Idea Napkin No. 2
Me
I am a Finance major at the University of Florida, and have developed a lifelong love of learning new things, especially when it comes to finance and wealth management. I've had a number of entrepreneurial experiences in my youth, having opened a couple of small business and employed friends to help with my endeavors, as well as being exposed to the social good that entrepreneurial work can do through positive mentors like our family friend Mr. Keller. I also benefit from being very committed to work that produces a lasting impact on people's lives, be it economic relief work for less fortunate countries or production of resources that allow people to better their own financial positions. Given my aspiration to do meaningful work that helps people, I think my product and my business can help me achieve that goal.
What am I offering to customers?
I am offering clients an online course system to self-educate on important topics of finance management, focusing on the basics of reducing spending to below one's income amount to create a positive monthly cash flow, and utilizing this cash flow to invest in other important areas, like debt management, emergency savings, college/child planning, and retirement planning. The system would differ from most other courses offered on these subjects because my version would have informative lectures on each subject, but following each lecture there would be an interactive financial analysis tool for the user to input financial data into, be it a budgeting tool, a long-term saving or investment calculator, an income/spending quantifier, etc. These tools directly following the taught financial concepts would help users to retain the info and provide actionable next steps for the customer to use the information in their real lives.
Who am I offering it to?
I am offering my product to lower-middle class to upper-middle class individuals, primarily those who have begun their careers and can expect less income fluctuation in the coming years, other than hopefully steady pay increases. Those who are in the schooling range in any form, be it college, graduate school, preparing for post-grad study, or long-term schooling like residency, would likely not benefit as much from my product, as almost all of these individuals have a highly variable income with less of it being disposable or are utilizing student loans to pay for schooling. Those individuals who are more focused on long-term financial goals, like saving for family building or paying off these loans they have gained in their younger years are more likely to gain value from my product. Customers would also have to be proficient in online learning applications, or at least have basic computer proficiency, setting my desired age range in roughly the 30 to 50 range.
Why do they care?
I believe my customers would care about my product because most people have the desire to be financially independent in their lives and save for the future. Given the uncertain times we are currently in, I think most people wish more than anything that they could be certain that they will not be harmed financially due to short-term job loss, and that they have the funds to deal with a potential economic meltdown. My product, which would plan for events like this, could help ensure an individual or family makes it through a time like this with little destruction of overall financial resources.
What are my core competencies?
My connections with a profitable financial firm in Miami through family bonds is one benefit I have that sets me apart from most people attempting to build a product like mine. I think with my access to this financial advisory group, I am able to model my product after the systems they have to aid their clients, while expanding the market of this business to receive clientele from under-served, lower-middle and upper-middle income groups.
Feedback:
Unfortunately, I did not receive any direct feedback on my first idea napkin, so I had no specific thing to improve from peer commentary. However, I was able to use feedback from other posts to do two things. First, I tried my best to trim the unnecessary information out of this post that was in my previous entry, focusing only on the information that was important to each section and not tangentially valuable. Second, I added information in my product description section that goes into a little more detail about what this product would actually offer customers, so that these users or potential investors could have a better understanding of what my specific product is and how it differs from what is offered in a saturated financial literacy product market.
I am a Finance major at the University of Florida, and have developed a lifelong love of learning new things, especially when it comes to finance and wealth management. I've had a number of entrepreneurial experiences in my youth, having opened a couple of small business and employed friends to help with my endeavors, as well as being exposed to the social good that entrepreneurial work can do through positive mentors like our family friend Mr. Keller. I also benefit from being very committed to work that produces a lasting impact on people's lives, be it economic relief work for less fortunate countries or production of resources that allow people to better their own financial positions. Given my aspiration to do meaningful work that helps people, I think my product and my business can help me achieve that goal.
What am I offering to customers?
I am offering clients an online course system to self-educate on important topics of finance management, focusing on the basics of reducing spending to below one's income amount to create a positive monthly cash flow, and utilizing this cash flow to invest in other important areas, like debt management, emergency savings, college/child planning, and retirement planning. The system would differ from most other courses offered on these subjects because my version would have informative lectures on each subject, but following each lecture there would be an interactive financial analysis tool for the user to input financial data into, be it a budgeting tool, a long-term saving or investment calculator, an income/spending quantifier, etc. These tools directly following the taught financial concepts would help users to retain the info and provide actionable next steps for the customer to use the information in their real lives.
Who am I offering it to?
I am offering my product to lower-middle class to upper-middle class individuals, primarily those who have begun their careers and can expect less income fluctuation in the coming years, other than hopefully steady pay increases. Those who are in the schooling range in any form, be it college, graduate school, preparing for post-grad study, or long-term schooling like residency, would likely not benefit as much from my product, as almost all of these individuals have a highly variable income with less of it being disposable or are utilizing student loans to pay for schooling. Those individuals who are more focused on long-term financial goals, like saving for family building or paying off these loans they have gained in their younger years are more likely to gain value from my product. Customers would also have to be proficient in online learning applications, or at least have basic computer proficiency, setting my desired age range in roughly the 30 to 50 range.
Why do they care?
I believe my customers would care about my product because most people have the desire to be financially independent in their lives and save for the future. Given the uncertain times we are currently in, I think most people wish more than anything that they could be certain that they will not be harmed financially due to short-term job loss, and that they have the funds to deal with a potential economic meltdown. My product, which would plan for events like this, could help ensure an individual or family makes it through a time like this with little destruction of overall financial resources.
What are my core competencies?
My connections with a profitable financial firm in Miami through family bonds is one benefit I have that sets me apart from most people attempting to build a product like mine. I think with my access to this financial advisory group, I am able to model my product after the systems they have to aid their clients, while expanding the market of this business to receive clientele from under-served, lower-middle and upper-middle income groups.
Feedback:
Unfortunately, I did not receive any direct feedback on my first idea napkin, so I had no specific thing to improve from peer commentary. However, I was able to use feedback from other posts to do two things. First, I tried my best to trim the unnecessary information out of this post that was in my previous entry, focusing only on the information that was important to each section and not tangentially valuable. Second, I added information in my product description section that goes into a little more detail about what this product would actually offer customers, so that these users or potential investors could have a better understanding of what my specific product is and how it differs from what is offered in a saturated financial literacy product market.
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