Shawn Davis
29A – Venture Concept No. 2
1.
My venture concept is based on
the need of college housing in college towns. This opportunity comes from the
analysis that in college towns it is hard for college students to locate an
affordable college housing close to campus. This opportunity typically applies
to those who are your typical undergrad but specifically students who are pass
their freshman year of college. The changes are that colleges are admitting
more and more students through the flexibility of online classes. With this
trend there are more students then campus housing can hold which is why
students tend to look for affordable housing close to college campuses. This is
only happening in college town demographically the population is made up of 18
– 25 year old college students that are still financially being supported by
their parents when it comes dealing with paying for housing. Typically while
their undergrads parents are still paying for their housing due to them being
full time students and not being able to have enough time to work jobs.
Customers are satisfying this need by getting friendly referrals. Students that
are still not familiar with the college town often go live in neighborhoods
that they know their friends already live in or somewhere that their friends
recommend them staying in. They are still loyal because they often stay in that
place until they are getting ready to graduate. They are more loyal to the
referral and not the product itself. This opportunity is big because there are
colleges everywhere with students that are from 50 to 60 thousand plus
students. This opportunity will be last for years because cities and colleges
can only get so big so eventually we will run out of space. The product that I
will be providing is more spacing for college students to be able to live
closer to college campuses at a price that can be affordable for them to live
great and also enjoy it. My plan is to work with other people on campus that
will promote the college housing that I’m going to be setting up at affordable
rates. Also I would partner with a group that would be willing to share my
vision support my business plans. The reasons for me to think that customers
will switch to my product is because it will be close to campus also it will be
affordable for them to live in. It wouldn’t be hard due to the help I would
have from my peer by promoting the product and giving them information on how
cheaper my product would be compared to the others. The competitors are the
other business people that own other college housing. They don’t have the
option to provide people with different housing opportunities. They only have
so much to offer they can’t over sell things. For packaging, price points,
customer support, and customer experiences I would have a person that has
patients, interact with people and someone who knows the system well to work
with customers to guide them with things they want to know, need to know or
anything they need help with. I would organize my business by having employees
that understands my vision and value. I would have a number of 5 employees for
different things. The roles are someone who would be able to explain what I
need in my product to students who are looking for housing, another person will
explain to me what will be the best set up location for my product, and my role
will be to give a reasonable price that will meet needs for college students to
switch to this new product.
2.
The feedback that I got from my what’s next were
helpful for me in a way that I could continue in the direction I was headed in.
I received feedback from other students saying things like it’s a great idea
for me to choose a market with people that may not be able to afford living in
places that are expensive, finding ways to build loyalty from customers in
giving services that will make them come back for repurchasing. From another
post I received that it would be a great idea for me to expand low costing
apartments to other universities and not just one. Also I received helpful
feedback from someone saying “My only suggestion is to figure out how the
financial aspects of your business work and find how to make money through your
services.”
3.
If I were to change my venture I would do it in
a sense of building housing for those who are trying to find financial help but
is struggling to get the financial help. But to be fair they would have to sign
an agreement deal to where if they can’t find a job in a certain amount pay for
the time they stayed at this venture they would have to find a new home.
