11A -- 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 a cattle rancher from the Panhandle of Florida.  I’ve raised beef cattle, chickens, turkeys, quail, and fish.  My goal is to be a full-time farmer before I die.  I have been pondering how to diversify the cattle operation and I like the idea of producing something more efficient and protein-rich, such as insects.

If I were to start this business, it would be in addition to my current agricultural operations.  I would plan out and construct the growing apparatus and undoubtedly spend a couple years working with the first trials.  Of course, that process would essentially be never-ending since, generally speaking, successful businesses never stops improving, learning.  They adapt and change with their affiliated market(s).  I would hope to ship the product worldwide with a plan to implement global missions into the business.

My dream is to enable societies around the globe to produce their own sustainable protein source.  Maybe I could design a growing system or apparatus that could be given to societies to use. It would be like a starter kit.  The issues related to that dream include, most notably, providing agricultural goods to agrarian societies can wreck their economy.  I haven’t come up with a solution to overcome that barrier yet.

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

I am offering a more efficient protein source which will translate into lower shipping costs for producers to feed their animals. It will save them 20% on shipping costs and will be available year-round.  These characteristics are important because they are currently unavailable in traditional protein sources. My product is also highly sustainable yet does not compromise nutritional makeup, thus removing a huge bottleneck in aquaculture (fish farming).  Nearly all feeds for aquacultural operations use sardines and pilchards their base.  These stocks cannot yet be raised in captivity and are therefore extremely limited.  We currently harvest these stocks at maximum capacity, making feed costs high and therefore negatively affecting the demand for fish on the national and global market.  For those who care: a lower quantity is demanded for each good as the price per unit for each good increases, generally speaking.

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?

I am offering my product primarily to poultry and fish producers because they have the greatest need for this product's attributes. Both industries have bottlenecks associated with feed costs and the lack of availability to use cheaper options.  Corn and soybeans are typically grown in the warmer months in the U.S.  Unless the firm stores up an incredible amount of these goods each summer, they will have to purchase the grains from other countries, increasing shipping costs and therefore their bottom line. They also depend on feed year round and would benefit from lower feed costs.  Both industries are highly competitive; therefore, the profit margin is almost entirely dependent on efficiency and husbandry.  My product offers significant advantages over traditional feeds for both of these most crucial issues. Additionally, insect protein offers more protein per unit which decreases the storage space required relative to corn or soybeans.

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 it will be a fairly straightforward sell because I can prove the cost savings.  Similarly, the business aspect takes away some of the more emotional and preferential issues general consumers have with consuming insects. They will pay me for the product because it’s directly saving them money, thus freeing up cash to use for other business transactions and investments.

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

My product is the most efficient feed on the market, has the lowest shipping cost, and the most protein per unit of dry matter. It also has relatively low production costs and it’s highly storable and requires little processing at the factory, further reducing costs and my clientele's bottom line.

6. 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 think the only somewhat concerning issue is my lack of experience in this specific industry.  I have never produced insects before.  But, my farming background will translate to a large extent.

I think the rest of the aspects translate quite well. I’m confident the benefits of the product will make selling the product fairly straightforward.  Since this is a relatively new product, my clients will likely want hard proof that the product will perform as expected.  Therefore, simple testing must be conducted, which my local UF IFAS agricultural agent can help with.