11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

1)    You. 

·      My name is Natalie Hoffmann and I am a Senior at the University of Florida. I am studying Sports Management in hopes of one day becoming a head college gymnastics coach. I have a talent in gymnastics and did it for 17 years. I currently coach gymnastics in Gainesville. I am also really good at public speaking, I am extremely organized, and work hard at everything I do. I have a lot of experience with the sport of gymnastics and with coaching it. I have a passion for helping people achieve their dreams. I want to inspire and enrich athletes and everyone around me. I hope to be a positive influence on peoples lives and someone that you can always count on. If I were to start this business concept, I really don’t think It would play that big of role in my life. Yes, I would have to work hard on it and continue to improve the new bus app, but after I graduate from college I will no longer have the need for the app and may pass my business to someone else.

2)    What are you offering to customers?

·      I am offering customers a new and improved bus app. This app will help students, teachers, workers, and anyone who uses the bus system to get around Gainesville get to where they need to go on time. The current RTS bus app has many problems including; the app saying the wrong estimated time of arrival, saying “no prediction” or “out of service” instead of how many minutes away the bus is from your stop. Other problems include the bus randomly stopping and sitting still for 10+ minutes, bus drivers taking random breaks, Wi-Fi and cellular connection problems that causes the app to freeze, and so much more. The new and improved app includes all of the same features the old app included, with the addition to all scheduled breaks the bus drivers have on a weekly basis, and traffic that may be on the roads that morning, and a new feature. This new feature will show you the estimated time of arrival, and if that arrival time is 3 minutes earlier or later than expected, the app will give you a notification every time. In addition to the new app, my business has also updated all of the technology on the buses themselves. Some buses were not transmitting the right data to the app. This new and improved app will get people where they need to go on time, with as little stress as possible.

3)    Who are you offering it to?

·      I am offering it to two main groups: college students and anyone without a car in Gainesville. All of my customers have the same thing in common, they need help getting from point A to point B and they use the RTS bus system to do so. College students is the biggest groups I am going to be offering the app to. Gainesville is a college town with so many students trying to get back and forth to UF’s campus to where they live. Some of these college students don’t have cars, while some do but don’t have a parking pass, some have scooters, and some can’t afford to pay for these things. The University of Florida only has so many parking spots and passes to let students purchase, so if a student can’t afford the pass or they are all sold out, they will be walking, riding a bike, buying a scooter (if they can), or taking the RTS bus system. With all of this said, there are hundreds of students that take the buses to campus on a daily basis. So, they are the main group I need to offer this service to.

·      The second group, anyone without a car in Gainesville, is a little broader. There are a lot of moms, grandmas, families, workers, etc that take the buses around Gainesville to get where they need to go. I take the bus to class every day, and always see either a professor heading to work, a mom and her kids heading to Shands, a woman dressed in her work uniform, and a lot of other people that need help getting around. These people don’t have any other way to get to where they need to go, so I also need to offer it to these people.

·      I wanted to make a note, that I believe this app can be offered to so many people. Different situations and things happen to different people every day. Someone’s scooter broke and now needs to use the bus, its storming out and someone doesn’t want to walk to class, or even a professor who hates dealing with parking on campus. There is such a wide range of people I could offer this app to. But I focused on the two main groups who I believe would be using the app the most.

4)    Why do they care?

·      Customers will pay money to purchase my new RTS bus app because it will actually be reliable. The new app will work and will get people where they need to go on time. They won’t have to stress about being late, the app not working, missing the bus, or not even having a bus coming. They care about this new app because they have responsibilities and need to get places on time. People don’t want to have to wake up an hour earlier, in fear that the bus won’t show up that day or that they will end up missing the bus because the estimated time of arrival was wrong. With this new app, people will be able to trust their transportation system to get them where they need to go on time and with no stress.

5)    What are your core competencies?

·      What sets me apart from my competitors, is the fact that I would have the only working and reliable app out on the market that people can trust. There is currently only one app that people can use to track the buses and see when they are expected to arrive at their stop. This app has so many problems to it, that some people have given up on the app entirely. My app has new features that the other app doesn’t have. I discussed these earlier in my assignment, but here are these new features again: a tab that has a schedule of breaks the bus drivers have on a weekly basis, and traffic that may be on the roads that morning, and a new feature that will show you the estimated time of arrival, and if that arrival time is 3 minutes earlier or later than expected, the app will you a notification every time. Something else that sets me apart from my competition, is the fats that my business will update all of the technology on the buses themselves. Some buses were not transmitting the right data to the app.

Overall, I believe that most of these elements work well together. However, I don’t think I have a great idea on exactly who to offer my product to. I feel like so many people could fit into my prospective customer bases and I am having a hard time being able to categorize them into groups. So, this part of my business concept is weaker than the rest. I believe I have a good grasp on all the other parts. I know what I am offering to my customers, I know why they care, and I know what sets me apart from my competitors.