Final Venture Concept

Opportunity:
•Getting lost at school is something that pretty much every single student goes through at some point in their academic career. Whether there are too many buildings or too many classrooms in each building finding a new class is very difficult and frustrating. Because there will always be new students at schools, people getting lost in new buildings, and parents visiting schools this need will likely never fade.

•There is no sure-fire way to fill the need. Many of my interviewees said that they would love an app like this but have no real issue with the current way they get around. There are paper maps and individuals who can offer direction and guidance, but almost all of them agreed that an app would be much more efficient and accessible.

•Potential customers: Schools. Particularly students that are new to the school, or parents visiting the school for the first time. Any student could use the app when they’re going to a classroom or office that they have never been to before.
•The primary target audience is Board Members or Student governments at universities. Even though the actual users of the app are the ultimate consumer, we must get through the first line of authority first.

Innovation:
•For the ultimate consumer, I will market an application that is an extension to a product they already probably use every single day. It will relieve their confusion and anxiety and remedy their tardiness.  This application could be free and downloadable onto smartphones, iPods, iPads, and other tablets and smart devices.
•For School Districts and Universities with a large budget, I will sell limited rights to this application and a partnership to customize the application (or create an extension to an application they may already have) with the full capabilities of the Get2Class App.

Venture Concept: 
•Students will download my product if they are concerned with their ability to get around their school as quick as possible and avoid being late or walking into the wrong classroom.
•School Districts and Universities will buy my product to demonstrate social initiative/responsibility. Schools are constantly looking for ways to draw in students and make their learning experience as smooth as possible. They would buy my product and use it to advertise the use of technology within the school, as well as proving a point as to how much they care about their students.
•Besides paper maps given to students at orientation, there are no major competitors. I do not regard the maps as a major competitor because it is very ineffective, and they are often very confusing.

•Price points:
•For businesses, there is obviously a price to the partnership because our team would take on the responsibility of programming, marketing, and implementation of the application.
•For students, the application would be a free download (at the discretion of the school) so that they will be able to easily find their way around and use the app at their leisure.

•Distribution: I would start by offering the partnership to a single school district, most likely Miami-Dade County Public schools, and working with their teams to make this app as accessible and polished for students. Then it can be Beta tested at one or two schools in the district, and then slowly rolled out to the other schools. Once the app can be proven effective, I will take the idea to other districts and universities citing my success in the first district to quell any reservations and follow the same process.

•Customer Service: Since the company is built upon care for others friendly, honest, and concerned customer service is vital. My employees will be required to memorize key persuasive statistics in case a buyer is on the fence, and be knowledgeable about the underlying cause we are representing.

•Location: Cities and towns that house District/Regional employees of the school system.

•Employees:  I’m estimating around 15 employees, to begin with.
•Programmers to put the app together
•Animators and designers to create the visuals for the app
•Finance team to gather and allocate funds.
•Brand ambassadors – A student that people relate with that plugs the app on campuses, club fairs, orientations, open houses, etc.
•Marketers – They must make how to use it, what it does, and the cause very clear. They will also create presentations to take to potential customers.

I would like the employees to include my family members because they were a huge part of the birth of this idea, however, the employees would not be limited to family and friends. I would make sure to include an unknown, unbiased, but qualified, party in each of the employee sections. 

•Unfair advantage: The biggest advantage is the growing market. Without people to sell the product to the product would obviously fail, and with most products, people grow out of them or the fall out of style, etc. An app such as this one would reach a wide audience, and as long as people keep procreating there will always be new users for the app. There will always be new students and parents coming into schools for the first time.
•What’s next: Should this be successful with schools, I would love to take this app to the next level and introduce it in non-school settings such as doctor’s offices, libraries, and other office buildings. Expanding would mean moving from making this an extension of an existing application to a stand-alone application that can be used at participating locations. I would also like to eventually take the company public once it has reached the success I expect from it, I know this could take time, but it is an end goal that I think would be right for the company once it has an established reputation. 

•For Me: Starting any kind of business is a great stepping stone in the game of life and a business such as Get2Class could make connections in both the private and public sectors. In five years I hope that I have taken this product to the next level and hopefully created a strong partnership with the United States school system. In ten years, I would like to be making a meaningful legislative change to benefit schools across the country.

FEEDBACK:

In the comments section for my first Venture Concept post, I only received positive feedback that I agreed with because it basically described my mindset on the project. So, I will be summarizing verbal feedback and including some comments I received on other posts having to do with the venture. When I had some of my family read the concept, they said they enjoyed it but realized that I hadn't changed the "Location" portion of the assignment from the one I used as the template. Other than that I was told I should be more specific in my What's Next portion and perhaps use some of my exit strategy to fill it up more. For the comments on my Exit Strategy, I was told to really make sure that I would want to include my family in the business because having both a family and a business relationship can be difficult. I was also told that taking a business public may seem like a great idea, but can be detrimental to the company if it isn't successful enough on its own.

CHANGES:

I highlighted the major changes to the venture concept in purple throughout the post. I took into consideration all the feedback I received and added and changed the venture concept as I saw fit. There was not much to change idea wise because it is pretty much perfect in my eyes, there is obviously always room for improvement, but those improvements would come upon analyzation by business professionals and logistics experts.