Interviewing Customers No. 3

1) I plan on reading my customers the "idea napkin" that I created, which is a rough draft of the business concept. I then asked them their thoughts on the business layout and asked them the price they would be willing to pay for the product. 

2) See below for 5 interviews.

3) I learned to not be shy during the interviews and to ask random kids who live on my dorm because they are the target market for our product. I also did more than 5 interviews and talked to one lady at the YMCA who wanted to use this product for water aerobics which would add a whole other dynamic and target market to the product. What surprised me the most was how much people were willing to pay for this product. What I expect to change as an outcome of these interviews is a more defined target market, because now I am actually interviewing people who are within the target market, not just random people on the streets. 

INTERVIEWS: 

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

As I was reading through Porter’s article, I was surprised to realize that there were five forces that shape industry competition. I hadn’t realized that competition sparks from five various forces. The threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, and bargaining power of suppliers are the five different forces that shape competition, which stood out to me in that if an existing entrepreneur can pinpoint these five points, he or she will better maximize profits.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The return on invested capital (ROIC) is something that was somewhat confusing to me. The ROIC is the appropriate measure of profitability for strategy formulation, not to mention for equity investors. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

One of the questions I would ask the author is: what do you mean when you say that faced with pressures to gain market share, managers can spark new kinds of competition that no incumbent can win? The other question I would ask is: how do you define the relevant industry? It seems difficult to define the industry in which competition takes place because there can be so many competing firms and similar products.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I do not think that there was anything the author was wrong about. The five forces that shape strategy were unique and helped me realize how to better identify competition and how to gain market share.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You. I like to think that my morals and values are a big part of my talents as a human and also as a businessperson. I believe that fair and trustworthy business is the only way to conduct sales in my mind. I have skills and experience with leadership, team building, and motivating others. I aspire to some day own a business and who knows, maybe the opportunity I identified in this class will eventually turn into a business later down the road. I see this business playing a large role in my life if I were to start it. I am not someone to just start a business for fun or for a short period of time, I would put all of my efforts into the business and would spend all of my time and energy on scaling it into something very large and profitable. I see myself quitting any other job I have to work on my business idea. 
2. What are you offering to customers? The product is basically a replacement for shower shoes, especially solving college students and gym-goers unmet needs. The idea is an “aerosol-like” can that is filled with a proprietary formula that creates a film that sticks to the person’s foot and covers the entire bottom of the foot. Then, after used, it can be somewhat-easily taken off just by peeling it. 
3. Who are you offering it to? I am offering this product specifically to college kids who live in dorms because this would solve a huge problem of wet, slippery, and dirty shower shoes that become nasty over time. Also, the gym market and people who shower at local fitness centers is definitely a demographic we are going after. 
4. Why do they care? Customers will actually buy this product because it is simply more convenient, cleaner, cooler, and a safer option to shower shoes. According to my interviews with customers, I found that people will pay for this product. 
5. What are your core competencies? We have a product that nobody else has and we have the creator of the product who fits the exact target market which is beneficial to marketing schemes to get other college kids to buy the product. 

     Most of the five elements of my business concept flow together and make a lot of sense. The only out-of-joint aspect is the actual creating of the product which would take a lot of money to experiment with. The marketing part of the business concept would be the easiest considering there is such an outlet for sales with people here at UF that have already said they would purchase the good if it were available. Overall, I believe that will more research and development, this business concept will turn into something great and could potentially be a scalable company.