Wave Apps Business Model

For the past two weeks, in entrepreneurship I have been working on a business model canvas. After being placed in different fruit groups, ours being Avocado (my favourite!), we were told to select a start up company to do our business model on. After looking into a few company’s we landed on Wave Apps. If you have yet to hear about this company, you should definitely take a look, especially if you are an entrepreneur! We were then told to research and find a set of 9 building blocks within the company.

As a fourth year marketing student and a consumer the easiest parts to find were Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels and Customer Relationships. However, out of these four blocks I found that Value Proposition was the easiest to find. Whether you are studying marketing or just a consumer, it is easy to see that each company presents specific products and services that differentiate themselves from their competitors. Meaning that the way company’s are run and presented is influenced by what influences consumers to choose one company over the other. By having both customer experience as well as a few years of marketing under my belt, it was easy to find the key aspects of the company that would entice their customer segment to choose Wave Apps. As a hopeful entrepreneur, it was also easy for me to find the value propositions, simply because I was looking for what I liked about the company and where they were meeting my needs.

In contrast the hardest building block to relate to Wave Apps was Key Partnerships. Although many companies have partnerships with specific companies or businesses, for example buyer-supplier, this particular company offers a different type of product making it difficult to find specific networks.  By offering software that is supplied through the Internet, it was difficult to narrow down what would motivate a partnership.

Although there were many ups and downs within this project, I found it very interesting to look so deep into a company that is still in the works. As consumers, we generally don’t find companies until they have reached a much higher level, in which, they have already established a strong consumer base. With this being said, make sure to take a peak at this website (www.waveapps.com) and one day you’ll be using the website to manage your own business. 

One step at a time

Throughout my life I have worked around many friends, coworkers and family members who have all had the same idea in mind, to be successful in whatever they chose to become. Although most people live their lives dreaming of having enough money to live without worry, it takes a truly motivated person to become an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is defined as a person who organizes and operates a business, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.

With this definition in mind, there is one person in particular whom I personally know and believe has a great entrepreneurial mindset. This person has been a family friend of mine for many years. For as long as I can remember, this man has always been very career driven and is always working, even on his days off. In my mind, this man is an entrepreneur because he is constantly striving to create new ideas for his business, working with other businesses in order to further expand his own, as well as continually promoting and expanding on what he currently possesses. Not only does this man have the talent and traits that it takes to become an entrepreneur, he also has the courage necessary in taking risks in order to further succeed in his career. The well-known phrase, “you must spend money to make money,” has become a large part of his life, and as a result has allowed him to successfully drive his business to flourish. 

After growing up surrounded by my family friends accomplishments, it has encouraged me to strive for my ambitions in life. Although many people have told me that my future aspirations are risky, time consuming and stressful, I have always been able to rely on encouraging words from my family friend. Having experienced many ups and downs in his career, he is definitely someone I look up to. In order to become successful in my future aspirations, I could definitely learn a few tips from my family friend in relation to taking risks.  I have always been the type of person who has to try things for myself, and learn from my own mistakes. However, when it comes to taking risks, I will have to learn a few things from my family friend.  

Going with the flow

   This weeks class taught us about how and when we feel as if we are in a state of flow. This is a time in which we are fully engaged in the task at hand and not only are you enjoying the experience, you are actually fuelling yourself with energy throughout.
   Lately, I have found myself experiencing flow during my time at the gym. After having recently signed myself up for a marathon/obstacle course called Tough Mudder, the gym has been a place for me to focus on, let loose, forget about what else I have happening in my life and fully engage in my training. For this particular event my team and I are required to run 16 k while also complete 25 obstacles as a group. In order to prepare myself for this challenge both mentally and physically, I have been spending a lot of my free time at the gym. While there, I find myself in a state of flow due to the fact that I am constantly thriving off the energy I receive when thinking about completing this course. In addition, whenever I spend time at the gym, I find myself lost in what I am working on. With my earphones in and energetic songs blasting in my ear, I find myself zoned out and fully engaged in preparing myself for the greatest physical challenge I will face in my life.
   Although I won't always have the idea of completing a marathon to encourage myself to work harder and focus on the final outcome, I will always have a state of flow during my time at the gym. Any time that I am able to section myself away from school, work, friends, pressures and stress, and use all of these scenarios to push me a little farther, is when I find myself in my state of flow. By using the energy I have from all that is happening around me, I am able to constantly fuel myself at the same time as easing my mind.
 

Initial reaction to Entrepreneurship

While choosing my courses last year for the fall semester of 2013, I knew right away that this course was one that I needed to take. I had taken a few online courses with the same professor and always really enjoyed his teaching style. After completing the first night class I knew that this would be one of my favourite university courses.
When it comes to learning, textbooks and cubicles are definitely not my cup of tea. I work best in a fast paced hands on environment where I am essentially forced to sink or swim in a given scenario. Having said this, I thoroughly enjoy the type of learning environment MJ has created in this particular course. I can't wait to see what the rest of the semester brings as well as what students come up with for our final project.