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.