Assignment 4A – Forming an Opportunity Belief

I believe there is an unmet need in regards to finding unoccupied study spaces for students. Any student who studies outside of their home has this need and it has always existed. Often times, students go to coffee shops or libraries hoping to find a quiet place to focus, however there is no way for them to know ahead of time if there will be open seating at a specific location. This can cause the student to have to drive around to multiple places until they find adequate seating. Currently, the only resource students have to meet this need is asking friends who may already be at the study spot if there is open space. I believe I can provide a service that gives students access to an information system that lists all of the seating options at select locations. At this point, I am 100% sure that this need exists.

#1 21 year old, female college senior

• What is the exact nature of the need? 
• The nature of the need is that it is a waste of time and it is frustrating when you go to a place ready to study but you have to go home or somewhere else. It takes away from the productivity. 
• When do you become aware of the need -- that is, do you experience the need all the time or only sometimes?
• I only experience this need when I am trying to study. At least once per week I had trouble with finding open space in a study area.
• How long have you had the need? 
• I have had this need since I came to college in 2016.
• When did you first become aware of this need? Why? 
• I guess I would say after the first few times of having this happen freshman year. It did not really bother me the first time or two, but when I noticed it was a repeating problem, I knew something had to change.
• How are you currently addressing the need? 
• I stay home to study, where I find myself being less productive which in turn affects my academic career.
• How satisfied are you with this solution? 
• I am very satisfied. I think it is a great idea and I would be more likely to go outside of my home to study if I had this service.

#2 20 year old, female college senior

• What is the exact nature of the need? 
• The root of the need is to be productive outside of my house. The root of the need is to be in an environment that fosters productivity. 
• When do you become aware of the need -- that is, do you experience the need all the time or only sometimes?
• I only experience it sometimes. That is when I really am sick of my normal study space (the library or home), and I need to go somewhere like Starbucks. But then when I go there is no seating and I am forced to go back home.
• How long have you had the need? 
• I have had this need for one year.
• When did you first become aware of this need? Why? 
• I became aware of this need October 2018, because my friends and I went to Starbucks downtown and there was no seating.
• How are you currently addressing the need? 
• I usually do not go outside of my normal spaces because I know there may be seating problems elsewhere, so I avoid other places.
• How satisfied are you with this solution? 
• I think this is a good idea. I think it puts a bit more responsibility on the person who is studying to check into the seat, but I do like the idea of being able to know where seats are available in study spaces.

#3 19 year old, male college sophomore

• What is the exact nature of the need? 
• The nature of the need is that I like to study outside of my home with friends, and oftentimes all of us struggle to find seating together.
• When do you become aware of the need -- that is, do you experience the need all the time or only sometimes?
• I become aware of it when I study in groups, which is at least once a week. There will be about four of us together and some places will only have 2 or 3 seats open.
• How long have you had the need? 
• I have had this need since high school since that is when I started studying with friends.
• When did you first become aware of this need? Why? 
• I first became aware of the need in high school when oftentimes my friends and I would have to resort to studying at one of our houses since places did not have enough seating.
• How are you currently addressing the need? 
• I am currently addressing the need by studying in smaller groups.
• How satisfied are you with this solution? 
• I think this solution would be fantastic and save my friends and I time when we are looking for some place to study.

REFLECTION: 

From these interviews I learned that the need and opportunity is heavily present in college town where students spend much of their time studying. Out of my three interviewees, two of them noted that they began having this issue while in college. While this does not mean that high school students are not struggling with it, it does show that the need is amplified amongst college students. The most surprising thing I learned was that students were avoiding studying outside of their homes to avoid the hassle of having to go to multiple places to find seating. If we can fulfill this opportunity, we can assist many college students.

SUMMARY:

• After these interviews, I believe that the opportunity is still fully present. These interviews showed that this solution would meet students’ needs and be extremely valuable. 
• Because of the feedback of one of my interviewees regarding added responsibility of people studying, I believe that the opportunity is even more accurate than when I started. With these feedback, I can modify how we present the solution.
• I think entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunity based on accurate feedback. Thus, the feedback needs to come from the target audience, in the targeted region, and there needs to be a large enough sample for feedback to increase accuracy.