Final Reflection

     I know everybody in this class has been through a lot and gained a lot of experience dealing with adversity. I personally think that I went through the most during the first month. I had to understand entrepreneurship, consumers, my venture idea, and time management all at once. I had a tough time getting in the rhythm of things with how the class was functioning. I missed a lot of assignments early on and had some trouble doing the early venture-related research required. I was very proud of my idea, though, once I got it all set up and thought out. I am very happy with the experience I gained in going out and having to do business-y things for this class, and it really did help me gain an entrepreneur's mindset.

     I never really considered entrepreneurship as a mindset until after this class. I learned that the definition is truly broad and allows for a lot of contextualization. I have learned a lot and would definitely consider myself much more of an entrepreneur than before. I find myself thinking critically about every situation with the goal of finding the core problem and then any possible solutions.
      I would recommend that people in this class look ahead and make a legitimate plan. Understanding each week before it happens is the key to success. You need to understand it and then set up time for each part because sometimes it feels like work magically appears and slaps you in the face. In order to better understand the entrepreneurial mindset, you need to understand the future problems and plan for all kinds of eventualities to be successful, and it is also important to learn how to solve problems on the fly. That is what this course does for you, it gives you the opportunity to strengthen yourself in those areas. It isn't hard, it simply requires dedication.

Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. I was a little bit surprised at their ability to handle intimidation and genuinely take care of their customers first because it seems to be such a rare trait nowadays.
2. I understood everything perfectly well.
3. 
   
1. I wonder how long it takes a company that targets the lowest classes to thrive?
2. Why are there not more businesses that target these underprivileged people?
4. I don't think that there was anything wrong in this week's reading.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. I was surprised at how common the idea of corporate entrepreneurship is, it is not the kind of innovation that is commonly considered when I think about entrepreneurial endeavors. 
2. I was not really confused by anything, I really understood most of the ideas presented and agreed with them as well.
3.  
1. Do you think that ethical concerns receive enough attention in today's markets?
2. Which is more beneficial to the company: corporate or social entrepreneurship?
4. I do not think that there is anything incorrect in this week's reading.

Google Gold

1.  I mostly tried to use words very specific to my venture in order to optimize my search engine results. I tried to incorporate the name of the product idea and the process by which it works. 
2. Quick Cheffing is a food rehydrator. I tried to use those words as often as possible. My keywords evolved from food and time to those two phrases because of their specificity and uniqueness.
3. My blog was fairly nonexistent on social media. Only my closest friends acknowledged it and that was more because I told them explicitly about it. My social media presence is very minimal so it is likely that my posts are not as noticeable.
4. My idea napkin received the most views, and I think that was probably because it was the most explicit explanation of my idea and clarified questions that may have arose when reading other posts on my blog.
5. I honestly couldn't find my blog unless I googled the title itself, which proves what I thought. I really should have used my keywords more often.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

My first interview was very straightforward, but it was pretty insightful. I never posted it because I waited to long to email my entrepreneur. It was very nice to hear some similar ideas repeated by someone not in our class.

1) To what extent has your business altered your personal life?

Relatively little impact. I tend to leave work at work pretty well so that helps. When the stress is exceptionally bad it certainly has an impact on mood, but I try really hard to balance work/personal life and am fortunate to be in a place now where I can work as much or as little as I want to. 

2) What are you most proud of with regard to your business?

The lasting impact it has made in the area. The brand is well known in beer circles, but in Tampa Bay it has become nearly ubiquitous and that is pretty cool. Right there with that is the opportunity we have provided for our employees to work in an industry they love as much as I do and be able to earn a living at it. 

3) What is the best way to make connections with people in a given industry?

Become a student of that industry. Attend trade shows related to that industry. Subscribe to publications that cover that industry. Just really immerse yourself in the jargon, news and developments of that industry. 

In this class I have learned a lot about holding myself accountable. It is important to understand your own limits and then push them to fit all that we can, and my limits have absolutely been pushed by the workload. It was not difficult, but required a lot of thought and preparation. I was not used to having to prepare so much and so often for every assignment, but I really gained a lot from it. I now feel much more knowledgeable about entrepreneurship, and I feel more confident in my ability to discuss it given my new-found understanding.

Celebrating Failure

     Everybody fails sometimes, and most people fail often. Failure is commonplace, no matter how much we try to avoid it. My biggest failure was probably when I was denied from the NHS my junior year. I had never even considered that I wouldn't be accepted, so when I was told I was shocked. I finally realized that I was not as great as I had thought. I was not good enough, or if I was, I had not shown it.
     It sounds so petty and basic, and it actually is, but it was an important moment for me. I learned that I needed to be better if I wanted to be as great as I'd hoped. I learned that life wasn't easy and I needed to put in work to get what I wanted.
     My biggest fear in life is probably failing. I sometimes choose not to even do something because I know I will probably fail. We know logically that we shouldn't let fear control us, but it is a fear for a reason. It is hard. When I fail, really badly, I often shut myself off from people except for those closest to me. I become sluggish, no matter how often I tell myself that I need to overcome. After a little bit of that, I finally take my own life and am reinvigorated by life. I am motivated to be better and prove to both myself and those around me that I am capable. Failure is hard, but it makes us stronger, if we let it.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1. I was pleasantly surprised at how thorough the many tables and ideas were explained in the book.
2. I did ont really understand the complexities of the Discounted Earnings Method.
3.  
1. What is the most important component of a venture to decide when evaluating it?
2. What is the least important?
4. I do not thing that the author was wrong about anything.

Exit Strategy

My business was never intended to be my long-term source of revenue. I intend to sell the company after I have solidified its position in the kitchen appliance market. I want to get it to a point of stability and success, but, ultimately, I want to sell the company for profit.

My goal in life is to create an engineering conglomerate and simply research anything and everything that we can. I love knowledge, and I think that I am well equipped to solve problems and discover new problems to solve. I would use the profits from the business to establish my engineering company on my own dime in order to solidify my control over the venture that I truly care about. I would purchase a building to house several labs and a core office, as well as all of the equipment required for scientific study.

I think that my exit strategy has caused my venture to be a bit more short-sighted than it need be. I could eventually have tried to grow and expand my brand into other kitchen appliance innovations, but I simply wanted to solve a problem and create a foundation for monetary success. I still would care deeply about the success of my company, but would sell at least a majority of it to others in order to focus on my main desires. I would only be there long enough to make sure it would not fail, and then sell it for as much as possible.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1. I was surprised at how complicated the Strategic Management Process was, with such a complicated flow chart.
2. The whole idea of strategic positioning was very confusing because of all of the different interactions between position, leverage, and opportunities.
3.  
1. What other possible paths are there for a venture that are different than figure 13.5?
2. What are the most common causes of the early failure pictured in the same figure?
4. I did not think that the author was incorrect about anything.

Venture Concept No. 1

Energy is required to survive, and food is how we get that energy, whatever that food may be. Some bacteria use basic carbon molecules, grass uses the sun, and we eat other living things, but it is all food. Humans have evolved to eat complex meals that require complex cooking, but it is not a requirement. I propose the Quick Cheffer because it will simplify the meal preparation process and save time in people’s schedules while still being healthier than microwave meals and fast food.

There is an opportunity area in the food industry for faster food prepared in one’s own kitchen. Microwaves are fast, but they cook unevenly and often create more mushy meals than when they were freshly prepared. Ovens reheat the foods and keep texture, but they take a long time. Microwave meals are not very healthy and are often very processed. People are always busy at work or school, and very few people enjoy the process of cooking so much that they would rather perform it than save time. The main reasons people cook food over eating out is to save money and retain more choice. The most important choices for many people are the health benefits offered from the options, which is more easily controlled in one’s own kitchen. Fast food is an easy out to get food quickly or on the go, and most fast food locations are working on becoming more health conscious and having more options. The problem then would simply be that it can cost a lot more to go to a fast food location for every meal, and requires time for transportation if it is not on the way. Studies show that the most common fast food customers are those households that make over $60,000 yearly. This means that they have the means to purchase an additional kitchen appliance, and they simply desire a faster and easier meal option. The highest amount of fast food consumers are located in the states with higher median household incomes, like the Northeastern United States. There is also a high number of fast food restaurants in Minnesota and the surrounding states. These areas and income demographics hold an opportunity for an in-home appliance that would cook their food automatically and quickly.

My product, called the Quick Cheffer, is an automatic cooking machine with an internal computer for processing a large amount of food options. It would retail for $500, and the core concept is that it will rehydrate dehydrated food through specialized processes. Currently, if somebody wanted to rehydrate some vegetables or jerky they would have to man a frying pan with water and the food inside. The Quick Cheffer would be able to rehydrate any chunks of dehydrated food through a steaming process that would not require anybody to be present as the current process does. It would also have an array of pre-packaged meals that could be prepared quickly for a set number of people. The computer would have pre-programmed cooking directions for such packaged foods distributed by me, but it could be requested at varying doneness for meats or temperatures for other food components. It would have a searing mechanism for sealing in the flavor of meats the way grills do as well. The idea is to systematically add water to the meals in very specific quantities and temperatures to prepare the pre-made meals. I would also eventually offer a dehydrator for people to prepare their own meals and snacks as well as cook books. My products would also eventually have the option to be installed in homes as they are being built the way most kitchens come with a refrigerator and an oven. This partnership with builders would be huge if my product develops a market the way that I know it can.

The business itself would be a small team of executives for marketing, sales, and operations management. There would but a small production facility initially, until it became feasible to grow production capabilities. There would be a total of only 20 or so employees underneath the executives total, with the majority being dedicated to actually manufacturing the product itself. The Quick Cheffer has no true competition because it is a completely new kitchen appliance. The only other way to rehydrate food is a frying pan, and the only way to prepare a quick meal is by microwave, which produces very different results to my proposed product. The ability to prepare good, quality, and healthy meals in one’s own home is important to many people, and my product allows them to do so with minimal effort and time required. The goal is to take some of the fast food industry’s customer base, the ones who are busy and place a high priority on their own time. These customers would need to be sold on the product’s legitimacy and effectiveness, so we would need to have a lot of taste-testings for people to see for themselves the product’s ability to help. I would need to reach out to large wholesale businesses to get this done. I would also need a colorful yet simplistic approach to marketing in order to convey the product’s complex systems without using too complex of a vocabulary. It will be hard to get the first people to buy the product, but it will spread by word of mouth on its own and without too much difficulty once it establishes customer support.

The Quick Cheffer will become the new kitchen essential for all families, and it will simplify daily life. The subsequent versions will offer more high tech and low tech options for a larger range of the income demographics, and it will be a truly revolutionary machine for the kitchen. Go ahead and chef up some meals, quickly.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

1. I was a little bit surprised at the assessment of innovation's core failures. I thought it was just difficult to always change perfectly in line with people, but he points out that there is some commonality in successful innovations.
2. I think that it is probably a lot more difficult than just recognizing new technology's benefits in new pursuits, but maybe that is the core of innovation.
3.  
1. I wonder if the author would consider alterations on the way to a goal the common form of innovation or setting a goal to innovate?
2. Is there a common thread in successful innovation strategies that companies should start with?
4. I didn't think anything was wrong.

The Amazon Whisperer

My venture would profit mainly from it's keystone product, the Quick Cheffer. I would also sell pre-packaged food for the appliance. Those would be the revenue streams as of now.

The next product would be a dehydrator for people to prepare their own meals to use with my appliance. I might also offer cook books and/or classes for my products. These will enhance my business's ability to serve the customer in many ways, offering more independence or more assistance, depending on which direction they choose to go.

Amazon has many dehydrators listed from common kitchen appliance companies. The above is an Aroma Professional 6 Tray Dehydrator. It is listed at $150 and it simply uses a fan and low heat to dry out the food inside. Most reviews (84%) are 5-star ratings because they love the shelving features and its relative efficiency. My idea was to nearly particulate the food in order to mix it with the spices. The dried particulate would be good for meals as opposed to snacks if i can effectively rehydrate it all in a way to create actual meal-level food. A dehydrator would be a great pairing with a rehydrator, if just makes sense.

Elevator Pitch Number 3

My Secret Sauce

My Sauce:

• I am extremely good at understanding people's thoughts and feelings
• I have a large amount of knowledge in many varied different areas
• I am very good at communicating complex ideas to any and all people
• I am almost always successful when I care about something and put my mind to it
• I have a lot of emotions, but I know how to control and direct them in order to be productive

Nick:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqbiq4r13hrgt9k/Recording%20Nick.m4a?dl=0
Intelligent, empathetic, and passionate, those are the things that I would personally like to emphasize about myself. I respect his opinion above most anyone else, and it means a lot to have his description mirror mine.

Amanda:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9y7n5tv60a2fpgb/Recording%20Amanda.m4a?dl=0
A lot about emotional abilities, which makes sense given our relationship. I think it was interesting to see that she didn't think that I completely understood myself, but I think she meant with regard to specific instances, not overall. I would agree that in a given situation I don't understand myself, but on the whole I think that I have a pretty good idea.

Sam:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/acvm5lz5m6hyh9k/Recording%20Sam.m4a?dl=0
Intelligent, good at helping other people understand as well, don't respond well to authority figures, pretty open. There are several overlaps, especially the ability to communicate, but her point about my interaction with authority is something that I hadn't thought about.

Russel:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3j4baqmltk8y6ke/Recording%20Russel.m4a?dl=0
Smart and kind are two ways of saying what I was trying to with empathy. Also, his comment about honor, even though I had to give him that specific word, was interesting and important to me. Overall, he described me pretty similarly to how I described myself, and the consistency I am getting makes me feel good.

Paul:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmqvmuvz98cnbnp/Recording%20Paul.m4a?dl=0
Even though we don't talk that deeply, he seemed to understand me very well, almost too well. I think the final point about my diversity of interests battling for precedence was very accurate, and it was not a way of explaining my distractions I had considered prior. Still, pretty similar to what I thought about myself.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1.  It was surprising to hear that most entrepreneurs "shun" marketing research due to its complexity.
2.  I was a little bit confused about the internet marketing principles listed because of how specific they were.
3.  Are there different ways to segment markets other than price and quality?                                    How do companies make New products known to people?
4.  I just find it hard to believe that most entrepreneurs don't believe in marketing research, but maybe he is correct.

Idea Napkin #2

I am a normal guy who loves normal things, like sports and music. I also love knowledge, and it is my number one goal in life to learn as much as possible about everything that I can. I am passionate about this pursuit and have focused that desire into engineering. I am intelligent, well-spoken, and dutiful to all those around me. I want to someday become a biomedical engineer who researches cellular processes and makes dramatic changes to the medical field that benefits the entire world. This business, if it became as viable as the idea itself is, would fund my research and help me towards the ultimate goal of creating an engineering conglomerate for advancing all areas of science.

I am offering a way to save time and effort, while still retaining the elements of choice and health. Food is a requirement to live, and it is something that I have found can be as much a hassle as it is an indulgence. If I never had to eat again, of course I would because I love food, but I would be much more particular. Simplifying and automating the cooking process would offer people more flexibility with what they eat while still allowing them to be as particular about what they put in their body as they could possibly like. I offer more time, more choice, and healthier opportunities for the average person needing to cook their own food.

I am targeting busy people who want to have more control over when and what they eat. People like college students living on a specific budget looking to plan out their meals far in advance or busy business professionals who eat their three meals a day in the office or working on projects are the main demographics. Those needing fast food without the mystery meat, those needing healthy foods without the commotion, and those who simply want to avoid the effort required to make a nice meal for themselves are who I am targeting, people who know the value of time.

They care about my product because it allows for meals to be prepared ahead of time, thus quickening the cooking process. It allows people to keep track of exactly what they are putting in their body, if they so choose, while still having it ready with minimal effort and time input. Maximum output with minimum input is why they care; everybody wants to find easier ways to get what they want. My idea is a product that cuts out the need for many food services, thus keeping ease constant and prices lower than food delivery services and meal plan providers. There would likely be a delivery option, though, if they so desire. They care, ultimately, because freedom to choose is what they want, and it is also what I offer.

My core competency is that I have the knowledge of food and health that would create delicious meals while still minimizing preparation time and effort for the consumer. Our product and service is to the individual through our belief in the value of time and choice.

My idea fits together well, except for the product itself. It would be a very particular piece of equipment that I have neither the means nor knowledge to create. The strength of my idea is the appeal to basic needs and desires that are always important and at the forefront of people's minds. I have said repeatedly how important people's time is to them and whatever it is that they invest it in, and I truly believe that. I also believe that everyone else agrees that their time is one of the most important things they can offer, so they are always looking for ways to optimize processes, especially the ones that are most basic and menial. They also love choices and feeling in control of themselves and what they do, so my product emphasizes the variety of food and appeals to all types of people. As soon as my product is functional, I am extremely confident in its outlook.

I have a new emphasis on time rather than ease of use, which makes the product a bit more complicated to actually manufacture, and I have been brainstorming ways to achieve this desire. I also recognize a growing amount of people who would enjoy the product's services, more diverse demographics. The average parent spends so much time preparing food for themselves and their children that this product would be valuable to them as well. The more budget conscious client is still important, but not the only one willing to simplify their cooking process. Also, there is a large percentage of people who are vary health conscious, and I am emphasizing the ability to choose healthy options.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1. It was very surprising to learn that most people focused on segmenting their advertising as opposed to their product, but after reading the article I'd have to say that I agree with it to a certain extent.

2. I was a little bit confused by the technical terminology, but it didn't take away from the article's message at all.

3. I would ask how many companies actually have issues with their definitions of market segmentation?

4. I think that innovation of products is imperative in certain markets, and in these markets there is not as much of a need to rediscover anything. I think there are only certain markets that this article applies to, and even only certain major companies well ingrained in their markets.

Elevator Pitch No.2

I decided to add the vending machine option and add a little bit more information about the product idea itself. I also tried to through in a bit of the nutritional benefits as well, though I wasn't sure how best to fit them in or how explicitly to describe them as well. I also focused on the time as opposed to the effort due to the feedback from my last round of interviews. I hope it sounds good, too!

Interviewing Customers No. 3

I asked the same basic questions but then asked a little bit more about the business side of it. People would be willing to pay more for an appliance that can cook their food for them, but most people were more concerned with time than effort. That slight difference was something that I think I failed to emphasize earlier. They were also very open to the vending machine version of the appliance, which I think would be interesting but very difficult to do in such a quick time limit. I will continue to think about other ways that food could be automatically cooked because texture was increasingly important in these interviews. I believe that this is a genuinely viable idea, and I think that there is a market for it.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/lvnqok4aibs5kjm/Interview%2011.m4a?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zalopw9eaugf8ql/Interview%2012.m4a?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr03zgwa44k7g3k/Interview%2013.m4a?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/apjjn1r29spiqtj/Interview%2014.m4a?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lshczim1uxfg0k6/Interview%2015.m4a?dl=0

Idea Napkin No. 1

As you know by now, my name is Jackson Cole, and my entrepreneurship idea is to automate the cooking process, specifically by the rehydration of dehydrated food. The specifics are still in the works but the goal is definite. I am an engineer, so I am very good at logically progressing through a problem and finding solutions, but I am also very good with people. I have learned how to get along with most everybody and how to communicate effectively through many different mediums. I've learned those communication skills through trial and error, mostly error though. I want to get a PhD. in Biomedical Engineering to study specifically cellular functions. If this idea actually turned into a profitable business, I would use it to fund my research and hopefully create an engineering conglomerate for research into helping people with the aid of all fields.

I am offering customers an easy and less time-consuming way of preparing the food that they want the way they want it. I want to offer nutritional options for people as well as giving them the gift of more time to do what they need to do in life and worry less about simply sustaining their own life. Hopefully I could make this a fairly economical option as well, because that would allow it to help many more people who may desire to spend less time cooking and more time playing with their family or doing more work.

I am reaching out to people who are busy, people with commitments to multiple groups in addition to themselves, people who need food and nutrition but do not have the time or energy to cook legitimate meals for themselves. Most quick-cook meals are not very nutritious, and microwaves don't cook food evenly. I am gunning for the people who have a desire to eat but also a desire to have more time to dedicate to their many responsibilities and pleasures.

This product would cook food for you. The food that you want, the food that your body needs, the food that is usually not available without a legitimate cooking process will be available to you with the push of a couple buttons. Professional chefs create meals with multiple courses and many side options; that is now accessible to you. My product allows any food you want to be at your fingertips, ready to be prepared and eaten.

My product would be a singular item that can be used on any approved food products. It will become a household item, like a stove or refrigerator. It will make the preparation of food happen fast and come out cooked evenly and with computerized accuracy every time. No more rushing-through-the-kitchen mishaps, this product will prepare the food precisely every single time with automated controls that only require a selection by the user to initiate cooking procedures.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

This time around, I decided to add the idea of nutritional value of the food into my interviews. It seems that overall, people are very concerned with what they put in their body. All people cared at least a little bit, though some much more than others. Flavor and choice seemed to continue to be the main reasons people cook, even though more people admitted that they enjoyed the actual cooking process. Even the subject who eats so little and enjoys cooking so much that this product would be useless for him, recognized that many people would probably appreciate the ability to automate the cooking process. More people seemed less concerned with the texture than before, though it is still something that they would consider. I am feeling more and more confident that, if I could actually find a way to create a product and system to perform this task, I would have at least solid foundation of people willing to try a product like this because of the benefits. Cost analysis, pricing, and efficiency of actually producing the food would be issues with actually starting the business, but I think that those are areas that become progressively easier with time and practice. I will continue to think of alternate venues and ways of cooking, but so far I think that the in-home rehydration process is viable at a minimum. What do y'all think?

Also, I would advise people to be systematic in deciding who to approach for an interview. People often give off body language clues to people about whether or not they are approachable and cooperative. People sitting down, with no headphones in and looking around are prime candidates because they are not rushing anywhere and are often waiting for something, so they have time to fill with a short interview. Headphones are the biggest identifier that I have noticed, steer clear of people with headphones. Be confident and calm, and success is inevitable.

Interview 6
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3q1dv4cm6owxyo6/Interview%206.m4a?dl=0

Interview 7
https://www.dropbox.com/s/teldicxvruo9rbu/Interview%207.m4a?dl=0

Interview 8
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ne1kzu3h233kwa6/Interview%208.m4a?dl=0

Interview 9
https://www.dropbox.com/s/meu3xp9h0ap878t/Interview%209.m4a?dl=0

Interview 10
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fi3tut600rqr1nb/Interview%2010.m4a?dl=0

Elevator Pitch (No. 1)

The idea is to find a way to effectively deliver fresh and convenient food to people who need it. I obviously need to  work on specifics for the idea (most of which are difficult without actually developing products and testing them) and its implementation. A computer interface would be fairly straightforward but not very new. The goal is to find a way to store and prepare food quickly and without damaging the properties of the item itself. I'm thinking that the system could be called "Quick Cheffing", thoughts?

Week 4 Reading Reflection

I really enjoyed this quote in the "Ethical Practices and Codes of Conduct" section:

Singly or in combination, unethical practices have a corrosive effect on free markets and free trade, which are fundamental to the survival of the free enterprise system. They subvert the laws of supply and demand, and they short-circuit competition on classical ideas of product quality, service, and price. Free markets become replaced by contrived markets. The need for constant improvement in products of services is thus removed.

I did not quite understand how effectively implemented this idea was though in today's economy. There seems to be a lot of monopolization and increasingly contrived markets nowadays, most notably in the sectors that are less obvious to public notice. This may not be true, but it feels like it, especially in the health sector.

-How can owners of large corporations more effectively influence all of their employers?
-Are there ways to have explicit rewards and punishments or something similar for unidentified situations?

I don't think that most approaches to ethical management can be categorized as simply put as they appear in the book. Styles are so deeply individualized that they have elements of many different categories listed in the book. Often, the best style is not the same from situation to situation, so it is important for managers to live in the grey and be able to move with the situation in order to react in the most beneficial way for all.

Customer Interviews No. 1

I was sitting around my dorm room trying to think about entrepreneurial idea possibilities, when my roommate decided he was hungry. He told me that he wished food could just appear in our fridge. I started pondering ways to make this possible. I decided that there could be a way to automate re-hydrating food that had been dehydrated and stored. There were some initial issues with this idea, but it seemed plausible. I then set out to find out people's opinions on the matter of foods and meal preparation. I figured that the majority of college students, often low on cash flow and free time, would be the ideal people to ask about this type of idea. I asked them how they feel about cooking, and most were only liked it for the ability to control exactly what they put into their food and body. I ultimately found out that most people considered it a good idea due to functionality, plausibility, and ease of use. They thought that hydrating food could be nice, but it would likely have an undesirable texture when re-hydrated. They all seemed willing and open to trying re-hydrated food, but many seemed doubtful that the resulting texture would be enjoyable. Most of the considered texture to be very important. I believed going into this interviewing process that this would be the feelings of most people, and I was correct. In order to actually perform this specific task of re-hydrating food on command it would definitely be more desirable to maintain some semblance of the original texture of the food. I will continue to consider ways of providing quick and effective food for people. People will always need food, and it will always be easier to press a button than to cook an entire meal. If I can find a way to tap into that, then there is a legitimate business here. Until then, it is but a dream of all poor and busy college students. It did feel good to hear random people echoing my own thoughts about my idea, though; it is very motivating.


Interview 1:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/32o9kad6zcaag4f/Interview%201.m4a?dl=0

Interview 2:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lltncz0rznh92o7/Interview%202.m4a?dl=0

Interview 3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ml3ofsnrh4v0rwq/Interview%203.m4a?dl=0

Interview 4:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j63qysptp3z1ibu/Interview%204.m4a?dl=0

Interview 5:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e9szegbwymo9g6a/Interview%205.m4a?dl=0

Top 5 World Problems

1. Overpopulation

The human population is increasing exponentially past the natural carrying capacity of the Earth, and there is no end in sight. This is made possible through amazing technological advances and other incredible industrial achievements. This is also creating horrible environmental consequences for all other living creatures on Earth as well as making living conditions increasingly cramped, most notably for the underdeveloped and underprivileged areas. This problem is a partial cause of many others this world faces, and that is why it is first on this list. 

2. Environmental Distress
The increasing human population requires more space, so we take more space and resources from other areas of the world. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, around 50,000 square miles of forest are lost every year due to repurposing for farms, ranches, and cities. Climate change also alters viability of forests because the changing climate means that biomes perform better in different areas than they have been located. Climate change is not disputable, and industrialization is a large factor. Our impact on the environment needs to be minimized so that our planet and all species can last as long as possible.

3. Renewable Energy
Nonrenewable resources are just that, nonrenewable. They cannot last forever, and, at the rate we are consuming them, we will deplete our oil supply in 14 years according to The Ecologist. Our modern world requires large amounts of energy, so we need to have an equally large research sector dedicated to finding better options for supplying those needs. There are also enormous tensions over the remaining resources and their control, so finding newer and more effective resources would decrease tensions across the world.

4. Economic Differences
The differences between post-industrial and pre-industrial countries is enormous. If there were a more uniform spread of information, agriculture, and industry within countries and across the world, then there would be less economic turmoil in the lower grossing areas. The struggles of people across the world to pay for the basic necessities of life cause problems with crime, health, and population. It is proven that post-industrial countries have much lower population growth than those still industrializing. Helping to create more uniformity would alleviate many other issues that arise when people are dissatisfied with their lives.

5. Pollution

Pollution is a compounding problem and every little bit adds up very quickly with over 7 billion people on Earth. Most everybody has heard of the Great Pacific garbage patch, but what have we heard about attempts to fix it? Issues like this one are detrimental to the environments where they are found. It is important to clean the Earth of these artificially produced products because the planet is not built to regulate such materials. This is an important issue that affects the environmental distress described earlier.

1. Renewable Energy
Energy is the most important resource in today's society, so simply applying the top minds to research newer and more efficient sources is not a very difficult task. The difficulty is that fossil fuels are so ingrained in the power structure that it is hard to change providers. If the government subsidized solar power funding for average citizens, we could create enormous changes relatively quickly. Also, nuclear energy is highly efficient and has no emissions other than the radioactive waste, which is buried safely beneath the ground.

2. Disease
Disease treatment is readily available to all developed countries and their inhabitants for many known ailments. There are diseases that have been completely eliminated from most modern areas (cold virus, malaria, small pox, and more) that are still extremely threatening to other areas. If we simply increased vaccinations and treatments for third-world countries we could make extensive progress towards successfully making an extreme change in the number of curable diseases killing people all over the world.

3. Pollution
The easiest problem to fix is the pollution we create as a species, in theory. In practice, however, it is extremely difficult to have people all on the same page taking steps toward this goal. A very simple step that we can all easily take is stopping pollution. If we took better care to stop littering and found more efficient ways to dispose of all of our garbage, a huge positive impact would result. There are also emissions problems to solve and other air pollution. This form of pollution is mostly a result of combustion of fossil fuels and could be fixed with newer energies.

4. Deforestation
This problem is easy to fix, just stop cutting down forests. The conflict is that we need more space as a species. So, we need to find better ways of generating more space. We could expand downward, which could also lead to geothermal energy, or expand upward. There are projects making strides toward generating farmland on top of urban buildings and further integrating agriculture with technological advancements. A simple idea that we can integrate with a little ingenuity.

5. Hunger
It is estimated that between 30-40% of the USA's total food production is wasted completely. Worldwide waste in industrialized countries is almost equal to the total food production in sub-Saharan Africa. These statistics, and many others, prove that there is a lot of opportunity for improvement. There are many ways to both minimize waste and feed millions of people, and we need to come together and find ways to achieve this goal. Fairly straightforward solution that requires a lot of logistical planning.

World's Biggest Problems

The biggest problems facing today's Earth are important for us all to understand. In my opinion, the ten most important, in no particular order, are:

• Hunger
• Over 10% of today's human population is undernourished. There is a big difference between hunger and malnourishment, but it is important to understand that both are horrible. Long term hunger causes a lot of problems for children especially, and there are steps that can be taken by us all. Something that France has done very successfully is cut back on food waste, and they have laws stating how companies are to discard their unused food so as to help the affected people. 
• War
• The last time there has been true peace on Earth was during the Roman Empire, after they had spent decades fighting for control of more territory. It is nearly impossible to have a world without conflict, but war is avoidable. People are too quick to blame and hate those who are different, which is a biological distrust created to survive the wilderness. The problem with that, we are no longer living exclusively in jungles always on the lookout for predators. We need to be more open-minded and accepting to avoid war, a VERY long term goal.
• Overpopulation
• The human population is growing far past the original carrying capacity of the earth for our species. That is a brilliant feat of scientific advancement to extend our livable environments, but it is also dangerous because we are forcing ourselves into more places and, eventually, we will run out. The statistics trend towards a slight decline in population in developed areas, while undeveloped areas are growing exponentially. This means that we need to help get more of the world out of the pre-industrial zones to slow our growth.
• Deforestation
• It is estimated that in about 100 years, there will be no more rainforests. Ironically, the leading cause of deforestation is the expanse of agriculture. More humans need more food, and that means more farmers need more land. Deforestation has detrimental effects on all of the world, and it even is a major cause of the increase in greenhouse gasses. We need to find more efficient ways of using the space we already have, like building-integrated architecture. 
• Global Warming
• The rate of increase is i itself increasing, and, regardless of the cause, we need to do something to at least slow it down. The Earth has natural cycles, ice ages to warm periods, but we should be cooling by now. The Earth could be fixed into cooling down, or allowed to continue its warming. If it continues trending upwards, we are likely facing a mass-extinction level event. We need to decrease fossil fuels, deforestation, pollution, and chemical use of our society and find more environmental alternatives.
• Pollution
• Air pollution affects all living animals, water pollution affects all water-drinking animals, and litter on grounds is cleaned up with the help of $11.5 billion from the US government. I'm sure you have heard about "trash island" in the Pacific Ocean, the mass of trash that is twice the size of Texas! The easiest solution is to lessen our littering and consider the ways we produce energy. Pollution is deadly, and even though a couple paper bags will just decay eventually, it still takes a long time and there are many more than two paper bags affecting us. We need to be considerate of the effects of our actions, like few people realize that one of the leading greenhouse gas producing industries is livestock. 
• Energy
•  The world is too reliant on fossil fuels and other nonrenewable resources. We need to put more money and time into research to change this. We get more energy from wood than the sun? That doesn't make sense when considering the sun has enough energy to heat our entire solar system. We, as a species, need to think about other ways of producing, storing, transporting, and using energy. We need to learn more about energy and how we can help decrease our dependence on others to light our own house economically.

• Disease
• The cold virus used to be deadly. Something so commonplace and considered more of a nuisance than a danger used to be terrifying. Malaria is a curable disease, that's why it has been eradicated from the US. We need to be more dedicated to medical research in this field and finding ways to distribute it to more people. It is not easy, but it can be done, as proven by the cold virus, malaria, tuberculosis, and many more.
• Information Economy
• The trade of information and ideas is one of the most important things we produce now in America. We are now in the information age of post-industrial development, and we need to share that with the rest of the world. If we were all on a similar level of development then there would be more similarities between us all. More advanced civilizations are better able to handle worldwide issues. 
• Ideological Differences
• The causes for so much discord is the differences we all have. It causes war, hatred, and division. People need to find a way to come together despite all of their differences if we are ever to overcome the above problems. This problem is on of the causes of all other problems' longevity. Once we come together, we are all but unstoppable.

Bugs List

Some things just really bug me, like:

• It bugs me how clothes are sized so differently

• There isn't really a universal way to check what size a "Medium" shirt is from company to company, cut to cut, and it is understandable how hard it would be to create one. I would just appreciate it if it was more universal.

• It bugs me how my watch changes time randomly

• I probably bump the switch on the side, or the watch is broken. It is probably just my clumsiness, though.

• It bugs me when the wifi sucks

• I need the internet for everything, but so does everybody else. There is only so much bandwidth to go around, so it makes sense. I still really hate when a homework assignment won't submit because of wifi.

• It bugs me how reliant I am on phone

• My phone service was cancelled a couple days ago because of a carrier switch, and the wait between phones is agonizing. The reason is I am so used to being constantly connected to whomever I wish, so I should probably try to use it less.

• It bugs me how I can't function the same without technology

• I got lost for almost two hours getting home one night because I didn't have a map on my dead phone. I should have used an actual map, but I didn't expect to have a dead phone. Also, I can't do anything for school if my laptop dies, and that's because it is easier for the university.

• It bugs me how the temperatures are so different inside and outside

• I understand that nobody wants to sit in a 90° or 40° room all day, but, when dressed for the weather, it is often uncomfortable inside.

• It bugs me when I have wet shoes

• Soggy shoes last way too long, and its because they weren't made for full submersion in puddles. I just wish they would dry out sooner.

• It bugs me when I have stinky hats

• Hats are hard to clean, so the stink builds up. I just wish I could clean them without misshaping them.

• It bugs me when I have hat hair

• Hair gets moved around with the hat shoved on top of it, but I wish my hair would stay well done even when I take the hat off 

• It bugs me when I have bed head

• I dislike having to do my hair every morning, I wish it would just stay done from the day before. It makes sense though because I do tend to roll around a lot, which obviously would dishevel some hair.

• It bugs me when I have armpit stains

• Deodorant reacts with sweat to cause yellow stains on clothes, and I don't know why nobody has tried to fix that.

• It bugs me how the important things are also distracting

• Things that are important are also often interesting, so it is easy to get too invested in details to actually complete it. Researching too much and writing too little is an example of this that happens to me often.

• It bugs me how reliant I am on others

• The human species thrives on interpersonal relationships and interactions, so it is normal to desire to be with people over being alone.

• It bugs me when I forget things

• The brain tends to get preoccupied with what it is doing at the moment and pushes other things to the back of the mind. Life would be easier if I didn't care, though.

• It bugs me when people are ignorant

• Sometimes people just don't know things, but they still try to have arguments and participate in conversations. I read that Google and the internet makes people more confident in their own knowledge even though though they don't know any more.

• It bugs me when people are inconsiderate

• Often it is hard to understand that other people have a different point of view and are more sensitive to different things. It is even harder to know what those differences are.

• It bugs me how the bus schedule isn't set

• It is because the stops vary in length of time, and sometimes stops are skipped if there is nobody using them. All of that makes the routes start and end in different intervals every time.

• It bugs me when I don't know things

• Our brains only have a certain amount of storage, and also it is just very hard for some people to understand certain types of concepts.

• It bugs me how rare true silence is

• Everything today makes noise, and blocking it all out at once is nearly impossible. I've heard that silence is the key to a lot of introspective success, but it is hard to find out.

• It bugs me when I am not being good at things

• It is very hard to accept that everybody can't be good at everything, but I just wasn't supposed to be a football player, no matter how much I know and love the game.

Introduction

Hey, so, I probably should have introduced myself a little bit first, but oh well. I'll do it now...

My name is Jackson Cole and I would consider myself from Clearwater, FL. My parents have been divorced since I was very young, and I have 2 half brothers on my dad's side and a half sister on my mom's. I moved around a lot, school to school, parent to parent. Growing up like that made me a very strong-minded and strong-willed individual. I learned how to interact with other people and myself, which was honestly invaluable.

I love art, specifically that which involves sound. Music is always playing in the background of my room or in my headphones. I literally have my headphones in 90% of the time I am out. I mostly like rap and alternative music, but I appreciate it all. I like to say that I like everything from Bach to Tupac. I am trying to get into making music now too. I played bassoon for a year in middle school, but I don't think that truly counts. I am in the process of beginning to teach myself guitar and music production. Yes, I said process of beginning, my fancy way of saying I tend to procrastinate.

I am a first year engineering student. My current major is computer engineering, but I am highly unsure of that. My goal is to go to grad school for Biomedical Engineering, but I have yet to decide the path I will take to get there. I think that I want to work with cellular controls, but I have no idea. The brain and DNA are too cool to choose. Hopefully I can fulfill my dream of starting an engineering conglomerate company with my friends, and then I could facilitate all kinds of new things! I even have some specific ideas for the Biomedical division, but those require a top secret level clearance. If you have the clearance, feel free to ask more, and if not, then just know that they are awesome. That's all a very long ways off though, so, for now, I'm more than content taking my science classes and learning about entrepreneurship.

My Entrepreneurship Story

Entrepreneurship is an important quality to have in life as a whole, not solely with regard to business. The University of Florida has an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center that defines entrepreneurship as being the process of creating value by bringing together a unique combination of resources to exploit an opportunity. This definition is extremely broad, and I believe it to be intentionally so. I went to 3 high schools in 3 states,

and in order to succeed in such a varying environment, I had to be entrepreneurial. I had to take use any of my skills and focus them into creating a good new situation. I had to make new friends, play for new coaches, and learn from many more teaching styles. Success in any environment requires compromise, which is to say that we must tailor our skills and emphasize different aspects of ourselves to assimilate. Now, of course I am not saying that we need to be fake to fit in, I am trying to make a much broader point about entrepreneurship. We can take that attitude and focus it towards any goal in any area of our lives, and we will be on our way to achieving that goal, if not more. That also brings me to why I am in this class. I want to learn more about the mindset that Dr. Pryor talks about. I never would have considered moving across the country and trying to make friends being an entrepreneurial task, but it is. I want to be an engineer because I like science and building things, but also because I want to help people. I want to have an invention that actually alters the way people live, and I want to have my own company dedicated to achieving those ends. In order to do those things, I need to know a lot more than Newton's Laws or Differential Equations, and I am excited to learn about entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneur's Mantra

Test Post

This is simply a test of my ability to not mess everything up. I think it is going well. So far, there have been no issues. Go me!