30a. ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

The memories

One of the most formative experiences is probably interviewing all the different types of people, not only because I'm a journalist so it was a nice way to keep my head fresh but also gave me some insight in how to ask questions and get to the topic and insights I want through questioning.

Joy-wise, I'd probably say getting the pitch cleaned up on the third (second) attempt as I haven't done self recorded videos in a long time and working on communicating my product was just a nice mental experiment in priority and speaking.

I definitely see myself in a more entrepreneurial mindset, taking in different ideas and concepts around me and thinking about how they can be turned into nice ventures or even just exploring how things could be solved. My mental bug list, while hard to remember in the long run, is filled to the brim and always ha me on my toes in the short run.

For future students, I recommend finding something that what you want to practice and try and practice it with your writing and experimenting with this class. Adjacent learning and consistency is motivating enough to make sure you keep going with the class. And work on your active listening, hearing people speak honestly and openly takes time and removing oneself from the situation to truly get to the heart of the conversation.

29a. How many levels of conceptions are you on?

don't stare too long you may get dizzy

Opportunity

Customers/Market

When looking at customer demographics, we recognize several groups that all face overlapping issues. Journalists, high-risk targets or workers in identity-sensitive fields, government agents, people of color and other marginalized/targeted communities, the most broad term applicable being privacy-concerned private citizens. The under-met need we have identified for these communities is the overarching levels of surveillance around them that encroach on their rights to privacy.

The market for the issues of surveillance is global, with nations and citizens all around the world facing issues with implementation and ethics behind their surveillance systems. Potential customers will be people who are more likely to be tracked or surveilled for reasons ranging from government dissent, exposure of government information or misdeeds, selected targeting of minority communities that face discrimination, and even those who wish to conduct private and public work in anonymity.

Forces

Some of the forces that attribute to this need are undue burdens brought on as side effects from other industries. In the world of security, there is a massive amount of video surveillance occurring in almost every area of heavy human traffic and human interest. While normal security systems are not initially intrusive, the intersection of Big Tech and Big Data with security is creating startling risks for people. Cameras with facial recognition technology have already been implemented on a near universal scale in China, and attempts by The Economist, BBC and WIRED have reported on the startling level of data and accessory information about citizens can be collected, stored and analyzed. These have extreme implications with other systems converging with them, making real time tracking synonymous with existence. 

Status quo

There is very little that is being done to help keep consumer's privacy intact. There is little regulation-wise that prevents misuse of data that is collected. Some products have gone to market advertising gear that is meant to be protective towards video camera surveillance, but our analysis would argue that those products are still vulnerable and can compromise security.

Window

This opportunity will be open for I would estimate around 5-10 years, that time range is where I feel trends in data and technology will accelerate with the trend to convenience over privacy, alongside government movements for national security over individual privacy may take the conversation in their favor.

Innovation

Our innovation comes in the form of a new product and an new products designed to address video surveillance by providing customers with LED technology that would be attached to everyday clothing that provides protection from the majority of surveillance camera Infrared imaging. This technology would come in the form of clothing and accessory attachments, our first design being a clip that attaches across the underside of a normal cap, that has three LED lights mounted onto the frame that emit infrared light, which is the main light system used in security cameras on the market today, all being powered by rechargeable lithium ion batteries. The IR light blinds security cameras to the face of the wearer. The material costs are variable depending on what design, but would give a range of prices estimated from $50 to $150 dollars. The product design currently does not have ways to negate non-infrared surveillance, which can provide difficulty under certain systems. We also recognize that our initial design in the baseball cap is limited in the suspicious connotation already attributed to it.

Venture Concept

The development of this product will help in protecting citizen privacy through the obfuscation of peoples faces from detection in security camera systems and does so in ways that do not immediately alert physical security as IR is invisible to the human eye. Competitors have created a similar product in a baseball cap with built in LED lights to emit IR, but being built in is a risk in operational security and should not be recommended. Packaging will be hyper discrete, to the same standards as those in industries like sex toys or high value items, as to not alert suspicion to shipping supply chains what may be in the package. There wouldn't be much need for organization of full time employees with the ability to relegate orders in a drop shipping manner so that manufacturers can create product co-emergent with demand. We can take inspiration from Chris Anderson's "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution" and allow the product designs to be under creative commons licensing and make designing and feedback open source, allowing for access but production and name brand to still be under our jurisdiction to recoup costs and build up on profit. This minimizes direct need for hiring designers and allows a community of collaborators willing to work on the projects investing significant amounts of time the show of merit to be hired and kept for design and manufacturing purposes.

The ending thoughts

I still believe that ethical, consumer-conscious design will give us the chance to be accessible for all consumers but still provide the edge in supporting the most vulnerable. The intersections of issues facing groups that face discrimination deserve to maintain their privacy and keep themselves safe, and that is what we wish to do.

The next step will be working on alternative designs that can harness infrared LED technology in discreet ways where headgear may not be worn or culturally recognizable to be effective. This includes attachments for formal wear, clips and wiring for casual clothes and thin clothing, and clips for cultures that use scarves in their dress.

Assuming we've launched, I hope that this company can continue to grow incrementally by providing effective and helpful consumer tools to protect people's privacy. I myself don't directly see myself as a future entrepreneur, but this work would be vital in understanding an industry around privacy and technology that as a journalist has intrigued me my whole life.

Feedback

There wasn't much critical feedback I directly took from the other comments that people left, I recognize the issue of ethical design and how buzz-wordy it may seem but I do believe there are ways of maintaining ethical standards and sourcing that leaves a better impact on our earth. 

Changes

With review of the venture concept, I realize the biggest change is probably the window of opportunity since most trends in the tech sector have been pointing to no real changes to privacy and concerns for the corruption of data or breaches that can leak sensitive information.

28a. There are six doors, two on each side at the front, by the wings, and the back

are y'all bored of the gifs? just let me know I'll stop

So what's the plan?

Honestly, this idea is a pet project of mine that I wouldn't want to let go, and would want to keep it with me as long as I can. I'll personally see to it and possibly grow incrementally as the case with privacy always being in flux there will always be an opportunity that arises we can attempt to solve for our customers both new and old. 

For wanting to stay with the company as long as I can, I can definitely see how some choices have come to change. I would take discovery of opportunities more seriously in wanting to expand into new sectors like in my previous explorations about how not every culture wears a baseball cap, and the case of resource collection definitely isn't accelerated as I am not trying to accomplish a sellout at maximum value as soon as possible to the highest bidder.

27a. The Power Levels are over 9,000!

it's a dragon ball z reference for those who do not know

The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users

In Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick's book, they go over the step by step breakdowns and myth-busting that goes with learning about social media, which platforms perform for what functions, and the different methods and techniques to make your online presence an overall powerhouse.

For tying in with the book, there isn't much I can immediately say directly connects with Pryor's teaching, except for maybe getting to be more knowledgeable about your subject and reaching out with a strong media presence that can muster more social capital your way. It definitely enhances the understanding of thinking out of the box and goes pretty in depth on how to make going online a streamlined process with easy on-boarding.

If I did have to create an assignment based around what was taught with this book, I would actually have students take one of their hobbies, something they are genuinely passionate about, and create a social media presence as a sort of "fan account" using the tools included and have them work on creating some fun daily content without any pressure besides just posting, and by the end of the semester have them do a reflection on what they experienced that can be done with a company or start-up and apply that to their own projects.

The biggest "aha" moment for me was with Guy explaining that some of his most viral stuff actually came with planning, that there is buildup to a tweet getting picked up by just the right people to increase exposure and making overall virality seem doable on an individual level, which blew me out of the water a bit as I always saw going viral as a merely accidental occurrence.

26a. So I don't want to be the guy who says something about this semester but...

How I wish everything went

The case for failure is one that meets us at every corner. Maybe our fail came from not showing up on time, maybe it came from missing due dates or forgetting appointments. It's time to air out the dirty laundry!

Where I've Slipped

I will admit I have a few drafts of assignments for this class that I just left unpublished. I had worked on it throughout the week, and in the middle of a break on Friday night before posting, I broke my train of thought with enough external distractions that I streamlined into my sleep schedule and went to bed without submitting my work! This was a combination of poor time management and simple error in letting my sleep system get the better of me and keep me on track to go to bed without realizing I still had assignments to upload.

What did I learn from this? That my sleep pattern is rigid and strong enough to beat me doing work, and that I should work ahead of my due dates for unforeseen circumstances affecting my ability to do work. 

Failure as a whole is an extremely powerful mindset to break apart from, especially considering the way our education system, society and individually we cultivate a mindset and environment where failure carries such strong concepts and the methods of rewarding failure and success create cycles that perpetuate our fears. It will obviously take a whole cultural shift but one that genuinely will be for the better in my opinion.

25a. see GIF

Existing Market Research

In my venture, I suspect the next source of inspiration will be in ways to expand the line of products and try to cover different styles i.e. business suits, dresses and other gear that can be worn in non-conspicuous ways. My assessment still lies with blending into clothing rather than make clothes themselves anti surveillance as that has more startup costs that I would have to work out calculations for.

For my interviews with people already in my existing market, they were first concerned with physical surveillance as a complement with video surveillance. If the materials included anything that can trigger a metal detector, as my second interviewee brings up, what security and safety implications are there for something that is primarily meant as a tool for subverting surveillance? My first and third interviewees also talked about physical surveillance but in a different method: if someone were to be patted down, what guarantees are there for the attachments to not become dislodged? Creating not only discrete but detection resistant products will require more testing to see if these products can handle physical roughness and/or property/materials surveillance. Another thing that was brought up was not only attachments but accessories, my first interviewee talked about the use of a necklace as an accessory with an LED built into the design as to make it less obvious. 

I knew i wanted to make some new designs for different situations, but the mention on being physically checked definitely adds a new layer of problems to solve, both design and lifetime issues being challenged with handling. The inclusion of accessories with almost hidden qualities was surprising to me, and could honestly be delved into a bit with the necklace idea and some other designs.

New market research

For this, I would actually see to target security firms and other companies that provide security gear and services to see if they would implement it. 

For those businesses, the best that my products could do to add value is add a layer of operational security for their customers who do a lot of work in public spaces or are trying to keep themselves well protected from surveillance threats, whatever they may be.

I got a hold of two security shop owners who had some online presence. When I pitched the idea and then asked for feedback, both said that it would be a good standalone product that distributors would carry like themselves, but in the case of their businesses would think of bundling it with either other security gear or thinking of doing multiples for redundancy of product in the case you forget your baseball cap with it still attached but have a spare in the car. The first interviewee asked if this had any method of turning into a service or product/service mix to make continuous revenue from the same customer, but I don't think anything currently works for my product in that capacity.

When looking at the market for this B2B sale, they seemed at least interested and didn't dismiss the idea right away. Most other products in "spyware shops" is usually surveillance items themselves, so that definitely surprised me when they were interested in something that could accidentally negate other parts of their sales. While I'm not well versed in B2B sales and marketing, I assume other businesses with a handle in videography or privacy can take use of them in some way.

I will have to do more research to verify if this niche is actually open to a product that meets the narrow scope I am trying to cover. It has initial interest, but I want to see if there's any federal worker I can possibly meet that could provide feedback about its use and applications in that world.

24a. A Concept™:

Opportunity

Customers/Market

When looking at customer demographics, we recognize several groups that all face overlapping issues. Journalists, high-risk targets or workers in identity-sensitive fields, government agents, people of color and other marginalized/targeted communities, the most broad term applicable being privacy-concerned private citizens. The under-met need we have identified for these communities is the overarching levels of surveillance around them that encroach on their rights to privacy.

The market for the issues of surveillance is global, with nations and citizens all around the world facing issues with implementation and ethics behind their surveillance systems. Potential customers will be people who are more likely to be tracked or surveilled for reasons ranging from government dissent, exposure of government information or misdeeds, selected targeting of minority communities that face discrimination, and even those who wish to conduct private and public work in anonymity.

Forces

Some of the forces that attribute to this need are undue burdens brought on as side effects from other industries. In the world of security, there is a massive amount of video surveillance occurring in almost every area of heavy human traffic and human interest. While normal security systems are not initially intrusive, the intersection of Big Tech and Big Data with security is creating startling risks for people. Cameras with facial recognition technology have already been implemented on a near universal scale in China, and attempts by The Economist, BBC and WIRED have reported on the startling level of data and accessory information about citizens can be collected, stored and analyzed. These have extreme implications with other systems converging with them, making real time tracking synonymous with existence. 

Status quo

There is very little that is being done to help keep consumer's privacy intact. There is little regulation-wise that prevents misuse of data that is collected. Some products have gone to market advertising gear that is meant to be protective towards video camera surveillance, but our analysis would argue that those products are still vulnerable and can compromise security.

Window

This opportunity will continue to stay open for as long as there will be surveillance technology being offered by the security industry that overextends its boundaries on human privacy rights, but will get narrower as the market will try to assess the same issues and tackle them.

Innovation

Our innovation comes in the form of a new product and an new products designed to address video surveillance by providing customers with LED technology that would be attached to everyday clothing that provides protection from the majority of surveillance camera Infrared imaging. This technology would come in the form of clothing and accessory attachments, our first design being a clip that attaches across the underside of a normal cap, that has three LED lights mounted onto the frame that emit infrared light, which is the main light system used in security cameras on the market today, all being powered by rechargeable lithium ion batteries. The IR light blinds security cameras to the face of the wearer. The material costs are variable depending on what design, but would give a range of prices estimated from $50 to $150 dollars. The product design currently does not have ways to negate non-infrared surveillance, which can provide difficulty under certain systems. We also recognize that our initial design in the baseball cap is limited in the suspicious connotation already attributed to it.

Venture Concept

The development of this product will help in protecting citizen privacy through the obfuscation of peoples faces from detection in security camera systems and does so in ways that do not immediately alert physical security as IR is invisible to the human eye. Competitors have created a similar product in a baseball cap with built in LED lights to emit IR, but being built in is a risk in operational security and should not be recommended. Packaging will be hyper discrete, to the same standards as those in industries like sex toys or high value items, as to not alert suspicion to shipping supply chains what may be in the package. There wouldn't be much need for organization of full time employees with the ability to relegate orders in a drop shipping manner so that manufacturers can create product co-emergent with demand. We can take inspiration from Chris Anderson's "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution" and allow the product designs to be under creative commons licensing and make designing and feedback open source, allowing for access but production and name brand to still be under our jurisdiction to recoup costs and build up on profit. This minimizes direct need for hiring designers and allows a community of collaborators willing to work on the projects investing significant amounts of time the show of merit to be hired and kept for design and manufacturing purposes.

The ending thoughts

I still believe that ethical, consumer-conscious design will give us the chance to be accessible for all consumers but still provide the edge in supporting the most vulnerable. The intersections of issues facing groups that face discrimination deserve to maintain their privacy and keep themselves safe, and that is what we wish to do.

The next step will be working on alternative designs that can harness infrared LED technology in discreet ways where headgear may not be worn or culturally recognizable to be effective. This includes attachments for formal wear, clips and wiring for casual clothes and thin clothing, and clips for cultures that use scarves in their dress.

Assuming we've launched, I hope that this company can continue to grow incrementally by providing effective and helpful consumer tools to protect people's privacy. I myself don't directly see myself as a future entrepreneur, but this work would be vital in understanding an industry around privacy and technology that as a journalist has intrigued me my whole life. 

23a. VRIN VRIn VRin Vrin vrin

In the world of business, the VRIN model is a cool one to implement for the understanding of "staying power" for your venture. And so, with this model of thinking, we shall conduct a VRIN analysis of myself and found out:

Our advantages? Right, Right, our advantages.

1.  Intersectionality

In the case of our product design, the groups of people with interests in what can be offered is wide ranging and agnostic to other market factors. Privacy is a major selling point for everyone from protestors to journalists to technology works to marginalized and targeted communities. Every individual demographic involved has crosscutting cleavages, which means there can be multiple incentives for customers who may have been on the fence to not only purchase but spread awareness of our product. If marginalized or targeted journalists need to avoid surveillance, or tech workers who are protesting at work need to shield their identity from office cameras, these people can use The Guard. It Is valuable for us as a venture to have values that align on multiple levels with our demographics, and I would personally argue that it is rare to have an attention to the nuances different demographics have between needs and goals. Intersectionality as an idea is highly imitable, but as a process or tool in a company's design process it is probably on the rare to near nonexistent side of rarity scale. With the case of ideas and ethics, there is no imitability or substitution because as more consumers become conscious of their consumption, company values will play a larger role in determining if they are worth a customers business. 

2 3 and 4. Prototype financing, design and production

The ability to finance this product, at least for testing and design phases, will be relatively inexpensive as long as there are some parameters to keep in mind. The use of 3D printing in design thinking is still relatively young, but with my access to learning and producing 3D models on campus I have a rare advantage in having the resources at my disposal to speak with professors and in house specialists who constantly work on 3D modeling and printing, having university costs compared to market costs when it comes to financing the next advantage which is being able to produce models. When looking at the intersection of location and access to these things, that is definitely a rarity.

For finance, the imitation of reduced prices is difficult as other production or 3D printing houses also come with normal market prices for profit and include shipping unlike on-site printing at UF. Pricing and finance also are not immediately a valuable advantage until there is scale involved, so in the case of no scale market product having low prices for design and prototyping is definitely valuable. We can substitute financing with loans and dealing with debt or payments in a multitude of other ways.

For design, it normally isn't rare to get access to courses or material for 3D printing, but as previously addressed in the first paragraph, the rarity of these materials being already accessible to me through school on top of having immediate feedback from instructors and specialists is definitely rare. designing can be substituted through online freelance programs that have people experienced in the process, but doing it myself can help with costs and allows me more knowledge of the product. Substitution falls in the same category as imitation in that you can find design houses who can not only create but consult you on the actual design process but having professors and specialists can take that position. And with design it is definitely valuable to have at least a minor control of how things are done to keep with the vision of the product.

for production, there is no cost to access for 3D printers and I have people well versed in maintenance and printing processes, which are valuable skills and areas of expertise. While substitutable and inimitable with any 3D printing house, already having that in proximity and not needing to deal with delays and risk with printing is itself valuable. 

5 and 6. Industry knowledge and network

These are both human capital that we can further break down. In the case of industry knowledge, I would venture to say that understanding the methods and tools that people in journalism isn't necessarily rare to learn, and it also may not be rare to speak with other journalists to know who is in the field, but definitely valuable to making good design and marketing choices and figure out what actual journalists want and need. Subject knowledge and networks are inimitable and substitutable since any other journalist could understand the industry and already have those connections, but can be mitigated with specialization and with personal connections making it easier to get to more elusive voices or opinions.

7 and 8 and 9. Product reach, capacity, and manufacturing. 

These coincide with our capabilities for the venture. For product reach, there is minor overlap with having a network but this is a more holistic view of actually getting our product marketed. in capacity, this will deal with more structural things like website and with the third capability, manufacturing when it comes to a real product. 

Overall, There is almost no rarity, non-substitutability or lack of imitation at all with opening up a business that is likely to be entirely online. The value is what comes when we combine these three things with our values and prototyping advantages. 

More specifically, theres no rarity due to the ease of creating online shops through programs like Shopify or Wordpress. There are multitudes of services that can create these websites, making it both substitutable and inimitable when it comes to labor. The value that comes from the ease of creation is that I have almost no barriers to entry myself in creating and learning about these services and products myself and can use that to my advantage in maintaining costs and accelerating my vision with this venture. Product reach can be done for free or near fractions of normal advertising thanks to social media, and capacity has no issues because being an online store means there is no need for physical supply chains except for the strictly manufacturing of product. 

With that in mind, manufacturing is a non-substitutable and variably inimitable as there is no other methods or super competitive means of creating product on scale than with manufacturers in China unless there are strategic advantages with smaller or more diverse manufacturers that can be arranged. It wouldn't be a rare opportunity as a severe amount of the market competes for low manufacturing costs, but not having to start up my own production unless absolutely necessary is highly valuable to startup costs and investment needs.

10. Business and life mentor.

My own father is an entrepreneur of the most down to the ground practical thinkers. He has done almost everything that a beginning entrepreneur can think of doing for this class, having learned to work with Chinese manufacturers, build websites and finance all of his projects on his own. Having someone so close and willing to teach me, especially as bluntly as he would, is a valuable and rare asset, and while substitutable and inimitable in some ways in the aspect of learning business, he is priceless in the motivation and support he would offer.

So what's the best resource? 

I would say overall, there is a tie between my business mentor and the intersectionality/values my venture has. Like I've stated before in both breakdowns, it is not only valuable to have values that align with varied and crosscutting consumers, its rare for that attention in a company with that in mind for design, and impossible to substitute or imitate values after one starts their venture. And with that mentor who is willing to not hold back the punches and work alongside and with me to achieve, and also be a source of support when necessary and be so close to me, is priceless on all measures.

22a. Aaaaand we're back

Reflecting time

Most comments I got back on my previous pitch video were positive, the only main redress was my speaking speed. I took several attempts at maintaining my vocal speed, but some parts get a little winded and I don't want to lose time so it may still have some bursts. One comment that was very illuminating that Zahra mentioned about the use by criminals, and while I can never condone criminal activity, the protection of privacy writ large is more valuable to me than the marginal return of security for surveillance.

Changes?

Nothing besides pitch and some word changes, otherwise some fresh jokes at the end. I got more comfortable with explaining the product as I tried explaining it to friends throughout the week to see if I can communicate what I was trying to pitch.

21a. If you teach a man to fish he'll eat for his life. Teach a fish to man, and he'll question his purpose.

for reference to the title of this post

"Makers: The new Industrial Revolution" by Chris Anderson

What's it about?

This book by Anderson, a former editor of WIRED magazine, which is one of my favorite publications,  goes over the process of how he himself took on the world of manufacturing by being centered around open ideas through reducing copyright protections and making things open source, working with the speed and adaptability of 3D printing to be able to alter and change one's product whether to market demands or design periods and so much more.  

How does the book tie in?

With the case of "Makers," Anderson talks about the bootstrapping and financing process, how entrepreneurs miscalculate their costs and prices to fit the market but then lose profits when trying to scale, how online and collaborative tools can be used to foster creativity among different projects. This lines up with What Dr. Pryor has mentioned before about thinking of pricing and business models whether they are single person small business or even if you are looking to build up and get more attention and funding for your idea.

What would I design?

If I had to integrate a lesson from the book into an assignment for the class, I would have students research freelance work sites that may offer services like design, 3D CAD modeling or other semi-complex processes to get an estimate of what their project may entail. If that isn't possible, I would have students research and join online forum pages related to their business interest and get in touch with the community and become involved with discussions and have themselves be held accountable by doing a similar blogging project to the assignments for this class on the forum where people who are genuinely interested want to follow up and interact with you.

The "Aha" moment

The biggest thing that surprised me was the open nature Anderson had about patent and copyright issues, as the US has a very rigid and historic past with lawsuits and company culture around security and cooptation of information behind clandestine walls, and taking all that and flipping it on its head by allowing others to be a part of bettering a product but you provide the convenience of production to still maintain profit and name recognition is something that totally took me by surprise to get my head around but afterwards really enjoy and appreciate the model of business.

20a. I'll leave out the obvious Karl Marx reference to Capital here

With the old adage "It's not what you know, it's who you know," it would make sense to find people in the industry who may be of some help to make this whole project into a well oiled machine.

A Domain Expert

The domain expert I've met isn't someone who is in the business of privacy, but does work on clarifying the issues over privacy technology and advocating for it. I had met him on Twitter, as he was interested in some of the field that I was as well when it came to certain privacy technologies. I messaged him in his DM's and being still relatively young, he and I had some fun talking about and sharing memes with each other. when talked about physical hardware for privacy he was not the most knowledgeable but knew many people in the field he works in that would be interested. Considering he is a well known advocate for privacy technology in a field where it and operational security are taken very seriously, any means of possibly having him bring exposure or marketing to my product may be a major boost to my brand name.

The Market Expert

The market research expert I met also doesn't directly sell to my consumer audience, but is a Product Development manager for a news media corporation and does constant demographics research for his own company. I had met this individual at an alumni panel where UF graduates came back to talk to students about the field and give advice and mentorship. I started to talk with him about journalism in general, and soon after we talked about general product development and he explained some things I could use to further understand target demographics and how to help further research.

Industry Supplier

An old friend of mine from back home is a wholesaler who deals with electronics parts and small scale electric boards. We knew each other from being in the neighborhood and consistently seeing each other and talking when picking up our mail at around the same time. I approached him by text about sourcing materials, and he was kind enough to point me to some online resources that can connect me with manufacturers who may be able to produce what I envision for my product. Having them as an advisor for trying to find my first manufacturer or supplier can be a great help in not getting caught with too many options.

Networking

I dislike the term networking. I personally dislike the taking of social gatherings and 'optimizing' them for productive means for our own goals. I have had success with networking events before, but i made networking secondary to my initial goal of simply meeting interesting people that I could have a conversation with. This wasn't super different from other times I have met and gotten to know people, but it did open me up to new people and perspectives.

19. I blew into this napkin, do you see anything?

Diddy getting ready for the feast

Who am I?

My name is Daniel Gamboa, I'm a second year Journalism and Innovation student at UF, researching and exploring the world of technology and the future of society as it is impacted with the varying changes to our world.

I personally aspire to become a major part of keeping tech companies and the sciences accountable to their impacts of their production processes. Business-wise, I hope for this company and product to be able to provide a new avenue to counteract the status quo of technological intrusion and hopefully help bring a world with respect to privacy.

What is being offered?

The Guard™ is my first model in privacy technology meant to fight against the nonconsensual surveillance and collection of our selves through recording and photography by security cameras. Its design, meant to be a low profile attachment for headgear, allows for discrete use and protects against surveillance from a vast majority of current security cameras by emitting a high concentration of infrared light from several LED lights. 

The discrete nature protects the consumers from immediate suspicion, while the fact that it is an attachment allows for interoperability with different headgear. The first design is premised on a standard baseball cap, but other designs in the pipeline include small independent clips and possible wire guards for customers who for either cultural or aesthetic reasons do not wear headgear.

Who is the main market?

The biggest market for this is people in the information industry, mainly relegated to journalists and other jobs that have high risks for identity abuse and targeting by malicious actors. These customers will already be privacy conscious, technologically savvy and live in mainly urban areas where surveillance and security technology will be most prevalent, estimates of customers average age around 25-43 years old.

Why this product?

With the Guard™, operational security is a major part of design thinking in that this product is naturally subversive to a surveillance environment. By protecting identity and allowing for operational security weaknesses in dedicated headgear or clothing products, there is a reduction in analysis and security malfeasance. The slim nature and minimalist design added on to secondary products for non-headgear focused products will make the Guard™ series easier to integrate into one's life and routine and provide a level of security with the least amount of friction in mental awareness and drain of memorizing a security process.

What do I bring to the table?

I have personal experience in design thinking and 3D modeling, allowing me to have a clear vision in what I want this product to be and how to accomplish some of the things it is trying to live up to, mainly the discretion and slim design for low noticeability. I have some minor exposure to website design and can create a functional site for the product that may be able to immediately take in customers. My personal involvement in the market and seeing how this product could be of help for my own industry and for others where identity is a very lucrative commodity, being able to draw directly from those to further understand my consumer gives me a minor edge.

How well do I work?

My business idea has been in the mental stew for quite some time, so I have worked out a lot of the personal and business foundations for why, how, and what the product is as it is. The only thing I feel is out of place would be the fact that online shopping, where I expect almost all my purchases to come from, is itself privacy encroaching. I would love for my product to leave as little as possible behind to who the customer is as to not steal data and become a target myself of data breaches.

Feedback memo

One main piece of feedback that I got was the distinction between being a business student doing this sort of project and being a journalism student in this process. Not being entrepreneurial by nature of business, but entrepreneurial in nature of curiosity and stories, I think the ability for getting feedback and interviewing has helped me refine my thought process and provided a different background from which to tackle this project. The other point of feedback I saw was about execution. While I would love to create this product myself, there is only so much time I have to be able to dedicate to modeling and design work while still in school, so I may need to look into avenues of research or design work assistance to get this product idea to come together.

A Baseball team would not pick up this pitcher for sure

Look at my chubby cheeks getting a pitch done!

Reflecting

In reality as my associates may know I did not actually complete a pitch previous to this one. I have done product pitches in other classes before though, and while never the cleanest I feel I presented the idea with the clarity it needed.

What Changed?

Well what mostly changed was the actual idea behind the project itself, with the interviews I gained a lot of insight as to how I can go about making this the perfect product that can meet a specific goal and still have the splash to impact lives elsewhere.

16a. What's the Sauce?

the GIF game will keep coming at you!

What is it that makes up the sauce that is moi?

First, my thoughts

In the case of what give me my human capital, there are a lot of avenues that I feel could be beneficial to my success. My first mark of being different is my immediate environment and family. My father is an entrepreneur himself, and does not shy away from money making ideas as well as striking down those he feels may not be well fleshed out until I have provided enough evidence for him to rationally come to the table and talk. My other secret ingredient is my wide range of friends. From friends in different fields to those with completely different tastes and fundamental agreements to how things may work (not in a conspiracy way but like a politics and society way), they can provide a treasure trove of knowledge bout what I should think about for a sector of the word I may not have considered. Another source of human capital is my experience with research. High school exposed me to a multitude of ideas, and through speech and debate I dedicated myself to a critical thinking process that greatly benefits me in an entrepreneurial way as I have practiced looking for distinct connections or patterns that may provide an opportunity. Another point of human capital I have is my ability to accept changes in the course of a project. I do not let the original vision hinder the possibility that something new comes up and changes the circumstances or numbers, and requires a new direction should that be the ultimate decision. The last bit I will bring up about my human capital is my easy going nature. I don't like the pressure to be mounted up and would want that even less for those who answer to me.

Now, everyone else gets their say

https://soundcloud.com/user-334162460-571491445/sets/ent3003-interviews/s-VmDTo

all the descriptions are in the descriptions of the interviews themselves

Reflection

One thing I did not realize right away is my charisma which others pick up on. I myself feel more awkward and not as super outgoing, but others do see me as someone who is approachable and easy to talk to. There is an agreement between me and Nathaniel in how I am open to knowing a lot about whatever I put my energy into, so it's good to hear that it comes across and is appreciated. Soha surprised me the most with her comments on creativity, as I do not see much of my activity as not creative at all but maybe others can appreciate what I don't see.

I do feel my interviewees catch me well, but like with anybody it's not easy to get every aspect of a person. Going back I wouldn't change my list, but I do know that I have more to me that gives me a good vantage point.

15a. What do the girls do when they don't get the Rose™?

Bachelor references aside, thinking about your secondary options is a very engaging and equally important part in figuring out where the market stands. In today's post, I arranged three journalism students, none with any specific field in interest regarding privacy but know of the issues that privacy faces, and was able to get some differing takes on what the selection process entails with their purchasing.

Alternative evaluation

A shocked consumer

The Tag

There was some differentiation when it came to the price tag. Some students were sensitive to price, listing it as a top two decision making point. However, one of the students who has had some intern experience knows that certain purchases can be reimbursed by an employer if it provides proper advantage to their work, so any journalist who is conducting sensitive work or is in an area where surveillance can be paramount to safety, price won't be too much of an issue.

You should grab as much attention as a pair of Off-Whites (Wrong)

The Style

In the case of security, this is a product that you want to be subtle if not incognito about. Having done research on competition, I knowingly introduced bias by exposing my interviewees to what others have on the market. One particular competitor has a hat with built in lights to project light for security cameras, but the LED bulbs are very visible in the brim of the cap. They offer an option of a plain black hat, which suffers the previously mentioned flaw, and another black hat with a logo that in my opinion gives away the fact you are obscuring yourself. All interviewees understandably said they would want a product that does not bring attention to the intent of what they are doing even if it is meant to be subtle.

Cheeky but bitcoins could matter

The Method of Payment

This is probably where people afraid of operational security and global threats come into play. While it sounds silly, reporting in places like Russia, China or even the US, the threat of a paper trail can be a major factor. Paying in cash is obviously one of the easiest ways to remove the fear of an electronic paper trail, but when asked the students said they didn't see this as a major concern. In my own research though, there would be some niches more attracted to purchasing my product without the paper trail but doing so online means an anonymous payment method. Bitcoin, while not fully anonymous, can provide a backbone for purchases that occur online without any need to have banks or online vendor have storage of that purchase on a person's record.

You got to have the situation on lock

How/Where does it go down? In the DMs?

The world today is hyper decentralized in accessing the markets, so the best way and the most competitive way to do sales is through online. Because of this situation, online purchasing would most likely go through cards; purchases can be conducted with cash, but are a lot more cumbersome and would possibly be a deterrent. All students confirm the online purchasing paradigm, but outside of them the privacy of purchases is an area I personally feel can be an advantage. No student could provide a B2B perspective, but I could possibly work one out if there is demand en masse for certain sectors of my segments.

The queen of happy purchases

The Post-purchase matrix

Across the board, all interviewee's agreed that utility is key: did this product work? what is the durability? can this product last me longer than any other at a reasonable price? All these are questions the students agree make up a good chunk of their happiness with that purchase. 

The full summary

When going through the alternative evaluation, decision making and post-purchase process, this segment helped clear up some muddy thoughts I had on what things may need prioritizing with the product, like design and durability, while clearing up the painful truth that this product will have to be sold online and with that is open to the vulnerabilities of electronic surveillance, but depending on how much you care that may not matter.

14a. The Tenacious D(aniel)

The thing about tenacity like any other skill is you can learn it pretty quickly but it requires consistency which is about as common as a college student without debt. But given this class lets you learn how to achieve that consistency by waving the threat of grades above one's head, you do get to learn some new tricks.

My Habits

In my case, writing has come hand in hand with my other classes. As a journalism student currently taking reporting, there is a sense of deadline that you learn to dread that is very easy to cross apply, so knowing when things are due and how to do them is crucial. The biggest behavior change would be to constantly reflect on the assignment throughout the day, not so much as a way to actually fixate and finish but to incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into my everyday life.

The peak of give-up culture

The biggest give up moment in the past class and in this one is the week of the pitches. It's one thing to work on the research and interviews and organize the information, but the organization of a video and jumping the hoops to posting it just brings levels of procrastination at every point, dragging out to where you either accept the points lost or feel that this is going too far when it's just a simple presentation. I was unable to conduct my pitch as I had no formal clothes alongside a reporting assignment that took my time away from video production, but I knew that continuing would provide me incredible opportunities and I would be able to organize for the second pitch. 

Tips

First, figure out a simple way to integrate the bug list question mindset daily. Is something bothering you? make a mental note and maybe even start to think of who might this effect or what can solve it. Don't go overboard with it all, but just make it a casual thought process.

Second, let go of the idea that your solution is the only way. I may have taken a political theory class and when you are confronted with the hard hitting questions of society's fundamental truths in organizing, you tend to realize there are good reasons other ideas exist. Don't be single minded, and stay open to the thought that someone else may just have the insight that cracks the issue wide open.

Finally, the tenacious mindset is a simple Zen exercise. When you realize something doesn't work, you cannot fixate upon the failure as it will only prolong the hurt. Learn to move on and try again, and each attempt you make is a boundless moment for the opportunity to simplify someones life.

13a. The Power of Books

While I have taken this class before for full disclosure, the exposure to the class and implementing the things I have learned make for rereading Phil Knight's "Shoe Dog" a breath of fresh air. Having continually read about entrepreneurship outside of the class context, I have a deep appreciation for the lessons Phil imparts through his autobiography, but have come to my own conclusions to some of his life story's lessons.

The Surprise

Previously I found the surprise in the relatability of Knight's struggle to build his company. Looking back now, the real surprise is in the level of self-sacrifice and risk he took upon himself. When meeting with his financiers from Japan and realizing both had been holding back on paperwork showing just how in debt the company really was in, the ability to overcome that at the extraordinary cost of Knight's health and the work environment freeing itself from the weight of meeting the debt.

My Admiration

Phil is an incredible entrepreneur and I previously admired just how nonchalant he was when his fortune favored him. Looking at just how lucky Knight made himself out to be, I feel that there is a lot of humbleness covered in a persona of a hyped up sneaker king. He knew his origin story was an incredibly unlikely one, but he took every step as best he could without rearing his wings as high as Icarus did to fall.

My Disdain

Speaking of that Humility, I previously wrote about how his take against the antitrust bill that forced him to go to court over retroactive fees and not accepting a minor settlement rather than take the arduous risk of going for an entire pardon of his bill. I wholeheartedly accept his sentiment in making sure he didn't have to pay a penny over a shill of an attack by his competitors. What I do have disdain for is what is not mentioned in the book: the continued production of his shoes uses labor that is both exploitative and dangerous to workers. I love an entrepreneur but I love the laborer more, because while you may have the idea you sure as hell need to protect the ones who put the physical effort of manifesting it.

His Road

There is obvious encounters that Phil faced that could have left him entirely without this empire: his battle over production and exclusivity rights to the Tigers he was selling, his antitrust case over rubber imports, the several deaths of close friends and competitors who he saw as family in the Nike company. But he clearly rose above it all. He made his Japanese distributor break face over his attempt of removing Knight and Nike from the market, he battled his antitrust case all the way up and won, and revered and memorialized those deaths as to serve a reminder that we all should take what we have and appreciate it to the last drop.

His Secret Sauce

Phil had a lot of qualities that lended themselves well to being an entrepreneur, but the one I feel is the most relevant one to his success was his charisma. He charmed his way to a deal with his Japanese shoe producers that started it all, he charmed his way into deals with the top athletes at the time who broke records in his shoes, and he did it all with a smile and non-condescending "F#%k you" when necessary.

I Was Lost

The one thing I felt that left me a little lost on the reread was Knight's focus on understanding the Japanese when it came to business. From what we learn in this class it makes total sense to make a prototypical consumer to customize and tailor ones service or product to meet their needs, but the need to understand the distributors was a little strange especially in the roundabout way of asking people who aren't directly connected with the culture. I may be wrong but it feels Phil could've made business easier without having to worry about the Japanese being complicated since he still faced challenges even with his persuasion.

What Would I Ask?

1. If you had to start in todays world, would you still aim for the world mass culture appeal, or would taking a niche, boutique route in an expansive and diverse market be a smarter option?

2. If you knew how big Nike would be now back then, what is the one singular thing you would do differently?

Hard work?

I do think that Phil and I would have an agreement to what hard work may be and entail, but I personally do not feel the compelling to work with over 100 percent effort to get what I want. I feel that there is always a form of safety and recovery in creating a venture that you feel passionate about. The level of self sacrifice Knight went through is admirable and awe-inspiring, but the risk of ones health and happiness for ultimate success is not how I envision a good life even if you can fix it in the end because as Phil almost sees he could lose it all if there was a slip along any way.

12a. The power is in the wallet

In the world of privacy, it's not just how to protect it, even the very act of purchasing can be scrutinized without proper measures. With that in mind, we can talk a little bit about who may be interested in buying and how they might want to purchase.

Segment

My first target audience can be the people I am closest to: Journalists! more specifically, I would prefer to talk to investigative journalists as they are the closest to involving themselves in compromising situations with the law and those who may be breaking it.

Buyers

I was able to find one student who does investigative journalism, while the others are journalists in their won fields one being fashion and the other being a business journalist.

Need awareness

Across the board there are different times when the needs of the interviewees would need to be met. The fashion journalist has felt like they have been targeted by advertisements more invasively when they visit stores. This may be a combination of factors like banking data and mobile phone location tracking, but surveillance equipment in stores has begun to use facial recognition technology, and cutting off one avenue is still effective in combatting surveillance. The business journalist has a very targeted need, in that while he hasn't reached a level of professional reach to interview larger players in business, he recognizes the issue of privacy and surveillance between different companies, photography and facial recognition systems being used at all businesses for security purposes could also feed data to competitors. The ability to move between companies privately and without letting oneself be identified could mean confidentiality of interviews or confidants in business can be easier to secure. The investigative journalist is the most frequent user, as there are a variety of security issues with the sector of the industry most involved with the oversight and critique of the government.

Info search

Everyone starts with a google search. Plain and simple. In the case of privacy protection, there is limited information as there is no consumer protection required by the business and internet sector with collecting data, so most of privacy protection online is merely mitigating access to compromising info. For physical privacy, there are other products that I mentioned in the previous post, but many do not work in professional settings or don't operate well with operational security measures. 

Summation

The general search terms and search parameters make it easy to be found through search engines. The general public can use the product relatively often enough to possibly warrant a purchase but more niche demographics would be more productive in targeting.

Conclusion

Online search for the segment of the market are easily accessible with minor search engine optimization and quality product testing and performance.

11a. I blew my nose into this napkin and it looked suspiciously of the mona lisa...

Introducing: The Guard!

Hi, my name is Daniel Gamboa and I am a sophomore Journalism student at UF, with hopes of becoming a household name amongst experts in the field of technology and privacy journalism and this product while not directly contributing to the goal of my writing I feel would be an essential contribution to journalists seeking privacy and protection from surveillance.

The Guard™ is a low profile headgear attachment meant to be discreetly adorned on baseball and dad hats alike, holding Infrared LED lights on the bottom of its chassis to provide a blinding aura to any infrared surveillance cameras while being invisible to the human eye. 

The Guard has multiple advantages to some of its competition. Unlike some companies who have the LED lights built in to the cap itself, The Guard is a functional attachment, allowing you to be able to mix and match different hats to better improve operational security and not be singled out for always wearing the same specific hat. Similarly, other low-tech solutions involve simple reflection of infrared light, and the design of the product is limited in the construction of a single object that would always have to be worn, drawing on operational security concerns.

I believe I have a niche understanding of some of the smaller. more targeted demographics that are interested in privacy technologies and in the outreach on social media to create a more organic market share of customers who truly believe in the product. 

I feel that most of the traits fit well together, having an interest in wanting to work around the sector of privacy and security, as well as having a vested interest in the space for anything that helps promote it. The only discordant thing is probably the fact that my involvement is in being a journalist, which usually comes with social norms of objectivity and fairness and not being directly involved with the market.

8a. (Insert long Spongebob Krabby Patty intro)

It's Here! The Solution™! what is it you may ask?

The Guard: Low-profile IR light headgear

The main product is a slim plastic sleeve that attaches to the brim of a hat, and once turned on emits an array of Infrared light from several LED lights attached to the bottom of the sleeve meant to completely conceal ones identity from IR cameras. some variation of LED's and even adding randomized flashes to increase obfuscation from different lights and camera analysis techniques. it can be removed from hats to be able to switch between hats in the case security conscious customers want to add variability to their headgear.

7a. Testing testing, I already used this intro but whatever

Alright kids, enough playing around. We're going in on our ideas, so let us get into the ring.

Product Idea: Facial ID Protective Infrared light

The Who

People, gender neutral around the ages 24-45, seeking to protect facial features from current Infrared cameras used in general surveillance. Specification of field of work can include security, espionage, government and private sector citizens.

The What

Private citizens are constantly surrounded by surveillance cameras, whether they realize it or not. A majority of that time spent in front of cameras, computers and algorithms constantly analyze and save that information without your consent and is used for profit generation without any form of compensation.

The Why

The ease of integrating data collection systems into existing infrastructure is extremely easy. Companies and locations of public interest use cameras for security purposes, and the vast majority of cameras can be equipped with technology and sensors relatively easily without incurring costs on surveillance tech consumers, but the cost of those technologies comes from the infringement of privacy of civilians who didn't want their faces and every day habits to be analyzed and turned into systems meant to exploit exposure and hidden trends to increase profits.

We must First Hypothesize!

Testing the who

In general, any consumer concerned about their privacy will be the main audience. beyond the private sector, government bodies may be interested in the product as a means for spies to fight against facial recognition systems and adds a new layer of identity protection. The technology runs the risk of falling into the hands of people who may seek to do illicit acts, but the technology is easy to assemble with homemade versions of the product in mind and many wouldn't want a paper trail directly connected to a public company.

Testing the what

There are security systems that do not use Infrared light as the means of illumination, some may be through heat although they do not capture facial features as well. The requirement of using the product in mind is the use of a hat, the first design idea being a baseball style cap that may be broadened later, so those seeking not to have a hat would require different means of organization for protecting their face from cameras.

Testing the why

This one is a little tricky, because there is the bureaucratic reasons for the protection of people's data to be secured, some believe it is a corporate issue that means of security that don't require extreme surveillance capabilities in low focus areas. 

We've brainstormed enough, its time for 

Interview Review!

 Interview consensus

In the first interview the person raised a unique point in the fact that people posting photos of themselves online can lead to abuse or analysis online, and while that is true in the case of people who are trying to maintain high levels of privacy and security, as I am probably tailoring this to people who may be more vulnerable to security flaws and may want protections, that shouldn't be too much of a cause for concern since my ideal prototypical consumer will reduce the risk of posting their own faces by not doing so. 

All the interviews went over the battery life . Batteries wouldn't be an issue as handheld devices and wireless charging have created an environment where power and charging are not inconvenient, and since my product has a single use for it's power source, there can be an easy draw of battery power and the loss of it can be mitigated.

the first and fourth interview brought up interesting points about how the market of people in every day situations may not be as aware of privacy concerns and data collection. I can't shift consumer attention in the market, but Tim Ferriss (If you know him you're either sick of him or love him) brought up an interesting observation that if you cover the extremes of customers, the middle prototypical consumer will find their way to the product. Marketing for everyone may mean you lose your marketing for no one.

the second interview in particular questioned the way I would tackle this small form of surveillance, and albeit it is a massive one to tackle since governments want to produce more modes of surveillance, taking it into our own hands is a strong message that can even add to the product story.

6a. Hear ye, hear ye! I hearby declare by the order of the government the following decrees...

Economic trends

1. Computer powered enterprise

Shopping online for things of any scarcity has become an arms race of computer programming. For those unaware, the world of bots, replicable code that works in specific ways, has given birth to what I coin the shop bot. The biggest culprits to why shop bots exist is streetwear. If you do know about streetwear brands like Supreme, but don't know as to why new drops of pieces run out so quickly, bots are to blame. Competing against bots is most likely futile, as the economic incentive behind the scarcity of the products they are tailored to push those who create them to always be on top of security features. Building bots for other purposes, however, can still be a lucrative market. Any type of interface work that accelerates commerce for small online businesses or consumers will carry its weight in gold. Certain programs have already been created to screen items that are different prices across the internet to resell for profit, and creating automated systems that can capitalize on movement of items can be one step further in online automation. The opportunity is exploitable to those with experience in computer coding, and the level of exploitation comes with the expertise one has in it. I've seen bots in action before as I have come across those looking for the more niche items, and I have come across normal wholesale resellers who simply move simple product for marginal return of investment, but the bridge between the two seems wide enough, and lack of focus small enough, that there is a chance there is a market group that could be targeted.

example for those interested: forcecop.com

2. Security concerns

I don't know about everyone else but I continuously get paranoid about my security. Alexa and Siri are definitely listening in on us. The move away from closed wall platforms that don't easily share their information for the sake of profits and patents, open-source projects have become a new interest of mine and what they could do for others. In the case of Alexa and Siri, there are already open-source assistants like Mycroft which offer similar products but open to others for their own purposes. Providing collective means of promoting open-source tech would be a great way to both increase security (if everyone can see what's going on, no one can be lied to if they are being spied on) and usability (people don't like setting their own stuff up; create something easy enough to just download and use and you're set). the same exploitability goes for this as with the bots, its up to those who know code and their level of expertise. I myself can be self taught but it's a matter of time and practice to exploit it properly.

interested in Mycroft? https://mycroft.ai/ get coding wizards!

Regulatory Trends

1. Tobacco restrictions on those under 21

For the case of Gainesville, it's only the sale of tobacco that has been restricted by age for it takes state and federal mandates to actually change the legal age for smoking. the legality of this space will be murky and honestly I don't recommend this idea unless you want to go through a lot of legal loops, but an UberEats style product that can create both an online market and delivery service for tobacco products could be highly profitable. In the same case as apps like Postmates the person who orders isn't actually ordering the food, they instead post an order that someone can pick up and fulfill and then give to the person who posted the order. The legal distinction of whether reimbursement for this is considered a sale without a license will require more investigation, but for the case of exploitability coding and market are no issue at all. The legal hoops are the only issue I see being the barrier to entry. Why did I think this? Who doesn't think of at least one "It's like Uber for ___" idea?

interested in the legislation? WUFT 89.1 has the scoop

2. Seed to sale laws may change in Florida

Love him or hate him, Ron DeSantis is calling shots in Florida, and one of the newest changes he wants to make is changing Florida medical cannabis licenses from being vertically integrated. What that means is that in the current market, companies have full control from grow operations to processing to sale of bud. One of the restrictions these businesses face though is the restriction of companies from selling other company products. Should this change happen, more businesses can enter the market to focus on the specialization of each layer. The exploitability would be difficult as there are regulations for growing requirements and licenses would be difficult to get a hold of. the liquid capital would also be difficult to acquire as larger businesses who have started expansion from legal states will be able to enter and establish credibility much easier than any startup coming from Florida itself. Any and all access to the supply chain would be a good entry into the market, each level would simply require different investments into their prospective market whether its growth or transportation.

want a quick read up about the possible change? some words about DeSantis' move.

5. Now I heard from a guy who told his girl about this one dude who's mother...

It's one thing to know what bothers you, but entirely different is the pulse on what's going on in our community and how we can help tackle those problems. Here are some issues I've come across that could be interesting given the uniqueness of Florida.

1. Police: Manager stole lottery tickets

https://bit.ly/2RgeHgY

What's the sitch? (shoutout kim possible)

Florida Lottery offices were concerned because of discrepancies over the orders of a convenience store's lottery ticket sales. The manager in charge was brought in for attempt to defraud and grand theft. The main reason he was caught was due to an audit that found he was constantly ordering but the convenience store numbers didn't match up with the amount of product he was ordering.

Who's issue is this/Who is hurt by it?

considering this story is being recorded now, when the police stated the fraud situation had started back in 2016, the Florida Lottery offices may need more help with keeping track of purchases and making sure these types of fraud don't occur again. The fear of fraud may cause a pause in handling of lottery tickets which can slow sales down for stores that may rely on them for parts of their income.

2. Tips for selling houses to millennials

https://bit.ly/2WgME4O

What's the 411 on the problem? (Urban Dictionary can explain)

The housing market has multiple factors, one big one being new market shares are being taken up by a younger crowd from a different generation that baby boomers can't shake from heckling. Like come on, I get we have busy schedules but don't smack us for not wanting to spend significant portions of our budget remodeling when we definitely have decoration on point. But any-who, many sellers fear different consumer tastes may turn off potential young buyers of new homes.

Who's issue is this/Who is hurt by this?

First it's an image thing but we can set aside the baby boomer millennial conversation aside for demographics. In this case sellers who are not completely in touch with millennial consumer habits may not be able to sell homes that they wish to fill, while millennials will have difficulties finding help with either finding homes that are well taken care of that don't require entire percentages of their budget to fix. I get that some things are quick fixer-uppers but you can't complain about having a door that isn't fully functioning isn't a turn off. Fix your door landlord!

3. Want to see the future of travel? Head to Overtown

https://bit.ly/2TePNAh

I can't find a funny Ice T question from Law and Order but you get the idea: what's up?

Startups will be getting together and working on pitches and presentations focused on what the future may look like for companies in the travel and leisure industry. Includes things from Google specifically for all things travel related, B2B rental securing for vacation planning, and a whole bunch of other wacky takes.

Well now who really is being hurt here?

I couldn't tell you since I'm not the biggest fan of big business, but any company with outdated knowledge of code and data collection and privacy concerns will need massive employee overhaul to make sure no tech leads to the situations other companies that deal with people's sensitive information have faced. Fiji sounds nice but if Trivago goes on and posts about how wonderfully low they sold me a vacation package my house might be next for America's Next Top Robbery.

4. Mail carrier robbed of master key to access apartment mailboxes in Little Haiti

https://bit.ly/2sPlrsx

-. . .-- / -- .- .. .-.. / .-- .... --- / -.. .. ... ..--.. (Morse code translation, because telegrams. I'm not funny don't flatter me)

An armed robber held a mail carrier at gun point and stole the postal key which acts as a skeleton key for almost all mailboxes from the US Postal Service. With it, the robber can commit all types of fraud and theft with the tampering of someone's mail. both the armed robbery and theft of postal key are federal offenses, while the chance of tampering with mail is also a federal offense that is repeatable with every attempt.

What do we do?

Well in the case of this type of crime, letter carriers are in the most way of harm. the other people who's mail is not under threat of fraud will also be damaged by this. The main issue I see come out of this is the conflict of standardization with the physical keys and security concerns over how those things will be handled should safety measures fall short.

5. You must now be 21 to buy tobacco in this Florida college town, joining a national trend

https://bit.ly/2AYENQr

I was originally thinking of smoke signals as a joke but fat chance there's a keyboard for that

The Gainesville City Commission voted 5-1 on raising the age for the sale of tobacco to 21. This would seem crazy but given that this is a national movement that is slowly trying to gain traction it makes sense that Gainesville would want to tamper down on young adult and teen smoking as it is getting more rampant.

Who's to bear the weight of this undue burden brought upon by the State™?

first off calm down libertarians this is a city thing so you can just hop the city limits and get your Juul pods. The real hurt will be local businesses who provide tobacco products as a major portion of the population will no longer be allowed to buy any tobacco products.

What have y'all seen that can be a hinderance to our local community? These range across some south Florida cities and Gainesville so don't feel limited by your geographic location.

4a. Do you have time for our lord and savior Dr. Pryor?

Let's keep it short and sweet, I have an Idea with a capital I and I talked with others about what they might like or dislike about the general concept.

1. What is the idea

from my bug list, I believe there is a combination of market and technology that can be harnessed. In the case of bug list item 3: water losing its heat, I believe that there is a chance of including technology that does not require expensive installment (heated tubs) but provides the ability to keep that water heated.

2. What doe the people want?

The unmet is the lack of heated tubs that keep water warm during baths. That need is primarily found within both genders, but could be specifically targeted to females ages 16-35, usually Millennial or Gen-Z, who are of middle to upper middle class who may frequent specialty shops like Lush or Bed Bath and Bodyworks. The need has not been new one and has been tackled with things like heated tubs but the expense to use ratio isn't in their favor. To meet this need, most people stick to adding more hot water into the tub should it go cold. 

3. Who is the consumer?

To fully hash it out, the prototypical consumer would generally be a Millennial or Gen-Z, middle class female or male who has the funds to buy what would be a piece of equipment that would be attachable to their bathtub to maintain the heat in the tub.

4 Some feedback from prototypical consumers

Amongst a collective of dorm floor neighbors and an RA, I have compiled a few interesting features that stuck out both in similarities and differences.

I. Similarity- Timing

the one thing that seemed the most consistent is how frequent of a bather someone is. the most inconsistent bathers were around once every two weeks to 1 month, but the most consistent bathers were a minimum of once a week usually as a form of stress relief. 

II. Difference- Length and purpose

there was a lot of diversity in this topic, most girls ranging from no more than 30 minutes to some going past an hour depending on how much time. that is also impacted by why they bathe, the longer times having mild correlation to those who use it as a time for stress relief and those who bathe shorter periods of time strictly as a means of cleaning. 

III. Similarity- Products

one thing that came up among most if not all was the use of bath products, ranging from gels to bath bombs and regular soap and shampoo. All these products come with different viscosities and materials, so I will have to revise the construction to be careful of materials that can jam the product from circulating water.

IV. Difference- Price

Price is one of the most subjective items that people tend to focus on. When talking to multiple floor mates, frugal spenders versus lavish self-care enthusiasts had different opinions of price ranges for what they would be willing to spend on, so figuring out the costs of the item would tailor the market audience even further to know who to better attend to.

5. What to take away

The opportunity seems to have legs, my biggest hurdles to tackle seem to be prices and purposes, price due to the market and who is both willing and able to buy and the purposes for what proper advertising or demographic fit the product can take form for.

6. So in the end...

I do still think the opportunity is viable, with my original projection still being around 70 percent possible. the feedback has helped narrow what the opportunity should encapsulate and the focus of function.

3a. Daniel Daniel Fo-faniel, Banana-nana No-naniel...

My entrepreneurship story has been told before for this class but let's run it back with a twist of newness.

     My entrepreneurship started out with middle school, where I introduced my friends with foreign candies that they loved but were too young to find for themselves. I immediately went searching online for the cheapest candy per unit and would try to convince my mom and dad that I could make a profit out of it. They didn't shoot my idea completely out of the water and bought me a few cases (I ended up eating my own supply, the first cardinal sin) but they taught me to be more realistic and learn to look at my costs more closely.

     after that I worked in retail and then in shipping at a UPS store, where I learned more about a multitude upon multitude of different industries and small businesses. I talked with someone who owned their own cupcake company and lawn care service, an Amazon reseller, multiple government services, landlords and even people who owned acres worth of parking lots.

I did enroll in ENT3003 the semester before, but working full time I prioritized my hours over my grades and regret that. With school now being my main focus, I wish to truly create something alongside my group mates and Dr. Pryor and hopefully launch a successful product or service and get the ball rolling again with a real entrepreneurial mindset.

2A. Buzzzzzzzzzzzz

The bug list is here the bug list is here! Stick around and hear my complaints and maybe you too can learn what it is that bothers you!

1. When it comes to returns, almost every Amazon return had to be dropped off, and UPS drivers who are supposed to come with a shipping label and take it just simply leave the sticker. the real bug is needing to dedicate time to go out of my way to drop items off for my returns.

2. I constantly have to carry multiple cables for a bunch of different electronic items: USB cables, lightning chargers, computer chargers and more. The real bug is the constant preparation needed when there isn't a way to keep them standardized, making my search for cables in my bag more of a hassle than ever.

3. When I occasionally take a bath, the water becomes cold a lot faster since there's no heated tub in my home. The main bug is that I don't want to waste more water by adding hot water to reheat the bath.

4. Most bike seats, whether for wide hips or not, have a point where the seat meets the bar that connect with a screw and bolt, but those bolts are at a point that brush up against my legs and scratch my thighs. this bug should be self evident I just don't want my legs scratched up.

5. The bluetooth speaker I currently have is nice, but when I have multiple items that I switch between, its a tedious process to turn one piece of electronic's bluetooth off to connect another.

6. When I want to buy some snacks for myself, I have too much of a sweet tooth to narrow down my decisions. I'll get chips or pretzels and suddenly my cart is filled with all salty foods, or vice versa with sugary snacks like gummy bears.

7. I bike everywhere on campus, even the smallest of distances are a mini exercise. the bigger bug is the switch from pedal to powered bicycles is such a steep cost that it's a barrier to entry for people to have environmentally friendly options of fast transport.

8. I love backpacks simply because its another source of more pockets. my only bug with bags is that the general design of them leaves too much free space that makes both organization not conducive to saving space and the pressure on the shoulders and back with undue weight distribution can be painful.

9. I love books, and ebooks are a great thing to have. the one thing about normal books that I like more than is the ability to pass down physical books. The secondhand ebook isn't really a thing, and the chance to have online markets that reduce prices for others who maybe want to join in having ebook.

10. I take the bus everywhere, and while I love radio, I don't always love the choices radio DJs play. the biggest bug I have is not having a direct choice in that music being played on the bus even if it's only for a five minute trip.

11. Muscle tension, whether from working out or from life stress, is a consistent part of my day. Relieving it is simple, whether visiting a massage therapist or buying a self massager, but the bug is how inconvenient it is to carry equipment or schedule appointments in a busy schedule for relaxation.

12. While this is similar it comes from a different source of pain. Carrying cables is almost an inevitability in today's world. my bug is the hassle of those cables constantly getting caught on something during everyday activity, whether a charging cable on a door handle or my earbuds caught on my bike handlebars.

13. College students always hear "oh just Venmo me," or "just use my Cash App." My bug with these is just how freaking many mobile payment apps there are and how not everyone will have every app! (if you do, godspeed.)

14. We are all lazy about something, and I will admit saving is not my strong suit. What I am not lazy about is spending time on lazy clicker video games. My bug is why isn't there a connection between gamifying and saving that actually translates into savings?

15. I have always wanted to get into fermented drinks like kombucha or kefir, but my biggest bug is how much information is behind blog posts trying to sell their own brand instead of offering a collective how-to or introduction to a community that is actively wanting to support new interest in their craft.

16. Most places are switching to banning plastic bags at shopping centers. While I love this and support helping the environment, my bug is how convenient it is to just get disposable bags and what will come after them in the name of convenience?

17. Living in a dorm is sweet, but the appliances aren't always up to their modern counterparts. My bug is how it is impossible to upgrade current appliances with some form of add-ons to be like other appliances.

18. I'm just starting to get into sneakers, but the sneaker market is vast and piecing together a style from within is difficult. the biggest bug with that though is that there isn't a cohesive source of information over releases besides side stories in niche news sources.

19. Having worked for a franchise storefront, there is a lot of liberty in store policy alongside the strictness of certain corporate policy. My bug though is the lack of proper iterative upgrades and constant check-in's from regional managers feels hindering to the general workflow and the training of employees for new changes is slower than just releasing self-education modules for employees to finish.

20. College is nice, and the move in to dorms or apartments is always a nice decorating experience, but my bug is how some houses in the house hunt don't come with furnishings and the different things one needs to furnish a house are separated into multiple stores or are just hard to transport.

Hope you enjoy, critique and ponder! Keep living, loving and wander!