Idea Napkin 2

1) You
 I am an undergrad student who is very organized and detail-oriented. I've been in school the majority of my life, and enjoy learning and getting an education. I am a very studious person who enjoys working hard and performing well. I don't miss deadlines and am excellent at keeping track of multiple assignments at once. I also genuinely care about people and make sure to check up on my friends often, especially during the pandemic when I can't see them. I see this business first playing the role of a side hustle in my life. I want to go to grad school and I have lots of goals I want to achieve first, so I think this business would first be put off to the side. However, once (and if) the business gains some popularity, I would transfer the business and try to make it my main job. Developing my business would take a lot of time to do, so it could be years, even decades before I can successfully quit my actual career job to work the business concept I am proposing.

2) What are you offering to customers? 
I am offering an app similar to the Do Not Disturb function on iPhones to company messaging systems. The app/extension would provide a way for employees to select their status on work, which allows colleagues to see if a certain employee is available or done with work for the day. There is also an emergency feature for urgent situations. This system will allow employees the opportunity to respectfully disconnect from work, while still allowing for some availability in case of an emergency. 

3) Who are you offering it to?
I am offering this product to established companies and employees. If a company were to use this product, it would connect with the company's communication system, allowing all employees to see the status of everyone. If only a single employee had it, a notification would be used to indicate if the employee was done working for the day. The demographics would vary, but mainly my product is designed for companies that work typical business hours and have no need to constantly be "on-call." The product can also be altered to work for employees without the company. The psychographics of my customers would also vary, but some characteristics include motivated employees who strive to maintain a work/life balance and stay productive in both their personal and professional lives. My customers would have possibly struggled with maintaining or promoting a work/life balance within their company. Overall, all of my customers would want a way to professionally balance their work and life through a system that eliminates the temptation to check emails and take work phone calls after hours. 

4) Why do they care? 
Customers care about a work/life balance because it is very easy to slip into the workaholic mindset. I have personally seen it, and have many friends who have witnessed it as well. With the growing technological trends recently, it is becoming easier than ever to work at any time. This can be helpful, but many employees find themselves working from home for hours after they have left the office, even though there is no specific need to. Customers will want to pay money for this product because it gives employees a chance to take back control and instill a work/life balance into their lifestyle.

5) What are your core competencies?
My core competencies include witnessing the workaholic mindset first-hand and living with the person for years, which is unique. I've seen this unhealthy relationship with work with my dad, and have come to understand that this is a problem, and customers need a solution. I have also already heard friends complain about the pressure they feel to work outside their normal working hours, despite barely entering the workforce. Although I am not the only person who has witnessed this workaholic lifestyle, I witnessed it for many years, and believe that my perspective is a strength when developing this business concept.

Elements Fitting Together
I think most of these elements fit together. Maintaining a work/life balance is very important and a problem that needs to be solved, however as mentioned before, I have never explicitly worked a 9-5 job. I may not be the most qualified person to come up with this business solution. Furthermore, most companies take a hands-off approach to a work/life balance and place that responsibility on the employees, so I am not sure if companies will want to get involved in this aspect of their employees' lives.

Feedback Memo
I didn't receive any feedback on my blog post, but I did receive some feedback when I interviewed people. One thing I took from the feedback is understanding that this is not a problem for everyone that needs to be solved. I had at least two people who agreed that feeling pressured to work after normal working hours is a problem, but they don't need a product to fix it. I didn't explicitly incorporate this into my Idea Napkin, but I did address that some companies may not want to get involved in their employees' lives. Another thing I took from the feedback I received is creating a clearer description of how the product would work with the entire messaging system, and with a single employee. I included a better description in question 3.