Interviewing Customers No. 3

1) Describe your interviewing strategy. What questions do you intend on asking? Who are you going to ask? And so on.
I asked questions centered around sustainability because I feel that this product is geared towards people who have concerns about the environment and making the world a better place. I asked students who attend UF because they would be using the product.

2) Conduct the interviews. As always, 5 interviews, video recorded.

3) Reflect on what you learned. What did you learn from the interviews? What surprised you the most? What do you expect to change as an outcome of these interviews?
I learned that mostly everyone that I interviewed values sustainability and would use my product if it was available to them.

1) Fine tune your opportunity. You began with an idea of what an opportunity might be. After your first round of interviews, what do you think, now? 

After my first round of interviews, I think I have a great idea that could be easily implemented into UF's campus, and hopefully other university campuses world-wide. Start-up costs may initially be high, but after, there are no additional costs once the charging stations are purchased and placed throughout campus. Renewable energy for the win!

2) Fine tune the "who." Did you talk to the right customers last time? What did you do differently this time? How did you adjust your conceptualization of who your customers are?

Yes I talked to the right customers. Each of them were students who value sustainability and also enjoy studying outside. This time I just reached out to more students so I could verify that my idea would work and benefit students on campus.

3) Tweaking your interview questions. You might need to ask different kinds of questions to get at a fuller, richer idea of what your opportunity is. What kind of changes did you make?

1. How important is sustainability to you?
Since my idea is based around sustainable practices, I feel that this question is extremely important when finding out my consumer base.
2. Are there things you do or take part in around campus to be sustainable, such as recycling or using the revolving doors at the library? Any other things?
This is also important to see how likely students would be to use the charging stations.
3. How would you feel about there being solar-powered charging stations around campus that would not only use renewable energy, but also would provide you with places to charge your cell phone or laptop on the go?
Same question but I feel it is important to ask because it is the main idea of the opportunity.
4. If this system were in place, how often do you think you would use it?

4) Go talk to customers! This is the same deal as last time: 5 people, you can't know them, you must video record them.

5) Tell us what you learned about the opportunity. You now have 10 interviews under your belt. What do you think about your opportunity now that's different from where you started?  

I realized just how many people value sustainable energy and how, according to my interviews, it must mean that most students on campus value sustainability. If we could start implementing solar energy into our lives in small ways such as using battery charging stations, then maybe this will start a trend and more ways to use this type of energy will become more universal.

6) Tell us what you learned about interviewing customers. You're practically an expert on interviewing customers. Please write three tips that you'd like to offer students in this class next semester about interviewing customers.

1. Be confident in your questions.

2. Be personable; ask them what their name is and make them feel comfortable before starting to ask questions.

3. Don't be afraid to have fun with it and laugh a little! It takes the pressure off of you and you may get some better, more honest answers.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I'm Jennie Carmody and I'm a girl who is passionate about sustainability and helping people. I aspire to make positive changes in people's lives by showing them the value of preserving the environment and being sustainable. My talents include baking gourmet desserts, playing basketball, and excelling at my job. I would say I have good people skills because I am personable and aim to make people feel comfortable. I have experience in the hospitality industry, being a front of house manager and also assistant events coordinator for a restaurant here in Gainesville. I also have experience in sustainable practices as I learned about sustainability while studying abroad in Australia for one month. The experience I had there really pushed me to live a more sustainable life and to encourage others to lead sustainable lives. I aspire to be an event planner who uses sustainable practices in business. I see this business concept expanding into other opportunities to use solar energy in people's everyday lives, and hopefully it will encourage students to find ways to be more sustainable. 

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).

I am offering a way for students to be sustainable by using renewable energy (solar power). This will be free to all students who wish to use it, but there will be start-up costs that I will need to look into. This is a business not for profit, but for the greater good of society and the planet, which will hopefully lead to other Eco-friendly projects that could potentially bring in some cash!

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

I am offering my product to students and people who visit the UF campus. Particularly, I am aiming to satisfy customers who value sustainability and try to be environmentally friendly while also raising awareness of how important it is to be sustainable.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

My product is unique in that it is free to customers, but the value that it will bring to the Uf campus will outweigh the costs of starting it. 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. People who value the earth and believe that climate change is a big issue will care about this product and want to use it. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

I have experience living and learning about sustainable energy sources. While I studied abroad in Australia, I stayed in various places that were completely solar powered or used renewable energy, and it showed me just how capable everyone and every country on the planet is of using renewable energy instead of fossil fuels. I think that what sets me apart is my passion for the environment and spreading my knowledge to other people who might not know about ways to use solar energy that could replace gasoline and oil.