What's Next? - Assignment 25A

Existing market

What I think is next:

• I think the next move in terms of products and services for my venture is to open office buildings on the campuses we serve. For example, it would be ideal to eventually offer UF students the opportunity to meet the people they connected with on the app in person at one of our facilities in Gainesville (preferably on campus).

Customer interviews:

• UF undergraduate business student- He thinks I should be offering my app to high schoolers in the Gainesville area now and not later. I already planned on doing this in the future, but this student pointed out the market for such an app among local high schools. He thinks the idea to open up office buildings so that students can have a standardized place to meet up is worthless. He pointed out that students wouldn't mind meeting at locations they agree upon for themselves.
• UF graduate business student- He thinks I shouldn't limit myself to the United States and suggested that I launch the app internationally as soon as possible. He believes there is a huge market for this app in other countries as well and told me to scale my business faster than I had originally planned. He also thinks that my idea to eventually acquire a building so that students can have a set place to meet is smart. He pointed out that it isn't a necessity, but that it is a luxury that could provide convenience to customers on the UF campus.
• UF undergraduate telecommunications major- She thinks I should offer my app to professionals at large corporations with standardized work schedules. She said that having professionals input their work schedules (instead of class schedules for students) into the app so that they can reach out to co-workers who are working at the same time could be very beneficial. She thinks my idea to expand into a building in the future is vital. She doesn't think students will want figure out where to meet up with each other because this will be an inconvenience.

Reflection:

• Based on the feedback I received from the students at the University of Florida, it is now clear to me that I am eventually going to want to build an office building on campus where students can meet their classmates. In this case, students won't have to figure out a place to meet on their own. Students will have a set location to meet on campus once they meet fellow classmates. I received mixed feedback from the students, but the argument for a building outweighed the argument against one.
• After listening to what the students thought would be good opportunities to pursue, I've decided that expanding into high schools as soon as possible is the most viable option for my venture in terms of growing in my existing market. I would start off in the local area with the high schools in the Gainesville community. On top of launching my app at the University of Florida, I am going to launch it with local high schools at the same time. I will be able to scale my business faster and cater to more individuals than I had originally planned immediately after launching my app. Serving an international audience seems too complicated for the time being; therefore, I don't plan on pursuing that business endeavor until later down the road.

New market

Radically different market:

• Instead of targeting the ideal target audience of students at the University of Florida, I've come up with a radically different market to serve. The new market consists of professors at the University of Florida. I wouldn't change the business plan, but I would have teachers market the app for me in class. Teachers would love to tell their students about the app, considering the app simply connects students to help one another out with how to attack assignments and give studying advice to one another. It is a collaborative platform that helps students facilitate extra help to each other; therefore, professors on campus would have no problem telling the students who are enrolled in their classes to download the app. Marketing my app to students would create value for teachers because more questions would be directed to students and not them. It would take some of the burden of teaching thousands of students off the teachers' shoulders. Students would also perform better in classes which looks good for teachers' reputations.

New market interviews:

• Professor in the business school- He thinks the app would help professors in that it would encourage students to ask each other for help before going to the teacher with questions. In this case, a lot of the questions that can be answered by fellow students will never make it to professors which will help teachers out. He thinks I should add more information to users' homepages so that people can get to know them on a more personal level before contacting them. He suggested that students might feel uncomfortable reaching out to complete strangers.
• Professor in the law school- She thinks the app will alleviate stress for teachers because more questions will be directed to students and not them. She also pointed out that students will likely perform better on homework, quizzes, and exams which looks good on professors' resumes. She suggested that I treat the app almost like a standard social media page, while having students input their schedules as well. Students would be able to connect with fellow classmates, but they will also be able to view the homepages of other users and see who they are and what they are like before contacting them to meet up for help.

Reflection:

• I learned that the market for teachers to market this app to students is greater than originally expected. Both teachers I spoke to were very supportive of my business plan. They conveyed to me that there is a great market for this among teachers at the University of Florida since it will take some stress off their shoulders and students grades would naturally improve.
• I assumed the teachers would like the idea, but it surprised me that they conveyed a need for it as things stand today. Even though this market is attractive, I still think marketing to students is a better idea. Students have a direct need for it because it is their grades that will naturally improve. Teachers have a more indirect need since they will reap benefits indirectly; therefore, I feel as if teachers would possibly bail on the idea of marketing the app to students if they decided it wasn't worth their time to introduce the app in their classes.