14A – Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?
By developing my tenaciousness, I have developed the ability to get up and finish homework before class every 5 mornings.
2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?
When I run, I usually start running out of energy after 20 minutes, but my goal is 30 minutes. When I want to give up, I will tell myself that I am a machine and all I need to do now is to complete the task. The speaker may seem incredible, but in fact, it is not to perceive our five senses, and at the same time to focus on what is at hand. I think running helped me develop tenaciousness.
3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset'?
For this post, please include at least one image.
1. Focus, focus is the quality necessary to achieve tenaciousness. Without focus, we cannot always remind ourselves of our goals.
2. Learn to reject activities that are not related to your goals. Without the interference of irrelevant transactions, we will find that our mindset will be
come very simple, so we can persist longer.

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

“Bad Blood”
What surprised you the most?
What surprised me the most was that Elizabeth Holmes' original intention was good, but in the subsequent entrepreneurial road, she forgot her original intention and went further and further in the wrong direction.
What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
I don't appreciate Elizabeth Holmes's approach, but I appreciate her spirit of daring to drop out of school in order to fulfill her dream.
What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
I do not appreciate her deceiving consumers in order to protect the value of the company and ignore the safety of consumers.
Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
She encountered a bottleneck while researching the product, and she could not achieve the expected results through many technologies. In order to guarantee the value of the company's shares, she chose fraud to deceive consumers and investors, but was eventually found to be fraud.
2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
I realized that Elizabeth Holmes showed amazing eloquence and strong persuasion. As a self-made entrepreneur, Elizabeth has obtained investment from many famous investors through her lobbying, although it is full of lies.
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
Elizabeth Holmes's company has received a lot of attention, and even former vice president Biden has visited his company. But why no one found her research to be fake for a long time.
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
I'm very curious about the change in Elizabeth Holmes. Two questions I want to ask her are:
What changed her so that she gave up her original intention and went to the road of counterfeiting?
Does she understand the risks of counterfeiting and the possible consequences, and still decides to do so: or is she fluke?
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
Because of Elizabeth Holmes' failure, her own claim to success is not credible. But I believe she also invested a lot of energy in the research process.

12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

1) Pick a segment. In class, we have discussed how you might intuit the existence of segments that might exist in your venture's market. For this exercise, you must pick one segment.
0 Nicotine E-cigarette Market

2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. These interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information.
I interviewed a 20-year-old man, a 23-year-old man, and a 21-year-old woman. Both men have experienced smoking. They have shown enough interest in the emergence of 0 nicotine electronic cigarettes, and believe that if the 0 nicotine electronic cigarette can guarantee the taste, it will replace ordinary electronic cigarettes. A 21-year-old woman said that for non-smokers, 0 nicotine e-cigarettes are a good place to start trying cigarettes without side effects.

3) Begin with need awareness. In earlier exercises, you have identified an unmet need and developed a solution. If the person you are talking to does not have the same unmet, then you need to move on. You may not include this as one of your three interviews. If the person you are talking to does have the problem, then you're on the right track! For need awareness, we need to figure out at what times, situations, places, contexts, etc., their need becomes the most salient. The questions you ask should be related to determining exactly when, how, and where their need awareness occurs.
Their needs are stronger. One is from a health perspective, and the other is to reduce the possibility of violating relevant laws.

4) Move to information search. When the person you are interviewing becomes aware of their need, what is the very first thing they do to find a solution to their problem? What sources of information do they look for? When they search in Google, what are their search terms? Do they talk to friends and family?
They googled for information about 0 nicotine electronic cigarettes. They talked to friends about what are the alternatives to e-cigarettes if they are banned?

5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.
According to my interview, I got extensive information about the demand for 0 nicotine e-cigarettes, which shows that this opportunity can be implemented very well.

6) Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of need awareness and information search?
I will divide the market into two parts, one for each of two different target customers. The first market is for those who have used e-cigarettes. For this type of customer, we focus on the safety of 0 nicotine e-cigarettes. The second market is for customers who have not used it. For them, the taste of electronic cigarettes is the most important. We focus on the rich taste of 0 nicotine electronic cigarettes.

11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specially, regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?
My name is Shawn Cao. My talent is good at communication and cooperation, and at the same time,, have a certain business operation ability. My aspiration is to improve the quality of life of others while improving my life through my work. Business is part of life, and even though many of us don't realize it, we are all related to business.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).
I provide customers with 0 nicotine e-cigarettes to meet customers' health and taste needs.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?
My customers are everyone who wants to try e-cigarettes. For smokers who want to try e-cigarettes but are concerned about health issues and risks of illegality, 0 nicotine e-cigarettes can solve this problem very well.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe it's valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.
Because my product can give them a more reliable service. 0 Nicotine Electronics is undoubtedly the best choice for people pursuing health, and there is no risk of breaking the law.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?
My core competencies are that my product meets the unique needs of customers, and it is also an improvement of similar products on the market and has good competitiveness.

10A – Elevator Pitch No. 1

https://youtu.be/AYurXxhhLcs

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Male age 20
I have just come into contact with e-cigarettes and have requirements for the taste of e-cigarettes, but don't care about the nicotine content
Female age 20
Have smoked real cigarettes and use electronic cigarettes as a substitute for real cigarettes, there is no requirement for nicotine content
Male age 33
Is a loyal customer of e-cigarettes, and has requirements for nicotine content in e-cigarettes, it is best to have multiple tastes at the same time
Male age 29
Living in an area where e-cigarettes are illegal and want to use e-cigarettes without breaking the law
Male age 21
I have used 0 nicotine e-cigarettes and am satisfied with the status quo, but look forward to more flavors

Who: Are there certain people or certain businesses that, although they share a lot in common with the others in your opportunity, nevertheless fall outside the boundary? Why?
Most companies that produce e-cigarettes have plenty of flavors to choose from, but not many of them offer 0 nicotine e-cigarettes. The interviewees chose not to choose from these electronic cigarettes. One of the reasons is that electronic cigarettes are illegal in some areas, and the other is hesitation about the safety of electronic cigarettes.

What: At what point does the need you identified differ from another need? (Is thirst the same as hunger? Or is the desire to appear fashionable the same as the desire to be loved by others?)
My opportunity meets consumer demand for e-cigarette taste while avoiding the risk of breaking the law.

Why: Is the underlying cause of the outsiders' need different than people who are inside the boundary?
Basically the same, but there are a few different requirements for taste and nicotine content.

Inside the boundary: e-cigarette company	What the Need Is: health need, flavors and no risk against laws	Why the Need Exists: raise of attention to physical health
Outside the boundary: traditional cigarette company	What the Need Is Not: a new brand of e-cigarette has no difference with other companies	Alternative Explanations: No exact substitutes

8A – Solving The Problem

My opportunity is to provide e-cigarettes with 0 nicotine. Its functions are similar to commom electronic cigarettes, while avoiding the risk of violating the law. I chose this opportunity based on the health and legal multiple perspectives, the market for e-cigarettes with 0 nicotine is underdeveloped and at the same time has a great potential. To be more specific, e-cigarettes with 0 nicotine could have a wider consumer group, not just people who smokes. Although there is no research evidence that e-cigarettes with 0 nicotine is completely harmless, it is much healthier than cigarettes and common electronic cigarettes, which will become its greatest competitiveness.