11A- Idea Napkin No. 1

1. There are two ways to describe who I am: academics and personal life. If we focus on academics, I am a general business major at The University of Florida with a specialization in international studies and planning on minoring in geography. On the personal side, I have an extreme passion for animal welfare. A lot of my skills and experiences stem from my volunteering and fostering. Volunteering and fostering have taught me to work with teams in high-pressure situations, responsibility, customer service, and marketing skills. I aspire to use my business degree somehow and connect it to my passion for animal welfare. As for my business concept, if I were to start it, it would be something I focused most, if not all, of my time on.

2. So the business I would focus on is the app for finding parking. My assumption that the need for timesaving is not being met. As mentioned in previous posts, students lose much time searching for parking on campus and can become quite frustrated. The main goal of the app is to indicate where there are open spots near the intended location. Knowing where potential places are will cut down the amount of time the students search and give them a game plan, thereby enabling them to save time while traveling.

3. The parking app would be mostly targeting college students with cars. The students can fall into two categories: those who live on campus and those that live off-campus.

a.      On-campus: I would argue that these students are between 18-22, unmarried, and have no children. Their “annual income” likely comes from four sources: parents, jobs, student loans, or scholarships. These students are moderate to highly involved on campus or in the community. They are living on campus, so it is likely that they only use their car for two reasons: shopping or to go home. Living on-campus allows them to walk to their classes, events, or meetings.

b.      Off-campus: the average students that live off-campus are between the ages of 20-24 (both graduates and undergraduates). Their “annual income” will likely come from jobs, and student loans, possibly scholarships. These students are likely to be extremely involved on campus or in the community. Because they don’t live on campus, I assume that most students in this category use their cars almost daily. They have to travel to get to school, shop, and to go home.

c.      Similarities: I think both parties value education highly and therefore are extremely involved on campus. They must travel to and from college to remain as engaged as they are.

4. Time is precious, especially for college students. Students are already being pulled in all different directions. They have to focus on their studies, jobs or internships, extra-curricular activities, and social life. Students have no time to waste, and that includes looking for parking spots. Students will do a lot to get five more minutes of sleep or five more minutes of studying. I think anything that could provide extra time students will utilize. However, since I am targeting college students, I will not be charging for the app usage because it is unlikely that they will use it then. I will probably have to sell ad space to make income.   

5. I’ve lived both on and off-campus. I’ve walked and taken the bus to get to my classes. There is nothing like the convenience of jumping into your car. I have and am currently still in the position many of these students are in. Having that firsthand experience makes me valuable and approachable for criticism and ideas to make the product better.

Evaluation:

For the most part, everything seems to fit well together. The students have issues with finding secure and accessible parking, plus this issue is not something that will likely be fixed by the university. The target market makes sense for what the product is, and the app directly fixes the problem students are having with time management. The only thing that I still really need to figure out is how I will make the app work. How will I get the necessary intel to inform students of current open spaces and when new parking spots open up.