Venture Concept No. 1

In order for any business idea or product to succeed, there must be an opportunity, innovation and a venture concept. An opportunity can be described as who you are providing the product to and what you need you are attempting to fill for them. An innovation can be described as a creative or relatively newer way to solve the need that the customer has. This process can either change the way people go about their daily life or provide a new way they fulfill their unmet needs. A venture concept can be considered how one administers the innovation of their product to the opportunity they are reaching toward. This is the ultimate reason in which customers would rather use your product rather than someone else’s, it is the difference-maker in the business world.

Opportunity

With opportunity comes customers and unmet needs. For my product that I am providing to customers, I am fulfilling their unmet need with parking. I am catering my product toward University of Florida students who are aged from 18 to 22 and drive either a car or a scooter (or both). These students specifically live near Fraternity Row. The majority of these students are in fraternities; however, some may live at Springs Complex or sorority houses nearby. The force in the environment creating this opportunity is the growing frustration that students have aimed at the current parking situation on Fraternity Row. This opportunity is huge; there are a large number of students who park in this lot or who would like to, but the parking lot is not built for that many people or the types of vehicles that currently park there. The customers are not very loyal to this parking lot now. They want changes to occur- at the very least they want the parking lot renovated to have larger spots for people to park in. The window of opportunity for this business opportunity will be open for as long as the University of Florida does nothing about this. This could be years until a change is made, and it seems inevitable that someone will do something about it soon.

Innovation

With opportunity comes innovation- changes necessary to keep the customers happy and loyal. The service that I am providing to my customer segment can be considered an incremental innovation. It does not change the way people live their life such as the invention of a smartphone or a plane. My product offers a new way in which students can park their car or scooter. A new parking lot with many spaces, and larger spaces than the current parking solution provided by the parking lot on Fraternity Row has better features. This makes parking extremely more convenient for my customers, which is exactly what they are looking for. They want to save time looking for spaces to park in, and have spaces large enough to park their big trucks or large vehicles without the chance of getting in an accident or fender bender. I am making money by selling these spaces in the new parking lot to students who want to purchase them. Once these students realize how much time and how much easier it is to park in this lot, everyone will want to hop on the trend. I am selling these spaces for $90 per semester or $175 for two semesters. This is 10$ more expensive than the current lot, but it is the only way I make my money back for my investments.

Venture Concept

My venture concept is what separates my product from the current parking lot on Fraternity Row. Customers would switch to the service my product provides rather than their current solution because mine makes their life easier. The solution I am providing solves their most important needs when parking anywhere: convenience and safety. My solution not only guarantees spots to students who pay for my product, but it makes the spaces larger in length and width. Due to the increase of the size of the overall space, the parking lot becomes safer as cars are not as close to each other as they were in the lot on Fraternity Row. The customer experience on my product is impacted by the location and price of my product. As I stated previously, the price is extremely fair and equivalent to the added benefits my product offers. There are no true competitors to my product. The only competing service is the parking lot on Fraternity Row. The only thing my business venture needs to turn this idea into a product is a construction crew and investments of time and money.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource that my business has is connections. Having a certain network of connections with people in the business world can help bring my product to new heights. Competitors cannot copy my success because the customers I am providing to are loyal to the solution they choose. The only thing that can sway them away from my product is a competitor providing an extremely low price for the same service, which is very unrealistic and unlikely. The next product that could be aimed at my existing customer segment is something I have not thought about yet. However, I know it will have to be something revolved around improving the lifestyle of a college student. I think that this venture will be a one-and-done for me. I plan to do this, then build upon my business network and connection as a result of it. This will help me realize what it is actually like for an entrepreneur fighting real world problems and solving customer needs.