30A – Final Reflection

I was looking over my post over this past semester and found a lot of improvement on my business model. I wanted to work on this business venture for some time now and seeing it progress along the way has been motivating for me. What sticks out to me was the small changes I made that plays a huge influence in they way I’m going to distribute and advertise my product. I’m definitely going to remember the important factors of creating a business model that will allow me to create many other products. I enjoyed grinding the ins and outs of my business venture. Improving the small to bigger qualities was fun.

I highly believe that I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset. I have improved many traits that I didn’t have much strength in the beginning of the semester. I recommend, for serious students that want their product out in the market, to grind weekly working on the small things that could play a bigger role on the more significant factors for later in life of being an entrepreneur. Go all out and fail. Failure leads to change that will lead to victory eventually.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

Trading activity and trading accounts have doubled in the last decade. New traders entering the market because of the Coronavirus. Rookie traders need some type of guidance in their new journey of trading. Everyone wants to invest their money. Everyone wants to make money by not working, but for their money to work for them.

·       Trading activity and trading account have nearly doubled, meaning that more traders, especially novice traders are entering the market. This means more target customers for my product.

·       The trading world is always expanding, with different ways to cope with emotion with their trading. This product is the first of its kind and creates an opportunity for itself to be tested by the public.

·        Huge investments firms have slashed their fees, which brings in another incentive to trade in the markets. This creates a greater demand for products to help newbie traders, and even experienced ones that still have trouble with their emotion.

Innovation: This product will analyze the facial expressions of traders while they trade and give them notifications on whether they are profitable on the trade they are currently taking on. This product will enable traders to make logical decisions, instead of emotional ones.

Venture Concept:

 Customers, or I should say people, have emotion. People have emotional ties with their money. It is challenging to invest one’s money when losing it is on the line. There are no competitors when it comes to my product because there is nothing like it in the market. Customers will want to use my software because is easy to use and durable. All they need to do is download the software and carry a specialize camera that can fit easily in any backpack. Customers like to see results and whether their investment in the product was worth spending. The packaging is also easily accessible by purchasing the camera through amazon and downloading the software through my website.

The distribution will only be through my website and amazon. Customers are familiar with Amazon, so this makes it a bit more trustworthy when purchasing it through a place that people are familiar with. Customer support will be handled by a team of traders who have time to meet the needs of the traders. There is not specific location for trading. Trading can be done around the world if there is WIFI and a laptop. This product would start small demographically with a handful of employees who can manage the product easily. Most employees would monitor the software’s severs, along with customer service.  

The Three Minor Elements:

Frist:

My secret sauce is being one of its kind. There’s no other product on the market that support traders that the software provides.

Second:

The next step would be to engage with StockTwits users and advertise my product through their system. Overall, marketing is the next step.

Third:

I want to take my venture as far as possible in terms of users and helping traders around the world. I want something that can make trading easier, because it is challenging. Eventually, I would like to sell my business and create other business product in a whole variety of markets. I want to be an entrepreneur of all sorts.

Different departments:

(Marketing, Software, and Customer Service)

·       Marketing will be done by spreading news of the product through Stocktwits, and other social media that traders use daily.

·       Software Engineers to manage the ins and outs of the software.

·       Customer service if the customers need help installing the product.

·       Financial advisors to help manage the funds of the business.

Competitive Advantage:

·       There is no other product out there that offers the same benefits as mine. It is the first of its kind. My product will be able to control the market in a way that may even influence certain decisions in the trading world.

What’s next?

·       I think I need to work on my website to create the installation that can be downloadable through different versions of computers. I need to hire programmers that can make this happen as well as designers for the website.

·       I need to improve my programming skills and interview many more traders to make my software even more diverse than what it is.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

1) The overall theme of this book suggests accepting failure in a way that still produces positive returns in the end. Scott Adams, the author, connects to the audience by giving numerous stories of his failures. Nevertheless, he does not allow failures to bring him down emotionally. This enabled him to win big, just like the title suggests. What I liked most about this book was the comparison of his ideals with goals and systems. Adams convinces the readers that goals are for the losers and that we should put our trust in systems instead. Putting our trust in the system will lead us to the goals that we sought out in the beginning. The goals that are special to us.

2) The reason why I chose this book was because of how closely it related to several assignments about failure in this course. Interestingly enough, just like the assignments we do weekly, it is almost like a system that we have put our trust in to get a good grade in the course. And more importantly, we see results that take us closer to our goals for our business plans. We regularly see failures for several assignments, well at least I do. However, by putting out trust in the system, I have seen true progress made and goals reached in this semester. 

3) One assignment based on the book would be to named several cases of failures. One similar to assignment 26-A. However, to enhance the assignment, students should explain what they gain from that failure and decide whether the pain from that failure is worth the growth that came with it. 

4) One of the biggest surprises I had in this book was definitely connecting the system (this course with the weekly assignments) versus goals. We need to trust the system. We need to trust our professor, Chris. If we put trust in the system we will see results that Adams mentioned in his book. These results will allow us to grow closer to our goals.

Your Exit Strategy

Business plan recap: A software that analyzes the facial expressions of traders while they trade to make logical decisions, instead of emotional ones.

I love the finance world. I see myself in the markets even when I am still an old fart. However, I do intend to sell my business in the next 5 years for a large return.  I want to hold onto my business until I see that it will perform the same way for its users while being managed by someone else. I'm the one not to pass down a family business. I want my children to create something for themselves.

There are so many other products that I want to develop that aren't focused on finance consumers. I do not want to become known as the person for that one product, I want to create many business ventures in a wide variety of markets.

I think my exit strategy has influenced many other decisions in my life. I never really wanted to stick to something, because I grew bored of it fast. I wanted to become a lawyer when I was little, but I learned that they have the same daily operations throughout the year. There are so many different ways to trade and new strategies arising daily. This concept has allowed me to acquire resources in a short period and utilize them efficiently.

Let's Fail, A Lot!

        This past semester I failed numerous times out of class. I am a full-time student, however, I trade in the markets from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. This semester I wanted to improve my trading by finding five stocks per week with more than twenty percent upside in price. I would make a list of five companies that I thought were going to perform very well through earnings, rumors, new products, the overall market or sector, etc. I would do a weekly analysis on companies that would belong to that list, no more than five. Throughout the semester, I failed every week to find those companies that would produce a twenty percent upside that week. It's not that easy. My best has been three out of the five that were chosen showed results of the standards I wanted, however, I could not get to a total of five companies. I learned how much patience and creativity you need to achieve specific goals. It took me long hours to weed through hundreds of stocks that would produce returns I wanted. I learned that only a small handful of stocks in a specific sector would show similar returns, so picking tickers from the same industry would decrease my chances. I also learned that the most profitable days out of the week have been Monday and the worst days have also been Monday. 
       I gain so much more knowledge by failing on this task. I started growing connections with each failure. It was fun for me. I have also been a risk-taker because it has proved results that I am far happier with than playing it safe. I took some serious failures in life because of that personality I developed. I guess I can say I liked failing. I think it would be boring to understand everything in life, or succeed in everything around you. When I experience failure, I can't help but knowing what it feels on the other side of it. Failure is one of the reasons I chose to become a trader and why it's still my dream job in the future. Traders take losses throughout the year, its common to them. Traders see failure as a cost on their profit, whether it is positive or negative, we desire to limit those losses and become more consistent.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market

1.       I believe what’s next for me is installation of my website to make it look professional as well as creating an easy platform to use for many users. I want to make my website as simple as possible so that users won’t be discouraged to download the product.

2.       The three interviewees all loved the idea. All three of them are heavy traders, one of them trades for a living and the other two have made thousands of dollars in the market. Mark, the one who trades for a living, suggested creating live videos on how the product works. The live videos should be based on different scenarios that the trader is trading. Richard is one of the most experience traders I know. He suggested creating customizable cameras incase a trader wants a specialized camera for different angles, brightness, etc. This will allow for more revenue by creating different divisions in the revenue segment. The main line of revenue will be done through fees and buying the software. The second being the camera the works with the software. And then different types of cameras that will enhance the experience. Allowing different types of revenue streams will benefit me in the long run. When I talked to Jason, he mentioned that I should create some type of social media accounts that relate to trading and create following base. This will allow me to market the business product for free and have a following that is likely to buy the product.

New Market

1.       Since I am focusing on a wide variety of different people who trade. I should focus my attention to traders who trade for a living who want to lower their losses to gain a greater profit.

2.       Wealthier people are likely to buy the product because it is easy for them to do so. Traders who are wealthy still want to lower their losses to gain more money. Fees will be low; however, the download will be expensive enough to cover employee’s salaries and some profit. Eventually, I want to be able to afford to offer my product to retail-traders around the world and make it affordable, however, the software is difficult to maintain.

3.       Michael is one of the first traders I met in the trading world. Michael suggested targeting a specific section of users on Stocktwits. The pricy stocks that users usually chat about that are too expensive for retail-traders with small portfolios to buy. When focusing on this section, you can separate the big fish, from the small. Robert one of my close friends that started trading, thinks I should focus my product on retail-traders, instead of wealthy traders. He thinks retail-traders have a difficult time with emotion while trading, and that they may be easier to connect to with my product. I believe that he does have a point and that I should consider his opinion. Clark has no experience in trading; however, he has released many products in athletic training to the public. He suggested, going out and giving samples to people by showing them the software and the camera. He also said to do walkthroughs in public as well in business events.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

·     Opportunity  

Everyone wants to invest their money. Everyone wants to make money by not working, but for their money to work for them.

·       Trading activity and trading account have nearly doubled, meaning that more traders, especially novice traders are entering the market. This means more target customers for my product.

·       The trading world is always expanding, with different ways to cope with emotion with their trading. This product is the first of its kind and creates an opportunity for itself to be tested by the public.

·        Huge investments firms have slashed their fees, which brings in another incentive to trade in the markets. This creates a greater demand for products to help newbie traders, and even experienced ones that still have trouble with their emotion.

Innovation: This product will analyze the facial expressions of traders while they trade and give them notifications on whether they are profitable on the trade they are currently taking on. This product will enable traders to make logical decisions, instead of emotional ones.

Venture Concept: Customers, or I should say people, have emotion. People have emotional ties with their money. It is challenging to invest one’s money when losing it is on the line. There are no competitors when it comes to my product because there is nothing like it in the market. Customers will want to use my software because is easy to use and durable. All they need to do is download the software and carry a specialize camera that can fit easily in any backpack. Customers like to see results and whether their investment in the product was worth spending. The packaging is also easily accessible by purchasing the camera through amazon and downloading the software through my website. The distribution will only be through my website and amazon. Customers are familiar with Amazon, so this makes it a bit more trustworthy when purchasing it through a place that people are familiar with. Customer support will be handled by a team of traders who have time to meet the needs of the traders. There is not specific location for trading. Trading can be done around the world if there is WIFI and a laptop.

This product would start small demographically with a handful of employees who can manage the product easily. Most employees would monitor the software’s severs, along with customer service.  

Different departments:

·       Marketing will be done by spreading news of the product through Stocktwits, and other social media that traders use on a daily basis.

·       Software Engineers to mange the in and outs of the software.

·       Customer service if the customers need help installing the product.

·       Financial advisors to help manage the funds of the business.

Competitive Advantage:

·       There is no other product out there that offers the same benefits as mine. It is the first of its kind. My product will be able to control the market in a way that may even influence certain decisions in the trading world.

What’s next?

·       I think I need to work on my website to create the installation that can be downloadable through different versions of computers. I need to hire programmers that can make this happen as well as designers for the website.

·       I need to improve my programming skills and interview many more traders to make my software even more diverse than what it is.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

 1.  Originality: This product is the first of its kind.

• Valuable: I'm the only one in the market, which would mean I have the entire market share until another develop comes along. This advantage is huge.
• Rare: One of its kind, extremely rare.
• Imitable: Someone could imitate this idea; however, accuracy of the product may not be there.
• Non-substitutable: This product doesn’t have a substitute that can provide the same benefits

2. Social Capital: I have contacts with over a hundred other traders, and top professionals in the finance field who manage risk-management.

• Valuable: Connections with over 100 traders will allow for more diversity when it comes to software use. This will also jump start my marketing my spreading information about the product to other traders.
• Rare: Not as rare, but connecting with over a 100 traders who will respond is uncommon.
• Imitable: This is not too hard to imitate; anyone can make connections.
• Non-substitutable: These are great connections to have that have many kinds of experience, non-substitutes are not believable.

3. Social Capital: Anyone can be a trader, including friends and family. Everyone wants to invest their money.

• Valuable: I can talk to friends and family that can help with the simplicity of the product in terms of use and other unknowns to them.
• Rare: This resource is not too rare
• Imitable: It is, for the most part people have friends and family.
• Non-substitutable: Anyone can be interchangeable.

4. Human Capital: I have experience in customer service through working many jobs in different banks.

• Valuable: When it comes to a product that helps traders with emotion, customer service is needed. This experience is valuable.
• Rare: This experience isn’t rare if one worked in the customer service field.
• Imitable: This depends on whether the individual took their experience as serious as another.
• Non-substitutable: There is no substitute for experience.

5. Financial Capital: I have managed my parents portfolio and know how to manage the funds for my business as well as support it.

• Valuable: Not many people know how to manage money. This is very valuable.
• Rare: Again, not many people know how to manage their money, especially for a business.
• Imitable: This attribute can be imitated if one practices their management skills
• Non-substitutable: An accountant or a person who can do it for me (costs).

6. Human Capital: I have always been outgoing and grow from failure.

• Valuable: This is extremely valuable when being an entrepreneur. Failure comes a lot when exploring customer’s needs.
• Rare: Not that are rare. Some people are meant to grow from failure, others have a difficult time.
• Imitable: I think anyone can grow into a person who can be outgoing and learn to grow from failure.
• Non-substitutable: There is not quick substitute for personality.

7. Financial Capital: My uncle, along with my parents are with me and are financial supporting my plan.  

• Valuable: Money is essential when it comes to starting your own venture. What is more valuable than money is support, which my family also gives.
• Rare: This common. However, not everyone is as fortunate.
• Imitable: This could be imitated, but again you need to be fortunate
• Non-substitutable: There’s loans that are easily assessable.

8. Human Capital: I’m well educated in the finance world, and I am attaining an education at the University of Florida.

• Valuable: Education is valuable, especially if its in the line of field of my business product.
• Rare: Not everyone can acquire an education.
• Imitable: If someone is able to work had and be able to go to school then its readably imitable.
• Non-substitutable: This can be substituted by just studying your industry.

9. Social Capital: I'm always working towards building my network through gaining new connections in the trading world.

• Valuable: A well connected network can be more valuable than many other resources.
• Rare: Not that common, to have a vast network, however, it is rare to have connections with over 100 traders.
• Imitable: Networking is imitable by practicing networking.
• Non-substitutable: Nothing beats a strong network.

10. Human Capital: My mentors over the past few years have helped with many endeavors in my life. They are with me 100 percent.

• Valuable: This is extremely valuable. Mentors are huge and give support through tough times.
• Rare: It’s not easy finding good mentors that will take the time to teach you.
• Imitable: If you go out and look for mentors, they are there. This is easily imitable.
• Non-substitutable: Certain mentors are specific for certain fields of careers. I believe there is no substitutes.

Reflection: After going over each of my recourses carefully, I believe many of them are crucial for my business plan to work. It is tough to say, which ones are my top. However, I believe the vast network I have with many traders are essential. Networking puts you into touch with people that you may have never met through acquaintances. Networking allows for more opportunities to be met that I can expand my business product to. If it wasn’t for the vast network, there wouldn’t be a diverse platform for my software to operate.

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

2) I felt that the feedback I received was extremely helpful. Instead of introducing myself, even though my experience ties into my business idea, ultimately strays away from the big idea. What stood out the most was the feedback that people understood the product, even though they may know nothing about trading in the markets.

3) I focused on what my product actually does in respect to how it helps traders make money. I focused on the problem and worked up to my solution- the product. I gave more specifics, and evidence to the audience that trading is increasing and new traders are joining the market.

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The overall theme of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success was a case of two mindsets. Carol Dweck, the author, explained that everyone in this world has a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Fixed mindsets do not think outside the box. The most prominent trait of this mindset is that, people tend to give up, ultimately resulting into failure. However, the growth mindset, is the mindset that all human beings should strive for. Personalities with a growth mindset grow from failure. These individuals see failures as opportunities, to expand on their mistakes and learn from them. This book was very fascinating to read, and also very motivating. Dweck goes through many intricate life situations, which some of the readers may relate to. This creates a perfect pitcher for the audience to learn from reading an experience rather than actually experiencing it.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? I believe this book ties together pretty well with our class. I think our professor understands that we are all different people with different mindsets and experiences. Those experiences play a major role in the entrepreneur that everyone has in them. To be an entrepreneur, one needs to have the growth mindset, which Dweck explains perfectly. Our professor stresses that when we are faced with a puzzling assignment and want to give up, we should really keep going and figure it out. That is what individuals with growth mindsets do as explained in the book. They love challenges because it's only going to make them better.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would the exercise involve?

This question is pretty cool. I think an exercise in class should be to share two experiences that the student has had, one being a growth mindset reaction and one being a fixed. The person needs to figure out why they behaved differently in those two experiences, or whether they grew from a transition from fixed to growth. 

4) What was the biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

While reading, I had an 'aha' moment that took be by surprise. This aha moment came from the section on sports and players' mindsets of being a champion. I have played basketball all my life. I was a very competitive person, even when I was a child. I played many sports all my life. It took me a while to find me which sport I was best at, I loved failing at different sports, because I knew that one day I was going to find one that I could overcome its challenges that I met athletically and grow from them. I had an aha moment by relating my old-self to having a growth mindset that was explained in the book.

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1)      Keith Gregor, a certified financial advisor. He has been trading for the past twenty years. He also manages retired folks accounts.

2)      Keith is a domain expert. He has been in and out of the markets for the past 20 years. His knowledge on trading and investing are key qualities that can enhance my business idea. He provides a similar type of business, however, does the investing for the client

3)      I did an internship at the South Florida Educational Federal Credit Union. He eventually left the credit union and began his own venture investing for high end clients. We became good friends after the internship, and he became my mentor. I have his personal contact information.

4)      Mentor relationship. He’s told me several times that he’s willing to help with nothing in return.

5)      Including Keith into this network will enhance my knowledge on the many aspects there are to trading and investing, especially dealing with different customer profiles.

1)      Keith Reichert, a hedge fund manager that works for Nomura Securities. He is my teacher’s childhood friend.

2)      He is the market expert, considering he lives in New York and is associated with Stocktwits, a social media platform that enables traders to share ideas. He even shared some of his ideas on trading through podcast and gives advice on the emotional end of trading.

3)      My teacher in 10^th grade put me in contact with him because of my passion for finance. He has been my mentor since I was 15 years old.

4)      Again, this a mentor relationship. He expects nothing in return. He only wants to help me grow in the finance world, whether its my business idea, or trading.

5)      He will play a huge role in attracting customers through Stocktwits, to find active traders. He plays a major role in deciphering the demographics as well.

1)      Matthew Almeida, my cousin. He’s an entrepreneur. He’s been trading since he was 22 years-old.

2)      Matthew is the supplier expert, considering he’s tried multiple times to supply products, such as books, podcast, and trading software to enhance trading performance. However, Matthew’s products are treating different areas.

3)      He is my cousin.

4)      Family does many things for each for free

5)      His abilities as an entrepreneur and providing different products for trading will broaden my client base.

Reflection: Engaging with new contacts will allow me to be more confident networking for future business models. This experience was definitely different from the past considering they are being introduce to a business plan and will be helping me.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

About Me: 

My name is Michael Almeida. I am 20 years old, and I am a Junior at UF. I am pursuing a degree in business administration with a specialization in finance. I have been trading in the markets since I was 15 years old. I opened my trading account when I was 18.I managed my parents portfolio when I was 16 and had a return of 140% over the past 4 years. I am very passionate about financial literacy taught at a young age. I love helping people financially. I believe everyone is going through their struggle, and if money is a problem, then it is a problem that can be solved. In my spare time, I stream live videos of trading, where people watch me and see how I trade. This is another way I make money. I want to revolutionize the trading world, especially the retail-traders who consistently lose money in the markets. I have connections to over 100 traders around the US who trade daily. I stream on twitch and currently have 96 subscribers who pay five dollars per month. 

What am I offering?

I am offering a product that analyses traders’ facial expressions as they trade to prevent any trades that are likely to lose money. This product is offered to all retail-traders who trade in the market, which is concerned with trading with emotion. The product will connect personally to the trader who is using the software. Not only is this product offered to retail traders, but to traders in huge hedge funds as well.

Demographics:

I am marketing my product to any all traders whose primary income is trading in the markets. As well as traders who biggest problem is getting emotional with their money while trading. Trading can be done anywhere. However, I would like to focus on US traders for my product primarily. In the beginning, I want to target smaller locations with the highest trading activity; for example, New York, Chicago, Boston, etc. Primarily, I would like to focus on customers who are associated with Stocktwits, so I can attract active traders. 

Why do they care?  

I believe that people, especially traders, whose primary income is in the markets, want to improve their ‘salaries’, their performance in the market. If there was any way to suppress their human emotion that is tied to their money, then I believe they would want the product. Every day a trader checks their account balance in their portfolio, and each day they may check several times. Every day they think of why it is that number, and they know the mistakes they made that resulted to where they are now. Most of those mistakes are emotion-based trading.

Core competencies: 

There is no product out there that connects personally to the trader. There may be some podcasts or articles that advise certain personality traits. However, it does not know the person’s trading habits. I have connections to many traders in the US who trade daily.

             I believe these five elements fit together nicely. My background supports the reason why I want to implement my product on the market. I have many connections that help grow the product, whether it may be diversifying facial expressions analyzed by the software, or marketing-wise. The demographics will solely focus on populations with the most trading activity to connect to the traders who need it most. Most importantly, I believe every trader, especially the ones living off their portfolios, want to increase their income. They want to better themselves while trading.  

Feedback Integration:

 I got some positive feedback from my recent post on my napkin idea. I incorporated performances that I had in trading. For example, the returns I had while managing my parents account and my won. I did this because they are pretty well notable achievements, specifically in trading. I also mentioned my streaming platform a bit more because it does relate to my business idea. I have a follower count, as well as a subscriber count of 96 who are active traders in the market. I also elaborated on my demographics, because I only mentioned a few cities. Including customers who are associated with Stocktwits will enable me to see which customers are active in trading.