Existing Market:
Parking will always be an issue on UF's campus due to the ever-growing nature of the campus. Even when we expand the parking, they will admit more students and hire more faculty and staff. It will keep growing. My market will be around and alive on UF's campus for a long time.
After speaking to 3 people on UF's parking services team, they agreed that the expansion is a great idea. They also said no matter what, someone will complain about not having a spot to park in. I challenge to change that by only selling a certain number of decals, or creating enough spots for students in the area.
I think what makes the most sense in expanding my venture further is analyzing the effects of the expansion and fine-tuning it to what works best for locations on campus. Our ultimate goal is to make students, faculty and staff live easier by this expansion.
New Market:
A radically different market than a college campus would be parking in a downtown area of a city. Parking in downtown areas of cities is always a hassle, so the expansion of parking by building more parking garages would be something that man people would benefit from.
My two uncles run a successful parking business in the Tampa area, so I interviewed them about this business idea. They informed me that dealing with cities and getting permits is much more complicated than just dealing with a university. They said I would need a great team to work with me to make sure I would succeed.
I appreciate the honestly that my uncles gave me about the parking indusry! After research, I think I would be more intrested in expanding my services onto other college campuses who also have similar parking issues to UF.
Remi,
ReplyDeleteYou picked an interesting and complicated problem to solve, because space is a scarce resource, therefore any expansion in one type of space would be at the expense of another, or require capital investments to either buy more, or build more. I am an off-campus student, but I heard enough horror stories about the parking problem in UF campus to understand that your market is alive and well. It was interesting to hear about your findings on dealing with city government. I can imagine dealing with government officials could be challenging, though I am not sure how much easier it would be at the University level. In any case, I think you are on the right track by sticking with a single market that you can know and master better, before venturing into potentially more complex environments.
Hey Remi,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job with the overall structure of this post. By interviewing the existing and new market it was cool to see the knowledge of the target market that you were trying to acquire in the market. I think that you picked an interesting and highly potential conflict that you are trying to solve. I think that you did an awesome job and overall are on the right track to ultimately solving this issue. It needs to be fixed at the end of the day and you have the resources to do to it. Overall, great job.
Hey Remi,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the best new market to attack would be a big city. Cities, like college campuses have a large population packed inside a small area. If you targeted major cities just like you plan on targeting college campuses it could be a great success. Many people working in these cities have to find new means of transportation due to the parking.
Hi Remi!
ReplyDeleteTaking your business idea to big cities across the country would definitely be the smartest move. Parking on college and university campuses anywhere is beyond difficult no matter where you go to school, but even more so in big cities because the population is that much larger. I think big-city residents in general would also benefit from your additional plans, making it an even more successful one. Nice work!
Remi,
ReplyDeleteI was really interested in hearing your section on your "New Market". I know from first hand experience how bad the parking is here at UF. However I believe this problem isn't just limited to our university. I have talked with some of my friends from other universities around the country about this issue and they all seem to give me the same sentiment. University parking is a problem everywhere! I think you are on the right track with what you should do next in both your markets. Nice post!