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.