1.)
My campus umbrella opportunity I discussed in my
forming an opportunity belief post.
2.)
Students at UF do not like carrying umbrellas
because they are burdensome. It rains a lot in Florida so there needs to be a
way that students can have easy access to umbrellas on campus.
Who: UF students
What: Carrying around an umbrella is a burden.
Students should still have access to them
Why: How to get umbrellas all over campus
and make money and make sure they are not being stolen
3.)
Testing the who: Everyone who I have talked to
about this need has said it is a good idea. They all agree that when you need
an umbrella the most is when you find yourself without one.
Testing the what: This question really made
me take a different look at my idea. On the days where its sunny, no one is
going to be using my umbrellas. Is it even worth it if it is going to be sunny
all the time?
Testing the why: Most people have this need
in the same way. This idea serves one very specific purpose which might cause
it to be unsuccessful. I still believe that the need warrants a solution
though.
4.)
All 5 interviewees had very similar ideas. I
chose to do my interviews a little differently and bring up the flaws I had
perceived in my own idea and asked them what they thought about them. In terms
of having idle inventory when it is not raining the overall response was just
to make sure that I was making enough money when it did rain so that the business
could be sustained. In terms of theft one idea was to put a tracker in every umbrella
but this would be extremely expensive. One of the people I interviewed brought
up the point that the whole reason this idea exists is that people hate carrying
around umbrellas. So as long as the pickup and drop off locations were accessible
then people would be less likely to take them because they never wanted to
carry one around in the first place. Overall everyone thought it was a good
idea and could see themselves getting a good use out of it.
5.)
After interviewing people I would say that I did
not previously know that my idea could benefit as many people as I thought it would.
Now I could actually see this coming to fruition.
Hey James,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points you bring up in your interviews. My first thought was theft. Many cities have this idea implemented but in the form of bikes. These bikes take your credit card information before you are able to unlock the bike at one of the stations. If someone tries to steal the bike, the company can just charge their credit card for the replacing of the bike. I think you could definitely implement this with your umbrella idea, in order to prevent theft.