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My name is Mickel Fadel and I am a student at the University of Florida. I am here today to discuss my venture concept: The Strawisk. The ban on plastic straws in Gainesville, Florida pondered in my mind until I envisioned my product. I as an entrepreneur wanted a change for the paper straws because I saw a market that can be tampered with without causing damage with my interference.  I became a potential costumer for the product I invented. After having a few conversations regarding the transition from plastic to paper straws, I noticed that other people also disliked this new product and there were many different reasons to hate the paper straws. Many people America use paper straws, in fact, one estimates 500 million straws are used in the united states every single day. Many businesses are suffering from this change because paper is 2 dollars more than plastic. There are many restaurant owners in Gainesville who have changed from plastic to paper and that is when my opportunity sparked. With this information, I designed a well-textured straw that will stimulate the need of the customers and it will allow them to enjoy my quality product. This opportunity has capability of reaching restaurants worldwide and with the right amount of laws put in place, it will create a higher volume supplying the world. Until restaurants owners remove the sale of beverages, straws will always have a need in the market and I can seize this opportunity by creating a better product for the same price. Every person in the world has at least eaten out one time or used a straw. Straws are not meant to be important but providing that extra cushion of comfort will allow straw users to enjoy their meal even better. My window of opportunity is every lasting and it is market that can be sold to every country in the world. Plastic is always the option for people and humans do not care what they are drinking out of, as long as it is easy to use and comfortable. My invention gives straws a better platform to users and I see this invention becoming an everlasting money machine. 

My innovation is a paper straw with a twist. The Strawisk. My straw differs from other paper straws in the market because mine includes a glazed bees wax from the middle of paper straw all the way to the top of straw. This mechanism used will allow customers to to be satisfied when drinking out of the straw that I invented. The reason that my straw works better because original plastic straws rip in the middle but with my innovation we secure half of the straw allowing the straw to remain in water for a longer period without ripping apart. My straw is made out of biodegradable materials therefore it has a more positive effect on the environment than any other straw because wax is edible and is more likely to vanish faster than plastic or paper. Paper is much more expensive than plastic but due to this law passed, plastic will not be consumed by users therefore we must work with what we have got and nothing is wrong with a little twist to it from my end. Therefore, I decided to remove paper from the straw essentially saving more money than regular paper, because wax is cheaper than paper and as a user, I do want to decrease the cost for my merchants. I have decided to cut the paper in half and use wax for the other half reducing the cost of the straw, while also securing the straw. Depending on who I am dealing business with, is how my pricing will go because I refuse to sell thousands of straws to Costco and sell the same straws to local restaurants when they purchase 1/10^th of that price. What I will make sure to do is remain my cost a little under the cost that they are receiving to make sure that both parties are satisfied with this process. The only way my business can start running efficiently is to make sure I am hitting my goals and I am meeting my needs. My goal is to target a market with a high demand using The Straw-Whisk and I want to satisfy my costumers, my users, and my retailers/wholesale departments. I would essentially sell a pack of 24 straws for under 2 dollars which is cheaper than any other straw company out right now. With the packaging, the shipping, the making of the straws, the handling, the taxes, I would still be profiting from selling the straws for that much in retail price on the shelves of Walmart or Costco. My restaurant and wholesale businesses would receive a cheaper price because they are purchasing more than a few hundred straws and therefore I would be willing to drop my prices to a penny per straw. That would make 100 straws equal a dollar. I would be making so many of these straws at such a low cost that I would double my margins if I sold one straw for a penny.

My innovation will allow consumers to be satisfied to using the paper straws without complaining or feeling unhappy about their product. I for sure have felt the need to throw away my paper straw out many times due to the discomfort of the sogginess texture received from the straw. Not only will costumers be delighted from using the unique straw, we would also be raising awareness regarding out marine lives since the law was passed for that reason. The reason to why costumers would switch to my product is because it will be forced on them just how plastic or paper was forced on them, and it will be very easy to switch because it is a better product than the paper or plastic product used before. Moreover, they will switch to my product because my competitors are not giving me much competition when indeed my straw is the better product. My glazed tip includes a comfort around the lips causing a unique satisfactory in the brain to prolong the sipping action. My competitors are using other products with different materials and their weaknesses are that my product is cheaper and natural. My product is natural and has an enormous amount of supplies without harming our planet. I am more likely to succeed than anyone pursuing this venture because I have my distribution on lock down, with a demand in Gainesville for me to take advantage of.  My secret sauce is that I am cheap to make, in fact I can make the wax myself and I do not need to use a third party. My next venture is to create a professional prototype by the end of the year, and I see myself creating a large demand in the United States as an entrepreneur. This venture allows me to grasp an idea on my future.

I did not receive much feedback from my classmates, but I did speak to experts and they recommended that I think about packaging and or make the straws more personalized when ordering. We have with certain straws, we have with certain cups, why should I not franchise my straw and give it its own platform? It sounds silly but it is a market. Based off of the feedback that I received, I will be creating a curve on the tip of the straw to allow the straw to feel "funny" giving it a unique form of identification.