Grace Ubben

I think the thing that sticks out as the most formative experience this semester would be the experience of doing the elevator pitch three times. As much as I really did not enjoy getting in front of the camera and forcing myself to do something that was uncomfortable, by the third time I really did see improvement. I remember early on in the semester thinking, "Three times?! We have to do it three times?" I hate to admit it, but I'm actually glad we did. The third time I recorded my elevator pitch I was really proud of the improvement I had seen in myself. Also, the experience of having to do peer reviews and give feedback proved to be very fulfilling. Most classes where we have to give feedback it ends up being "Hey, great job!" but no real honest feedback. I felt like I really engaged with my group members and it was reciprocated. Looking back, the feedback I got from them really helped me develop my idea, and it was really fun to see them grow their ideas an...

Opportunity: The consumption of meat and dairy is not only one of the key contributors to a rising number of health problems, but it's also the single largest contributor to green house gasses, and it's enormously wasteful of our water sources. Headache, acne, heart disease, stroke, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, depression are all side effects of over-eating fast food. Eating fast food doesn't just wreak havoc on your body though, it also has devastating effects on the environment. Fast food packaging counts for 40% of all litter. Every bite of a burger boosts harmful greenhouse gases. Distributing trucks add to the pollution, emissions, congestion, and climate change. This is why more and more people are switching to a plant-based lifestyle. Eating a variety of unprocessed fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and legumes is key when it comes to maintaining a healthy, balanced diet and fighting climate change.  A quarter of 25-34 year old Americans are vegans or ...

1. Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. I plan to stay with Plantiful and lead the team in the day-to-day running of the business for at least 5 years. I want to do everything I can to ensure that we are successful in serving healthy, delicious, sustainably sourced food to students on UF's campus. The idea of being a part of the making of the menu and interacting with customers sounds really fun to me. But, I wouldn't want to be doing that for more than 10 years. During that time I would like to see the business grow and then I'd like to sell it to an individual or company that shares my vision and will continue making a difference in student's lives through healthy eating and sustainability. Depending on how successful we are at UF, I would also consider franchising the business so that people can open Plantiful restaurants all over the country.  2. Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? I chose this exit strategy because I'm super pass...

What was the general theme or argument of the book? This time I read Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. This book was about how what we believe about our own abilities and potential actually fuel our behavior and can predict our success. In the book Dweck talks about the power of our beliefs, both our conscious thoughts and unconscious thoughts, and how changing them can profoundly impact our lives. She shares two types of mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. According to Dweck, a fixed mindset assumes that our character, intelligence, and creativity can't change in any way. This type of mindset is characterized by striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs. A growth mindset, however, thrives on challenge and sees failure as an opportunity to grow and stretch your existing abilities. Depending on which type you lean more towards, it can say a lot about your life and what will make you feel happy and fulfilled.  How did the...

1. Tell us about a time that you failed.  Earlier this semester we were tasked with asking five close family members, friends, or people who know us best what they think makes us different. We had to record interviews with them and upload them with  our What's Your Secret Sauce blog post. I don't exactly remember what was going on that week, but I remember that it was a super busy week and I was feeling overwhelmed and a bit scattered. Early in the week I started asking family members to send me their video recordings, but it proved to be pretty difficult to get them to record and send me their videos. It was frustrating to have to wait on them because my ability to complete the assignment was completely out of my control. On Friday, once I finally had all of my videos compiled, I uploaded them and tried to turn in the assignment, only to find out that I missed the deadline by about an hour. I had completely forgotten about the 12 pm deadline. I usually get my blog posts up ...

Existing Market What I Think Is Next:  I think the next step in terms of the Plantiful venture would be to expand beyond just UF/college campuses and into new neighborhoods with broader consumer bases. I would love to try to get Plantiful fast food to be in shopping centers, airports, and urban downtown areas. Existing Market Interviews:  After interviewing three potential customers in my existing market (UF), they said that focusing on expanding into other areas is good, but that I should first focus on establishing Plantiful in Gainesville at UF. And what customers in Gainesville want is good food at a good price that is served fast. They will be down to try new, healthy food if it isn't more expensive and doesn't keep them waiting. Reflection:  Although I would love to expand into new markets, that is not the main goal right now. My next move needs to be coming up with a robust menu with plenty of options and figuring out how to keep costs down so that I can s...

Opportunity: The consumption of meat and dairy is not only one of the key contributors to a rising number of health problems, but it's also the single largest contributor to green house gasses, and it's enormously wasteful of our water sources. Headache, acne, heart disease, stroke, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, depression are all side effects of over-eating fast food. Eating fast food doesn't just wreak havoc on your body though, it also has devastating effects on the environment. Fast food packaging counts for 40% of all litter. Every bite of a burger boosts harmful greenhouse gases. Distributing trucks add to the pollution, emissions, congestion, and climate change. This is why more and more people are switching to a plant-based lifestyle. Eating a variety of unprocessed fruits, vegetables, wholegrains and legumes is key when it comes to maintaining a healthy, balanced diet and fighting climate change.  A quarter of 25-34 year old Americans are vegans or ...

1. Personal experience: I am a plant-based eater that attends UF and I have the same struggles that my target market has when it comes to finding quick and healthy plant-based food options to eat when I'm on campus. Valuable: This is valuable because I can relate to my customers on a personal level. I know what they want and need because I share their struggles. And having the background knowledge and connecting with them on a personal level gives me an edge. Rare: This is not super rare, as many people today eat plant-based, or are at least focused on living a healthier lifestyle.  Inimitable: I would not consider my personal experience to be inimitable, as the health food sector is growing and new health-food products and services are constantly popping up.  Non-substitutable: There isn't a substitute for having personal experience and a personal connection because that is unique to me.  2. Uniqueness of Venture/Lack of Direct Competition:  There are ...

The Pitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc97xOwSRDs Reflection from No. 2 I think the best advice/feedback I got was to double check the video before submitting. Apparently my pitch had cut off after about 30 seconds, so I couldn't get feedback on my entire pitch. In hindsight I definitely should have checked to make sure there was nothing wrong with the upload. Other than that, I got great feedback about how I had improved in my delivery since the first elevator pitch. People noticed that my energy and confidence were higher and that overall I showed more excitement and intrigue. This made me excited to give it another shot. What did you changed: I was really quite surprised by how much my pitch had improved from the first time to the third. The first time I had to film at least 10 takes to get one whole clip where I didn't stumble on my words or look like I was obviously reading from a script. Even the second time I still had to do about five or so takes to get it ju...