25A- What's Next

25A- What’s Next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1: 

When looking at my venture concept, I feel that there is a lot of potential for improvement, with time. As of now, I feel that I am prepared as a person to take more action with my business idea, but I know that there are aspects of my idea that are fuzzy or need improvement before actually beginning the process. Overall, I think that my venture is feasible, but the proper parts have to be put in place for success. I can see my idea expanding to more than just keys, and as I take more action, I will think of ways to make my product irresistible. 

Step 2:

When I interviewed three members of my existing market about what’s next for my business idea, I basically got the same message from all three participants. They said that they loved my idea, but I would have to find some more special qualities to separate myself from Tile, a competitor who has a similar idea already in action. They made suggestions about how to separate myself, some of them being targeting a more specific population, such as college students. They claimed this would be beneficial in that I already have a good grasp of this population, rather than a general population such as “ages 16 and up”.

Step 3: 

When I heard this feedback from my existing market, I was pretty shocked at first. I failed to realize that I needed to be targeting a much more specific audience for a market, and this “smaller” group of people will lead to more and more growth. I think now I will find ways to make this idea more in favor for college students on campus. I have already thought of a few ways to make this happen, and it makes my idea a lot more complete and show that true “secret sauce” it’s been lacking. 

New Market.

Step 1 and 2: 

While my market is primarily college students, I was thinking of unique ways that I could target the senior community. Though there is a smaller market because not all seniors drive, there could be different features I could introduce on the app that could assist in a variety of ways. An example could be a way to figure out the model of the car and providing them with manuals on how to work different more technologically advanced features of the car. While this may be a stretch, it could also provide help to seniors who may need it.  

Step 3:

When I interviewed my grandparents and explained my business idea, they were very supportive of my venture. While they may be biased, they did recognize how my idea could be useful for the senior market. They were skeptical about the whole “app” part of it, because not a ton of senior citizens have smartphones, but they did feel like a market could be reached. They also said how they hate when they lose their keys, and having that could help save such a hassle in their days.

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

In exploring future opportunities regarding a new market, I was intrigued with the feedback I received when interviewing an older market. I found that there are a lot of innovations that could be made to make the lives of seniors easier and more efficient. While my product includes a lot of technology (something that seniors tend to stay away from), I feel that the benefits outweigh the costs and this is something that I should continue to pursue. People are looking to make their lives easier every day, and I feel that my original idea, complimented by some new innovative strategies targeted to an older audience, could produce exceptional results. Losing your keys is one thing, but older citizens tend to have questions and problems surrounding new technology, which is something I plan to make very simple and logical for them. I don’t think that this market is more attractive than my existing market, but it could provide new opportunities I neglected earlier in my business idea process.