Assignment 29: Venture Concept 2

1.   My idea for a product and possible business venture is a biodegradable, eco-friendly tire. People who want to help reduce the pollution and help save the planet have the need for anything that would potentially be better for the environment than out current system. The nature of the need would be that it would be nice to have more options when it comes to choosing a tire since, right now, you can get the rubber ones that take millions of years to biodegrade back into the earth. People are recognizing our pollution problem now, the public is becoming much more educated on this issue and many of them want to help solve this issue. Right now, I am only looking at the United States but I’m sure in the future I could expand this venture to other countries (especially in Europe) if this turns out to be a success here. This product is aimed at anyone who wants to do their part in helping the environment so the demographic for this product is pretty broad. As of right now, everyone mostly uses the rubber tires and they’re pretty loyal to that because the tires are very easy to find and some of them are cheap. I think this opportunity is pretty big, I’ve talked to many people about it now and they agreed that this has the potential to be a big thing. I am not sure how long the “window of opportunity” will be but I can assume that it won’t be very long since everyone is starting to move toward the more eco-friendly products now and it won’t be long till someone else has the same thought that I did.

   My product is a biodegradable tire, it functions just as a normal rubber tire would but has a shorter half life than rubber does so when it is eventually disposed of, it will break down a lot faster. I would make money by marketing it as a more eco-friendly option when it comes to tires and the price would be around $200-300 (this is just a guesstimate).

   My product would solve the opportunity I identified by being part of the bigger movement to become more environmentally friendly in everyday life. This product gives people a choice, where right now one doesn’t exist. Customers will buy this to be part of that movement and maybe even because it’s a new alternative to the other rubber tires that are so common. I don’t think it will be too hard to get people to switch over once tests have proven that these will function the same as rubber tires or even better. The competitors are all other companies selling rubber tires. The competitors, though, offer the same rubber tires people have been seeing for decades and their product takes millions of years to break down once their thrown out, so to the market I think this new product would just look better. Packaging, price, distribution and business location will definitely play a big role in the success or failure of the venture. Customer support plays a role but I’m not sure it would define the company, and customer experience is highly important as well but, again, it doesn’t make or break a company unless it’s extreme. I would organize my business with sales and marketing at the top priority to support the ongoing production of the product. To start out, there wouldn’t be more than 50 employees since it’s a start up company. In the venture there would be mechanics, managers, sales and marketing people, a CFO and a CEO, also a person that coordinates with the production company and the suppliers. 

    I think my most important resource will be the people who make up the company. I want everyone to work together and focus on that common goal of saving the planet a little at a time, I want everything to be cohesive. I think that with the right pay to the employees, the right attitude, and having everyone work as a team will make the company succeed in ways that other companies won’t be able to. I’m not sure what is next for this particular venture but I do know that I would like to keep coming up with marketable ideas to help the environment in some way. Assuming I’ve actually launched this venture, in the next five years I would like to see this take off and be able to lower the price on the product a little. In the next decade, as an entrepreneur, I would like to have one or more new ventures that I’m working on launching or have launched already. This first venture would have helped me get a feel for the business world a bit and know what it takes to be successful. I also would like to be able to pass these businesses to my family or sell them for a nice profit because I decided that I don't want to be tethered to a venture to the point where I can't go anywhere or do what I would like to so this would be a nice option and a way for me to still make money doing what I'm passionate about. 

2./3. I kept my venture concept the same except in the future I would like to sell it or give it to a family member because I want to travel and do what I want, but I can't do that if my entire life is consumed by this, and potentially other ventures. I got nothing but positive and encouraging feedback so I decided to keep the venture idea the same but my goals for the future have been altered a bit by some recent events so I decided to alter that part of my concept. I learned from the feedback that if I'm serious about making this a reality, that I could and that's really inspiring.