Assignment 4: Forming an Opportunity Belief: A Twist on Opportunity Identification

Belief: Not enough No Kill Animal Shelters

Description of Belief: There are so many animals in need and not enough shelters that will house them until they're adopted. The majority of animal shelters will euthanize the animal after a certain amount of days being there, unless someone chooses to adopt them before then. This problem has existed for a while, it isn't a new thing. People are trying to open No Kill Shelters, which try to transfer in animals from the Kill Shelters, but they usually fill up fast since there are so few of these types of shelters.  I am 100% sure that this opportunity exists. I have adopted animals from two Kill Shelters, here, in Florida and they are still euthanizing animals, that have been there too long, today.

Iteration 1: Female, currently has one dog
   Did you adopt your dog from a shelter? "Yes" What kind of shelter? "No Kill Shelter" Why? "It was the closest shelter to my house" If the opportunity arose, would you adopt from a Kill Shelter? "Of course. I feel terrible that those animals are just killed off if they don't find a family in time" Do you think there is a need for more No Kill Shelters? "Definitely." Most No Kill Shelters will try to foster animals out to approved families to make room for more animals in need and they even try to transfer in animals from the Kill Shelters. Do you think this is enough? "No because animals are still being euthanized in those shelters everyday and until there are no more Kill Shelters, then there is more work to do." What do you suggest we do to help these animals? "Open more No Kill Shelters or foster out more animals. We have to do something. I was thinking of adopting another dog soon, so maybe I can help at least one."

Iteration 2: Male, currently has two dogs and a cat
    Did you adopt your pets from a shelter? "Not the cat, I actually got her from a friend but the dogs are both from shelters." What kind of shelter, or shelters, did you adopt your dogs from? "I got Bud from a Kill Shelter down in Miami and Violet is from a No Kill Shelter here in Jupiter." Why did you adopt from the Kill Shelter? "I felt bad that he was in there. He was so cute on the website I just had to go get him." Why did you adopt from the No Kill Shelter? "Well, at the time, I had just moved here and was all settled with Bud. I worked long days and I felt like he got lonely so I started looking at the nearest shelter and I found Vi." Do you think there is a need for more No Kill Shelters? "Of course I do. If I hadn't gotten Bud out of there in time, he would be gone by now I got him the day before his time would have been up."  Most No Kill Shelters will try to foster animals out to approved families to make room for more animals in need and they even try to transfer in animals from the Kill Shelters. Do you think this is enough? "Not as long as they're still killing animals off just to make space for others coming in." What do you suggest we do to help these animals? "I don't really know, I mean, I guess they should start opening more No Kill Shelters or do the foster thing."

Iteration 3: Female, currently has a fish
   Have you ever had an animal that you adopted from a shelter? "No, but my friends have." Are you aware that there are Kill Shelters and No Kill Shelters? "No, I wasn't. I thought they were all No Kill Shelters. That's terrible. They just kill off animals?" After a certain amount of time, yes. If you were to adopt an animal from a shelter, which type of shelter would it be from? "I would try to adopt from a Kill Shelter but it really would depend on which type of shelter was closest to me." Now that you're aware of the two types of shelters, do you think there is a need for more No Kill versus Kill Shelters? "Well, I'm not a monster, of course I think we need more No Kill shelters." Most No Kill Shelters will try to foster animals out to approved families to make room for more animals in need and they even try to transfer in animals from the Kill Shelters. Do you think this is enough? "If they're still killing off animals, then we're not doing enough to help." What do you suggest we do to help these animals? "We need more of those No Kill Shelters and more loving families willing to adopt. I would adopt a dog or cat but I'm allergic to both but I know some people that really want a pet, I'll see if they know about these Kill Shelters."

Reflection: I noticed during these three interviews that people tend to adopt a pet from shelters nearest to them, instead of what type of shelter it is. What surprised me a little was that the third person didn't know there were two different types of shelters. Maybe most people don't really think about this problem unless they're trying to adopt a pet and then after they've adopted one, they don't think much about it after.

Summary: The original opportunity is about 80% there now, since I realized how little this problem is really thought about by others. I do believe that my opportunity is more accurate now than when I started since I now know that I would have to really advertise and fund raise to even begin solving this problem. Entrepreneurs should definitely take customer feedback into account and, while keeping the same basic opportunity, mold their approach to the opportunity to customer feedback.