29 Venture Concept # 2

1)

Opportunity 

• Traumatic head injuries are sustained by individuals all around the world, daily. One common reason for this tragedy is the inconvenience and decrease in popularity of the use of helmets. This results in the same number of people riding bicycles, mopeds, skateboards and motorcycles, but less and less of them wearing helmets. 
• I first noticed this issue in my own college town, Gainesville, Florida.  It had became so common to see students not wearing helmets while operating their vehicles that I hadn't even thought twice about it. The geographic opportunity is sustainable because there will always be students who need to get around campus on a bicycle or scooter. What enforces this further is the fact that there is little to no parking for cars at this University, which forces even more students to have to rely on mopeds or skateboards. 
• As mentioned above, the "window of opportunity" will be sustained for I believe the next 10- to 20 years. Unless new technology arises that displaces mopeds, bicycles, and motorcycles as the primary way to get around without a car, this opportunity will be available for a long time. Especially on college campuses, where parking is limited due to the large influx of students, head protection is necessary to operate the other forms of vehicles. 
• The forces that I believe inspired this opportunity was a change in societal norms. With mass digitalization, trends spread far and wide through the use of computers and cellphones. What's "cool" and what's not is clearly defined, and wearing your helmet isn't cool enough to make it I suppose. Additionally, convenience has resulted from this new digital age. What ever is easiest, fastest, and most convenient is also viewed as attractive to customers. Helmets are rather large and bulky. They can not be easily carried around, and wearing one when not operating a vehicle may even be seen as odd. However, hats are still on trend and probably always will be. You can wear a hat on your head, clip it to your back pack, or throw it inside your backpack with ease and you will not have to think twice about it. 
• Another force I believe inspires what I see around my campus is the demographic. The age and characteristics of the people that live here and go to the University of Florida are typically aged 18-24 and can afford in one way or another to attend college. This age group is notorious for believing that they are invincible, that they can get away without wearing a helmet because they think they will never get hurt. 
• Customers are currently satisfying this need by wearing their helmets or avoiding operating a moped or bicycle at all. Loyalty to helmet brands is low, unless you are in specialized group of people who bike as a hobby, or motorcyclists. But for the common bike rider or moped operator, loyalty is low. So low even that they skip buying a helmet all together. 

Innovation 

• What it is: My innovative solution to the opportunity described above is a stylized protective head gear that resembles hat styles rather than helmets. I chose this design because it solves the unmet need of helmets being considered "uncool" "bulky" and "unattractive." I am offering  this product in a variety of styles including: baseball cap, beanie, sun hat, fedora, beret, and bucket hat. 
• What it does: The styles of the head gear will be close enough to the original style that they can easily be incorporated in to everyday life. It will be worn by individuals while operating their bicycle, moped, or skateboard. 
• How it works: I will be using an equally as durable but lightweight covering to make the base of the hats out of and adding cushioning layers to make the style, depending on the hat style. I will be selling each different style hat for a different price based on square inch of material used. But the average price would be around 12-14$. 
• Prices will be altered according to the first few years of progress. I would like to keep the price relatively high because I do not want consumers to view my product as a cheap head gear, that they can ignore or not use. I hope that it can become the new norm around the world. As we strive to be more friendly to our environment, and stray away from the use of petroleum powered cars, I hope more people will ride bikes, or skateboards, and wear their "cap your cap."

Venture Concept 

• I believe customers would switch to this new product because they will not wear helmets but wear hats. Since my hats will be customizable, organizations can customize the head gear to their liking and represent their personal groups. This is advantageous because helmets do not provide the same personal connections. They are bulky, dull, oddly shaped, and inconvenient. Helmets do not like on to bicycles or scooters therefore can easily be stolen. They are too bulky to lug around campus so people choose not to buy them at all. But a headgear that resembles a hat can be worn all day, just as a hat is. There are many beneficial aspects of my product "Cap your cap" and it is not outrageously more expensive than a cheap or normally priced helmet. 
• The competitors are helmet brands and other companies who have created a similar product to my own but are not widely known. I have explained in depth the weaknesses that helmet companies face but not their strengths. They have been the market leader for ever and have not faced any fierce competition. 
• Packaging: Since the product is very hat-like, packaging will not be as important but I will still take ample amounts of time designing and working with teams to utilize our resources and create an on-brand product. 
• Price points: Price points will be something that I will have to ease in to figuring out. Because if I sell my product for too much, no one will be willing to buy it, but for too little could make the company seem like an inferior brand or "cheap."
• Distribution: Distribution will begin at the local level, starting a store in the college town, selling online to first allover the country then internationally. Later my hope is that it can be sold in megastores like Target or Walmart. 
• Employees: I plan on having roughly 15 employees to begin and then will work my way up and adjust accordingly. 
• Location: My first location will be targeting college towns. Once I get the hang of things I hope to distribute through other retailers but keep specialized stores. If we ever became very successful I would hope to open luxury / fun stores in the bigger cities like New York, L.A, and Miami. 

Unfair advantage: my unfair advantage will be my connection to Greek Life at the University of Florida. Since I plan to start the business here, my ties to the largest most influential organization on campus will be vital. I am currently on the executive council of my sorority, and we are ranked high. I will use this pull to promote my product heavily. 

What's next ? I already described that what would be next is the move into retailers like target or Walmart but I do now want to brainstorm accessory products that could be sold in connection with the c

For Me: I would like to see myself travel, expanding the business and living life to the fullest. Taking opportunities as they come my way and never forgetting where I Started. 

2 & 3) It seems as though I wasn't provided with any feedback from my peers but that is OK. I revised my original venture concept and was able to find some things that could be improved and things I had second doubts on. In my "force" section, I added convenience to my demographic and new age of digitalization forces. I realized that stemming from this new era of instant-gratification, one of the reasons helmets are being utilized less is in part because of their inconvenience. Being too bulky to carry around, and to strange to wear walking around campus, or in to class has led more and more people not to wear one! I also realized that I need to heavily inspect how my target audience responds to my set price range. If it is too expensive for them to afford, I will be willing to lower it. But as I mentioned above, I hope that my product can be versatile, used not only as a helmet, but a day to day hat that just so happens to protect your head when operating a vehicle. I did get one piece of feedback from my "What's Next" assignment and although it was positive and in agreeable to what I said, it was nice to hear because I had been apprehensive about my idea of expanding to other colleges and eventually out of the country. Faith said it was "reasonable" and I believe if it is reasonable it can be attainable and I have big dreams for my product. See below: Hats in modern art and on the fashion runway. They are IN, helmets...not so much.