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Showing posts from January, 2019

8A: Solving The Problem

Opportunity: University of Florida teachers often cast an enormous burden on students by requiring expensive textbooks distributed by massive book publishing corporations. I want to create an annual subscription service for textbooks. The service would be created and subsidized by the University of Florida, that allows students to view and read the required textbooks for their courses. The University has an endowment of over $1.2 billion, so this would be a drop in the bucket. The University already has an “opt-in” system for specific textbooks, but students are still required to pay the full price of the book. If the University offered an optional flat price for all students, let’s say $250 for the year added to cost of tuition, I’m sure many students would opt in to this option for the ability to read digital copies of required textbooks. If students want hard copies of the book, they can buy it at full price, but if they want to save money, they can use this book subscription servic

7A: Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Opportunity: The high costs of required textbooks for UF courses University of Florida teachers often cast an enormous burden on students by requiring expensive textbooks distributed by massive book publishing corporations. The who: Students suffer from having to pay for these expensive books on top of tuition. The what: Teachers require expensive, unaffordable textbooks in order for students to complete assignments in the course. The why: Universities usually have contracts with book publishers, and require the newest edition of the book instead of previous versions. Testing the who: Every student I have met has had at least a semester’s worth of classes requiring $100+ books. Testing the what: Many teachers force students to buy the newest edition of the book directly from the publisher, instead of renting or buying a used, previous edition of the book. Testing the why: Publishers benefit directly from students buying the newest edition of the book, as universities sign exclusivity

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Opportunity 1: Legalization of medical marijuana in Florida https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/in-florida-gov-ron-desantis-is-setting-the-right-tone-on-medical-marijuana With the recent legalization of medical marijuana in Florida, the opportunity for massive investment is imminent in this field. Thousands of people can be employed, and companies can invest to open dispensaries all over the state. The Florida legislature states that prototypical customer for a medical marijuana license would be anybody with a debilitating disease, like cancer, HIV, or Crohn’s Disease. This opportunity seems easy to exploit at first, but there are probably many legal and regulatory hurdles required to open a chain of medical dispensaries. I saw this opportunity because I have seen the positive effect of marijuana on debilitating diseases. My uncle unfortunately passed from an aggressive form of cancer, but he used medical marijuana during his treatments, which helped ease his pai

5A – Identifying Local Opportunities

Title : Esports, startups plan for major push in 2019 Link : https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F17116937ADAE07E0 Description of story : Orlando city leaders, universities, and affluent businesses are attempting to turn Orlando into a major hub for the world’s premier competitive gaming location. Companies like the NBA’s Orlando Magic, Electronic Arts (EA), and Full Sail University are creating massive esport arenas to appeal to gaming companies looking for event locations. Description of problem : Many other cities, like Las Vegas and Los Angeles have had esport arenas built and used for years now, so the shift from these cities to Orlando will be a difficult task without heavy capital investment and marketing. Description of who has the problem : The

Forming An Opportunity Belief

1/2: With the exponential growth in Gainesville’s population, I believe there’s a huge opportunity to start a large-scale farmers market in the West Gainesville area, near Archer Road. This area of Gainesville is ridden with corporate and national fast food and supermarket chains, like Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Publix, and Whole Foods. Most of the University of Florida’s student population lives within a mile of this strip of Archer, and there are no local grocery or restaurant options. This leads students to choose more quick and unhealthy options, due to the convenience. While people can go to Publix and Whole Foods to get their produce, fruit, and meat, these options are expensive, making affordability tougher for college-age residents. This opportunity of a local farmers market is clearly there because of the lack of local options and the growing need for fresh food in this area of Gainesville. 3: The prototypical customer is anyone who regularly buys groceries in the West Gaines

My Entrepreneurship Story

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I was exposed to entrepreneurship from a very young age. My dad has always been the entrepreneurial type; he’s always wanted to be his own boss. Back when we lived in Argentina, he hosted a radio show on the most popular station in the country, but that wasn’t enough for him. He ended up buying the station, but the economic collapse in 2001 forced him to close it. We ended up immigrating to Miami, Florida, where he started his own digital design and advertising agency called Disart Media. He ingrained in me the benefits of being your own boss and owning your own business. To this day, he is a huge influence on my life and my work ethic. While, frankly, this course is required for my major, I knew this would be a class I would enjoy and learn a lot from. Being able to run your own business is an invaluable skill, and I cannot wait to learn and grow from this class. This is a picture of me helping run the Wetlands Music Festival at Flavet Field last school year.

Bug List

Bug List When my roommate Marison visits my room and does not close the door on the way out Why it exists: He never closes his door, and does not consider closing my door when he leaves, even after I ask repeatedly. When children are being disrespectful at a “fine dining” restaurant and the parents do nothing to stop them from being loud and disruptive Why it exists: these parents are unaware of their children’s effect on people’s dining experience and are possibly bad parents. When I clean up immediately after cooking food and wash everything, while my roommates leave plates and pans in the sink for days Why it exists: both of my roommates are only children, so I believe they were raised to never clean up after themselves. When people do not put their shopping carts back into the collection spot in the parking lot at Trader Joe’s Why it exists: people are lazy and the collection spots are sometimes far from their car. When people are indecisive ab