24A – Venture Concept No. 1
Opportunity:
For my product, the people who have the need are
scooter or bike owners who don’t own or wear a helmet. These scooter and bike
owners need to wear helmets for their safety, but many do not. Through my
research, I have found that a big factor in people not wearing helmets is that
they feel uncool wearing them. I want to create a helmet that people are
excited to wear. Because people have the need for a safety device that looks
good, I think I can fill it. Geographically, this topic is pretty much
restricted to only Gainesville, since we are the only school to really have
scooters. There is no one set demographic, but it would be targeted mostly to
college students, since they are the ones who normally use scooters. Customers
are not satisfying their need, they are risking their safety for coolness. This
opportunity could realistically take over Gainesville, but it would struggle outside
of Gainesville. This opportunity will continue on as long as students don’t wear
helmets.
Innovation:
My innovation is a helmet that is engineered to be
smaller, more compact, and better looking than the existing helmets on the
market. This is an incremental innovation, because I am only looking to improve
the current design for helmets, not create a new one. The higher end of helmets
can cost somewhere around $100, while the median is around $40ish. I want my
helmet to cost $19.99, a price that college students would be very willing to pay
for a safe fashion accessory. I want the helmet to be customizable for a higher
price, and I want it to be engineered in such a way that the helmet does not give
its users helmet hair. I think that with these qualifications, my helmet will
sell pretty well.
Venture Concept:
I don’t think that getting people to wear my helmets
will be too hard. Although many look at them with disdain, I think that the use
of social media influencers in my case would be greatly helpful. Since students
currently don’t wear helmets, customer acquisition is all about making them
realize that my product fits all their needs, and then it will be a hit. There
are no direct competitors as of now, thankfully. Some possible weaknesses I
have come from the engineering side, not the business side. If I can’t get
costs down a lot, or pass inspections to be considered safe, then my company
will fail. I really want to try my best to overcome those. I think that price
points, customer experience, and location will all play big factors. This
business won’t work if these helmets are too expensive, or if I move it out of
Gainesville, or if the customers give negative reviews to the helmets. For now,
I would contract a manufacturing deal, and then only really pay some
influencers and myself.
My
top resource:
My top resource has got to be knowing scooter shop owners. I think that by meeting these people, I have a place to sell my helmets and get my name out there. If they give out these helmets free for people who buy scooters from them or something, this is great advertising for me.
My top resource has got to be knowing scooter shop owners. I think that by meeting these people, I have a place to sell my helmets and get my name out there. If they give out these helmets free for people who buy scooters from them or something, this is great advertising for me.
What’s next:
I think I could possibly move on to other scooter
accessories later when I have my brand set up.
What’s next for me:
I would be happy selling this company once it gets
big, and I think that the money I get from the sale could fund a different
entrepreneurial venture down the road.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteYour concept for creating scooter helmets is a great idea for a first startup venture. It is a business idea that can be sustainable, and you can build off of it to create other products. Once your helmets take off, you could think about creating an entire apparel line for your brand to accompany these helmets. I think that marketing will be a key challenge for you, and that utilizing social media to push your brand image will be very important.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI like how you have varied the pricing of the helmets since there is hundreds of different types of financial backgrounds for students at the University. How would you successfully market this product or change the current mindset of students? I think that wearing a helmet is very important seeing that a couple people I know have been involved in accidents, but how is that going to be reflected onto the students who haven't had that experience.
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that your top resource is your network. Having relationships with potential clients and contacts in the industry will be very helpful in launching your business. I think your target price is very reasonable, especially considering your target market is college students. I agree that your best bet for now would be to remain in Gainesville, where a large market exists.
Hello my good friend,
ReplyDeleteGood work on your blog post. However, I think you are being very ambitious about your business idea. A safe helmet that is not ugly at a price point of $20? Get out of town! You know who else was ambitious? Julius Caesar. You know what happened to him? Nothing good. Anyways, I am assuming you will not be stabbed by your peers for such an idea but if you could put this product out there, it would be great. Also, if you do want to avoid the same fate as Julius Caesar, I would avoid trying to rule Rome as a monarch. Good work on your post!
Michael Good Sir,
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though I am a little late to the commenting party here since this post got lots of attention already! Although my peers had some great input about your venture concept, I would like to add my own two cents. As a scooter owner there is no way I would ever buy a helmet, even if it looked cool.