My venture, like most others, started with a need. As a student, I
spend almost every weekday walking “from point A to point B” on campus and,
living in Florida, the rain can become a hassle during these times. This left me
with a need for convenient solution, a need I wondered if my peers had as well.
After using my social connections and involvement on campus, I was able to interview
students that were unique based on different majors, living situations,
schedules, and forms of transportation used. This allowed me to get a broad scope
of this need students have on campus. Whether it is a pre- med student spending
time on the southside of campus, a business student walking around Heavener, scooter
driver, bus taker, student living on campus, student living on campus, I found
that almost everyone did not use an umbrella frequently or found it too tedious
to remember/carry one every day. This made me think about alternatives.
As I explored this need, I had this feeling that umbrellas are well
designed,
so why are they not used
enough? People do not like shaking out umbrellas, carrying wet umbrellas, and
remembering to bring one in their backpack every day. That being said, I
realized that people don’t frequently use umbrellas not because of their
function, but because of storage and transportation. This led me to the fundamental
question that drove my venture- How can I create a system that allows students
to use umbrellas on campus without having to carry one everywhere, every day?
The first step to answering this question was obvious for
me, most of the issues for students are related to umbrella storage when coming
to and leaving campus. I told myself that if I could cut out the burden of
carrying an umbrella not in use, then students would love the convenience of
the technology when they walk out of class and see it is raining.
After trying to expand my scope of people with this need,
I found from my interviews and enquiries that faculty members and university
employees also experience this same need, although sometimes not to the same
degree.
With all of this exploration into my need, I came to a
few solid conclusions before outline the foundation of my venture. First, the
use of each umbrella needs to be expected to be temporary- rain in Florida is
spontaneous and can leave just as soon as it comes; if it stops raining as a student
arrives at his/her classroom, that student is going to want to ditch that
umbrella ASAP. The same goes for leaving class, if a student walks out of class
and it is pouring rain most students would like to have an umbrella available
there right outside of the classroom, an umbrella they can pick up and drop off
with ease. To allow this fluid system of pick-up and drop-off, I listed some
major musts for my idea. There needs to be a variety of strategically placed
points of pick-up and drop-off for potential customers all over campus. These
points include by the doorways to major lecture halls, libraries, places to eat
on campus, parking lots, and bus stops. These areas are the hottest points of
pedestrian traffic and many students walk around to and from these destinations
on campus. Also, as convenient as an umbrella is, it is not required for survival,
so I would need to keep rental costs and rental subscriptions at a very low
price so that students of all different financial backgrounds have access to my
product. Another must for my product is the need for cover, people are less
inclined to use a product that has sat in the rain, regardless of how dry or
sanitary my umbrellas may be.
When it comes to payment, I am going to need a system of
customer accountability that way potential customers are incentivized to bring back
the umbrella they have rented, as opposed to keeping it forever.
I envision my venture to be a system of compartamented,
spacially efficient points of pick up and drop off on campus. Each place of
pick-up and drop-off will feature a dozen or two dozen skinny tubes facing upwards
where an individual umbrella can fit and dry in each tube. Students will expect
to pick up dry umbrellas no questions asked and hope to have a place to quickly
drop off a wet umbrella they have just used. The most efficient way to dry the
umbrellas is with air, so with a fan or well circulated system the umbrellas
will be able to dry as they are stored or unused. Students who find a problem
with their umbrella can simply call a number or put in a notice on the app for
some incentive, allowing us to acknowledge and fix broken or dirty umbrellas
without losing customers.
Overall, I would say that my product has a large upside
with very little risk. Production costs are low, system maintenance is minimal,
customer interactions will be reduced to a minimum because no student or individual
on campus wants to worry or talk to someone about a umbrella they renting or
using for one hour. I think my idea will make the lives of a lot of people on
campus much easier.
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