What’s Next? - Assignment 25

Existing Market

Step 1: I think the next thing for my service is a portion designed to help clients with emotional health, rather than my current focus of just mental and physical well-being.

Step 2:

Interview 1: Since we are focused on the UF population, we can probably set up in person meetings rather than doing everything online

Interview 2: Provide actual training sessions at southwest rec or another gym. That way you can not only provide an additional layer of service, but by attending exercise sessions with clients, you ensure they are taking your advice.

Interview 3: Since we want to expand to adults as well as college students, we can begin my helping professors at UF. That way we can stay centralized on a college campus but also branch out our potential customer base.

Step 3:

I did not think much about providing in person consulting as part of my company. Since our primary model of advertising is on social media, that provides we catch the attention of the entire social media platform, not just those at UF. Since most of our clients will come from UF, it makes sense to include in person consulting to out packages. Marketing to professors at UF is a great idea as it expands my current market but also opens the door to adults and rapidly expanding my total addressable market.    

Additionally, in person coaching will allow us to establish more of a well-known presence at UF rather than operating solely behind closed doors. Since my service begins by focusing on a centralized region (smaller customer base), I should make sure I juice the most out of my potential locally. My service can be scaled appropriately to include solely online coaching for areas away from college campuses and include in person for certain cities. This also capitalizes on the opportunity to reach out to professors to include in my current market.

New Market

Step 1: A radically different market from my current market is a service directed towards businesses. This would probably take the form of organizing corporate culture and office buildings to maximize employee happiness and productivity.

Step 2: My venture concept would probably have to take a different form when providing a service for a corporation. However, it can take a multi-legged approach where we first advise on changing culture and then should the business want it we can then provide the same service provided to college students but tailored to the employees of the business.

Step 3:

Interview 1: I spoke to a local startup in Gainesville that designs products that can be used by companies or events to advertise. All partners and officers of the business are current UF students. They told me that they think it would be hard to incorporate my product into their startup since the number of employees of the firm are small and they currently operate out of the UF innovation hub, so altering their office space is not possible. However, they said that on a persona basis, the employees could benefit from my my original venture concept since they are all extremely busy and often time burnout.

Interview 2: My second interview was a local study business sin Gainesville that most students utilize for difficult classes. They host in person study reviews and have a considerable number of employees. They mentioned that they think designing the office building can be useful since they are often teaching study sessions in their building, so having students able to better concentrate and learn would actually make their service more effective, helping increase sales. They also mentioned that advertising my product to students could be beneficial for both parties since I will have an outlet to advertise and they will have more energetic students.

Step 4:

In my first interview, I was not surprised by the response, as a small startup would have difficulties implementing another program to their already hectic business. My second interview surprised me since I did not think about the potential opportunity to expose by business not only to the employees of the business, but also to their customers who happen to be the same students I would be targeting anyways. Essentially this would provide me with another outlet to advertise.

This market does sound to be attractive to an extent. The largest issue I would have with this new market is the cost to cater to this market. I would probably need to hire a new set of employees with a much different skill set than my original venture concept. Beyond labor costs, implementing strategies, essentially research and development, would take time and I would have to build the infrastructure for these businesses. The most realistic option is found in businesses like in my second interview as we provide each other with a mutual benefit beyond monetary compensation. I could essentially barter my services for advertising, which may lead to more revenue than simply asking for monetary compensation for my service to the business.