24A- Venture Concept No.1

24A- Venture Concept No.1

Opportunity.

The opportunity I saw is that bars and clubs frequented by college students or made to handle large, hyper, rowdy crowds all at once have an increased risk due to over intoxication which causes loss of inherent ability where seemingly small spills or ice on the floor could cause a bigger injury than if someone was sober. By putting the plastic covering over the opening of the cup it could significantly reduce that liability and risk that the bar/club managers have.

·         What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity?

o   I don’t think that there have been too many changes extremely recently that has caused this opportunity to arise. I think that there is a new rise around being more rambunctious and care a little less about your surroundings when people do go out which makes spilling and dropped drinks a lot more common. There is a theme of going out to simply drink to get drunk which causes you to become clumsier and more of a liability.

·         How is this market defined geographically and demographically?

o   The market is defined geographically as mainly downtown cities, college campuses, or college towns that have a higher number of people per square foot of building than other places. The demographic would be focused more towards a younger crowd because they are mainly the ones that are going out more to these places so it would be focused on these bar and club owners who live in these areas.

·         How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now? 

o   I don’t think most places are satisfying this need at this time because I think that most don’t realize that there is a need there to be filled, which means that they would be all the more open to improvement.

·         How big is this opportunity?

o   I think that this has a lot of potential due to how many high capacity clubs and bars there are just from being in a college town but if you were able to expand this same concept to a national spectrum and then a global one, a lot of opportunities open up for you.

·         How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

o   I think the window will be open for a long time because of the fact that many people do not see the need flat out yet which means that there is not another product out there that is satisfying this need, yet once there is wind of this product I feel as though others will find adaptations and different ways to incorporate it to their business model so you should take full advantage while you can.

Innovation.

My innovation is an adaptation to an already made product. My product is a plastic film that goes across the top of a cup that is sized specifically for the cups used at bars and clubs when serving mixed drinks. The product has a main function of serving as a barrier for liquid and ice spills if someone were to tip their cup to far one way or the other. This allows for there to be less liquid and ice on the floor due to someone dropping their cup. This is beneficial for the bar and club owners because there is a lot of liability that comes with owning a business like that and the risk that someone who is intoxicated, which means they have less motor skills than usual, slipping due to a wet floor is a big cost that the business has to take out in insurance. There are other excess benefits that come along with the product as well. Customers will like the establishment that much more because it does not have a sticky and gross floor as well as saving them for the potential of ruining the clothes that they wear out due to someone spilling a drink. It also saves time in the cleanup process for employees at the end of the night because of the significantly less amount of drinks that have been spilt on the floor, which saves time and money in the long run. I would be selling the film that goes around the cup in a bulk amount because I am not selling them to individual people, I am selling them to whole businesses. The price would very since there could be discounts based on how much at a time someone would be buying, but if you break it down to individual seals then it would be close to $.01-.05 per lid.

Venture Concept.

·         What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch? 

o   Customers aren’t using a product right now that is taking care of this need so making the switch would be because they see an opportunity for improvement and more ease of labor. Getting a handle of putting on the lids for the bartenders might be an adjustment but not a hard one to make by far.

·         Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities? 

o   Right now there are not any competitors which makes it almost harder to market sometimes because since people have not really realized this need they are hesitant to make an unnecessary switch but at the same time people will see that a trial period is also a possibility.

·         What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept?

o   The biggest part I would say would be customer experience because that would gain the first customers in the field and retain them for the longest periods and hopefully make it a regular thing where these lids would be used all the time. But it would be that initial customer experience that would be the win it or lose it scenario.  

·         How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?  

o   We would have to have some sort of machine and machine workers in order to produce to actual product as well as a good customer service and assistance line because our customers are the ones that are keeping us in business. We would also initially need an extraordinary sales team because they would be the ones that would allow us to make our initial footprint into these businesses. It wouldn’t necessarily need to be a big group but a competent one.

The three minor elements

I think the most important resource to start off with is human capital because it would be the networking that would get our business in the running with other companies. I think the thing that is next for our venture is getting our name out there and becoming more popular with other companies because this is a whole new idea, people will have no idea we exist. In five years I would like to see the product in regular use in a couple bars/clubs within a specific area. In a decade I could see adaptations being made where you could customize the lid with maybe college teams or city designs on the lid and expand from there.