Halfway Reflection

1.       I think this class develops different attributes than other classes do. This class has multiple assignments due each week and it is always the same number and type of assignments due. The skill I have improved on greatly is my time management. I’ve gotten better at planning ahead for things and meeting deadlines. The thing I like about this class and what helps me with time management is that all the assignments for the semester are posted and you can start on them early if you need to. Being able to see all the assignments allows you to plan accordingly and budget your time so you can finish all the assignments by the deadline.

2.       There was one moment in this class where I felt like giving up and not completing a certain assignment. It was during the elevator pitch week. At first, I was not completely comfortable with recording myself and pitching my idea. What had pushed me through were the very informative videos that Dr. Pryor posted to help me get through my fears and see other examples of elevator pitches. I do feel like I have developed more of a tenacious attitude during this semester and it has helped me in my other classes as well. I have persevered through many tough assignments and have learned how to deal with the pressure of meeting multiple deadlines a week. I think having a lot of assignments that are all posted can help you build a routine similar to how work will be for some in the future.

3.       One tip I would offer a next semester student would be to plan and make a schedule on when and how long you will work on this class and others. I think planning ahead will relieve much of the stress of having a lot of assignments. Another tip is to try to start the assignments earlier in the week because a lot of the assignments are time consuming and can not be done in one sitting. The last tip I would give is to really try to give good peer reviews to your classmates. The peer reviews are very beneficial and taking them seriously will give you a better understanding of the concept because it forces you to give an alternative point of view.

Reading Reflection 1

1. Walter Isaacson delivered a very intriguing biography about Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs had a very interesting life with many ups and downs. One thing that surprised me the most about Steve Jobs was that he was given away to a different set of parents when he was born and later in his life, he found his biological parents and discovered he had a sister. It also surprises me that after starting to have success with Apple, that his mom didn’t reach out to him but that he had to reach out to his mom. What I admired most about Jobs was his ability to introduce so many new products to so many new markets. Many critics would bash down his ideas, but he would prove them wrong. What I least admired about Jobs was his intake of drugs. In 1985, Jobs was fired from Apple due to his brattish behavior and eventually returned after working with Pixar for several years.

2. I also admired Jobs passion to be perfect. He was a perfectionist and wanted everyone else that worked for him to be a perfectionist and to see his vision as well. He was very rude to employees that didn’t comply, but it was because he wanted his workers to be perfect. Any employee that Jobs realized was below average, he would fire on the spot. Jobs passion and perfectionist personality led his company to what it is today.

3. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was how Steve Jobs got away with being so rude to some of his employees. Even though he was let go for being mean to them there were a lot of cases where nothing was done to Mr. Jobs.

4. One question I would ask Steve is if he ever considered whether his work-life balance was a healthy one or if he didn’t care about a work-life balance. Another question I would have to ask Steve Jobs is how he dealt with critics and other employees telling him that his products weren’t going to sell.  

5. I think Steve Jobs opinion of hard work is different than most people. He was a perfectionist with no room for error. I think he pushed some people to hard and maybe himself too hard. I am not saying if he changed his methods that he may have been more successful. I do share the passion aspect of how he worked but I do not agree on how he treated himself and other people. I think if you have a similar passion like Jobs did then you will be able to accomplish the things you set your mind to because if you are so passionate about your work then it really doesn’t feel like work.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

1.      When deciding to choose a specific market for my company I will first need to consider certain factors. I will first look for a geographic area that is overly populated. I would not consider an area that does not have a high population because traffic may not be a big issue for this area and there is no need for my company. I am looking for a metropolitan area where traffic occurs throughout multiple parts of the day. Drivers in areas like around Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and New York average over 75 hours spent in traffic each year. Once I choose one of these highly populated areas I will have to market to the people of this area. These people will fall into the demographic of people over legal driving age and that commute with there own cars.

2.      I had to interview more than 3 people to find people in my market segment. I found 2 people that are from the New York area and one that lives by Miami. These people all verified that before coming to the University of Florida, while living in these areas they would deal with countess hours of traffic every day. They explained to me that it was hard to predict when there would be traffic. I also asked if they realized the cost of congestion that they have to pay yearly. According to the Texas Transportation Institute the average cost of congestion per person in the Miami metropolitan area was $612 and in the New York area it was $580. Also, air pollution is also highest in these areas compared to less populated areas.

3.      One interviewee went on to say that trying to avoid traffic is a daily struggle. Whether it is the middle of the day or in the middle of the night there are some roads and highways that seem to always be congested for some reason or another. I would want to have this service available at all times of the day. There are multiple reasons that cause traffic in these areas other than rush hour and if I am able to take away those forms of traffic than I can take away the big cost of traffic in these areas.

4.      My interviewees were always aware of having too much traffic in the areas they lived by. If my service is implemented in populated area, then I hope to cut the cost of congestion in half. I will market to the areas that have this problem and promote the application that needs to be downloaded to report incidents on the road.

5.      I found that my interviewees did not have a hard time figuring out the problem of traffic. They were able to figure out what the costs were including the cost of gas, time loss and the environmental effects. They were all on board to paying a one time yearly fee to help lower the cost of traffic.

 6.   I concluded that most people I interviewed were able to realize that sitting in traffic cost them a lot of money each year. I was also able to conclude that all the people who were able to recognize the problem said that they would be willing to pay a small fee on their annual car registration fee to have the annual cost of traffic reduced. I figure that the small fee would be smaller than the amount of money I can save on traffic for people in a large metropolitan area if my company is implemented.   

              

Idea Napkin

1.       My name is Isaac Valancy and I am trying to start a business called “Road Warriors”. I am very good at critical decision making and understanding problems. I am experienced in analyzing and constructing financial statements. I aspire to create a utilitarian business that services people in highly populated geographic areas.  This service will be available to everyone in the areas that we are located in. I want to own and control this business and put all my time into making it work correctly. I would like to make this a full time occupation and I want to continually improve the aspects of the business to eventually reach a perfect model. I want this business to be seen as a company that does goods for the people it serves by saving them money and time on a daily basis.

2.       I first want to test the market in one geographic area. I want to find out if the business concept works and if I am able to scale and bring this service all over the country. I want to pick an area that is heavily populated and is known for having a lot of traffic jams. I will have an application where people can report an incident on the road that is causing a traffic jam.  I will have various workers called “road warriors” that will continuously be on the roads waiting to be called. Once a person reports the incident through the app, the closest driver to the incident will be notified and head to the scene quickly. Since I will always have multiple drivers on the road then it is more likely that my drivers will be relatively close to the scene of the incident and be there before any first responders. My driver will evaluate the scene and figure out whether any first aid is needed for anybody affected by the incident. If there is anyone injured my drivers, who are certified in first aid, will begin attending to the injured until an ambulance arrives. After evaluating the scene and figuring out whether anyone is injured or not then they will begin their main job. The road warrior will begin to clear the road up for traffic to pass through. Whether it is moving a car or two that’s blocking a lane or picking up big pieces of debris from an accident, my driver will try to this as quickly and safe as possible to end the big traffic jam.

3.       I will be offering this service to a city or county that is heavily populated. I will first start in an area that is known for having bad traffic. Having this service in a low populated area with no traffic problems would be costly, inefficient and pointless. This service will be offered to all the people who are in the heavily populated geographic area. Anyone who owns a car in this area will have to pay an extra fee on top of their annual car registration fee. Since everyone who lives there is paying for the service, it will be serviced throughout that area 24/7.  

4.       The people that will have access to this service will benefit greatly in several ways. If my road warriors are successful, then they will be able to save people from having to sit in traffic for a long time or even at all.  It will save people gas money that is wasted from sitting in hours of traffic every year and will save a lot of people time by avoiding hours of unexpected traffic. Lastly, it will benefit the environment because having hundreds of cars just sitting on the highway has bad effects on air pollution.

5.       I think what sets us apart is that we are trying to solve a problem that will benefit everyone on the road and the environment. Since we serve everyone in a certain geographical location that drives a car, then our problem is not trying to market and make profits but to sustain the environment and to try to cut the America’s cost on traffic each year. We will be a government association that is aimed to help clear the roads and avoid pointless traffic jams.                                                                                

      I think these 5 elements of my company go well together for the most part. The only problem I think I would have while starting the company is making myself into a government association and being allowed to charge an extra fee on top of the annual car registration fee. I think that once I am able to test the market and prove my concept then it will be easier to scale.

Elevator Pitch

Here is the the link to my pitch:

https://youtu.be/xqS0aMx1hnc

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

The unmet need or problem that I found is dealing with unexpected traffic. People can predict that there will be traffic during some hours of the day and they are able to plan for traffic like this. The traffic that is unexpected like traffic due to an accident, or someone with a flat tire is the kind of traffic that I think can be avoided.

I interviewed more than 5 people because I kept getting similar responses to my questions. I found that people with this need usually live in bigger cities than Gainesville. One interviewee told me they lived in Starke, Florida their whole life and that traffic was never a problem by them. The traffic that is usually dealt with in this area is traffic on the nearby highways including the Florida Turnpike and I-75.

Who:  There are certain people that fall outside the unmet need. These people live in small cities and don’t live around any major cities. Though these people do deal with occasional traffic on the nearby highways, the inner-city streets are usually clear. People that don’t own a car and commute using a different mode of transportation to work or school are people that do not deal with this problem.

What: I think this need differs from other needs is because this is a problem that is hard to avoid and is dealt with by most people who drive a car. Traffic that is due to rush hour is unavoidable but the reason that there is so much traffic is because there are too many people commuting to and from work. The need I identified is traffic that is due an accident or a car malfunction that blocks the road.

Why: The people who end up outside the need are usually people who live in less populated areas. For these people, even when there is an accident or something happens that blocks the roads unexpectedly, there aren’t enough cars in the area to cause a traffic jam.

Inside the boundary

Who is in: People that own a car and live in or around a major city.

What the need is: Unexpected traffic that cost millions of people money and time. It is also bad for the environment.

Why the need exists: People have accidents or car malfunctions and will block up multiple lanes and can cause hours of traffic. If it were dealt with quickly and efficiently then can be avoided and save people money and time.

Outside the boundary:

Who is not: People that live in smaller less populated cities and don’t deal with traffic often.

What the need is not: It is not necessary to implement a solution for these people because it isn’t a big enough problem for them.

Alternative Explanations: Not enough people in an area will not create huge traffic jams and therefor there is not real problem in those areas that needs to be resolved.

I think that the service I thought of would only work in certain areas. The areas need to be very populated and have traffic throughout the day for several reasons. If the area isn’t populated or never has traffic jams then the service would not be necessary in these areas.

Solving The Problem

Traffic is a huge problem in the U.S. There are many reasons for traffic, like morning and afternoon rush hour. In my opinion the worst type of traffic is traffic caused by accidents or people having problems with their cars and taking up one or more lanes. The reason I think it is the worst type of traffic is because this kind of traffic is unexpected and cannot be planned for. I think there is a way to better deal with unexpected accidents to keep roads and highways running as efficiently as possible.

My idea is a service that will be faster than first responders to arrive at the scene of an accident or car malfunction. Their job will be to start clearing the road to let traffic through and taking the essential steps to aid the ones in need. My employees would be called “road warriors” and will be people in tow trucks that are constantly on the road waiting for a report of either an accident or small car problem like a flat tire or something that looks like it will hold up traffic. People will be able to report the problem through a free app like the way Waze reports police and traffic. Always having multiple road warriors on the road means my drivers will be closer to the spot of the accident and be there much faster than first responders are and the tow trucks that clear the road up.

These road warriors will be certified in first aid because when they arrive first to a scene and see that first aid is needed, they can start before an ambulance gets there. Also, when my road warriors are first to a scene and it turns out to be a flat tire, small car problem or fender bender and no one is injured, then their main job will be to clear the road up and let traffic through. The steps the road warrior would take is to first evaluate the scene and determine whether first aid needs to be performed and to report it to authorities. Then after that, they would start cleaning up the roads to let traffic through.

There is no reason for people to be backed up in traffic for a long time just because of one or two people having a small problem. Having a whole lane taken up because of someone having a flat tire is absurd. My road warriors will be quick and always be the first to the scene to take care of the problem as quickly as possible.

My service will not be paid directly through the app or to me. My plan is to partner first with the local government in a small area and then to eventually branch out to other cities. Every year every driver on the road must pay a car registration fee to be allowed to drive on the road. I would like to have my service fee attached on top of that registration fee. This service will be available to everyone on the road.

I think that if it becomes a popular trend to report to the road warriors then traffic will be able to run more smoothly with less unexpected traffic jams. We will be the first to the scene and do all that is necessary to fix the problem and let traffic through.

Testing The Hypothesis

1.      U.S. is the world leader in traffic jams

2.     The who: Drivers in the U.S.

The what: People are spending countless hours in traffic every year and it is costing people a lot of money in direct and indirect costs.

The why: Traffic happens for many reasons. Early morning and afternoon rush hour are inescapable but having hours of traffic due to accidents is something that can be fixed. There are traffic jams that are caused by very minuscule reasons and if they were dealt with right away, it could save a lot of people time and money.

3.     I believe that this an opportunity that can be exploited and be resolved in the future. I think a resolution needs to be implemented relatively quickly because this problem affects many things including making people late to their obligations, costing people money, and it is also bad for the environment.

·       Testing the who: This is a problem that affects people across the world who drive cars. This affects the environment due to fuel consumption and car pollution. These cars that are stuck in traffic release emissions and create air pollution which contributes to global warming.

·       Testing the what: Traffic isn’t only a problem in big cities. A lot of traffic jams occur on highways that run from city to city. Traffic jams that are caused by an inconsiderate driver who has some problem that is relatively small and ends up blocking a lane and causes a traffic jam.

·       Testing the why: The problem can be rooted from many things like not having enough lanes on the road or accidents that are not cleared up fast enough. People on the road that have problems with their cars and don’t pull off the road.

4.     Interviewee #1: Noah Rodriguez

Noah is from Pembroke Pines, Fl. I asked him if he deals with traffic often when he lived in Pembroke Pines. He says he would only deal with traffic in the mornings on the way to school. He says that the drive home takes about half the time than the drive to school. Noah says he blames the traffic on the other students and staff driving to the school at the same time and trying to enter the only parking lot entrance of the school.

Interviewee #2: Nina Albino

Nina is from Miami Fl. and says she cannot stand the way people drive around her. She says people always drive very erratically and are trying to get to where they are going as fast as they can. She told me she lives by the palmetto highway and that it is always backed up because of an accident or little fender benders that don’t move out of the way. She says no matter the time of day that it is she always ends up running into the traffic on the palmetto.

Interviewee #3: Amadeo Gonzales

Amadeo used to live just outside New York city and is a sustainability’s major. He said he’s dealt with traffic in and around New York city all the time and not only during rush hours. He says some highways always had traffic on them during the day. Amadeo’s family owned a smart car and were advocates of trying to sustain the environment. I asked him if he would drive in traffic often or try to avoid it and he said it was almost impossible to avoid because it was all around him. He said waiting in traffic wasn’t his biggest concern, but that traffic was contributing to global warming. He says it was sometimes difficult to breathe where he lived because of all the emissions cars in traffic were releasing. The air pollution is what bothered Amadeo the most and he seemed upset that nothing was being done about it.

Interviewee #4: Tanner Redding

Tanner lives in South Florida near Ft. Lauderdale and says traffic wasn’t the biggest problem for him because he drives a motorcycle. He says he could maneuver through traffic relativity easily because he would drive between stopped cars in traffic and zip right past everyone. I thought that this was dangerous because what if a car wanted to change lanes right when he was passing them and didn’t see him. He said he was aware that it was sort of dangerous but that he always is aware of cars trying to change lanes. Tanner spoke as if he had the solution to getting past traffic.

Interviewee #5: Mateo Galiano

Mateo is from Baltimore, MD. and says traffic in the area he is from isn’t bad because there are too many cars on the road but that there are too many accidents in his area. He says he sees an accident every other day. He says his city is one of the most dangerous cities to drive in because there are so many accidents. I could only imagine the frustration of people in the area who are constantly hitting unexpected traffic jams due to accidents. It turns out Baltimore has one of the highest rates of car accidents every year. That must mean a lot of traffic jams are occurring unexpectedly and costing people money and making them late to where they were going.

5.     It is easy to see that traffic is a problem all over the place and there are many reasons that cause traffic. I know that hitting traffic unexpectedly is in my opinion the worst type of traffic because you cannot leave early to compensate for the traffic. This kind of traffic is due to accidents or people having problems with their cars.