1.
You. I am a very driven and motivated student with great critical
thinking, leadership, and communication skills. I have interned at two
different businesses in the past summers, so I have seen how a small family run
business works as well as a larger more corporate one. I see my business
ADVcarpool playing a large role in many students lives, including my own. I
would be able to start doing my daily activities without always coordinating
and worrying about how I would get there. I could start going to Yoga classes
when I want to and go grocery shopping on my own time.
2.
What are you offering? I solve the problem of not being able to
get around quickly and efficiently in a college town or back to your hometown
without a car or spending a lot of money. I provided an advanced carpool system
that is free for riders and pays the students willing to take others.
3.
Who are you offering it to? I am offering this only to University
students with a student ID. Customers using my app are going to be mostly
younger students, both male and female, that do not have a car on campus or a
way to get back to their hometowns. The other students using my app will be
students that do have cars and will be willing to drive other students because
they do have cars and want to make a profit. These students will probably be
older.
4.
Why do they care? Students will definitely use my service
because they need to get places cheaply and will trust other students driving
them. It makes sense to carpool over paying a lot of money for a ride or taking
a bus that takes long and makes a lot of stops. My customers do not have to
pay, I would make profit through ads and if students do not want ads they can
upgrade to Premium for a small fee.
5.
What are your core competencies? What sets me apart is the fact that this
service is student run, so you do not have worry about carpooling with someone
who may be a lot older than you and you find it strange. It makes it more of a
community than a ride sharing business. What also sets me apart is the fact
that it is completely free. This would definitely attract many more customers.
Evaluation
I think my
business model has many strengths and fulfills a very popular need at the
University of Florida and other college towns. It has a large target market and
would be used by many people on a daily basis. I think all my elements fit
together and make sense. In my head, everything should work out because I have
made it more student friendly and safe. However, the one thing I think is a
weak spot is the fact that I am making it free. I don’t know how difficult it
would be to generate a lot of revenue from ads and how much I would pay the
drivers and keep for myself.
Hi Nicole, I think you did a good job of identifying your core competencies. You phrased it well when you said your product is more like a "community" than a service. One thing you may not have thought about that sets your apart is that your app is basically Uber but for short and long distances. It may be hard to focus on short distances as Uber and Lyft command this market. For long distance trips, you definitely have a chance to take advantage of an unmet demand.
ReplyDeleteI think this is such a great idea and I didn’t realize it would be free. I wish my daughter had this option when she was going to nursing school. She and her friends relied on Uber and one of her friends actually had to jump out of a window of the Uber car. Scary stuff. Thank you for keeping the students safe by offering this service.
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