Opportunity
There is an opportunity in the market of working adults (including working college students) about their job. Adults feel pressured to work outside of their normal working hours, causing an imbalance between their personal and professional lives. The opportunity identified in this market is as follows:
Develop a product that allows adults to "shut off" work after hours, allowing a distraction-free zone in their personal life, while still maintaining the option for contact in case of an emergency.
Who Has the Need?
As aforementioned, working adults have this need. More specifically, people who work a job that does not require an "on-call" status at all times. The need is not immediate, but important. Careers that are not included are:
- ER Doctors/ ER personnel
- High-stake law enforcement, such as FBI workers
- Lawyers
- Paramedics
This list is not comprehensive but gives a general idea of careers that wouldn't benefit from this opportunity. On the other hand, careers that would benefit include:
- Non-emergency support staff
- Regional bankers
- Teachers
Therefore, working adults and college students in the above career fields and more are the potential customers for this opportunity.
Demographically and psychographically, the market is defined by these characteristics:
- Ages 18-65
- All races and genders
- Strives to maintain a work/life balance
- Values a work/life balance
- Struggles to distance themselves from technology pertaining to work at certain times
Other Considerations
The rise is technology contributes to creating this opportunity, as well as the societal mindset to continuously work hard. Currently, customers are satisfying this unmet need by ignoring it. Customers are giving into working after hours and deal with the stress or pressure. They are loyal to this approach, as company culture plays a large role in working after hours. However, customers will change if a viable solution is presented.
This opportunity is somewhat large. Feeling pressured to work after normal working hours is a problem, but other outside factors contribute to this problem. This opportunity can grow much larger, depending on the other external factors. Furthermore, the window of opportunity will stay open for years, unless another competitor enters. As long as technology keeps growing and becomes more prevalent, this opportunity will continue to exist.
Innovation
Idea
My innovation idea is software that integrates with a company's messaging system. The software is similar to the Do Not Disturb system offered by Apple but different in that it's compatible with various systems. Once the software is connected to the messaging system, employees have a visual cue they can alter to display the status of working. Some statuses include: working in-office, working out of office, on vacation, and finished work for the day. Employees can choose the appropriate status, and their colleagues can see the status, making it easier to set professional boundaries, especially after hours.
There is a feature that automatically switches an employee's status at certain times of the day. For example, if the employee is done working at 5pm, then the status will automatically change to whatever is set at 5pm every day.
If an employee's status is not involving work, such as finished work for the day, the sender of the message will get an automatic reply, in which the employee can customize. In case of emergencies, there is an override button in which the sender can choose. The sender will write a small description of the emergency. This override option then sends a notification to the employee's work and/or personal phone, and the employee can choose to accept or deny it.
Making Money
We will make money through sales, upgrades, and additional features. The product will start at a flat fee of $200, including installation, support videos, tech support, and a free trial for upgraded features. There will also be an option to purchase upgraded features, ranging anywhere from $50-$500.
Venture Concept
How My Innovation will Solve the Problem
My innovation will solve the problem by allowing employees and companies to take control of their personal and professional lives by instilling some balance and relieving pressure. The system sets up clear, professional boundaries for employees, allowing others to respect when they are working, and when they are not. My innovation will also address a larger societal issue, which may trigger some societal change in the way we approach working after hours.
Customers, Competitors, and More
Customers will want to buy the product because a concrete system helps alleviate the pressure felt to work after normal working hours. Although there may be a learning curve, this product will help establish boundaries to help maintain a work/life balance.
The only competitor I'm currently aware of is Slack. Slack is a professional messaging system, which has similar features to the presented innovation. However, the company's weaknesses and vulnerabilities include:
Minor Elements
Secret Sauce
My most important resource will be creative skills. Creativity allows for a business to have a first-mover advantage in an industry. Being the first business to do something is vital, and creativity allows this situation to be possible.
What's Next?
I want this venture to trigger a snowball effect that elicits societal change. Society values overworking and ignores balance. If this product is the beginning of a societal movement, even more opportunities will be created.
What's Next for Me?
Five years after launching, I want this venture to generate enough revenue to make a profit and sustain its employees. I think five years is short for a new venture, so if a profit is being made and the business is sustainable, I'm satisfied. In the next decade, this venture would've hopefully taken off greatly, and I'd find myself entering causes similar to maintaining a work/life balance and possibly pursuing a new, related venture.
Summary of Feedback
I didn't receive much feedback on my first venture concept. However, in the What's Next assignment, I had a suggestion about some sort of automation with a status change, so that employees don't have to always manually change their status. I also received compliments on the compatibility of my product, as well as praise for planning to create a prototype as my next step in this venture.
Even though I didn't receive much feedback, I think people just want a prototype at this point. The features of my product sound good on paper, but creating a feasible prototype will be the ultimate test.
Changes
I added a small paragraph in the Idea section about a new feature. The new feature allows employees to automatically switch statuses at a certain time, so they don't have to manually change it.
This will allow employees to create consistency within their schedule and removes the slight hassle of manually changing the status every day.
This opportunity is somewhat large. Feeling pressured to work after normal working hours is a problem, but other outside factors contribute to this problem. This opportunity can grow much larger, depending on the other external factors. Furthermore, the window of opportunity will stay open for years, unless another competitor enters. As long as technology keeps growing and becomes more prevalent, this opportunity will continue to exist.
Innovation
Idea
My innovation idea is software that integrates with a company's messaging system. The software is similar to the Do Not Disturb system offered by Apple but different in that it's compatible with various systems. Once the software is connected to the messaging system, employees have a visual cue they can alter to display the status of working. Some statuses include: working in-office, working out of office, on vacation, and finished work for the day. Employees can choose the appropriate status, and their colleagues can see the status, making it easier to set professional boundaries, especially after hours.
There is a feature that automatically switches an employee's status at certain times of the day. For example, if the employee is done working at 5pm, then the status will automatically change to whatever is set at 5pm every day.
If an employee's status is not involving work, such as finished work for the day, the sender of the message will get an automatic reply, in which the employee can customize. In case of emergencies, there is an override button in which the sender can choose. The sender will write a small description of the emergency. This override option then sends a notification to the employee's work and/or personal phone, and the employee can choose to accept or deny it.
Making Money
We will make money through sales, upgrades, and additional features. The product will start at a flat fee of $200, including installation, support videos, tech support, and a free trial for upgraded features. There will also be an option to purchase upgraded features, ranging anywhere from $50-$500.
Venture Concept
How My Innovation will Solve the Problem
My innovation will solve the problem by allowing employees and companies to take control of their personal and professional lives by instilling some balance and relieving pressure. The system sets up clear, professional boundaries for employees, allowing others to respect when they are working, and when they are not. My innovation will also address a larger societal issue, which may trigger some societal change in the way we approach working after hours.
Customers, Competitors, and More
Customers will want to buy the product because a concrete system helps alleviate the pressure felt to work after normal working hours. Although there may be a learning curve, this product will help establish boundaries to help maintain a work/life balance.
The only competitor I'm currently aware of is Slack. Slack is a professional messaging system, which has similar features to the presented innovation. However, the company's weaknesses and vulnerabilities include:
- No emergency feature
- Inability to connect with a company's email
- Bugs in software
The packaging doesn't play a large role since our product is not a physical product, but tech and customer support, price points, and customer experience play a larger role. I want the product to be affordable while making a profit. Furthermore, offering tech and customer support are important to further improve the product and take care of the customer, ensuring that the experience is pleasant.
Minor Elements
Secret Sauce
My most important resource will be creative skills. Creativity allows for a business to have a first-mover advantage in an industry. Being the first business to do something is vital, and creativity allows this situation to be possible.
What's Next?
I want this venture to trigger a snowball effect that elicits societal change. Society values overworking and ignores balance. If this product is the beginning of a societal movement, even more opportunities will be created.
What's Next for Me?
Five years after launching, I want this venture to generate enough revenue to make a profit and sustain its employees. I think five years is short for a new venture, so if a profit is being made and the business is sustainable, I'm satisfied. In the next decade, this venture would've hopefully taken off greatly, and I'd find myself entering causes similar to maintaining a work/life balance and possibly pursuing a new, related venture.
Summary of Feedback
I didn't receive much feedback on my first venture concept. However, in the What's Next assignment, I had a suggestion about some sort of automation with a status change, so that employees don't have to always manually change their status. I also received compliments on the compatibility of my product, as well as praise for planning to create a prototype as my next step in this venture.
Even though I didn't receive much feedback, I think people just want a prototype at this point. The features of my product sound good on paper, but creating a feasible prototype will be the ultimate test.
Changes
I added a small paragraph in the Idea section about a new feature. The new feature allows employees to automatically switch statuses at a certain time, so they don't have to manually change it.
This will allow employees to create consistency within their schedule and removes the slight hassle of manually changing the status every day.
Hey Tara,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job on this assignment! It was very well organized and thorough. I loved the addition you made about your new feature to your product, I think that this feature is absolutely incrementally innovative and will push people to used your product more often. I agree completely that this will increase consistency and help make a somewhat concrete schedule for employees. Also, as a side note, I loved your gif!
Hi Tara!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way that you thought of that new addition, but what if someone was to be working overtime? I know I personally use the When I Work app and that has my shifts down to the minute, but sometimes I end up closing late, which makes me clock out late. This being said, you could just make sure it has a feature where it doesn't automatically clock you out. Anyways, great Idea overall and I liked you changes too.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you defined your target audience. It was very detailed and provided a lot of insight that could be used for marketing purposes. I agree that the societal mindset is what creates the problem the most meanwhile technology adds to that. Also, pointing out Slack’s weakness was a great idea since you were able to take notes and generate new and better ideas off that. I think you have a good idea going here. I like how you said creativity is your secret sauce because that is essential for every entrepreneur. Good luck with everything!