Idea Napkin 2 19A

1. Who are you? I am a 20-year-old college student who is in my junior year of studies at the University of Florida. My talents generally revolve around interpersonal skills. I pride myself in my social awareness and the ability to connect and lead individuals. My position at my current job is a recruiter for a staffing company. What this means is that every day I go to work my job is to talk to applicants all day long and sell them on the value of our process as well as simultaneously determining if this is a person, I think we should hire or not. There is a lot going on in just a few short minutes and I am learning how to best effectively communicate and discern information in a timely manner. My aspirations are to start a company that can help other people and be self-sustaining. I want to be able to do something with my life that I can be passionate about and something that makes a lasting difference. If I were to start this company, I would pour all my skills and energy into developing relationships with nonprofit organizations and creating a network base with which to launch my platform. I would be creative in solving problems and be extremely open to feedback as the goal is to ultimately help as many people as possible and help to eliminate waste.

2. What are you offering to customers? The service that I would be launching would be a social platform that connects businesses and people with donations to the nonprofit organization that needs them. The main key that would set us apart from the way things are done now is a streamlined process that allows for more donations to be given in a less amount of time and effort for all involved. The process would allow the people with donations to take a picture of the donation and post it to the platform. This allows the nonprofits seeking donations to then be alerted of a new donation and to then go and pick it up. Instead of just one organization having the opportunity to receive the goods, it now alerts all of them involved and creates a better chance that the donation will be picked up and not wasted. This creates a better process for the organizations that now do not have to call the companies to ask about donations and it allows the people donating the goods to simply take a picture and post the goods without having to directly contact anyone.

3. Who are you offering it to? There are three major groups that it would be offered it to. First it would be the average person that may have some perishable or nonperishable items that they would like to offer up for donation and to picked up. The second major group is the businesses. This includes both restaurants and supermarkets. These companies often have waste and can then alert the organizations that they have goods available for pick up. This could be a huge factor for many businesses as they can then advertise that they support the local community and are a member of the organization. Many people are more likely to spend money with an organization that helps others rather than one that does not. Lastly this will also be for the nonprofit organizations that collecting the donations. This will provide a necessary streamlined platform for them with which they can accept more donations for those in need.

4. Why do they care? Most people want to limit waste and help other people. However, we all live in a busy world and don’t have the time to drive to different organizations to deliver our goods. Customers of this startup will be happy to hear that they have a streamlined process with which to help others and our environment by limiting waste through a platform that requires minimal time and effort. Organizations could pay fees to advertise and request certain goods while other companies may be inclined to advertise their green initiatives on the site that attracts socially conscious customers. Businesses are frequently looking for ways to be considered an organization that cares about the community. This also gives them opportunity to advertise on the sight and expound upon their initiatives to help the community and create a greener world.

5. What are your core competencies? The reason I am the right person for this start up is twofold. I have the social competencies necessary to network and create a community of people with which to launch this endeavor. I also have traveled on 4 different international humanitarian missions’ trips and have participated in many events in the local community geared towards helping people. I have demonstrated a willingness and energy to help others by sacrificing time and significant amounts of my own money up to this point for other people. I will be creative in marketing this idea and will sell the idea to businesses that want to be a community leader and as people that care about the environment and limiting waste.

In conclusion, I do believe that these elements fit together well together but there are some glaring holes to the idea as well. The main reason that it would be difficult for me to start this is that I do not have any experience developing an app or online platform for which this could operate from. Additionally, I do not have any experience running an organization or how to start something from the ground up. I do have some weaknesses regarding social capital. I do not have many contacts in the realm of business or large nonprofit organizations that would want to join to help get the operation up and running. This is a potential problem and it would be something that I need to be intentional about growing.  I believe that the need exists, and that the startup idea can satisfy the need. I think that my passion and experience in helping others could be valuable to creating the company. Also, my experience in networking and interviewing people at my job would be helpful for getting the start up off the ground. I am concerned with how to develop the idea into a mobile platform for easy and convenient use. There are still some roadblocks to launching this but several of the components I feel are in place.

There were two main pieces of feedback that I received and implemented. The main thing I implemented regarding the idea was from a comment I received about how businesses could use this as a marketing piece. It is true that companies want to be a part of something that helps others and that they can promote as part of their community initiative. I included multiple explanations in the revised post that help explain that and how I will use it to my advantage. The other thing I changed was the feedback that Dr Pryor has given in class about being open about your weaknesses. I thought more about the deficiencies I have that would limit me from starting this venture and recorded those in my conclusion as well. This allowed me to think more about where I need to improve and what I can do to help limit those deficiencies moving forward.