4a: Opportunity Belief
Andrew Lanza
ENT3003
Professor Pryor
09/05/17
1. When I was getting on the road to make the drive back to Tampa (home) recently, I turned left onto the interstate, launching my poorly secured beverage all over the passenger side floor. This helped me identify an unmet need for an adaptable cupholder.
2. I feel that this need exists because drivers everywhere have cups that vary in size, many too large to securely be held by factory-size cupholders. I suppose this need arose some time ago when drink sizes began to supersede the size of automobile cupholders. In the United States, large cups are increasingly popular, and have been for years. Especially in recent years with the rise in popularity of tumblers, I feel that this need is perhaps currently at its peak. Additionally, people are buying different drink containers to accommodate for their cupholder size. Take a morning commuter for example. If X commuter wants to bring coffee to work from home, but only has mugs or containers that have handles/won't fit their car cupholder, he or she has to risk bringing unsecured coffee with them in the car ride (and therefore risk spillage). For these reasons, it's my presumption with 90% certainty that this opportunity exists.
3. A prototypical customer would be anyone who commutes, and most anybody who drives.
4.
Questions for interviews:
A) Do you ever find yourself traveling in the car with a cup that is too small/too large for your cupholders? If so, how often?
B) When was the first time this caused you a problem, if ever?
C) How have you coped with this issue? Is your coping mechanism sufficient?
Iteration 1 Answers:
-A) Yes, 2-3 times a year I will find myself in a situation where the cup wont fit.
-B) I don't remember the first time, but when it happens it is very inconvenient.
-C) I'll just hold my drink in my hand until I finished. It's dangerous to drive with just one hand so I don't like to do it, but I just don't want my drinks to spill. I wouldn't really say it's sufficient. It gets me by but its very inconvenient and at times, hazardous.
Iteration 2 Answers:
-A) Yes. It happens to me pretty frequently, maybe like once a month.
-B) No, but I remember multiple recent times where it happened to me.
-C) I usually hold the cup in between my legs or in my hand. I don't find it sufficient because I always either spill or drive worse. Or both.
Iteration 3 Answers:
-A) Yes, that happens to me. It depends, for a while I was playing a lot of basketball and I would always drive around with big gatorade bottles that wouldn't fit. Probably like 2-3 times a month, which is pretty frequently I guess.
-B) It happened to me as soon as I started driving. I guess you wouldn't have as much of an issue as a passenger using one hand to hold the cup instead of while driving.
-C) I usually just hold it in between my legs, which is risky. I have found it to be sufficient for the most part.
5. Reflect:
I found that the people I interviewed all had previously experienced an issue with a cupholder being unaccommodating to their beverage. What I was most surprised about was how often this affected those who I spoke to.
6)^ interviews above
7) I believe that my original opportunity still stands. I feel even more confident in the ability of this opportunity to benefit prototypical customers than I did before the interviews. I feel like in any good business venture, the customer will tend to be right (at least about what they want), and in this case, it seems like all the interviewees would be potential customers to an adaptable cupholder product. I think that the tradeoff for adapting and staying firm varies between product to product, but in this product's case, it seems like the only customer adaptations would/could be customization of the cupholder (decals, designs, etc).
ENT3003
Professor Pryor
09/05/17
4A: Forming An Opportunity Belief
1. When I was getting on the road to make the drive back to Tampa (home) recently, I turned left onto the interstate, launching my poorly secured beverage all over the passenger side floor. This helped me identify an unmet need for an adaptable cupholder.
2. I feel that this need exists because drivers everywhere have cups that vary in size, many too large to securely be held by factory-size cupholders. I suppose this need arose some time ago when drink sizes began to supersede the size of automobile cupholders. In the United States, large cups are increasingly popular, and have been for years. Especially in recent years with the rise in popularity of tumblers, I feel that this need is perhaps currently at its peak. Additionally, people are buying different drink containers to accommodate for their cupholder size. Take a morning commuter for example. If X commuter wants to bring coffee to work from home, but only has mugs or containers that have handles/won't fit their car cupholder, he or she has to risk bringing unsecured coffee with them in the car ride (and therefore risk spillage). For these reasons, it's my presumption with 90% certainty that this opportunity exists.
3. A prototypical customer would be anyone who commutes, and most anybody who drives.
4.
Questions for interviews:
A) Do you ever find yourself traveling in the car with a cup that is too small/too large for your cupholders? If so, how often?
B) When was the first time this caused you a problem, if ever?
C) How have you coped with this issue? Is your coping mechanism sufficient?
Iteration 1 Answers:
-A) Yes, 2-3 times a year I will find myself in a situation where the cup wont fit.
-B) I don't remember the first time, but when it happens it is very inconvenient.
-C) I'll just hold my drink in my hand until I finished. It's dangerous to drive with just one hand so I don't like to do it, but I just don't want my drinks to spill. I wouldn't really say it's sufficient. It gets me by but its very inconvenient and at times, hazardous.
Iteration 2 Answers:
-A) Yes. It happens to me pretty frequently, maybe like once a month.
-B) No, but I remember multiple recent times where it happened to me.
-C) I usually hold the cup in between my legs or in my hand. I don't find it sufficient because I always either spill or drive worse. Or both.
Iteration 3 Answers:
-A) Yes, that happens to me. It depends, for a while I was playing a lot of basketball and I would always drive around with big gatorade bottles that wouldn't fit. Probably like 2-3 times a month, which is pretty frequently I guess.
-B) It happened to me as soon as I started driving. I guess you wouldn't have as much of an issue as a passenger using one hand to hold the cup instead of while driving.
-C) I usually just hold it in between my legs, which is risky. I have found it to be sufficient for the most part.
5. Reflect:
I found that the people I interviewed all had previously experienced an issue with a cupholder being unaccommodating to their beverage. What I was most surprised about was how often this affected those who I spoke to.
6)^ interviews above
7) I believe that my original opportunity still stands. I feel even more confident in the ability of this opportunity to benefit prototypical customers than I did before the interviews. I feel like in any good business venture, the customer will tend to be right (at least about what they want), and in this case, it seems like all the interviewees would be potential customers to an adaptable cupholder product. I think that the tradeoff for adapting and staying firm varies between product to product, but in this product's case, it seems like the only customer adaptations would/could be customization of the cupholder (decals, designs, etc).
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