Customer Interviews No. 1

After thinking for a while in the library, I found that an opportunity had been sitting in front of me the whole time.  I felt that many students have issues finding a power outlet especially when studying in the Marston Library.  I decided that instead of bringing your charger to the wall, why not bring the wall to you?  What I mean by that is that a table could be designed to charge electronics (laptops, phones, etc.) just by placing your electronic item on top of them.  I know there are already pads made for this but in my case the whole table would be considered the pad. Anybody who studies in a library could utilize this.

I asked the customers these questions:
1.  How was your last experience at the library?
2.  What do you think of my idea?
3.  Would you like to see my idea implemented in the UF libraries?

Here are my videos:

I have learned that my idea is a very good one.  All of the students that I asked about their last experience at the library claimed that they could not find an outlet to plug into or forgot one of their chargers.  I believe that this idea could go a long way and could definitely be used by colleges around the country and around the world.
I did not any issues interviewing the customers.  I am very personable and easy going so I just walked up to random people in the library to ask them my questions.  I asked the people that I was interviewing if I could take a video of the interview and all of them said yes, which was actually very surprising.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

It kind of surprised me when the author said that big projects do not always produce better innovations than smaller projects.  When someone says innovation, I’m immediately thinking about something huge like the iPhone.  I would have never thought that a small project can produce a large innovation.

I don’t really understand the difference between duplication and synthesis.  I don’t understand how Walmart is an example of duplication but Fed-Ex is an example of synthesis.  I’m not sure if synthesis means putting ideas together that were already established or if it is a brand new idea that is better than the old ideas.

Why is probability thinking a bad mindset to have for an entrepreneur? I would think that if you were planning on spending a bunch of time on a project, you would want a high probability of success.  For example, you probably wouldn’t want to try to establish an express coffee business because Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks already exist.

When is an idea considered to be a good one?  I just want to know when you should realize whether you should act on an idea or not. Should you ask others if your idea is good or should you just observe if there is a market where your idea will thrive?

I think the author is wrong about creativity being able to be learned and improved.  I think that some people are creative in certain aspects and others are not.  If you told me to draw a representation of the Golden Gate Bridge, I would have no idea where to even start.  Others would immediately start visualizing what they would be drawing in their head and essentially be copying the picture onto the paper.  I think some people are born creative and others are not.

Top 5 World Problems

World’s Biggest Problems

1) Radical Terrorism

2) Pollution

3) Poverty

4) Fossil Fuels are running out

5) World Hunger

Best Solutions

      1) Cut our daily water use by simply not turning on the sprinklers when it’s raining, not taking as  many showers, and not washing our clothes in the washing machine as often.

      2) Create more national parks that are protected by law.

      3)Start riding bikes more and start using alternative fuel sources.

      4)Provide military intervention to the countries that are supplying the radicals.

      5)Create houses that are better set up to protect the individuals that are living in an area where natural disasters are likely to occur. 

Radical terrorism is a problem that is effecting many countries of the world.  The war on terrorism has been going on for years and it seems to be getting worse.  Terrorists are killing innocent civilians in public places for absolutely no reason.  The world does not seem to have a good response to this issue which is why I placed this issue at the top of my list of problems.

Cutting our daily water use is the easiest solution to implement which is why I put it at the top of my list of solutions.  All people would have to do is not turn on their sprinklers when it’s raining and take one shower a day.  There are other things that we can do such as have more efficient toilets and not keep the faucet running while we are brushing our teeth.