Venture Concept No. 1

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.4 square miles, of which 61.3 square miles is land. The population of Gainesville in the 2013 US Census estimates was 127,488, a 2.4% growth from 2010. Gainesville is the largest city in the region of North Central Florida. But to understand how my opportunity came about we might need a brief history lesson. In the fall of 1906 the University of Florida opened as a university for white men. Over time the university kept growing and so did the city. But the city of Gainesville was one of the many cities that was drastically affected after WWII. After the war The University of Florida had a dramatic increase in enrollment from U.S veterans coming home with their G.I Bills. This resulted in a 95.3% increase in the 1950s population in comparison to the 1940s. Growth staged in the 1960s but as a result of some of the universities expansion efforts, Gainesville saw a major population growth in the 1970s of 117.2%. Here, The University of Florida is a major financial boost to the community, in all the University of Florida contributes nearly $9 billion annually to Florida's economy and is responsible for more than 100,000 jobs. As you can see no one in the early 1900s thought this school will grow as it did. Gainesville was not build to hold such a big population. This has led to many problems, in the 1990s for example, the city went through a huge redevelopment effort to organize the population. Also we have one of the worse homeless problems in the United Sates.  Gainesville was ranked as the "5th meanest city" in the United States by the National Coalition for the Homeless twice, first in 2004 and the again in 2009. We also face another big problem parking. And although in my eyes parking problem is not as important as other issues the city might be facing, this is the issue where I saw an opportunity.

Here in Gainesville towing companies make a fortune charging individuals for parking were they are not “suppose to”. Student who live off campus must take the bus to get to class. The bus ride can take up to 40minutes and take into consideration that campus is only about 10-15 minutes away from almost all apartment complexes. Here scoters are more popular because of their size, but not everyone can afford one. Many students have cars but they just sit on the apartment complexes parking spot, not being use because there’s just nowhere to park. My company, Advanced Construction, would build the most efficient, ecofriendly, underground parking garages, eliminating the parking issue in this city.

This is a huge opportunity for the city of Gainesville, but my company would have to act fast. We live in a period of inflation, meaning prices are always increasing. Over time equipment, labor and material cost could increase. Right now constructing such a project would be very costly and over time it is expected to get even more expensive. But my company would have a big and productive research and development team, meaning that over time my company could find cheaper but still of good quality materials to build the garages we could also perfect the way we construct the garages to be as efficient as possible. But cost is not the only reason why my company would have to start soon. My vision was build the garages underneath the buildings. So whatever building you had to go to, there would be parking available. Sadly most building at U.F are already built, making it impossible to build something underneath then. But if we start building the garages for all future building we should be able to alleviate the parking burden.

I believe my opportunity is huge. Imagine if we could figure out a way to build these garages here in Gainesville. We would be able to build them in even more populated areas. Especially populated areas which are still under infustructural development. Places like India or China, where there population is abnormally huge, we could find a way to fit all these people but underground. This might be far- fetched, but over time our population will continue to grow, maybe to the point where there is not enough space to hold such a big population. If we could figure out how to build something like garages under the ground we could eventually do even more, maybe homes or other building to give us more space. 

  

Many people seem confused about certain aspect within my idea and I think it’s important to address them here. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels, many seem to ask that question, although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. Another point which I briefly hit on was my revenue base. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. And lastly something I care deeply about is our environment. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactors go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages if building are not going to be there. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.  

Week 11 Reading Reflection

This article was very interesting and I think very helpful if you are someone always trying to think outside of your box. I loves how the author had a running story throughout the article on the evolution of glass. It pretty amazing how it went from being used by Thomas Edison for light bulbs all the way to gorilla glass. Either way, one of the main points I wanted to hit from this article is how companies can just trap them self’s in a viscous unproductive innovation cycle. The author mentioned he worked for a contact lance company who decided to innovate and re-amp what there company focus was. After some time senior management review the R&D files and came to the conclusion that they have gotten nowhere and just wasted money. What’s important to realize is that innovation has to be value creating and value adding to customers. But how do you do that? Well the author also went into some details on the topic. He goes on to say that a product is creating value is is does something for the social wellbeing or it if saves the customer money and I thought that was clever. What I though the biggest take away here was “Choosing what kind of value your innovation will create and then sticking to that is critical, because the capabilities required for each are quite different and take time to accumulate.” Its just like going into the stock market. Sometimes you just got to stick with it till it becomes profitable, even if times get bad. I feel like a lot of companies could and would be up to some innovating revolutionary products but they give up them to quickly. 

The Amazon Whisperer

My entrepreneurial concept was building underground parking garages. My vision was constructing these garages for interested parties. Hence my company would just be a contractor/builder so our revenue stream will come from business entities hiring us to build them an underground garage. The next thing I believe my customers are going to want is cheaper prices. Right now constructing such a product would be very costly. Over time my company could find cheaper but still good quality materials, maybe over time we could have perfected the way we construct the garages to be as efficient as possible and things of that sort. For my kind of business I have two possible ideas the “next” thing could be. For started is we find a way to build underground parking garages here in Gainesville, we could go international and start constructing underground ground garages in other parts of the country, and even the world where parking is a problem. My other idea might be far-fetched, but over time our population will continue to grow, maybe to the point where there is not enough space to hold such a big population. If we could figure out how to build something like garages under the ground we could eventually do even more, maybe homes or other building to give us more space. Sadly amazon does not sell parking garages, let alone underground parking garages, so I do not have any reviews and input on the reviews to share. But if we do expand to let’s say building homes underground our current plans will undergo a lot of change, from the structure of the building to the people working on it. Eventually if we find a way to build bigger buildings underground without harming the environment, I think building other structures underground will all make good concepts to add to my current offering. 

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

My 10 resources

1.     Social need

a.     VRIN Analysis: Most student move away from home and bring their cars with them, and a large portion of them just keep them parked somewhere and barely to rarely use them because you just can’t find parking here. Most students take a 30-40 minute bus ride just to get to class, and take into consideration campus is only 10-15 minutes away from most apartment complexes here in Gainesville. Another major issue it towing.  Towing is Gainesville way of fixing it’s over population. If you park somewhere you’re not “suppose” to park, your car will get towed and they will hit you for a $100 fine.

2.     Financial capital

a.     VRIN Analysis: This will take a lot of money but like I will mention in another one of my points, we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages, and they will be paying a lot of money.

3.     Local availability

a.     VRIN Analysis: Here in Gainesville we do have a lot of space, but my overall my idea was to build the parking you need under the building you are trying to get too. This is going to be hard, maybe even impossible to build underneath already built buildings. This could become a problem in other populated places around the world, but in Gainesville we still have a lot of space. But if you think of potential markets, think of India for example. They have weak infrastructure, lots of potential economic growth and a big population. When they are building their future universities, hospitals and government building they should consider my idea.

4.     Environmentally friendly

a.     VRIN Analysis: Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactor go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well. 

5.     Human capital

a.     VRIN Analysis: This is something I don’t have quite figure out yet. In order to build I will not just need materials I will also need people. I’m going to need a very knowledgeable contractor, architect maybe a team of subcontractors, and all of this has to be done in a reasonable time frame.

6.     Space efficient

a.     VRIN Analysis: my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically) and the whole point is that they will be underground, so its space efficient and other things can be built on top of them.

7.     Cheap for the consumer

a.     VRIN Analysis: My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. And I think it’s very unlikely that will charge a lot of money.

8.     A lot of potential customers

a.     VRIN Analysis: If you live in Gainesville then you know parking is a problem. If you have a car chances are you can’t use it to go to school because on campus parking is so limited, so you have to leave your apartment of house sometimes up to 30-40min before you class even starts to make it to school on time. the city of Gainesville was not built to hold such a big population and there are many other city’s with the same problem.

9.     Easy access

a.     VRIN Analysis: My garages would be built as close as they can possibly be to your destination, right under them.

10.   Potential future needs                       

a.     VRIN Analysis: If my company happens to find a safe and efficient way of building underground somewhere in the near future we might need to expand underneath the earth to help accommodate our growing population.

What I think are my best qualities would be a mixture of 8, 7 and 4. A lot of people need parking so there is a vast amount of potential customers. My company is a private corporation, is not a government project or entity that’s going to cost tax payers any money. Individuals will contract us and pay us to build them and they will decide how to regulate the parking spaces. But something that I think is different is that I would try to make this as least environmentally hazardous as possible. And I would try to give back to the environment my planting trees or even a garden on top of the garages. 

Week 10 Reading Reflection

This is my chapter, and the one I’ve enjoyed the most. Right of the bat I just hate how little importance everyone (maybe not everyone) gives to accounting. The author only dedicated one chapter to this subject. In the real world if you don’t have intensive accounting knowledge you’re going to run into a lot of problems that otherwise you could have avoided. I hate how the author does not give any attention to controls. Accounting, although some might find hard to believe, is not just about creating taxes and sending them to the IRS. It’s not even about creating reliable financial statement. It’s about the accounting controls. When auditors go into a corporation to audit their finances, you really think they have enough time to go through all those numbers and check if someone is recording them wrong or stealing? That would take about twice the amount of time it takes to just make them. Accountants audit the companies controls, if a company have good controls that means their facial statement are most likely presented fairly. Not vice versa. I personally believe the U.S has the best standards with GAAP. IFRs is slightly simpler but there’s a lot of grey area that I don’t agree with. If a country wants to control corruption, money laundering and wants to expand their internationals trading markets, financials statement and standards are crucial and I would highly suggest adapting GAAP. If you can just imagine how important these documents are to investors, make that triple the importance in your head. Financials are crucial in getting investors trust and money, as an entrepreneur, if you can realize the importance and use it to your advantage you would be not just one, but a good 8-14 steps ahead of the game. How many business go under just in one year that could have been prevented if the business had a management team that understood accounting controls, budgets and financial assessments? All of them. This chapter does not do accounting justice and it intertwines a lot of accounting and finance concepts all in one. Yes it’s important to know the accounting and finance are sisters who work very well together, but it’s also important to know that accounting is the bigger, stronger sister. Well by now you can probably tell I’m an accounting major, if not I’ll leave you with one last note, accounting is not math, it’s and art. 

Growing Your Social Capital

This assignment was very difficult for me. My idea wasn’t really anything normal or ordinary, you could say. The idea I have been pitching from the beginning of the semester has been underground parking garages to minimize the parking problem in large populated areas specifically Gainesville. My overall idea was to build underground parking garages about two levels deep and very wide. For starters Gainesville is above sea level (a lot of people seem to ask) although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. I imagine my idea will be very costly but again, it would be up to whoever wants the garages built decide how they want to make a profit if they want to make a profit. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactor go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.  

Domain expert:

Who:

Benmar Construction in Ocala, FL

How:  I called their office because one of my parents neighbors contracted them to remodel his kitchen.

Conversation:  

Q: Can you tell me a quick summary of what your company does and what it stands for?

A: We are a local construction company located here in Ocala.  We are family owned, ran by father and son, the Bennett’s. We have an amazing team that just loves what they do and they are great at it. We care very deeply about our customers and we try to make their dreams a reality. We relly heavily on our customers experience and reviews we are a very hands on team that tries to create relationship of trust and honesty with our customers.

Q: Have you guys ever done parking garages?

A: no we haven’t. We mostly focus on residential and commercial construction but on a smaller scale. You mentioned you heard from us because you neighbor used our services for his kitchen? Well we do projects of that sort but we do, do small to medium commercial building, or renovations or remodels. For example not that long ago we were the ones contracted to remodel the local DSW Shoes here in Ocala but we also do family homes.

Q: How do you go about getting customers?

We have been in the business for over 20 years now, things have changed a lot from the late 90s and early 2000s but we have always relied heavily of just simple word of mouth. We started with small scale renovations and we have grown this big today and I think out work ethic has a lot to do with that. Of course we keep up with social media, we have a website and a Facebook page. We even have a blog where we post articles relating to our business

Market expert:

Who:

McGurn Management Company

How:  I googled them and I called their office

Conversation:

Q: Could you tell me a little bit about the types of projects your company takes on?

A: We do a range of different stuff, from apartment complexes, condominiums, retail spaces, offices parking garages, and parking lots as well. We are well known here in Gainesville because of our redevelopment project on the southeast quadrant here in Gainesville it included 144 apartments, and 85,000 square feet of offices and retail space. In 2000 than we did 140,000-square-foot Union Street Station containing 51 residential condos above 40,000 square feet of offices above 35,000 square feet of street-level retail space.

Q: You mentioned parking garages, could you tell me more about that? My idea for school is underground garages to maximize space in populated areas.

A: That’s an interesting idea, I’ve never heard of that. But yes I can tell you about are parking project, but they have all been above ground. There are many variables to a project of that kinds, the most important one being size. The average garage is 145,000 sq ft. these are expensive projects you know, you need a very knowledgeable contractor, architect maybe a team of subcontractors, and all of this has to be done in a reasonable time frame. It is also going to entail a great deal of site preparation and machinery costs. So a “average” 5 story garage, each floor about 10 ft high is going to cost around 8-9 million dollars.

Supplier:

Who: The internet

It’s really hard to find someone who sells things that parking garage needs. Because a parking garage needs a lot of stuff. Steel framing, concrete block, brick ect. All plumbing, machinery, carpentry, and electrical services as needed. Not to mention labor. All in all it’s a big job that require a lot of money and a lot of knowledge. 

Reflect:

All in all this took a lot of time and effort. My idea is just an idea, there no way I could pull such a project off on my own at this stage in my life, but it’s interesting to note all that goes into just things we see every day. I think this exercise really helps us keep an open mind and allows us to realized was real entrepreneurship takes. 

Elevator Pitch No. 3

All the comments on my past elevator pitch where positive. Not one person criticized it. But I have gotten some constructive criticism on other assignments dealing with my idea. I got a lot of  whether my idea was possible due to sea levels, where in my business venture was I going to make money, where am I going to get money to start it and ideas on how to make it more eco-friendly. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

This chapter talks about marking. I don’t think a lot of people realize how important customers are to a business. Customers are what drive and keep your business afloat. Marketing is an essential part of the key to a successful venture. Without marketing how could you reach potential customer? How would you be able to differentiate yourself with the completion? There are many ways to be a successful marketers. For starters you have to do your research. In this day and age technology really helps with that, and has made thing a lot easier for companies in that regard. But you also have to be able to interpret the information you obtain correctly and put it to good use. And then the hard parts comes of the strategic decisions. There is a reason why marking has its own department in big companies, heck there’s a reason there’s a whole major dedicated to it. I really likes the authors take on this chapter, of course it’s just a snippet of everything, and if you would like to know more a marketing class is really where you should go.  

SHARE: What's Your Secret Sauce?

*I’ll be honest, I did not record my interviews. I did this the day it was due, too late to go from apartment to apartment. But I did call these individuals and this is really what they said.

1.     Well for starters in fluent in Spanish. When I think about things that set me apart from others I just feel like in getting interviewed that’s usually my go to difference.

a.     I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, so I am bilingual but I’ve also been exposed and I’m used to a different culture, which makes me competitive.

b.     I’m a hard worker as well, I graduated with my AA while still in in high school and now I’m at the University of Florida.

c.     I’m really independent, I’ve had a job ever since I was allowed to. I don’t like to burden my parents financially or myself, so between scholarships and my paychecks I pay for my tuition, books and rent.

d.     I’m adventurous, I’m not afraid to try new things. In fact I really enjoy taking myself out of my comfort zone.   

2.     Interviews

a.     Aleandra (my sister)

                                               i.     You’re the smartest person I know. If I ever have a question or need help I just call you. You have a really good sense of style? I’m not sure if that helps any. You’re really caring, you always put yourself before others.

b.     Courtney (my best friend)  

                                               i.     You’re funny and cool. You always speak your mind and you sometimes get in trouble because of it, and its funny. You have no filter, and your opinions are always known, you either say them or your face does it for you. You're always here for me, you're nice, hardworking, selfless, and you’re supper good at makeup.

c.     Jose (my boyfriend)

                                               i.     You’re pretty, smart, nice, caring, selfless, hardworking. You’re always there for everyone. You’re good at a lot of things.

d.     Cho (my roommate)

                                               i.     Oh gosh, you are such a hard worker not to mention an amazing cook. You are really smart, charismatic and knowledgeable. Because there’s a difference between being smart and knowledgeable. You’re fun and spontaneous too and supper pretty.
 I think mostly everyone I interviewed was just complementing me. I have a feeling it was just
because I had called them, recording them would have probably resulted in more professional
accurate answers. 

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. 

I’m just a university student, but I am more than half way done with my degree in accounting. If I were to take on this business concept it would be after graduation. So that puts me in a place where I will be a Certified Public Accountant, with experience in running an efficient and profitable business. I’ve also been working sense I was 16, all my previous jobs have required direct contact with customers, so as of now I have a great work ethic and great customer service.  

2) What are you offering to customers? 

 I’m offering customers the choice to either use their car or use public transportation. I’m offering them about an hour extra of sleep in the morning. I’m offering them a solution to their parking problems. My underground parking garages will not take up space so in turn they won’t make already crowded areas even more crowded and they will provide a cheap parking spot.

3) Who are you offering it to? 

My main focus is to target the University of Florida’s population. All students that live off campus have struggled or a currently struggling with this problem. Through time we could broaden our target customers to the whole city, but for now mostly students and faculty around the universities perimeters. My original intensions where to help the University of Florida parking problem but Gainesville is not the only city that suffers from this issue, so mainly my target is places that lack parking space.

4) Why do they care? 

They care because most student move away from home and bring their cars with them, and a large portion of them just keep them parked somewhere and barely to rarely use them because you just can’t find parking here. Most students take a 30-40 minute bus ride just to get to class, and take into consideration campus is only 10-15 minutes away from most apartment complexes here in Gainesville. Another major issue it towing.  Towing is Gainesville way of fixing its over population. If you park somewhere you’re not “suppose” to park, your car will get towed and they will hit you for a $100 fine.

5) What are your core competencies? 

 What mostly sets me apart is the fact that they are underground. This allows us to build right under the populated areas and will allow customers to be right where they need to be. Yeah we have parking garages here, but they are really far from your destination, sometimes so far that you have to take a bus from the parking garage just to get where you need to be.

I think all the elements of my idea fit together really well. Parking here is a really big problem and I’m offering a solution for it. A solution that would be inexpensive to students but helpful.

The four main issues students brought up in the comments where whether my idea was possible due to sea levels, where in my business venture was I going to make money, where am I going to get money to start it and ideas on how to make it more eco-friendly. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactor go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.