellphone now. And people are increasingly concerned about cellphone usage.

-        How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

Until similar product is being available for purchase.

Innovation –

My product is a comprehensive solution for helping cellphone users avoiding distractions form their cellphones. This product doesn’t only simply locks up the phone, it also includes safety and convenience features. Simply locking up a phone will sometimes cause danger in extreme conditions. So, safety is the priority of this product. This product features a spring-loaded eject mechanism that will enable user to get the access to the phone in a fraction of a second. Secondly, convenience is critical since phone is also a productivity tool, this product provides users with basic functions of the cellphone such as phone call and voice mail. The built-in Bluetooth high definition speaker and noise cancelling microphone with high signal to noise ratio will ensure crystal-clear sound during the phone call. This product comes in two designs, streamlined and modular. The streamlined design is suitable for being a aesthetic stand-alone system while the modular design is more suitable for being used in professional environment. Modular design allows for Thunderbolt 3 addons like docking station, multi in one card reader, portable SSD, and hard drive mobile rack. The modular design takes productivity to a whole new level. The prices of the products will be $65 for the streamlined design and $85 for the modular design with addons priced between $45 to $350.

Venture concept –

-        What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch? 

This product has essential features tailored productivity without having any redundant one. How hard it is for them to switch actually depends on how competitive the new competitors are since nobody is selling such product.

-        Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?

Competitors will be companies who sell vault-like cellphone lock up devices. Their product only lock up the phone.

-        What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?

The price should hit the sweet spot of the market since it is not a necessity, packaging shouldn’t be too extravagant because of the product’s cost, customer support doesn’t need to be robust since the product has very few moving parts and software is embedded.

-        How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture? 

This business needs about 5-10 people to operate. Warehousing and shipping will be outsourced to Amazon and other retailers. 1-2 employees would be the developing team for new products and improvements on current ones. Another 1 -2 employees would be the customer service team and 2-4 employees would be responsible for contacting with suppliers, OEM manufacturer, and retailers.

Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1. connection with an OEM manufacturer of consumer electronics.
valuable: very valuable
rare: moderately rare
inimitable: virtually yes
non-substitutable: neutral
2. a half-finished design of the actual product
valuable: no
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable: no
3. connection with a marketing expert
valuable: very valuable
rare: moderately rare
inimitable: not so much
non-substitutable: no
4. connection with an R&D expert
valuable: very valuable
rare: moderately rare
inimitable: no
non-substitutable: not so much
5. Dassault SolidWorks skills
valuable: no
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable: no
6. about 25% finished (glitchy) firmware of the logic board
valuable: no
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable: no
7. previous experience in mechanical engineering
valuable: yes
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable: no
8. programming skills
valuable: yes
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable:  no
9. analysis from previous exercises
valuable: yes
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable: no
10. fundings from my parents
valuable: yes
rare: no
inimitable: no
non-substitutable:  no

I think my top resource is the connection with an OEM manufacturer of consumer electronics because it is crucial for my product design to get manufactured.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

video link: https://youtu.be/NVztNYJ9JVo

Before filming this pitch, I thought it could have a huge improvement over my last one. As a matter of fact, although now I feel more comfortable making the pitch, I still have a long way to go. I'm still kind of afraid of being in front of a camera. Even though I feel very comfortable speaking English as my second language in person, for each pitch I recorded, I still feel kind of nervous when speaking, so language is also another difficulty I need to overcome.

Reading Reflection No. 2

reading: 

• Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, Chris Anderson

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

This book is about the prediction of how the current technological trend will make the world different in the future.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

The importance of the supply chain noted in the book and the idea of collaborating connect the content of the class I have learned so far.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I had a chance to design an exercise for this class based on this book, that exercise is going to involve prototyping of the product.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

Since this is Chris Anderson's book, I expected it to be innovative and a bit surprising. However, this book is far more surprising than I thought. The part most surprised me is that Anderson saw the trend of making one's own highly customized product with open-sourced design and codes, and 3d-printing technology. 3d-printing is definitely one of the technologies with most potential in the future.

Growing Your Social Capital

The domain expert in my industry is Dr. Zhang from Shenzhen, China. He is an expert in consumer electronics manufacturing. He has held multiple research, develops, and managerial positions at companies including Philips and Lenovo. I'll be able to make the design of my product more user-friendly with his help.

The expert on my market is Mr. Li from Shenzhen, China. He has over fifteen years of experience in marketing in the B2C market. He was the vice president of marketing at one of the major cellphone manufacturers in China. With Mr. Li's help, I'll be able to make my product more appealing to potential customers.

The important supplier of my business is Mr. Chen from Suzhou, China. Originally being a real estate developing company owner, with his earnings on the real estate industry, he now has investments in the manufacturing industry as well. His company owns two manufacturing facilities that produce consumer electronics under contracts with his company's OEM and ODM partners. Mr. Chen's company will enable me to source components for my product and get them produced.

Dr. Zhang is a friend of my father's and Mr. Chen is a friend of my mother's. So I have known them for a few years. Over the video phonecall, I showed my elevator pitch and idea napkin. But they weren't as impressed by my idea as I thought. Dr. Zhang had also introduced to Mr. Li, a former co-worker of his.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. In my opinion, I'm a very versatile person. In addition to my programming skills related to my major, I also have skills in 3d modeling software such as Dassault SolidWorks and AutoDesk Inventor. My aspiration for my product is my personal experiences of getting obsessed with my cellphone and tablet. With my skills in programming and 3D modeling, I can prototype my product by myself.

2. I'm offering a comprehensive and flexible solution to cellphone users who don't want to get distracted by their handheld devices while they are working.

3. The projected buyers of my products are any professionals who work in the office or from home and are concerned about their time spent on their cellphones or tablets.

4. For them, more focused means increased efficiency that leads to good performances which could let them outperform others.

5. The flexibility my solution provides makes my product competitive. Users can lock up their cellphones with essential functions (eg. phonecall, message) enabled while being locked up. In an emergency when the user needs to get access to the cellphone instantly, the spring-loaded release mechanism will release the cellphone.

I think these aspects fit together reasonably well. The only concern I have on this product is if it is too expensive to produce.