1) Your
beginning point.
An idea I had for an opportunity that does exists is an app for
college students. I didn’t exactly come up with this idea on my own, I was with
my sisters and friends one day and we actually started up a conversation about
how much we hated having to wait in lines at bars, or going out to a specific
bar and it being dead inside. So we started thinking about what if there was an
app created for all the bars around Gainesville that college students frequent.
The app could tell someone how long the lines are, what the cover is, age
requirement, and any deals they were doing that night. I know too many time you
go out and the line is too long or you thought it would be a better crowd and
wish you knew beforehand.
2) Describe your belief.
As stated above, the unmet need would be a
way for college student to know what bars have the shortest lines, best price,
best drink specials, etc. Overall, to give college student who want to go out
reliable and helpful information about where to go. This is definitely a need
that has existed, really since colleges started and students started going out
to surrounding bars. I have not heard of any app like the idea I have, so right
now I would say people are not doing anything to meet this current need. I
would say there is about a 50% chance this opportunity exists. Personally I
would love something like this, but going out in college areas has been around
forever and an app like the one I am describing has not come into existence
yet, so I could see that people may just not want or think they need something
like it.
3) Identify the prototypical customer.
The
prototypical customer would be college students that go to the University of
Florida and Santa Fe College, who partake in the night life of Gainesville (midtown
and downtown). Expanding to other University students down the road.
4) Iteration No. 1:
The first person I talked to was my sister,
Samantha, since it was with her, and some friends, that we first thought of the
general idea. She goes to a different college then me, so I asked her if she
has a similar problem with the bar and night life in her area. Like not knowing
the lines are so long, or not enough people are there, or the drink deals are
bad that night. She agreed that this was a problem she quickly became aware of when going out, experiencing herself the annoyance of not knowing line sizes, covers, etc. This is a problem at her own University and she could see other students there using an app like this one. She said she liked this solution and does see how it could actually help people when going out. We talked about certain aspects we would need the app to include, like which bars, clubs, etc. would be on it initially, how students would access the information, and what exactly is the information we would provide. Samantha said the amount of people in line, what the cover is, and drink specials for the night are musts for being on the app. Another good suggestion was to also have food items from the places on the app, if they have food available. Overall, she really did confirm to me that this problem does exist and this app could be a real solution used by college students everywhere.
The second person I talked to was my
roommate, who is currently a sophomore at UF. With my roommate we mostly talked
about the need itself, really if it is something students would see that they needed
or just something that looks cool and they might use throughout the year. We
talked about how the need would really only apply to students going out at
night to places like midtown and downtown. While talking with her, she definitely
made the point of needing further information about what exactly the app would
have in it and how it would all look, but she liked the idea overall and she
said it was something she could see herself and her friends use when going out.
One good point she did bring up throughout our conversation though, was that no
a lot of people may download the app, because it may be used by one person for
a whole group of friends. I could see how this may be a problem when it comes
to how many people would actually download the app.
The third person I talked to was a student
who graduated years ago from UF. I wanted to interview someone who had went to
UF prior to see if this has always been a problem, meaning not knowing how long
the lines are, what the cover is, etc. that this app would solve. I first asked
if he thought this was a problem/opportunity in the area. He did think that
something like this was missing from the night life of UF students. He said
this was something students would want but does not know if they need it,
simply because this is such an easy fix and it has not been done yet, so the
demand just might not be there. Overall, interviewing a former student was beneficial
because it showed me that this opportunity has existed for a while.
5) Reflect.
From talking with different people about this
idea, I learned that I really need to put a little more thought into the idea
as a whole. I do think it could be a real opportunity but I need to flesh out
the idea a lot more. As I was talking to the people I interviewed I did not
have a whole plan or picture of what the app would look like or how it would be
marketed, really I just had the idea. I also did not get as enthused a response
from the people I talked to that I thought I would. They seemed like it enough,
and said it was something they were interested in and they could see how
college students would be interested in it as well. Though again, I did not get
the response that people thought they needed the product, just that it sounded
like an interesting idea and could see its potential. Overall, I think my idea
was met with a positive response, but needs to be refined and thought out a bit
more to get more details fleshed out. The people I talked to had good feedback
for me about the what the use of the product would/could look like and I will
definitely take their responses to heart when looking at my idea again.
6) Summarize.
I would say that most of the original opportunity
is still there. Though I would definitely like to test the idea out with a
larger group of students to see if it is something they think they want and need.
I do see my idea as part of an untapped market but future insight by my peers
and research is needed. I do not think my new opportunity is more accurate then
when I started, I again think I need to do some more testing of the idea and
get an actual plan or picture in place of what I would want the app to look
like and the features on it. I think that it is crucial to adapt and listen to
customer feedback when testing out a new product or idea. These are the people
who you want to buy your product, listening to their impute about the product
and things people do and don’t like about it is really important in the process of
creating a new product. Of course you want to stick to the basics of your original
idea or product, but if customers have some insight on small suggestions to
better the product then I think entrepreneurs should be open to that. So there
is a trade-off between adapting and staying-firm, you want to create a product
that people will like and use but also one that is true to you and your idea of
what you want your product to be.
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