Forming An Opportunity Belief

I believe there could be an opportunity in creating an ice cream truck venture for on-campus students. The unmet need would be a lack of freshly made ice cream that could be obtained without having to walk to take the bus to a dining hall or an on-campus restaurant. This unmet need mostly belongs to students on campus without cars, students living in dorms, and students who are just on campus for a long period of time and want to get a refreshing snack on a hot day. In order to meet the need of a cold snack on campus during a hot day, students currently either buy ice cream from the on-campus Wendy’s or the Freshens in the Reitz Union, get ice cream from one of the dining halls, or (if they have cars) drive to a local ice cream / frozen yogurt shop. At this point, I am about 80% sure that this opportunity exists. It’s no surprise that the weather is hot during most days in Florida, so there should be a significant need for a cold snack for students walking around.

Prototypical Customer #1: incoming UF freshman

Reflection from Interview #1: From the first interview, I learned that my opportunity would depend on how often people would actually prefer ice cream to various other product substitutes available near them on campus. I have to be more specific in regards to the “truck” aspect of the ice cream truck opportunity. It’s interesting that Erica mentioned a “tracker app” because UF has one for the RTS bus system. If my opportunity could include a tracker similar to that, then it could possibly be more successful because many students will already be familiar with its interface. Nothing really surprised me in this interview.

Prototypical Customer #2: rising UF sophomore

Reflection from Interview #2: From the second interview, I was provided with a few specific details on when a customer could become aware of the need. With these details, I learned that my opportunity would most likely have peak times of demand – for example, high demand during a hot week or during a hot afternoon. I also suppose that the ice cream truck would have to “dock” at locations that are far away from places like Wendy’s or Chick Fil A during the beginning of its venture in order to be effective.

Prototypical Customer #3: rising UF sophomore

Reflection from Interview #3: From the third interview, I learned that there was actually an ice cream vending machine on campus. I didn’t know that existed here before. So by emphasizing the “mobile” aspects of my opportunity belief, I could offer a differentiated service compared to a vending machine.

Summary: After some interviews, I conclude that most of my original opportunity is still there. However, I seemed to have overestimated the potential demand for this service. I believe that my new opportunity is more accurate compared to when I started. Based on the information I received from the interviews, I think that for the most part, entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities based on customer feedback. However, it depends if the product the entrepreneur is offering has already been done or if the product is something significantly new. My opportunity has similar services already in the market, so I would have to differentiate in order to stand out in the market. In order to do so, I would need to adapt my idea from customer feedback. I could ask the question: “How can I take that service and make it better?” As for a significantly new product, Apple would be a good example. No one knew they wanted something like the iPhone before the first model debuted. Steve Jobs told Business Week, “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” ‘It’ refers to a significantly new product.