Forming an Opportunity Belief:
1. One problem on our college campus is parking. Students and faculty are constantly looking for parking spaces. The university sells so many parking decals, but there seem to be not as many spots.
2. The unmet need in this situation is spaces for all students and faculty who bought a parking pass to park their cars. This need involves all those on UF's campus. This may not have been a problem in the past, but with the continual growth of the people on this campus, the parking needs to continue to grow as well. People now are parking in places where they can get tickets, or even towed because they have nowhere else to go if they can't find a spot.
3,4,6. I interviewed 3 students from different areas of campus on this issue. The first one is a friend, UF Junior, Amy Cook. She currently lives in her sorority house and, last semester, she constantly struggled to find parking. She now is the president of her sorority and gets her own designated spot, but said last semester was frustrating for her. She said she would spend some time close to 45 minutes circling sorority row and norman garage for a parking space. She said it was the most inconvenient when she had somewhere to be, so because of the parking issue she was clate to class or other meetings. This was her first time ever experiencing the need for more campus parking as a student here. Before, she parked at her apartment complex. She believes that more spots should be added in areas all around campus, especially at sorority row. She suggested adding another parking garage next to norman garage.
The second person I interviewed is UF junior Jack Tamashiro. Jack said the parking issue at UF prompted him to purchase a scooter. Because he lives far off campus and there is no central place for him to drive his car to class, he decided to get the scooter. Jack said he wishes he did not have to purchase another mode of transportation just to get to and from class. He wishes there were more parking spots available for students in a centralized area of campus. The commuter lot is not realistic for him because his classes are in the business school. Jack thinks that UF should build another garage, or add on to others creating more red on spots closer to centralized locations.
The third person I interviewed was UF senior DJ Kerwin. DJ lives on fraternity row and says he rarely has trouble finding parking when coming home to his house. But when it comes to going to class, he takes the bus because of the lack of parking on campus. He, like Jack, resorted to buying a scooter to get around places on campus. But, DJ said there is also a lack of scooter parking on campus. DJ said that he believes the best solution for the university is to add onto existing parking garages, making them more accessible to students. DJ also pointed out that while adding more parking make be costly, they would be able to sell even more parking spaces, making them more money in the long run. This also will make students much happier, he said.
5. I have learned through these interviews that not everyone may struggle with this issue in the same way. Amy struggled with parking where she actually lives, whereas Jack and DJ only had an issue when they were trying to go to class. Collectively, the consensus from all of them is that more parking is needed, regardless of your circumstance. I was surprised that there also is issues and debates about scooter parking when it is a substitute for cars which are hard to bring on campus.
7. My original opportunity is still here. I still believe that parking is a major issue on UF's campus, whether you live on or off campus. By providing more parking, it will save students money by not having the need for them to purchase scooters, another means of transportation. The opportunity for parking is validated by these experiences from students. With more research and interviews, I am confident that 9 times out of 10, a person will agree that parking is a major issue. I think it is important for entrepreneurs to listen to customer feedback. I do not see the point in doing something is customers don't see the need for it. To be successful, it is important to meet customer needs.
Remi,
ReplyDeleteYou successfully identified a true problem in campus and further supported your belief with anecdotal evidence from the interviewees. To make your post stronger, I would make a couple changes. First, I would change the structure and use section headings, instead of the numbers. Those numbers are only relevant in the context of the original assignment, which is not visible to the blog readers. Second, analyze the problem from an entrepreneurial point of view: what’s in it for you as entrepreneur? The way I understand it, the goal of the assignment is to identify a problem that could lead to a potential idea/product/service. Is there an opportunity for a valet service, or any other sort of product and/or service to solve the parking problem, besides asking the University to build more parking space? You certainly tapped into a problem that probably happens in many other campuses as well. If you can articulate means to solve it, or at least mitigate it, you could have very promising business.
Remi,
ReplyDeleteParking on campus is always an issue worthy of conversation especially at UF. Students are forced into options that should be provided in our tuition/fees but instead they are just additional expenses that aren't guaranteed. I know I've had my own issues with the parking system here at UF but I'm not sure adding parking will be helpful at least for my digressions with the parking system in place. I agree with Jack's point that parking should be more centralized rather than sparse and only on the outskirts of campus. Having it out that far doesn't benefit me because I will just have to take a bus anyway to get to my classes. Why would I want to pay for a parking pass when I can just take the bus anyway. I do know a lot of students have chosen to purchase scooters in an attempt to bypass this issue but if everyone is choosing the same method to avoid the problem then that solution will soon become just another issue. I'd like to hear your possible solutions for this issue from an entrepreneurial perspective. Maybe there could be a better solution than just delaying the problem to the next group of students that can't find parking.
Remi,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. Parking on ca campus here at UF has been a problem for years. You always did a great job on the interviews. Jack gave me an insight about how purchasing a scooter to solve the parking problem, but sometimes its hard to even find scooter parking. As the school continues to expand, and more students begin to come, parking is just going to become more and more of a problem here at UF.