Logan Russell's Venture Concept No. 2

1.    FilmFunder Venture Concept

Opportunity The forces or changes in the environment that are creating this opportunity are the dynamics of the ever-changing film industry. Currently, studio produced blockbusters are dominating the film market leaving scraps for whoever’s left behind, in this case independent filmmakers. The industry wasn’t always like this, but the condition it is in now has left a severe imbalance that must be restored so everyone has a greater chance to showcase their work to the world. 

The market my opportunity is designed for is based geographically in Los Angeles, California primarily and made specifically for young independent filmmakers without the means of producing their own films. My location is Los Angeles because obviously that is the hub of filmmaking, so most people will be there.  And my demographic are young individuals because most indie filmmakers are younger and lack experience. 

Customers are currently satisfying this need through a number of different options with varying degrees of success. The primary method independent filmmakers are coming up with budgets are through crowdfunding sites such as gofundme and Kickstarter. Filmmakers use these sites to get people contribute small amounts to their overall budget, often in exchange for incentives. There is very minimal loyalty to these sites because more often than not the financial goals are not reached and people try different sites hoping that the end result will be different in a positive way. 

This is a very big opportunity for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons is that the need is there and has never been more prominent in the history of the film industry. Never before has the financial gap between studio produced and independent filmmaker been this big. Because of this disparity, the independent filmmakers can use all of the help they can get, which is where my idea comes into play. I am not trying to change the industry; I understand that there is nothing that can change how the film industry operates. I am simply trying to find a way for independent filmmakers to showcase their work to the world in a cost effective manner. 

I’ve got a pretty good feeling that the opportunity that the window of opportunity for this idea will be open for a significantly long time. Like I said before, the industry is set in its way the way it is now; it would take a catastrophic event to even chip away at its current formula. Because of this, my opportunity has the chance to thrive because the environment is ripe for its need. 

Innovation My idea is creating a crowdfunding platform with the specific purpose of funding independent films of all kinds. A filmmaker will request how much money they need to raise as well as what they will offer those that contribute to the film’s budget. Possible investors can choose however much they wish to contribute, much like other crowdsourcing sites. 

Based off of feedback, I haven’t been thorough enough with my plan to generate cash flow. This is primarily because I myself cannot seem to figure out the most practical way to accomplish this; I cannot and will not pretend like I know the answer to this question. I have a few ideas, such as a subscription fee, ad revenue, taking a percentage of the cut of movie deals made on the platform and so on, but nothing really jumps at me. These are all possibilities and I have not received enough feedback in this area to come up with a solid one. 

Venture Concept I think the main reason customers will switch to my product from other crowdfunding platforms is because there doesn’t exist another such platform that caters specifically to filmmakers and raising money for their budgets. Because of this, I anticipate that it will not be very hard to get people to switch because of how there is quit literally no one else like us in the field currently. The competitors currently are other crowdfunding sites like gofundme and Kickstarter. Even though they do not cater to the aforementioned niche market we do, they are very popular so they are a competitor nonetheless

Three Minor Elements

My most important resource will be my well-established connections in the film industry to give me insight as well as business. Through years of cultivating strong bonds with fellow film enthusiasts, I can confidently say I know my market and they will warm up to me once I hit the scene. I am almost certain of it. What lies ahead for the venture is currently fairly up in the air. I cannot predict how well things will go should my product hit the market. But my hopes are that we will be able to expand our services in quality and scope should we encounter success right out the gate. What lies next for me would be to cultivate the idea to the point where I would feel comfortable passing it off into more capable hands and then move on with whatever my life throws at me next. While I am passionate about my idea, I know others can maintain it far better than I. 

2.    I received a great deal of feedback from both students and the interviewees of the “What’s Next exercise, and to my surprise and pleasure a great majority was quite positive. What was particularly lauded was the necessity and layout of the idea itself. Virtually everyone I have interviewed or received feedback from said that independent filmmakers struggling for funding is a very real problem that I have presented a functional and feasible solution to, which I was pleased to hear. Conversely, the one drawback I received from near everyone was that my method of making money was vague and unsubstantial. I totally understood this feedback, as I have been told this same thing for months now and have yet to come up with a clear solution in the form of a practical way to generate revenue. This financial aspect was the only part of the venture concept I saw fit to change, as it was the sole main issue I kept hearing about.

3.    I changed my venture concept by making the financial aspect of the document much more open ended. Through my feedback, many of the comments regarded how my source of revenue seemed flimsy, and I totally agree. I still, even with the information I received, cannot conceptualize one clear cut way to make good money with this idea, and I promptly reflected that in my revised venture. I made it clear to the reader that while I have many options, a clear-cut method has yet to be determined. I figured that transparency in my thinking will reflect well on me rather than pretending I know the answer. 

Logan Russell's Final Reflection

1.    One of the highs I experienced in this class throughout the semester was getting to know Dr. Pryor. As some of you may know, I am the one kid whose always at the lectures chatting with Dr. Pryor, and through this I have gotten the privilege of getting to know Dr. Pryor fairly well. I will sorely miss our banter and the work that we did together in class; it was amongst the highlights of my semester as a whole. My low point was when I recently had a very tough week and was unable to submit one of the assignments for the week; it was the first (and last) time that that happened in this class and I am highly regretful that it took place. Again, I had the most fun in class with Dr. Pryor. Him and I being the only two in the room gave way to some truly hilarious conversations. The most laborious experiences in this class involved arranging the numerous interviews that were required throughout the course. And I was at my most dread when filming my elevator pitches.

2.    My most formative experience I would say just the overall establishment of my idea that I would use for the rest of the semester. Once I was able to actually figure out an idea of that level, my overall confidence in myself skyrocketed. I will definitely remember my time getting to know Dr. Pryor over the years. Sure I learned a whole lot, but the time I spent with him is what I think will stick the longest. The previous also serves as my most joyous experience. I am most proud overall of how dedicated I was to being successful in this class by consistently presenting above par work.

3.    I believe that this class more than gave me all of the necessary tools and knowledge to become an entrepreneur, but I still lack the experience to call myself one. I do, however, definitely believe that I have moved much closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset through this course.

     4. When it comes to this class, my chief recommendation is that you put the most you can into the assignments. Even though there are quite a few and some are quite comprehensive, I took so much away from completing them with the most possible effort, so I recommend you do the same. With fostering the entrepreneurial mindset, again, just doing the assignments can get the ball rolling through wh

Logan Russell's Reading Reflection No. 3

For this assignment, I read Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. 

1.    The general theme of Inbound Marketing is discussing and analyzing the changing landscape of marketing and explaining what these changes are, how they impact marketing as a whole, and how to best adapt to these changes. Highlighted specifically are the impact of new technology and social media in the marketing realm.

2.    This book connects with and enhances what I am learning in class in a number of ways. For starters, this book dispenses incredible facts and advice about marketing, which is a huge factor of growing and maintaining a successful business. I have been able to use the information I learned from Inbound Marketing to both understand how to best get my idea recognized and on its feet but also how to better understand my target consumer through marketing. 

3.    If I ever had to design an exercise for this class based off of Inbound Marketing, it would go something like the following. I would ask the class to develop a marketing strategy unique to their product. This strategy would involve extensive research in order to conclude how to best reach out to their target consumer. Once the students have figured out their strategy, they will use it on real consumers and record their responses. 

4.    The aha moment I had with this book was when I realize just how important a factor marketing really was in the entrepreneurial process. Before Inbound Marketing, I knew marketing was essential, but I didn’t realize the scope of just how much relied on a strong grasp on modern marketing and marketing strategy.

Logan Russell's Celebrating Failure

1.    One of my greatest and most frustrating failures occurred when I repeatedly attempted to receive my driver’s license. I had dedicated hours to doing the online coursework and managed to get through that and onto the hardest part, the actual driver’s test. The first time I took it I failed miserably. I took it again and failed a second time, but that time it was worse because my instructor was a brutish, frustrated jerk who made me feel severely uncomfortable. It wasn’t until my third attempt that I ended up passing.

2.    I learned a series of things through this experience. The most important takeaway I would say was that sometimes I will have to deal with unsavory people in order to get through things. But the main thing is to adapt and overcome to see the problem through and come out on top. I also learned the significance confidence has on performance, as I strongly believe that I would have done significantly better on my tests if I had more confidence in myself and in my ability. 

3.    I believe failure at its root is an opportunity to learn and improve; society ingrains the thought in us that failure is intolerable and toxic toward success. I handle failure by working through it emotionally and then remembering that the sun will still rise the next day and that if I learned something from it, it was meant to happen. I would definitely say this class has changed my mindset on taking risks in a positive way.

Logan Russell's Your Exit Strategy

1.    Deciding how to exit my business was actually a much harder decision than I thought it would be. I have given so much thought into what it would do and how it would be ran and operated that I found myself surprisingly unequipped to answer the question. But after giving it a considerable amount of thought, I decided that I would give my company to someone much more capable of leading it five or so years down the road of it finding success should it do so. 

2.    I selected that exit strategy in particular for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that despite it being my idea, I am almost certain that I will want somebody more qualified and experienced to really take it to the highest high. While I don’t doubt my abilities to materialize this idea, I do doubt that I of all people should be the one to see it into maturity. Another reason is that I anticipate wanting to spread my wings and try other things in life, and holding onto the business might hinder that exploration. 

3.    I honestly think my exit strategy has had little to no bearing on the growth or decisions I have made on behalf of my idea. I never planned to have lifetime involvement in this idea; all I committed myself to was getting it from idea to reality, which is exactly what will happen.

Logan Russell's Whats Next?

Existing Market

With my venture, what I think comes next would be to find a way to distribute the movies we help fund. The first step in that direction would be to host sort of a film festival showcasing the films the site helped fund. This would get the films a good level of exposure, but I think more can be done in that department, which is why I bring up distribution. If we can get a contract with cinemas to show these movies, that would be the solution. 

My interviews were with Charles Cranley, a film student and filmmaker, Diane Leeman, a script editor, and Kevin Fine, a boom operator. All three have great experience in the film industry and were more than qualified to answer the questions I had about my product. When I asked them what was next for a venture like mine, they all agreed with the plan that I laid out, saying that it was indeed the logical next step for a service like mine. Upon describing my business to them, they said I should consider becoming a place where original content is made by users of the service which I thought was a remarkable idea that I immediately added to the grand scheme of my opportunity. 

The first step for the future based upon the feedback I received from my interviews would be to continue thinking about my plans of distribution. I believe the concept of hosting a festival showing off the work of our clients is strong and will be mutually beneficial to us and to the filmmakers.

I believe following this up much farther down the road will be producing our own content, much like what amazon does now. We would utilize the filmmakers and personnel we helped, which again will be mutually beneficial for us and them alike.

New Market

The market I will be using is the actual movie theater market, or talking directly to movie theaters. My venture concept will generate interest from this market because should I continue with my plan with the idea that I will make deals with this market to show my clients’ movies, then this market will make a huge profit. 

My interviews were with Marc Richman, an employee of a film distribution company, and Raul Ballesteros a manager at a local movie theater I frequent. Upon telling them both of my concept they both agreed that it could prove lucrative by bringing people to theaters and promoting the content of the filmmakers I assist. 

What surprised me the most about learning about this market was how receptive they were to my idea. I anticipated that there would be a positive reception, but I didn’t expect it to be the level it was at. I am now confident that I want to incorporate this market into my own. 

My expectations were correct in that I was expecting a positive response; I knew that this idea would be lucrative so I went into this with a level of confidence. While this market is very intriguing, I want to stick in the market I am in now, serving the people of that market. This is because I want to work with the underdog; the cinema market is doing just fine, so I am not as attracted to it. 

Logan Russell's Venture Concept No. 1

FilmFunder Venture Concept

Opportunity The forces or changes in the environment that are creating this opportunity are the dynamics of the ever-changing film industry. Currently, studio produced blockbusters are dominating the film market leaving scraps for whoever’s left behind, in this case independent filmmakers. The industry wasn’t always like this, but the condition it is in now has left a severe imbalance that must be restored so everyone has a greater chance to showcase their work to the world.

The market my opportunity is designed for is based geographically in Los Angeles, California primarily and made specifically for young independent filmmakers without the means of producing their own films. My location is Los Angeles because obviously that is the hub of filmmaking, so most people will be there.  And my demographic are young individuals because most indie filmmakers are younger and lack experience. 

Customers are currently satisfying this need through a number of different options with varying degrees of success. The primary method independent filmmakers are coming up with budgets are through crowdfunding sites such as gofundme and Kickstarter. Filmmakers use these sites to get people contribute small amounts to their overall budget, often in exchange for incentives. There is very minimal loyalty to these sites because more often than not the financial goals are not reached and people try different sites hoping that the end result will be different in a positive way. 

This is a very big opportunity for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons is that the need is there and has never been more prominent in the history of the film industry. Never before has the financial gap between studio produced and independent filmmaker been this big. Because of this disparity, the independent filmmakers can use all of the help they can get, which is where my idea comes into play. I am not trying to change the industry; I understand that there is nothing that can change how the film industry operates. I am simply trying to find a way for independent filmmakers to showcase their work to the world in a cost effective manner. 

I’ve got a pretty good feeling that the opportunity that the window of opportunity for this idea will be open for a significantly long time. Like I said before, the industry is set in its way the way it is now; it would take a catastrophic event to even chip away at its current formula. Because of this, my opportunity has the chance to thrive because the environment is ripe for its need. 

Innovation My idea is creating a crowdfunding platform with the specific purpose of funding independent films of all kinds. A filmmaker will request how much money they need to raise as well as what they will offer those that contribute to the film’s budget. Possible investors can choose however much they wish to contribute, much like other crowdsourcing sites. Money will be made by taking a percentage of the money raised by the effort should the goal be reached. We also aim to showcase the work of the films we fund by putting together something like a miniature film festival displaying the movies. Through this, the films will get the exposure they may not have otherwise. 

Venture Concept I think the main reason customers will switch to my product from other crowdfunding platforms is because there doesn’t exist another such platform that caters specifically to filmmakers and raising money for their budgets. Because of this, I anticipate that it will not be very hard to get people to switch because of how there is quit literally no one else like us in the field currently. The competitors currently are other crowdfunding sites like gofundme and Kickstarter. Even though they do not cater to the aforementioned niche market we do, they are very popular so they are a competitor nonetheless

Three Minor Elements

My most important resource will be my well-established connections in the film industry to give me insight as well as business. Through years of cultivating strong bonds with fellow film enthusiasts, I can confidently say I know my market and they will warm up to me once I hit the scene. I am almost certain of it. What lies ahead for the venture is currently fairly up in the air. I cannot predict how well things will go should my product hit the market. But my hopes are that we will be able to expand our services in quality and scope should we encounter success right out the gate. What lies next for me would be to cultivate the idea to the point where I would feel comfortable passing it off into more capable hands and then move on with whatever my life throws at me next. While I am passionate about my idea, I know others can maintain it far better than I.