Idea Napkin (11A)

You.

I’m Raul, a recent transfer into the University of Florida, majoring in business. I don’t really see myself as talented in one thing, but more of a person well rounded in many areas. My skills are in solving issues that are tech related, as that is what I’m currently working in, and would hope to for a while.  My aspirations are to hopefully just continue to learn about many different subjects and to gain as much knowledge as possible about the world. I would like to eventually master 1 subject area (probably in tech solutions) but would like to still hold that title of a person that is kind of handy for everything. I would see a business playing a major role, as it’s exactly how I would envision myself in the future; involved in a lot of areas. Not only in tech, but in finance, people managing and all the areas that encompass running a business.

 What are you offering to customers? 

What I’m offering to customers is a way for laptops to be recharged without having to be plugged into an outlet. It would be a USB wireless charger. Being connected to a network with the USB plugged in would automatically start charging the laptop. I believe as more people are using laptops as their main PC, a big issue is battery life of laptops and the hassle of having to plug it in while not at home. Many people are on the go most of the time with their laptop, so there is always the case of them running out of battery and having to recharge it in a public location.

 Who are you offering it to? 

I have 3 target audiences being college students, tech professionals, and in a broader scope the general public. The main reason for this is as I’ve seen the majority of (college students and tech professionals) their PC’s being laptops. The common characteristic is that both college students and tech professionals are frequently on the move. I also say the general public, as this is a product that really everyone can benefit from if they have this necessity (or some could say it’s a luxury). Anyone that has this need with their laptop could potentially buy.

Why do they care? 

This target audience has the need of wanting more convenience in charging their laptops. There are moments where having to sit near a wall outlet for your laptop to charge is inconvenient. Also, there might be times where because of time constraints someone may not have been able to charge their laptop at home, or potentially forgot to leave it charging and then they must go out with little battery life.  Having a wireless USB charger can eliminate these problems as you don’t have to sit next to a wall outlet anymore or must carry a charger in your bag. All you need to have is the USB (carry on your key chain: extremely portable) and a WiFi connection

What are your core competencies? 

I would say what sets this product apart is the fact that it is truly wireless and extremely portable. There are other wireless chargers out there, but they still must be plugged into a wall to have battery and are like a giant battery pack (heavy and blocky).  This is a true wireless product that doesn’t need the anything but a connection and a laptop to plug into. The size is like a USB stick, and it’ll come with the various USB adapter connections that computers are now offering today (USB 3.0, 3.1, USB type-C, thunderbolt)

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 fit together but my concern would probably be the reason as to why someone would buy this product, or the audience. As I said this could be more of a luxury item rather than a necessity, so the prospective buyers could be smaller than expected. That said this could be a product like the wireless headphones phenomena (ex. Apple EarPods). People don’t realize how useful they are until they are using it. That could potentially make this more of a need than a luxury eventually. If the market does turn out to be more niche than expected it could raise a problem in how valuable this product is to consumers.