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.