Venture Concept No. 1

            The opportunity for my concept is exciting and vast. My potential customers that I will be attempting to reach through this venture is basically anyone who eats out in restaurants. Fifty-eight percent of adults in the United States eat out at least once a week, according to http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/july_2013/58_eat_at_a_restaurant_at_least_once_a_week. This means that over half of the US adult population will be a target customer for my product which is extremely significant and means that I have to power to affect many lives. Customers that dine in restaurants need my service because there currently isn’t anything else previously implemented that will be as beneficial as my service.

The force that currently exists that is creating this opportunity is the technological revolution. Technology is improving at such a fast pace and has become almost a necessity in most US citizen’s everyday life. People love efficiency and speed and the integration of technology in everyday activities. All of these things help to expand the demand for my product.

To be more specific about my target market, I will contain my product to the US as it is still starting up. Eventually we could expand into foreign markets but I decided that for now it is easiest to keep it internal in the US. Demographically, my product will be targeted to adults or financially independent people that visit restaurants.

Currently there are few substitutes to the product that I am trying to offer, so customers have an unmet need. Products that are currently offered to not offer as many aspects and capabilities as my product will. Customers are not extremely loyal to these preexisting products because they are subpar and do not meet the needs of consumers. They are not offered as widely as they should be and desperately need to be upgraded.

As you can tell, the opportunity for this product truly is huge and necessary. The window for this opportunity will not be open long because I am sure that other people are catching on to the same trends that I have and will eventually begin to implement products similar to mine.

 In terms of innovation, my product is only incrementally innovative. I have taken preexisting platforms and expanded and improved upon them to create a product that customers will prefer to all preexisting substitutes.

To explain my product more in detail, I am creating a touch-screen interface that will be present in many restaurants, retail stores, etc. My system will offer different things for the different type of establishments it is implemented in, but generally it will allow users to have one sole system to electronically keep track of loyalty points, enhance their payment experience by reducing check-out time, and in restaurants it will allow users to view pictures and comments of menu items and much more.

I think that we can all relate to how frustrating and difficult it is to keep track of multiple loyalty cards, especially when they are in a physical card form. My system will allow users to download an app on their phones that will show them how many loyalty points they have collected and where, available rewards, current promotions or sales going on at their favorite restaurants/stores, etc.

My product works by the use of a touch-screen interface, such as an iPad. It will be extremely user-friendly and help to decrease wait times and increase efficiency.

I will make money because the restaurants/retailers/etc. that use my platform will pay a fee to my company for the usage of our system. When they buy our system they are not only buying the actual device but also our customer support, and our guarantee to custom design the system to their exact likings. The exact price of this will depend on the business we are partnering with and can range anywhere from $5,000 for smaller stores to millions of dollars for larger chain companies.

In terms of my venture concept, customers will switch to using my product because it will benefit them and it will not be difficult to learn to use the system. There isn’t necessarily a “switch” that is going on consciously for the user so it will be an extremely easy implementation process.

Competitors for this product are other payment terminals, however, their weaknesses are in excess and they don’t stand a chance against my product.

Customer support will be a huge part of our business model. Ensuring customer satisfaction is our number one goal and we will be extremely present in the customer experience and easily offer ways to get in contact with us with any issues. The customers experience will be one that is unforgettable-we ensure that! Customers will be amazed at how efficient and exciting our platform is and they will be so excited to go into stores that they know utilize our system just to use it!

As the systems grows, so will our number of employees. The goal for starting off will be a company of around 100 people working on developing the different systems and marketing.

Our “secret sauce” is the people we have working for our company and our insurance of guaranteeing customer satisfaction and personalizing each system purchased.

Looking into the future of my product, I envision that the next step for us will be to expand into other countries. Depending on the success of the product within the US, we can begin to slowly implement the system in big cities in other countries around the world.

Thinking about what’s next for me, if this product was to succeed, I would love to be the CEO of the company and continue expanding the company until I see it has reached a mature point where it would be ready to be sold off. Then I would embark on my next adventure and begin thinking about the next big thing to invent.

In the next decade, I want to have a solid product under my belt and to travel around to different places telling my story of how I started a company from nothing and made it into a huge success. Maybe I would even write a book about it!