Looking for opportunity

Economic trends

1.Increasing market for US soccer fans, but lack of merchandise.

With a successful world cup 2014, soccer in the United States has gathered a lot of attention. Since then my generation is slowly but surely accepting soccer as a major sport (like how it is considered across the world), and the upcoming Copa America Tournament (which is the biggest soccer tournament the US have hosted since the 94 world cup) is only helping the cause. However with all this increased interest it seems there isn’t enough merchandise provided to meet the fan’s demand, apart from overpriced jerseys. The prototypical customers are all the new US soccer fans, and this opportunity should be easily exploited seeing how fast this demographic is growing. I saw this opportunity because I have been a fan of the USMNT for a while now and seen within the past couple years that people are gravitating toward the sport. In my experience searching for US soccer merchandise, everything has been very limited/overpriced.

2.Electric cars finally have the technology to be effective/profitable. (Tesla is making a huge impact in the market already making over 400,000 pre orders of their newest model). It seems that one issue with these newly popular electric cars are that they won’t last as many miles as the gas fueled ones. A potential solution to this is to create a portable emergency external battery to charge your car in situations where you can’t make it to an electric pump. I got this Idea from reading an article about tesla’s newest model car, and applying the concept from iphone portable chargers. The prototypical customer is anyone who owns an electric car. I believe this would prove useful, however might be difficult to market/advertise to the intended buyer because the majority of people still drive gas powered cars.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/31/11335272/tesla-model-3-announced-price-release-date-specs-preorder

Regulatory changes

1.Trump says that he’s going to build a wall between us and mexico if he wins, which might happen considering he is THE republican nominee. Creating a wall of that magnitude would be very costly and require a lot of time/resources. The opportunity that lies in this is for the design of the wall to attract tourist attention. Instead of building an ugly prison wall we might as well do what china did and build a world wonder. We can call it “The Great Wall of America” and make it accessible to hike as people do in china. This would create a way to create revenue from the wall rather than just accumulate debt. I got this idea because this election has caused me to hear way too much of Trump talking about this wall idea.

2.copyright music

In recent years there have been a lot lawsuits regarding copyright music. Usually artists find similarities in new songs to their own and try to get a piece of the pie. It can be difficult to determine whether or not songs are actually ripped off or just coincidentally slightly similar. Considering most pop songs are very similar already see link…

It may turn out that what you believe is your own invention of a song could share uncanny melodic similarities to other well known pop songs. Examples are of some famous/recent lawsuits are

blurred lines - robin thick was sued because it "copied" gotta give it up - marvin gaye

Stevie wonder (as a bystander) said himself that he believed they were separate songs, however robin thicke ended up having to pay 7.4 million to the family of marvin gaye.

Won’t back down tom petty sued stay with me sam smith. This one I agree is very suspicious that the melody lines up almost exactly, however it is still possible that sam smith had the tune in the back of his mind and did not consciously mimic tom petty. I know that some artists (ex. Bon Hiver) don’t listen to any other music than their own when writing an album, in order to ensure that their creativity is maximized, and that there are no other influences than their own.

To solve this problem I would propose to create a software, similar to the plagiarism detection in academic websites like canvas or turnitin.com, that reads a song and determines a percentage of plagiarism (how similar it is to other songs in the database). This software would gather information about the song key, rhythm/beat, melody, tempo, and other aspects of a song that make it unique and determine whether it could be a liability to release that particular song. The prototypical customer would be Studio’s, or independent artists that would use just to make sure that by chance it isn't too similar to another creation. I thought of this opportunity because I am a songwriter/musician myself and am aware of how similar many pop songs can be.

Identifying Local Opportunities

1) Red Tide Strikes Pinellas

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15C2F3235D07F608?p=AWNB

A large red tide bloom has been found on the coasts of Pinellas county. Red tide kills and poisons fish/sea life. In addition it can cause respiratory issues for people in the surrounding area. If someone already has repository problems, such as asthma, red tide can cause severe illness. This presents a problem to all beachgoers (natives of Pinellas or tourists), as well as the wildlife.

2)Facebook Post Exaggerates Discrepancy Between US Men's and Women's Soccer Teams

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15C1B0E8F212D900?p=AWNB

This article addresses the wage gap in between the Men vs Women national soccer teams. It explains that because the two teams receive payments in much different ways that it is hard to actually compare. The women brought in around 5.8 million more this past year that the men (26.8 million to 21 million). Another point worth noting is that the women had a world cup this past year while the men didn't have much besides the concacaf Gold cup. The men clearly average more, however it is based more on performance (they are not guaranteed anything). The women on the other hand receive a guaranteed base salary regardless of how they perform, and then receive bonuses on top of that for winning. The problem is the lack of wage equality (based on revenue brought in) for the usmnt and uswnt. This affects the players of both national teams.

3) Change Coming to Prep Sports

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15C0F79A2FF89420?p=AWNB

A new bill was proposed and passed that allows any student to transfer to any school in the state, but places limitations on whether they can partake in high school athletics after switching schools. If a student participated in that sports before they transfer then they would have to sit out for the rest of the year at there new school. There is also an approved list of accepted scenarios that wouldn't place restriction an the athlete (family moved because parents are in the military). The problem is that recruiting takes place in high school athletics far to often, and a solution has to be met to prevent schools from scouting and bringing in players from other schools. This affects students who will or might transfer high schools in the future as well as the team sports of the school receiving said student.

4) Our Energy Supplier Should Issue Annual-Reports on Sea Level Rise

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CD008010E38450?p=AWNB

The effects of climate change are becoming more and more present every day. In this article Alan Farago is asking Nextra Energy and other cooperations to submit annual reports on the issue of sea level rise to  all its shareholders.The main motivation is to send the message to the shareholders that these energy corporations know about the risks involved. The problem is that the sea level is drastically rising and Florida could end up under water eventually. This effects all the residents of Florida, especially the costal populations.

5) Does legal Marijuana Cause Deadly Car Wrecks? Numbers tell a story

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CCCD2E628D0FF0?p=AWNB

With the recent legalization of weed in certain states, questions have come up regarding whether the use of marijuana has lead to increase in car accidents. "17 percent of Washington drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2014 had used marijuana recently". The problem is that weed may impair the drivers awareness and currently there is no method of prevention and punishment (like there is with blood alcohol tests). This effects all people who live in a state that has recreational or medicinal Marijuana.

Forming an opportunity belief

As a member of the drumline at UF, I am constantly being surrounded by loud noises. Theses noises can come from drums, or even the band/crowd behind you at football games. Usually it would seem that this could easily be solved by wearing earplugs, however an important part of drumming consists of "listening in" to the person next to you so that the line can play clean/together as a whole. I know myself and others have experienced this same dilemma, if you choose to protect your ears it might sacrifice your playing. The people who experience this are obviously other members of college drumlines, so that is who I targeted for my interviews. I believe this need has only begun recently as the culture of college marching bands has changed a lot. There used to be very few members in a marching band, which wouldn't produce nearly as much sound, but within the past couple of years there has been around 350 members in the UF band and a little over 30 on the drumline. In order to meet this need of protecting hearing some have been wearing earplugs, however as stated before this method has its flaws. The opportunity to address this issue could be met by an earplug design specifically for drummers that doesn't change or muffle the sound at all, it would only reduce it.

Interview 1)

   

Notes:

-Didn't want to wear earplugs because it took away from the experience, and playing.
-Been playing for 10 years hearing loss started in college ( high freq. timer alarm).
-He believes that his hearing will decline in the future.
-Knew the risk but still went in to it.

Interview 2)

-Really bad hearing in right ear (high pitched ringing), wore earplugs some of the time.
-Could actually feel pain in ears during games when not wearing plugs (a couple times severe damage).
-Played for around 10 years.
-Also believes that hearing will be reduced in the future.

Interview 3)

-Story about magic game could hear static and pain.
-Test in physics couldn't hear higher freq. as much as other kids 14000 vs 18000-20000 hertz.
-Started a lot earlier for him, and directly affects his life (difficult to hear people when serving).
-He would actually wear earplugs during games and still had a lot of problems.

Summary: It seems that all the people I interviewed have experienced some degree of hearing loss due to drumming. All three said they have been playing for around 9-10 years and that the majority of the problems started in college. So while the need is still there for hearing loss prevention it seems that people actually do wear earplugs and still have problems. Because of this I think my solution should be altered so that these specialized ear plugs focus on greatly reducing the loud piercing sounds such as rim shots and cymbals more than that of the normal drums sound.

I think entrepreneurs should constantly be adapting to customer feedback in order to create the best possible product. A lot of times things change, and people want/need different products to accommodate these changes.

Bug list

1. Dirty dishes backed up in the sink

why: me and my roommates are lazy and don't want to wash the dishes until we really need to

2. When its really cold outside, but also really warm inside, its uncomfortable because you are wearing winter clothes inside a heated room

why: people crank the heater on to compensate for the temperature outside

3. leaving car lights on and running the battery

why: because most people have to manually turn the lights off, rather than them turning off with the car automatically. People forget things

4. MLS (the american soccer league) doesn't have a consistent t.v. deal, so not all the games are available to watch

why: not enough demand/viewership by people. The league is too stubborn to give away their streaming rights away to ESPN.

5. As a drummer its important to wear earplugs, however often times they drown out the sound so much that it makes it difficult to listen in to the rest of the drumline.

why: the earplugs block the sound rather than filtering it

6. losing keys/wallet/remote

why: because I have a lot of other things going on to remember exactly where i put small things like my keys

7. people who drive slow in the left lane

why: they don't know how the interstate works

8. Having different phone chargers for different model iPhones

why: apple wants to force people to upgrade their phones by making different compatibility

9. having to change passwords ufl every semester

why: to help protect the security of your online information

10. Needing your own bag to play a round of golf (most courses)

why: I honestly can't think of a valid reason why, its just a rule. At most courses if you want to share a set of clubs, you still need to bring your own bag.

11. having to special order shoes because they don’t have my size in stores

why: stores usually carry every size up to 12 or 12.5 in bulk, and then it becomes rare if they have size 13 and up

12. Car speakers get blown out

why: play music louder than the speakers can handle (usually bass) and it causes damage

13. having to reapply sunscreen often

why: sweat removes the sunscreen

14. clipping fingernails too far back (can sometimes be painful/annoying)

why: its hard to judge, and easy to accidentally cut off too much

15. people not using turn signal when driving

why: either forget or don't feel the need to

16. Littering

why: not enough trash cans or recycling bins in public, or people just don't care

17. Moving furniture (heavy)

why: its usually very heavy, big, and awkward to carry through house and doors in particular

18. Nowhere to park on campus

why: a lot of people at UF, not a lot of parking spots

19. Headphones that fall out while running

why: sweat and movement makes it hard for them to stay in place

20. toothpaste covering opening of tube, sometimes requiring cleaning to get any more out
why: usually not that careful when using toothpaste

reflection: At first I had a lot of trouble coming up with things that bug me because I wasn't in the right mindset. The first couple days of working on this assignment I tried to just sit down and think of pet peeves of mine and ended up drawing a blank. When I changed my approach to making mental notes of things that bugged me as they were happening it made the assignment much easier, and I was able to come up with this list without too much difficulty.

My Entrepreneurship Story

All my life i've come up with small ideas for potential products, such as a combination of crocs and heelys (patent pending). While it has mainly just been for fun, I have recently discovered that ideas like these actually have the possibility to be successful.

This past summer I worked for a start up company that dealt with a software that predicted the profits of certain real estate locations based on multiple surrounding factors. They had only gone public a couple months prior to me joining, however the business was growing and gaining clients at an impressive rate. This showed me first hand the success of entrepreneurship, and that new and better ways of doing things are constantly being invented.

I have recently started watching a show on comedy central called "Nathan for you". This show consists of Nathan going to failed businesses and implementing new ideas to increase profit. In one episode he creates a store called "dumb Starbucks" which is almost identical to Starbucks except it has the word "dumb" in front of everything. People took off with this new parody store and it became extremely successful. The creative concepts shown in "Nathan for you" inspired me to enroll in ent3003. Through this course I hope to learn how to hone my creativity skills.

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