11A – Idea Napkin No. 1
1) YOU
Networking: Confidently, I can say that I can get the people I need to make this idea work.
Networking: Confidently, I can say that I can get the people I need to make this idea work.
Experience: My freshman year, I had an interest towards pursuing a career path in the pre-med track but had no idea what to major in. My freshman year, I was in a constant debate between Anthropology and Biology after taking the Cultural Anthropology course last summer. I realized once I took the biology course along with organic chemistry the connection it holds in with medicine. I realized the same with Anthropology, however, I realized that anthropology offers color to the pictures outlined by biology and chemistry. It all clicks, it connects the human interaction with the physical mechanism our body has. The main point is, I feel the way I found my passion was through others, from talking to professors and upperclassmen and their interpretation in medicine. From my experience, I walked in once to my advisor's office and never again to this day went back. With this "opportunity", I want to be able to reduce that high percentage of undecided students who change their majors within their first or second year. In many of our experiences whether academic or nothing, time is valuable which is why I think it's crucial for students to know what they would like to major in or minor in, in order to maximize their time availability into getting involved and nailing internships/research/shadowing so when they graduate, they already can graduate and enter the work field or post-grad field knowing their "purpose". It plays a role in my life because I'll be able to know that I was able to make a difference in a student's life, therefore, impacting the work field that student will later enter. It's a chain reaction.
Photography. On my free time, I take headshots usually for my friends but now have started taking in clients. Both shooting and editing have become a personal hobby for me as I've been able to meet new people and get to know them a lot more within the span of 30 min! For my business, I'll not only be able to provide verbatim quotes but the faces attached to the students who are content with finding their major.
2) What are you offering to customers?
The App. Designed around the student's unmet needs of searching or finding their "match", an application can be moderated to track student's searches and articles they read for a certain amount of time to see what they find interesting. It'd have a section where students can ask upperclassmen/alumni within that major they may feel is interesting. They can share what their internships or even work description is about along with providing networking opportunities.
3) Who are you offering it to?
Specifically, this app is in dedication to incoming and present students who are forced to declare "exploratory" or a major they don't even care for. The demographic would be the underclassmen who enter or about to enter and have doubts before declaring a major. All my potential customers have the same unmet need: deciding on a major.
4) Why do they care?
Students care because they want to feel confident in their decisions especially with a decision that impacts them academically, financially and personally. Our students already feel the pressure from attending a top 10 public institution and are surrounded by students who are overachieving. The pressure adds on even more and can affect a student in their GPA and overall career path. Students would actually pay a small price to prevent wasting their time and save their money that'd they spend tuition and fees on unnecessary coursework they don't need in their new major or even career track.
5) What are your core competencies?
I have the solution. My solution doesn't require students to wait for years to just talk to an advisor to get a response you'd easily find on a website that feels like it's not even applicable! My solution brings together the experience of enhancing academics through peer networking and preventing "mistakes" to happen such as taking the wrong course or deciding on a major too soon without even knowing what it entails. Nobody so far has had their solution to decrease the 61% of sophomores who change their majors by the end of their second year. This means two years wasted, 48 months wasted and at LEAST $10,210.08 wasted on taking courses not needed for a major they originally had no interest in. But for a low price within budget, they can prevent this cost from withdrawing from their account or leaving them in debt.
I believe these elements entail a lot more into my business idea, the app, it helps in shaping my business around both the needs while knowing if the need is necessary along with what it can prevent. Instead of fixing a situation, it prevents the situation from even occurring and offers more time even for students to focus on empowering their professional development through internships and opportunities. After analyzing and exploring more in depth of these 5 elements, I am more convinced that this business can be a success.
Students care because they want to feel confident in their decisions especially with a decision that impacts them academically, financially and personally. Our students already feel the pressure from attending a top 10 public institution and are surrounded by students who are overachieving. The pressure adds on even more and can affect a student in their GPA and overall career path. Students would actually pay a small price to prevent wasting their time and save their money that'd they spend tuition and fees on unnecessary coursework they don't need in their new major or even career track.
5) What are your core competencies?
I have the solution. My solution doesn't require students to wait for years to just talk to an advisor to get a response you'd easily find on a website that feels like it's not even applicable! My solution brings together the experience of enhancing academics through peer networking and preventing "mistakes" to happen such as taking the wrong course or deciding on a major too soon without even knowing what it entails. Nobody so far has had their solution to decrease the 61% of sophomores who change their majors by the end of their second year. This means two years wasted, 48 months wasted and at LEAST $10,210.08 wasted on taking courses not needed for a major they originally had no interest in. But for a low price within budget, they can prevent this cost from withdrawing from their account or leaving them in debt.
I believe these elements entail a lot more into my business idea, the app, it helps in shaping my business around both the needs while knowing if the need is necessary along with what it can prevent. Instead of fixing a situation, it prevents the situation from even occurring and offers more time even for students to focus on empowering their professional development through internships and opportunities. After analyzing and exploring more in depth of these 5 elements, I am more convinced that this business can be a success.
I think you explained your idea pretty well! It was very easy to understand and what you are trying to accomplish. I like that you provided some good information that explains the need for this app, like the money some people could wast while switching their majors around for two years. I think this the perfect opportunity to exploit and will be used greatly by UF students.
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