What Makes Me Special

1. Fundraising Experience: having to raise a lot of money while fundraising for my philanthropy, breast cancer education and awareness

• Valuable: Because my idea for the SeaStraw is totally new and will cost a lot of money, being able to fundraise for it is valuable
• Rare: not very rare, many can do this
• Inimitable: although many people can imitate and do this, I have experience with making graphics and doing in-person fundraising so it'll be hard to imitate these various fundraising ideas
• Non-substitutable: I can do it through the Internet instead of spending time on it in person.

2. Relationships with others involved in entrepreneurship: I know many people who are taking/have taken this class and thought of ideas of their own who inspire me, and my dad is also an entrepreneur as I mentioned in an old post

• Valuable: being surrounded by others who are going through your struggles/successes and trying to do the same thing as you is very valuable
• Rare: this is not very rare as it applies to everyone who knows others taking this class
• Inimitable: this can be imitated in almost every community or school through students taking entrepreneurship classes, entrepreneurship clubs or groups in a community, etc.
• Non-substitutable: Some of these interactions and conversations can never be replicated or substituted

3. Diverse cultural background: my family recently moved to Japan and I grew up in Seattle, going to Japan a lot as well

• Valuable: this is extremely valuable, my parents both live in Japan now and half my family is there so I can learn from their market and target consumer bases over there. The rest of my family is all in Seattle, which has also a very unique and tech-savvy culture
• Rare: this is rare and pretty unique to me
• Inimitable: this capability is hard to be imitated, especially so specifically down to Japan
• Non-substitutable: No one else I know has this benefit but me

4. Support from eco-friendly groups: lots of environmentally friendly clubs on campus and outside of campus, there are conservation groups

• Valuable: this support is valuable to help garner attention and funds
• Rare: some other start-ups may not have the support from large communities like this
• Inimitable: this capability can be imitated for other products that may attract the attention of eco-friendly groups, but they probably won't be interested in products that do not help the environment.
• Non-substitutable: Their support and knowledge about the environment is unique

5. Social support: being a member of Greek life gives me a wide net to market my product to and help it spread

• Valuable: this is valuable as it gives me a broad community to start with
• Rare: this is not very rare, many people are in Greek life as well or belong to other similar large groups
• Inimitable: this capability could be imitated for any Greek life on campuses across the country
• Non-substitutable: The relationships are unique!

6. Public speaking skills: I took a class targeting this

• Valuable: this is valuable and will help me pitch my product in an excited, fresh way to potential consumers
• Rare: many people have strong public speaking skills
• Inimitable: this can be imitated or learned, but my specific public speaking and the humor/energy I want to use is unique to me
• Non-substitutable: for this specific skill I would be the one talking

7. Location near the water (being in Florida)

• Valuable: this is valuable for my product because I am around a lot of talk about ocean conservation, and I can emphasize the aspect of SeaStraw that allows it to be thrown in the ocean when it is over
• Rare: this is rare for states that aren't along the coast
• Inimitable: this capability can be imitated for any states like WA, CA, etc. that are along the coastline
• Non-substitutable: This is a pretty unique trait and I don't think it can easily be substituted.

8. On-campus connection: I am friends with someone who is the president of a "green" club on campus that would most likely be interested in buying and handing out some of these straws

• Valuable: this is valuable and could give great publicity to the product
• Rare: slightly rare but a lot of people know similar figures
• Inimitable: this capability is hard to be specifically imitated on campus, like being able to hand out straws in the Plaza of the Americas, but could be imitated elsewhere
• Non-substitutable: I would have to do it myself

9. Legally supported: Because plastic straws were legally banned from Gainesville, it is a benefit for my product

• Valuable: this is extremely valuable, as it creates a strong need for a new straw that everyone loves
• Rare: this is pretty unique and rare, a lot of places still have plastic straws
• Inimitable: this capability is hard to imitate because the law needs to be passed by one's own government
• Non-substitutable: this can't be substituted by much else to create the same effect because it is a law

10. Internet presence: I am active on Twitter and other forms of social media that would be perfect for boosting attention of my product and creating a viral nature around it

• Valuable: this is valuable, a lot of products have gone viral and started out this way through gaining attention online
• Rare: this is not at rare, anyone could go online and try to get their product to go viral and garner attention
• Inimitable: this capability can somewhat be imitated, but each person will present their product online in a unique way (their own caption, picture, etc.)
• Non-substitutable: This is pretty substitutable, a lot of companies just have social media people hired to do this

Top Resource: This is kind of an interesting take, considering this resource is something I had no part in. However, after reflecting on my list, I think my top resource is the fact that the SeaStraw is legally supported by Gainesville banning plastic straws. It really forces people to become potential customers because everyone is looking for a straw alternative. If plastic straws weren't banned, I would have a lot less customers and a very small reach of people who would be interested in paying for an eco-friendly straw.