Final Reflection

This semester was certainly a challenging one that helped me evolve as an entrepreneur.

I learned so much from going through this class. I have never started a business the way this class walked me through and if I had, I would have excelled a lot faster and with fewer mistakes. There was multiple a-ha's that stood out to me and I started implementing ideas and lessons from this class in my own business. I really enjoyed Dr. Pryor's lectures and education by the content. It leads me to consider various things that are outside of my normal train of thought. I really dreaded doing the interviews. Not so much because I'm nervous or any of that, but because I have so much to do running by business that doing interviews and other things really take up a lot of extra time.

I think the most useful experience or information this summer was thinking through various revenue drivers and how that identification should be established in a well-performing business. My company has multiple revenue streams, but thinking through how to increase depth in those revenue streams and adding more revenue streams. While we did this for a mock business, I actually implemented these things in my real life business.

I believe that I came in with an entrepreneurial mindset and have had one for many years. I think that the adjustment this semester was viewing people that aren't business owners, but instead, solve problems also as entrepreneurs.

I think the best advice I could offer is to not wait until Friday to ever start any homework. Work at least a few days ahead every week. You should also really think a few levels deeper than you normally would when you are identifying the various pieces of the exercises.

Venture Concept 2

The opportunity for this business, starting a community focused coffee shop on Johns Island, is exceptional. The need for this business is very large at the present time. There is a 15-30 minute drive area to the West, South, & North that has over 100,000 people in it. There are no coffee shops within this area. The only source of coffee that the residents and the 50,000 visitors per year have is McDonald's and a gas station. This need has been accelerated by a very quickly developed real estate marketing, thousands of new residents, and very restrictive commercial laws. The area has resisted commercial zoning and infrastructure development, reducing the interest of businesses from coming in and targeting the market. The real estate for commercial businesses is scarce, causing higher rent rates. There are currently no competitors in this market in the industry, and there will be a window of 3-5 years before the zoning is shifted enough to attract more competitors of a national level.

This is a service-based business. The factors that will determine our success will be the quality of the coffee, affordable pricing, the timeliness from order to serving, the environment inside of the location, and our corporate responsibility practices. At the current time, the only competitors are McDonald's and two gas stations. They are very different than the model I am exploring. They have weaknesses of very bad quality product and an experience that is not as enjoyable as ours will be. They lack in customer service and visual appeal. They are also not involved in supporting the local community at all.

Our innovation will come from creating a unique environment that is conducive for meetings and local community gatherings and involvement. The coffee we have will be slightly less than Starbucks but will have better pricing and be locally sourced. You cannot get this combination within 1 hour of our location. The combination of a unique product, great pricing, and local community support will create a business model that most of the local culture will embrace.

Our most important resource will be our environment. There are many options to get a cup of coffee. There are no options to get a cup of coffee that is premium quality in a location that has great customer service and you enjoy sitting in. Creating an environment that welcomes and asks for the community to spend time in the location sharing coffee, conversations, and memories together.

The next steps to pursue this venture would be to seek a business loan for the equipment and rent of the first location. We would then need to secure a location, start on marketing, and sourcing our employees.

The future for me if I were to pursue this venture would be to secure a great general manager that shares my vision and to closely participate in the growth of the business. Over the next 5 years, we would seek to grow powerful relationships with our community and customers, developing the business into a $500,000 per year revenue business. We would likely hold onto the business until we were offered a large enough buyout or until national companies enter the market and take an excess of the market share.


Feedback: I received all positive feedback that this idea appeared to be well thought out and seemed that it would succeed. I didn't change anything from my first post, because everything appears as though it makes sense to move forward as is. 

Exit Strategy

I would have two exit strategies in this business. My first exit strategy would be to have a manager and leadership that could effectively run the business. This would be the strategy for at least the first 5 years and I would be focusing on it rather quickly. It affects my decisions immediately by getting good staff and a potential manager right at the start of the business to develop over time. Once the business is established and running well I would look to turn over management to a general manager.

My second strategy would be a 10-15 year strategy which would be to sell the business. By that time the business should have a great reputation and should have the ability to succeed without a figurehead and would have a solid valuation. This strategy would allow me to profit off the system that is developed and the assets we've purchased and managed properly.

Let's Fail a Lot

I failed every week. I had a goal entering the semester that I reset every Sunday to do homework every night so I could be ahead on my assignments and have my weekends free. I never hit this goal. Something always came up every single week. However, I slowly adjusted my schedule to get better throughout the semester, but I spent many weekends catching up on lectures and assignments. It helped me to be a better priority manager of my assignments and in my work life though. I fail daily in my life as a business owner and no longer call them failures, I call them learning lessons.

What's Next?

I interviewed Stephanie B, Vanessa W, and Kevin H as existing customers. When I asked Stephanie what we should be doing that I am currently not thinking of, which is the initial set up tasks for establishing and opening the business, Stephanie said that I should be focused on developing customer interest. She said that going to the local farmers market with samples while the concept is being built would create a desire for it before we open to accelerate the growth process. When I spoke to Vanessa, she informed me that it would be beneficial to start running social media promotions with gift certificates or giveaways to drive customers into the location in the first week of opening. Kevin said it could be useful to start working on outsourced bakers to supply baking goods and to explore other partnerships that could drive customers into the location seeking other products like grab and go frozen meals.

The new market I established is a catering model for businesses. There are multiple businesses in the area that are small businesses. I feel that if I had staff that could deliver coffee to those businesses daily, there could be a significant revenue stream created. If our location doesn't have a drive through this could be critical to ensure we can't be beaten by a competitor that opens with a drive-through. The level of customer service provided by offering delivery for coffee and pastries would also create a competitive edge that would be hard to duplicate quickly.

Venture Concept

The opportunity for this business, starting a community focused coffee shop on Johns Island, is exceptional. The need for this business is very large at the present time. There is a 15-30 minute drive area to the West, South, & North that has over 100,000 people in it. There are no coffee shops within this area. The only source of coffee that the residents and the 50,000 visitors per year have is McDonald's and a gas station. This need has been accelerated by a very quickly developed real estate marketing, thousands of new residents, and very restrictive commercial laws. The area has resisted commercial zoning and infrastructure development, reducing the interest of businesses from coming in and targeting the market. The real estate for commercial businesses is scarce, causing higher rent rates. There are currently no competitors in this market in the industry, and there will be a window of 3-5 years before the zoning is shifted enough to attract more competitors of a national level.

This is a service-based business. The factors that will determine our success will be the quality of the coffee, affordable pricing, the timeliness from order to serving, the environment inside of the location, and our corporate responsibility practices. At the current time, the only competitors are McDonald's and two gas stations. They are very different than the model I am exploring. They have weaknesses of very bad quality product and an experience that is not as enjoyable as ours will be. They lack in customer service and visual appeal. They are also not involved in supporting the local community at all.

Our innovation will come from creating a unique environment that is conducive for meetings and local community gatherings and involvement. The coffee we have will be slightly less than Starbucks but will have better pricing and be locally sourced. You cannot get this combination within 1 hour of our location. The combination of a unique product, great pricing, and local community support will create a business model that most of the local culture will embrace.

Our most important resource will be our environment. There are many options to get a cup of coffee. There are no options to get a cup of coffee that is premium quality in a location that has great customer service and you enjoy sitting in. Creating an environment that welcomes and asks for the community to spend time in the location sharing coffee, conversations, and memories together.

The next steps to pursue this venture would be to seek a business loan for the equipment and rent of the first location. We would then need to secure a location, start on marketing, and sourcing our employees.

The future for me if I were to pursue this venture would be to secure a great general manager that shares my vision and to closely participate in the growth of the business. Over the next 5 years we would seek to grow powerful relationships with our community and customers, developing the business into a $500,000 per year revenue business. We would likely hold onto the business until we were offered a large enough buyout or until national companies enter the market and take an excess of the market share.

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Here is the list of resources I have to grow this business or that I will need to do so. 

• Marketing Knowledge
• Value: I can communicate the benefits and value of our services effectively. 
• Rareness: Mastering the art of marketing takes time and experience. 
• Imitability: Other businesses can hire good marketing people. 
• Non-substitutable: Other people can hire good marketing professionals. 
• Local Community Knowledge
• Value: I understand what the target market desires in their local businesses. 
• Rareness: The local clientele is very unique and there is a specific level of quality and company resources they seek. 
• Imitability: This can't be imitated, but they can get other locals to help explain things to them. 
• Non-substitutable: They can't duplicate my knowledge, but they can source inputs from locals. 
• Scarce Property
• Value: There is very limited property available for rent in the area, this makes the ability to get a business like this operating before others, very valuable. 
• Rareness: This creates the ability for the company to be rare for a period of time. 
• Imitability: You can't create more property and there is limited zoning. 
• Non-substitutable: You can't substitute property. 
• Personal Relationships
• Value: There is a lot of value in knowing the locals that can help to create referral partners for you. 
• Rareness: This isn't rare because you can hire managers and employees that have local relationships. 
• Imitability: Others can have access to this resource. 
• Non-substitutable: This is substitutable. 
• Locally Sourced Product
• Value: This creates value from getting local support. 
• Rareness: This is not rare. 
• Imitability: This resource can be sourced by competitors. 
• Non-substitutable: This can be substitutable by using other local providers. 
• Mentorship from business owners
• Value: I can talk to other friends that have already started and opened successful community-focused coffee shops. 
• Rareness: This is rare because there are only 2 others that are successful like the concept that I am seeking to do. 
• Imitability: Others could reach out as well, but I am already friends with them. 
• Non-substitutable: You can't substitute people. 
• Business Ownership Experience
• Value: I have a lot of personal experience with running a business. I have many lessons that I can use to prevent mistakes from being made during the growth stage. 
• Rareness: This isn't rare, other successful business owners can also start a coffee business. 
• Imitability: My knowledge can't be imitated. 
• Non-substitutable: My knowledge can't be substituted. 
• Competitive Advantage
• Value: There is a significant competitive advantage in being the first to market with a large market and limited competition. 
• Rareness: This is rare. 
• Imitability: This can't be imitated. 
• Non-substitutable: This can't be substituted. Every competitor that opens will only dilute the market and reduce this advantage for all. 
• Timeliness
• Value: It is very valuable to offer coffee at a fast turn around time. 
• Rareness: It is not rare to be able to do this, however, it doesn't occur often. 
• Imitability: A competitor could change their processes to serve products faster. 
• Non-substitutable: This is not a substitutable resource.