Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I am Shelby Cohron and I am an out-of-state student from Houston, Texas. I am in the College of Journalism and Communication at UF and majoring in public relations with a business concentration. My talents would be photography. I work for Spoon University as the photo director and photographer. Not only is it a talent it is a passion of mine. I have a lot of experience with brand building and social media management. I have interned for in realty and worked on their social media, blog and website. I also have worked with a small business that would work with multiple organizations on building the brands. I one day want to own my own business and be my own boss. I have yet to figure out exactly what type of business because there is so much I want to do. I don't have the problem of figuring out what I want. I have the problem of choosing which path to take to get to my goal. The business idea of reducing (possibly stopping) phone usage and driving is important to me. I had a friend who passed in a car accident from texting and driving as well as friends who have come close to crashing, so it has affected me. I know less accidents would occur if people didn't use their phones while driving. 

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

I am offering customers and certain businesses motivation to stop texting and driving through an app. I offer customers fun motivations like gift cards, simple products, coupon, etc. if they do not use their phone while driving for an extended period of time. The longer they drive without using the phone, then the more points they can achieve. The points would buy products, coupons, gift cards, etc. Businesses can use this app to gain more business or promotion because it would be its products being offered. It is a great cause to be behind because it saves lives. The app could also be a map and allow music to be played but not search for specific songs. That way they won't be staring at their phone for long. 

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

I am offering this to mostly young adults and teenage drivers (ages 16-35). With the younger demographic and the use of social media/data it will be easy to see what people are into, what is trending and what products should be used for motivation (like any popular coffee or fast food gift card) I also believe that age groups has the most trouble focusing on the road when using the phone. Phones can be addicting and the newer generation (ages 15-20) grew up with smartphones, which are very distracting with all of the apps it can have. That is why I targeted them as a customer. The older group (ages 21-35) are also very involved with the smart phones because that group also grew up with it. These customers have the smartphone addiction in common.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Not only would the customer care about this, but the parents, loved one or friends would care about this because it will help stop them from using their phone while driving. Parents could make their children get this app because it is a map, deters texting and driving, and can notify people when they arrive at their destination. There is also a good motivation/reward in the end. I know many people who will download apps to help earn rewards or coupons. If they pay 99 cents to $3 (depending on what features are on the app), it would be very worth it. There is a bigger gain than loss of 99 cents to $3. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

From what I noticed there is competition. However, what sets me apart is that my app would have rewards, maps, notifications when people arrive at the driver's destination, and possibly more. What none of the competitors have are rewards that people/customers want. 

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

I believe these elements do fit together, but there are some weaknesses to my business concept. I do not know how to create an app nor do I know anyone that does. I am not sure if people would buy the app or if it should be free like the others I've seen. I have interviewed people who would purchase the app and think it is a great idea. Many people that I talked to are unaware of actual apps that help people stop from texting and driving. They use different methods like putting the phone away or turning it on do not disturb. There is a strong need, so it would be a great use to people.