30A – Final Reflection

1) The most formative experience is when we first had to come up with an idea and opportunity. Getting feedback on something you created is humbling. My most joyous experience was creating a whole brand for my idea. I am most proud of my venture concept as it has all the information that I worked on throughout the semester.

2) I do see myself more as an entrepreneur more than I did at the beginning of this semester but I think I still need to learn more before calling myself an entrepreneur.

3) My recommendation for students taking this course is to take it as seriously as possible. There are some students that did not take it as seriously as I did and that affected how they saw each assignment. You need to take them seriously to learn from each assignment.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

1)

Multilingualism is a key component in childhood development, social skills, and in finding future jobs. The learning of a second language is lacking in US education. Only 58 percent of middle schools and 25 percent of elementary schools offer a foreign language. There is a rise of businesses and jobs in the United States that require applicants to speak more than one language, and sometimes more than just two. The demand for bilingual workers has doubled in the past five years. Bilingual children outperform children who only speak one language in problem-solving skills, critical thinking, multitasking, and they have a stronger ability to focus.

I interviewed five different people who were a student who grew up in another country, a student who only speaks English, a director of a preschool, a parent who raises a bilingual child, and the director of Baby Gator. These five interviews taught me that being bilingual while finding a job anywhere in the world is very important. It can help with critical thinking, decision making, and increases reading comprehension. Having multilingualism lack in US education is not giving us the best shot at becoming successful. One of the students pointed out that they applied for a job and did not receive it due to the fact that he did not speak a second language. The directors of the preschools said that people take in the most information from the ages 2-6 so it is important to start teaching them a second language young. This is why I see the opportunity as important and general for many people.

I want to develop a learning language tool that aids children and students in developing multiple languages while having them interact and play with the product. It is essential to start teaching a majority of the kids in the US more languages early on in life. Shaped like a hexagon with a wider base, the beginning level will show images on the top, and there will be corresponding buttons on the sides. There will be different levels of the game where it gets harder as you learn more. For example, it might show a picture of an animal as well as say the name of that animal in your native language. You would then need to press the button that correlates to that screen. As it focuses on child learning first, it will then start upgrading to full sentences and grammar. It would connect to an app that tracks your learning process as well as change the language you want to use and learn. It will switch on and off from the native language and the language you are trying to learn. The levels will also be able to increase to phrases, full sentences, and even grammar. By having this product be audio, visual, and physical, it better engages the user then more common methods like an app or flashcards. Only 20 percent of kids in the US are bilingual. Let’s be the change to change this statistic.

Many language learning tools are app-based and are not fun to do. This product makes it a game for kids while teaching them different languages. Customers would switch to this product so they could play games and learn a language at the same time. The competitors are companies like Rosetta Stone or other apps that teach language. I can advertise this as something that isn't just audio and visual but something that is physical. By it being physical it enforces memory retention better than apps or online products. I believe my top resource is the uniqueness of my product. My product differs from every other product in my market and therefore has no similar competition. This is very important to the success of my venture as it sets my product apart because it has a physical and online presence. I want to create different games that virtually do the same thing but with a different process. I also want to find games that can cater to an older audience. I want this product to be sold in places like Target and Walmart but also online on websites like Amazon.

2)

The feedback I received was very positive and supportive of my product. Everyone said that my product was a great idea and that language is a very important part of everyday life. I did receive one criticism of how I intend to advertise my product differently then other language products.

3)

I did not change anything I just added some information. I added information on how I would advertise my product to show how my product is better than other products that are similar to mine.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) I intend to stay with my business for several decades and then either sell my business or if my children would like to have it then I will pass it down.

2) I selected this because my first thought it pass it down to family because family is everything to me but I also want to give my children a choice in what they want. So if they don't want to be in this industry then I will sell it to someone who does.

3) My exit strategy has not influenced the other decisions in my concept. My exit strategy is based on future events so it could have no effect on my current plan for my business.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1) This past semester I have been getting ready to study abroad in the coming fall. I failed to submit a few scholarship applications on the deadline which can now affect my finances and how much I need to save to go to Spain. I failed at this a few times as I was busy with school and did not have the time to fill out these applications.

2) I learned that I have to prioritize my school work and try and manage my time better. 

3) Failure is important in the steps to learning. If you don't ever fail then you lose the opportunity to succeed and learn from your mistakes. Failures help you grow. I have always had this perspective that failure is important in succeeding in life. This class has just confirmed my perspective and elaborated on it.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Cognitive Surplus, Clay Shirky

1) The general theme of this book is talking about the idea of what we would be doing during the time we all watch TV. The "cognitive surplus" is the free time of people that are giving up TV for more online platforms.

2) This connects with our class because TV and online platforms are taking over the time of everyone around the world. Also, the internet and social media are always changing and we as entrepreneurs have to be ready for these changes with online platforms. 

3) It would be to create a social media advertisement that can be used universally on all platforms and maybe even TV.

4)The biggest surprise was that he made it out to seem that everyone and everything on the internet was positive and had a great purpose. In my opinion, the internet is a place of good and evil depending on the subject.

25A – What’s Next?

I want to create different games that virtually do the same thing but with a different process. I also want to find games that can cater to an older audience. When establishing this new product, I think it will attract more people and give other options for how they want to learn.  So, I want this product to be sold in places like Target and Walmart but also online on websites like Amazon. This will help reach a wider amount of people as people can see it in person but buy it online if necessary.

My radically different market is adults that want to learn a language. This is different because my product is designed for children because of the easy game and colors. If I were to make one that suited an older audience, it would be a simple game or one that interested them. I can speak to this as I am an adult and want to see different ways to learn a language. A way I can do this is through card games or games that challenge the mind in a more difficult way than with the children.

This new market does not seem as attractive because people learn languages easiest as children because their brains soak up the most information at s younger age. So, the younger they are when learning a new language, the faster and easier it is. The ideal market is children and parents so more people can learn at a faster rate.

I learned that this new market can be tricky to get because there aren’t as many adults wanting to learn a new language as there are parents and children trying to learn new languages. My expectations and assumptions were correct because children’s minds are at a rate where learning a new language is easier for them than adults.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Multilingualism is a key component in childhood development, social skills, and in finding future jobs. The learning of a second language is lacking in US education. Only 58 percent of middle schools and 25 percent of elementary schools offer a foreign language. There is a rise of businesses and jobs in the United States that require applicants to speak more than one language, and sometimes more than just two. The demand for bilingual workers has doubled in the past five years. Bilingual children outperform children who only speak one language in problem-solving skills, critical thinking, multitasking, and they have a stronger ability to focus.

I interviewed five different people who were a student who grew up in another country, a student who only speaks English, a director of a preschool, a parent who raises a bilingual child, and the director of Baby Gator. These five interviews taught me that being bilingual while finding a job anywhere in the world is very important. It can help with critical thinking, decision making, and increases reading comprehension. Having multilingualism lack in US education is not giving us the best shot at becoming successful. One of the students pointed out that they applied for a job and did not receive it due to the fact that he did not speak a second language. The directors of the preschools said that people take in the most information from the ages 2-6 so it is important to start teaching them a second language young. This is why I see the opportunity as important and general for many people.

I want to develop a learning language tool that aids children and students in developing multiple languages while having them interact and play with the product. It is very important to start teaching a majority of the kids in the US more languages early on in life. Shaped like a hexagon with a wider base, the beginning level will show images on the top and there will be corresponding buttons on the sides. There will be different levels of the game where it gets harder as you learn more. For example, it might show a picture of an animal as well as say the name of that animal in your native language. You would then need to press the button that correlates to that screen. As it focuses on child learning first, it will then start upgrading to full sentences and grammar. It would connect to an app that tracks your learning process as well as change the language you want to use and learn. It will switch on and off from the native language and the language you are trying to learn. The levels will also be able to increase to phrases, full sentences, and even grammar. By having this product be audio, visual, and physical it better engages the user then more common methods like an app or flashcards. Only 20 percent of kids in the US are bilingual. Let’s be the change to change this statistic.

Many language learning tools are app-based and are not fun to do. This product makes it a game for kids while teaching them different languages. Customers would switch to this product so they could play games and learn a language at the same time. The competitors are companies like Rosetta Stone or other apps that teach language. I believe my top resource is the uniqueness of my product. My product differs from every other product in my market and therefore has no similar competition. This is very important to the success of my venture as it sets my product apart because it has a physical and online presence. I want to create different games that virtually do the same thing but with a different process. I also want to find games that can cater to an older audience. I want this product to be sold in places like Target and Walmart but also online on websites like Amazon.