I chose to interview my friend Amanda. She has just recently opened up her own handmade bikini business called Blue House Bikinis. You will see in her interview above that she is targeting women between the ages of 16-30 who are comfortable wearing a bikini that has a cheekier or more Brazilian cut. From the customers that I interviewed it sounded like they would be very interested in one of her bikinis. It sounds like Amanda has a pretty good handle on who would buy her bikinis. If I were to interview older women, they would probably not be as interested in a revealing bikini, but Amanda does not expect to sell to them anyways. If you are interested, check her out on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at @bluehousebikinis!
1)Tenacity
is definitely something I have gained in this class. I have schedule and I do
my absolute best to stick to that schedule. I have learned that even if it
sucks, I will get through it; it’s never as bad as you think it is. Just go at
every assignment with full force and it will get done, and it will get done
well.
2)There
were many times during the first part of the semester that I wanted to give up.
Especially during the customer interviews. There were so many videos, and we
had to approach a lot of strange people, I was scared. I got through it though,
I made the most of my situations, and the interviews became fun! I definitely feel
like I’ve gained tenacity. I’ve never given up, even when I thought I would. It’s
a mindset, just keep telling yourself that you can do it.
3)3
tips I would give to future students are:
a.Make
a schedule and stick to it. Don’t make excuses for yourself.
b.Watch
the deadlines, write them down so you are never caught off guard.
c.Embrace
every assignment. There are many times when I thought an assignment was weird
or unnecessary, but after I finished it, I realized that I gained some invaluable
experience.
1)The
biggest surprise for me in this reading was the sheer amount of options there
are for obtaining money for a startup business. It goes a lot further than the
simple bank loans and debt financing.
2)The
main part of the reading that was confusing to me was the part about the
angels. I don’t really understand how one would find an angel or would become
one. It sounds like they are just really nice people.
3)Two
questions I would ask are:
a.What
is the best way to get money for a startup?
b.Why
would someone choose to become a venture capitalist?
4)I
disagree with the statement: “many new ventures find that debt financing is not
a choice but a necessity”. I believe that it would be a very good idea for some
people to save up money to start a new business if they can. If they can save
money they don’t have to worry about paying it back, they could just focus on
their business. I understand for some people it may be necessary but I don’t think
it should be generalized to “many”.
1)The
biggest surprise for me in reading was the fact that the author was arguing
against market segmentation. I always assumed that researching a market base is
a good idea and the author hints that it might not be in some situations.
2)The
reading as a whole was pretty confusing for me. The reading was very elevated
so it was hard to understand fully.
3)Two
question’s I would ask:
a.In
what situations would you use market segmentation?
b.Why
is market segmentation helpful?
4)I
agree with the author on everything. I feel like it was an opinion backed by
research so there is nothing to really be wrong about.
1)I
happened to be at Lake Wauberg with my roommate so I chose to approach people
who happened to be at the lake at the same time. It was a busy day so it was
not hard to find people.
2)I
approached mostly students who were on their phones or computers so they were
distracted. You will not see much in the videos because I spoke to people who
were mostly sunbathing so I figured they would not appreciate being recorded with
so few clothes on. The two recordings I put up were the two that were most
clear.
3)I
was horrible at getting conversation started. I took the more “Here’s a dollar
to improve your day” approach and would walk away immediately. I did this because I was nervous and very
awkward. I have a tendency to laugh when I’m nervous, so these people probably
think I am clinically insane instead of nice.
4)I
had no plan for the conversation, my nervousness just took over. I was really
not relaxed at all. The interviews were easier to me because I could ask the
people before if they wanted to be recorded and if they would participate in
the interview. I didn’t like this assignment because I felt like I had to
essentially hide my phone and there was no good explanation as to why I was
giving them this dollar.
5)I
was actually able to give away 3 dollar bills. These were the people I walked away
from very quickly so they didn’t get a chance to give me the dollar back. The
other two looked at me very weirdly and said something along the lines of “no
thank you”.
Overall Reflection:
This assignment was incredibly weird for me. I was very
uncomfortable giving people money and secretly recording them. They also really did not like being disturbed. I
did the recordings secretly because I figured that was the only way I would be
able to get a natural reaction. I did not like the experience at all. My plan
did not deviate because I did not have one going into this assignment. My roommate
and I just happened to be at Lake Wauberg and I figured it was as good of a
place as any. I could not think of any real reason to give people the money,
and when I did (“in case you need money to buy sunscreen”) it sounded very rude
to me when I heard it back. The girl was also not very happy with me; she gave
me a very weird look. I completely underestimated this assignment; it was hard,
uncomfortable, and I don’t think I gained anything from it except some embarrassment.
1) The Pitch: See Below!
2) So my peers suggested that I show more passion in my pitch and that I work on my hook. Personally, I wanted to work more on describing my product using numbers and examples that people could understand. I think all of the comments were super helpful. People pointed out stuff that I hadn't thought of on my own and I really appreciate that.
3) As far as implementing these suggestions, I did okay. I tried an example, and I tried to show my passion, but my hook is still pretty weak, so any help on that would be appreciated . I plan to work on the hook more. I also want to try to add some statistics to help pitch my idea. Overall, I tried to be more relaxed and I feel like I achieved that this round.
1) Interview Strategy: I am going to ask questions to get to the root of my product. I am going to see if people would want a snack part way through a workout and if so, why? My product is called a "snack pack". It is a small waterproof pouch that would attach to a water bottle that would hold a small snack for when one gets hungry during a workout. I chose to interview athletes with a focus on swimmers. I interviewed people outside my apartment gym and at the O'Connell center.
2) 5 Interviews: See below!
3) Reflection: Once again I realized how hard interviewing is. I am still not very good at asking the right questions to get the information I need. I also learned that there is not a huge demand for a snack during a workout. A little than less than half of the people I interviewed over the 3 rounds said that a snack would not help them during a workout. This product may not be something I should pursue.
