EC Entrepreneurship: January 2019

Thursday, January 31, 2019

7A - Testing the Hypothesis

I have a dog. His name is Big Boy and he means the world to me. I want him to be as happy as possible. I walk him several times a day and play with him a lot. However, I can tell that he really misses the companionship of other dogs. I think that there are a lot of people out there, especially in college, who have this issue. That is why I would like to create an app that would allow people with lonely dogs to connect for playdates. A person could enter information about their dog and what they like to do, the sort of activities that they would be interested in doing on playdates like walking or going to the dog park, and some information about themselves. To eliminate some of the stranger danger associated with meeting up with people you found on the internet, this app would use the same security feature as Couchsurfing where you rate the person after you meet them to let others know if they are a cool dude or someone to be avoided. My target market would be mostly college students because they often only have one dog.

Interview 1: Pattie, 70 year old woman who lives in a small town

Do you have dogs?

I do

How many?

I have a beautiful white poodle that weighs about 44 pounds. She’s two years old.

How is her energy level?

High. She has a high energy level.

Do you feel that your dog(s) are bored or under stimulated?

Ummmm no because she demands a lot of my attention and gets it.

What efforts do you currently take to entertain your dog?

When I get up in the morning she gets to go out then she gets a morning snack. Before I eat my breakfast I play sing sing sing by Louie Armstrong and we sing and dance. When it comes to a special spot where the horns go off we howl like wolves. Then we go out in the backyard and play ball. I also brush her every day. In the evening we go on a long walk.

Explain app

Do you think that you would use this app?

Probably. I know in a small town like I live in you would know a lot of the people. I’ve tried to arrange playdates for my dog before but the dogs I invited over didn’t have as much energy as my dog.

Are there any features I didn’t mention that you would like the app to offer?

Ummm a scale from 1 to 10 on how aggressive the other dog is. My dog has been attacked at the dog park before so this is important to me.

Do you have any concerns about the app?

The only thing I don’t like is rating the other person. I think that could be trouble.

Interview 2: Jerry, UF student who lives off campus

Do you have dogs?

Yes

How many?

I have two.

Tell me about them.

One is a 12 year old chihuahua mix named Sophie. I have had her since I was young.

The other dog is named Rex. He is a 3 year old yellow lab.

Do you feel that your dog(s) are bored or under stimulated?

I think that Sophie is pretty happy with her current level of activity. However I think that Rex is a little bored. He has a lot of energy and Sophie will play with him a little bit but not as much as he would like.

What efforts do you currently take to entertain your dog?

I play with Rex as much as I can. We play frisbee in the field behind my apartment complex pretty often. And we go on a long walk every day.

Explain app

Do you think that you would use this app?

I might. It would probably depend on if people actually used it.

Are there any features I didn’t mention that you would like the app to offer?

It would be cool if there was a feature to let people know when you were going to the dog park so that everyone could coordinate.

Do you have any concerns about the app?

Umm just that it could be a little weird hanging out with people you don’t know from the internet.

Interview 3: Elijah, UF student who lives off campus

Do you have dogs?

Yeah.

How many?

One.

Tell me about him.

He’s a three year old golden doodle that’s full of energy.

Do you feel that your dog(s) are bored or under stimulated?

Yeah he’s bored.

What efforts do you currently take to entertain your dog?

I put on the tv and radio and walk him three times a day.

Explain app

Do you think that you would use this app?

I would use this app since Gray loves other dogs.

Are there any features I didn’t mention that you would like the app to offer?

No.

Do you have any concerns about the app?

The concept is cool, maybe just a fear of mean dogs.

Interview 4: Teresa, college student

Do you have dogs?

Yeah!

How many?

Two.

Tell me about them.

Bella is a bigger dog and she likes to sit in your lap. Then there’s Fin who is still a puppy, he five months, a German shepherd mix.

Do you feel that your dog(s) are bored or under stimulated?

Definitely. They keep digging holes in our backyard. And whenever I leave Fin gets really sad. And Fin isn’t potty trained yet so he has t6o spend a lot of time in a crate.

What efforts do you currently take to entertain your dog?

I let them out frequently and play with them while we are outside. Sometimes Bella plays fetch. They have lots of toys but only Fin plays with them. And I take them for walks.

Explain app

Do you think that you would use this app?

I honestly think I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t actively go and get strangers to play with my dog.

Are there any features I didn’t mention that you would like the app to offer?

No.

Do you have any concerns about the app?

I feel like its way easier to catfish with pictures of dogs.

Interview 5: Erik, college student

Do you have dogs?

Yes.

How many?

One.

Tell me about him.

He is a high energy boston terrier.

Do you feel that your dog(s) are bored or under stimulated?

Umm yes. We don’t have much of a yard.

What efforts do you currently take to entertain your dog?

I dance around with him sometimes. I walk him occasionally.

Explain app

Do you think that you would use this app?

Maybe. It’s a good idea but I’m not sure I’m the right person for it.

Are there any features I didn’t mention that you would like the app to offer?

Not that I can think of.

Do you have any concerns about the app?

I would be worried about meeting random people from the internet.

Summary: Based on the interviews I conducted, I would say that there are definitely people out there who would be interested in this app. More than half of the people I interviewed said that they felt their dog was bored or under stimulated. The biggest concern that people seemed to have with the app idea was a fear of meeting strange people from the internet. Two of my interviews also said they were worried about the other dog being aggressive. I think this opportunity has potential.

Friday, January 25, 2019

Local Opportunities

1. He's a father of four and a federal employee. Dinner these days: bread and cheese

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0125%21January%2B25&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/1712C789895F3B20

This article was about a federal employee who hasn’t been paid since the government will shut down. His last paycheck was on December 29 and he is struggling to provide for his family.

The problem in this story is that this federal employee doesn’t have enough money to pay his bills even though he works every day.

The people affected by this problem are those who work for the federal government and are not being paid because of the shut down.

I think there’s an opportunity here to provide short term loans to these people with a good interest-rate.

2. Senior-level hires and promotions in South Florida for the week of Jan. 28, 2019

This article is in the story as much is it’s just a list of people who have received higher positions through promotion in South Florida this week. It gave me the idea to compile a list of powerful people in South Florida with contact information to provide the public with access to the information they need to reach people power in their community.

There is not really a problem in this article. I just think people would like to be able to reach the powerful people in their community.

This book would be geared towards people who have questions for the powerful members of the community but lack the ability to reach them.

3. Parents, could your teen be ‘Juuling'?

This article provides parents with information about juuls. The use of juuls by minors has almost doubled in the last year.

The problem here is that many parents are concerned that their children may be Juuling secretly.

This problem is pretty exclusive to parents of teenagers.

There is an opportunity here to develop a simple nicotine test that can be administered to the minors to see if they are using nicotine products.

4. Rain in the Fitbit Miami Marathon? This elite local runner has been through far worse

This article is about a woman who almost died but made a complete recovery to become a track coach and run in the Fitbit marathon in Miami. She may even qualify for the Olympic team if her time is better than two hours and 45 minutes.

The problem in the story is that it may pour during the whole marathon. All of the runners will get soaked to the bone and still have to run the full distance. This gave me the idea to create a line of running gear that is comfortable and breathable yet completely waterproof.

In the case of this article the people running in the marathon will have this problem, but there are lots of other people who may have to run in the rain or may cancel their running because it’s pouring.

5. Even in your 80s, you're not too old for Botox

This article was just a short Q&A about getting Botox if you’re over the age of 65. Apparently there is a misconception that if you are over the age of 65 you are not eligible to receive Botox injections, however, this is not the case and as long as you aren’t on any medications that make you bleed it’s fine to get Botox even if you’re older.

The problem here is that many people are not informed about the correct medical information about this treatment. Even though this information is probably readily available on the Internet many people over the age of 65 do not use the Internet. This gave me the idea to create a specialized booklet with all of the information a person over 65 might need before deciding to get a surgery or injection for the purpose of vanity.

The target audience for this booklet would be people over the age of 65 who are interested in getting plastic surgery or botox injections but lack the resources to make an informed decision.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Minimum wage increases

As of January 1^st, the minimum wage of 19 states increased. An increase in wages means people have more income to spend. This could be a good time to start offering some housing that is affordable to these people but a little nicer than the rock bottom housing they could probably afford before.

I found this opportunity by searching for regulatory changes on google. I think this opportunity might exist because people who have more money buy more stuff. The customer for this opportunity is the person who’s salary just increased. It would be difficult to exploit this opportunity because getting into real estate requires a lot of money.

I think that I formed this particular belief because my mom works in real estate and rentals so it is a familiar area.

Gas prices decrease

Recently gas prices have been decreasing. Because of those people are willing to drive vehicles that have low mpg. I think there’s an opportunity right now to sell some large fuel inefficient vehicles right now. I don’t think this is completely ethical because it is bad for the environment, however, I’m pretty sure the opportunity exists.

I found this opportunity by searching the Internet for economic trends. I think the customer for this opportunity is probably a person who isn’t very concerned with the environment and likes big vehicles. I think that this opportunity would be difficult to exploit for me because I have neither the knowledge or resources to open the car dealership. I believe that I saw this opportunity because I am aware of gas prices.

General data protection regulations

General data protection regulations are being implemented in the EU and the US could be next. There could be an opportunity here to create software that allows small businesses to be able to protect the information of their clients without needing to understand all the tech stuff that goes into doing that.

I found this opportunity on businessnewsdaily.com in an article about new regulations. I think this opportunity might exist because many people with small businesses would like to protect their clients information but lack the knowledge on how to do so. The customer for this opportunity would most likely be small independent businesses who are interested in cyber security. This opportunity would be pretty difficult to exploit because it Would require me to have a background in Cyber security that I don’t have. I think I am aware of this opportunity because I listen to a lot of NPR and they talk about cyber security often.

GDP growth

The US economy is growing slowly but steadily. I think this presents a really good opportunity to start a new business in general.

I found this opportunity on the financial times website. I believe an opportunity exists here because the US economy is doing really well. We have recovered from the recession and the economy is growing. I think this opportunity is for anyone who has the drive to become an entrepreneur. Depending on what sort of business one might want to start it could be either easy or hard to bring into fruition. I think that I saw this opportunity because it’s fairly obvious and a lot of people see this opportunity as well and are starting businesses.