19A -- Idea Napkin No. 2

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'm a third generation farmer.  I've spent a great deal of time learning animal husbandry as well as farm and ranch management.  I'm currently the manager of a cattle ranch in the Florida panhandle but I have aspirations to diversify the ranch over the next five years using insect protein.  I have experience managing and operating a blueberry packing house; I think those skills will transfer well into processing insect protein.  This business will be integral to my career and lifestyle.  I do not find the idea of multiple businesses or operations overwhelming me because I enjoy some complexity and especially new challenges. 

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

I will provide affordable, complete, accessible nutrition for agriculturalists and hobbyists in my tri-county area.  It will include powered protein derived from mealworms, which we will produce, as well as essential vitamins and minerals for the purpose, species, and age of the animals it will feed.

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?

My typical customer will have between 10 and 3,000 chickens, to begin with.  I also anticipate branching out into fish feed rather quickly.  I intend to supply roughly one, fifty-pound bag of fish feed per week per pond to roughly 100 customers. The operations will be located less than sixty miles from our ranch. Their purposes will range from hobbyists to full-time hatcheries. They all have a common problem: cheaper, higher quality feed for their animals. Plus, I can deliver the product to their barn or doorstep; either way is fine by me.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe it's valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

They will pay me because I'm offering superior, consistent service alongside a superior and more affordable product.  My product is somewhat revolutionary, which allows me to offer better quality at a lower price.

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

My feed will be locally produced and therefore offer me the opportunity to know my clients well, thus allowing me to offer exceptionally great service.  I will also ensure a steady supply of feed year round.  My customers will also enjoy lower costs without compromising quality.

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 quite nicely. They essentially build upon one another.  I am looking forward to producing these products of serving my customers. I think the biggest catch will be reaching economies of scale quickly.  Highly competitive markets with homogenous goods rely on economies of scale via large operations and bulk sales.  I will likely not have either of these benefits on my side in the beginning, which will require savvy business practices, planning, and implementation.

For the "feedback memo" -- please summarize at least two main points that you took away from the feedback you received. Also, please describe how you incorporated the feedback into this idea napkin. 

The only actionable feedback I received emphasized choosing a market to target in the beginning.  I have since switched gears to go full-throttle into the livestock and pet food industry since there is less likely to be cultural taboos hindering the business. One comment also discussed options for growth.  I plan to further diversify once the cash flow is healthy.  Specifically, I will expand from chicken feed to fish feed and potentially performance dog feed.

I simply changed my answers to each prompt, including the new changes to be made and the operation will adjust accordingly.  I think I understand my customers fairly well and am excited to serve them. I laid out how I intend to do that under the headings above.