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 51 years old and originally from Chattanooga Tn. I have always had the ability to sell things. I can’t say I have always enjoyed selling, but you can certainly make a lot of money if you are a successful sales person. Fortunately I have always moved quickly through the sales ranks to sales management. I have been very blessed to be able to multiply my efforts through other sales people benefiting the organization. I have found when managing people that they will do about half of what you do as a leader so you need to work harder than everyone else. If people respect you they will work harder for you than they will for their selves, because they do not want to let you down. My experiences in business goes back a long way. I have owned and operated and sold at a great profit a business that I owned in Sandestin FL. It was a Pak& Mail that I sold to Mailboxes Etc which are now known as UPS stores. It was perfect timing in and perfect timing out for me. I always keep my eyes open for the next opportunity that I might possibly want to jump into. I think if I started this business the hardest part would actually be the start-up. You will see in the next question what the business idea really is. The start-up issues would include; having the proper insurance coverages, permitting, and maybe even partnership agreements. I would hire someone to manage the business until it could sustain a salary comparable to what I currently earn.

 

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

The product is actually a service. The service is essentially a zip line for surfers. People who surf are very serious about their sport or hobby. Surfboards are expensive. They can cost anywhere from $300.00-$1,300.00 Money is not too much of an issue for people who are dedicated to their sport. What a surfer needs more than money is time, time to catch that perfect wave. Surf swells do not occur every day, but when they do you want to maximize your time surfing and not paddling. I am an avid surfer and surf as much as time allows. The main reason I feel like this service is appealing is because most surfers can’t surf all day like they want too because the paddling uses up most of their energy. Think about snow skiers, they ride a lift up the mountain so they can ski down. This is the same concept, but it serves surfers. If you do not spend most of your time and effort paddling through rough seas and fighting rip currents then surf sessions can be a lot more fun. I propose a reasonable daily fee to use my services. I can also envision a partnership with pier owners to attach my zip line to their pier and sharing in the revenues.

 

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?

There is a specific group of people who would use this service. Every surfer that I know would do anything to be able to preserve their energy to surf and not to waste it on the paddle out. I am a surfer, and I would certainly pay a fee for this service.

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. 

I think I described some of this question in the above question. Another reason they care about this service is because the average age of surfers in America is 34 plus. This group is only going to get older. With the opportunity of not having to paddle out through the breakers I think people can enjoy the sport they love until they are much older.

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

I think the first thing that sets me a part from everyone else is I would be a great advocate for the service. I would use it every time I surfed. I have managed several hundred people in large organizations weather it was union or non-union employees. I have also worked in the small business sector (mom and pop). I have managed sales people as well as being a general manager over all operations and aspects of a business. I have an inner drive that has always brought me to a top level in every organization that I have ever been a part of.

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 do believe I have matched the perfect service to the perfect consumer or end-user of the service. The weaker parts of the concept would be the actual logistics of where to attach the zip line. Do I attach it to a pier and revenue share with the city, county or municipality who owns the pier or just attach to a standalone buoy off shore. I think this would go great in tourist destinations where they have a surf break. The business could be scalable as you could also rent surfboards and boogie boards since you would be there anyway.