29A--Venture Concept 2

Opportunity: An opportunity may be defined as a group of customers with unmet or under-met needs. When you describe the opportunity you have identified, you need to be sure to describe both (1) who has the need (i.e., who are the potential customers?) and (2) the nature of the need. Other questions you should address in this section: 

1. People who have hunting dogs.
2. I consider it a pretty high need.  My cow dog also loves to hunt.  But, I don't want him to suffer hearing damage.  With standard, non-electronic muffs, the dog cannot hear commands at a distance, which is vital for communicating tasks to the dogs while they work.

·     What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? 

This need has been present for a long time. But, hearing protection is relatively new, even for humans. Thus, the supply has simply not been created yet. It's also expensive and somewhat difficult to buy a rifle or shotgun suppressor; therefore, most people do not have any kind of noise-dampening device on their firearms.

·     How is this market defined geographically and demographically? 

Mostly in the wetland and agricultural regions of the U.S.  However, pheasant hunters in West and Midwest would also appreciate this device.  Hog and deer hunters in Texas may also find them useful.

·     How are customers currently satisfying this need?  And how loyal are they to whatever they use now?

Their dogs likely experience hearing loss or, like me, they do not use their dog to hunt.

·     How big is this opportunity?

I think the opportunity is fairly large.  It's a niche market but a fairly sizable and scalable one.

·     How long will the “window of opportunity” be open?

I doubt many firms are looking at this market. Currently, the only tech firms in the hunting industry make collars for communication and training.  There are also a couple companies that make electronic muffs for competitive shooters and hunters.  However, those units are not waterproof.  I think the window could be open for another decade or so.

Innovation: An innovation may be defined as a new or creative service, product, or process that may be applied in the marketplace to address customer needs. The service, product, or process you develop in this class may be radically innovative or it may be incrementally innovative. In this section, I would like to you discuss your innovation in moderate detail. Explain what it is, what it does, and how it works. You should also describe how you will make money – in other words, what, exactly, are you selling and for how much? For instance, if I was starting a business to teach people how to play the piano, I would be selling an hour of my time for $50. 

I think my product is incrementally innovative because one company already makes ear muffs for dogs.  But, their product is lacking because the dogs cannot hear commands very well through the muffs and, according to several reviews I read, do not provide adequate hearing protection. My products is a water proof, noise-canceling, comfortable set of hearing protection primarily for hunting dogs. Their owners will be my customers but the dogs will get the majority of the benefit. I expect to sell them for $90-$120. I think I can charge this premium because the product is highly differentiated in its market and the demand is expected to be high.

Venture Concept: A venture concept may be defined as the application of a specific innovation to address a specific opportunity. In this section, describe how your innovation will solve or address the opportunity you identified. You also want to explain why customers will buy your innovation. In describing the concept, you also want to be sure to cover issues such as:

·     What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?

Their only alternatives are hearing loss for their dogs or hunting without dogs, both of which are certainly not ideal.

·      Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities?  

There is only one competitor right now but their product is inferior.  They have pretty terrible reviews on Amazon.  Their muffs also lack the ability for the dogs to hear commands, which is significant.

·      What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play (if any) in defining your business concept? 

The packages will be fairly small so they should be fairly cheap to ship nationwide.  I think the price range is satisfactory relative to other products in the hunting dog basket. I'm in a good location given the market.  There are tens of thousands of duck hunters in the closest five states.

·      How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?  

I may outsource the production because I am not an engineer and know little about the technology required to make this product.  I can handle the marketing, advertising, and sale just fine given my experience and network. The cost of production may be fairly high considering I will have to hire an engineer to complete the design.

The three minor elements

First, describe what your venture’s “secret sauce” or “unfair advantage.” Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?

Hunters are very brand-loyal and truly appreciate innovation. They spend a great deal of money on their hobby, all in hopes of creating ease of use and hunting success.  The "cool factor" is huge in the hunting industry because it is largely a macho sport.  Duck hunters, in particular, spend a great deal of money chasing their elusive prey. The noise-canceling and waterproof features are completely new.  It will be a product that makes users say, "why didn't someone think of this before."

Second, what’s next for the venture? Describe either the next opportunity you want to tackle with your current innovation, or describe the next new product, service, or process that may be aimed at your existing customers. 

This product will require a hard advertising push. I'll need to sponsor professionals to capture that "cool factor" and create a stronger demand.  Once I accomplish this, I will attract customers from both the practical and lifestyle camps.

Third, what’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision? 

I would probably relocate the home office to Arkansas, the hub of waterfowl hunting in America.  Capturing that market early would help show off the product to people from around the world. Thousands of people book guided hunts in Arkansas but many of those same individuals also hunt in their home state.  Thus, they would help me sell the product be creating more demand in their networks.

In conclusion, I think this idea has a lot of promise.  I wish I had a better infrastructure to start it tomorrow because I definitely would. Unfortunately, it will require a lot of up-front capital.  Maybe one day I can pursue it.