Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

The segment that I have decided to focus on are distressed travelers or travelers that have been taken advantage of by airlines.

1.       In interview one I met with a friend who has spent more than one night stranded in an airport due to crappy weather conditions or poor execution on the airlines side of things. When he realized that there is going to be a problem (AKA delay or cancellation) he took a few steps that a lot of people that I have interviewed mentioned. He spoke with the concierge about switching flights or other possibilities, google searched alternative flights and bus tickets, and looking for potential places to spend the night if it came to it. This interview was eye opening because we talked about a lot of the side distresses that come with having a flight cancelled. He was stranded in a city across the entire country from his home and knew absolutely no one that he could call for help.

2.       A family member of mine travels for business and has been victim to canceled flights at night. She didn’t have to spend the night in an airport because she had her company pay for a hotel. The only downfall is that her night at home was taken away from her. There are a lot of day travelers in the business world and having to wait until the morning for a flight home is a huge hassle. She mentioned that the logistics of my service would be difficult because if the airline can’t fix it there is usually little chance another airline can at that point in the night. Being able to sell a peace of mind would allow people to sleep easy and know that if crap hits the fan they can be comfortable and know they’re going to be taken care of.

3.       The final interviewee has been heavily delayed by a system meltdown by Delta Airlines. In this circumstance he waited over five hours to get on his flight because of a system malfunction (AKA not his fault). The biggest take away from this interview was that there were plenty of options for him to take flights home that weren’t Delta. However, it was not worth paying for a brand-new flight and not being sure if he would get a refund.

After looking at the facts from each interview I have made a few observations. There isn’t always a solution to someone missing their flight. Sometimes a crappy situation is just a crappy situation and nothing can be done. However, if there was a peace of mind that they weren’t stranded and had an option there is a possibility that people would pay money for the added benefit. It would be a good business strategy to offer a flight insurance when a person buys a ticket. If they do this there is a guarantee that the person will be taken care of as the airlines priority. This could mean getting them on a different airline or putting them up in a hotel for the night depending on the circumstances. For an extra 20$ or so people can protect themselves from a lot of stress.

Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk

1.       What surprised me the most about Elon Musk is just how many different things that he has been involved in. From his early twenties and on he has been starting companies and creating things that humanity has yet to see before. I think that it’s amazing that he went from starting a small financial services company to making reusable rockets that significantly reduce the cost of space travel. Usually people focus on one industry for their whole lives, but Elon has his hand in anything that he wants and continues to impress people with his intelligence.

a.       I truly admire Elon’s courage. While reading his biography it dawned on me that he hasn’t always been regarded as an infallible genius like he is today. His career has been littered with huge risks and moments of doubt and no matter what he has been gung ho on moving forward with his projects. Without the risks that he has taken we would not have all the technological advances that exist today.

b.       There was a period in Elon’s life where he kind of ran away from where he came from. Born in South Africa he decided to move away to Canada in order to avoid mandatory military service. I understand why someone would do it and I am glad that he did because of all the great things that have come from it. However, I felt that he was very eager to become an American citizen and for some reason it rubbed me the wrong way. Almost as if he wanted it as a symbol of status.

c.       Elon’s career has been littered with huge failures. Things that I would consider career crippling or roadblocks if I had started the companies that he has. There have been failed rocket launches for SpaceX a bunch of times. Some of them with millions of dollars of cargo that was their client’s. Musk was forcibly kicked out from PayPal while he was on his honeymoon as well. There are a crap ton more than these and he has moved through all of them as if they haven’t happened. It’s impressive at how good he is at belittling failure and using it as a resume point in some circumstances. He spun failed launches and endeavors as amazing experiences that he leveraged to move him further.

2.       The main competency that I have noticed that Elon has exhibited throughout his entire career is his ability to sell himself and his brain to investors. The realms that he is operating in are highly unchartered and give a lot of investors cause to be hesitant if he can even do what he says he can. They’re not wrong for thinking like this because no one has done these things before. It is not easy to gather money for an idea, yet he has numerous times throughout his career. Additionally, his ability to actualize the ideas that he has in his head is extremely impressive. Being able to do the things that he does from scratch is amazing. Musk is a pioneer in the things that he does and doesn’t have the templates that a lot of companies do.

3.       The part of the reading that was confusing to me was the timeline for all of his different companies. The writing was not always 100% chronological so I had to sit down and sketch out a timeline of when he was doing certain things. It took me a while to understand the he is essentially the CEO of two major billion dollar companies at the same exact time.

4.       The questions that I would ask would be “How much of your success is thanks to your education/success?” and “Do you believe in aliens?” I am interested to know how much of Musk’s success is due to his superior intelligence or if there are other people as smart as him, that are missing something that he has. Also, I would be interested to hear his opinion in detail about the potential for aliens.

5.       I feel that for Elon hard work is a given. There is only so much that hard work can get you and there are a crap ton of people working as hard as they can. So, if you aren’t there is no way that you can expect to beat out the people that are.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

My Elevator Pitch!

Idea Napkin No. 1

1.       I am a third-year finance major at the University of Florida. Some of my talents include math, public speaking, and critical thinking. I have had an internship with PepsiCo in their corporate FP&A department and this upcoming summer I will be an intern at Wells Fargo Securities in their Investment Banking Division. My aspirations regarding my business idea is to bring comfort and convenience to lives of distressed travelers who find themselves in bad situations.

2.       The service that I plan on offering to customers includes immediate flights to major airports that run on the clock at specific times. We will work as a reconciliation service for airlines that aren’t able to get travelers where they need to be in the proper amount of time. I am still considering offering this service for travelers that are more high profile and that don’t want to be bothered by fans or critics.

3.       The people that I will be offering this service to would either be the distressed travelers that are being disappointed by major airlines, or high-profile individuals.

4.       These people care because there are major airlines that are taking advantage of their power over people’s travel itinerary. People are forced to spend nights sleeping in airports or not get where they need to go when they need to be there. Offering an alternative service that is more frequent and convenient will bring value to this customer base.

5.       What sets me apart from the other major airlines is that my airline would be focused on taking care of our customers and making sure that all interactions with customers are pleasant ones. This will be attractive to customers when compared to other airlines.

I truly believe that offering an airline alternative to people who are being taken advantage of by the major airlines is a major opportunity. Being able to travel knowing that the airline will stop at nothing to get you where you need to go is a great feeling and would transform the way people travel. 

Solving the Problem

The problem that I have identified is the lack of options for people who have been stranded at an airport. This could be because of weather delays, cancellations, etc. I have personally experienced the inconvenience and hardship that airlines can put you through when you’re in a city all by yourself and can’t get home in the foreseeable future. During my time loathing the airline industry in this airport I realized that if I had the money to spend, I would pay big bucks for someone to get me home faster than I was expecting to.

The service that I have been developing is a fast pace and flexible airline that will have flights going around the clock and will provide solutions to people as they need them. During my time interviewing others, that I know would possibly use a service like this, I narrowed my focus onto a specific set of consumers. This service would thrive if it was focused on high profile individuals or business professionals. Money is not as tight for these people and they could afford a service like this. They would also more likely need it. Their lives are much more spontaneous and they don’t plan months in advance like common travelers.

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interviews

The first interview that I conducted was between a fraternity brother of mine who I know has been stranded in an airport before. The basis of our conversation consisted solely on the fact that people would be too cheap to purchase something like this when they would eventually get a flight home from the airline. The majority of these situations happen late at night also and that would mean that our operations would take place during the late hours of the morning.

Second interview focused on the situations that this product could be used by different people. The people that would be using this would most likely be day travelers. I know a lot of business professionals fly out for a meeting in the mornings and then fly home at night. If their flights were to be cancelled at night they would miss out on a night with their families and in their own bed. This would be a good market to focus in on.

Third interview went deeper into ideas formed during the second interview. We discussed the possibility of just focusing on business professional travel, or very high-end travel. Something that would cost more than commercial but not be as expensive as buying your own private jet.  We would offer smaller planes and allow people to book on very short notices. There are very high profile individuals that would potentially much rather fly in privacy than being in first class and have to walk past a bunch of people that know them.

              Fourth interview was one that took a negative turn. I believed that there was a good chance that something like this could work. Speaking with this person made me realize that services like this already exist. There are private airlines that could offer things similar to this and is charge much less. However, due to the sometimes-spontaneous nature of business I feel that a quick alternative would be extremely helpful and valuable for these people.

The last interview that took place focused specifically on the “why” for this opportunity. There is an oligopoly in the airline industry and it is not in the best interest for the airlines to offer amazing customer service. No matter what they do there is very little chance that you will run off to another airline. Airlines can do what they want for the most part as long as they eventually get you home. Some people have waited days and even weeks to get home due to weather delays. To have a solution to these problems would really help others and be a good business model.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Professionals traveling for work (fast pace)	Regular people traveling for pleasure (slow pace)
Spontaneous travel in many situations	Booking flights months in advance
Lack of incentive for airlines to help	Logistics and size of airline industry is huge and growing

 Summary

These findings are somewhat of a breakthrough in my super simple idea. There were no thoughts in my mind about focusing on a specific set of consumers. But it makes more sense to do so when thinking about providing the most value to most relevant group of individuals. By focusing on higher profile individuals and business professionals I am focusing the offerings on the people most likely to use them.

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

The opportunity that I am pursuing is an alternative for people that are being screwed over by the airline industry. There are travelers that are severely inconvenienced due to the incompetency and error of airlines.

Who: There are very few that have the needs that these travelers have. By just offering services to those on a regular basis you wouldn’t be servicing the problem at hand.

What: The challenges faced in this scenario would almost certainly be at airports. People missing their flights and being stranded in strange cities is something that is definitely a problem for a lot of people every day.

Why: The why will differ in certain situations. Some circumstances will be the fault of the airline, some will be because of the airports, and then some could be because of the weather.

1.       My first interview took place with my mother. When first bringing up the topic to my mother she thought that it sounded good in practice. A problem that she brought up would be that airlines could easily push me out of the market by offering my services but better. Also, the who that is in question could refer to any people who are looking for last second lodging or travel accommodations. The opportunity relies in people needing things very last minute.

2.       The second interview was with my roommate. He was pretty agreeable with most of the points that I was making. There were a few great points that he made though. When looking into the “why” part there are a few things that we disagreed on. I said that people would be willing to pay high prices for immediate solutions to problems that seem like the end of the world. His stance was that people could already pay high prices for solutions but are usually too cheap to go and check with another airline. They would spend the night in the airport before they were to pay high prices for my solutions.

3.       Next interview was with an old high school friend that is interested in being an engineer. The points that he contributed to the mix primarily consisted of the what. Our discussion boiled down to the very nature of the opportunity that I wanted to cash in on. He noted that the “what” could consist of any situation where a customer is needing an IMMEDIATE solution to their problem. So the scope of my opportunity could be spread much farther than simply the airline industry.

4.       This interview was with an old teacher from my high school. There a high level of agreeableness in our interview and it seemed as if she felt she was doing me a favor by agreeing with my ideas. Our conversation primarily consisted of discussing the “how.” This teacher wanted to know the ins and outs of how I planned on the logistics of getting people places and being able to provide the value that I am speaking of. This conversation brought up a bunch of questions for me that I would really need to answer before moving further.

5.       The final interview I had was with a colleague in one of my business groups on campus. We had a very good conversation on the “what” that would be provided to the individuals looking to benefit from our service. He focused primarily that there is a huge market for immediate services and it is growing exponentially. There would be a great opportunity to go into any market with the mindset that I have. However, he mentioned that being able to do this in the airline industry would be revolutionary because of the sheer distances and difficulty in logistics that come with it.

A lot of the conversations that took place in my interviews were questioning the logistics that would be needed to take place in order for something like this to work. It would truly be difficult to make something like this work but it would provide immeasurable value to the people that desperately need it on short notices. The fact that this is so hard is proof that being able to do something in this sphere would help a lot of people.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

1.       The first opportunity is the stock market that has the DOW Jones Industrial Average over 26,000 points

a.       I found the information about the rising stock market on a newsletter called the Morning Brew.

b.       Since the market is rising at such a rapid pace there is potential room to make a profit as it goes higher, or to short the market and make money if it declines.

c.       The prototypical customer would be day traders or the heads of large trading companies.

d.       This opportunity would be relatively difficult for the average person to take advantage of without the licenses, or knowledge, to trade effectively on the stock market.

              I saw this opportunity because I am pursuing a career in the financial markets. My interests in this sector has led me to form a habit of keeping up with relevant financial news.

2.       A major economic opportunity right now is the market for cryptocurrencies and the ability to make money on it’s price swings.

a.       I found this information through the use of the app named Coinbase which tracks cryptocurrencies.

b.       There are huge price swings among the different cryptocurrencies in the market and by strategically buying and selling, there is a lot of money to make.

c.       The prototypical customer could be anyone from a trader on Wallstreet to a college student who has a few extra bucks to invest.

d.       The opportunity can get difficult for a lot of people to make money because of the trading fees that are associated with trading cryptos. If using large quantities there is the possibility of creating a mining rig which would cost $8k.

The reason that I saw this opportunity is because my friends are active investors in these things and they introduced me to the possibility. So essentially because of the people that I know.

3.       A huge regulatory change that is most likely going to take place in the recent months is an increase in the Federal Funds Rate.

a.       This information was made known to me because of the newsletter that I read called the Morning Brew. The chairwoman of the Fed has been removed by President Trump.

b.       This information yields an opportunity because with the rise of this rate, interest rates across the world will rise.

c.       The customer that would be likely to use this would be anybody using a bank or borrowing money in any facet.

d.       The opportunity is extremely difficult to cash in because you would need to be a bank or simply have the money to lend to others in excess.

I have seen this opportunity because I plan on working for a bank after college. Being interested in this world has led me to understand the monetary policies of the US and how they affect the economy.

4.       A huge regulatory change happening throughout the country is the legalization of marijuana on a state level.

a.       This is a huge social issue that is being discussed in all social circles across the country.

b.       This information is relevant because marijuana is a huge business that takes place already illegally. With it being legalized there could a lot more revenue coming from it.

c.       The most likely customer to use this would be millennials. They have grown up in a culture more accepting to pot and more likely to smoke it recreationally.

d.       The opportunity is relatively easy to do. However, there are a lot of regulations in this industry due to the fact that it has been illegal for so long.

I have seen this opportunity because I am an advocate for the medicinal use of marijuana and I keep up with relevant news on it’s progress.