Just a Bit of my Entrepreneurial Experience

One time in my life that I was exposed to entrepreneurship was in the Creativity in Action class that I was enrolled in this past Summer 2018 semester. I was paired with a team of four other students, and we were tasked with coming up with a particular “innovative” product/service that would revolutionize the realm of biodiversity in an area that is struggling. However, this was no simple startup process- we only had about three weeks to come up with our innovation, design it, make it tangible, and market it. At the end of our deadline we were to present our product to a board of higher-ups at UF so we could receive feedback on how we handled both the inventing process and professional debut of our product. 

And did I mention it was all for a grade?

Essentially, to someone who had never been on Shark Tank, I had no idea where to start. The only ideas I could come up with that had to do with improving biodiversity had already been invented by someone else. 

The only advantage I had on some of these already existing entrepreneurs was my ridiculous empathy for animals that a lot of strictly-business-people don’t possess. Being a biology major with plans to make it to veterinary school, my first thoughts when posed with the “what can you do to make the world a better place?” question are how we as humans can change our actions to allow animals to thrive. What most people don’t realize is that animals are directly affected by most of our environmental actions- and usually for the worse.

Therefore, I found a cross section between both animals and a struggling aspect of biodiversity that I cared about- manatees. The effects that our boating habits have on the wellbeing of these glorious sea cows are often well overlooked by marine communities. They are injured and killed by boat propellers of all kinds, by people of all kinds, that don’t care to take any precautions before partaking in activities that could be fatal to other organisms. I pitched to my group that we design some sort of silicon glove/cover to put over each individual boat propeller blade that would not only lessen the blow when manatees come in contact with them, but not impede on the boating experience so much that consumers are hesitant to buy them.

We went through the whole “entrepreneurial process”. We got our prototype approved by our teacher (after much opposition- he really didn’t like our idea), mapped how and where we’d get the various supplies needed to bring this idea into the physical world, and worked on the pitch we’d be presenting to our “investors”. It was a struggle and I didn’t find it very enjoyable.

But, when the time came to present our project to the world, the response was great. Everybody that saw our poster and heard our pitch really appreciated the innovative nature of our product. Plus, nobody can really hate anything that has to do with a big, clumsy and cute marine mammal. My group ended up winning the “bright idea” award, giving us the recognition I feel like we really deserved after putting in all the hard work that we did.

I’m taking this course as it is required by the University of Florida to complete my Innovation minor. I’ve never much thought of myself as an entrepreneur, but maybe after I take this course I’ll be able to see a little bit more of that characteristic in myself. I’m sure the skills I take away will be helpful when trying to open my own veterinary practice in the far future, so I’m looking forward to seeing what I can learn over the course of the next semester.