Venture Concept No. 2
Opportunity:
Who has the need? The need I have identified is for individuals in the early and middle stages of their career and earning ability, who have enough disposable income that they would like to structure their finances in a way to achieve lasting wealth for their retirement and future generations. Other than being in the middle stages of their earning potential, my consumer base can be people of any career path: lawyers, architects, engineers, professors, etc. This job would have to have relatively steady earning potential though, so that the long term financial plan that is orchestrated is actually actually achievable with regular payments to investment accounts and existing debts.
What is the nature of the need? The need I am pursuing is born out of people's innate desire to plan for the future and gain peace concerning their finances, as well as the sense that their spending habits do not currently reflect a sustainable model to achieve their goals. Considering the current situation we are in concerning COVID-19, the desire to plan appropriately so that unfortunately shrinking finances can cover basic necessities is greater than ever, and fiscal responsibility is essential for survival.
What are changing forces creating this opportunity? This opportunity has existed for a while and has received input from numerous financial experts, but I believe there is a specific opportunity for fully innovating the existing knowledge base for the information age and automation through website coding. Again, as we are unable to conduct business in a face-to-face format due to social distancing guidelines, having an online format for financial planning is more important now than it ever has been.
How big is the opportunity? This opportunity could potentially be very big, as the desire to plan for the future financially has never gone away and remains a valuable skill for almost all individuals, though innovating by taking advantage of the modern age of information is relatively unexplored, and could be a profitable emerging market.
How long will then window of opportunity be open? The window of opportunity will be open as for as long as there are individuals who desire financial literacy resources and that current systems of web platforming are available and/or desired by the general public.
Innovation:
The product I am offering is in essence an incrementally innovative product, as I am simply adapting the current information about financial planning and wealth management to the modern age through the use of online informative videos and web tool to help analyze a consumer's specific financial situation without the hassle of self-calculation. Specifically, my product will charge a one-time fee (most likely in the $20-30 range), for access to an online database of short videos that explain the most valuable concepts of financial literacy, including, but not limited to, budgeting for living within your means, emergency fund calculation and generation, long-term savings goals (e.g. car purchase, down payment, school funding), and investing portfolio goals. There will be a main lecture pattern a customer can follow to go through the entire course of essential videos, plus an additional listing of videos for smaller topics that are less essential, but still valuable to someone learning about the subject, such as the difference between FDIC insured vs NCUA insured, why to avoid certain loaning schemes over others (like payday loans), and other helpful informative videos. While there will be some resources I will not provide, like an integrated investment platform, I will outsource these needs of my consumer base to reputable companies at my discretion, earning additional revenue through affiliate links to their website from my portal. In addition to videos and recommendations on what outside companies to utilize for a consumer's own financial needs. I will also provide integrated web tools that a user can input their financial information into and that will generate valuable resources for the user to track their own spending, saving and investing desires. If my product is desired in a corporate capacity, I will work with the company requesting the software to integrate the system into their existing computer network, so that employees may easily use the system and have payments directly wired from their company paycheck if desired.
Venture Concept:
I believe consumers of financial planning knowledge will buy my product because I will adapt the current information on the subject to fit the needs of a now internet-savvy public, who would on the whole rather watch entertaining videos on the subject than read from a less captivating print or online text, and who additionally want to put in a few numbers from their financials and receive valuable calculations back out without the hassle of calculating a budget or saving/investing interest gains over time. I think consumers would be very willing to switch to my product over existing products, as my website resource will provide valuable information on a subject the consumer wants to know about, but in a manner that is more engaging than your run-of-the-mill e-book by a dubious financial guru who offers no real plan to improve a customer's financial situation through action. This is where my competitors have a weakness, as more finance "experts" flooding the e-book market with their personal take on the subject makes a market where consumers have no idea who to trust on how to improve their own financial situation, with almost none of the existing options having actionable goals for consumers to follow, leaving them frustrated and helpless to achieve their goals. For my venture, I would produce the video resources myself, while outsourcing the animation and web tool development to independent IT contractors, following the designs I produce on paper and in writing. When the resources are fully produced and edited by me, I will hire a salaried web developer and IT support staff to help design and maintain my online presence, plus a social media manager (which could be me or someone else) to help spread awareness for my product to viable internet users.
Three Minor Elements:
In addition to my innovation idea concerning the subject of financial planning, my connections with a profitable financial firm in Miami and an IT professor at UCF can help me maintain an unfair advantage over competitors, as I have direct access to IT and web development talent by simply talking to these students and asking them if they would be interested in working for my company, as well as the ability to understand how professional firms organize their wealth management software and client interactions and trying as best I can to model my product after the real deal.
The next thing I would like to do for my business is develop my understanding of financial management a bit more, while also developing my network a bit more as I gain experience in the field. While I think I could provide a semi-valuable product right now, I think credibility plays an important role in the viability of offering expert advice, so developing both of these resources will bolster my ability to sell to consumers and generate revenue.
I think my goal for five years past my launch date is to have a well known resource for financial planning that consumers turn to as their first choice for wealth management in the online sector. My hope is that my efforts to build credibility combined with my initial years of lacking competition within this specific innovation will give me the ability to establish a known brand before copycat companies can offer a similar product and take away my consumer base, though I also will be constantly improving my product to remain one step ahead of these competitors.
Feedback
My feedback was mostly positive from other students, who determined that my first venture concept was well developed due to the level of detail I had shown with my design. I think that this is my biggest strength with the concept in that I have a very clear understanding of what exactly I want to provide to clients, so in this venture concept I wanted to focus on making my ideas and scope of consumers more specific than the last. One person commented saying that they liked how my consumer base was relatively broad, but that could be a double-edged sword in that leads I develop for my product could be less valuable on average if I don't narrow my focus to customer demographics with a high turnover rate.
Alterations
Considering the potential for a too broad consumer base to stall my revenue generation, I decided to look once again at how I might narrow my typical customer segment yet again and focus intently on converting these individuals into customers. I decided that for my concept to be most effective, the user really needed to have an income that was consistent over a given time span, be it an hourly, weekly, or monthly salary, so that the plan for paying down debts, saving, and investing can be carried out with little interruption. This would mean those with commission based earning who make enough to otherwise qualify for the service would be less viable customer candidates, allowing me to rule out workers like real estate agents, stock brokers, and other individuals with a wildly shifting earning potential. Additionally, I included information taking into account the current climate concerning the novel corona-virus, and how a service that fully replaces face-to-face contact would be more useful now than ever before, and that additionally this service would be very useful to those who wish to ensure that their paycheck will cover all basic necessities through careful planning.
Who has the need? The need I have identified is for individuals in the early and middle stages of their career and earning ability, who have enough disposable income that they would like to structure their finances in a way to achieve lasting wealth for their retirement and future generations. Other than being in the middle stages of their earning potential, my consumer base can be people of any career path: lawyers, architects, engineers, professors, etc. This job would have to have relatively steady earning potential though, so that the long term financial plan that is orchestrated is actually actually achievable with regular payments to investment accounts and existing debts.
What is the nature of the need? The need I am pursuing is born out of people's innate desire to plan for the future and gain peace concerning their finances, as well as the sense that their spending habits do not currently reflect a sustainable model to achieve their goals. Considering the current situation we are in concerning COVID-19, the desire to plan appropriately so that unfortunately shrinking finances can cover basic necessities is greater than ever, and fiscal responsibility is essential for survival.
What are changing forces creating this opportunity? This opportunity has existed for a while and has received input from numerous financial experts, but I believe there is a specific opportunity for fully innovating the existing knowledge base for the information age and automation through website coding. Again, as we are unable to conduct business in a face-to-face format due to social distancing guidelines, having an online format for financial planning is more important now than it ever has been.
How big is the opportunity? This opportunity could potentially be very big, as the desire to plan for the future financially has never gone away and remains a valuable skill for almost all individuals, though innovating by taking advantage of the modern age of information is relatively unexplored, and could be a profitable emerging market.
How long will then window of opportunity be open? The window of opportunity will be open as for as long as there are individuals who desire financial literacy resources and that current systems of web platforming are available and/or desired by the general public.
Innovation:
The product I am offering is in essence an incrementally innovative product, as I am simply adapting the current information about financial planning and wealth management to the modern age through the use of online informative videos and web tool to help analyze a consumer's specific financial situation without the hassle of self-calculation. Specifically, my product will charge a one-time fee (most likely in the $20-30 range), for access to an online database of short videos that explain the most valuable concepts of financial literacy, including, but not limited to, budgeting for living within your means, emergency fund calculation and generation, long-term savings goals (e.g. car purchase, down payment, school funding), and investing portfolio goals. There will be a main lecture pattern a customer can follow to go through the entire course of essential videos, plus an additional listing of videos for smaller topics that are less essential, but still valuable to someone learning about the subject, such as the difference between FDIC insured vs NCUA insured, why to avoid certain loaning schemes over others (like payday loans), and other helpful informative videos. While there will be some resources I will not provide, like an integrated investment platform, I will outsource these needs of my consumer base to reputable companies at my discretion, earning additional revenue through affiliate links to their website from my portal. In addition to videos and recommendations on what outside companies to utilize for a consumer's own financial needs. I will also provide integrated web tools that a user can input their financial information into and that will generate valuable resources for the user to track their own spending, saving and investing desires. If my product is desired in a corporate capacity, I will work with the company requesting the software to integrate the system into their existing computer network, so that employees may easily use the system and have payments directly wired from their company paycheck if desired.
Venture Concept:
I believe consumers of financial planning knowledge will buy my product because I will adapt the current information on the subject to fit the needs of a now internet-savvy public, who would on the whole rather watch entertaining videos on the subject than read from a less captivating print or online text, and who additionally want to put in a few numbers from their financials and receive valuable calculations back out without the hassle of calculating a budget or saving/investing interest gains over time. I think consumers would be very willing to switch to my product over existing products, as my website resource will provide valuable information on a subject the consumer wants to know about, but in a manner that is more engaging than your run-of-the-mill e-book by a dubious financial guru who offers no real plan to improve a customer's financial situation through action. This is where my competitors have a weakness, as more finance "experts" flooding the e-book market with their personal take on the subject makes a market where consumers have no idea who to trust on how to improve their own financial situation, with almost none of the existing options having actionable goals for consumers to follow, leaving them frustrated and helpless to achieve their goals. For my venture, I would produce the video resources myself, while outsourcing the animation and web tool development to independent IT contractors, following the designs I produce on paper and in writing. When the resources are fully produced and edited by me, I will hire a salaried web developer and IT support staff to help design and maintain my online presence, plus a social media manager (which could be me or someone else) to help spread awareness for my product to viable internet users.
Three Minor Elements:
In addition to my innovation idea concerning the subject of financial planning, my connections with a profitable financial firm in Miami and an IT professor at UCF can help me maintain an unfair advantage over competitors, as I have direct access to IT and web development talent by simply talking to these students and asking them if they would be interested in working for my company, as well as the ability to understand how professional firms organize their wealth management software and client interactions and trying as best I can to model my product after the real deal.
The next thing I would like to do for my business is develop my understanding of financial management a bit more, while also developing my network a bit more as I gain experience in the field. While I think I could provide a semi-valuable product right now, I think credibility plays an important role in the viability of offering expert advice, so developing both of these resources will bolster my ability to sell to consumers and generate revenue.
I think my goal for five years past my launch date is to have a well known resource for financial planning that consumers turn to as their first choice for wealth management in the online sector. My hope is that my efforts to build credibility combined with my initial years of lacking competition within this specific innovation will give me the ability to establish a known brand before copycat companies can offer a similar product and take away my consumer base, though I also will be constantly improving my product to remain one step ahead of these competitors.
Feedback
My feedback was mostly positive from other students, who determined that my first venture concept was well developed due to the level of detail I had shown with my design. I think that this is my biggest strength with the concept in that I have a very clear understanding of what exactly I want to provide to clients, so in this venture concept I wanted to focus on making my ideas and scope of consumers more specific than the last. One person commented saying that they liked how my consumer base was relatively broad, but that could be a double-edged sword in that leads I develop for my product could be less valuable on average if I don't narrow my focus to customer demographics with a high turnover rate.
Alterations
Considering the potential for a too broad consumer base to stall my revenue generation, I decided to look once again at how I might narrow my typical customer segment yet again and focus intently on converting these individuals into customers. I decided that for my concept to be most effective, the user really needed to have an income that was consistent over a given time span, be it an hourly, weekly, or monthly salary, so that the plan for paying down debts, saving, and investing can be carried out with little interruption. This would mean those with commission based earning who make enough to otherwise qualify for the service would be less viable customer candidates, allowing me to rule out workers like real estate agents, stock brokers, and other individuals with a wildly shifting earning potential. Additionally, I included information taking into account the current climate concerning the novel corona-virus, and how a service that fully replaces face-to-face contact would be more useful now than ever before, and that additionally this service would be very useful to those who wish to ensure that their paycheck will cover all basic necessities through careful planning.
Comments
Post a Comment