6A- Identifying Opportunities

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends:

1. Taxi service specified for the senior community, living in the newly built Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach, Florida.

• Local news article, releasing the opening of the new senior living community
• While although this community is designed for older couples to relax and enjoy life, having most of everything they need, residents are still going to want to have the opportunity to go other places; whether it be to eat, shop, or visit family.
• Customers living in communities, like this one, or in the same age range.
• I think it would be easy to exploit, as one could combine advertisements with the community itself. However, it could have difficulty in finding ways to easily and quickly explain how to use the service to this specific age group.

I saw this opportunity because I use Uber or Lyft quite often, proving to me that this opportunity exists.

2. Social media accounts are changing the idea of transparency within large companies

• News article on the upcoming social trends
• Social media is becoming the prime use for advertising, allowing companies to build strong relationships with their customers; allowing full transparency. With Facebook fighting data sharing and Twitter banning verbal harassment, platforms are becoming more transparent.
• People of all ages, anyone using social media.
• I use many different forms of social media, making it an obvious issue to me and something that should be fixed and continued to be worked on.

3. Twitter Stories

• Starting with Snapchat and now Instagram, different social media apps are adding this feature, and Twitter should be next.
• From an economic standpoint AND social, Twitter should be the next app to implement a feature to allow stories, or something similar.
• Any Twitter user.
• Yes, I thought I wouldn’t have used Instagram stories after they updated the app, however I post one almost every day, proving the opportunity.

4.  The ability to purchase products off of Youtube, after watching videos of influencers.

• Influence marketing is a flourishing industry, changing the way companies advertise.
• As youtubers are a growing profession, creating way to enhance the youtube experience can only be beneficial. While influencers are giving their opinions on certain products, there should be easy navigations allowing viewers to see that product on the business website.
• Any youtube watchers
• Yes, I watch youtube videos all the time and sometimes can’t find or find it inconvenient to search for the product they are reviewing.

Testing the Hypothesis: Part 1

Testing the Hypothesis: Part 1

People are typically in need of medical supplies, household items, or even food when on a boat because of the spontaneity of some events and the inconvenient location make it difficult to retrieve any wanted items.

Who: People on boats

What: People need medical supplies, household items, or food/drinks when on the water, but no way of getting it

Why: The spontaneity of some events makes it hard to plan on what items are necessary to bring.  

Interview 1:

• Have you ever been in the open water, on a boat, and wanted/needed something you could have gotten at your local CVS?
• Yes, actually probably every time I have been on the boat.
• Have you ever had an accident occur, something not as extreme for the doctor, but a little more than a band aid could fix?
• One time, I got stung by a jellyfish. It would have been nice to have had some spray to stop the burning.
• How far do you normally go offshore?
• A typical day on the boat is through the intercoastal at a sandbar, about a mile or two from land.
• Do you still have phone service/charged battery when you are on the boat?
• Unless we are offshore fishing, which even then we still might, but I have phone service and a charged battery 90% of the time.
• Would you use a service like UBEREATS or Doordash, but instead of purchasing from food restaurants and having it delivered, these specific boats would have almost everything that you could get at your local jiffy store, (including medical supplies specified for water/ocean related injuries)?
• Yes, that sounds like a great idea.

Interview 2:

-Have you ever been in the open water, on a boat, and wanted/needed something you could have gotten at your local CVS?

• Yeah, I guess.
• Have you ever had an accident occur, something not as extreme for the doctor, but a little more than a band aid could fix?
• Yes, I get seasick a lot so when I forget to take nausea medicine, once im stuck out there, I’m stuck.
• How far do you normally go offshore?
• I have never been considered “offshore”, my family and I just go to the local sandbar.  
• Do you still have phone service/charged battery when you are on the boat?
• Yes
• Would you use a service like UBEREATS or Doordash, but instead of purchasing from food restaurants and having it delivered, these specific boats would have almost everything that you could get at your local jiffy store, (including medical supplies specified for water/ocean related injuries)?
• Yeah, why not.

Interview 3:

• Have you ever been in the open water, on a boat, and wanted/needed something you could have gotten at your local CVS?
• Yes
• Have you ever had an accident occur, something not as extreme for the doctor, but a little more than a band aid could fix?
• Not to me personally, no.
• How far do you normally go offshore?
• I can see land pretty well, I would say probably a mile.
• Do you still have phone service/charged battery when you are on the boat?
• Yes, duh.
• Would you use a service like UBEREATS or Doordash, but instead of purchasing from food restaurants and having it delivered, these specific boats would have almost everything that you could get at your local jiffy store, (including medical supplies specified for water/ocean related injuries)?
• Yeah sure.

Interview 4:

• Have you ever been in the open water, on a boat, and wanted/needed something you could have gotten at your local CVS?
• Not that I can think of a specific time, but I am sure it has happened before.
• Have you ever had an accident occur, something not as extreme for the doctor, but a little more than a band aid could fix?
• Yes, many times.
• How far do you normally go offshore?
• For a normal boat day, 3 miles at most.
• Do you still have phone service/charged battery when you are on the boat?
• Sometimes, depending how busy we are on the boat.
• Would you use a service like UBEREATS or Doordash, but instead of purchasing from food restaurants and having it delivered, these specific boats would have almost everything that you could get at your local jiffy store, (including medical supplies specified for water/ocean related injuries)?
• Yeah, I could see the use for that.

Interview 5:

• Have you ever been in the open water, on a boat, and wanted/needed something you could have gotten at your local CVS?
• I don’t go on the boat often enough to remember.
• Have you ever had an accident occur, something not as extreme for the doctor, but a little more than a band aid could fix?
• No, I am from Philly so I haven’t had many opportunities to go on the boat, let alone get injured on one.
• How far do you normally go offshore?
• Don’t go.
• Do you still have phone service/charged battery when you are on the boat?
• I guess I would.
• Would you use a service like UBEREATS or Doordash, but instead of purchasing from food restaurants and having it delivered, these specific boats would have almost everything that you could get at your local jiffy store, (including medical supplies specified for water/ocean related injuries)?
• Obviously if this was targeted in areas where boating is popular, I don’t see why this wouldn’t do well.

After conducting all of my interviews, I have realized that this need is clearly unmet. Like my last interview said, it would have to be targeted in places near the water, where boating is popular. Each person said they would typically have service and have their phone charged while on the boat, making this delivery service convenient as an app. Each interviewee also stated that this opportunity and solution is something that would be useful.

2A - Bug List

Bug List

1. I have high-speed internet, but it becomes really slow if more than two people are using it, or more than three devices are using the internet. It takes almost a full minute for a simple webpage to load, and sometimes the streaming service will buffer if two other people are using their phones separately. This happens because increased internet traffic is harder for smaller bandwidths to handle.
2. Squirrel Ridge dog park is my favorite place to take my dog, but there is an obvious lack of lawn care at the park. Much of the grass has died and left a large area of dirt, and my dog gets dirtier when she visits. This is probably because the park doesn’t receive regular care, or because using chemicals to maintain the grass would be harmful to the dogs.
3. The outlets that are standard in hotel rooms, apartments and homes still require basic plugs, and don’t include usb ports. Most devices charge with usb today, and yet we have to buy different outlets if we want them in our rooms. This seems to be because home amenities have yet to catch up with technological advancements and become standard.
4. I toss and turn in my sleep, and the corners of my bed sheets pop off the corners. I have tried many different types of sheets, and still have problems. This is likely because the elastic needs to be stretchy enough to fit around the mattress.
5. Phone cases can get really dirty in the cracks between the case and the phone, and are very difficult to clean. This is an issue because they are always kept on phones and aren’t routinely cleaned, giving time for dirt to accumulate.
6. Handheld and multipurpose lighters hurt my thumb, and if I’m tilting the lighter to light candles, my thumb gets burned easily. Lighters are difficult because they could be a fire hazard if they were as simple as the press of a button.
7. I have very small hands, and I can rarely find gloves that are short enough for my fingers but large enough for my palms. I realize that I am in the minority when it comes to my hand size, but there must be a large enough population like me that has tiny hands. I suppose the lack of glove sizes is out of convenience and to fit the general population. There aren’t enough people with my hand size to make the sale of gloves profitable.
8. Mosquitos rush into my apartment as soon as I open the door, and still I find them up to an hour after I return inside. This happens simply because mosquitos often seek shelter from outside conditions, or follow humans and their blood indoors.
9. It bugs me when I have to use a different remote for different functions, such as watching TV or operating the Blu-Ray player. I often lose at least one remote, and cannot operate one of the external attachments. There are separate remotes because different products need different operating devices. Essentially, the free market enables the multitude of remotes.
10. I can’t double latch my door when I leave my apartment. There is a basic key lock that I can use from the outside, but there is also a flip latch on the inside of the door that I can only lock when I close the door from the inside. I would feel more secure if I could somehow latch the door when I leave the apartment. Unfortunately, if I could latch the door from the outside, an intruder could unlatch it in the same manner.
11. The Apple doesn’t offer built-in sleep tracking, and although I would switch to another company or just download an app, the Apple brand has so many merits that I feel bound for the other good qualities. I think that there is an absence of sleep tracking because it is easier to purchase an app, allowing the watch not to need a built in program. Still, Apple plans to change this by 2020 because it “bugs” many people.
12. Tall water bottles don’t fit under the tap or refrigerator dispenser. I try to stay hydrated and use a 1 liter water bottle, but it doesn’t fit under the tap in my sink or in a standard fridge dispenser. I have to tilt the bottle and risk not filling it entirely or spilling some out. This is a problem because fridge dispensers are created to fit most standard cups, and not bottles, and a deeper sink or higher faucet would be a waste of space in most cases.
13. I don’t like getting my car dirty after I visit a trail or am sweaty after a run. I can try and smack the dirt off of my shoes, but I still manage to track some mud into the car, and it is inevitable to sweat in the car, especially in Florida. This bug exists because car seats are carpeted or leather for comfort, and most lifestyles do not involve driving to trails and exercises.
14. It bugs me that I have to put my wet umbrella back in the car or in my home after I use it. We need to bring umbrellas with us because we can’t leave them in public, and they don’t repel water to keep dry.
15. I hate creating paper waste by using paper towels, but I don’t want to clean up particularly nasty messes with shower towels. If my dog urinates in the house, I need to use paper towels to clean it up rather than cloth towels, which I don’t feel comfortable reusing for showers or dishes. This is a bug because paper waste has become a part of our everyday lives, and people like me don’t feel that a regular run in the laundry machine can thoroughly clean certain messes.
16. The toilet brush never really gets cleaned after it is used. I just put it back in its case after I brush the toilet, and it bothers me that it is never really cleaned after each use. This is a bug because nobody really wants to deep clean the toilet brush bristles.
17. Pillows flatten so shortly after they are bought. They are relatively expensive for the amount of time they stay inflated. This happens because it’s impossible for feathers or stuffing to remain puffy and soft after having an eight pound human head lie on it every night.
18. Makeup products don’t cater to people with freckles. I like wearing makeup but I want to show my natural freckles. Most foundations that cover blemishes also cover freckles, which makes sense but also bugs me.
19. I don’t have a reliable place to put my expensive rings when I shower or go to work. Rings fall down the drain for multiple people, and I have lost a ring at work before when I tried to keep it in a pocket. This happens because many jobs in food service require no hand jewelry, and some people don’t like wetting their jewelry. Since the rings are small, they can get lost or fall easily.
20. Belt loops rip too easily when you pull up jeans. I have had to throw out many pairs of jeans because the loops ripped when I tried to pull them up. This is a bug because loops are so thin, they cannot be sewn as securely as the rest of the pants, and if people pull up their pants by the loops and put too much pressure on them, they are prone to ripping off.

This assignment was difficult for me, because many of the bugs that I thought of were fixable by a simple change of my lifestyle. We are lucky to live in a world where most of our needs are catered to, like food delivery or air conditioning. These services are often taken for granted, and any little bugs that exist now will likely be forgotten in the future. I feel like I have the power to come up with solutions for a lot of bugs in my life that could help other people as well.