25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market
Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.
I think what's next is taking my idea out of UF and spreading it to other universities across the United States. The opportunity I'm looking to expand in isn't one that just happens at UF, it happens at colleges nationwide. That's why I want my idea of implementing a system into libraries in which you can know what seats are occupied or taken at all times to be in libraries all across the United States.

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. 
The people I interviewed believed that my idea could make it nationwide because it is a problem that plagues all colleges across campus. They said they thought it was a good idea to start at one school, UF, to test how it goes and then to go across the rest of the states with my idea. They said that convenience is a thing that people want all around the world and that need isn't going to go away until a system is put in place to help them.

Step 3: Based on your own expectations and the feedback you received from customers, set a path for the future. In two to three paragraphs, describe what makes the most sense for your venture in terms of growing in your existing market.
I think what makes the most sense for my venture in terms of growing my existing market is to go to new schools around the country and show them my results that I've had at UF. I would probably starts at schools like USF and FSU because they are close and I could easily get that done and show them what I did at my school.
Next I would go out of state and make my way across the country to spread my idea. I would gain money from the schools in Florida and that would allow me to go all across the country and spread my idea to the different libraries across the nation. It's even possible that I don't have to just do college libraries, but could do regular libraries as well.

New Market
Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.
A radically different market from what I'm currently planning to target would be people without a need for convenience and people who already have a solution to wasted time and energy, such as people who rent rooms in the library.

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!
My venture might be able to create value for people in this market because there could be times when all the rooms in the library are already rented and they didn't get the chance to grab one, in this instance they would have to use my product to find a nice place to study in the library.

Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 
I interviewed people who rent rooms in the libraries and asked them what they do in the cases in which there are no rooms available for the times that they want. They said they just sit in the regular spots in the library. I then asked them if they had to sit regularly in the library, would they use my product to find seats? They said yes because it would save them time and be able to find them convenient seats. So, my product could be used for this group of people, but only if their first solution for the problem of convenience didn't work.

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 
I learned from this new market that I am even able to target people who aren't necessarily in my own targeted market, it only happens when their first solution doesn't work, but at least it happens. I can extend my opportunity to them and grow my business. 
This market isn't as attractive as my existing market because they aren't guaranteed to use my product every time, but it is still surprising they would use it at all. My expectations and assumptions about this new market were definitely incorrect.