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Final Reflection

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The Good 🙂, The Bad 😕, & The Ugly 👹 The Good 🙂 For me, some of the good moments were when I made videos. Whether it was the Secret Sauce video, or any of the Elevator Pitches, it was always fun, which is also why I put everything I had into it. If you have watched them, you'll realize that, excluding the first one, I put some thought into how I edited the videos. I'm not saying the editing is good, but it's there: background music that fades in and out, custom thumbnail, custom end cards, even a little effect when I made the joke about Wells Fargo in the second pitch. Or in the secret sauce video, all the cuts from one person to the other, making it seem like real interviews, the special screens for the voice recordings (which by the way costed a fortune). That's what I do. I enjoy it, whether it is a lot of work or not. The Bad 😕 I don't think I've had many bad experiences, but if I must choose, I would say it was anytime we were assigned

Venture Concept 2.0

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Opportunity The opportunity I identified is the need for a more globalized form of mobile banking, a need that bank account owners have. Our primary target costumers would be up to the age of 35, and as low as 18. Initially, we would operate inside the U.S, but we would try to go global later on. Currently, customers don't have a specific alternative to satisfy this need, they simply use their current bank's stock mobile app. This opportunity will not last too long. With Apple releasing Apple Card sometime in August, which is supposed to rival banks in the credit card market, the entire banking market will be more likely to fluctuate, with Google or Samsung, two of Apple's biggest competitors, potentially attempting to make their own version of the service. Depending on how effective Apple Card is, the window can be open for a relatively short time. Innovation The idea I have is making an app that serves as a portal to all bank accounts, regardless of the bank

Exit Strategy

About The Strat I don't think I would necessarily stay in this business for too long. But I wouldn't sell it either (I don't even know if I COULD sell this business). What I think I would do is stay until the market has caught on, and while it does, look for someone already working with us that has the drive and potential to lead the company forward. I would make sure that whoever takes over me has ideals that either fit the company, or maybe don't fit it, but could be an improvement. Why This Strat The thing is, since I'm not into finances, or banking, I think staying here will limit me in a way. I'm a developer, and I don't want to be stuck developing banking or financing apps. I can start like that, but I also want to move on to bigger and better things. Besides, despite the fact that I hated moving before, I think it's made me someone who doesn't really try to settle in anywhere, and is instead always looking for opportunities to grow

Reading Reflection 3.0

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Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson Thoughts On Steve Jobs Given how much I love technology, and how big of an Apple fan I am, it only seemed fitting that I read about Steve Jobs himself. And just like with Ray Kroc in the first reading, I had watched the Steve Jobs movie before reading the book. What surprised me the most was actually learning where Apple got their obsession for absolute control, closed systems, and little compatibility (granted, today it's compatible with almost anything, almost). It comes from one of its founders. Jobs was obsessed with end-to-end control, something he and Wozniak disagreed on. From the very first Macintosh, he made sure users couldn't tinker with the inside. What I have to say I admire the most is his ability to envision a product and make it happen. There's more to this: he and Jony Ive pushed for Apple to file patents for "a rectangular electronic tablet with rounded edges" in March of 2004. This description might

Celebrating Failure

My Failure One (or rather many times) that I've failed this semester has to be in my Programming class. We get lab assignments almost every week, and when we don't, we usually get a big project. And from the very first lab assignment, I noticed the challenge that this class was going to be. The Professor, Joshua Fox The Great, has a rather interesting philosophy: he doesn't teach everything we'll ever need for our assignments or projects, just a good amount. If there are any specifics that we need (or as it is in most cases we don't need but still want to use) that's up to us to learn, research, and implement. And no, that's not a complaint. He is arguably the best instructor in U.F, let alone the CISE department. (Sorry Dr. Pryor) In every assignment, there was always that time when I thought this was harder than I had ever expected, after (surprisingly) cruising through Programming 1 without a problem. Yet, after an increasing amount of time with ever

Venture Concept 1.0

Opportunity The opportunity I identified is the need for a globalized form of mobile banking, a need that anyone with at least one bank account has. Being more specific, our primary market would be anyone up to the age of 35 years, and as low as 18. Initially, we would focus on the United States. Currently customers don’t really have an alternative to satisfy this need, so they are just using the current mobile banking apps from their specific bank. This opportunity will not exist forever. With Apple releasing their Apple Card service soon, which is supposed to rival banks, the market is more than likely going to fluctuate, with either Google or Samsung, two of Apple’s biggest competitors attempt to make their own version of this service. So this window is open for a relatively short time, depending on how effective Apple Card really is, and how much it actually hurts their competitors, if it does at all. Innovation The idea I had is making an app that serves as a portal t

Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources Knowledge of Programming My core classes for my major are Programming. Granted I'm no Steve Wozniak or Bill Gates, but learning programming is like learning another language: your first programming language is always hard, but once you know one, learning another programming language (or learning more features) becomes easier. Valuable For this business idea, since it involves making an app, knowledge of programming is fundamental. Rare Not really. While not everyone can (nor SHOULD) code, it's a relatively easy skill to learn, lots of people know how to develop an app. Inimitable Given that this is a skill you have to develop, then yes, it is VERY imitable. Keep in mind though, just because anyone can LEARN how to code doesn't mean everyone should DO it, especially at a professional level. Non-substitutable While the language used to code the app and infrastructure CAN be changed, it IS programming. There are no other ways to make an app, databa

Elevator Pitch 3.0

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You can also watch it on ☞ YouTube ☜ Pitch Transcript: Mobile banking apps have been the way we know them since 2010, after the fast expansion of Apple’s famous iPhone and Google’s versatile Android software. And it currently sits at a very comfortable 50% usage. Online banking however, websites, sit at 70% usage. Outside of the U.S, these numbers are lower for mobile banking, below 40% for Latin America, and below 30% in Europe. But in 2019 everybody has smartphones, and tablets. So why is this difference so great? Well, as it turns out, most mobile banking apps are inferior to the websites. Since most apps are designed for smaller devices, with sometimes less processing power, features are often missing from the apps. So how do we solve this? It turns out we already have. Software nowadays can be optimized to run just as fast on 4 year old devices as on flagship devices. And we as students are familiar with Canvas, which allows us to access online courses, a

Reading Reflection 2.0

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Makers: The New Industrial Revolution by Chris Anderson Theme The book is based around how entrepreneurship is changing. In the past, inventors could design prototypes, but only big companies were able to produce anything, requiring the inventor to give up some control and money. But nowadays, there are small-scale factories that will produce anything at a reduced number, and for a smaller cost. Also, the process of inventing something is changing from dealing with physical objects to dealing with bytes, memory management, and pixels. And because of the internet, people in similar fields can now get in touch and collaborate easily, and more often than in the past. Connection to ENT3003 It kind of gave me a reason to keep doing what I'm doing. What I mean is, ever since I was a kid, I've been switching back and forth between what I wanted to become. First it was firefighter, then it was doctor, then industrial engineer, never really having a personal reas

Idea Napkin 2.0

Who I am My name is Carlos Valencia. I am a Comp. Science major in the I.A. Some of my talents include analyzing information (sometimes too much), learning fast, flexibility in working environments, and different languages. I want to become a software developer, be it an independent one or in a tech company. I would hope that, if this business was to be launched, it was a catalyst for my career as a developer, and I would also hope that one of the big techies saw it, and tried to make their own version of it, because that means it’s working. What I offer I offer a better way to manage mobile banking, investments, and finances in the form of an app that acts as a global portal, like Canvas is for schools. From the app, you can access all your accounts, even if they are in different banks. This can standardize mobile banking, giving all banks access to the same features within the app, and making all bank pages easy to use. By doing this, security can be increased. If the por