Jacob's Entrepreneurship Blog

Economic trend: CEOs Are Good at Predicting Economic Trends. Their Confidence in Growth Just Dropped Dramatically Source: http://fortune.com/2019/01/21/recession-2019-pwc-ceo-survey/ I believe there is an opportunity here when it comes to the stock market. Statistically, these CEOs have been fairly accurate in predicting major ups and downs in the economy, and more CEOs are expecting less growth from their companies than last year. Now may be a good time to tell stocks that have been gaining recently but may look like they could be due for a decline. I think the prototypical customer would be someone who invests in the stock market. This includes a majority of middle-class Americans. I think this could be relatively easy to exploit because of the data behind the observation.  I think I saw opportunity here because I have always been interested but skeptical of the stock market and have seen major dips cause people to lose a lot of money. Economic trend: Millennials ar...

"Opioid crisis calls attention to family" by Alanna Durkin Richer Link: https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AFTUB%21Florida%2BTimes-Union%252C%2BThe%2B%2528Jacksonville%252C%2BFL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0118%21January%2B18&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/17107F15D9E499E0 Description: The Sackler family has a drug company called Purdue Pharma. They've made billions of dollars from selling OxyContin. Arthur M. Sackler died in1987 and made most of his money from medical research, advertising, and trade publications, etc. He often donated to many institutions, one of which named a building after him called Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum.  Problem: The family's ties to OxyContin are bringing the Sacklers a new and unwanted kind of attention and complicating their philanthropic legacy. In 2007, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty and payed over $600 million for mislead...

I have a belief that an opportunity exists in regards to the need for cash while in midtown. A potential solution would be to act as a human Venmo ATM where people can Venmo you money in exchange for cash. You could charge a flat fee of say $1 or a percentage of the Venmo request, say 10% (i.e. $0.50 for $5, $1 for $10, or $2 for $20). The unmet need is that many bars/clubs will require a cover on busy nights, and often times people will forget to bring cash with them. This can lead to people asking their friends (or random strangers) to borrow cash in exchange for either cash tomorrow or a Venmo request. The people who have this need would most likely be college students in midtown. This need has existed as long as bars have been open, but has gotten more relevant ever since the popularization of debit cards and Venmo. Less people carry cash around with them than they did a decade ago. The only realistic solution that is currently in place is to ask your friends for money or use an ...

Hello everyone! My name is Jacob. I'm a third year Information Systems major in the combined degree program for a graduate degree in Information Systems and Operations Management. In the summer following my freshman year of high school, I decided that I wanted to start a website. At the time, Instagram had only been out for a few years and I really enjoyed the app so I decided to make a website about how to gain more followers on Instagram. I wrote guides, listed popular hashtags, and had a tips and tricks section for content. The first way I tried to monetize it was with Google AdSense, which added ads to your website. For about a year or so, that was my main method of monetization, with the highest amount earned per month reaching just over $100. A few years later, I decided to get into a more lucrative part of Instagram: selling likes and followers. I researched how others were doing it on internet marketing forums such as BlackHatWorld  and Warrior Forum  and figured out t...

The Britta Filter runs out of water too quickly WHY: My roommates and I drink a lot of water SMITE (a game I like to play) crashes frequently and has many broken features WHY: The company doesn't devote enough resources to the game and instead focuses on other projects It's too hot when I go to bed and too cold when I wake up WHY: My apartment is three stories tall and the AC unit isn't effective enough I always forget to buy something when I go to the store WHY: I don't keep track of small things I need to buy because I assume I'll remember The gym will randomly get overcrowded WHY: People's schedules change. Perhaps if the gym had a way to track how many people were in the gym it would make my workout more efficient I can't text on my Windows laptop from an iPhone like I can a Mac laptop WHY: Apple wants to retain exclusivity for that feature Having to pay cover at a bar/club with physical cash WHY: Bars may not want cover trans...

Welcome to my first blog post. For the next few months, I will be sharing my thoughts and ideas while taking an Entrepreneurship class at the University of Florida. Stay tuned for interesting content!