At the beginning of the semester, I came up with a need that I thought was an unsatisfied need at the time, and still is an unsatisfied need. The need that I identified was the need for a way for drivers and passengers in a car to know when their brake lights or their tail lights are out without having a brand new car that may have this capability. And even now, most new car models do not have this capability, especially not with tail lights. The people who have the need, or my potential customers, are people that do not have brand new cars that are capable of sensing whether they have a brake light or a tail light out. They also must be of driving age with a valid driver's license and they must be concerned about their safety on the road. The nature of the need comes down to people's desire to feel safe while on the road. Driving in a car is most likely the most dangerous thing you do everyday so people want to try and make this element of their life as safe as they possibly can. Their are no changes being made in the general car market with this capability so the environment of not improving safety of vehicles in this way is creating this market, so to speak. The market spans across the entire United States and will usually be an older demographic, people more concerned about their personal safety. Right now, customers are trying to satisfy their need by checking their lights every so often, but in reality they are not doing a very good job satisfying the need because it is difficult to be consistent and you obviously cannot check while you are actually driving. This a fairly big opportunity because I feel that this is a need that a lot of people have and it stretches from coast to coast in the United States and could probably even be introduced to international markets. The window of opportunity will be open until all car manufacturers begin adding this capability to their vehicles. At this point the opportunity will likely be used up. I'm not a patent expert but I could also try to see if it is possible to put a patent in place for the technology and then I could potentially continue to make money after car manufacturers are using the technology as well.
The way the technology will work is as follows: a device that can be attached to the inside of the rear light housing of any automobile will have a sensor that can detect whether or not the brake or tail lights are working properly. This will then connect via Bluetooth to a device that can be placed in the front of the car which notifies the driver and any passengers in the car if there is a problem with either the brake lights or the tail lights by emitting a high frequency noise for a short period of time and displaying a message that describes the exact problem and recommendations for how to fix the problem, like installing a new left brake light for example. I will make money off of this by selling the device and by offering paid installations to less mechanically inclined customers who would like some help setting it up or don't have the time to do it themselves. I'm selling the product for $150 and the installation for $30.
I think that customers would want to switch to my product because there is no existing product with the same capability. Many people value their safety while operating a motored vehicle and would be willing to pay a significant amount of money to make their driving experience as safe as possible. I don't think it will be very hard to get them to switch because most people seem to think it is a good idea once they actually hear about the technology. There are no competitors as of now but if car manufacturers begin to implement this technology in a mainstream way before I could get a patent that could potentially be a weakness for my business. Packaging, price points, distribution, customer support, customer experience, and the business location all play a very important role in defining the business concept. The packaging will be made to look clean and stand out to the customers as something that they can rely on rather than something that just pops out at them. Price point I already discussed in the above paragraph. Distribution is really important, I would like to hire somebody that is an expert on this to help me. Absolutely, customer service is key, I learned this when I worked for Publix. They put so much emphasis on customer service that people would rather shop there than Walmart, despite their higher prices, just because the employees are actually nice to them. The location would not matter as much since these would mostly be sold online. I would like to start out with one employee that has experience with other startups and I would like my business to operate mainly online.
I think that the most important resource in my venture is the fact that I have prior experience working in small businesses and doing business-like activity on my own. This experience cannot be gained by sitting in class or reading books and not many people my age have had the opportunity to work in that kind of environment. I learned a lot about how businesses work throughout my time working for the small company that I would have never figured out otherwise. This is what makes experience so important. The next product that I would aim towards my existing customers would be a second model of this device that has internet capability and will automatically order new brake lights or tail lights that will be delivered to your house as soon as the device senses that your brake lights or tail lights are going to burn out soon. This eliminates the hassle of going to the store when you may not have properly functioning brake lights or tail lights. As an entrepreneur, I want to make lots of connections and hire a group of people that I can trust and rely on. I want to have a stable income for myself so that I can do the things that I enjoy. This first venture will help me to achieve my vision by being a learning process so that my next ventures have the ability to become even more successful.
