Opportunity:
·
The
forces in the environment creating this opportunity is the increasing
population and the increase of drivers in popular areas and limited spaces to
build more parking lots or parking garages. This increase causes individuals to
spend a significant amount of time looking for parking spots. In addition,
individuals typically are very busy, have specific times they need to be
somewhere, or have more tasks that they need to complete for the day and
therefore have a higher need for parking to take up less time in their day.
·
The
market includes a variety of different demographics. The market is typically in
a busy city or area or traveling to a busy area frequently. College students on
large campuses, shoppers at the mall during busy hours or holidays, and travelers
who must park their car at the airport are some of the largest parts of my
market. In addition, those who own the parking garages and parking lots are
also a part of my markets as it will be their say if my product is installed
into their lots.
·
Consumers
are satisfying their need currently by simply just searching for empty parking
lots or arriving earlier to allot more time for themselves to find a parking
spot. The current approach to their need does not fix the issue that parking a
car can take up a large amount of time within one’s day. Therefore, many
consumers are not loyal to how they are handling the situation, but have no
other choice in how to address it.
·
The
opportunity stands out against many other current systems as it includes
features that the others don’t. Many consumers would benefit from the
opportunity and would use it frequently if they were to live in the specified
geographical areas.
·
Though
the opportunity is great, technology is advancing rapidly on a daily basis and
the opportunity may not be opened for too long as someone may implement it
sooner or come up with an even better technologically advanced system for
parking.
Innovation:
·
The
product I am offering to my consumers is a real-time display board paired with
a smart phone application. The real-time display board would be installed in
busy parking lots and parking garages and would show an overview of the lot and
where the vacant spots are. I would offer the opportunity to install this
real-display board in existing garages and lots and in garages and lots that
are being constructed. The application would allow individuals to plug in
directions directly to a spot and would allow them to search for nearby parking
lots or garages that have vacant spots. Included in the application would also
be a feature that allowed individuals to pay directly for a spot from the app
instead of having to use the current system for lots that require a fee to
park.
·
The
application for the smart phone would be free as I would allow other companies
or apps to place ads on the app. I would charge the parking lots and parking
garages to install the real-time display board and I would charge them about
$50,000 for the product and for installation of the product.
·
Creating
the technology for this endeavor will be and expensive process, so I will have
to plan accordingly to ensure that I have the appropriate funds to invest into
this opportunity. In addition, I will have to ensure that businesses and
parking garages will want to purchase this product and see the benefit of
spending their money on this product. These are the two greatest things that my
business needs focus on to start-up as I feel that these will be difficult to
acquire and are extremely significant to my opportunity’s success.
Venture Concept:
·
Individuals
who use the application will definitely switch to this new product as it
requires no fee and it will make their driving lives a lot easier. In addition,
it will allow them to save a lot more time during the day to get their other
tasks completed.
·
However,
it will be a lot harder to get parking garages and parking lots to switch to
this new technology as it will cost them a lot of money and they may not see
the benefits to it. Those parking garages and parking lots who do not require a
fee may believe that the real-time display board and application pairing may be
too expensive for what they would be gaining out of it.
·
There
are a few competitors, but very little. There is a parking display in the Tampa
International Airport and a few other busy locations. However, these
competitors do not have the application paired with the display boards and
their display board are not as high of a technology that the real-time display
boards would be.
·
Price
point, customer support, and business location play a huge role in defining my
business concept. I may have to work on the price point of the real-time
display boards as many parking garages and parking lots may find the price
unattractive. Technology always comes with some issues at one point or another
so I am going to need my company to have a solid customer support unit to help
individuals with issues with the application or with the display board.
Business locations are by far one of the most important as these display boards
will only be truly successful in certain areas that have a large amount of
traffic.
·
The
organization of my business would be really important. I would have to have
different sectors as there is a lot of different aspects that goes into my
business. The most important sector would be those who are technologically
advanced and can produce the product and application for the business. For the
start-up of my business, I would start smaller and have as little employees as
possible and focus entirely on producing the product and then I would work to
sell the product and manage the business.
·
In
addition to my organization of the business, I believe that partnering with
someone is technologically savvy and has the skills and experience to help
develop and lead this product would be beneficial to me and my opportunity. I
feel that this would allow the business to run more smoothly and the
technological side of the business would have a much stronger base. In
addition, by having this individual as my partner I would be able to share the
risk of the entrepreneurial endeavor, while ensuring that the technology being
used is advanced, updated, and easy to use making it a competitive product in
the market.
The Three Minor Elements:
·
My
connections and determination will make it hard for competitors to copy my
success. I have a lot of connections with those who would provide a lot of help
in starting the business and giving me even more connections. Most of my family
is involved in business and my father works for Par Technology, so I
automatically receive a lot of help from those around me. I am passionate about
this product and it would be hard to copy my determination and passion.
·
Next for
my innovation, I would like to focus on more features that I could include with
the application and possibly team up with some car companies to get a program
installed into the car that works with the application. However, I truly
believe that most of my success will come from the basics of this opportunity
and just focusing on the businesses and schools that experience this issue the
most.
·
In 5
years, I hope that this venture is successful and still making lives easier. In
the next decade, as an entrepreneur, I hope to be establishing more ways to
make life easier for people and to be using my entrepreneurial mindset in
whatever line of work I am in. This first venture helps me understand the
process of a business venture and gives me the experience to help me grow as an
entrepreneur.
Feedback & Alterations:
Reading the feedback that I received
on the Venture Concept #1 was very helpful and I received a lot of amazing
feedback that allowed me to better my Venture Concept. Each student that
provided feedback on my post was complimentary of my business while also
offering me advice that proved nothing but helpful. One student offered up the
idea that I partner up with someone technologically savvy to ensure that I do
not have so much on my plate and so that the technological side of my business
has a strong basis. This student continued on to point out that this venture
may be an expensive one and that I would have to find a way to invest into the
many prototypes it may need. Another student advised that I offer this product
to existing parking garages or lots and upcoming parking garages or lots. This
is something I had not even thought to explicitly state within my venture
concept. The last two students agreed that I should stay focused on the
business and schools. Even though my idea to pair up with companies was
innovative, they explained that the businesses and schools would be where this
product was most beneficial and would have the biggest effect.
Based on the feedback I received, I
altered my venture concept to better incorporate some of the advice that was
provided. Within the innovation section of my venture concept, I added more
information on the importance of receiving funds and investing money within
this business as that will truly be a make or break for my business. In
addition, in the innovation section I clarified that I would offer this product
to existing and new parking garages and parking lots. I also added more
information about the organization of my business and included the idea of
partnering with someone who is technologically savvy as I feel that this would
be incredibly beneficial for my business and take a lot of weight of my
shoulders and allow me to pour myself into the business side of the venture,
which is where my strengths lie. Last, I added in the three minor elements that
though I do have possible plans for the innovation of my product in the future,
I may have to reevaluate as the time comes closer as continuing to focus on
businesses and schools might be the better option for my venture.
