Final blog entry for the class

Shooting the video for the local rocket

We (Mike, Bertrand and Hunter) set out this semester to create value for a set group of people in an entrepreneurial way.  Our group, responsible for creating thelocalrocket.com, began the course figuring out what exactly it was that we could do/create that would not only create value for a group of people by solving a problem they have.  We started out thinking this semester inside the box and focused only on what we were good at.  With Mike having experience in the technology field, Bertrand having bilingual experience in both English and French, and Hunter being from the area, we decided that a marketable French application for iPhones was the answer.  This focus within what we each could bring to the table sank quite quickly.  You cannot be a successful entrepreneur by focusing primarily on what you do well, you've got to get out of the box a little.  We found that we each had a lot to offer but that combining all these brought little to no value to anyone.  Who in the world would purchase such an application in this area?  How many Harrisonburg students/locals would value a French application, or how many even have an iPhone?  We began thinking outside the box, which is where the entrepreneurship process led us.  We found that the area neglected to inform locals/students of all the options going on throughout the Harrisonburg area.  We heard throughout the halls many people talking with friends about where they were going that night.  Many just referred to the same places that they always go to.  This got us to thinking, do locals/students know all their options?  We began brainstorming concluded that not could this be a problem for all these people, we too felt that we did not know all the options and that our own idea could benefit ourselves as well. 

                  We learned that just because you are good at something does not mean people will flock to you and buy whatever it is that you are selling.  We found that the best way to succeed is truly find what people want, or what they don’t even know they want, and cater to that.  Until they find your product is of value, they could care less what you are selling.

                  Thus, we decided to shift our attention to customer needs.  By conducting surveys on Facebook and finding that 84% of those surveys agreed that our idea was a problem for them, we decided to follow this path.  Mike felt he had the technical expertise to create a website for locals/students to help them find out all their options in the Harrisonburg area, as well as help businesses in their marketing.  The site was built and the functionality had its ups and downs, however Mike came through for us.  The hard part was then to find out exactly what all the options were and get them on the site.  Thus, we spent the majority of first half of the semester just simply finding all the options/deals going on in the area.  The site was then approved for advertisements and we began placing ads on the site.  Mike started our site for a simple and inexpensive cost of only $10.  This lack of expense in creation helped avoid a high risk investment into a product we were not sure would even get off the ground.

                  The changes that took place in the process of completing the site (getting the site where it is today) were evolved to better the functionality of the site and to help the people using it understand and relate better to it.  First, the map was set up so that you could click on each event (marker on the map) and the event would show up under the map.  Mike quickly found that this was much more appealing when you click on the dot and the information pops up out of the marker, still on the map itself.  We also found that people relate better with pictures and interaction on the site.  Thus, Mike added pictures at the bottom of the screen of what was going on in Harrisonburg, as well as the gps picture that goes with each location.  This alteration to the site allowed more people to get a visual of the value we were hopefully creating. Also, right at the end of the semester we decided to test another hypothesis we had - that students are tired of getting screwed by the bookstore when it comes to buying and selling books. To quickly test this hypothesis we didn't add features to the site, we just altered how they were used by uploading pictures of our books and putting pricing and contact information in the description. We're also still in contact with a manager at Applebee's, who is hopeful that corporate will approve money for advertising on the site. If they pull through, this is definitely something we'll be continuing beyond the semester.

                  The results (what happened in the end) were above our expectations and we find the results to show our value that we have created.  The profit for the site is sitting above $150 and our current page view count is over 4,600.  Over 900 unique visitors have viewed our site from 26 different countries.  We believe that our product was different from others in that it combined awareness with convenience.  They were made aware of all the options/deals in the area and they were all present on one website, instead of multiple websites.  With today’s society looking for fast and easy information, this combination allowed each person fast and easy access to information that otherwise would take a while to access.  Though marketing the product was only through facebook, word of mouth, throughout campus and online websites, we feel the sky is the limit in the future.

                  If there were a next time, I believe we would focus more on customer wants/needs than the creative ideas we found to be interesting.  Customers ultimately make or break a business and more focus needs to be put on them, and I think we spent too much time looking inside the box instead of outside the box.    Another area we could change if there were to be a next time would be marketing.  With our busy schedules we somewhat neglected getting the word out about our product through multiple channels.  Though marketing the product was through facebook, word of mouth, throughout campus and online websites, we feel the marketing could go beyond this and could/can get our website further recognition.  Whenever we did have time to market our numbers would increase, thus showing the future potential our site has if marketing is increased.  We felt confined to our busy schedules and neglected this essential part of our business but hope, in the future, to put more emphasis on this aspect.

                  For future entrepreneurial teams I would advise them to focus on what problem people have instead of what exact skills you have.  We tried combining all our skills and came up with an idea that went nowhere.  When we found out what people were having issues with and that is where we found success.  Also, don’t stress too much over creating the next facebook.  Worry more about what an issue is currently around you.  This will help because the people who are around you can help you the most in creating value.  The final advice I can give is to keep up with how society is in the present state.  We found people to be lazy and looking for what is most convenient.  Convenience is a huge society trend and realizing/utilizing this will help in making the entrepreneurial process fall into place.