Venture Concept No.1

ALike

Opportunity:

I found newly graduated or soon to graduate students to either have or presume they will have the need for my application. But my application is for everyone and will work for current college students and adults too. The transfer student, the foreign exchange students, the established working man or women can benefit from the use of my application. We are all social humans by nature and we seek adventure and friendship.

Environmental Change

When people find themselves in new areas due to:

·         Work Related Move

·         Family Decisions

·         Cost of Living

My Market/Demographic

·         Metropolitan Areas

·         Twenty-one - Thirty-five years’ old

·         Male or Female

·         All Ethnicities

·         All Religions

Current Customers

Customers satisfy their need to connect with a myriad of outlets provided by the university. Some potential customers do use application to try and make connections, but I feel some of those applications have earned a bad rapport. An application to connect others easily becomes an application to find a date. Current students are able to find others to connect to by joining clubs and organizations, but outside of school friend finding becomes harder.

I download applications I have never heard of for fun. If I can create a good design and limit any glitches and confusion my application downloads will grow.

Window of Opportunity

Millennials and the next generation are my focus. Some Millennials are leaving my demographic in a few years, but many will be entering too. And the idea is to catch them early. The good news is this segment will always be around, looking for ways to use their energy and youth.

Innovation:

My venture concept is of incremental innovation, but still serves a great purpose. My innovations to a phone and tablet application is to have a video profile. I feel the video makes one feel more invited to connect and will encourage a higher rate of compatibility and friendship. Right now the application is a free service. However, I will look to make money through advertising and sponsorships. I will have a banner of ads running along the bottom or top of the screen and on the messaging chat box. I do not intend the ads to become a nuisance, but maybe a small fee of $3.00 a month can provide the user with an ad free environment.

Venture Concept:

I have come up with an idea for a phone and tablet application. The name of my application is ALike, because the purpose is to bring people together based on interests and an even more specific level.  A user will be able to log in to my application and set up a profile for other members to see. One difference is the user profile will be a video profile. Now the user has the opportunity to truly express themselves and show or explain their interests and goals. Once the user has set up their profile they are free to explore the application for other users with similar interests. To make the search easier my application will be broken up into different categories. One category will be for people interested in painting and ceramics. While another category will be for those interested in skydiving or kayaking. Once one finds someone to make a connection with they can request their friendship. Once the friendship is accepted they can begin to use the integrated messaging system to communicate and then become best friends.

My competitors would be

·         Facebook groups

·         Sites like craigslist

My competitor’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities are that they can be overlooked by the majority. Craigslist has a bad image on itself, because of reliability issues and unsecure content. Also with Facebook groups, people can become distracted and not utilize the group to its full potential.

The customer experience is the main objective. I want to provide a safe and fun environment for people to connect through. Then after the connection I want the user to be able to provide feedback to help with providing a better experience. I feel providing both single and group connections will benefit most personalities and wants.

ALike will provide exceptional customer service to the users. All feedback will be taken seriously and we will contact users if there is any potential risk. We will take the initiative and reach out to our users first to create a channel of communication.

Instead of being a website and relying on users to use a search engine to find us ALike will be a mobile application. Since everybody carries their phone around with them ALike can be readily available with one push of a finger.

For ALike to be organized as a business to support ongoing production I will have to open two different departments.

·         Customer Support/Service

·         Tech Support

A user can communicate by phone, chat, or email. I imagine thirty employees scattered throughout the US to start and then go from there.

Behind the scenes in different locations there will be a team to make sure ALike is glitch free and responsive for all users. I imagine ten employees to start will be sufficient depending on growth. I will also have a team of advisers who will work with me and brainstorm creative ways to provide users the best experience possible. My advisory board will be made up of five people.

Three Minor Elements

1)      I believe my most important element is the team. ALike will have a team who wants to help people live fun and exciting lives.

2)      The next new service will be to promote group outings at specific destinations. For example, ALike sponsored skiing in Aspen, white water rafting in Wyoming, and sunset painting in Key West.

3)      In five years I imagine I will give up majority ownership and control over ALike. As an entrepreneur I see myself investing in other people concepts. I also want to think up new concepts. This first concept has helped me create a vision and get a real sense of the entrepreneurship process.