23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

Resources: 
* below are the 10 resources my venture has. I will only mention the VRIN of each resource if it contains it.
** quick reminder this is based on my business idea for a clothing company for basics

1. My experience with online and traditional shopping
• V- valuable because it gives me reference to things that make the customer experience better with both methods of purchase. 
• N- not substitutable
2. My experience with putting together coherent and fashionable outfits
• V- valuable because it gives me a sense of style that can be expressed in the brand 
• R- not necessarily rare, but definitely has a room in the market as far as creating a brand with a website that shows different ways to style the pieces 
3. Social responsibility
• V- growing attention to customers and stakeholders in company's social responsibility. Creates value.
• N- not substitutable 
4. My attention to detail:
• V- allows me to notice things that many others cannot, specially in design 
• R- moderately rare 
• N- not substitutable
5. Business Major 
• V- courses and overall involvement I have in school can help me in my business
• N- degree is not substitutable
6. Support of family and friends- moral and financial 
• V- can help in encouraging me, and help financially in the beginning 
• R- kind of, many relatives of start ups aren't supportive and can't financially help 
• I- kind of hard to have supportive people that believe enough in your business idea that would help financially 
• N- perhaps it can be substitutable, but having family support is different 
7. Connections to alumni and university's social capital 
• V- very valuable because gators help gators, and university has many connections that are transferable to its students 
• I- can't imitate the amount of social capital that the institution can offer
• N- not substitutable 
8. No outstanding debt
•  V- valuable to start a business without any debt already on your back
• N- not substitutable 
9. Long-term vision
• V- valuable because it sets a path for the business in a way that you can break it down to short-term goals
• R- depends, many start ups don't have a business idea they have a product 
• N- not substitutable 
10. 2+ years of working experience 
• V- no matter the job it gives you experience with working with people, shows you the value of money through hard work, teaches you life lessons

My top resource seems to be the support of my family and friends. Its really important as a start-up to have people who believe in you and can invest in you. It's also important for you to trust the person(s) who give you money. It's easy for someone to be starting their first business venture to get scammed or start partnerships with bad character people.