29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

·      I believe that there is an unmet need in regard to a reliable RTS bus app that will tell people the correct time their bus will be arriving. Students, teachers, and anyone living in Gainesville that may use the buses to get around are in need of this new reliable RTS bus app. The current RTS app doesn’t tell them the correct time their bus will be arriving and will randomly say “no prediction” or “out of service.” Other problems include the bus randomly stopping and sitting still for 10+ minutes and bus drivers taking random breaks. With the current app being so unreliable, students and teachers are late to class, people are late to work, and everyone is stressed. I believe that this opportunity is huge and know from my interviews and peers that a lot of people would use a new reliable app instead.

·      The forces that allow this to occur are the lack of reliability of the current app, the fact that there is only one option people can use to track their bus, and the fact that many people aren’t arriving to where they need to go on time. With this said, I believe the “window of opportunity” will be open until these factors are resolved.

·      Currently, customers aren’t really satisfying their need for a reliable RTS bus app. Everyone I have interviewed over the past two months continue to use the old app and hope that the timing is right. Some have decided to leave 30 minutes earlier then they normally would, while others have given up on the app completely. I wouldn’t say anyone is loyal to the old RTS bus app anymore. They all avoid it if they can and would switch to a new app if one was available.

Innovation

·      My innovation is a brand new reliable RTS bus app. This app will help students, teachers, and anyone who uses the bus system to get around Gainesville get where they need to go on time. Like the old app, this new app will let you pick which route you want and will show you where you bus is located at all times. In addition, my new app will include all scheduled breaks the bus drivers have on a weekly basis and traffic that may be on the roads that morning. I have also added an estimated time of arrival feature for your specific bus. If that arrival time is 3 minutes earlier or later than expected, the app will give you a notification every time. This way if your bus is moving slower or faster than expected you will be made aware. In addition to the new app, my business will also update all of the technology on the buses themselves. Majority of the buses are old and who knows the last time they were updated with the latest technology.

·      My app will be very simple and easy to use. There will be a map showing your selected bus routes and where those buses are located at all times. Across the top, all of the other features will be located. It will be a very neat, simple, and clean looking app that’s easy to use.

·      I will make my money off of this new and reliable RTS bus app by charging people $1 to download the app. I am selling them a reliable app that actually works like it should.

Venture Concept

·      My innovation will solve or address the unmet need for a reliable RTS bus app. My new and improved RTS bus app will get people where they need to go on time with as little stress as possible. Customers will be able to rely on and trust the app to tell them exactly when their bus will be arriving. I believe that customers will switch to and buy my app because they won’t have to worry about being late anymore. I don’t think it will be hard at all to get people to switch to my new app. For only $1 all of their worries about their means of transportation go away.

·      There is only one competitor I would have and that’s the current RTS bus app called Rider. There biggest weakness is that their prediction time of when the bus is supposed to arrive is never accurate. With so many people having problems with their app, I believe that they will lose all of their customers to my new app and won’t be able to get them back even if they fix their problems because no one can trust them.  

·      It is also extremely important to build a solid reputation in Gainesville and show people how trustworthy and useful my app is. I think this will go a long way and will get people from all over Gainesville using my app. Obviously, it will take some time to build a great reputation, but if I continue to work hard and fix any problems or things that may need tweaking, it shouldn’t be too long before my app has a solid reputation.

·      Overall, I believe that customer support and the design of my app plays a big role in defining my business concept. I will need customers to support my app and spread the word on how amazing and reliable it really is. I also think that designing a welcoming app is important too.

·      I feel like my business will be pretty small in regard to the number of employees. I’m thinking around 10. I will have administrators, managers, and receptionist.

Unfair advantage

I believe that the fact that my app only has one competitor is my best resources. I will be able to take over the market way easier than if I had a lot of competition. With a lack of competition, people will have to pick my app if they want something reliable. They have no other choice. 

What’s next:

I think what’s next for my venture is to give all of the buses a face lift. With updating the technology, we will add outlets, and a new way to request a stop. I will also add new comfy and clean seats, a bright and welcoming color scheme, etc. In the future, we will also be incorporating a new text message option. This will allow people without iPhones or people who don’t know how to use the app, still get the time of when their bus should be arriving. This will hopefully expand my customer base.

For me:

In five years, I would love to be the number one RTS bus app that people use in Gainesville. As an entrepreneur, I want to be able to continue to make people’s lives easier. I want to make people enjoy life and not stress out over things they can’t control.  

Summary of feedback:

I got a lot of great feedback on this assignment. I had a lot of positive things including; a great and clear outline, easy to understand, good organization with using subheading and bold words, and that the name of my app is perfect. I also got some really good advice from my peers. Like the fact that I need to make sure that I create a great reputation for my app and I need to figure out how I can make sure this happens, and possibly explain it in my post. I also need to make sure that I have something that separates me from my competitors. If the current app were to upgrade and fix all of its current problems then my app wouldn’t offer anything drastically different. I didn’t get any feedback about what to exactly change in my venture, but I think I need to do a better explaining some things. In my what’s next exercise, I got good and positive feedback as well. Everyone thought giving the bus system a makeover was a great idea.

What I changed:

I didn’t have much to change in this assignment. I read through it again and again just tweaking things here and there. I did add in how I am going to create such a great reputation for my app. I feel like that was an important thing to add because a good reputation leads to more customers using and trusting my app. I also decided to add in my down the road upgrades/changes. This would be the text message feature I discussed. I feel like this will show people that I am already thinking of the future and ways to improve my app. I want anyone and everyone riding my bus and hopefully this feature will get me more customers.