Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Choosing a segment: 
I chose the segment of entrepreneurial minds because aside from this assignment being an entrepreneurial venture, the people I interviewed also had entrepreneurial plans for one day. Two of the people I interviewed are going to Santa Fe College. Interviewee 1 has hopes to be a successful trader and be able to trade his own money as his only source of income. Interviewee 2 has hopes of creating their own acne cream that can compete against other relevant brands. The third Interviewee is a recent UF graduate and hopes to lower the concussion rate in the NFL by creating better padded helmets. 

Interviews/Need Awareness/Info Search: 
I asked the interviewees basic questions to see how much they knew about the issue. Questions included “Do you know anyone that hungry or have been personally affected by hunger?”, “How aware were you of this issue?”, “What else do you think can be done?” etc. 

Summary:
These interviews affirmed what I had learned in previous interviews and that is that most people don't think about hunger in general, let alone try to find a cure for it. However, all of my interviewees believed that it is an issue that should be addressed more in the public. Interviewee 1 went as far as to search what is being done to solve hunger and saw similar problems, organizations have been created but can not gain enough donations to make a huge dent in the issue. They all believed that using my service could act as positive marketing for a restaurant and would be a reason for a restaurant to join. However, Interviewee 3 pointed out that initially getting this project started may difficult because restaurant owners may not want to simply hand out their leftovers because it is a loss of profit for them. 

When searching for solutions for the problem, all of the interviewees did basic Google searches and went on world hunger websites to realize how big of an issue it island how little it is being addressed. 

Draw Conclusions:

I think a lot of students have dreams of one day being their own boss and starting off on an entrepreneurial venture. With that being said, I don't think many people have thought of my idea before and when people do hear about it they think it definitely has potential but may be difficult to start. 

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 6, 2017 at 10:10 AM

    The daunting task regarding your idea is getting the restaurants on board, which your third interviewee pointed out. Maybe next time there is an interview assignment it might be beneficial to interview someone who works in a restaurant, whether that be manager, hostess, etc. As for the comment from one of your interviewees saying that restaurants might be hesitant of profit loss by giving out food, maybe you can think of another benefit or maybe have them get a tax break of something for helping the community/non profit homeless shelter.

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  2. ShelleyOctober 8, 2017 at 12:20 PM

    I agree with Lauren's comment that getting this venture started could prove difficult. It is definitely a good idea though and you could work around this issue. You could try to ask more specific questions that pertain to starting up this company. By interviewing people you can figure out why people would be hesitant about donating food and try to start up your company based on those answers.

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