Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

For my venture an individual that would have a need for my idea would be someone who does not want to attend a typical four year college. They would however want to create a career path through a vocational school. My potential customers also enjoy working with their hands on automotive, commercial and off road tires. My need has been created and does not fall under an unmet need necessarily. The unmet need it does fill is for tire companies who have difficulty hiring qualified employees for these positions. One change causing this need is the lack of help avail able in the tire industry which I work in. It seems that employees don’t see forward growth and opportunity within the industry. My venture allows them to continue to progress and learn more over time through different programs. Currently my potential customers are doing on the job training. This process is very difficult as it puts more demand on current employees and management to train employees. Typically you are already running short handed and do not have the resources to train like we have in the past. I see short term loyalty with our process now. One of two things will usually happen. The first is the employee is not given a fair shot to be successful and gets frustrated causing them to quit. The second is management becoming frustrated with their progress and terminating them. I see this opportunity as a big one since I work within the industry currently. From my perspective in order to continue servicing customers our industry is going to have to innovate when it comes to hiring tire technicians. The window of opportunity will be open until the next individual sees it. I think it’s something that could be thought up any day.

Innovation:

My innovation is for a vocational school that prepares students for different types of tire technician jobs. The first class is for automotive tire technician. The second class is for commercial truck tire technician, and the third is for off the road tire technicians.  Each class will last three months so students can get into the workforce quickly. As students complete a section they will be given the opportunity to work with a career coach in order to help them find employment. I will make money from the students for the cost of the classes, small hand tools that are needed, books, and uniform costs. The classes would range from $300-$900 dollars. The price per class increases as more tools are supplied by the school for students to train with. Other cost for small hand tools will range from $10.00 - $15.00. The uniform cost will be $50 for each class taken.

Venture Concept:

The opportunity I identified was lack of trained tire technicians. Having a vocational school gives an individual a career path without going through a typical four year college. It also helps employers find qualified help and reduces the inconvenience of training new employees with no experience. The customers will buy my innovation because it gives them an opportunity to educate themselves for a certain field an gain the needed training to perform job tasks. For years people have gone to school to be electricians, plumbers, automotive mechanics, and to learn various other types of trades. This is just one more opportunity for them. Since my service would be new there would be no need to switch them to my service. Competitors could come from various places because the idea, once started, is not hard to copy. The venture would have ten employees. Various jobs would be trainers, owners, administrators, and career coaches. My most important resource is identifying the need for this program. As I have explained in the past this is a two fold scenario. First, it creates a career path and opportunity for an individual to earn a living. Second, it gives the tire industry well trained and qualified technicians. Identifying this need is something I have come up with working in the tire industry so there’s not a large amount of people that will see this right away. This gives me the advantage to start the program and work out any unforeseen issues before other identify it. My next idea for the venture would be an opportunity for students to come back and train as sales people, service managers, and other jobs related to the tire industry. Once the students gain the needed experience and are ready for the next step they could come back and continue their professional growth. Over the next ten to five years I would still be involved as the entrepreneur. I would want to continue to build on what I started. If successful I would like to expand my coverage area to offer the service to more individuals. 

 

Feedback:

I received positive feedback from my venture concept one assignment. One things some did mention was part of my program already being integrated into an existing program. They mentioned it could possibly minimize the potential success of the program. So far I have not found anyone offering the type of training my venture would offer. So based on my feedback I may do more research to ensure my idea would be successful. I also have changed my exit strategy. I think for the longevity of the program and for it to evolve into what I think it can be I would need to sell the concept to a company that has the means to grow the program more rapidly. This would help potential customers find access to the program faster as well as contribute quality employees to the tire industry.

Final Reflection

The most formative part of the class was changing the way I think about ideas and opportunities. I'm now constantly looking for problems and needs and trying to figure out a solution to them. I believe this is something that will stick with me through my life and career. The most joyous experience in the class was reading others ideas and unmet needs that they had come across. I'm most proud of developing an idea and working through the process of bringing that idea to life. While my particular idea may not be a great one I'll now know how to proceed if I do come up with something that can work. I don't necessarily see myself as an entrepreneur only because I'm less risk averse in my professional life right now. Not to say that won't change one day, but for now I'm satisfied with developing the entrepreneurial mindset we talked about in class. My one recommendation for students would be staying organized. While most assignments don't take a great deal of time, they come at you fast so you need to be on top of it. Also, there are a few assignments that will take more than a day to complete so they would need to allow for the right amount of time to complete these. To perform best in this course you can also complete all of the extra credit as there will be plenty of opportunities. I would recommend them setting an realistic calendar on when they are going to complete assignments instead of always waiting for the due date.

Making it Real

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T5Vm8Fg5rXlYI-phOy__fSPGe4GgJM2Sukc-NQMAzGY/edit

My Exit Strategy

My Exit Strategy 

I have decided to change my exit strategy. Initially I want to start the venture and see it through while remaining a part of it throughout the ventures life. However, now I would like to start the venture and sell it for a profit within the first five years. I have selected this strategy because it would be easier to develop the concept and sell it to a company that has the ability to market it and grow it. I don’t think this particular exit strategy has or would influence me to do anything differently. The only potential change I would make is how I financed the idea. I would maybe finance it alone versus having investors in the company. 

Celebrating Failure

There have been students within the class that I have failed to convince my business venture is viable. Early on I was not clear about my intent with my venture. I had comments from people that were able to make a link between my venture of a tire technician school and an automotive mechanic. However, they thought I wanted to start an automotive mechanical school. After my first feedback I thought I was more clear the second time around. However, I received feedback from another student that was unclear on my venture. I have learned that I need to communicate more clearly. I was able to see my venture from my perspective and it all made sense in my mind because I work within the industry I am trying to create a need for. To others outside of the industry, they need to have more detail regarding why my venture can work. Failure is tough. Prior to this class I hated failing. There was so much negative correlation with failure I wanted no part of it. At work I drove myself crazy trying not to fail. However, throughout this class I have read some about failure. I read a Book named How To Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big. This entire book was about an individuals countless failures. From this reading I was able to not see failure as a negative, but as an opportunity to do better in the future. I am still as risk averse as I was when I started the class, but I feel I could take a chance on the right opportunity.

Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept

Opportunity:

For my venture an individual that would have a need for my idea would be someone who does not want to attend a typical four year college. They would however want to create a career path through a vocational school. My potential customers also enjoy working with their hands on automotive, commercial and off road tires. My need has been created and does not fall under an unmet need necessarily. The unmet need it does fill is for tire companies who have difficulty hiring qualified employees for these positions. One change causing this need is the lack of help avail able in the tire industry which I work in. It seems that employees don’t see forward growth and opportunity within the industry. My venture allows them to continue to progress and learn more over time through different programs. Currently my potential customers are doing on the job training. This process is very difficult as it puts more demand on current employees and management to train employees. Typically you are already running short handed and do not have the resources to train like we have in the past. I see short term loyalty with our process now. One of two things will usually happen. The first is the employee is not given a fair shot to be successful and gets frustrated causing them to quit. The second is management becoming frustrated with their progress and terminating them. I see this opportunity as a big one since I work within the industry currently. From my perspective in order to continue servicing customers our industry is going to have to innovate when it comes to hiring tire technicians. The window of opportunity will be open until the next individual sees it. I think it’s something that could be thought up any day.

Innovation:

My innovation is for a vocational school that prepares students for different types of tire technician jobs. The first class is for automotive tire technician. The second class is for commercial truck tire technician, and the third is for off the road tire technicians.  Each class will last three months so students can get into the workforce quickly. As students complete a section they will be given the opportunity to work with a career coach in order to help them find employment. I will make money from the students for the cost of the classes, small hand tools that are needed, books, and uniform costs. The classes would range from $300-$900 dollars. The price per class increases as more tools are supplied by the school for students to train with. Other cost for small hand tools will range from $10.00 - $15.00. The uniform cost will be $50 for each class taken.

Venture Concept:

The opportunity I identified was lack of trained tire technicians. Having a vocational school gives an individual a career path without going through a typical four year college. It also helps employers find qualified help and reduces the inconvenience of training new employees with no experience. The customers will buy my innovation because it gives them an opportunity to educate themselves for a certain field an gain the needed training to perform job tasks. For years people have gone to school to be electricians, plumbers, automotive mechanics, and to learn various other types of trades. This is just one more opportunity for them. Since my service would be new there would be no need to switch them to my service. Competitors could come from various places because the idea, once started, is not hard to copy. The venture would have ten employees. Various jobs would be trainers, owners, administrators, and career coaches. My most important resource is identifying the need for this program. As I have explained in the past this is a two fold scenario. First, it creates a career path and opportunity for an individual to earn a living. Second, it gives the tire industry well trained and qualified technicians. Identifying this need is something I have come up with working in the tire industry so there’s not a large amount of people that will see this right away. This gives me the advantage to start the program and work out any unforeseen issues before other identify it. My next idea for the venture would be an opportunity for students to come back and train as sales people, service managers, and other jobs related to the tire industry. Once the students gain the needed experience and are ready for the next step they could come back and continue their professional growth. Over the next ten to five years I would still be involved as the entrepreneur. I would want to continue to build on what I started. If successful I would like to expand my coverage area to offer the service to more individuals.

Amazon Whisper

·      Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 

Current Revenue Drivers:

Products:
Tuition – This is a non-tangible product that will be purchased by the students entering the program. Each program will have a fee attached to it.

Program 1: Passenger & Light Truck Technician
Program 2: Commercial Truck Tire Technician
Program 3: Commercial Road Service Technician
Program 4: Commercial Fleet Service Technician
Program 5: Off The Road (OTR) Technician
Tools – Small hand tools can be purchased by the students at a discounted rate through the programs “Tool Shop”. The items include valve core tools, air gauges, tread depth gauges, and various other hand tools technicians will need to work in this field.

Uniforms – Uniforms will also be available for purchase through the “Tool Shop”. The idea behind the uniform is to have each student see themselves as professionals while going through this program so they will have a professional outlook on the career path they have started.

Textbooks- There will be textbooks available for purchase at the “Tool Shop” as well. Each program will have it’s own set of training books.





Services:

Education/Instructors – They will provide the students with the necessary information required to complete the program and gain the skills needed to become employable in the automotive industry. Instructors will also help students with job placement following their completion

·      Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?

The next service someone going into the tire industry may want is education on tire sales or even management. Again, the purpose of this program is to have qualified help. So adding additional course that are geared towards selling tires or managing a tire store could also be valuable.

·      Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

Offering different types of programs at different levels allows my concept to change and broadens the different types of people I can attract to it.  This will allow students who have completed the tire technician side of the program to come back and continue their education. This can create customer loyalty.

·      Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.

There are no services available like mine. I couldn't find any DVDs or information for tire training on Amazon.

·      What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?

There are no services available like mine.

·      Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. 

There are no changes to be made because my service does not exist.

·      Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.

Because my service would be unique there are no additions to make at this point.