16A – What’s Your Secret Sauce

The ways in which I have human capital are:

1. Determination – When a task is given to me, I always tend to keep working towards it until I have completed it, even if it is a daunting task.

2. Social abilities – I like to talk and engage in conversations with the people around me whether they are classmates, co-workers, or even professors.

3. Friendliness – I try to make sure that I am respectful and appreciative of the people around me. I treat others quite well and I hope they can treat me similarly. People also describe me as a funny person.

4. Passion – I am really passionate about the fields I work on, especially Computer Science and Math. I try to go above and beyond in understanding concepts, and I try to teach them to others when I can.

5. Adaptiveness – I am quite good at thinking on my feet in situations that are challenging. I will usually come up with creative solutions to the problem at hand, rather than waiting too long for the ideal answer.

Interviews:

1. The first interview is from my high school friend Felix Sanjay. Felix talks about how we both met and how we are both relatable to each other.

https://soundcloud.com/15dani1/felix/s-uRVtzcBRsg2

2. The second interview is from my close friend Guillermo Aceves. Guillermo talks about my problem solving and technology skills. He mentioned that I am an analytical person and that he can always count on me to help him out.

https://soundcloud.com/15dani1/guillermo/s-mP3QfvVu2hR

3. The third interview is from one of my best friends Rohil Tuli. Rohil mentions that I am curious and hard-working, as well as have a desire to learn. He also states that I am good at meeting new people, learning from them, and also helping them out when needed.

https://soundcloud.com/15dani1/rohil/s-Ii87zfLn10T

4. The fourth interview is from my sister Aleena Alex. Aleena says that I am funny, sociable, and always like to include everyone in all my activities. She also talks about a programming class that I am currently teaching and how I am patient and like to listen to all the students.

https://soundcloud.com/15dani1/aleena/s-x8c9CKffHA3

5. The final interview is from my close friend Diego Perez. Diego used to be my dorm neighbor freshmen year and he talks about the computer science skills I have shared with him. He adds that I am a well-rounded and funny person as well.

https://soundcloud.com/15dani1/diego/s-zNDEvOV1J94

Reflection:

All in all, I feel like the way my friends described me are very similar to how I see myself. They mentioned my social abilities, friendliness, and passion for learning and teaching. Some of the ideas I did not think of were how I helped my friends learn new ideas and the way in which people could always rely on me when needed. My friends and sister know me quite well, so I felt as though they were correct about their views about me. I don’t think I would correct my original list, but I would like to add supportiveness to it as people have mentioned that quality about me.

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.2

For this assignment, I interviewed 3 different people about their take on my stock market app. The interviews took about 15 mins and I got a lot of interesting perspectives from it.

Some of the alternatives I presented to the interviewees were: YouTube tutorials on stock investment, following the news closely to make informed decisions, using stockbroker tutorials, and learning by directing investing in the stock market. Two interviewers picked the YouTube tutorial option as that was free and they could watch videos in their free time and learn about the market that way. The last person chose the stockbroker tutorials as they felt that the brokers know what they are doing and might have good investment suggestions.

The platform I am suggesting is purely online and have no physical stores or centers, therefore online payment options are the only ones present at the moment. All the interviewers said they would prefer an online platform, as they don’t have to carry around cash and can cancel the subscription at their convenience.

The customers would feel most satisfied with the product if it solved their underlying need which was to help them invest their money safely in the stock market. The interviewees said that they would be happy if they start making money from the suggestions of the app. This might seem like a challenging task because it is tough to predict the stock market, but in the long run, they would have made a decent amount of money. The inverse is true as well, if the customers lose money, they would not be satisfied.

After all the interviews, I realized that the app is important to help people get started but the customers’ primary goal is to make money quickly. Although this is possible, that is not the service I am planning on presenting as this is not a “get rich quick” strategy. The goal of this idea is to educate people about the market and ensure that they can make money if they follow safe and effective investment strategies.

14A – Halfway Reflection

Throughout the course, I have tried to work ahead of schedule as I found this to be the most effective way of retaining the material as well as ensuring that I was never stressed out to finish an assignment or watching lectures. This course has a lot of assignments and I found them all to be quite important as they taught me skills that I would have otherwise ended up overlooking.

One of the main assignments that pushed me to my limits was the “bug list” as I found it quite challenging to come up with 20 things that bothered me. I had to take breaks and try out different settings to come up with some of the unique bug list ideas. I feel as though that assignment allowed me to develop a tenacious attitude because every assignment after that one felt easier as I would tell myself, “If you can do the bug list, you can do this!”.

Three tips I would offer new students in this course would be:

1. Start early! The assignments come around faster than you would expect.

2. Watch all the lectures and take notes. The content provided by Professor Pryor is fantastic and I feel like it has helped me a lot!

3. Provide great feedback on your peers’ posts. This will not only encourage them, but also help you see perspectives that you might have not originally considered.

13A – Reading Reflection No.1

The book I had chosen to read for this assignment was Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

The most surprising part of Steve Jobs was how he was actually fired from Apple, his own company, at one point as the company was approaching a potential bankruptcy. The thing I admire most about him is his willingness to “Think Different” as he would experiment with ideas that are unconventional. He had started a company called NeXT which produced computer workstations for businesses and educational sectors and also been a large investor in Pixar Animation Studio as he believed in their vision. His least admirable characteristic was how often he would be rude to his peers/colleagues. He was known to throw people under the bus and never really saw his own mistakes. Steve Jobs faced many failures as his precious company wasn’t reaching the potential he wanted. He would work extra hours and reduced his pay just so he could use that money to invest in R&D for Apple.

Steve Jobs always challenged the ideas in the world. He never felt content with it and had the desire to fix the flaws. He brought in many unconventional ideas such as iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Those products ended up becoming the largest revenue drivers for Apple, making it the largest tech company in the world.

The part of the reading that seemed confusing is how Steve Wozniak didn’t receive as much credit when compared to Steve Jobs even though they had both worked on Apple together. The media only really covered the life of Steve Jobs and not the people that were alongside him.

Two questions I would ask Steve Jobs if he were still alive would be: What do you think of the current progress and management of Apple? Where do you see the tech industry to shift to in the future? The reason for the first question is to see if Steve Jobs believes his philosophy is still continued at Apple, with its latest products. The second question would help other entrepreneurs identify and develop better products for future generations.

Steve Jobs was a firm believer of hard work and often pushed himself in-order to achieve greatness. He was also very close with his best engineers and felt that together they could all change the world. My belief is similar, I think we can all learn from Steve Jobs’ life and see how this passion for computing allowed him to become one of the most prominent tech entrepreneurs of all time.

12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.1

The segment I have chosen for this assignment are individuals who have never invested in the stock market. I chose to talk to 2 friends and my sister. The interviews took about 10 minutes and I feel like I got a lot of valuable information out of them.

To begin the interview, I asked all 3 participants the same initial question: Have you ever felt the need to begin investing in the stock market? All three participants had stated that they had always thought about the idea but did not end up following through with it. One participant mentioned that she did not really know where to start and that was a primary factor in her not being able to invest. The next question I asked was: Would you be interested in a solution that would help you get started in investing money? Again, all three of them said yes as this is what they had been looking for but never quite found an effective solution. The next question I asked was: Where would you generally go to find information about investing? Two participants said they often follow and watch YouTubers who invest money and would learn some ideas from them but it was never good enough for them to start investing themselves. The last person said that she read articles and followed news broadcasts that mention the status of the stock market each day. They also mentioned that they would discuss investing with some friends who wanted to begin investing as well but couldn’t choose the right platform or time to get started. The last question that I asked was: What would you type into Google to get more detailed information about stocks. They answered along the lines of: “How to start investing?”, “When should I begin investing?”, “What are the best platforms to start investing?”, “What are good stocks?”, etc.

After the interviews, I realized that a lot of people have a hard time getting the foot in the door. Guiding them on the right path is the first step to investing and should be prioritized even before understanding which stocks to buy. This has led me to believe that my platform would be of great help to others and that I should have sections on which trading platforms/brokers to choose, as well as explain how stocks work as a whole. This information is usually what people need to get started and that should be one of the priorities in the first iteration of my product.

11A – Idea Napkin No.1

My name is Rahul Dani. I am a Computer Science/Math Student at UF. I have industry experience in the financial software engineering sector as I have previously interned for JP Morgan Chase and plan to intern for American Express this summer. I hope to work as a quantitative analyst in the future. My business concept is the stock investment app for young adults. I had recently started investing in the market found it challenging to pick the right companies. After a while and some research, I was able to grow my investments significantly. My personal experience in investing led me to create this opportunity as I would have benefited from such a platform.

The service I am offering is a platform to begin investing money into the stock market. I intend to include many tips for new investors, news outlets about various companies to show future trends, and a stock market simulation game for people to try out various strategies before truly investing.

The demographic for this app would be young adults who are new to investing and want to start but don’t have much information about this market. The demographic can also extend to older yet new investors as they are on the same boat as the young investor. The app is not intended for experienced investors or hedge fund managers, as they already have the information needed to be a successful investor. My app provides tools to help people get started on the right track.

People will care about the app because there aren’t many alternatives/good solutions in the market. This app also helps people make sustainable money and that will definitely be a selling feature as they are not here to just “get rich fast”.

The difference between us and other competing options would be the revenue-generating model. My plan is to create a subscription model and have users pay something between $7-$10 a month to use all the features of the app. This ensures that users aren’t burdened to pay large costs up-front, help our stakeholders see consistent monthly income, and gives the user an option to test and keep the subscription for as long as they would like.

All in all, I believe this app has great potential. The features presented are useful to new investors as they can safely experiment before running straight in and losing money. The revenue model seems sustainable for long term growth and allows the user to realize that this small recurring cost might help them make thousands of dollars in the future. The app is also expandable as we can implement new features and have tiers of memberships. Due to these reasons, I feel as though this app has the potential to help promote both personal as well as large-scale economic wealth.

10A – Elevator Pitch No. 1

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

For this assignment, I have interviewed some of my close friends as well as some of the people that live in my neighborhood.

Who: I think there are definitely certain types of people and businesses that fall outside the boundary. An example of this would be experienced stock traders and hedge funds managers who are professionals in the industry and use various computer algorithms to buy and sell stocks immediately.

What: The need I would compare learning to get started with the stock market (my opportunity) would be the need to make money as a young adult. Although they fall under a similar category, the ideas behind them are different and use different timeframes as well. Learning to invest is a strategy for people who have some cash lying around and plan to increase it over the course of many months and years. Making money as a young adult, usually means they do not have the initial cash amount and wish to make money immediately to provide for their daily needs.

Why: Not necessarily, the outsiders I had mentioned were experienced investors as well as hedge fund managers. Although the outsiders might not benefit from my product, I think the end goal is the same – make money/have a sustainable form of income. The point of my solution is to teach inexperienced people to make better investment and financial choices.

                    

The goal of this idea is not to target every person in the world, it is meant to capture the right audience (young adults, inexperienced investors) and ensure that they are able to use this product to their best advantage.

8A – Solving The Problem

The opportunity I have selected is to educate young people about the United States stock market and how to invest money safely. The solution I am proposing is a platform either app or website that a person can access and read up on good stocks to put money into. The website/app would contain daily news about various companies in the market as well as opportunity suggestions based on their financial goals (long term vs. short term). An additional feature would include a mock stock market game that allows people to get started with a certain amount of money and try investing it in fake stocks (real-time price value of the original) just to get a feel for investing without any real risks. The way I plan to generate revenue for this service is to include a recurring monthly fee for the service. Users would pay between $5-$10 a month to use the platform. This is not a large amount of money as the knowledge they gain in return is much greater and can lead to larger profits in the real market. I believe this plan will also retain customers as they would find the news outlet useful and since they have been using the platform for a while, and have gotten familiar with it, it would be tough to switch over to other platforms/competitors.