Halfway Reflection

1) I think that the biggest thing that has helped me in the class is not treating the assignments as an assignment but imagining them to be as me explaining about my idea to a friend. Also managing the class schedule such that I can treat the class as a way to relax my mind from my regular computer science major curriculum has helped me vastly.

2) I have felt like giving up quite a few times in the past. But the constant urge to compete against my own previous self and improve myself keeps me determined to continue. Luckily, I haven’t experienced any such situation in the last two months.

3) Tips

a) Assign a fixed weekly schedule for the class and follow it.

b) Take notes while watching the lectures for the cupcake.

c) Choose a business idea that you actually believe in for working on during the course.

d) Get any doubts that you might have cleared off.

Reading Reflection 1

1) I chose to read “Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s” about Ray Kroc

a) What surprised me the most was that he didn’t enjoy school and that he spent most of his life for a paper cup company.

b) What I admire about him is that even though he was quite old, he decided to start a new chapter in his life by purchasing McDonald’s whereas other people might have planned for retirement instead.

c) The thing that I least admire about him is how he didn’t prioritize his family and the way he managed his relationship with his family.

d) He faced a lot of adversities in his life. In his early days playing piano was his only source of income and then he had issues relating to the paper cup company and Multimixer.

2) He had really good observation skills and had great commitment.

3) I think that the deal about the paper cup company getting 60% of Multimixer was a bit confusing.

4) I would like to ask him if he regretted any of the decisions he made and also how he stayed motivated to continue what he was doing during adversities. I think that answers to these questions really help shape the character of an entrepreneur and so I would like to know the answer to these questions.

5) I think that he believed in consistently putting in efforts and working hard and I completely agree with his opinion on this.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment: For this particular assignment, I chose a segment of international students at University of Florida who had encountered a need to use rental cars in the past.

Being international students, none of them had their own vehicles with them.

Interview Summary: Surprisingly, all three of them had different reasons for their need. The first person was a freshman student. He uses a rental car every weekend for grocery shopping. The problem he faces is that there is just one car rental company that offers rental car at age of 18 and the location for that company which is nearest to him has just one vehicle at the location. So, most of the times, the car is being used by someone else and so he has to wait for a long time. The second person got aware of this need while his stay at Gainesville over the winter break. He was staying back at UF over the winter break. He saw this as an opportunity to explore around and so decided to have a visit to Orlando. The two options he had were rental cars and cab. The cab costs him approximately $135 just for one-way trip. So he decided to search for rental car options. But as mentioned earlier, there is just one option for people below age of 21 around UF. But that company requires the person to return the car back to its original place and this wasn’t viable for him. That’s because under this scheme, he would have to pay the rent for his entire duration of trip, which in this case was around 7-8 days, even if he was actually going to be driving the car for just a total of around 4-5 hours for travelling from Gainesville to Orlando and back. The third person had a similar issue. He had to go to Orlando airport to take a flight back to his home. He would have preferred a rental car because of a cheaper price than cab, but the company required him to return the car back to its original place which wasn’t possible in this case. Although all three of them had different issues for the need, all three of them resorted to internet search for information search but couldn’t find any fitting solution.

One important thing I found out from the interviews is that internet would be vital to spread this business concept since people mostly look for this solution through internet search.

Idea Napkin No. 1

You: My name is Tarang Kirit Donga. I am a freshman at University of Florida majoring in Computer Science. I like to challenge myself and learn new things. I wish to start a business of my own. If I were to start a business on my business concept, I see it as a forming a foundation to the pathway towards achieving more ambitious goals.

What are you offering to customers?: A car rental service that allows anyone over the age of 18 and with a valid drivers license to use rental cars. It also provides the customers an option to drop the car at a different location rather than returning it at the same location, enabling the customers to use rental cars for one-way trips.

Who are you offering it to?: To anyone who wants to use a rental car. But the special features offered are targeted for customers between age of 18 and 21 as well as people who want to use rental cars for one-way trips.

Why do they care?: There aren’t enough options in the market for rental cars for college students. Most out-of-state and international students as well as a lot of in-state students don’t have their own cars in colleges. Also, most other companies don’t allow customers to return the car at a different location restricting them only to round trips.

What are your core competencies?: It offers two important features that a lot of people want to have to be able to take better advantage of car rental services.

I believe that these 5 elements fit together for my business idea. I also think that improving on these elements could lead to a better solution.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

https://youtu.be/vo_Ioq_89jA

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

From the interviews conducted, I got to know that a bunch of people prefer rental car over cabs because it is cheaper and also provides them with more flexibility in the sense of going off-route and stopping at different places in the middle of the journey. One particular student that I interviewed put forward a good point that he is forced to resort to cabs because he hasn't received his driver's license yet.

Who: A lot of college students have their own car. They wouldn’t be the primary focus as the customers for the car rental service. There might be certain cases when they might need to use a rental car but for the most part, they might not be interested in the service.

What: People who can’t drive a car would not be interested in this service. They would still prefer cabs over other services.

Why: One of the students I interviewed brought up a very good point. He said that he chooses rental cars because they are cheaper than cabs. But at times, he prefers cabs when he needs to get some other work done because he doesn’t need to drive and so he can get his work done while traveling.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is in? Students, and other people between the age of 18 and 21 who want to use rental cars. People who are looking for car rental services for one-way trips. People who are looking for cheaper alternatives to cabs.	Who is not? People who can’t drive. People who own a car themselves.
What the need is? People below the age 21 not having enough options for car rental services that allow them to drop the car at a different location than the pick-up location.	What the need is not? Providing an alternative for cabs with equal convenience.
Why the need exists? The need exists because a lot of people aren’t able to take advantage of the current car rental services due to the current restrictions placed by a lot of companies such as age limit of 21 and needing to return the car back to its original position.	Alternative Explanations Due to the minimum age of 21 required by a lot of car rental companies, college students aren’t able to use their services. The companies that allow people above age 18 to use rented cars, need them to return the car back to its original position. Due to this, they aren’t able to use it for one-way trips.

Solving the Problem

The opportunity selected is that people, especially young students, are not satisfied by the current car rental services. This is majorly because of 2 major features that a lot of people want to have for their car rental service. The first one being that most of the car rental services offered by different companies have a minimum age requirement of 21. The other one is that these services require people to return the rented car back to its original position after use.

The solution to this problem can be obtained by providing a car rental service that provide cars on rent to anyone with a valid drivers license. This would also help the business by being able to provide service to larger share of the market. The car rental service would also allow the customers to return the car at a different location than the pick-up location. However, the customers can be tempted to return the car back to its original location by providing them discounts for doing so. Also, for some extra revenue, the cars can display advertisements of other companies.

Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

I feel that there is an opportunity to improve the current car rental services in the USA. Most of the car rental services offered by different companies have a minimum age requirement of 21. This means that, under this restriction, the business misses out on earning profits from college students. The reason for this is that companies don’t trust young drivers enough. Very few car rental services provide cars on rent at age of 18. But these services are missing out on another opportunity. These services require people to return the rented car back to its original position after use. Allowing people to pick a car from a different location and dropping it off at a different location would increase the size of market for the companies by allowing people interested in one-way trips to access their services. Having both of these features together would attract a lot of college students to be their customers by meeting their needs. The reason for lack of companies who provide both these features together in their services is due to lack of resources and not being quite as widespread.

Who: Students and other people looking to use car rental services for one-way trips.

What: Car rental companies aren’t able to meet the needs of a lot of customers who want to use their services.

Why: Companies lacking resources and not being quite as widespread.

Hypothesis: People, especially young students, are not satisfied by the current car rental services.

Testing the Who: It can be any other person who is below the age of 21 or needs a rental car for one-way trips.

Testing the What: A lot of people, especially college students, are preferring to use cabs because a lot of car rental services are not able to provide features that they are looking for.

Testing the Why: Companies lacking resources and not being quite as widespread. There are a variety of different companies offering car rental services and thus they are not able to earn enough resources to provide extra features for their customers.

Summary of the interviews: All the students I interviewed were below the age of 21 and thus were forced to be able to use car rental service from just one company. All of them had several cases where they would have liked to be able to return a car at a different location. There were two out-of-state students and an international student that I interviewed. They take a flight to go back home during the breaks and prefer car rental services over cabs because of the convenience factor and also because it is cheaper. But the problem they face is that the car rental service requires them to return the car back to its original position. Due to this, sometimes they have to ask some of their friends to drive them to the airport and then return the car back or else they end up taking a cab. They would love to have a car rental service in which they can drop the car at the airport itself. Another scenario brought up by a student where this feature would have been really helpful was in a situation where you need to go to place and will be returning after about a week. Under current restrictions, renting a car would mean paying rent for the entire week even if you drove for just 3 hours for traveling.

After the interviews, I was able to understand different views that people have n why they require a particular feature to meet their needs.

Identifying opportunities in economic and regulatory trends

Economic Trends:

Private payrolls soar in January, the best monthly gain in nearly 5 years

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/05/adp-moodys-private-payrolls-january-2019.html

I think that an opportunity exists in here because the article mentions that the record-high numbers could possibly be an indication for a recession. One can take advantage of this opportunity because it would mean a comparatively less competitive market.

Prototypical Customer: Anyone targeted by the specific company.

I think this is a difficult opportunity to exploit since you could become a part of the recession as well.

Weekly mortgage refinance applications spike 15% as interest rates plunge to lowest in nearly 4 years

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/05/weekly-mortgage-refinance-applications-jump-15percent.html

I believe that an opportunity exists in this case because of the extremely low interest rates.

Prototypical Customer: Any person who wants to mortgage property.

I think it wouldn’t be too difficult to take advantage of this opportunity because of availability of a large share of the market.

Regulatory Changes:

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the European Union

Source: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html

I believe that an opportunity exists by helping companies to implement better data protection security measures.

Prototypical Customers: Companies which would be affected by stricter data protection regulations.

I think that it would be a bit difficult to exploit this opportunity since one would require good knowledge about the subject and also needs to be able to bring it to the notice of various companies.

China to cut tariffs in half on $75 billion of U.S. goods

Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-to-cut-tariffs-in-half-on-75-billion-of-us-goods-2020-02-05?mod=home-page

I think there is an opportunity to enter a market with the biggest population in the world by taking advantage of low tariffs.

Prototypical Customers: Buyers of the commodities included in the list of goods for which the tariffs are being reduced.

I think that it isn’t difficult to take advantage of this opportunity because of reduced expenses due to tariff cuts.