Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

The potential customers for my product, which is a solar powered battery charging station, are students at the University of Florida who bring their laptops or cell phones to campus and need a place to charge them. My potential customers has the potential to grow to other universities who will implement my product on their campuses. Also, the potential customers are people who value sustainability and look for new ways to live sustainable lives. From the feedback I received from my first venture concept, a lot of people seem to think that this is a great idea and would work well on college campuses that value sustainability.  The nature of the need lies in how there are limited areas to charge devices around campus and also in how UF tries to be sustainable wherever possible.  It would be useful to place solar-powered charging stations in various areas around campus to increase UF's sustainability efforts. Sustainability is a growing industry in that climate change and the fear of depleting our resources is a growing concern in the world. Implementing a product that is useful but also can give people the opportunity to see how easy it is to be more sustainable in their everyday lives may appeal to the market. There are solar-powered charging stations already, but my product would provide students with immediate access to the stations as they will be placed all over campus for usability. This opportunity I would say is not huge but it isn’t small either. With a growing need for being ecofriendly and with UF valuing sustainable practices, I think it would be easy to implement. This opportunity will be open until someone comes up with a more efficient way to use renewable energy! I would hope that students would use his product just to say that they did something to be sustainable today.

Innovation

I am offering a way for students to be sustainable by using a renewable energy source (solar energy). I believe that my product is incrementally innovative because I did not invent the product, but I have a way to make a more useful product that people will use more frequently. My innovation is a station that will be set up on different parts around campus, that will have multiple battery charging outlets that students can use to charge their laptops or phones. The energy source comes from the solar power, so there will not be a need to plug in the station to any form of electricity; it just has to be outside with exposure to the sun. my idea is to use a strong solar panel that will allow for quick charging of devices, even if it is more expensive. Students are on busy schedules and need quick options especially for charging electronics. By plugging in your device to the station, it charges your electronic using solar energy. I originally thought this would just be a nonprofit business where students just use it for free. That is still the case, however, I want to sell the actual charging stations to campuses nationwide, for students to use all over and be sustainable. I would sell each station for $500, if I am able to contract with the solar contractor that I have contact with. I eventually want to sell my company to someone with more experience in the business industry who can market and sell my product on a larger scale.

Venture Concept

My innovation will address the opportunity I have identified because it is an immediate way for people to be more sustainable in their everyday lives, and it is accessible and easy to use for anyone. By implementing this product, UF will have another way for students to be sustainable on campus and show how easy it is to implement solar energy into products that can be used in everyday life. From feedback I have received, many people, students especially, think that this is a great opportunity that not only satisfies the need for students to charge their electronics, but also provides universities with another way to practice sustainability on campus. People who value the earth and believe that climate change is a big issue will care about this product and want to use it. Customers would use this product because it is free to them and they can charge their electronics sustainably. The competitors of my product are other solar energy companies, such as the ones who sell cell phone chargers that are solar powered. I may add another product line to my product that would be a customizable solar powered charger that would be an individual purchase. Packaging does not play a significant role in my business, it is more about the benefits of implementing and using my product. I would find people who value the environment to help me start my business. I would also contact the UF Office of Sustainability for advice and about the possibility of implementing my product onto campus. A student survey would also be useful, because already I have received nothing but positive feedback about my product. 

I think that my most important resource will be financial resources and business contacts. Both of these are vital to starting a business. Having a contact in the solar power industry will be a huge advantage when figuring out how to keep my costs low to start up my business. The next thing for my venture would be to increase my product offering such as selling solar powered individual chargers that are customizable to each consumer. What is next for me would be that I would hopefully build a prototype and sell it to the school, and then be able to sell my product to universities and campuses nationwide.

Feedback

I received mostly positive feedback about my product, with students saying that they would definitely use it if it were available on campus. One student said it would also be useful in heavily populated areas such as coffee shops or restaurants, so it may have the possibility to extend beyond just college campuses. Another student said that my idea goes above and beyond addressing an unmet need because I not only did that but also found a way to increase UF's sustainability methods on campus. I also received positive feedback about my exit strategy because students agreed that it would be great to sell my product and focus on my career path but also make money from the product.

I did not change much about my venture concept because I received such positive feedback and I also could not figure out many ways to change it to sound better and clearer than it already was. However, I did incorporate feedback into my concept based on the comments and suggestions I received from student feedback. I also included my exit strategy and examples.