Idea Napkin No. 2

Part 1:

1)      You:

I am a college student who is looking to break into the sports management field. I was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I lived in New Jersey for many years and moved to Miami for high school. Then I moved to Pembroke Pines soon after graduating. I transferred to the University of Florida from Broward College last fall with my Associate in Arts degree. I love sports, music, and learning. I have a few talents, one being that I play hockey. I am a forward on the club ice hockey here at the University of Florida. Another talent of mine is my ability to play drums. I have been in a few bands over the years. I have a high tolerance for ambiguity. I learned how to adapt and make sense of new surroundings and situations from moving around and playing sports.

My aspirations are to create the ALike phone and tablet application for people to use to make a change, just a little easier. In school finding likeminded individuals and others who share your passions is easier than those outside of school like environments. I have many interests and skills so I want to find people to jam with one weekend and then others to go kayaking with the next weekend. After I start my business concept and it takes off that I would sell. Even though I sell-out so to speak I would still have an emotional connection with the app, because of what it stands for. Which is connection and bringing people together. Even though I lack any application development skills and knowledge I can enlist the help of others to educate me and collaborate with.

2)      What are you offering to customers?

I am offering users a service to find people with similar interests based on their location. Users will be able to login and create a personal profile. After that process the user will be able to view other profiles in the category they chose, depending on the user’s membership. Overall my application is an easier way for people to find one another. And to make a connection even before they meet. The connection will be easier, because they will be with people who share the same hobby, lifestyle, or skill. One’s profile will become viewable when they are in a certain geographical area. The app will use the user’s location sensor on their phones or tablets to provide peoples profiles in that general area. But one can always search for a user if they are out of the search area.  

3)      Who are you offering it to?

My user base will consist of a few demographic and psychographic characteristics. I imagine my customers to be mainly young, recently graduated college students or people who move for job opportunities. My application will be for all ages, but I would find the (21-35) to be the majority of my users. I also imagine the majority of the users to come from neighborhoods outside of main cities. The majority of the users will likely span the entire middle-class population.

The psychographics of my users would be different, based on the category one is searching. Musicians may act and feel differently than hang gliders or bowlers. Most users will be new to their area or new to an experience, but they are all open-minded and looking for adventure. Ultimately my success with ALike will be through word of mouth promotion from satisfied users. Once an application starts creating a buzz society will pick it up and at the very least try it out. I will appeal my application more towards college students, because they will likely provide the biggest growth for my application at the start.

4)      Why do they care?

The application is generally free to download, but to get the most out of the app one will purchase a membership. People are finding themselves in different places every day and with no outside connection they can feel alone and even lost. People want to feel connected with others, to share ideas and engage in life with others. That is why people will care, use, and sign up with my application. Now with a video profile the users can openly express themselves as they truly are and make “first” encounter experiences more genuine and fluid. My application will provide users with categories and sub-categories to provide specific activities and lesser known sports.

5)      What are your core competencies?

My core competencies will be that a drummer will be able to find a band or single guitar player who shares the same style, skill level, and desire easier than before. My users will be able to upload YouTube videos or personal videos from their phones to attach to their profiles. I want to update the standard picture and written description profile with a more authentic and genuine video of the user. This way the viewer will get a better idea of who they are making a connection with.

My personal competencies are important too. I will see my application through and stay dedicated to ALike’s success. I understand my flaws and lack of skills so I must address them with a strong team. Since I can take criticism I will encourage others to openly play devil’s advocate and share their opinions.

I believe all five elements work together on paper and should be successful. One element I find maybe the weakest is number element number four. This may be the most important element overall, but I am not sure if implementing a membership is necessary. Maybe the application will be free all around and I only have revenue streams from advertising and sponsorships. I do believe people will find my application useful, because I know what it is like to bounce around and it is not easy. If this application can make the transition easier on people, then I would consider the ALike application as a success.

Part 2:

Much of the feedback I received was similar to each other so I may be reaching a little to come up with five. One main point I took away from the feedback of my peers was the uniqueness of my video profile. I was a little unsure of the idea, but people are responding well so I left it in my idea napkin. I also added the benefit of the video profile in part 4 (Why do they care). A second point I took away from the feedback received was the fact I lack application development knowledge and experience. I added this second point to part 1 (You) which gives the reader more detail about me. A third point I took away was the emphasis on specialized activities. Yeah, one can find a drummer to play music with, but one can also find someone to play Frisbee golf with too. I added a short segment to Part 4(Why do they care) to emphasize the range of options available to the user. I would not want to leave any hobby or past time out, because those specialized activities may be what helps catapult this app into popularity. Which brings me to my fourth take away from the feedback I received and that my application needs to be popular. That is how applications succeed in today’s world. I want people to download my app, have great experiences, and promote my app through word of mouth. The fifth take away I have is my target audience and how I should focus more towards college students. At least to start, because like I added to part 3 (Who are you offering it to) I feel college students will help spread awareness of my application and by curiosity alone many will download my application.